Brother. Relief and wonder poured into him as a connection he thought was lost forever flared to life. Liam.
Lachlan showed them the way, leading Liam through the maze of tunnels and providing access codes at each subsequent level. Now that he knew he was not doing this alone, he could afford to be a bit more thorough. They all agreed that Derrick’s men would see to the captured males, while Lachlan would take care of Angelica. Derrick didn’t like that at all, that was clear, but even he had to admit Lachlan had the better chance of success. Lachlan was already in there with her, and as a recognized doctor, could move around with her without raising the alarm.
Though he knew it was coming, even Lachlan was startled when the first explosion rocked the underground labs. Emergency sirens blared throughout the facility. Protocol dictated the lockdown would begin next.
Lachlan swept Angelica from the bed and tucked her against his chest, moving quickly. With the strength of his kind, he carried her easily through the corridors, barking orders to anyone who noticed him. His deep, authoritative voice worked to his advantage — no one questioned him or his actions.
A second explosion sounded, right on schedule. This one would ensure there would be an exit for him and the others.
Schaeffer suddenly appeared in the hallway, looking disheveled and disoriented. His eyes were bloodshot, his pupils still dilated from the tranquilizers Lachlan had slipped into his liquor.
“Lachlan? What the hell is going on?”
Lachlan didn’t hesitate. “We’re under attack. I’ve got the female. Come!”
Confused, Schaeffer obeyed the underlying command in Lachlan’s voice. Brilliant scientist he might be, but even he had survival instincts. He looked around and saw the techs scrambling as guards appeared to lead them out.
Lachlan went in the opposite direction. Schaeffer followed behind Lachlan, jogging to keep up. “What about the others?”
“Leave them,” Lachlan answered without turning around. “She’s the one we want. She’s pregnant.”
Lachlan knew dangling that little tidbit of information was a bait Schaeffer couldn’t possibly resist, and he was right. Schaeffer followed without question.
The floors rumbled beneath their feet as a third, then a fourth blast hit in quick succession.
“My lab...” Schaeffer moaned the words, stumbling as he looked back over his shoulder. Lighting flickered on and off as the corridor behind them simply collapsed. Lachlan ignored him and kept moving.
After traversing through miles of underground tunnels, Lachlan finally stopped. Schaeffer was breathing heavily, leaning over with his hands on his knees. Lachlan looked as though he had done nothing more strenuous than simply stepping out of the shower.
The distractions had worked. The element of surprise and carefully placed detonations kept the staff away from the holding areas, allowing Derrick’s pack to get in and reach the others without being spotted. They moved a lot faster than Lachlan, since he’d kept his pace deliberately slow to ensure that Schaeffer could keep up. By the time they stopped, Lachlan received word that the others were already being loaded into the multi-terrain vehicles that would take them down to the base of the mountain.
“Why have we stopped?” Schaeffer panted.
“Because this is as far as you go,” Lachlan said quietly.
Schaeffer looked at him in confusion. Then his eyes grew wide as several very large men filed into the chamber behind Lachlan.
Lachlan had no trouble identifying the Alpha. He was the one barely holding on to his human form. His eyes blazed with intensity, a glowing blue that practically lit the entire chamber. His canines had already begun to extend. Before he could complete the shift, Lachlan put Angelica into his arms.
“Get her out of here,” Lachlan said.
Derrick kissed Angelica reverently, then murmured a few words to her and handed her to Christophe. “He is mine,” Derrick growled, looking at Schaeffer.
“No,” said Lachlan. “I have waited too long for this. I will not be denied.”
“Angelica is my mate.”
“He destroyed my pack.”
Derrick’s jaw clenched as the two males faced off. As much as he wanted the scientist all to himself, he understood Lachlan’s need as well. “Together, then?”
“Aye,” Lachlan nodded in agreement.
They shifted into their lupine forms. Schaeffer’s eyes grew wide as he stumbled backward, pasting himself against the far wall of the chamber. “Lachlan! You are one of them?”
