by Jade Royal
“You’re on too high of a horse, and it’s clear I have to knock you down a bit.”
“Beat me all you fucking want to.” Rita gritted. “Still doesn’t change the fact that you’re a little bitch.” Maverick’s lips curled up in his anger. He raised the whip and brought it down hard against her skin. Rita closed her eyes and gritted her teeth against the pain. Even as tears clouded behind her closed lids, she refused to let them fall. That would give Maverick too much pleasure, and as the silver cut through her skin and scarred her even more, Rita thought of her Alphas again and used the strength from their vows to power her through another beating.
********
Kellan stopped walking sharply as the pain of what Rita was experiencing cut through him again. It felt like he was receiving sharp lashes to every part of his body. Immediately, Kellan sought out Bliss. She’d stopped walking also and was trying to maintain a steady breath to keep her wolf under control.
It’s okay to shift, Kellan said in her mind. If she shifted before the pain was unbearable, then she wouldn’t have to go through a forceful shift. The pack had just come back from their pack run, and though they were back in the cave, he would rather Bliss shift to not lose control. Bliss came up to him, her eyes flashing wolf.
“Help me control it,” she said.
“If Rita is experiencing this pain, then I don’t wanna run from it by shifting, but I want to have control like you do.” Kellan kissed his mate on the forehead.
Tristan, watch over Jayce, please. Jaxson, I need you to get something for his punishment later. Gemma and Kyra, don’t go anywhere near Jayce. Leave him be. Kellan spoke into the minds of his pack members as he led his mate to their bedroom. By the time they reached the room, Bliss was breathing hoarsely.
“I don’t understand. I thought I had control when I was able to shift back and forth with no problem,” she said.
“It’s not just about shifting though. Sometimes, your wolf just wants control, and you have to be the one to make sure you stay in control. Naturally, feeling pain, your wolf will try and protect you from that, and she’ll forcefully bring herself out whether you want her to or not. If you want to stay in control, you have to convince her that you can protect yourself at the moment.” Bliss looked at him with her canines falling from her mouth.
“Alpha. Beta. Omega,” Kellan said to her.
“Repeat it.”
“Alpha. Beta. Omega.” Bliss breathed.
“Close your eyes. Breathe in like you’re about to fill a balloon up with air, and then let it out slowly. Then say the words, but when you say it, I need you to say it firmly and confidently.” Bliss did as her mate asked. She took a deep breath, exhaled, then repeated the mantra.
“Alpha. Beta. Omega.” She repeated it over and over. At first, there seemed to be no type of result, but in her mind, her wolf took a dominant stance, but as if sensing Bliss’s confidence, she bowed and began to retreat. When Bliss opened her eyes, her canines had receded, and her eyes were back to normal.
“You did it.” Kellan smiled. Bliss let out a sigh.
“Thanks for teaching me.” Kellan leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips. “She was in pain again.”
“Yeah, but did you feel anything behind the pain?” Kellan asked. Bliss shook her head. She was too focused on trying to control her wolf to feel anything else.
“She was in pain, I felt that clearly, but there was also this kind of fight there, like she wasn’t weak. She’s fighting, and though she’s hurting, I have confidence that she’ll know how to keep herself alive before we can find her.”
“I read this book where it says that being an Alpha, you can find anyone of your packmates by just their howl,” Bliss said.
“Well, it’s kind of true, but also not all the way true. If Rita howled, I’d be able to find her, but realistically, distance comes into play. If she’s one hundred miles away, I doubt I would hear her if she howled, and then there’s the fact that I can only find her location if she howled as a wolf or in between her shift into a wolf. If she’s human, I wouldn’t hear her.”
“Does she know this?”
“Yeah, she does.” Kellan sighed.
“Which means if she hasn’t howled, it’s because she can’t.” Kellan shook his head.
“I’ve got some thinking to do,” he said. He kissed Bliss again before leaving the room. He headed out of the cave entirely so he could figure out how to lead his pack on a rescue mission for one of their pack mates.
