Spiral of Need

by Suzanne Wright

  Greta’s upper lip curled briefly. “I’d thank you for healing my Roni, but I know Seers—you have an agenda.”

  Ally arched a brow. “An agenda?”

  “Seers always do,” she spat.

  “Really?”

  “Your kind can’t be trusted. It’s a well-known fact.”

  “Greta, Ally’s visions and healing skills have been invaluable,” maintained Derren, a growl seeping into his voice.

  Greta looked at him. “Oh, I’ll bet they have. She’s helping because she’s trying to win you all over so you’ll let her stay here. Can’t you see she’s manipulating all of you?”

  “That’s not what’s happening.” Roni sighed tiredly. “There’s no agenda. No manipulation. No conspiracy.”

  “Yes, there is, sweetheart.” Greta’s tone didn’t invite argument. “You just can’t see it yet. I’ve warned Shaya and Nick, but have they listened to me? Noooo. She’s still here. You’ve all got enough trouble to deal with right now. This little hussy will make that worse!”

  “Hussy?” echoed Ally. Should she be entertained by this? She figured she should be offended, but instead Ally strangely found herself wanting to laugh.

  Ignoring her, Greta went on, “In my opinion, you’re all mad to let her stay. You don’t owe her anything just because she healed you and had some visions. I’ll bet she’s made no other contribution to the pack.”

  “That’s not true. She makes the best chocolate cake ever,” stressed Roni.

  An exasperated flush crept up Greta’s neck and face. “She’s a Seer!”

  “Who makes the best chocolate cake ever,” repeated Roni. “You’re missing what’s important.” Marcus and Dominic chuckled.

  “You didn’t even tell me you had one staying with you! How could you keep this from me, Roni?”

  Dante spoke then, his voice dry. “I think Roni was worried you’d overreact; clearly it was a pointless concern.” Tao snickered.

  Marching up to Derren, Greta told him, after shooting a withering scowl at Ally, “She doesn’t belong here! And I don’t want her around my Roni!”

  “And I just don’t care, Greta.” Derren’s tone wasn’t harsh, but it was firm. “Ally’s staying. That’s it. Now stop with all this, because she’s done nothing to deserve it.”

  “He’s right,” said Jaime, but Greta ignored her and spoke again to Derren.

  “I’m not surprised you’re defending her. I can smell her on you. I thought you had more sense than to get involved with a Seer.”

  Ally smiled, leaning into Derren. “Once you’ve had a Seer, you’ll never go back.” There was an amused snort that might have come from Dominic.

  “No wonder Taryn likes you.” Wearing a superior look, Greta studied Ally from head to toe. “You’re just like her—common, disrespectful, slutty.”

  “They’re some of my best qualities.” It was taking everything Ally had not to laugh her ass off. The old dragon was priceless.

  Greta humphed. “Well, Taryn, Jaime, and my Roni might like you, but I don’t.”

  “And that’s supposed to make me feel, what? Devastated?”

  Eyes practically swirling with anger, Greta turned back to Derren. “See, she has no respect for her elders!”

  “Respect has to be earned,” he said simply. “And it’s not like you’re being respectful to her, is it?”

  “Why would I respect her? She’s a Seer!”

  “And she’s staying. Let it go,” Derren ordered.

  Straightening, Greta inhaled deeply—her chest seemed to puff up. “If you want to have her here, fine. But mark my words, you’re making a mistake.” Her face twisted into a fierce scowl that locked on Ally as she continued, “You might have them fooled, hussy, but I can see right through you. So I’ll warn you now, your cards are marked.”

  Ally smiled. “So happy we’re not letting this fester.” With another humph, the old dragon stormed out of the lodge. Looking at Jaime, Ally raised her brows. “Wow.”

  The Beta female sighed. “Yeah.”

  Derren spoke to Dante. “I’m surprised you left your territory.”

  “We caught her trying to sneak out to see for herself that Roni was fine.” Dante shook his head in exasperation. “It was either bring her here or watch her attempt to sneak away again. If she’d gone out alone, she could have been hurt or taken.”

  “They’d have brought her back within the hour,” mumbled Jaime. “She’d have made them crazy.”

