by Leila Brown
“Start over?” she asked, her breath coming in fast puffs.
“This is just the beginning.” He rubbed up and down her arm. “But next time I want to see your face when you come.”
She leaned up on one shoulder and stared at him. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she just exhaled and fell back on the pillows.
“What?”
“Nothing.” She didn’t look at him. He grasped her chin in his fingers and turned her face so he could look her in the eyes. “What is it, Gio?”
“Nothing.”
He heard fear in her voice instead of annoyance. What was she scared of? Why had she turned jittery all of a sudden? He didn’t ask again. Instead he just continued to touch her, stroke her. Her breathing returned to normal.
Every time he stroked her, blood rushed to his penis. It jumped and pulsed until it was erect again. He tapped her twice, then dipped down for a kiss. It was time for round two.
He pulled her face to his. He wanted to brand the taste of her into his mind. He would take this slow, savor her feel, her taste. Everything.
Her breasts felt familiar in his hands. He bent and kissed them, then turned up to her face. She was watching him.
“I want you to ride me. Hard.” He reached up and released her wrists then moved down and let her legs loose.
She sucked in a breath and bit her lip, then nodded. They both moved as she rolled on top of him.
He was more than surprised when she lowered her head and lightly bit his left nipple. Flashes of pleasure and pain shot through him. She moved to his other nipple, and his cock jumped when she bit him.
He grabbed her hips and pulled her down on his hard cock. It slid straight inside. Her swollen flesh made her tighter. He gritted his teeth to hold back the almost immediate need to grab her hips and slam her onto him.
“Don’t move,” he told her as he tried to regain a bit of his control.
“No.” She pumped her hips, taking him inside again and again. It felt like she was slamming her entire weight onto him. He bit his lip and tried to hold back.
“Gio,” he moaned.
The muscles of her pussy tightened on him as she lifted herself up, and he lost his slight hold on his control. He grabbed her by the hips and raised her up, then slammed her down. It didn’t take long for him to feel his release coming on.
Jason reached between them and stroked her swollen clit. When his release slammed into him, he pinched her sensitive nub and felt her shatter.
It took several minutes for the room to come back into focus. When he lifted his head, he found her lying next to him, her breathing low and constant. She had to be wiped out.
Jason slid off the bed and into his chair. He made quick work of getting a towel and cleaning them both up and then pulled himself back onto the bed.
He wasn’t sure when Dane was going to make his move. Maybe he would have another chance to make love to her? Hell, he hoped so.
* * *
The sound of the alarms going off woke Jason with a start. There wasn’t time to go check to see where they were. He cradled his head and rolled off the bed. The slap against the hard floor was enough to knock any lingering sleep from him.
“Jason?”
“They’re here. We need to get ready.” He rolled his shoulders to relax. He saw her yank on some lacy scrap over her hips, then pull on some jeans. “I hope you know those little things are toast after this is over.”
“You’ll have to catch me first,” she told him as she blew him a kiss.
His chest swelled with pride. Lots of women would have been quivering in a corner, but not Gio. She pulled on his sweatshirt then looked at him expectantly. He winked at her, then concentrated and wolfed out. He sent a burst of power out with the transformation. It had been a few years since he’d tried to force a change. He doubted Dane’s stronger lackeys would be affected, but it might just give Gio and him better odds.
“What was that?” Gio put a hand to her chest and took several deep breaths.
“One of the benefits of being pack Alpha is you can force the change. Anyone in the house should have changed into his or her wolf form.” That was the kind of power Dane lacked. It wasn’t that he wasn’t man enough; he just wasn’t the right man for the job.
The door to their room slammed open, and three large, blue-eyed brown wolves stared at them. All three set their sights on him. That was fine; he could handle them. The one on the right pounced. Jason jumped and landed on the bed. The second wolf jumped, and when Jason tried to move out of the way, his bum leg got caught in one of the bedsheets. The wolf’s attack launched Jason over the side of the bed. The other two wolves raced around Gio.
Gio stuck her foot out and tripped one, sending him flying into the hardwood dresser. When the wolf got up, he locked his gaze on her.
“Sorry,” she said, shrugging.
The animal took a step toward her; then he turned his head in the direction of the scuffle with Jason. She waited until she thought he might be about to take a step in that direction, and then she took off for the door.
Just outside the doorway, a hand came down on her forearm. Gio didn’t look to see who it was or what they wanted. Instead she slammed her hand down on top of the hand and twisted. The guy who’d grabbed her smacked into the wall with a resounding thud.
When she did look up, she took a deep breath. “Dane.” It had to be him. He looked too much like Toni not to be.
“Ahh. I see that Jason told you about me.” He rushed her.
She moved the same as she had with his sister. But he wasn’t as easily tricked. When he passed her, his fingernails scratched along the fabric of her side through Jason’s sweatshirt. As pain burned above her stomach, she realized he hadn’t just sliced through the shirt.
