Senseless Fate (Cascade Storms Book 2)

by Claire Ryann

  He was right behind her, never able to hold off his own climax when she was on top of him like that.

  "Except with more teeth," he gasped out as she collapsed onto his chest.

  ***

  Kara pulled herself out of her memories and pushed out the breath she'd been holding all the way down the aisle. Ken, Lowell's best friend and best man in this ceremony, had helped the 8 months pregnant-with-twins matron of honor to get settled into a chair.

  Lowell took a step toward his mate and grasped her hand. His eyes hadn't left her since she'd appeared from the hallway. They glowed with that beautiful silver light that told her she was sharing his presence with his wolf as well.

  She couldn't wait to meet her own wolf.

  It would be tonight, that's why they had chosen to marry on the full moon. No waiting, they would explore the woods together tonight.

  She didn't realized she was squeezing his hand until he squeezed back.

  "I love you," he mouthed silently as Daelan began speaking.

  Kara beamed back at him, "I love you too," she silently replied before turning back to try to follow along with the ceremony. She didn't want to miss her line.

  "...so the pack gathers to witness their bond..." Daelan's voice reverberated through the big room that served as the gathering place for all the pack's indoor events, "...any protest against this couple..."

  It was purely rhetorical, a snippet of the traditional human marriage ceremony that had found its way into the speech. In a species that instinctively recognized its mates and could be identified as mated by others of their kind, it was unlikely that anyone was going to burst in and break up a bonding ceremony. After all, the ceremony was really just an excuse to throw a big party.

  The timing wasn't quite right, but the doors burst open just the same.

  Armed men in black uniforms marched in and formed a protected corridor as the last man Kara ever thought she'd see again sauntered toward her.

  Anthony looked deceptively handsome in a tuxedo that probably cost more than Lowell's pack earned in a year as if he'd dressed for the occasion.

  "Sorry son, but the lady's already married," Anthony said casually as he held his hand out toward her.

  Lowell's reflexes were fast and Kara found herself peeking out from behind his arm as he stood between her and her husband.

  Ken and Mingan were instantly flanking Lowell as two large wolves with their lips curled and their ears laid back against their heads. Kara dropped the bouquet of wild irises on the ground and clung to Lowell's back. Ken and Mingan pushed closer together, creating a wall of menacing muscle and fur between her and their uninvited guest.

  Kara was vaguely aware of Rek, Daelan's best friend and Beta wolf, hoisting Haley from her seat and hurrying her through a door behind them. She knew Daelan was the Alpha and as much as his wolf must be freaking out over its need to protect its growing family, his duty was here settling the threat to his pack.

  As she'd expected, Daelan moved from behind his podium and stood fiercely in front of the trio surrounding Kara.

  "I don't want any trouble, Alpha," Anthony was staring past Daelan, his eyes narrowed at Lowell, "I just came to collect my wife."

  "She's not going anywhere with you." Lowell's voice was all wolf, his words were barely human.

  "She's mated," Daelan said levelly, "you know your claim on her has no merit in our world."

  Anthony was several inches shorter than both Daelan and Lowell but he stood his ground confidently in the face of Daelan's best head-werewolf-in-charge voice.

  "Yes, well, I don't exactly live in your world," Anthony's voice went low in a way Kara had never heard before. It was filled with a deep vibration that rattled her teeth. It sounded like the wolves when they--

  Kara's knees buckled as a sickening realization slithered through her gut.

  "Tell me, does your pack sleep in a big pile like wild dogs?" Anthony turned his attention away from the Alpha, "Is that how you like it, sweetheart? On your knees in front of the whole pack?"

  He spun on his heel and grinned as he looked directly at Lowell, "Is that how you fuck my wife? As a dog?"

  Daelan's lightning reflexes were the only thing that saved Anthony-- and Lowell as the armed guards raised their rifles toward Lowell's as he fought against his Alpha's grip holding him back.

  "If I'd known that's how you liked it I'd have gladly knotted you up long ago, sweetie."

