Unstoppable Force (Force of Nature Series) (16 page)

“Please. You have to mark me again. I
need to feel you now.” He growled again. “Connor, please hurry.”

As he rolled her to her back, he slammed
into her. His cock didn’t just fill her, but seemed to become a part of her, a
vital part. As she wrapped her legs around his hips, he took her over the edge
not once, not twice, but three times. Claws bit into her back as she held him
deep. The harder he took her, the more she wanted. When his teeth sank into her
neck, she screamed. Not in pain, but in pleasure. Her body soared up and over
the edge a final time when she leaned up and took his throat as well.

Connor came then. Blood filled her mouth
as his cock filled her body. And she knew. Knew in that moment that she had
conceived. A child was made. Their child.

As she felt the room surrounding them
darken, she smiled. They were mated now and nothing on this earth would come
between them. Connor growled again when she lifted her hand to his face. “I
love you. I think I have for my entire life.”

He kissed her gently as she closed her
eyes. “And I love you.”

~~~

William felt the death. He knew the
exact moment that the human had died. Closing his eyes he tried to see his
death, but darkness prevailed and all he could see was red blood and red fur. Screaming
out his frustration, he killed four of his lab workers and injured another half
dozen. Fucking wolves.

William hated canines. More than
anything, he hated the smelly doglike creatures. They had been a pain in his ass
for more years than he could think about. And vampires. Blood-sucking animals
that did nothing for the world in which they resided but fuck humans and drink
from them.

Drain them. He thought that vampires
should want to drain the human race. It would have gone a long way to helping
him with his eradication of all human scum. But wolves could have been a part
of his army had they not been so incredibly stupid.

“We have guests.”

William turned to look at the man who
had been serving him for nearly five decades.

“They wish a word with the man of the
house.”

“And what did they want with the man of
the house, Timothy? Did they come to kill me in my own home?” William turned
back to the formula he was preparing for when Ginger got there. He paused. “She’s
not coming. Not with Herman.”

“I’m sorry, sir, what did you say?” Timothy
looked at him oddly and William had the sudden urge to kill him. “Sir, the
guest. What would you like for me to tell them?”

“Tell them? Tell them I don’t give a
good fuck what they want. I want them gone.” As he turned back to the table he
got a scent that he’d not smelled for a very long time. “Wolf.”

Timothy backed up quickly. Even as he
tripped up and fell backwards on the ground, he never stopped trying to get
away. As soon as William stepped over him in his haste to get to his “guest,”
William paid him little mind. There was a wolf in his home. And he wanted to go
out and kill him.

The great hall was empty of people. He
raised his nose to the air and followed the scent of wolf until he found him in
the living room. There were others there, but this was the one he wanted. This
man of all men had been their downfall. Bernard Dublin had gotten messy and had
cost them all.

“Do you know that she’s near—” Dublin
was clawing at his throat even as William came across the room at him. The
harder he pinched his fingers, the harder Dublin struggled.

“You should have been dead. You said you
had it under control. You said that you had everything under control.” He let
the man breathe for several seconds before he pinched again. “I should kill you
where you stand, but I can’t.”

Dublin dropped to the floor and coughed.
He didn’t try to rise up, but lay where he was. William threw himself into a
chair as the man across from him sat up then finally climbed into another chair.
He was still coughing when Timothy brought him a drink as well as a wet cloth.

“I came to tell you…” He took several
deep breaths. “I came to tell you that I have the right formula to make her
eggs viable. The right combination of temperatures as well as the correct
amount of magic. I’ve been working with some…” He looked around the room. “You
do have her, don’t you? You said you’d have her by now.”

William roared again. This time, the
only person who was terrified by it was his houseman Timothy. As soon as the
door slammed behind him as he left the room, William got up and poured himself
a large glass of wine. He didn’t bother with the wolf because he wanted him
dead.

“I’ll have to go and retrieve her
myself. She has been somewhat of a pain in the ass to find since you had to
touch her that night.” William had told him not to touch her, that she would
see him for what he was, but the man was an idiot. “I’ve had to find her by
other means. But some fucking wolf has stepped in and killed the one person I
thought she trusted.”

William had been assured that Dean
Herman had her confidence. When he’d spoken to his wife, a woman of measurable
talents, she’d told him that the girl had been sleeping with her husband for
years. So much so that she’d left her husband because of the girl. William had
thought he might have to go back and kill the wife of Herman just to see if she
told the truth. But he’d let her live, thinking that he’d go back later and
blame her death on her husband. After, of course, William killed him.

“We have to do something now. If we
don’t have her by the harvest moon, we may have to wait for another year before
we can take her eggs. You know what the book said.” William glared at Dublin.

“Yes, I know what the book said.” He
wanted to point out that he’d written the book over two hundred years ago as a
lark, but didn’t know how to explain that. As far as Dublin understood, William
and he were the same age. “The book also says she must remain a virgin. How
possible do you think that is in this day and age?”

“Quite good, as a matter of fact. You
remember I know what she saw that night. I’m pretty sure that turned her off to
sex forever.” Dublin leaned back in his chair. “That was my plan all along.”

William no more believed that than he
did that Dublin wasn’t still killing children. The man had a taste for it and
as soon as this thing with his daughter was over with, he was going to kill
him. William leaned back in his own chair and closed his eyes. He could never
feel her, had never been able to touch Ginger’s mind as he had hoped he would.
Not once in all the time she’d been growing up.

His wife at the time had hated her. She
