Taryn’s Wolf

by Marisa Chenery

  Her stomach growled loudly, reminding her she hadn’t had anything to eat since yesterday at lunch time. She figured Lars wasn’t going to feed her. At least she had water to drink courtesy of the sink in the bathroom. Her stomach growled a second time. Taryn ground her teeth in frustration. There were too many hours of the day left before it reached midnight. She didn’t think she could survive it without going crazy.

  It wasn’t so much her being held captive as being separated from Wade. Both her father and Roxie had explained how she would feel if she ever was away from Wade for a long period of time, but she hadn’t realized it would be this bad. All she could think about was getting back to Wade. Nothing else mattered. Not what Lars would do to her, or what the outcome of that night’s challenge would be. The need to get to Wade overrode any other thought. And it wasn’t that she just needed to see him and she would be fine. No, it was much more than that. Her body wanted him as well. When she was back with him, she’d be lucky if she could restrain herself from stripping naked and throwing herself at him, to connect with him in the most elemental of ways.

  At the sound of the bedroom door being unlocked, Taryn spun around to face it. It was Lars who pushed the door open. He stepped into the room carrying a tray of food, which he placed on the dresser closest to the door. He looked at her and nodded, obviously pleased to see her so out of sorts. “So you truly have become Wade’s mate. This has worked out better than I had thought it would. My taking you will have been a blow to Drake, but I also have the satisfaction of knowing Wade is suffering from the separation.”

  Taryn couldn’t understand what Lars had against her father. Drake couldn’t have done something that atrocious to have caused Lars to go to such lengths to hurt him back. “Why are you doing this? Do you hate my father that much?”

  Lars dropped his pleasant demeanor. “I despise Drake. It was all his fault.”

  “What was his fault?”

  “Because of him, I never measured up to my father’s expectations. Drake was the special one in his eyes. I was never smart enough, never good enough. Every time Drake did something that made his father proud, my father expected me to do the same. And when I couldn’t, he’d beat me for my failure. In the end, I hated Drake because he was the one who caused my pain and suffering. If he hadn’t been so perfect, my father would have left me alone.”

  “So you think that justifies everything you’ve done to my father? Don’t think for one minute your killing my mother and holding me captive will make your father respect you any more than he does now, because I doubt it will. All it has done has caused a lot of innocent people to suffer. You should be directing all your anger at your father. He’s the one who hurt you.”

  Lars growled deep in his throat. “I did this for me, not to earn my father’s respect. I took care of my father years ago. I challenged him to fight to the death and I killed him. In the end, I was stronger and faster than he was. That’s why I know I will come out the winner tonight. Drake has wasted the last twenty-six years mourning a woman who never loved him enough to accept him as a true mate. How pathetic. It has made him weak.”

  “Don’t count yourself the victor until you’ve won. Drake has something to fight for—me. That’s just another way you don’t measure up. You don’t have a child who loves and respects you, and you never will. No woman in her right mind would have a child with you.”

  Lars crossed the distance between them and raised his fist to strike her. Taryn instinctively raised her arms to protect her face. When the blow didn’t come, she slowly lowered her arms back down. Even though her heart was pounding with fear, she stared at Lars with disgust.

  Chuckling, Lars backed away. “You may put on a brave front, Taryn, but I can hear your heart racing, and I can smell your fear.” Once he reached the door, he nudged the tray sitting on the dresser. “Eat. I can’t have you passing out from lack of food. I like my women to be high-spirited when I take them to bed, and I have the feeling I’m going to enjoy breaking you.”

