“I wish I’d had someone like you on my first day of college,” Lisa said.
Stephanie chuckled and scooped her dish up from the counter. “Seriously. I was hopeless.”
They went to college?
Lisa let out a dry chuckle and bobbed her eyebrows at them as they departed for a table.
Higher education hadn’t been on Ashley’s radar during much of her childhood. Her parents hadn’t explicitly dissuaded her from aspiring to it, but they hadn’t exactly been cheerleaders for it, either. Maybe they’d suspected she wouldn’t be able to get into a good school. And whose fault is that?
Ashley ground her back teeth and slid a ten-dollar bill to the clerk. “Keep the change, okay?”
As she navigated through the tight tables, she wondered how things might have been different if she’d grown up outside a wolf community and gone to school with people who weren’t wolves. What would I have learned? Maybe nothing different. I’m just being paranoid. I would have learned the exact same things, probably.
Unconvinced, she gnawed at her bottom lip as she sank into the seat Lisa pushed out for her.
“What’s wrong?” Stephanie asked. “You look confused.”
Ashley straightened her spine and put on a smile for her fellow mate. “Nah, I’m okay. Just thinking about pack stuff.”
“This pack?”
“Well, no. Other packs, like my old one.”
“What kind of stuff?” Lisa asked through a mouthful of bagel.
“It’s nothing, really, just…” Letting the words trail off, Ashley stirred her spoon through the foamy top of her drink and watched the tiny bubbles pop. “What was it like for you? Did you go to a pack school?” She looked up to see both Stephanie and Lisa shaking their heads.
“Up until I was sixteen, I grew up with my human mom away from my dad’s pack,” Stephanie said. “When he made me move in with him and enrolled me at the school most of the pack kids attended, I ended up placing out of it. It’s not that I’m a genius at all, but most of the kids in the pack school were way behind.”
“In my case, the pack just wasn’t organized enough to pull all the kids into one school,” Lisa said. “I’m sure they would have, if they could’ve, just to carry the brainwashing over into yet another institution.”
“Brainwashing?” Ashley said it in a whisper, as if the concept wasn’t meant to be discussed in polite company. “What do you mean?”
Stephanie scoffed. “It was like night and day, my educational experiences. So much in the wolf school was bare minimum—about knowing our places in the pack.”
“Society, you mean?”
“No, the pack, because that’s supposed to be the only society a wolf knows.”
Ashley found that hard to believe. Wolves can’t be productive citizens of the world if…
She brought her coffee to her lips and sipped. The realization burned her heart more than the scalding hot beverage did her tongue.
She wasn’t a productive citizen of the world. Up until she’d responded to the mate call, she was barely even a productive member of her own household. Whatever her parents didn’t handle for her, the household staff they’d hired for her when she’d moved into her apartment did. She’d thought she’d had agency and freedom, but really—and it pained her to realize it—she’d never had room to make even simple choices on her own. She’d gone from her parents’ house to the care of people being paid by her parents, then straight to her new husband’s house. She didn’t know what it meant to be independent. She may have been nearly thirty, but out in the real world, she was practically a baby.
At the sharp rap against the plate glass window nearby, she jumped—her sense of hearing amplified since receiving her bite. Everything was louder and smelled more pungent, too. She clutched at her rapidly beating heart as she turned to the window, only to find her mate standing on the other side.
Now, her heart seemed to stop, and her stomach dropped. That face he was making was unquestionable. He found her abhorrent, and she was so confused that she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be returning the sentiment.
He crooked two fingers at her in a come here gesture, and she swallowed hard.
That feeling she always got when she was certain she was about to be grounded for doing some stupid thing came rushing at her like a freight train.
She was so still—frozen there in her seat—that he knocked again and waved her out, his eyes narrowed and brow furrowed.
“You’d better go see what he wants.” Lisa tipped her head, indicating the citizens in the room behind them. “The locals are watching.”
Ashley risked a glance over her shoulder to confirm that they indeed were. They didn’t seem hostile, just curious. Too curious, in her opinion. She was used to doing things behind closed doors.
She pushed back from the table and hitched her purse up to her shoulder. “He probably forgot to tell me something. Like where he was going, or whatever.”
“Probably so.”
Ashley mustered a grin and walked with artificial confidence to the door. “I’ll be right back, but if I’m not for whatever reason, call my cell phone.”
Or check the dumpster in the back of this place.
With that murderous glare of his, she thought he looked like he wanted to toss her into it.
He took her by the elbow and started her at an aggressive pace down the block.
“Um—”
“Don’t start.”
“Excuse me?”
He didn’t respond, beyond pressing his hand to the small of her back and moving her even faster. They crossed the street, and he helped her up into the passenger seat of a big, black pickup truck.
“Are we going somewhere? I didn’t finish my cof—”
He slammed the door on her words, and in seconds, had raced around the front of the truck and heaved himself up into the driver’s seat. He speared the key into the ignition and peeled out of the parking space before she could even get her seatbelt buckled.
“Are we going some—”
“Don’t talk.”
