Dreams of the Wolf [The Gray Pack 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Lori King

  “What do you want with me? I thought you wanted my mom?” she asked, hoping the question would delay him from his goal.

  “Tasha? Oh I never wanted her, I just wanted the gold claim her daddy was planning on leaving to her. She’s worth a fortune, well, she was worth a fortune. I’ve also found that my stamina requires younger blood. Tasha couldn’t keep up with me now, and at this point she’s used goods after three kids. But she took the choice out of my hands by running away from me, so I’m paying her back by taking the choice out of yours. Won’t it just please Mommy and Daddy to welcome their new son-in-law into the pack?” He chuckled again, and crouched back down by the cage door. Reaching a hand in, he smiled wider when she slapped his hand away from her.

  “It won’t happen, Kaplan. You’ll have to kill me, because I won’t mate with you,” she said, and he cocked his head.

  “Why not? I’m the Beta to one of the strongest packs in the country. You can’t do better than me.” He didn’t seem angry so much as intrigued.

  “I’m already mated.”

  “No, you’re not. I checked for a mark when my men turned you over to me. You’re unclaimed.”

  “He hasn’t claimed me yet, but he will. You don’t want to be standing in his way when he finds me,” she said, tilting her chin defiantly.

  “I hope he comes looking. I’m itching for a good fight. In fact, I’m hoping those Gray Pack wolves decide to play hero and come looking for you, but for the moment I’ll settle for a good hard fuck to ease my stress.” His hand snaked inside the cage, and gripped her by the hair, jerking her forward so that her cheek slammed into the bars. “I’m going to open the cage, and you’re going to play nice, or I will leave you in so much pain you won’t remember your own name, got it?”

  She blinked back tears from the burning pain in her scalp. There was no way she would be able to fight him off. He was going to rape her, and there wasn’t shit she could do. Where the fuck was Thomas, and where were the other Gray wolves?

  The key clicked in the lock, and the metal cage door popped open. Nicolas released her hair long enough to reach in with the other arm, and grip her wrist, yanking her forward and out of the cage. She slid, trying to get to her feet and landed on her knees with a gasp of pain.

  Nicolas gave her a lewd grin, and then released his hold on her to reach for his zipper. “Well, since you’re down there, I suppose we’ll just take advantage—”

  A sharp knock on the door cut his words off, and had KJ breathing a sigh of relief. There was no way she could suck his dick without biting the fucker. Whomever the intruder was had likely saved her life, because Nicolas would kill her the moment she sunk her teeth into his flesh.

  “What the fuck is it?” Nicolas snarled, turning toward the door.

  “The human is awake, and he says he’s a doctor.”

  The voice behind the closed door washed over KJ with surprising heat. It was low and had a delicious rasp to it, and it belonged to a stranger. What the hell was wrong with her? She was lusting after a stranger’s voice now! Her life was totally freaking screwed up.

  “I’ll deal with him in a minute,” Nicolas yelled.

  “But, Nico, Allen needs that buckshot out of his hide so that he can shift.” Nicolas was silent for a moment, but KJ could see his brain thinking through the risk of leaving his pack mate injured.

  “Fuck. Fine, I’m coming.” Nicolas grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to her feet. Compared to his large frame she was very petite. Thomas made her feel protected in the shadow of his muscular body, but Nicolas made her feel vulnerable. A tremor of true fear hit her. This was a man that was evil all the way to the core. If he wanted to, he could break her in half. “I’ll deal with you in a little while. Don’t worry, my pretty pet, we’ll resume right where we left off.”

  KJ yelped as he dropped her to the floor without warning. Her legs buckled underneath her and she went down hard. Disoriented, she wasn’t able to get a glimpse of the man outside the cabin door before Nicolas slammed it shut behind him.

  She could hear him speaking to whoever was outside about taking her to another cabin, but then their voices were muffled and she growled with frustration. Fuck a duck this whole thing was going to get worse. Whoever stood outside that door with Nicolas was making her wolf howl just by being close.

