Outlaw Alpha

by Dakota Cassidy

  She put her head in her hands. “I remember now. Claire told me to shut it so no one would hear. But of course, Petra, of all people, heard me and my inebriated rant.”

  “Oh, she heard it all right. And she was crazy pleased with herself when she told Courtland. I could smell it. I just don’t get it. Why would she want, of all men, Courtland?”

  As if every female within a ten-mile radius of Courtland and his stench hadn’t asked themselves why anyone would want that pig. “Claire and I wondered that, too, and the best I can come up with is power. We’re all pretty powerless with the new laws. Many of us lost more than just our homes and jobs in the relocation. Mating with Courtland is an alleged honor because he’s the alpha. An alpha female has a lot of sway about what happens within the pack. God knows, the pack might actually be better off if Petra had a say in some things. She’s certainly brighter than Courtland.”

  “Courtland wants some of that, too, you know. Not the power, but respectability. That’s why Gannon chose Claire and he chose you. Because you’re respected by the townspeople.”

  That almost made sense to Freya. Except, she hadn’t done any lawyering in ages, and her new life included little else but trips to the fabric store. “Everyone in town thinks he’s a joke as alpha, but I think part of that is due to the fact that most of us have short memories about the old ways and traditions. Back in the day, Courtland would’ve been considered a kind and lenient ruler.”

  “Jesus. You are all a bunch of heathens,” he teased.

  “Well, I’m not a heathen anymore, thanks to a vampire and his wicked ways. Now back to the bit about why he chose me.”

  “Courtland knows your pack thinks he’s a moron. Rather than try to change that, he rules with impulsivity and a heavy hand that always leans toward his love of abusing his power.”

  “So did he think mating with me was going to turn the pack into the Waltons? Suddenly everyone was going to worship him because he mated with me? I hardly ever leave my house. He’d have been better off with Petra.”

  “Speaking of Petra, Courtland didn’t believe her when she told him about us, but he does still believe you killed Ethan.”

  Freya grimaced at the floor and her bare feet. “Well, that does it. I’m toast. Might as well sharpen my wooden stake now.”

  Liam leaned forward with her, putting his arms on his knees and peering at her. “You give up so easily. However did you manage to survive all those sharks in the lawyer pool with that attitude?”

  Freya snorted. “My big blonde hair and blue eyes always caught them off guard. Oh, and heels. I have crazy-good legs.”

  He tucked her hair behind her ear and chuckled that delicious rumble of laughter that sounded like a symphony of love songs. “Well, listen up, Doomsday Prepper, we’re in the clear.”

  Her head popped up. “How can we be in the clear? I’m a murderer. Petra all but gave Courtland what he needs to try to convict me, and let’s not forget, Courtland doesn’t know I’m a vampire yet.”

  “Ah, but you forget one thing, Blue Eyes—Courtland’s an idiot. A complete imbecile, and as easily led as a stray puppy. I cornered Petra right back, told her I’d rather have Satan on the back of my bike than some dirty werewolf, and dismissed her claims that she saw or heard anything as though she were out of her bloody mind. End of story.”

  Her mouth fell open, her stomach suddenly not as topsy-turvy, despite his crude comments about werewolves. “He believed you?”

  Liam’s smile was a little smug when he nudged her shoulder with his. “Of course he did. Hook, line and sinker. My hatred for your former kind is pretty well documented all over town, isn’t it?”

  And he’d made damn sure of it, hadn’t he? “Yet, you want to be one of my former kind.”

  Liam grunted. “The hell I do.”

  She sat up straight, her brain flush with understanding. “I knew it! What’s your angle with Courtland? Why the chummy corner booths in Ahab’s all these months since Claire and Irish hooked up? What’s up with learning our laws and bi-laws and what’s all the other asshattery about?”

  “Blood.”

  Freya’s brow furrowed. “Say again?”