He laughed at her, then turned and pounced at her. This time he landed at her left. She went on instinct and kicked him in the gut as hard as possible. He staggered back, but not far enough.
He didn’t wait, just rushed her. She hadn’t recovered yet, and he wrapped his arms around her. She elbowed him repeatedly, hoping to break a rib. He grunted with each blow.
“Stop that,” he yelled.
She used the other elbow to catch him in his vulnerable side. The sound of his bones cracking was like a roar of thunder echoing through the hallway.
“Stop fighting me, damn it,” he said, twisting her around to face him.
She hit his chin with all her strength with her open palm. He yelled and threw her into the wall, then followed her.
“I was going to leave him here tonight—alive. But if you don’t stop, I’ll tell my men to kill him now,” he all but whispered to her.
“You’re lying. If I stop fighting, you’ll kill us both.” She thrust her foot out at his shin.
“No. I need him to fight me in an Alpha challenge. That means lover boy and you both get to live long enough to see the ceremony. But keep fighting and I’ll call in the men waiting outside the door. We’ll kill you and dispose of the bodies. Everyone will suspect we did something, but they won’t be able to prove it.” He let her go and sneered. “So what’s it going to be?”
He could be bluffing. She was going to call his bluff if there was no one standing outside that door. He didn’t walk out but instead whistled. There was growling, and suddenly six very large wolves filled the room. Now it was up to her. They either died tonight or on the solstice. She had to believe Jason would come up with a way to save them both.
“Now. Walk out the door.” He was puffing up now that he had backup. She wasn’t scared of him. When she walked by him to get out the door, she jumped toward him. He flinched and moved back the tiniest bit, but she’d seen it. And guaranteed if she had seen it, so had they. She smiled up at his angry face.
He smacked her hard enough to knock her to her knees. Her vision blurred with tears of pain, and her cheek was on fire, but it was worth it to show his lackeys their Alpha was afraid of her, a nonpack hybrid who couldn�
�t shift yet.
“Take her out to the car.” His voice boomed through the room. Two of the wolves shifted into naked men. They grabbed her by the arms and lifted her. Once she was on her feet, they pushed her through the door, which had keys hanging from the lock.
She was almost 100 percent sure Donovan hadn’t given those keys up. Which meant Donovan was either dead or somewhere unable to help them. The other men weren’t following her, which meant they were all going inside to gang up on Jason.
Fire flamed to life in her belly. She pushed against one of the men with all her weight, then kicked out at the other. She hit his knee. Bone snapped, and he went down screaming. The other man tightened his grip on her, but she didn’t want to kick him. She pressed more of her weight on him, and when he tried to put some distance between them, she jabbed him quickly in the nose. Then she turned and kneed him in the gut. He still didn’t let her go. He lifted his hand to strike her, but she saw it coming and flattened her hand and struck him in the throat. His fist glanced off her cheek, but it didn’t have much force. He reached for his neck. The second he let go of her, she raced for the house.
Those two men hadn’t expected her to fight back. She walked up to the door but didn’t see anyone. They must all be in the bedroom. She hurried inside and moved down the hallway.
“As soon as I kill you, I’m going to hang your bitch up to be taken by every man in this pack. Then I’m going to rip her throat out, just like I’m gonna do yours.” He punched Jason in the side of his chest. She heard the faint snap of bone. The son of a bitch was breaking Jason’s ribs.
She didn’t know what happened. One moment she was crouching on the floor, peeking in the door. The next she was flying through the air, then landing on Dane. They seemed to hit the floor in slow motion. Before his men could pull her off him, Gio placed her knee on the right side of his body, on top of his rib cage, and put all her weight on that knee. The bones cracked before she was thrown backward to the floor.
She looked over at Jason. He was staring at her, shaking his head slowly.
“Get that bitch and get her out of here. Now.” Dane got up, but he wasn’t moving so fast. “I am going to enjoy killing you.”
“Maybe and maybe not. I think I just evened up the fight.” She smiled at him, knowing he was going to knock her out. When the blow came, she didn’t even try to move. Besides, it was less fun to torture someone who was unconscious. Pain exploded in her head, and blackness raced up behind a blinding flash of white light.
Chapter Seven
Jason woke to someone shaking him. “What?”
“Get up.”
He stared up into Donovan’s very swollen face. “You don’t look too good,” Jason told him and wheezed as pain seared through his chest.
“You aren’t about to win any beauty pageants either. I take it Dane showed up here with his followers and took Gio?”
“He took her, but not before she cracked a couple of his ribs.” Jason sat up. He should shift and let the change heal most of his injuries. But if he did, he would be stuck in that form for hours. He just didn’t have the energy for back-to-back changes.
“What time is it?” Jason asked, turning his head to work the tension out of his sore neck. “We need to come up with a plan.”