By nightfall, the pack was having another meeting to assess the situation further. Jayce and Tristan were in the meeting room first followed by Bliss, Kellan, and Jaxson. For this meeting, Kellan permitted Gemma and Kyra in on the meeting because he needed every ounce of help he could get.
“Any updates?” Kellan asked.
“Still no response from the other pack,” Jayce replied. Kellan looked at Gemma.
“Gemma, the pack your parents moved to haven’t been responding at our attempts at communication. We’ve also called your parents and received nothing from them.” Gemma looked around the room.
“They told me they were hiding out with their new Alpha. Someone attacked the pack and sent them running. They called me to tell me what happened. They think their pack is being hunted. They’re safe now but refuses to get in touch with anyone because they don’t want anyone else targeted either.”
“Why didn’t you report that to us?” Kellan asked.
“Because we have to find Rita and I didn’t want to add any more issues to the pot. My parents are fine that’s all I need to hear.”
“So on top of Maverick being out there; someone else is targeting packs? I mean the pack I left your parents with Gemma are as platonic as you can get. No one should be out to hunt them down. They’re not threatening in the least bit,” Jayce spoke up.
“Well the sooner we find Rita, the sooner we can go and help packs like that,” Bliss said.
“I’ve been thinking,” Jaxson said. “Bliss you know the human side of Maverick. Maybe that can help us determine where he might be.”
“That’s true, but he was also able to hide the fact that he was a shifter to me. And much of the human things he did I wasn’t aware of. I know he sells and buys businesses. That’s how he was in partnership with my father.”
“So he owns businesses?” Jayce asked.
“Yes. I don’t know about all of them. But he owns a restaurant, a lounge and a real estate company.”
“What if he’s using those businesses as a front of his shifter activity. Maybe he’s holed up in one of those buildings knowing we’d never go into the human world looking for him,” Jaxson added.
“That should be our next move. Bliss can lead us to wherever his businesses are, and we can tear the damn place up looking for Rita,” Jayce said. Kellan was quiet. He didn’t like the idea of Bliss being put in the forefront of this battle like that. After Rita being taken he could ill afford for any of his female wolves to be put in that predicament again.
“Relax,” Kellan said. “We’re not gonna make any hasty decisions. I do however think that none of the female wolves should be accompanying us on any of these missions. From what he said about Rita as they took her it’s pretty clear that the females are the target. I’m not losing another wolf to him.”
“I agree,” Tristan said. “They should stay in the cave where they’re protected.”
“Of course you say that,” Bliss mumbled. “You’re like some kind of misogynist, male chauvinist cult leader or something.” Tristan gasped.
“You’d use those words against me when I just want our females to be protected?” Tristan asked.
“You wanna clock us wherever we go!” Bliss snapped. “And Kellan if I wanna help lead the charge against Maverick then I should have the right to do so. I am the alpha too you know.”
“That doesn’t make me a chauvinist,” Tristan growled.
“Bliss,” Kellan warned.
“Don’t war
n me,” Bliss snapped. “Warn him! Where do the both of you get the idea that the she-wolves don’t want to be involved? Where do you even get the idea that you can tell us not to be involved without even giving us a chance to voice our own opinions about what we want to do?”
“She’s right! I want to be there to rescue Rita too. She’s our sister. You men can’t just tell us to fall back and not expect us to fight,” Gemma spoke up.
“Oh give me a goddamn break Gemma,” Tristan said. “What possible good can you do us in a damn fight? You can’t even control your damn wolf.”
“And that’s what makes me a good fighter! I don’t see why I have to explain myself to you anyways. You’re not my damn alpha.”
“Can we stop this fighting,” Kyra shouted. “It’s not getting us nowhere.”
“Kyra is right!” Jayce said. “We need to find my mate. That’s all.”
“So we’re helping,” Bliss said. “I know where the locations are. I can take you to them.”
“You’re not taking us there,” Kellan said sternly. “You and the she-wolves will stay behind.”