  After Lars closed and locked the door, Taryn picked up the tray and took it to the bed. Sitting down, she started to eat the food he had given her. It wasn’t much, just a couple of thick slices of bread with some cheese, but it would do. She didn’t eat it because he had told her to. She ate it because as Lars said it wouldn’t do if she passed out from lack of food. She needed to be at her best for tonight. If there indeed was a chance the bastard would win, she wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Wade watched the last of the extra members of their pack drive away. Now that the harvesting was complete, they were no longer needed and could go back to their normal everyday lives. They had not been informed about the challenge that was taking place that night. They knew about Taryn’s disappearance, but Beowulf had reassured them that the situation was being taken care of, and that Taryn would pay them for all the work they had done after her return. Before leaving The Pines, each one of them had told Beowulf to call if they were needed. They had all come to respect Taryn over the weeks and didn’t want to see anything bad happen to her. Beowulf had promised he would do so if it came to that.

  It was now getting close to the time that they had to leave to go to Muir Woods. The others had wanted to take one car only, but Wade said he would be driving his own. Once he had Taryn back, there was no way he was going to hang around for the clean-up. He only hoped he’d be able to get her back to his house before he could no longer hold back from having her. Being so long separated from her, the mating urge was riding him hard. More so now than it had before they had bonded. He now understood why Beowulf and Roxie couldn’t keep their hands off each other. He’d had a hard-on for most of the day and it wouldn’t go away.

  Before returning to the house to see if the others were ready to leave, Wade looked up at the night sky. It matched his mood. Thick, heavy storm clouds skidded across the moon, blocking its light and the numerous stars. It was going to be pitch black during the challenge, but it was no detriment to a werewolf. They had excellent night vision. The only one who wouldn’t be able to see much would be Taryn.

  Stepping inside the house, Wade found Beowulf, Roxie, Braedan and Drake were ready to go. “All set?”

  Beowulf nodded. “As we’ll ever be. I want you to promise me one thing before we go, Wade.”

  “And that would be?”

  “Don’t do anything foolish. We’ll get Taryn back.”

  “I’ll only promise you I won’t move against Lars unless he forces me to. If he ends up turning on Taryn, nothing will stop me from taking him down.”

  “We’ll both take him down,” Drake added. “One way or the other, Lars won’t be leaving the woods without paying for his past actions.”

  “I thought you were going to fight him to the death.”

  “I have no intentions of killing him. I knew that was the only way I could get Lars to accept the challenge. He thinks no one can defeat him in a fight to the death. He challenged his own father to such a challenge and won.”

  “He must have had a real loving relationship with his father,” Wade said, sarcastically.

  “It was far from it. My father suspected Lars’ father was mistreating Lars, but he never saw any proof of it.”

  “That would explain why he’s a little messed up in the head. Personally, I’d rather see the bastard out of our lives forever, permanently.”

  Roxie cleared her throat, drawing the men’s attention. “That’s where I come in. I fixed Gren, so I’ll fix Lars. No killing anyone unless it’s in self-defense.”

  Wade could tell Roxie was serious. She wouldn’t allow them to kill Lars outright. It was true, she had fixed Gren. Using her magic against him, and seeing how she was able to shift into her human/wolf form that made her stronger than any male werewolf, had been enough to keep Gren in line. But Lars was an altogether different animal. He had killed Taryn’s mother purposely. It had by no means been an accident.

  “Fine, no killing L
ars. Now let’s get going.”

  The drive from Stags Leap to Muir Woods seemed to take an intolerable amount of time to Wade. But the closer he got to the woods, the closer he felt he was getting to Taryn. When they arrived at Muir Woods, he drove his car to a different parking lot from the one Drake had parked his. They were pretty sure Lars would park in that same lot, since it was the closest one to the challenge area. It was also the reason why it had been decided Drake would use his car. There was a small chance Lars would know which car Drake drove.

  Wade jogged back to where the others waited for him. He felt as if his nerves were stretched to the breaking point as they set out on the main trail that led to the small clearing that served as the challenge area. He just wanted this over and done with.

  Roxie, who had been walking ahead with Beowulf, hung back until he caught up to her. She looped her arm through his and fell into step beside him. “I’m having a bad case of déjà vu.”