  “Synthetic blood. Gannon’s band of dimwits was the Fangs’ suppliers. You know that. But he was our only supplier. Our way around the insane government taxes on it. The club as a whole isn’t exactly poor, but we can only foot the bill for our clan for so long into eternity before we’re all broke. But money isn’t even our biggest issue right now. When the mess with Claire and Gannon went down, and she killed him then scared Angus off, we were left with a low supply and no way to find more. We desperately need more for those who aren’t mated—most especially for the young.”

  Like a freight train slamming into her, she had a stunning moment of clarity. “So you were cozying up to Courtland to get to Angus, because he’s the only person who knows who makes the synthetic blood.”

  Leaning back, his tight abs rippling against his T-shirt, he nodded. “Exactly. You don’t actually think I’d befriend Courtland for any other reason, do you?”

  She scoffed, not just at the idea he and Courtland could be friends, but at the idea that this had gone so far over her head, she hadn’t even thought twice about it. This wasn’t who she was. She used to be able to find an ulterior motive on the head of a pin.

  Now she was lazy and disinterested in what was happening around her, and she’d let something big, something so obvious, slip right by her.

  “I have to hand it to you, Vampire, before that brawl you and Irish had, I’d have never fallen for it. But that fight-slash-screaming-match you two had? You were both really convincing. Pretty damn believable. Or maybe I’m just saying that because I feel like an idiot for not catching on to this. I’m no better than Courtland.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself. We really let loose that day, and it was all staged for the town’s benefit. And of course the Dogs.”

  Had all of her instincts been flushed down the toilet when her career had been taken from her? “And the Fangs acting like you’d invented famine and locusts?”

  “All just a ruse. Well, for the most part. Some of them had no clue, and it was better that way. Irish and I knew Courtland would fall for it. He’s not exactly Einstein, and if you stroke his ego long enough, make him believe he’s some kind of Gandhi-like ruler of the pack with the brains of a rocket scientist, make him believe he’s more cunning than Gannon ever was, you can lead him around by the nose without him ever knowing any different. I don’t know what kind of history he and Gannon had as siblings, but there was jealousy there. Deeply rooted and really ugly. I just used it to my advantage.”

  “I can’t even believe the depths of my ignorance. I don’t know why it never occurred to me that this was all some big setup. Of course you’d never make friends with a dirty were.”

  “I don’t really think weres are dirty. At least, I never thought any of my colleagues and friends were dirty. I’ve had plenty of were friends in my time. And for the record, I never thought you were dirty,” he said, low and silky.

  Freya fought the warm shiver of acceptance along her arms and asked, “So the thing with Claire—all made up? You don’t really hate her? Because before all this went down. I do know you weren’t fond of the thing Irish had for her…”

  He grinned, the deep indentations on either side of his mouth almost playful. “Nah, I don’t hate her. She’s my sister-in-law. I’m not going to lie to you and say that it didn’t give me pause when she and Irish couldn’t keep their hands off each other, because it did. I didn’t make any bones about the trouble it could cause the clan as a whole. I was against it right up until they mated for life—even though I got it. I understand sometimes you can’t help whom you love. But that was before I found out what she did for Sarah and Hadley. After that, I didn’t care what species Claire was or what the government thought about them mating.”

  Freya shook her head in disbelief. “You guys are pretty damn good, I
’ll give you that. And I’m going to kill her when I see her next. I’ve spent all this time fretting over how I was going to keep the peace between my BFF and my mate, and it was all for nothing? It’s a good thing we age slowly, or I’d have bags under my eyes and wrinkles because of you two. Why didn’t she just tell me?”

  “Loose lips sink ships.”

  She slapped a hand on her thigh with a snort. “Hah! Who knows that better than I? Me and all my I’d-rather-be-a-bloodsucker rants. So the less who knew, the better. I get it. How many of the Fangs know?”

  “Only Stone and a couple of others for now.”

  Freya shook her head in disbelief. “So all this time you’ve been openly persecuted by your own kind for being a traitor. I’ve actually seen a couple of Fangs give you the finger. You really know how to take one for the team.”

  He shrugged his wide shoulders. “Yeah, and when I get my hands on Nolan, after he not only flipped me the bird but knocked my bike over and scratched the hell out of the handle, I’m going to wring his damn neck. But someone had to do it.”