“We won’t stay behind!” Bliss snapped. “I can’t believe my mate is just as chauvinistic as Tristan.”
“Stop calling me that!” Tristan yelled banging his fist on the table.
“It’s what you are,” Bliss mumbled surprised he raised his voice at her.
“What I am is a wolf who doesn’t want to see the females of his pack get hurt or snatched up by some maniac. Maverick is no laughing matter, and we need to face the fact that he bested us the last time we confronted him! I’m not gonna go up against those odds again cause I refuse to be beaten by him! Bliss, you can do whatever you want if Kellan allows it but Gemma you’re not gonna be involved in this fight. You can help us strategizing, but there will be no physicality from you. Especially fighting!”
“You don’t have any right to tell her what she can and cannot do,” Bliss spoke up for Gemma.
“I know you think I’m discriminating and I’m this pig, but that’s my mate,” Tristan said pointing to Gemma.
“Whether I want to accept it or not; the universe gave her to me. I may be in denial about what I want right now, but one things for damn sure I’m not being a dick because I have something against women. I’m this way because I’m not as strong as Jayce. I can’t have my mate at the mercy of a lunatic and not go completely rogue.” Tristan looked directly at Gemma before getting up and stomping out of the room. Gemma looked around the room for a moment before she cursed and got up to run after Tristan.
“Wait!” Gemma called after him. He wasn’t slowing down or stopping, so Gemma ran up to him and jumped onto his back.
“Stop,” She breathed into his ear. “Talk to me.” He stopped walking and sighed. Gemma slid down his back and stood in front of him.
“What?” he asked.
“I just-you haven’t claimed me like that since we knew we were mates. I thought you didn’t give a fuck about me.”
“I never said I didn’t care about you.”
“Your actions were pretty much doing all the talking.” Tristan looked down at her plump lips. He grasped her by the side of the neck and pulled her into him. For a while, he’d been wondering what her lips tasted like. So when he pecked her softness both he and his wolf were more than elated. Her cinnamon scent invaded his senses and drowned him in its sweetness. Sighing he deepened the kiss by piercing her mouth with his tongue. Her inexperience of kissing showed in the tentative way she kissed him back, but it almost didn’t matter. His arousal made him stiff in his jeans as he held his young mate and kissed her inexperienced mouth. He pulled away from her slowly as thoughts about doing much more to her raged through his mind. Gemma’s chest was rising and falling heavily as she looked into her mate’s eyes. Both of them had glowing eyes.
“I care about you,” He whispered. “More than you can even imagine. And I won’t see you hurt.” He pecked her mouth one last time before he backed away from her and the continued to walk away. Gemma stood there dumbfounded for a moment with her fingertips against her lips. Her first kiss. She knew all about fairytales and true love and all that, and as a wolf, she believed in true love because there was always that one wolf on the earth that was made for you. She imagined what her first kiss would feel like and her imagination didn’t do anything for the real thing. For the first time, her wolf wasn’t pushing to gain control of her. She was laying down wither tail wagging and her tongue lolling out. She was more than relieved that her wolf was relaxed. But then she was concerned because her wolf needed its mate to be calm.
Gemma walked back to the meeting room slowly, still touching her lips. When she entered the room, everyone was talking over each other trying to come to a solution. Jayce was the only quiet one. Gemma guessed that was so because his eyes were turned wolf and he was battling for control of his animal. When her pack mates spotted her, the talking stopped. Everyone looked at her.
“We’ll take a back seat,” Gemma said.
“What?!” Bliss gasped.
“I thought you wanted to fight!”
“I do,” Gemma confessed.
“But there’s more to fighting than throwing fists. Strategizing and formulating plans is a very important part of any fight we’ll have with Maverick. I can understand why Tristan and Kellan feel the way they do.”
“You let that chauvi-”
“Stop,” Gemma said lightly. “You’re my alpha female Bliss, and I respect you. But I’m going to insist you stop disrespecting my mate by calling him that. I won’t take too kindly to it if you do it again.” She gave Bliss a piercing stare before smiling at her. Bliss nodded. She had nothing to do but respect Gemma for speaking up for her mate.
