Sugar Creek 1: Tessa's Chosen (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Becca Van

  Oh, God, where is Rafe?

  Had whoever taken her killed him? Who had taken her? Was it Darren? No! Rafe would have dealt with Darren. He was a werewolf. He would have smelled him surely. Why hadn’t he known someone was behind him till it was too late? She didn’t have any answers. The only thing Tessa knew for sure was that she had to get out of here. Hopefully before whoever had kidnapped her came back.

  Moving her legs, she tried to pull her feet together, seeing if she could tear the material tying her down. She felt it give a little, but had to rest her straining leg muscles a bit to regain some strength back. Tipping her head back to see how the handcuffs were secured around the wrought iron bars, she nearly started sobbing and knew it would be futile to try and even think of breaking them. Handcuffs supposedly became tighter the harder you pulled on them. Not having first-hand experience with them, she wasn’t sure if that was correct, but wasn’t willing to take that chance. The only way to even try to free herself was by starting with her tied ankles.

  Instead of trying to pull her legs together and putting more tension on this inside of her thighs, she tried bending her knees up toward her body. Finding that easier on her leg muscles she kept pulling until the material started stretching and gave way a bit more. Pulling and straining, she put a lot of pressure on the material until her knees were three quarters of the way up her leg length. She was just about to give a mighty wrench with her legs, when she heard a key in the lock of the door. Placing her legs flat onto the bed spread wide again, she hoped whoever was coming into the room would not notice the stretched fabric.

  Tessa wasn’t surprised when Stephanie walked into the bedroom sneering at her with haughty disdain, but she flinched when Darren walked in after her and smirked at her.

  “Not so full of yourself now, are you, bitch? You will never be a part of our pack. You are so weak, you pathetic excuse for a human. Those men were mine until you came along. I will not have you wrecking my plans with your existence.”

  “Get away from her you stupid bitch. She’s mine. Remember our agreement.” Darren was walking closer to the bed and Stephanie, and she didn’t like the possessive look in his eyes, but then he froze in place and his eyes widened.

  Tessa didn’t know how Darren had been able to get Stephanie to help him get her away from her mates and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but when Darren stayed still and turned away from her and started backing toward the door she shifted her gaze back to Stephanie.

  Tessa looked into Stephanie’s wild eyes. There was not one ounce of sanity to be found. “You don’t even have a chance with them, Stephanie, and you know it. You know there is only one true mate for a werewolf. Do you really think they will even look at you? Yes, I know you had sex with them, but to them you were only a scratch to an itch. You were just a fuck.”

  Just as Stephanie came at her, Darren slipped out of the room and disappeared. Tessa tried to protect her face by raising her arms from the insane bitch but didn’t have much of a chance with her hands secured to the bed. She tried to hide her face under her arm when Stephanie got in a vicious slap and then tried to claw at her face. She was lucky that Stephanie only managed to hurt her arm. Warm blood tricked over her skin where Stephanie used her were claws on her. She tried to keep her cry on pain contained, not wanting to give the bitch the satisfaction of knowing she’d hurt her, but Tessa couldn’t hold it in. The pain of having the skin on her arm ripped open was too much to bear.

  Tessa was bracing herself for another assault, then looked up when it didn’t eventuate. Bret entered the room and snarled as dove for Stephanie. Darren came back into the room and looked horrified when Brett and Stephanie started struggling.

  “I told you stay away from her, you crazy bitch. How the hell am I going to use her to get them to hand the Alpha position to me if you kill her?”

  “I told you I didn’t want her hurt,” Darren chimed in. “She’s mine. I should make you pay for making her bleed.”

  Stephanie turned her head to the side and glared at Darren. “Go ahead and try human.”

  Darren didn’t say anything but he scowled at Stephanie, before looking at Brett. “Can’t you control the crazy bitch?”

  Brett snarled and snapped at Darren and Tessa was pleased to see how scared he was and he actually backed up toward the door.

  While Brett struggled to hold on to Stephanie, Tessa asked him something that had been bothering her. “How did you get past Rafe? He would have smelled you as soon as you were in the vicinity?”

  Brett laughed as he continued his skirmish with Stephanie. “We stole some of your clothes and disguised our scent. A brilliant idea if I do say so myself.”