  Relief flooded her. At least one of them wasn’t a pariah. Knowing Liam wasn’t really on the outs with the Fangs somehow comforted her. “So explain Angus to me. God, he’s a freak.” She shuddered again, recalling the way he taunted her, and his eyes. His soulless, depthless eyes.

  Liam’s face showed visible disgust as it hardened. “Oh, he’s more of a freak than even I can fathom, and I’ve seen some freaks in my time. I don’t ever want him near you again. But unfortunately, Angus was here because Courtland set up the meeting.”

  Horror washed over her in a gushing wave of realization. Horror and shame. “And I ruined it just by being here.” She turned to him then, her chest tight with regret. “I’m sorry. Oh, my God, I’m so sorry, Liam.”

  He pulled her to him, straddling her legs over his lap and draping her arms over his shoulders. His gaze pierced hers in that way he had of looking so deeply at her, she almost had to look away. “You couldn’t know he was going to show up tonight, honey. I didn’t even know until I got a text from him while I was with Courtland. Angus shows up when he shows up. No one, according to Courtland, tells Angus what to do. He knows he’s got the goods, and pain is an enormous part of his pleasure. I almost lost my damn mind when I got his text telling me he was here.”

  The slight tremble in his normally strong, clear voice almost made her pause, wonder if it was because her safety meant more to him than just his guilt about turning her.

  Until she remembered, she hadn’t helped things much. “Do you think he would have given you what you needed? I don’t get the impression he’s terribly affable and cooperative. He enjoys a good cat-and-mouse, and after the mess with Gannon, he’s probably going to be extra cautious.”

  Liam’s nod was solemn. “Which was why this meeting was so important. Courtland, with my help, has been wooing him back into making another deal. Angus is on everyone’s most-wanted list, including the governments. Both human and paranormal, so his appearances are few and far between. He’s taken lying low to a whole other level. But we’ve made him a bunch of promises, promises for things I can’t even say out loud, Freya, because if I did, I’d puke. Promises that make me want to not just kill Angus, but see Courtland in his grave, too. Because he has no qualm bargaining with Sweeten if it means money in his damn pocket.”

  Revulsion swept over her again as Liam’s body stiffened beneath her fingers, the muscles in his shoulders tensing. “Courtland’s a vile pig. I’m not surprised by anything he’s willing to do. Especially not after what Claire told me about Gannon.”

  He stroked his fingers over her skin, a rhythmic, soothing set of circles she decided were easing his anxieties as much as hers. “If we could just find a way to smoke Angus out, get him to give up the maker of the synthetic blood, we could go to the council and see to it both he and Courtland are locked up for good. Either way, I need to find a way to get another meet with him—we need that blood, Freya.”

  Hadley, Sarah, all of the vampire children in Rock Cove were where her thoughts immediately went.

  All of this was sinking in—sinking in hard. The tone in Liam’s voice, the silent desperation she knew he was feeling for his clan, was killing her. He’d come so far only to have it blow up in his face.

  Panic rose again, in all its frazzled mess of emotions. “All of this is my fault. You realize that, right? This all leads back to me getting drunk and shooting off my mouth. If I’d had my wits about me, there’s no way someone would have been able to slip me that stupid Seventh Heaven, Liam. Then I wouldn’t have been so attractive to you, we wouldn’t have done what we did, and you wouldn’t have accidentally turned me, and we wouldn’t be mated for life. Ethan would be alive, and I could be at home making my eleventy-billionth quilt.” She gripped his face in her hands. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  He rubbed his nose against hers in Eskimo fashion, tucking his hands under her thighs. “I think it’s time we get really honest here, Freya.”

  She gripped his shoulders and closed her eyes momentarily. Ready for whatever honesty came next.

  Chapter 14

  “About?” she almost purred. Despite tonight’s events, despite all the terror, Liam still had an insane ability to steer her thoughts away from everything but his over-the-top maleness. He made her forget everything but him.

  “About how attractive you were to me before you slugged back that drug.”