  Wade knew what Roxie was referring to. It was not that long ago Beowulf had come to Muir Woods to challenge Gren to a fight. “I know what you mean. Hopefully this will be the last time we’ll have to come here under these circumstances.”

  Pulling on his arm, Roxie let the other men get farther ahead of them. She spoke in a hushed tone for his ears only. “I’m all prepared to try the spell on Taryn tomorrow.” .

  “I want you to try tonight,” Wade replied, quietly.

  “Wade, I don’t think Taryn will be in any mood for it. I think the two of you will be a little busy making up for lost time, so to speak. I’m sorry, but I’m no voyeur. Plus, if the spell does work, it’s not really a pleasant experience. Taryn’s going to feel a little overwhelmed as well. I know I was. All the extra sensitive werewolf senses take a little getting used to.”

  “I guess tomorrow will do.”

  “Believe me, once you get Taryn back in your arms, the spell will be the furthest thing from your mind. I know what you’re going through. It was hell when Beowulf decided I was better off with Royce than with him. We barely made it to a bed before we were at each other.”

  “Way too much information, Roxie.” Wade pretended to shudder in disgust.

  Roxie punched him lightly in the arm. “As long as you get the point I was making, then I won’t say any more about how great the sex was that night.”

  Wade groaned. “What are you trying to do to me, Rox? Now I have to go flush my ears out. I so did not need the mental image of you and my brother in bed together.”

  “Whatever. I won’t say a word when I see Taryn and you ripping at each other’s clothes. Just try to hold back until you’re out of sight of the rest of us, then you can go have sex like bunnies.”

  When they reached the spot where they had to break off the main trail and make their way through the trees to reach the challenge area, Wade kissed Roxie’s cheek. “Thanks for distracting me, even though I’ll have nightmares tonight after hearing some of the things you told me.”

  “Any time. We’d better catch up to the others before Beowulf starts to wonder what’s taking us so long.”

  “Too late.”

  Wade pointed over to where Beowulf stood a little away from the main trail watching them. Roxie hurried over to him. Wade watched Beowulf pull Roxie close to his side before he walked away with her. Alone, Wade followed behind them.

  * * * *

  They had purposely arrived early, so they would have enough time to hide their presence from Lars. Only Drake remained out in the open. They had taken up positions downwind and well out of sight from where the two challengers were to meet. Once in position, Wade found the waiting the hardest part of the night. In the back of his head, he couldn’t help wondering if Lars would actually show up. It would just be their luck if he didn’t.

  But right at the stroke of midnight, Lars came into view, pulling a bound and gagged Taryn behind him. When he saw Drake standing in the small clearing waiting for him, Lars shoved Taryn to the ground and wrapped the length of rope he carried around her ankles. Once he was finished, he turned to face Drake.

  “As you can see, your precious daughter is none the worse for wear. I decided I’d have my fun with her after I rid myself of you.”

  Drake snarled and snapped his teeth at Lars. “Release Taryn. Let’s keep this between the two of us.”

  “I think not. She’s my prize, and I don’t give up my prizes for anyone. Enough talking.”

  Lars and Drake launched themselves at each other, changing into wolf form on the fly. Wade kept his eye pinned on Taryn. He heard her whimper once when the two wolves came a little too close to where she lay.

  Wade shifted his feet, thinking that maybe he could somehow make his way around the clearing to get to Taryn, but Braedan who was hidden with him, put out a hand to stop him. He shook his head. Wade ground his teeth in frustration. If Taryn got caught in the middle of the fight, the wolves’ claws and teeth could do a lot of damage.

  The sounds of the wolves’ growls filled the clearing as they tore into each other. Blood splattered their coats as each one wounded the other, neither seemed to have the advantage. Wade had a feeling the fight was not going to be over as quickly as he had first thought.

  *

  Taryn watched the two wolves battle. She tried to keep track of which one was her father, but it was so dark she could barely see anything in front of her. Both wolves had light colored fur so they were a little easier to see, but not by much.

