by J. C RIMELL
Before she had a chance, Madeleine felt the air shift behind as he moved in close, making all the tiny hairs on her body stand on end. Heat radiated off his skin, but his body never quite touched hers. The anticipation shot a bolt of electric through to the core of her and set the scar on her arm ablaze with a burning pulse. She wanted to rub it away. All at once his fingertips were feather light tracing small circles up her arms and it soothed away the strange pain. Her nipples were tight knots that verged on painful and she could feel just how wet she'd just become between her thighs.
His breath was on her neck, his hair caressing her shoulder with light strokes as he spoke, “What's your name, she-wolf?”
Oh. She suddenly realized she'd never gotten as far as giving him her name.
“Madeleine.”
“That's such a pretty name.” A fingertip caressed the length of her spine and her body arched into the decadent touch. “Now, lift up your arms, Madeleine.” His voice rasped against his throat. She could scent his arousal, thick and strong, the storm slowly becoming a hurricane around the two of them. The way he said her name made her close her eyes on a sigh.
The moist lick of his tongue and the graze of his fangs along the curve of her neck made her body shudder. His lips pressed into the dip of her shoulder before he moved away. The air turned cool against her back as she lifted her arms and her legs trembled with a sudden need. She wanted to squeeze her thighs together just to feel some friction against her swollen flesh.
Soft fabric brushed against her fingers and a T-shirt slipped down her arms and over her head. His hands came to rest on her hips with a possessive squeeze. “I'll let you keep it on… for now,” he chuckled, the sound erotic and dark at her ear. “Let's have breakfast first, she-wolf.”
She swallowed the disappointment and spun around. He stepped back, his naked body towering over her. She didn't mean to look. In fact, she even told herself not to. But hey, it was kind of hard to avoid.
His skin was a beautiful russet brown, his pale blue eyes, oh, they were such a contrast to the color of his complexion and his jet black hair. She was going to stop when she reached the slabs of his muscular chest. He was breathing hard, as though she was physically touching him. And she wanted to touch him… everywhere. Her eyes dropped lower to his six-pack, they had a mind of their own as they wandered further, past his navel to a patch of dark, tight curls and then…
He turned with such speed he was a blur in her vision. She only just caught a glimpse of the wolf that leaped up from behind him, the two of them locking in mid-air and crashing to the floor. She was about to shift when the window behind her shattered. She ducked as it sent shards splintering into the room and another wolf lunged through it knocking her to the floor.
Madeleine recognized his scent: it was the same wolf who'd attacked her yesterday. She needed to shift to stand a better chance against him, but he had her pinned down with his paws and his teeth at her neck. All she could hear was crashing and things breaking from behind as Jared fought with the other wolf. The sounds slowly becoming farther and farther away until everything went deathly silent for a moment.
The wolf above her shifted, and she turned her head to avoid the bright flash of light, tried to scramble to her feet. Unforgiving hands grabbed her ankles and pulled her back down with a hard yank. His naked body was hovering over her, his hands pushing her shoulders to the floor while he kicked her legs apart and settled his hips between them.
“I can smell just how ready you are,” he said between his bladed fangs and eyes that sparked with lust. He was young and Madeleine knew just how little control he'd have over his beast. It was a frightening thought, but she'd be damned if she'd lie back and just take it.
Madeleine spat in his face. “Get the hell off of me!” she bellowed and started to try to shift. Her claws sliced through her fingertips, fangs shot into her mouth and her cinnamon eyes burned obstinate orange with fury.
“Oh, no. No, you don't,” he warned, leaning all his weight onto her. She heard someone approaching and he glanced up. “Quick tie her hands and feet,” he ordered the other male standing in the doorway.
The younger male grabbed her hands and began to bind her wrists with a brittle rope. Growling profusely, Madeleine tried to kick as the male on top of her moved down her body. Her T-shirt had creased up to just below her waist leaving her fully exposed.
“Mmm, oh, you look good enough to eat.”