  Dominic took a step toward Ally with a roguish smile—only to be halted when Tao grabbed him and Derren released a warning growl. “What?” the blond asked innocently.

  “Dom, no,” said Dante.

  “I was just going to—”

  “No.”

  Catching Ally’s confused expression, Tao explained, “He was going to use a cheesy line on you.”

  “I was not.” Dominic sounded appropriately offended. “I was just going to—”

  “No,” Dante again burst out.

  The blond enforcer sighed. “Fine, Jaime, I’ll ask you.”

  Dante got in his face. “You will fucking not.” Dominic just laughed, looking delighted by his Beta’s frustration.

  “So, basically, he just likes to drive his friends insane?” guessed Ally.

  Smiling, Jaime nodded. “Trick, another of our enforcers, is the worst tease ever. But Dominic takes supreme joy in winding up males—especially mated ones—by flirting with their females. So, either he has the IQ of a Cheerio or some kind of death wish. We’re not yet sure.”

  “We’d better go, we shouldn’t stay away from our territory too long.” Jaime gave Ally a tight hug. “Take care, sweetie.”

  Ally patted her back gently. “You too.” She thought Derren was going to lunge at Dominic when the blond stepped forward to hug her. “Ignore him,” Ally advised Derren, chuckling.

  “Don’t test me, blondie,” drawled Derren, glaring. The threat didn’t seem to bother Dominic one little bit.

  Derren and Ally walked the Phoenix wolves to the parking lot. Dominic was just about to get into the Chevy when he shouted, “Hey, Ally, do you know the difference between a hamburger and a blow job?” At her frown, he asked, “No? Wanna have lunch sometime?”

  “Oh my God.” Dante shoved him into the vehicle before shooting an apologetic glance at a laughing Ally and a homicidal-looking Derren. “I wish I had an excuse for him, but I don’t.”

  Watching the Phoenix wolves drive away, Derren growled at the sight of Dominic waving out of the window. “You know,” he said to Ally conversationally, “one day I might just kill him.” She laughed again.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Will you stop throwing my baby!”

  Ally entered the living area to find Shaya scowling at Derren, who was holding Willow high in the air while Bruce stood at his feet, wagging his tail excitedly.

  “She loves it.” As if to prove it, Derren threw Willow once more and easily caught her. The baby giggled, kicking her legs like crazy. Bruce gave a playful bark.

  Shaya put her hands on her hips. “Yes, I’m well aware that my daughter has no fear. But I do. And you make me nervous when you do that.”

  Derren’s gaze whipped to Ally when she advanced farther into the room. “Hey. Have you come for dinner?”

  “Yup.” She’d been coming to the main lodge more and more since the pack’s acceptance. She still spent most of her time at her own lodge, but she joined the pack for at least one meal a day.

  Shaya sighed, shoving a hand through her curls. “Ally, you deal with him. He listens to you.”

  Uh, no, he didn’t—to Ally’s utter exasperation. Derren didn’t listen to anyone. She knew he wasn’t the real source of Shaya’s irritation. “You’re not doing too well with being restricted to your territory, are you?”

  Six weeks had gone by without incident, but no one believed for a second that the danger had passed. Donovan had sent a security team out to install all kinds of high-tech gadgets, including disc
reet yet high-quality cameras that were now scattered around the perimeter of Mercury territory. In addition, everyone’s cell phones had been fitted with GPS trackers. The same had also been done for the Phoenix Pack at Nick’s request.

  Even so, people were conscious that gadgets weren’t going to keep them safe, only help them. However, not leaving pack territory was driving people crazy.

  “No, I’m not doing well with it at all,” admitted Shaya. “I badly want to visit Taryn. It’s not the same, talking on Skype.”

  From the sofa, Eli spoke up. His voice was gentle but firm. “You know why you can’t go visit. The Phoenix Pack is in as much danger as we are. You wouldn’t be any safer there than you are here.”

  So far, there had been two unsuccessful attacks on the Phoenix Pack—one of which had been an electronic wipeout to help the culprits get through the security, but their resident hacker, Rhett, had quickly countered the attack. Like Donovan, the talented hacker was having no luck with discovering the identity of the person behind the hits, though.