Lachlan growled in answer. He and Derrick each took a step forward in perfect synchronization. It was the last thing Victor Schaeffer ever saw.
* * *
Silas and the others erected a temporary camp several miles away, but it was close enough to feel the tremors as the last of the explosives detonated, permanently burying any remains of Schaeffer’s private facilities. No one left inside was alive to experience it, though. Derrick’s men had been quick and thorough.
Lachlan shook hard, spraying arcs of icy water everywhere. He’d managed to wash most of Schaeffer’s blood from his fur, the silver and black no longer tainted with crimson, but it would take a long time to get the foul taste out of his mouth. He shifted back into his human form, hoping to hell someone had the foresight to bring a bottle of Listerine or, at the very least, a tin or two of Altoids.
Derrick was waiting for him in his tent. He’d expected as much, sensing the other male’s presence easily.
“How is she?” Lachlan was the one to break the silence, pulling on a pair of jeans.
“Our healer is with her now.”
Lachlan clearly sensed the barely-leashed violence and knew Derrick had read enough of Angelica’s mind to know at least some of what had happened. “I had to do those things,” he said simply, his voice cold, flat. “It was the only way to keep her alive and away from Schaeffer until I could get her out of there.”
“She is my mate.”
Lachlan was in no mood for a pissing contest. He was exhausted and more than a little cranky. “And you allowed her to be captured.”
The level of aggression in the tent rose a couple of notches. Lachlan met it and raised it even higher. Ripping Schaeffer to shreds had been rather satisfying, but not nearly enough. Now that his beast had tasted freedom after being caged for so long, it wanted more.
“How exactly does an infant manage to get taken right from under the collective noses of a centuries-old Alpha and his sentinels in his own backyard, anyway?”
Blue eyes glowed in fury. “I did not come here to kill you,” Derrick growled, the sound more wolf than human as his lips curled back in a snarl. “But I find the idea increasingly appealing.”
“Save it for someone who cares,” Lachlan snapped. “You cannot intimidate me.”
“What makes you so fucking invincible?”
Lachlan laughed. It was a hollow, empty sound. “Do everyone a favor, will you? Go to your mate. Make love to her until the horror of this leaves her eyes. Then spend the rest of your life making this up to her and those whelps of yours.”
Silence fell heavily around them as the realization suddenly hit Derrick. “You were mated.”
Lachlan turned away. He was so not going there. “Fuck you.” He took off his jeans again and stuffed them into a pack along with a shirt, a pair of socks, boots, and a few other items.
“I’m not finished with you.”
“But I am finished with you. Take care of Angelica and those cubs. And if you’d look out for my brother and the others, I’d appreciate it. We’ll call it even.” Without another word, Lachlan shifted, grabbed the pack in his teeth, and trotted out of the tent.
“Want me to go after him?” Silas asked a few seconds later, appearing from the shadows.
“No,” Derrick answered, watching the massive creature lope into the surrounding forest. “Let him go.”
Epilogue
One Year Later
Angelica laughed at the sight before he
r. Fully grown men, rolling on the floor like pups while three wolf cubs playfully snapped and growled and batted at them with tiny claws.
The smallest of them, a rare female with golden fur and big eyes, latched on to Silas’ finger and refused to let go. “Fierce,” he laughed, trying to gently disengage her sharp, needle-like teeth. “Just like her mother.”
“And just as beautiful,” Derrick added, bending over to kiss his mate lovingly. At the sound of his voice, the three cubs leapt off the others and made a mad scramble across the room, tripping and falling all over themselves in an attempt to get to him.
One by one, he lifted them up and nuzzled them with an affectionate growl. Suitably appeased with their father’s attention, they returned to the games at hand.
There was a knock at the door. Liam entered, followed closely by Oskar, Erik, and Markus, as well as the three other males they had retrieved from Schaeffer’s facility. Physically, all were healed, but the mental and emotional scars would take much longer.