  Anthony's words felt like a snake working its way through her ears and into her brain. Ken was back beside her, helping her stay on her feet while she fought the urge to vomit.

  The pack sat frozen in their seats, all eyes on their Alpha. They easily outnumbered Anthony and his men but there was no way to avoid losses if the guards starting shooting. They watched Daelan, waiting for his permission to attack.

  It didn't come. Daelan stood stoic, his twitching jaw the only indication that he was agitated as he now held Lowell's wolf back in one very strong hand.

  Anthony laughed as he looked down at the mad wolf with its claws scrabbling against the polished hardwood floor. "So feral," he clucked, "Seriously, you people need to join the real world. Living up here like a bunch of hippies or some sort of cult."

  From the way he enunciated the last part, it was clear he had something up his sleeve.

  He gestured to his men and two of them moved in on Kara as though Mingan and Ken were just a couple of yappy pups.

  She watched Daelan's eyes convey his orders to the wolves at her side. Antony's men grabbed her by the arms as Ken and Ming reluctantly stood down.

  "We can settle this outside," Daelan said tightly as he watched the men escorting Kara back toward the open doors of the hall.

  "Don't tell me you expect me to fight in the dirt for what's already mine?" Anthony said in feigned shock as though the thought was barbaric.

  "The woman is my wife. I have put a lot of time and money into tracking her whereabouts and I'm going to take her home with me. Any attempt to prevent me from doing so will only end poorly for you, your pack, and her mate."

  Kara watched helplessly, as Daelan bent down to say something in Lowell's ear. She saw the wolves shift, including Lowell who was fast on their heels her captors dragged her outside.

  Her only thought was to keep Lowell from getting shot. To keep any of her pack from getting shot. Thank God Rek had gotten Haley out of there.

  The guards wedged her between them in the back seat of the black SUV. She could barely make out the figures of the men outside through the dark tint on the windows.

  Anthony stepped close to Lowell and said something that caused Daelan to jump between the two men before Lowell could land his punch. The guards that remained at Anthony's side both had their weapons raised but Anthony waved them back. Then they were all in the SUV and Kara was frantically twisting in her seat to watch her mate through the rear window.

  16

  "When do we leave?" Lowell's voice bellowed through the office for the umpteenth time. Even Mingan winced at the volume.

  "Day, we're wasting time," Kenyon added, "the longer we wait the more damage that psychopath can do to her." He immediately regretted his words as he watched his friend blanch.

  There was no doubt in Lowell's mind that Kenny was right. That sick sonuvabitch had something planned. Kara's tales burned through Lowell. Lowell had no doubt that Anthony's abuse was about to get bumped to a new level.

  Daelan paced behind his desk. "Show 'em," he said with a wave at Rek.

  Rek pressed his lips together in a hard line and handed a stack of papers to Mingan.

  "Oh shit," Mingan murmured as he glanced through them, "shit, shit, shit."

  For the first time since the black SUV that held his mate had disappeared from sight, Lowell held still. His wolf freezing in place as it detected a threat in its territory. If it bothered Ming, it was bad.

  "This is going to mean trouble for the den," Rek was saying in his usual, but highly annoying, even tone, "we
need to be prepared for company."

  "It doesn't say where we are, at least," Mingan said as Ken took the stack of papers.

  "This is just some third rate tabloid, it's not even a real newspaper," Ken said impatiently, "We need to get moving!"

  Ken threw the papers on the desk and started pacing on Lowell's behalf. Lowell hesitantly moved forward and glanced at the newspaper clipping that everyone was fussing over.

  Kara Loupohme Kidnapped by Wolf Cult!

  It was a tabloid headline above a poorly Photoshopped photo of several naked men with wolf heads standing around a woman who was tied to an inverted pentagram. Black bars blocked out the pelvises of the men which only served to make more obvious that insinuation that the photo involved some sort of sexual ritual.

  Under different circumstances, it would have been laughable.