Her jaw flapped wordlessly for a few beats, but she couldn’t come up with any words to say that would do any good. She could ask questions, but chances were slim he’d deign to respond.
She crossed her arms over her chest and stared out the windshield as he drove out of the Norseton business district, past the wolf houses—which she’d assumed he’d stop at—and steered the truck off-road.
He shifted into a low gear, motored to what seemed like miles beyond civilization, and brought the truck to an abrupt stop near a deep gulch.
He yanked the parking brake up and snatched her purse off the floor.
“What are you doing?” She tried to grab it back, but his reflexes were faster, his grip stronger.
He found her phone in the bag, powered it off, and got out of the truck.
“What are you doing?” she repeated, following him. Dread was heavy in her gut.
He went to the edge of the gulch, wound his arm back like a major league pitcher, and tossed the phone what had to be a hundred yards toward the center.
She stood petrified, unable to move or even think after hearing the soft thunk of her cell hitting the rocky bottom.
Her phone. Her lifeline.
He grabbed her by the harness back and pulled her away from the edge. Near the truck, he fisted her skirt and started working it up.
Her brain finally rebooted, and she swatted at his hands. “Stop it!”
“Take it off, or I’ll take it off for you.”
“No. What the fuck is wrong with you? Stop touching me, asshole.”
He gave his head a slow shake. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with me, and everything wrong with you. Take off your clothes, or I’ll force you to shift and you won’t have a choice.”
“You can’t do that.”
“Don’t think so? I’m the son of an alpha, and an alpha in my own right. Get me angry enough, and I can pour off enoug
h energy to make your wolf come out by force, and she’ll be too scared to shift back after the full moon. You’ll be running around on four legs for days, and will probably find yourself a nice, deep, death trap like this one to fall into because you’re not careful. Take off your fucking clothes so I can search you, or I’ll take matters into my own hands.”
“Search me for what?”
“Don’t pretend to be more stupid than you actually are. My scanner went off, so I searched your baggage back at my house. You had a tracking chip stuck inside your makeup bag. Deactivated, fortunately, but I’m certain that would have changed as soon as your daddy was sure you were all settled in. And if he planted one there, I’m sure he put more on you. So.” He rocked back on his boot heels and folded his arms over his broad chest. “Strip.”
“There’s nothing on me. My father didn’t even know I—”
He scoffed. “Don’t tell me what your daddy wouldn’t do. You want to act like you don’t know what goes on in his pack? Fine. But I’m not letting you return to my pack’s sanctuary until I’m convinced you’re not transmitting information back to Jersey with every move you make.”
“No one knows I’m here! For fuck’s sake. You’re going to feel so stupid when you realize you’re flying off the handle about nothing.” She kicked off her sandals and pushed her dress straps down her arms.
His cold gaze was locked on her face as she stripped, as if she wasn’t even good enough for him to ogle.
She draped the dress over the tailgate and covered her bare breasts with her arms. “See? Nothing there.”
He grunted and moved around her. Efficiently, he lifted her hair and patted her down from neck to armpits, and gave her clenched ass a grope that no police agency in the country would have tolerated as part of a legal search.
Then he turned her, pressed her arms to her sides, and lifted each of her breasts.
So fucking clinical. It was as if he didn’t even see her as a woman, and that angered her more than the fact that he was patting her down in the first place. Wolves were supposed to be hungry for their mates, and he acted as if she were just some random bitch who meant nothing.
He let her breasts fall back into place and tucked a finger into the front of her panties.
She took a big step back. “If you think I’ve stuck something up myself that doesn’t belong, you’re insane. Stay away from my cooch.”
His growl echoed into the gulch as he pulled his own phone from his pocket and held it up so she could see the display. It kept vibrating, although there didn’t seem to be a call coming in. The words Live Device Nearby flashed on the screen.
She furrowed her brow. “I don’t understand. What kind of device? Like, a bomb?”
“I’m starting to wonder if you’re not playing dumb.”
“I keep telling you I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ll admit to not knowing everything. I’ve never been ashamed about doing that.” She tucked the hair that had fallen into her face behind her ears and tried to straighten her spine. It was hard to muster up any dignity, given the circumstances. “Tell me what you’re looking for, and maybe I can help. That’d make things go faster.”
His dark gaze lowered ever so slightly to her right ear.
She put her hand to it. “What?”
In barely a blink of the eye, his fingers had clamped onto the large pearl stud.
She yipped at the pinch when he grabbed the earring back. “Stop! That’s a real pearl. My parents gave me the earrings a couple of weeks ago.” Right after telling her the date her father would be picking her mate.
“Oh, the irony.” He knelt, set the earring against a nearby wide, flat stone, and picked up another rock.
“No! You can’t—”
He crushed the pearl along with its metal components, and picked through the bits.
She clamped her hand over her other ear when he looked up. “No. No way.”
“My pocket is still buzzing, so either give me the earring, or I’m going to have to explore those cavities you insist you haven’t shoved anything into.”