“We just wanted to say goodbye,” Liam said. “And to thank you for all you have done for me and mine.”
“You will not stay?”
“No,” Liam said, shaking his head. “As beautiful as it is here, as kind and generous as you have been, our home is in the mountains. I hope you are not offended.”
“Not at all,” Derrick assured him, understanding his need to return. “Know that you will always be welcome here.”
“As you will be in our land, once we have rebuilt.” Liam glanced shyly at Angelica. “It would make a nice change of scenery for you and your pups.”
“Count on it,” Angelica said with a smile as she stood. “We will miss you, Liam. All of you.” Angelica proceeded to give each of them a hug and a kiss on the cheek, ignoring Derrick’s soft growls. He wasn’t jealous; it was simply a natural reaction of his beast. Angelica’s singular love and devotion, as well as the honor of Liam and all of his men, was never in question.
“Do you think you will see Lachlan again?”
“I do not know,” Liam said sadly. “My hope is that he will already be there.”
“Will you ask him to rejoin your pack?”
Liam shook his head.
“But why not? Surely you cannot still hold a grudge when he’s the one who saved—”
“No, you do not understand,” Liam corrected. “It is Lachlan who must accept us, not the other way around.”
Puzzlement stole over Angelica’s features, but Derrick understood. “He is Alpha.”
Liam nodded, his face a mask of mixed hope and resignation. “Yes. Eventually he will accept his destiny and resume his place among us. In the meantime, we will continue to do as we did before. We will endure.”
The castle seemed emptier without Liam and the boys, but Angelica had more than enough to keep her busy. Her three little loves were non-stop bundles of energy. Keeping them out of sight and out of trouble was a full time job. She had lots of help, though. Angelica had come to realize that pack truly was family and every one of them cared for the pups as if they were their own.
She’d finally found her niche, too. Angelica’s haunting sketches of Wolfe Island were now being sold in the gift shop. Each was a one-of-a-kind original, and so popular with guests, there was actually a waiting list.
In a rare moment of solitude, Angelica sat out on the black stone, knees tucked into her chest, looking out over the horizon. Golden hair lifted and fell with the soft ocean breeze, wrapping around her face and temporarily obscuring her view.
“Is there something wrong, Mrs. Wolfe?” asked a familiar, deep voice. The sound of it alone sent waves of warmth through her, all the way down to her toes, making them curl.
Angelica hid her smile. “I’m afraid I find myself with the oddest compulsion, Mr. Wolfe.”
He lifted a perfect brow in question. “Do you now?” he asked softly.
“I wish desperately that you would make an attempt to kiss me,” she confessed.
Cool eyes regarded her — bluer than the bluest sky on the finest day. Clear and infinite. They were, like everything else about him, perfect. Once they had flickered with just the slightest hint of interest, but now they burned with hunger and an intensity that left her breathless as he gazed at her, as still and unmoving as the rock upon which they sat, the peaceful lull of the ocean lapping against the breakers.
“Would you?” she prodded.
Not a flinch, not a flicker. “Absolutely not.”
“Hmm,” she hummed, her nipples hardening in challenge. She loved when her Alpha allowed her to dominate. It was only an illusion, she knew, but one they both enjoyed. She let her desire permeate the air around them, smiling to herself as her husband picked up the unmistakable scent. “Perhaps I shall just have to kiss you, then.”
This time, when Angelica touched her lips to his, only one part of his body stiffened in response. The rest wrapped around her and pulled her closer.
And this time, when he turned on his heel and headed back toward the castle, she was in his arms.
Thank You!
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Avelyn
About the Author
Avelyn McCrae is fascinated by paranormal romance, and loves crafting stories hovering on the fine edge between romance and erotica. Shifters, vampires, witches, dragons – you name it, she’s written a romance about it. Some are sweet and sexy, others are so hot you might just see steam coming out of your eReader. The one thing they have in common is that they all have happy endings and none are cliffhangers.
Beyond that, anything goes...
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