by Crystal Dawn
“Ariel, here. Is that you Juan Juarez?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“I know a lot of things and I’ve been expecting your call. Needing a place to stay?”
“If you have one.”
“I can find some rooms for you and your guys.”
“We’d appreciate that. Any advice?”
“You should have ask that question a year ago. You’ve got a hard job ahead of you my friend.”
“Yeah, well that isn’t hard to see.”
“Really? Why didn’t you see it sooner if it’s so obvious?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I was too selfish and arrogant?”
“That’s a good start. Care to add anymore self-descriptive words?”
“Not making this easy, are you?”
“I’m way easier than she’ll be. You’ve dug yourself in a hole and now you’ll have to crawl out.”
“Any suggestions on how to do that?”
“Sorry, this is something you’ll have to do yourself because if you don’t learn the hard way, I don’t think you’ll learn at all.”
“Yeah, well thanks a lot for nothing,” he muttered.
“I helped you once and a gift was bestowed on you that you did not appreciate. Had you taken the time to get to know her you would have seen that there was more to her than was obvious. Instead, you just trucked on home and left her to stew. Someone else took the time and they got an incredible gift. You’ve done so much damage to your relationship with her and invited in so much competion for her attention, I’m not sure of anyone can help you. You’re still way too arrogant and you want someone to do this for you. There is no easy way to reclaim what you’ve lost but if you don’t, you will live with pain and regret the rest of your life.”
“So nice of you to try to cheer me up,” he mumbled.
“We’re past that point. Pull your big boy britches up and be a man.”
He looked at the phone stunned not only by what Ariel had said, but that she’d hung up on him. Everything and everyone seemed to be against him. For the first time in his life, he was beginning to understand what it felt like to be at the bottom of the dog pile instead of on top. At least the trip was almost over. Once he got his errant female straightened out, he would get her back on the plane to California. It shouldn’t take more than a few days to convince her since his wolf seemed to believe she was the one. It was something mates couldn’t fight, wasn’t it?
They would meet face to face. Apologizing for not realizing what they had, he would admit that he wanted and needed her. She would fall into his arms and say she’d not really been with any of those males, shed’ just been trying to make him jealous. That’s when he would claim her and he would teach her passion. It would be like nothing either of them had ever known before. Never in his entire life had he failed or even struggled to get what he wanted and Amee would never be able to hold out once he turned his charm on her.
The loudspeaker came on to announce they would be landing. Securing everything around him, he put on his seat belt. Anticipation rushed through him. All he needed was confidence and he would have her eating out of his hands. It was just crazy to worry about getting her back. She would fall in line once he saw her in person. He was impossible to resist. The plane touched down lightly, a perfect landing by their experienced pilot. The plane came to a stop and they were ready to disembark. The rental was waiting and their bags were loaded into it.
Driving, he gave his brother the address so he could enter it into the GPS. Ryker smoothly entered the address and a map popped up with a highlighted route. “Anything else, Boss?” Ryker liked to tease him about his position as heir to their father.
“Just keep me on track. These roads are curvy and confusing. The closer we get to Ariel’s the easier it will be to get lost,” he grumbled. If Amee had just behaved, he wouldn’t have been forced to come. At least he had gotten over the panic of possibly losing her. It had been an emotional reaction brought on by those pictures which were probably partly fake anyway.
In person, she wouldn’t look that good and that many guys couldn’t possibly be dogging her around. He’d fallen for an old trick, if there was no news, make some. Since he was here, he’d go ahead and see her so he could drag her back with him. His father would lay off and maybe she wouldn’t be as bad as he’d previously expected. Ryker, Tony, and Jorte could have some fun, maybe meet a white wolf even. At least the trip wouldn’t be wasted.
The trip went fast as they headed down eighty-six highway. It was a scenic road with little town and communities along its path and it skirted Table Rock Lake. There were several times they caught glimpses of the lake. Ariel’s place was near the lake and the pack lands in Missouri had lake access not far from Witch Way, a mysterious, invisible lake front witch community. A turn came then another one and they were on pack property. Crossing the cattle guard, he headed down the drive and pulled in a parking area that hadn’t been there last time he’d visited.
Blake’s pack was growing and there were probably many changes. They went to the door and knocked. Ariel’s daughter came to the door and waved at them. She was adorable, but too little to open the door by herself. A male came up behind her, picked her up, and opened the door.
“Ariel is in her office, but it’s almost suppertime and she’ll be down then. You’ll be staying downstairs, so you can bring your bags in and get settled,” the young wolf said as he carried the little girl away.
“Okay, so everyone get their bags and take them in,” Juan instructed.
They all did as he said and they followed him downstairs. It had changed some too now one room sported two sets of bunk beds. He claimed the other room that had a king sized bed and he let his guys fight over the bunks.
“Damn, Juan. I feel like I’m a pup again. Bunk beds?” Tony bitched.
“Find a sweet she-wolf and bunk with her if you don’t like it,” Juan suggested.