  “Remember what happened the last time you left our territory against Nick’s wishes?” Eli asked Shaya.

  Ally guessed he was referring to the time that Shaya had been targeted by jackals.

  “I’m not going to sneak off,” Shaya snapped. “I’m not stupid.”

  “I know how you’re feeling,” Bracken said to the Alpha female, looking just as glum.

  Roni snorted. “The only reason you’re unhappy is that you’re horny.”

  “Death by blue balls.” Bracken shook his head. “I never thought I’d go out this way.”

  Derren winced as Willow got a firm grip on his hair, making Ally smile. Since much of his time was taken up by his job, living with him had been easier than Ally had expected. She still had plenty of space and time alone. She also had sex on tap, which was really good.

  He didn’t complain when she often left him in the middle of the night in favor of sleeping in the hammock. He accepted that she preferred to sleep outside, and she’d often wake up in the morning to find that he’d joined her at some point.

  Her wolf loved having him around, having his scent everywhere. The animal was becoming more attached to Derren than Ally was comfortable with. The animal thought of him as hers, and she growled whenever Ally thought about how she’d be leaving him in the near future. If Ally was honest, the idea of leaving the Mercury Pack—leaving Derren—wasn’t one she relished much either. But Ally was careful not to allow herself to get too settled.

  “Oh my God.” Eli’s gaze shot from his cell phone to his sister. “You are fucking unreal!” Obviously more pranks were being played.

  “What did she do?” Marcus chuckled. Roni was studying her chipped nails, looking suspiciously innocent.

  “She hacked into my Twitter account again!” Eli was glaring at her as he continued explaining to Marcus. “She tweeted, ‘My jaw is killing me. I’m never wearing a ball gag again!’” The muffled laughs coming from his pack mates made his flush deepen. “I’ll get you back for this, Roni.”

  “So you always say.” She was totally unconcerned.

  Long after dinner, when most of the pack was relaxing in the living area, Zander called Nick with news that they had visitors. The identities of the visitors had everyone groaning in annoyance.

  “Why do you think Miranda’s come?” asked Caleb.

  Shaya shrugged. “Guess we’ll soon find out.”

  “How did she become a lone Alpha female?” Ally asked Shaya.

  “She rose to the position when her boyfriend was made Alpha male, even though they hadn’t imprinted. But then her boyfriend met a mysterious death. Plenty of guys have attempted to get close enough to her to become Alpha male, but none of them have stuck around long.” Shaya fought a smile as she added, “She’s also quite the cougar, goes for guys who are at least a decade younger. She has a thing for Derren.”

  “She has a thing for Betas,” he corrected. “Males who she thinks aren’t interested in being Alpha and won’t threaten her position of lone ruler but are also strong enough to appeal to her.”

  Neither Ally nor her wolf liked the idea of anyone but her finding Derren appealing.

  “Do you think you could try not irritating her for once?” Kathy asked her daughter. “Since she’s our neighbor and all.”

  “Only if she leaves Derren alone,” said Roni, who was leaning into Marcus. “It’s just creepy watching a woman who’s at least a decade older than him eyeing him like he’s candy. It’s one thing if an older female likes a younger male—I can accept that and I won’t judge it. But it’s another thing altogether if she’s some kind of predatory seductress that preys on younger guys and wants them wrapped around her little finger.”

  Yeah, Ally didn’t think she was going to like this woman at all.

  “Besides,” added Roni, “it’s always her who starts it.”

  Marcus began massaging his mate’s hand. “That’s because she feels threatened by your level of dominance, sweetheart.” Roni was very dominant—so much so that she could quite easily be an Alpha of her own pack if she wished to be. The same could be said of her mate. He was charming and seemed very laid-back, but Ally could sense that there was a dark and dangerous side to him lurking beneath all that charm.

  Shaya sighed. “Let’s hope Miranda doesn’t stick around long.”

  Derren did his best not to stiffen as Miranda and two of her enforcers entered the living area a few minutes later. Honestly, he didn’t understand why he was suddenly so tense. She’d been on his territory a number of times, and although he’d been irritated by her presence, he’d never felt . . . threatened.