Madeleine did everything she could to stop him, her stomach revolted as his lips pressed against her inner thigh. Scissoring her legs she managed to get one free and kneed him in the jaw. His top lip peeled back over his fangs before he looked at her and laughed, then he threw a punch. Her cheekbone shattered by the impact of his heavy fist, the blow making her eye-socket explode with pain. Black spots blinding her field of vision and blurring his image.
“Gag her!” he yelled at his buddy, who bent down and stuck a strip of duck-taped over her mouth. “That should keep you quiet for a while.” He yanked her ankles and tied them together so tightly it cut into her skin with a bite. “Now, you're coming with us, little she-wolf.”
They hauled her up and dragged her out of the property. The daylight made her eyes sting and the injured one hazed over completely. But she could see Jared, caught up in a wire net hanging from one of the huge pine trees.
“Madeleine!” he yelled, yanking at the razor wire. The gaps were small and it was cutting and shredding his naked skin, making him bleed. “I'll find you, Madeleine! I'll kill them, every last one!” He turned his attention to the male gripping her arm, his eyes glowing like two nuclear spheres, his voice booming with rage, “I'll spare no one! Do you hear me, Nix, you son-of-a-bitch!”
The male beside her laughed. “Ooh, I'm scared,” he mocked. “Watch your cock and balls on that wire, you might castrate yourself if you're not careful, Jared.”
Nineteen
Alex Warden loosened his tie before entering his brother's office. He was feeling hot under the collar, and not without reason. He was about to lie to the Overseer. Not an easy task to pull off with a shifter of his brother's intelligence. Right at this moment, Aden Black was setting up a device that would blow the whole building and everyone in it to kingdom come.
But first he had to put all the pieces into play. If everything went according to plan, Maria would be like putty in his hands. His brother's estranged mate had promised herself to Alex providing he could kill the Overseer and bring her Cade Grayson. Maria was desperate to meet her only grandson, who, she believed had died with her son and his wife in a car crash. She had never forgiven Christopher for pushing away their only son and now Maria wanted to see him dead for the lies he'd told her.
That would be the tricky part: making sure Cade wasn't in the building when the place went boom. How he would handle the shifter would take some careful planning. Cade was due to take over the Overseer's role when his grandfather stepped down. But it was the least of Alex's worries, after all, without the Society, there would no longer be the need for an Overseer. Cade Grayson would be redundant.
“Ah, there you are Alex, come in.”
He closed the door behind him, put on his poker face and took a seat opposite his brother. “I have information regarding the explosion at the club,” Alex said coolly, attracting his brother's full attention. Christopher put down his pen and pushed away the file he was working on.
“Please, continue.”
Sitting back, Alex casually crossed his leg, ankle to knee. “It's a splinter cell, one of their members came to me and told me another planned attack.”
The Overseer sat forward, his shrewd gaze widening with interest. “And where will that be?”
“Another club. I'm still waiting for the little snitch to come back with a name.”
“Can we trust this informant? Do we know when the attack will be?” With a grave expression, he leaned forward onto his desk, steepled his fingers against his lips.
Alex tilted his hea
d, watching his brother's concerns grow. It was a satisfying feeling to be the one in control. “He's all we have, so we have little choice but to trust him. It'll happen soon, within the next couple of days.”
“I'll call an emergency meeting. I want every available Society member here first thing tomorrow morning.”
Alex maintained his level expression. “Of course, Christopher. I'll see to it at once.”
Twenty
“We'll get her back, Ryker.”
Ryker's knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel hard, but he kept his eyes on the uneven terrain ahead. Madeleine could be anywhere by now. With anyone. The thought of someone hurting her made him snarl out loud to rid the idea from his mind.
“Hey,” Nevada gave his bicep a reassuring squeeze. “You know she can take care of herself. Madoc's one of us.”