  "This was published yesterday," Mingan said as he tapped the date line with his finger, "that means he sent press releases at least 3 days ago."

  Daelan nodded, "he has a plan."

  "A plan to distract us from going after Kara," Lowell growled.

  "Probably, but listen to me, Low, his pack is a lot younger than ours but they are far more modern. They're wealthy and well-connected. Pack laws notwithstanding, Kara is indisputably his legal wife. I can't risk making enemies of our own kind."

  The wolf inside Lowell was at the brink of erupting. "He'll kill her, Day. He'll torture her and then he'll kill her. She's my mate. We have to go after her."

  His Alpha lunged suddenly, landing on his knuckles on the desk with his eyes aglow with his own wolf, "I have a pack to protect, I have pups on the way, I can't risk the entire den over one human that's probably already dead!"

  3 men stepped back, leaving Lowell and Daelan facing off from opposite sides of the heavy wooden desk between them.

  "I risked my life for no less for you once." Lowell ground the words out between clenched jaws.

  The room silently waited for the Alpha's response but Lowell had already stormed out of the office.

  How quickly his Alpha had forgotten the feeling of finding his own mate bloody and still. The horror of believing he'd arrived too late, that he'd failed to protect her, that he'd lost her.

  Apparently Daelan had already chased away the demons that had consumed him for all those weeks that he waited by his mate's bed for her to awaken.

  He'd forgotten the loyalty of his guard, the men who had been the closest of friends since childhood. The men who had fought their own family for him, for his mate. Who had turned on their own pack members for the sake of avenging a human that they thought was already dead.

  Lowell spat on the ground as he threw things into the back of his Jeep. Extra tools, rope, whatever he could find that seemed like it might be the least bit useful. He didn't know what he would need, and he didn't know if he was coming home.

  "Do you have any guns?"

  Lowell tightened his jaw and ignored the deep voice.

  "Do you have a plan?"

  Lowell threw another set of tools into the pile.

  "Lowell!"

  It was almost his Alpha voice, but not quite, and it stopped Lowell in his tracks.

  "I haven't forgotten," Daelan's tone softened, "we are absolutely getting her back."

  Lowell steeled his emotions and turned to face his old friend, "it's been 4 hours."

  Daelan nodded knowingly, "And he came by car. That means they're confined to the roads. If he's headed back to Vancouver, it'll take another 8 hours."

  Day was carefully going through the random crap that Lowell had thrown in the back of the Jeep and was pulling out all the useless stuff.

  "Ming told the kid to fire up the Landcuiser, it's big enough for all of us and it'll let us cut some corners off road."

  "Only if you let that kid drive," Lowell wanted it to sound light hearted but it didn't work. It was true too, no one drove like that damn kid.

  Daelan nodded with a crooked smile, "The guys should be loaded up, we'll meet you out front."

  Lowell watched Daelan move purposefully back toward the main house where the Alpha's private quarters were. His chest tightened in a combination of relief and deep emotion.

  ***

  Lowell held tightly to the grab handles in the back of the Landcruiser as it sped down the road. Daelan sat in the passenger seat with a lap full of maps while the pack's youngest guard member navigated the rig according to his directions.

  A year. Over a year, dammit. Lowell wracked his brain for answers as he willing himself to stay in the vehicle. His wolf wanted to burst out and tear across the mountains at a dead run, all the way through the city streets of British Columbia if need be but he knew the car was faster and less likely to get him shot in the process so he clung to the handle and clenched his jaw.

  Spring was in full force at the lower elevations. The only patches of snow left clung tenuously in shaded spaces on the north side of the slopes while wild flowers pushed their blooms past last season's decaying vegetation that had been revealed by the melt.

  Not one of them had actually stood in that bastard's presence before today. That's how, that's how he had fooled them. Kara was human still and the last time she was in that man's presence, she didn't know about the wolves. She had no knowledge of their hidden world beyond legends and Hollywood, so of course she would never have thought to suspect her husband's true nature.