had known that Ginger, they called her then, was going to have to go to each of
the other’s houses as soon as it could be arranged so that the council wouldn’t
find her. They knew about her, but not exactly where she was. It took a whole
network of switching her around to keep her hidden. Then Dublin had touched Ginger
and she’d read his mind. Then his cunt of a wife had called the cops and
everything they had worked for fell to ribbons. Had William not had her taken
to the orphanages that night then…

He looked over at Dublin. “How did you
know where she was? The night of the party, you seemed to know where she was
going to be taken. How did you know that?”

Dublin shifted in his chair and looked
away. He was sure the man wasn’t going to answer. When he did, William knew it
was a lie.

“The cop. He told me. All of us, I
think. Your wife said she was going to be taken there, didn’t she?” He looked
away with a little laugh. “I’m not sure after all this time how I found out. Why
does it matter? Let’s go and get her and harvest her.”

William stood. Had he not needed the man
he’d be dead. Smiling, he waved him toward the lab. They walked toward the area
he’d had especially built and thought about the hundred ways he was going to
kill this man. As soon as they walked into the lab William led him to the
table. “You get started. I’ll go and get her. I know just where she is.” He
knew that the pack house would be full of stupid wolves just like the one
standing next to him. “As soon as I return, we will begin.”

Dublin was already working on the
formulas. As soon as William set one of his guards on Dublin, he left. He shifted
as he tore through the house and was soaring into the night sky even as his
clothes fell away to the ground.

The pack house was just where he thought
it was. Deep into the wood and surrounded by forest. The leader had done well
for himself, it seemed. He’d meant to come to the house sooner, meet with the
man he would eventually kill, but had been caught up in the workings of his
lab. Now he wished he’d have taken the time. Laid his plan better, got to know
if the man was going to be a worthy, if slow-witted, adversary. He landed in a
tree not far from the front of the house.

There was some activity going on, but
not enough that he was worried. The man had done a great deal to fortify his
compound. There was enough pack running around that William had to smile. They
would be no match for him if he wanted to mow them down.

When the woman came out onto the porch
and sat down William found himself moving closer to the earth to get a better
look. She was lovely, in an older woman sort of way. He looked closer and saw
that she was stringing beans, something he’d not seen anyone do in centuries. Shifting
to mist, he moved closer to her.

She would do, he decided. He would take
her in trade of the girl. He was just coming up on the porch when a small
human, a child, came running out of the house. He froze her to the spot as he
moved to the woman.

“You should know that they won’t trade a
broken down old woman for her.”

William nodded, not caring that she
could see him.

“They’ll know that you have me. And when
they come for you, they’ll give you no mercy.”

“I would expect no less. But the man
inside has something that I want. And I believe you are wrong to think he would
not trade…his mother.” William knew in that moment that he would trade all for
her. “You are but a pawn in this trade. I will have the girl.”

She came to him without a fight. He was
surprised by that and not entirely pleased. He wanted her to scream for him to
let her go. He wanted her to bring the house out, have them find him with her. But
no one stirred, not even the child when he let her go. When they were airborne,
he sent a message through the child.

“You’ll come with my property or I will
kill the woman who gave you life. If you do not then I will take one person
from you until I have what I want.” The child went to the alpha, he knew. She
would have no choice but to do as he bid. William could almost feel the girl in
his possession again and nearly dropped the woman in his large claws.

“You will be well, my dear. Once I have
gotten what I want and the alpha who dared to take from me is dead then I will
think about letting you go.” He smiled and looked at her. She didn’t seem all
that frightened of him and had a look of contentment on her face. “You don’t
seem concerned. Is there something I should know?”

“Oh yes. There is plenty you should
know. But I’ve decided that I want to watch the things unfold that kills you.”

He didn’t know why, but that gave him a
slight tremor of fear. He’d not felt that emotion in so long that he’d nearly
forgotten what it was. William wanted her to suffer and dropped her nearly too
far from the ground when he reached the clearing by his lab and home. When he
picked her up after shifting, he knew that she was broken and would be lucky if
she could make it tomorrow. But she only smiled at him and closed her eyes. William
had her taken to the lab right away and tried to forget her. She was not so
easily dismissed.

Chapter 14

No one in the house moved. Luna had told
them what she had heard and had sat down and fell asleep. Austin got up to pick
her up and then sat with her in his arms. Connor wasn’t sure what he needed to
do, but sitting here was not helping their mother.

“What does he think this is going to do?
Does he expect us to just give her over as if she isn’t a member of this
family?” Austin didn’t seem to be asking anyone the question so no one
answered. “I wouldn’t do that even if she hit me with that spoon of hers
repeatedly. She’s my mom, for Christ’s sake.”

“I have to go to him. If I don’t then he
will kill your mom.”

Connor stood up when Lou did.

“I go alone. I have to find—”

“You and I go together or no one leaves.
We are pack now. You and I are mates now.
We
go to find her and bring
her home.”

“And if either of you think you’re
leaving this house without all of us then you’re fucking insane. But we need a
plan. We can’t just go there willy-nilly and expect to come out the—”

“Did you just say willy-nilly?” Connor
looked at his other family then back at Austin. “Please tell me that I heard
you wrong. Big, bad alpha Austin Jefferson Force said willy-nilly?”

“I’m trying to project a better image. So
fuck the hell off.” He glared at his mate then looked at Connor again. “You
wait until you have a cub or two. Then you’ll think differently when the first
word they say is ‘fuck it.’”