He strangely had the urge to talk about when he and Fleet had found Madeleine. “We're not really on good terms at the minute. The reason she's missing is because of me.” Glancing round to Nevada he caught the questioning look on her face. “The day of her attack, it was me who went all gung-ho on the bastard. It's how I lost my leg.” He chewed the inside of his cheek as the memory came back to haunt him, along with the phantom pain in his damn leg… the part that wasn't even there.
“She's never talked about it, but I don't understand why she'd be mad at you after all this time?”
“I never told her it was me who… saved her. Fleet did a mind sweep, but it looks like he didn't quite get everything.”
“So, Madeleine's only just found out about all this?”
He nodded.
“Okay. Not wanting to rub salt into the wound, but I'm starting to understand why the woman's so pissed at you guys.” Ryker caught the shake of her head in his periphery as she blew out a low whistle. “What happened to her attacker?”
“The bastard got a lucky strike at my calf, clamped his jaw shut and, well, ripped my fucking lower leg clean off.” His eyes narrowed in contemplation. “Don't get me wrong, I gave as good as I got, hurt the son-of-a-bitch pretty bad. He was a young shifter, the way he was in such a fucking frenzy I think he was hitting his transition. Being a rogue, the guy probably couldn't handle it. Especially once he'd tasted Madeleine's blood.”
Shit. Now he felt nauseated.
“Jesus, Ryker,” Nevada blew out a curse. “Even so, Madeleine isn't the kind to hold a grudge. She loves you, man, she loves us all. She's a little pissed right now, but her heart's too kind to stay mad at you for long.”
“I lied to her. And that fucker who attacked her changed her life. Turned her into one of us without a choice, Nev. She may never find it in her heart to forgive that.”
“Do you regret it?”
Turning to her with a quizzical glance he answered, “Helping Madeleine? Losing my leg?” He shook his head. “I'd do again in a heartbeat.”
“To be honest, I thought she was mad at you because of the whole Gabrielle thing.”
Ryker huffed as he gave Nevada a sideways glare. “Maybe it's that, too. But I'm not talking about it with you, Nev.” No way. He'd already gotten way too touchy-fucking-feely than he'd meant to.
She rolled her eyes, bringing a foot up she rested the thick sole of her boot on the dash. “Sheesh, you're so sensitive, Ryker. Really. Gabrielle is smokin' hot, she's after your ass, and you got nothin' to say about it?”
He snorted. “I've got plenty to say… Just not to you. Or anyone else for that matter.” Ryker felt her eyes examine him.
No. Ain't going there.
“Oh… Holy shit!” she said, her voice rising with excitement before she started to laugh.
His head whipped sideways, and he scowled at her. “What?”
“Ryker, you have got it so bad, bro.”
“No, I don't.”
“Ah, yeah, you do. You can't smell your own mating scent, but I sure as hell can.”
Slamming on the brakes they were both catapulted forward. He took some big fuckin' breaths before sniffing his own armpits, his eyes swung back to Nevada. “The hell I do.”
She just smiled with a lazy, know it all expression. “Let's ask Delta and Eve,” she said, her eyes indicating over his shoulder out of the window as their two pack mates approached.
Aw, fuck it.
Fleet approached the pale gray wolf standing with two others on the other side of the perimeter between the lair's grounds and the mountains. Flanked either side by Cade, Murphy, Gunner, Eve, Delta, and Lakota, he shifted and walked naked to meet them. Unable to converse telepathically with shifters outside of his pack, the two men would have to communicate verbally. Mitch Stevens met him half way, the two men crouched in their naked, human forms. Neither were embarrassed by their lack of clothing, the area was thick with trees and the others had moved forward to circle them both.
“My tracker has just returned, he picked up an unfamiliar scent. Seems to think it may be your missing female. If so, she's at a cabin just north of here,” Mitch informed him.
Fleet nodded, relieved at least to hear Madeleine had been located. “Can he show my tracker where he picked up the scent, Gunner will know, as will I, if it's her.”
“Of course,” Mitch stood to his full height. “Follow us.”