  They all thought he was dead. They had every reason to believe that Anthony had met his end in that spectacular drive to the bottom of the gorge. Not one of them thought it was necessary to climb down there and make sure of it. No human could have survived.

  Frankly, it was surprising that a shifter had but today was proof enough of that.

  "I'll be sure to take good care of your mate."

  Anthony's words were like poison slowly working its way through Lowell's veins.

  "I'm going to fuck her with your scent on her just to remind her who owns her and then I'm going to throw her to the dogs."

  The implication of Anthony's parting words in Lowell's ear felt like ants marching down his spine. He had to stop himself from thinking what Anthony's men would do to Kara if she gave chase.

  The Landcruiser lurched wildly as the kid at the wheel made a sudden turn off the road.

  "What are you doing?" Daelan was yelling while he poked an angry finger at the map in his hands.

  "Trust me!" Was the answer from behind the wheel, "I saw the topos, this is a short cut!"

  "This isn't a short cut, dammit!" Daelan was shouting over the sound of creaking springs as the cruiser bounced over raw dirt and rocks, "This isn't a trail!"

  The skirmish taking place up front almost managed to distract him. That kid couldn't follow directions to save his own life. He and the Alpha butted heads every time they were within 30 feet of each other, but damn if the crazy kid didn't always manage to come through.

  At the moment, Daelan was spitting mad as he jabbed his finger at the map in his hand and barked-- almost literally-- orders at the youngest member of the Alpha guard that comprised this team.

  He was just a kid to them, not even 50 years old yet. Since the wolves matured so slowly once they hit adulthood, he was barely a pup in the eyes of the team. Only recently having returned to the pack after his obligatory stint in the outside world and still learning his place in the pack-- and especially on the team. But he was a good hunter and smart kid and Lowell was glad he was behind the wheel for this ride because no one else had a chance at heading Anthony's entourage off at the pass.

  On the other hand, the kid was also half crazy and completely fearless with the usual sense of immortality that young men suffered from, compounded by the actual near-immortality afforded to him by his shifter nature.

  It was entirely possible that the kid'd get them all dead before they got Kara.

  Lowell was OK with that.

  He wanted to feel guilty about it. His eyes swept across the team that made up his closet friends,
the pack mates that had been beside him his whole life. Daelan in the passenger seat still yelling out directions and pointing at what roads they should be taking while their driver ignored him, Kenyon and Rek on the seat beside him, trying not to get caught laughing at the squabble up front, Mingan holding himself in place in the back cargo space with a quiet scowl on his face. Only Ruelle was missing from their group.

  The tangible quality of Ruelle's absence was enough to pry Lowell's mind off of the situation at hand for a few fleeting moments.

  Ruelle had always been a wild card. After his time abroad he'd returned to the pack wearing a dark cloak of bitterness that he hadn't been willing-- or possibly able-- to shrug off. Not in the safety of his home den, not in the confidence of his closest friends.

  No one had heard from the fugitive rogue since the day he'd left Haley's throat torn open in the snow.

  Lowell shot a look at Mingan behind him. Ruelle had been Ming's closest friend. They had spent most of their time outside the pack together. Mingan's worry for his friend had become a palpable thing lately as more time went by and he still didn't hear from Ruelle.

  Lowell couldn't worry about his pack mates or whatever drove their thoughts or actions. If he lost them, he would mourn them but there were no thoughts of losing his mate. Neither his wolf nor his human mind could accept such a possibility existed.

  He would save her. Before her husband had a chance to implement any of his dark plans. And when Lowell was done with that man, the only husband Kara would have would be her true mate.

  17

  "So now that you know that weres exist, I suppose there's no reason to go on hiding from you."

  Anthony had been rattling on like he was giving a lecture on the biological diversity of a peat field since the den had disappeared from sight.

  She hadn't been paying close attention.

  Kara had watched Lowell's wolf run after the car till they'd outdistanced him. Only when the last signs of the tiny community had disappeared from her view through the back window had she reluctantly turned around and faced forward.