  She cocked her head. “What?”

  “Sure, the drug inhibited my ability to control my impulses, but you were just as attractive to me before. Even in your sweats, with your messy ponytail and your pile of quilts. I wanted you just as much then as I do now,” he said, husky, mesmerizing.

  She shivered at his words, the intensity of them—the sincerity. “Is that so, Mr. McConnell?”

  Nuzzling her jaw, he said, “That’s very so.”

  Stretching her arms out, she wrapped them tighter around his neck and whispered, “I didn’t know.”

  Liam’s tongue swept over her lower lip then he nipped it. “You weren’t supposed to know.”

  “Because I was a dirty were,” she whispered, sighing against his mouth, her tone teasing.

  But Liam gripped her upper arms, his words intense and almost urgent. “I already told you that’s not true, Freya. It was because I’m not an impulsive man. I’m pretty cautious by nature. Add in the fact that I’ve lived among humans my entire existence, and I learned to do whatever it took not to be found out. But it was also because I knew what would happen should anyone mate with these new laws in place. I wasn’t wrong, was I?”

  Freya curled into him, running her hands over the caps of his shoulders. “No. You weren’t wrong. It’s been anarchy. And now I’m your mate. We haven’t exactly addressed what we’re going to do about that.”

  Driving his hand under her legs again, he hoisted her into his arms and rose, making his way around the pile of debris still on the floor and heading toward the bedroom. “I don’t have a plan yet, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before I let Courtland anywhere near you. Even if we have to relocate.”

  Freya’s veins flooded with fire. His words were possessive, protective, and she found the more she heard them, the more they became a luxury she never knew she missed.

  Until Liam.

  Letting her slide down his body once they entered the bedroom, Liam molded her to him, the cool press of his skin against hers, covered only in a light T-shirt and some sweats, was intoxicating.

  But then his last words registered in her brain. “I don’t want to relocate, Liam.”

  Skimming his hands under her T-shirt, he ran his fingers over her midriff, making her nipples tighten to sharp peaks. “I don’t want to either, Freya, but I will if it means keeping you safe. So deal with it.”

  Her body trembled as he ran his hands over her hips before hooking his thumbs into her sweats and sliding them down her thighs. “I love Rock Cove. No one would ever b
elieve it, me being a city girl from San Fran, but it’s grown on me…” She hissed when he tilted her head back and ran his tongue along her neck.

  “You talk a lot. Do you always talk a lot?”

  Kicking away her sweats, she moaned on a sigh as he used two fingers to spread her needy flesh, exposing her to the cool air of the bedroom. “Only when someone tells me I might have to relocate,” she replied, her voice hitching as he thumbed her clit.

  Nipping at her neck, Liam worked his way along the column of it until his mouth was a hairsbreadth from hers. “Shut up. Please,” he tacked on for good measure with a chuckle before he drove his tongue into her mouth, capturing it and kissing her so soundly her head spun.

  So she shut up. She had no choice when he dragged her shirt up over her head and tossed it aside, leaving her totally naked. Wrapping his arms around her waist, Liam walked her toward the window, where moonlight streamed in, buttery and bright.

  Then he took a step back, leaving her simultaneously hot and embarrassed. She wasn’t exactly in peak form these days. Sitting on her sofa quilting had left her far softer than she’d ever been in her life.

  Oh, and steak. Lots and lots of steak while watching Law and Order.

  Immediately, her hands went to cover her naked flesh, but Liam stopped her. “Don’t,” he ordered gruffly. “I want to see you. I’ve waited a long time to see you, Freya. Really see you. Let me.”

  Letting her hands fall away, she straightened her spine with a gulp as his gaze roamed her body. It was intimate, gentle, hot and tender all at once, and almost instantly she felt at ease.

  And as her nipples tightened at his scrutiny, she grew hot all over. Every exposed inch of her pulsed with need, thrummed with an energy she didn’t quite understand, but it enthralled her, held her in its grip.

  Visions of Liam’s hands, his mouth pressed to every intimate place on her body, his cock deeply imbedded inside her, flew through her mind.