“Sorry,” Bliss said. “He does deserve my respect.” Bliss turned to Kellan.
“I’ll give you as much information as I can to help find Rita. We’ll be here to support you however you may need us.” Kellan kissed his mate.
“Meeting adjourned,” he declared. He looked at Jayce.
“It’s time,” he said. Jayce grunted and headed out of the room.
“Time for what?” Bliss asked. Kellan only kissed her again before leaving the room. Jaxson followed out behind him leaving the females alone.
“I guess I should apologize to Tristan,” Bliss said to Gemma. “I just got so heated about being left out.”
“I don’t blame you. But they have a point. What if one of us were to get snatched? Or something even worse were to happen?”
“All I know is we’ll get Rita back, and we’ll have our chance to get back at Maverick,” Kyra spoke up.
“Even if we can’t use muscle right now, we can use our brains. And Maverick is a dumb muthafucker. He can’t get too far without us catching his ass.”
“True that,” Bliss said. She looked at Gemma who was spaced out. “Gem,” she called. Gemma snapped up from her daze.
“Did you say something?” she asked.
“Damn girl, what the hell you thinking about so hard?” Kyra asked. She leaned over and sniffed Gemma. “Ew girl! Are you horny?!”
“No!” Gemma shrieked. But then her cheeks tinted with blush.
“Yes, you are!” Kyra laughed. “I thought you said sex was a no go for you since you experienced how painful going into heat was?”
“Sex was a no go for me,” Gemma said. “I didn’t even want to think about being intimate ever again.”
“So what happened?” Bliss asked.
“I got kissed for the first time.” Gemma touched her lips again as Bliss and Kyra smiled.
“No wonder you came up in here defending him the way you did. Please, tell us more.” Bliss took Gemma by the arm and began leading her out with Kyra following next to them.
Chapter Six
Down the in the cellar, Kellan, Tristan, and Jaxon were standing in a semi-circle around Jayce. Being Beta, Jayce had been part of many a punishments, but he couldn’t say he was ever the one being punished. He f
ollowed pack rules to a tee, but his behavior regarding his alpha female couldn’t be ignored despite whatever he was going through. No matter the case he wasn’t going to make an excuse or back down from a punishment. When rules were broken in the pack, there were repercussions.
“You are being reprimanded on counts of losing control of your wolf and in doing so launching an attack on your alpha female. Whether intentional or not, pack rules forbid attacks on another pack member without reasonable cause. You do however have the right to defend yourself against a pack member if you have been attacked. You also, however, have the right to dispute these accusations brought against you.”
“No dispute,” Jayce said. “I take full responsibility for my actions and accept the punishment.” Kellan looked at him for a while contemplating.
“Look, I know there’s rules against this shit, but no matter how upset I am for the way you attacked Bliss I can’t punish you. Not when all this is because I let our enemy snatch up your mate.”
“It doesn’t matter the circumstance,” Jayce said. “The rules are the rules.” Kellan nodded in respect. Jaxson stepped forward with silver shackles in his hands. It was the same silver shackles that his father had used for certain punishments when he was alpha. Since Maverick was gone from the territory, they were free to go back and collect more things to bring back to their new home. Kellan never imagined that he would use the same silver shackles that his father had.
“Because of your lack of control, it seems fit to restrict your ability to shift for Twenty-Four hours,” Kellan said. Jayce held his hands out and allowed Kellan to place the shackles around his wrists. Jayce fell to his knees. The silver touching his skin suffocated his shifter power. He gritted his teeth and groaned as his wolf launched itself at the magical barrier that should have allowed him to trade places with Jayce. The wolf continued to fight against the barrier until he was too weak. He flopped down panting hard. Jayce was breathing hoarsely. It may have seemed that simply wearing silver shackles was an easy punishment, but denying a shifter the ability to shift was the ultimate imprisonment. And it wasn’t to be taken lightly.