  “Miranda, what a surprise,” drawled Shaya, her smile deceptively pleasant, gesturing for the female to sit on the sofa opposite of her. Miranda’s enforcers stood behind her, on guard. To Ally’s annoyance, there was no denying that the Alpha female was beautiful with her flawless face and wicked curves. She’d gone a bit heavy on the eye makeup, though; she looked like a damn panda.

  “Shaya, it’s always a pleasure,” replied the brunette. She swept her gaze around the room, offering a smile of greeting to everyone. Once that gaze landed on Roni, it hardened. “Still a tomboy, I see.”

  Roni cocked her head. “Did you know that a certain study found that seventy-nine percent of mascara contained staph infection? Just watch out for impetigo, food poisoning, boils, and cellulitis—they’re some of the symptoms.”

  “Roni.” Marcus’s admonishment was amused as opposed to stern.

  She blinked innocently. “What? What did I say?” The female enforcer often spouted out useless and totally random facts to either repel or irritate people. It actually worked. Like now with Miranda, people regarded Roni as if she was weird or annoying and so, as such, not worth talking to.

  Moving her attention from Roni, Miranda then spotted Derren. She gave him her usual wide, sultry smile—an invitation that he had never responded to. “Derren.” There was both delight and enticement in the sensual purr. “How nice to see you.”

  Derren would bet she wouldn’t be so interested if he weren’t a Beta. She knew the effect she had on males; she relished it, used it, and believed it gave her some dominion over men. Derren wasn’t so easily led. Beautiful or not, she held no appeal at all for him. She was sly, manipulative, egocentric, and liked to lead men around on a leash—as if that in itself was a symbol of power. He had no intention of being on anyone’s leash. He again ignored the invitation in her smile but, being civil, tipped his chin at her and her enforcers in greeting.

  “Why are you here?” asked Nick abruptly. Trust him to cut right through any small talk.

  Miranda chuckled. “I find that I like your directness, Nick. As for why I’ve come . . . I wanted to know if you’ve had any luck in tracking the foxes who fired the grenade on your territory. I’ve had some of my own men attempt to find them—I don’t allow intruders on my territory, least of all to attack my neighbors. But we haven’t been abl
e to track them.”

  “Neither have we,” admitted Shaya.

  “It seems so strange. I would have thought that if a grouping of foxes had a grudge against you, they would have challenged you by now.”

  But this wasn’t about grudges or challengers, it was about cashing in on a bounty, so the situation was very different. Derren didn’t say that aloud, though.

  “Have there been any further attacks?”

  Shaya shook her head, clearly intending to ignore Miranda’s attempt to fish for information. “None.”

  Miranda shrugged. “Perhaps it was a few drifters acting alone.”

  “Maybe,” said Shaya.

  Miranda sighed. “I’m glad to hear there has been no more trouble.”

  As Miranda’s gaze returned to him, Derren followed his wolf’s instinct and protectively shifted a little closer to Ally. And that was when he understood the cause of his tension. It wasn’t that he felt personally threatened by Miranda; it was that he viewed her as a potential danger to Ally. It was a supposition that was nothing more than paranoia, really, and it reminded him of the way Nick acted when outsiders were around Shaya. Clearly his Alpha male was rubbing off on him.

  Obviously identifying the move as a protective gesture, Miranda’s azure-blue eyes took in Ally, sizing her up. “And who is this, Derren?”

  Well, that made Ally and her wolf bristle. Failing to address her directly was an insult. She spoke before Derren could respond. “I’m Ally.”

  Miranda stared at her, waiting for her to elaborate. Ally didn’t. “Friend of yours?” the Alpha female asked Derren.

  Surprising Ally, it was Roni who answered. “A very good friend.” The implication that the relationship was sexual was right there in the enforcer’s tone. Oh, that evoked strong emotions from Miranda. Up until then, no real emotion had tainted the air around Miranda. But now, malice and spite slithered over Ally, making her skin feel raw like she’d been scratching at it for days. Miranda’s lust for Derren was dark with greed. It wasn’t so much Derren that she wanted but the opportunity to rule and possess him. Her wolf snarled, ears flattening.