“Asshole,” Tony muttered.
Juan just chuckled. It was good to spend some time with his males. It wouldn‘t be long until supper so they all found a place for their bags and hurried back upstairs. His males wanted to meet any available she-wolves, but he only wanted to find out where Amee was. He felt certain Ariel would point him in the right direction and he would take it from there. The smell of food was wafting through the house and Juan realized he was starving. From his last visit, he remembered that Ariel had a wonderful cook and the food was always good.
Ariel came down to join them just in time to go to the head of the line. Juan remembered it was first come first served. It wasn’t so much that they ran out of food only that they ran out of the favorites. Ariel moved down the buffet line with him and his males following right after her. She fixed a plate for her daughter too then they went to sit in the dining room. Juan sat on one side of her and the seat on her other side was reserved for Blake whether he was there or not. His males sat next to him one after the other.
“So Juan, I expected you to be visiting Amee by now,” Ariel declared.
“I would if I knew where she lived,” he replied.
“Let me get this straight, you two have been informally engaged for a year and you don’t know where she lives?” Ariel asked.
He had to admit when it was said that way, it sounded bad. “She was here at your place when I met her. It didn’t seem to matter where she lived since I wasn’t staying. I figured when the time came, she would come to me,” he admitted.
“Doesn’t look like your plan worked,” Ariel observed. “I’m not sure where she’s living. It may even be with someone else.”
“You mean a male?” he asked in disbelief.
“Maybe, why didn’t you ask her where she was when you told her you were coming to see her?” Ariel wondered.
“We had a disagreement,” he offered.
“She’s mad at you?” Ariel asked.
“Yes,” he agreed.
“You’ve certainly stepped in the shit,” Ariel sai
d. “I doubt that she’ll tell you where she’s at or if she even wants to see you. What did you say to her?”
“I told her I wanted her to come to me. She told her if I wanted her, come get her so here I am,” he explained.
“You are so screwed,” Ariel observed.
Chapter 2
Heartache
Amee stretched like a cat even though she was more of a dog person. Her life, the free time she had anyway, was saturated with sensual and adrenaline producing activities. No one would have thought a year ago, that shy reserved Amee would be in the thick of things living like any moment could be her last least of all Juan, her ex-fiancée. It was a generous term to describe what he was or rather had been to her. Things had been so different then when she’d accepted his offer with relief that she wouldn’t spend the rest of her life alone but she wouldn’t have to swim with the sharks in the dating pool to find a husband/mate. That had turned out to be a mistake and yet it had led to her complete freedom.
To understand how she had come to be so shy, reserved, frightened really of the world around her and the male creatures that inhabited it, you had to understand Amee’s past. That was something Juan hadn’t bothered to attempt. She had been six years old, a happy carefree child not unlike her sisters and cousins. The military training that the young in her family often received was part of her life too, but at six, it just wasn’t enough to make a difference.
It was a school outing when her attitude toward life had change and it had affected her whole family as well. She was used to the small town they lived in where everyone knew everyone, almost anyway. Being part of a large family that was especially well known, she’d never felt threatened by the usual dangers others worried about even though she’d been taught caution and what to do in nearly any situation that might occur.
The zoo was in a nearby city that they went to and it was the first outing of that kind where none of her family had been able to go. Her mother had a broken leg and other injuries from a car wreck. Her dad was overseas fighting the good fight, and for once, not one single relative was available for the field trip. Amee was on her own but she had twenty children, a teacher, and two parents of other children that had managed to come along to help. Considering the age, energy level, and rambunctiousness of her class, they were woefully understaffed.
In hindsight, it was no surprise that something went wrong, the surprise was that more didn’t go wrong and that in the end, the only injury was in her view of the world and her change in outlook toward it. She was watching the predators, they’d always held a fascination for her. One of the lions came up to bars and stared at her as if he wanted to be friends. It didn’t seem like that much time had passed, but when she looked up, no one in her group was in sight. Amee didn’t panic, she knew just what to do.
Walking around, she found a zoo employee so he could help her. He was in uniform so she knew that’s what he was. Leading her back to an area that had lockers, he explained he would call his supervisor from the employee area. Twenty years ago when this had occurred, cell phones weren’t all that common so she accepted his explanation. Why he needed to go to the lockers, she didn’t know but when he handed her a candy bar, her stomach growled loud. The man laughed and got her a drink too.
“It’ll be a while before we find your group so just sit tight and I’ll go make the call,” he explained.
Amee wasn’t alarmed and with a candy bar and a can of pop, she was ready to settle down and wait. The candy bar was one of her favorites and the pop was a rare treat. Once she ate it she started to feel tired and she laid down on the bench she was sitting on. Her eyes closed and she fell into a deep sleep. When she woke, she was in the back of a van and it smelled bad. She wasn’t scared yet, maybe the man was driving her home. A tad nervous, she crawled up to the back seat and slipped over it. She could see there were two men sitting up front and they were talking.