  Two sets of footsteps moved away, and the scent dissipated. The stranger had made it sound like Thomas was a ways away from her, so why was she scenting the mating lust? Was it possible that she had two mates? What if the stranger was also her mate? A nervous growl rumbled from her wolf, and she nearly vomited. Two mates was three times worse in this case, and she needed to get the hell out of here before Nicolas came back.

  Chapter 5

  The cabin she was in was empty, and completely secure as far as she could tell. The windows were boarded up from the outside, and the doors were securely locked. No matter how much she searched for a weakness in the wooden walls, she was locked in an unbreakable cage. The awkward fit of the men’s T-shirt and sweatpants was driving her mad as she continuously had to pull them up from her knees, and her anxiety and frustration made her pace the perimeter of the front room. Every now and then she would get a whiff of the other male that her wolf desperately wanted her to go to, but she couldn’t pick up on Thomas’s scent at all. It was very confusing. Ultimately she settled on the floor with her back to the metal bars of the cage, facing the front door, and praying that her brothers wouldn’t leave her in the Kaplan hands for very long.

  What seemed like hours later, she was startled from a restless doze, when the door finally flung open, and a large male wolf came in with Thomas thrown over his shoulder. KJ bit her tongue to keep from whimpering when he dropped Thomas to the ground without concern for his person. That landing was going to bruise tomorrow.

  With her eyes on Thomas’s unconscious form, she missed seeing the male wolf move in her direction until his hand wrapped around the back of her neck. He lifted her to her feet, gripping her so hard that she figured she would have her own set of bruises to match the ones on Thomas. His breath was wretched, and it turned her stomach when his cold, yellow eyes skimmed over her.

  “You sure are a pretty bitch. You know, if Nico wasn’t so bent on having you for his own, I would fuck you until I broke you,” he said with a low snarl in his throat.

  Trying not to let her fear show, she growled back. “It’s more likely that I would break you before your pecker got hard you nasty dog.”

  Her words hit their mark because he reacted instantly, throwing her to the floor and kicking her in the ribs. “I hope Nico kills you when he breeds you.”

  With that he stormed out the door, leaving her coughing as she gasped to refill her lungs with oxygen. She scooted over on the floor to where Thomas was. His face was pale, and he had a huge black and blue bruise on his cheek as well as one swollen eye. By the look of his clothing, he had put up one hell of a fight at some point, and a wave of pride washed over her, that this strong man was her mate.

  Immediately her stomach flip-flopped. What was she saying? Was she already accepting the mating? Looking back at the beaten man stretched out limply on the floor, she sighed heavily. How could she not accept the mating? The only reason that Thomas was even here in…well, wherever they ended up, was because of her. For the first time she truly looked at him from top to bottom. His dark brown hair was nearly black in color, but streaks of amber highlighted it here and there. It had a wavy curl to it that made it look messy all the time. High cheekbones and a square jaw gave his profile an angular, masculine look. His shoulders were broad and his chest wide, but she had picked up on that when he held her against him. Where his T-shirt pulled up out of his jeans she could see the light dusting of dark black hairs on his muscular abs, and she wondered if that line went all the way up, and then if it went all the way down.

  Her wolf howled in her head and her mouth watered at the thought. His lean hips had etched muscles carved into them t
hat matched that line of hair perfectly, so that in essence there was an arrow pointing straight to the large bulge under his zipper. Taunting her. Giving a huff of frustration when she caught the scent of her own desire, she closed her eyes against the delectable view, and focused on regaining her control.

  Once she felt like she had herself in check, she reopened her eyes and pressed her hand to his wrist to check his pulse. It was still strong and steady, but her wolf wouldn’t let her leave his side at this point, so she curled up against him. His scent filled her nose, and warmed her from the inside out. Anxiety rolled in her belly over what would happen to the two of them, but having Thomas with her gave her a tiny grain of hope that they might get out of there alive.

  “KJ?” Thomas stared down at the woman who rested on his chest. He could feel his whole body responding to holding her close. “KJ, what’s going on? Where are we? And what are you wearing?”