“There’s no time. It’s eight o’clock in the morning. But it’s the twenty-first.” Donovan’s gaze was intense. The last time he’d seen that look, he’d lost the use of his legs in the fight. “What’s the plan?”
“We have to assume Dane and his men will be waiting for us. No doubt the entire pack knows that he stole Gio and that she’s mine. So—”
“She’s yours now?” Donovan asked with a hint of humor.
“She was mine long before tonight. I just didn’t see it. When she cracked Dane’s rib because he cracked one of mine, she proved to every man in the room that she’s Alpha. Most of them will be counting down the hours until they see what it feels like to fuck an Alpha. And if we don’t get her out of there, they’re all going to take her; then Dane will kill her just because she’s mine. I won’t let that happen to her.” That had been the easiest decision he’d had to make in the last week. She was not about to suffer for his stupidity. He should have taken care of Dane a long time ago. He should have never given up being Alpha. He also should have told Gio how important she was to him.
“What’s your plan?” Donovan asked again.
“Call your deputies. Have them ready. I’m going to challenge Dane. The rest of the pack will keep the Alpha fight fair, but if Dane loses, expect the worst.” Jason wasn’t stupid. If he left Dane alive, he would have a constant bull’s-eye on his back. Not to mention his punching Gio. For that alone Jason was going to rip him apart.
“While I’m fighting, you get her out of there. Whether I win or lose, you vouch for her and make sure she gets pack protection. I don’t want her vulnerable to Dane or Toni. Even if that means you have to challenge Dane to an Alpha fight yourself.” Jason looked him in the eye. Donovan never wanted to be Alpha. The only reason he’d agreed to be Jason’s beta was because Jason had said he would never put Donovan in a position to be Alpha. He was going to have to break that promise.
“Jason. I can’t—”
“Look. I know you don’t want it, but you can’t be worse than Dane. He’s going to ruin the pack. People will start leaving. Soon everything you love about this town and pack will be gone. Not to mention, when I’m gone, you’ll be the next target.” Jason crawled over to his chair and pulled himself into it.
“I’m going to get cleaned up, and I’ll meet you back here in fifteen.” He wheeled into the connected bathroom, without wincing once, even though every move was excruciating.
He slid into the shower and let the hot water wash away the dried blood and sweat that coated him. He grabbed the soap and started scrubbing.
After twelve minutes he was in the hallway, waiting on Donovan. He would need someone else to push the pack into accepting Gio. Ambriel? No, he couldn’t put her on Dane’s hit list, just in case things didn’t go as expected.
“We’ll go to the police station. Dane might decide he wants to try to rough you up again before the fight,” Donovan said, putting his gun holster on and going into his office.
It took them an hour to get to the station. Donovan called his deputies. Abel and Kane met them there. Both men were loyal to Jason and Donovan. Jason hadn’t expected Lucky, the only female deputy, to show up, but she did. Which meant he had a woman who Dane and Toni couldn’t intimidate to vouch for Gio.
The plan slowly came together around him. Donovan would get Gio to Lucky, then keep Dane’s supporters from reaching the women. Kane and Able would make sure the celebration continued as normal.
Six o’clock raced up to greet them. Jason had Donovan carry him to the truck. No need to take the chair with them when he wouldn’t be able to use it. It took them over an hour to drive out to the parking lot on the outskirts of the woods where the celebration would be held. Jason opened the door and shifted before Donovan could come around and try to carry him out.
“Go ahead. We’ll catch up,” Donovan said.
Jason raced through the woods. The solstice celebration was just starting, which meant he needed to hurry before Dane got to Gio and announced her status as a nonpack wolf. Three minutes of running at top speed had him skidding into the clearing just as Dane ripped a hood off her head.
The entire pack was watching Dane. None of them had changed yet. Jason pulled in a breath and pushed hard, making the feeling that overtook him during a shift expand and pressed the feeling outward. The people watching Dane slowly transformed, one by one. Even some of Dane’s men changed. Dane screamed and threw Gio to the ground away from him. Her body was convulsing. Jason’s forced shift was bringing her wolf to the surface too fast. Dane turned and faced him.
“Are you challenging me, Jason?”
Jason nodded. He never took his eyes off Dane. The pack closed around them in a tigh
ter circle.
“This will be a fight to the death. I will kill you and take everything that was yours.” Dane dropped to his knees and turned into a wolf. He’d gotten faster at it than Jason remembered.
Out of the corner of his vision he saw Gio scoot to the edge of the circle. Dane tried to get behind him, but Jason had no intentions of letting the other man near his legs. That was where Dane would concentrate his efforts. Jason needed to use that to his advantage.
Dane surged toward Jason. Jason backed up a step, intending to move to the left at the last second. But backing up on two good legs and one leg that was barely able to hold his weight wasn’t a good idea. Jason just barely managed to evade Dane.
