by Unknown
Nevertheless, Alistair was the beast who’d made me afraid of werewolves. He was Colin's father. If he ever found out about me or Colin... I wrapped my arms around myself. Nausea roiled my stomach, and I took a few deep breaths as I shoved the thought away. Keep it together. Don't let them break you down like this. If I didn’t tell Dougal who I was, it could directly impact Colin. He didn't need more stress, given what was already happening with him.
“What’s wrong?” Dougal stepped into the light, and my breath hitched in my throat. “What happened while I was gone?” He took a few deep breaths as if trying to detect the reason for my concern. I wasn’t sure what was stronger: my intimidation of him, or my growing lust for him.
Panic flooded through me. This wasn’t who I was. For as long as I could remember, I’d hated werewolves. Their kind—aside from Colin—had treated me horribly, from my first meeting with Alistair, my mother’s ex-boyfriend, onwards. Why in the hell would I do this to myself? Why should I open up and trust him when he might very well side with the one who brought me here?
Rational thinking charged to rescue. I couldn’t make this all about myself. I needed to think about Colin too. Besides, if Dougal underestimated Alistair, he could be putting himself or his Pack at risk.
“If I’m going to be able to help you, then you need to talk to me.” He stared at me with such sincerity in his blue eyes.
“You might find this hard to believe, but I think I know why Alistair wants to hurt me.” Taking a deep breath, I forged on before I lost my courage. “I dislike the idea of opening up to anyone about this, least of all a werewolf a barely know.” I frowned at him. “But when I was a young girl, my human mother had an illicit relationship with a werewolf who used to beat me for being a feline shifter.”
“That werewolf is Alistair?” His eyes darkened and his features closed off. For a moment, I wondered if he’d been insulted by my statement. They were of the same Pack, after all. “Dinnae fash yersel. I’ll make sure that bastard pays for hurting you.” His accent thickened with suppressed emotions, and he stepped closer to the cage. “However, you still haven’t answered my previous questions.”
“My name is Caitlyn. Colin is…” Should I tell him the truth? It would be going against our agreement, and if Alistair knew, if Dougal told him—
“He’s your brother, isn’t he?” He brushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I do see a wee bit of resemblance, and you have a lovely name.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?” I couldn’t hold back the words. I never expected this kind of treatment from a werewolf, ever.
“Why shouldn’t I be? You didn’t do anything. You’re simply a stubborn feline who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He smirked, his face lighting up, in stark contrast to the dark expression he’d worn moments before.
The floorboards above our heads groaned with the movement of many people, and I finally realized where I was: the Pack’s headquarters. It made perfect sense, and yet it filled me with impending dread. Once Colin got home, he’d smell the werewolves, and this was the first place he’d probably come.
“Don’t worry about them. You’ll be fine. I swear it.” He pulled the keys from his pocket, and I took a hasty step away from the door. “You don’t need to fear me.”
If only he knew. I wasn’t afraid he’d hurt me. I was more nervous that I’d bask in his presence and be hurt when the moon’s power faded and he tossed me aside. My leopardess reveled in the idea of being beneath his hard body.
The scent of his arousal answered my own as the door swung open. The front of his pants bulged outward from where his erection strained to be free from its confines. My fingers itched to release it, and I bit my nails into my palms, trying to regain my fragile control.
Darkness must’ve descended. This had to be the moon’s power. My lust for him before had been incredible, but now… now it was almost debilitating. Then again, I didn’t usually refrain from all sexual activity when the moon was full, so this could be Mother Nature throwing me headlong into bed with this wolf.
A low rumbling growl echoed from him, and before I knew what hit me, he was on me. He scooped me up, pulling my legs around his waist, pressing me into the bars. His lips slid over my throat and jaw, edging ever closer to my mouth. He shoved his hard, denim-covered cock between my legs, and I threw my head back, nearly mewling in ecstasy.