  He watched with a frown as she came awake slowly, and then sat up with a start. She glanced down at the oversized T-shirt that had pulled down over her shoulder while she slept. It bared most of her cleavage and throat to his view, and a pink blush crept over her cheeks before she lifted her eyes back to his. “The Kaplan wolves got me while I was in wolf form. My clothes were back at the van, and based on the uses that Nicolas Kaplan has already outlined for me, I don’t suspect I will be getting a new wardrobe any time soon. I’m lucky to have this.”

  “Shit. I remember. They took me, and they beat the shit out of me before they realized they had a use for me. They made me take the buckshot out of some guy’s ass so that he could shift into his wolf form to heal. That’s a hard task to do with one eye swollen almost shut.”

  Jealousy was burning in his gut. She was wearing some schmuck’s shirt, and by the look of the bruise on her throat whoever it was had hurt her. He sat up with a groan, and pulled his shirt off. The light of desire glowed from her pretty blue eyes as they skimmed over his chest and zeroed in on his zipper, and he nearly threw the shirt to the side to pull her back against him. Instead he forced himself to hand it to her.

  She frowned in confusion. “What are you doing?”

  “Please? Just wear mine instead. I can’t stand to think that you’re wearing the clothes of someone who hurt you.”

  “It’s no big deal—” She started to protest.

  “Please, just this once don’t argue.”

  He ground his teeth together while he waited for her to decide, and then when she finally did he had to bite his tongue to keep from groaning. She whipped the huge stranger’s shirt and sweats off and threw the clothing across the room. He took in her gorgeous curves just before the T-shirt settled over them, and instantly his cock was as hard as concrete.

  “Did they get anyone else?” Her face was drawn and pinched with worry, and he pulled her into his lap, sighing with pleasure as she buried her face in his neck, and locked her arms around his waist.

  “I didn’t see anyone else. Cash and the others went into the woods on the opposite side of the road after you took off. They were trying to give you some space,” he answered, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head. Her blonde hair was silky, and he stroked his fingers through it, petting her gently.

  “This is all my fault! If I had just talked to you, and not acted like a child—” Her voice caught on a sob, and his heart broke.

  “Shh…little one, they were waiting for us. If it hadn’t been now, they would have gotten us later. It’s not your fault at all.”

  “We have to figure out a way out of this.” Her breath was warm over his collarbone, and his balls ached. He knew that she could feel his hard cock under her ass, but she was ignoring it.

  “KJ, Nico—I mean Nicolas Kaplan—said that he is going to keep me for the moment because I’m useful, but those wolves are bloodthirsty. I’m not sure how long he will hold them off of killing me just for the fun of it. I’m guessing they took you to use against your mom and dad.”

  “No, Kaplan was in here earlier. He said that he plans to keep me as his mate, and he said something about a gold claim that my grandfather had.”

  “Gold?” he asked doubtfully.

  “Yeah, it was the strangest thing because I’ve never heard my parents even mention anything about gold or my grandfather being wealthy. He said that he wanted my mom initially to get his hands on the gold, but now she’s too old for him. Apparently he has decided that I will do in her place.” Her eyes lifted to meet his, and her face was a scary white color. Fear was etched in every line of her frown, and Thomas wanted to kill the wolf that scared her so much.

  KJ’s eyes suddenly widened, and she held her finger up to signal him to be quiet, as she moved out of his lap. The sound of footsteps outside the front door snagged his attention, and he froze, holding his breath. The person hesitated, and then the sound of a key in the lock sent goose bumps prickling over Thomas’s skin. This was it. The Kaplan wolves were coming for them. Jumping to his feet, he braced himself behind the door, prepared to attack the intruder before they could get fully into the room.

  When the door opened, Thomas launched himself at the male body, and had him in a choke hold before he could move much. The blond man’s hands went up instinctively to grab ahold of Thomas’s arm, and the next thing he knew, he was slamming into the floor on his back.

  Fuck, these wolves were strong, was all he could think as he struggled to drag oxygen back into his lungs. His body vibrated with the intense impact of the floor, and stars winked in his vision.