“Damn, Fred, I’m so excited I can hardly stand it,” the guy in the passenger seat said.
“Calm down, Jasper. I know she’s a pretty little thing but you can’t hurt her or we won’t get the ransom paid,” Fred replied.
“I don’t care about the ransom; I want to keep her. She’s the perfect age to train to take care of everything we need,” Jasper growled.
“Now you know I don’t cotton to your tastes. We need money, not a slave to play those kinda games with,” Fred returned.
“You knew what I’d want her for so you shouldn’t have called me if you weren’t going to let me play a bit,” Jasper grouched.
“We’ll see. Meanwhile we need to get where they won’t find us,” Fred concluded.
They didn’t speak after that and Amee felt the fear roll through her. Their conversation echoed through her head and she knew what they planned to do to her. It wasn’t long after before they pulled into a gas station and Jasper checked on her.
“You need to potty?” he asked.
She wished she didn’t but it had been a while since she had gone. Nodding her head, she hoped Fred would intercede and take her instead. He was busy pumping gas and didn’t bother to look up. At the time it had mystified her that he would protest Jasper’s tastes then let the man have free access to her but she understood now that it was just a token protest to soothe his conscience. It had always been his intention to feed her to the wolf. Later, she found out that Fred was human, but Jasper was something else entirely. It was only recently that she’d realized that.
Jasper led her to the bathroom where her watched every move she made with sick interest. It was when she walked past him to leave the bathroom that he grabbed her and tried to kiss her. She squirmed and tried to get away.
“That’s right girlie, you keep struggling. I like it,” he said blowing his nasty breath in her face making her gag.
She stopped struggling and took a breath to calm herself. What had she been taught and how could she best use it? Taking her fist, she drove it between his legs as hard as she could letting fear and rage fuel her. The sick bastard screamed like a girl and let go of her. That was when she ran like her life depended on it. Turning the knob as soon as she got to the door, she thanked God it was a push button lock. Out the door in seconds, she ran straight to the store and the young man at the cash register.
The man immediately called the cops and she sank into the chair praying that one of her relatives would come to get her. The cops arrived quickly, but the van carrying Fred and Jasper was long gone. She recounted everything that had occurred and she hoped those two would be caught before they abducted another innocent child. Amee knew things could have been so much worse but for years later she woke up soaked in sweat feeling Jasper’s hands on her and smelling his fetid breath blowing on her face.
Her family’s reaction had only made things worse. While they upped her training, the only good thing they did, they also refused to let her go anywhere and treated her like the most fragile piece of glass. It had changed her from an extrovert to the opposite. She shunned crowds, avoided people especially men, and learned to take no chances. Amee guarded her heart and her body zealously. That was until she gave Juan the chance to be her one and only; he’d shown her that had been a terrible mistake.
She was determined not to think about that. Tonight would be a special night and she planned to participate in an orgy. It was the last step for her to break free from the fearful existence she’d lived until last year. Making the change and becoming a wolf had freed her to some extent. Now she would take her destiny in her own hands and leave her human inhibitions behind. Going to Junior’s tonight would give her the opportunity to jump into the monthly orgy, but she wasn’t going to just let any random wolf nail her. It was her intention to pick three and see if she couldn’t wear them out. Whether or not she did, it would be fun trying. For a second, an image of Juan the last time she had seen him popped into her head. He had threatened to come for her, but he had no idea how to find her and she didn’t think anyone would help him. All her family th
ought he was a slime ball. It was one thing to be a man whore when you had no commitments but an entirely different thing to continue that lifestyle once you were engaged.
Shaking her head to clear the unwanted thoughts, she went back to getting ready for her night out. Her wheat colored hair and maple syrup eyes were an exotic combination that was eye catching. The only male she’d ever been around that hadn’t tried to fuck her had been Juan. She’d foolishly thought he was being a gentleman but the truth seemed to be he was only attracted to her blood and not her. That was okay because she had severed any connection with him and she was looking forward to making new connections.
Her curvy figure drew in the wolves and her eager and creative sexual attention kept them interested. She’d known she would go through the change even before her agreement with Juan. The only difference was that she imagined it would happen during mating, not a ceremony in Ariel’s house. The irony of it was beyond belief. Amee felt like the universe had really shit on her. At least he’d not had the honor of being her first that would have sucked big hairy donkey balls. No male was ever going to disrespect her like he had again. She had taken control of her life and she was a she-wolf, hear her howl.
She wore a red leather dress, tight and short. It held her breasts up where they were noticed and show cased her long lean legs that were in fuck me red heels. When she walked in, everyone quit talking and the males just looked and drooled. If she said that it didn’t give her a sense of power, she’d be lying. Three of the hottest alphas made a beeline for her and the others dropped back unable to compete.
“I never thought I’d see such a gorgeous she-wolf in this place,” the blond whispered against her neck. She shivered as his heated breath blew over her. He pressed up against her on one side.
“You must not come here often. Some of the hottest females visit here,” she informed.