My cry seemed to light a fire within him. He slid a hand under my shirt and up my torso toward my breast. The amount of clothing between us was way too much. I wanted to get out of it and have Dougal fill my body, regardless of the fact we were in the cage. None of that mattered now, just this moment.
I cupped his face, enjoying the kisses on my body, but wanting to taste his lips with my own. I leaned in, sliding my tongue over his lower lip then gently nipping it with my teeth, before pressing onward to claim his mouth. He opened it to me, letting me delve into the hot, damp cavern, tangling his tongue with mine.
He softly pinched my nipple between his thumb and forefinger. His palm was so incredibly warm, and I arched my back, wanting more of his affection. Moisture dampened my panties, and I wanted him inside me, regardless of all the torment I’d been through courtesy of werewolves. Dougal had much more compassion than craggy-faced Alistair.
I let out a low moan and rotated my hips to rub against him more. Reason tried to pipe up, tried to say that maybe we shouldn’t. After all, I was still a prisoner here. I still might be hung out to dry when Dougal was done with me, but I wouldn’t let myself think that way.
“I’m not rushing you into this, am I?” he asked, his voice gravelly. “If you want me to stop—”
I opened my mouth to protest, but hard footsteps clomped down the stairs. Colin’s scent hit my nose, and I shoved at Dougal’s chest. But it was way too late.
“Fuck ye dain, ya bastard? I can’t believe this. I come home to see my place trashed, my sister beaten and you about to have yer way with her.” Colin stomped into the light. His face was bright red and it looked like he was about to blow a fuse. “Not the type of reunion I’d hoped for. Get your hands off my sister and let her go.”
I pushed at Dougal’s shoulders when he didn’t budge. I knew there was probably some kind of Alpha werewolf thing going on, but he’d be stupid to have it out with my half-mad brother, especially since while I liked Dougal, I wouldn’t allow him to hurt Colin. Although, that didn’t mean that I necessarily wanted to be alone and in the same room with Colin and to have to explain all of this nonsense.
When Dougal finally did move, it was with slow even steps. “Mind your tongue. I didn’t do this to her.” He glanced back at me, his jaw tense and anger flashing in his eyes. My heart sank in my chest. He was going to say it, and I didn’t have a chance of stopping him. “Thank your father, Alistair.” With that, he opened the cage, slammed into Colin on his way past and walked to the base of the stairs. “Might I add, it’s probably safer for her to be in the cage with him on the loose, and she’s still my prisoner.”
When Dougal made it up the steps, Colin turned to me. “You’ve got a lot of explainin’ to do.”
* * *
The fact I’d almost gone to bed with Dougal after all I’d been through frustrated me. Why had I expected him to be different? He was just more of the same, like almost any other werewolf I’d had the misfortune of meeting. If only I wasn’t prisoner in his home…
But I knew he didn’t want to let me go. Maybe I should be comforted by that fact, but it just made me mad. I wasn’t some toy for him.
What was worse was that Colin had spotted us about to do the deed, and if he took even the slightest breath, he’d know it wasn’t forced. Part of me wished I’d been left in the cell, rather than go through Colin’s impending interrogation since it’d be embarrassing to admit I might’ve almost given into my lust.
The way Dougal had left after our incredibly sexual moment angered me. He’d not only been an arse to Colin, but he’d been rude to me a
s well. I’d opened up to him, told him about Alistair. Now I wished I hadn’t. This all opened up too big a can of worms that our mum had worked so hard to bury, and it was all on me to fix it.
Yet if it was up to me, I'd just as easily walk up that flight of stairs and disappear. But I couldn't do that. If I did, then there would be no one to protect Colin from Alistair. Not that he probably wanted—or needed—my help, but I refused to sit back while he bore more of this nonsense; not after what he'd been through with the scientists.
The look in his eyes as he stared at me told that I needed to start talking and stop internalizing soon, or he'd march up the steps to pull the answers from his Alpha, which I didn't want him to do. That kind of nonsense would be what might get him killed.