  “Shit. Damn it, man. Do you have to go trying to be a hero? I could have killed you. Stupid human. Get up, quick. We have to move fast if we’re going to get out of here before Nico finds out we’re gone.”

  To Thomas’s utter amazement, the blond man with bright green eyes moved across the room with a set of keys in his hand, and reached his hand out to help KJ to her feet. She jerked away, and the man sighed with frustration.

  “Do you want out of here or not, mate?” he growled at her.

  “Mate?” Thomas gaped at their rescuer, and a blushing KJ.

  “I know you smell it. Let me get you out of here safely, and then we can talk. We have to hurry.” The man didn’t even acknowledge Thomas as he helped KJ stand, but he frowned when she immediately moved to Thomas’s side, and helped him rise to his feet as well. Thomas could see the confusion in her blue eyes, as she swept her gaze over him and the new man. She seemed to be so surprised she was speechless, and for once Thomas was, too.

  Jealousy rumbled in his chest at the idea of this new man calling her his mate. KJ was his. He’d be damned if this blond asshole was going to come in and sweep her away with some sort of werewolf endearment. The man was right about one thing, they had to get out of here while they had the chance.

  Thomas wrapped his arm around KJ’s shoulders, and used his fingertip to lift her chin so that she could look at him. “Are you okay with this, little one?”

  She nodded, still looking puzzled, and slightly frazzled. “Yes, he’s right, we have to trust him. It’s the only chance we’ve got.” She glanced back at their rescuer, who gave her a nod that grated Thomas’s nerves.

  Much to his dismay, she whipped his T-shirt off right there in front of them both and shifted into her wolf form. Thomas took a chance and glanced at his rival while she was naked. The look of pure lust in his green eyes nearly got the man killed, but somehow Thomas managed to rein his jealousy in as he tugged his shirt back on. Her smell filled his nose, and he could still feel the warmth of her body in the fabric. Soothed, he was able to face the two of them, and give a begrudging nod.

  With KJ in wolf form, and he and the stranger on foot, they all made their way down the hallway of the house they were being held in. The house was smaller than Thomas originally thought, and before he knew it they stood at a back door. The man stopped before he inserted the key into the lock.

  “We are going to have to make a run for it. Can you keep up, human?” Thomas glared back at the man, an
d then gave a sharp nod just before the man jerked the door open. “Good, I’m not waiting for you. She’s my sole priority right now.”

  With those parting words the man ripped his clothes off, looping them around his neck, and then he shifted into an enormous white wolf, and used his nose to nudge KJ out the now-open door. The two wolves took off at a run across the small yard toward the woods, and all Thomas could do was follow them. His heart was pounding in his chest as he ran into the dim tree line. Expecting to hear a call of alarm or the snarling and snapping of deadly wolves, Thomas ran his heart out. He pushed himself to run faster and harder than he ever had in his life.

  He managed to keep up for the most part with the two wolves, but he knew that was only because the two of them weren’t running at full speed. KJ kept turning her golden head to check that he was still with them, and the strange wolf kept circling back behind them as though assuring himself that they weren’t being followed. They ran for several minutes, and if Thomas had to guess, at least a couple of miles, before his body began to slow. Adrenaline drained from him, and he came to a stop, bending over with his hands on his knees gasping for air.

  The two wolves noticed quickly, and turned back to come to his side. The white wolf sat on his haunches panting while the vivid green of his eyes scanned the trees behind them. KJ shifted as soon as she was close to Thomas, and she reached out for him.

  “Are you okay, Thomas?” she said as she worked to catch her own breath.

  “Fine,” he snapped, jerking his shirt back off and throwing it at her. “Would you please put something on?”

  She let out a sharp laugh that rang of nerves, and began to dress. Thomas noticed that the white wolf kept his gaze locked on her nudity the whole time it was in view, and he waited until she was covered to shift back into his human form.

  “Who are you?” KJ asked, staring at the naked stranger, who did nothing in the way of redressing.