  Tessa watched as Stephanie started to shift, her mouth elongating into a muzzle, her bones cracking and popping as she shrank back and her spine shortening until she was looking into the eyes of a crazy wolf. Unable to keep his hold of her, Brett stepped back as Stephanie merged into her wolf. Darren ran from the room and a moment later she heard the front door slam closed. The wolf turned from Tessa and growled. The muscles in its body tensed and then it leapt into the air.

  * * * *

  Rafe came to with a groan and wondered why the hell his head was hurting so bad. He rolled onto his side and his eyes snapped open when his cheek met hard, cold ground. He’d been with Tessa.

  Tessa!

  “Luc, Gabe, someone got the jump on me and they’ve taken Tessa. I need you to gather the Betas and Omegas together. Meet me at Deb’s. I can’t pick up a scent. I need some help to find our mate.”

  “On our way,” Lucien snapped.

  Fifteen minutes later a group of trucks came to a screaming halt outside of Deb’s Café in Sugar Creek. Lucien, Gabe, Damian, Luke, Chase, and Tony entered the café and sat down at the table Rafe was seated at. Rafe was holding a bag of ice to his head. Gabe took the bag of ice off and looked at the wound. “’It’s already healing. What’s the ice for?” Gabe asked in a quiet voice so he wouldn’t be heard by the humans.

  “Deb gave it to me to bring the swelling down. Since she’s human and I was already starting to heal I was trying to hide it from her.” Rafe snarled.

  “Tell me,” Lucien commanded.

  Rafe explained about the prickling feeling at the back of his neck just before he was hit on the head and knocked unconscious.

  “I wasn’t out long, a minute at most. What I can’t figure out is why I didn’t get a scent?”

  Lucien sat thinking as he stared at Rafe. The fear in his brother’s eyes probably matched his own.

  “They had to have disguised their scent somehow.”

  “That has to be the only possibility. The only human scent I smelled was Tessa’s.”

  “Maybe it was because whoever it was wrapped themselves in Tessa’s clothes,” Luke suggested.

  Lucien looked at Luke then Damian as understanding sunk in. Whoever had Tessa was a pack member.

  “Fuck,” Gabe roared and pushed to his feet.

  “Sit,” Lucien barked. Gabe looked around and smiled apologetically toward the café owner.

  Rafe looked from Gabe to Lucien. “Who do you think it was, Stephanie or Brett?”

  “Both,” Lucien said. “Brett has been hankering for the Alpha position for years but is too much of a coward to challenge me out right. We all know there is no way he could take me in a fight. Stephanie is jealous and a little crazy. I think that he’s used her jealousy to make it easier to get to Tessa. Think about it. It would be much easier for a female pack member to get to our mate than a male. We don’t worry about the females being near our mate, only the un-mated males.

  “Gabe, I want you and Luke to see if you can pick up any scent. Rafe, where did they get the jump on you?” Lucien asked.

  Rafe pointed to his truck across the street toward the back of a parking lot. “At my truck.”

  Gabe and Luke took off across the street walking around Rafe’s truck, trying to pick up a scent. Luc raised an eyebrow in question as
the two men came back into the cafe.

  “Both of them, the scents are faint but they’re there.” Gabe’s voice was deeper and more gravelly than usual, as if he was trying to keep his wolf at bay.

  “Chase, Tony, I want you to get all the information you can on the activities of Stephanie and Brett within the last twelve months. Luke, Damian, I want you to ask around town and see if anybody heard or saw anything. We’ll meet you back at the house. Rafe, Gabe, and I are going to see if we can follow the scent. Let’s go.” Lucien hurried toward the door.

  Lucien, Rafe, and Gabe followed the scent for at least an hour. Going back and forward across town until the scent ended at an automated car wash.

  “Fucking bastard, bitch. I am going to rip out their throats when I find them.” Rafe’s claws erupted from the tips of his finger as panic and fear for his mate caused his loss of control. He reined his emotions back and took several deep breaths until his claws receded again. Not being able to help his mate was killing him, but he had to keep it together so they could find her.