I took a step toward the cage's entrance, not sure if it was even safe for me to leave. Funny, since I'd been so sure that I wanted to remove my brother from one of these and now I didn't want to leave my own. However, I doubted he’d had a handsome and quite randy Alpha werewolf visiting him.
"Talk to me. What's going on here?" He remained in place, his hands were balled into fists at his sides, and his entire body trembled with the effort to keep himself somewhat calm.
"I..." Bloody hell... where did I even start? "Well, I went to your apartment to await your arrival and tidy up. Then..." I took a deep breath and sat on the cage floor, staring off into the darkness, because I didn't want to look at my broken brother whom I felt like I'd betrayed in between the intimacy with Dougal and holding in the secret about Alistair. "I was ambushed." I rambled on about the fight in his apartment and how I'd been desperate to keep away, then I'd woken up in the cage, and about how Alistair had threatened to find out who I was and how scared I'd been.
After a while, a soft scrap of leather on the concrete drew my attention, and I glanced over to see Colin sitting on the other side of the entrance, his gaze fixed on my bruised face with anger sparkling in its depths. "How do you know about Alistair? How can you be sure he's my father?"
Fuck, fuck, fuck...
I didn't want to answer that. The only way I'd be able to tell him would be to let him in on the real person and, furthermore, the reason why Mum had moved us away.
"If you don't want to tell me, I know ye have your reasons. I'd like to know if I've been told lies about the man." He kept his expression neutral, but I knew him enough to see the worry and sincerity peeking out through his eyes.
"Mum moved on from my father before I knew who he was. She didn't tell lies. I knew he was abusive to her and that's why she made the choice to leave him. When she met your father, Alistair, I was quite young. I remember thinking it'd be nice to have a pa. Mum didn't know what I was at that point. I don't think she realized the paranormal existed, neither did I... until Alistair. I didn't know what I was, until he..." I clenched the hem of the oversized T-shirt, rolling it in my fingers, doing anything to keep my mind from wandering to the horrific memories that still sometimes plagued my dreams. "He..." I couldn't seem to get the words out as much as I tried. Telling Dougal had been like it'd happened to someone else in another time. It had been a necessity to protect lives, but this was so much more personal.
Colin's warm hand pat my shin in a brotherly manner. "Dinnae feel you need to say more. I'm sorry you had to go through that and bravely keep silent all these years." Whereas before he'd looked utterly hostile, now he had pain tightening the corners of his lips and eyes. "We should get ye a change of clothes and to a secure place." He climbed to his feet with ease, and looked away to give me privacy since he probably feared me flashing him.
Frowning, my thoughts went back to what Dougal said. While I disliked the way he’d been so abrupt, I had to give him a little credit. I very well might be safest here, even if I hated to admit it.
I didn’t even bother to stand. The cage’s door clinked shut as I tugged it closed. “I’m staying here. Although, I won’t be opposed to the clothes.”
He spun to face me, surprise widening his eyes. “You’re bloody mad. Why are ye staying here?”
I smiled at him, but it didn’t reach all the way to my eyes. “I’m protected here. You are too.”
He grumbled and fetched some clothes for me. When he got back, he was still grumbling. However, I now had a T-shirt that didn’t reach my knees and pair of drawstring shorts that hung down to my calves, but at least I could tighten them enough that they hopefully wouldn’t fall off. Even the smell of wolves clinging to the clothes failed to grate on my nerves.
Maybe things were beginning to look up a wee bit.
Chapter Four
Dougal
My body still burned from almost having sex with Caitlyn. Pacing my father’s study didn’t help me feel any better. Her naked form prowled through my thoughts, and I slumped into my da’s favorite chair.
What had I done? She was a feline, for heaven’s sake.
I’d strayed far from tradition and beyond what any other Alpha would do. Mating with a female werewolf was considered the prime goal for a male, especially one of higher and pure Pack rank. But the ratio of males to females was vastly lopsided, so the next best things were human women. Granted, we had to be more careful with them, but they were necessary to furthering our bloodline.