She swallowed hard and shifted her weight. She didn’t understand how he could be so unrelenting, so cruel. He completely disregarded her discomfort. Maybe he’s blind to it. There’s no other explanation.
Typical wolf in one way, at least. He only cares about himself.
“You want me to promise to replace them? Fine.”
“I don’t care if you replace them. It’s the principle of the matter.”
He shrugged and held out his hand. “What’s it gonna be?”
“Ugh.” She unfastened the earring, handed it to him, and grabbed her dress from the tailgate. She wasn’t going to watch him crush another fine pearl.
She heard the crunch, and cringed.
“Son of a bitch.”
She didn’t think he was talking about himself, so she turned to see what had caused his outburst.
A tiny speck of green glistened on the rock. She moved closer and bent to inspect it along with him. “What is that?”
“It’s a tracking chip.” He held up his phone yet again. It had stopped vibrating, and now read, “No Devices Nearby.”
“A—a bug?”
“Probably meant to act as a relay to your phone. Who knows how much your folks back east overheard already.”
“I—I don’t understand. My parents wouldn’t have done that. Maybe it was there when they bought them.”
He scoffed, brushed the bits of shattered earrings into his hand, and stood.
“I didn’t put them on until this morning. For the wedding.”
“Right. You wouldn’t have wanted to risk losing them during the trip.”
“No! Why do you think I know anything about this?”
“Because that’s what you are, Ashley.” He pulled open the truck’s door, grabbed a napkin from the center console compartment, and dropped the earring components into it. “You’re a born liar who wants to make everyone you think is beneath you miserable because it makes you feel bigger, right? Well, you’re not going to do that here. We don’t run our pack like the sociopathic maniacs where you’re from, so you’d better start praying to the goddess if you can’t fit in. How’s it feel to be the bottom wolf for a change?”
She wasn’t aware that she was the bottom wolf, but she did know she felt like shit. In fact, she couldn’t imagine feeling any worse.
CHAPTER FIVE
Vic was unmoved. His mate stood before him, jaw flapping and eyes wide as saucers, and he just didn’t fucking buy it. In his mind, there was no way a woman could live to see twenty-nine years without knowing what her father was capable of, even on the most rudimentary level.
His father had encouraged him to hold his anger until Vic was certain Ashley deserved it, but Vic didn’t see how she didn’t. While she did seem genuinely shocked at what he’d found in her earring, it was just as likely that she was merely upset that he’d destroyed valuable objects than that she’d gotten called out on her deceit.
He was trying to be sympathetic—or at least, as sympathetic as he could be—but he remembered too much. She’d been just a little kid when the Carbones and the others like them in the pack were expelled, but it was such a contentious ousting that the history had to linger in the pack. Unless the princess was kept extremely sheltered, there was no way she wouldn’t have heard about it.
The Carbones’ particular strain of werewolf genetics—Eurasian Wolf—wasn’t particularly common in the United States, or anywhere, for that matter. A couple of dozen had immigrated to the US in the eighteenth century, and just like everyone seeking freedom and opportunity, followed the money. Some, like Vic and Anton’s ancestors, settled in the northeast. Some made their way south and west, like Darius and Colt’s families.
Their packs were never particularly robust in the New World, so they’d integrated somewhat into other packs, though not completely. Moon shifters preferred mating with moon shifters, which left the Eurasian wolves at a d
istinct disadvantage as far as gene pools were concerned. There just weren’t enough wolves to go around. How they’d survived into the twenty-first century, Vic could never figure out. Their plight certainly wasn’t made any easier by people like Ashley’s father, who would on a whim decide to oust an entire portion of his pack in a night.
“Go or die,” he’d said, and so Vic’s parents and forced Vic out of his teenage sleep of the dead, put him and Anton in the van, and hit the road before the shit really hit the fan.
Maybe his parents didn’t look back, but Vic certainly did. And now even if he looked forward, there was still a Madeira ahead to taunt him.
He forced out a breath and turned his gaze heavenward. “I don’t buy it. I just can’t fucking buy it.”
“I don’t know what you expect me to tell you,” Ashley said. “What is it you want me to confess?”
“Your father is a known extortionist and blackmailer. He would have seen sending his daughter into a new pack as an opportunity to extend his reach.”
“That’s utterly ridiculous. My father didn’t even know I answered the call. I didn’t tell anyone but your father that I was coming here. Besides, alphas don’t meddle in the affairs of other packs.”
“I don’t buy for a minute that you didn’t tell anyone. You can’t actually expect me to believe that. And since when did your father do anything the way an alpha should?”
“You think you know so much. And more than me, about my own pack? That’s bullshit.”
“I’ll know more about it than you’ll ever imagine.”
“Why?”
He leaned his ass against the side of the driver’s seat and canted his head to the dress she held. “Put it on. We’re leaving.”
“Ha.” She shook it out and rolled it up as if to step into it. “Not gonna leave me out here to make my way back on my own? Seems like it’d be a primo opportunity to get rid of me. You’re being shortsighted.”
Scion (Norseton Wolves Book 4) Page 3