  Unable to just lie there and watch, Taryn tried to get her hands free. It was no use. Lars had tied the rope too tight around her wrists. Her fingers were starting to go numb. Craning her neck around, she tried to see if there was a rock or something she could use to try and saw through the ropes. But it was too dark to see anything clearly.

  When one of the wolves cried out in pain, Taryn quickly turned her head back in their direction. Her heart lurched in her chest when she saw Lars had Drake pinned to the ground with his jaws clamped around the back of her father’s neck. She screamed behind her gag.

  Thinking that it was just about all over, Taryn struggled with her bonds, hopelessly trying to get free so she could save Drake. But instead of biting down and breaking Drake’s neck, Lars pulled back and shifted back into his human form. She screamed again in warning as he pulled a large knife out of his coat pocket.

  Before he could use it, Beowulf, Braedan and Wade stepped into the clearing and rushed Lars. Seeing Drake was no longer alone, Lars quickly lurched to his feet and picked Taryn up so she stood in front of him. The knife he held came to rest at the base of her throat.

  “You broke the rules, Drake. You were to come alone.”

  Taryn saw Drake, now back in human form, was bleeding from a number of wounds. “You broke the rules by keeping Taryn as a hostage, and then by using a weapon other than teeth and claws. The challenge is over. Let Taryn go and maybe things will go easier for you.”

  “Like hell I will. I still have the power here as long as I have her.”

  “Not for much longer you won’t,” Beowulf snarled at him. “Roxie, now!”

  Something large growled directly behind Lars. Before Lars could turn to see what it was, a furred arm reached around him and grabbed the wrist of the hand that held the knife, pulling it away from Taryn’s throat. The sound of Lars’ wrist snapping was easily heard. Whimpering in pain, Lars dropped the knife to the ground. He looked up in horror as Roxie in her human/wolf form pulled Taryn out of his hold.

  Once she was free, Taryn watched Roxie pick Lars off his feet by his throat. “I guess you haven’t heard what I do to bad dogs like you,” Roxie snarled into his face. She then held him away from her in disgust. “And it looks as if you aren’t housebroken either.”

  Taryn jumped as someone came up behind her and began working on the ropes tied around her wrists. “It’s only me, Taryn.”

  At the sound of Wade’s voice, Taryn swayed towards him. As he continued to work on the ropes, Braedan came over and removed her gag. Betwee
n the two of them they soon had her free of her bonds. Turning to face Wade, she threw herself into his arms. She pressed against him as her body began to shake in aftershock. With her held tightly against his chest, Wade picked her up and walked out of the clearing. No one tried to stop them.

  Reaching the main trail, Wade let her down on her feet briefly and kissed her for all he was worth. With reluctance, he pulled away. Taryn whimpered at the loss of his mouth on hers. “I know, Taryn. Just hold on. I’ll get us back to my house as quickly as I can.”

  “Why can’t I think of anything else but having you inside me? I should be a blubbering idiot right now.”

  Scooping her up in his arms again, Wade jogged toward the parking lot where he had left his car. “It’s the mating urge. I feel it too.”

  At his car, Wade quickly helped Taryn into the passenger side before coming around the back end to get into the driver’s seat. Starting the car, he backed out of the parking space and quickly headed for the main road.

  Wanting to distract herself from the intense longing that had taken over her body, Taryn asked, “What’s going to happen to Lars now?”

  “It will be up to Roxie to decide what his fate will be. Whatever it will be, I’m sure Lars will be punished.”

  The remainder of the trip back to San Francisco sped by in a blur. By the time Wade drove up the winding drive to his large house, Taryn had reached her limit. The second Wade had the car parked and the ignition switched off, she clambered over to his side of the car and sat in his lap facing him. She fisted her hands in his hair and claimed his lips in a hard kiss.

  Wade blindly reached for his keys, which were still in the car’s ignition. He barely managed to murmur against her mouth, “House, Taryn,” before she shoved her tongue inside his mouth.