Stepping outside the boundaries of normalcy, especially for someone like me, was off limits. Copulating with a feline shifter might produce a feline, which wouldn’t be looked upon well. A feline wouldn’t be able to run a group of werewolves. If that happened, I’d have no heir to pass down the title of Alpha to.
I slammed my fist on the armchair. If my father had seen me do that, he would’ve tanned my hide. Pain burned in my chest that he wasn’t here to guide me and provide some much needed reason to the situation. He’d been strong, loyal to a fault and the perfect leader.
So far, I’d managed to fail in all of those things.
Loud knocking on the study’s door made me jerk upright in the chair.
“Come in,” I called. Two possibilities existed in my mind as to who could be behind that door. Either Colin was here to give me a piece of his mind, or I’d receive news about Alistair. I seriously doubted Caitlyn would ever want to see me again. The slight pause made me question myself. Could I be wrong? “Come in!”
The door finally opened, and Hendrie, one of the younger wolves, stood in the doorway. The grim look upon his bruised face spoke of trouble. But even if I felt overwhelmed with the siblings, Alistair was a problem I could solve.
“Laird,” Hendrie bowed his head before walking into the room to stand before me. “There’s news about Alistair. We momentarily found him, or to put it a better way, he found Duncan and me while we were searching. We fought him as best we could, but I couldn’t save him. Alistair was too strong. Duncan is…”
“Dead.” I finished for him, sadness and rage mixing in my gut. My canines ached to be unleashed, as did the tips of my fingers where claws were ready to unsheathe from my human body. If only I’d gone on the hunt myself. Instead I’d nearly fornicated with a… beautiful woman.
Even as I wanted to downgrade my feelings for her, to put them away as imaginary or insignificant, I knew deep down in my heart that they were real. I cared about her.
Soft footsteps in the hallway caught my attention, and I glanced up to see Colin standing in the doorway behind Hendrie. “Duncan is dead?” His cheeks reddened as he looked between Hendrie and me. “For fuck’s sake.”
Colin was very different from the man I’d known before he’d visited the States. Much more on edge and like he’d break at any minute. He’d kept himself from falling apart, but I think having his sister in danger could be credited for that.
“Aye, that he is.” Hendrie shuffled his feet a little, uneasiness wafting off him.
"What's going to be done to avenge his death and protect my sister?" Colin walked further into the room, expectation in his eyes.
Part of me wanted to growl at him, telling him how stupid he was to be coming in here and pissing
me off when I was finding dealing with the death harder than he. But I would be the better man. I'd do what was expected of me.
The leather chair creaked as I shifted my weight, making me think of my father again. How would he handle this situation? With dignity and compassion, and that was exactly how I'd do things too. People looked to me to be the stronger one. My father and grandfather had gone through challenges much harder than this. Now it was my time to gain respect from the Pack.
"We're going to find the bastard and repay him in kind for what he's done." I rose from the chair, holding my shoulders back as I did. "Hendrie, tell the others."
"Aye, laird." Hendrie bowed his head again and backed up a few steps like that, before turning to leave. It was as if I were a king of old. The wolves stuck to those kinds of traditions more strictly than any humans did, and they were the ones who had come up with these etiquettes.
When he was gone, I turned my attention back to Colin. "Where's your sister?" I didn't exactly want to get into this conversation with him, but I needed to be sure that she was okay. I'd do whatever I could to protect her, regardless of what she thought of me.
His eyes darkened a little at the question, but he took a few breaths, releasing his stress before he answered. "She's locked herself back in the cage. She thinks that it’s the place that will offer her the most protection." He looked like he begged to differ there, but he didn't comment further. "She's peckish, so I'm going out to get her food."
"I don't know if that'd be wise after Duncan's death. Alistair is out there and he's shown he's willing to kill his own." Although, I wondered if he’d targeted Duncan because he'd thought the other man had ratted on him. That was beside the point, really.