The two men morphed into their wolves once more and Fleet signaled for his pack to follow him. Half an hour later, one of the rogues indicated to a large boulder stained with dried blood. Fleet could already detect Madeleine's scent in the air. Gunner jogged up to it, his snout drawing in the surrounding air, then lowering again to the ground.
It's her. It's Madoc for sure.
Okay, let's go find our girl. Fleet instructed his pack.
There's another scent, chief. Gunner continued. It's a male.
Turning, the group headed north, following Gunner's lead. It wasn't long before his paced slowed and he became more cautious. Stopping suddenly he turned to Fleet. There's more than one scent… It's Madoc's. The same male I already picked up, and another. No, wait… two others.
Fleet moved to the front of the group. If there was a chance of danger, he would be the one going into the fray first, not one of his pack. He examined the area with his keen eyes. Secluded by large pines, he couldn't see any track leading to the location.
Shifting again, he went to Mitch, who understanding he needed to talk, also transformed.
“Where's the nearest road or track to this place?”
Mitch looked over his shoulder. “There,” he pointed east, toward a dip between the trees. “About a mile.”
Delta, Eve… make off until you reach the track and let Ryker know. He pushed the command into their minds. Wait for them to join you.
Chief, can you hear that? Cade intercepted as he padded forward to join him.
The group fell silent. Sure enough, Fleet heard a male shouting.
Okay… let's move, everyone be on your guard.
He turned back to face Mitch. “We'll take it from here. I don't expect you to put you to put yourself at risk.”
The man snorted. “In case you've forgotten, this land is our home. If anyone causes trouble or disturbs the peace, they will have me to answer to.”
Fleet reached out and gripped the male's shoulder. “Very well then.”
Coming to an opening between the trees, Fleet spotted the log cabin. The front door was open, the smell of smoke lingered in the air and the scent of fresh blood tingled in his nose.
He took a few steps forward.
“Hey! Up here!” A male voice. Fleet's head whipped sideways to see a male hanging naked in a razor wire net. He was cut to ribbons and bleeding from the lacerations.
I know him. Lakota said, coming level with her alpha. He was with Madoc at the club the other night.
“They've taken Madeleine, you're too late!” he growled. “Get me the hell down, Mitch, cut me loose so I can go find her!” His voice was all wolf, the rage rolling off him in waves and making his body shake.
Fleet i
nstructed his pack to check the building and immediate area for any threats. Then he grabbed an ax from off a woodpile at the front of the cabin. “Brace yourself,” he advised the male before striking the rope that was holding the net aloft.
Jared fell to the ground with a crash. The razor wire cutting deeper into his flesh on impact. He cursed with every move he made. Sucking in ragged breaths as the sharp edges sliced new patterns into his skin. He waited with as much patience as he could summon while Mitch and the other guy loosened the net with careful fingers. Finally, he climbed out of the merciless contraption.
“I've got to go.” He could hear the rawness in his own voice. He'd never felt so useless, so angry. That little bastard had slipped from his grip and lead him straight into the wire net they'd managed to conceal.
“Hang on a minute, son.” The alpha put a hand on Jared's chest to stop him leaving. “Just who the hell are you and what were you doing with Madeleine?”
Jared met the warm, golden eyes of the alpha wolf, could sense a deep affection for the female from him. She was from his pack; it was a normal bond to have with them. Throwing his hands on his hips he answered, “We met at a club the other night. I don't know why Madeleine ended up out this way, but she was being attacked by Nix and some others. They're calling themselves the Real Freedom Allegiance or some shit.”
“You know them?”
Jared grunted. “Not really. I keep myself to myself. They're barely out of their transitions.” He glanced over his shoulder as the other wolves joined them. “Look, I'm going after them. I figure they've had almost an hour's head start.”
Jared shoved the alpha's hand aside. “No offense,” he said before turning to walk away when that same damn hand gripped his bicep. His eyes shot down and he snarled deep in his throat, he was getting a little tired of being held back now.
“I don't know what's going on between you and Madeleine, but you're not doing this alone. She's one of ours and we'll be bringing her home.”