  Not knowing if she was still alive or if she was hurt made his chest ache. He and his brothers were consumed with fear and rage that someone had dared to threaten, attack, and abduct their mate, their one and only love. They had to find her. When they did they would also find Brett and Stephanie. Those two pack members had just signed their own death certificates.

  * * * *

  Tessa heard the roar of an engine and the spray of gravel as Darren took off. The fucker had probably been scared out of his mind when Stephanie had shifted into her wolf form.

  Brett backed away as Stephanie landed within a few feet of him. Just as the wolf tensed to pounce again the lines around Brett’s body began to blur. He was halfway through his shift when Stephanie pounced on him. Snarls and growls filled the air as the bit, clawed and scratched at each other and then they each went for the other’s throat. Tessa turned her head away in horror as Brett ripped out Stephanie’s throat and she slumped to the ground with a death rattle. Turning back, she watched as Brett shifted into his full were form and staggered from the room.

  Hoping Brett was too injured to worry about her, Tessa began tugging her legs up with all her might. She sobbed in relief when she felt the material holding her legs in place rip and renewed her struggles. Now that her legs were free she had to figure out a way to free her hands. There was no way in hell she could break the metal handcuffs apart.

  Grabbing hold of the rails of the bedhead, Tessa swung her feet around and used her feet to kick at the rails. Her body was contorted in an awkward position but she wasn’t giving up until she had escaped. She kicked and pushed but no matter how hard she tried, she wasn’t able to dislodge one of the iron spindles. Finally she unfolded her body and rested when exhaustion took over. Lying still, panting for breath, she rested her strained body.

  Tessa must have fallen asleep, because when she woke again it was dark. Not being able to see what she was doing was going to make her chance of escaping that much harder. She stretched her tired aching muscles and gasped when the arm Stephanie had ripped open began to burn and throb with pain.

  While she rested she prayed that her men would find her soon. She was desperate to use the bathroom and wondered if Brett was even still in the house, and if he was, whether he was still alive. If someone didn’t come for her soon, she was going to pee her pants and that was least of her problems. She’d had nothing to drink since that afternoon when Rafe had bought her a coffee. She knew she could survive without food for quite a while, but if she didn’t get water within the next twenty-four hours she was going to start to dehydrate. That could cause her big problems.

  Tessa woke just as the sun started rising, emitting a little light through the bedroom window. She moaned with pain when she tried to roll over and then cried out as her shoulders protested. She’d been tied up for so long she couldn’t feel her hands anymore. Her bladder was so full it felt like it was going to burst and she felt sick to her stomach. The wound on her head where she’d been hit yesterday was throbbing, as was the arm Stephanie had ripped open. She tried to hear if Brett was still around but she couldn’t hear any movement. Tessa decided enough was enough and started yelling.

  “Hello, Brett, can you hear me? Please, I need to go to the bathroom.” She waited for a response but all was quiet. “Brett, please come and untie me?”

  When Tessa didn’t hear anything she grasped hold of the bed rails, contorting her body around until she could kick the iron with her feet. Bringing her legs up against her full bladder was torture but she ignored the pain and she kicked with all her might. One of her feet slipped from the rails, scraping along her ankle. She whimpered with pain as the flesh on her ankle tore open. Tessa began sobbing. She was in pain and knew she couldn’t kick the iron spindles away to get her hands free. She was stuck until someone came to help her, but no one knew where she was. She didn’t feel very well at all and wondered if she had a cracked skull. She cried herself into exhaustion.

  * * * *

  When Lucien and his brothers arrived back at the house they were immediately surrounded by the pack. Their family and friends wanted to help them find their Queen and began asking for direction.

  “I appreciate you all wanting to help but I have some of the Betas and Omegas gathering information for us. Until we have what we want, I don’t know where to start looking. Once I know some more and I need your help I will ask. Thank you.” Lucien bowed gratefully in respect for his pack and his brothers did the same.

  Lucien knew his pack would do anything he asked of them and he was thankful, but he was so scared for Tessa he felt sick to his stomach. His wolf was pushing at him to change and search out its mate, but until he knew where to look it would be futile and a waste of time. He had to keep his fear pushed down deep inside because if he let it have free rein he wasn’t going to be any good in helping find and rescue Tessa, and that wasn’t acceptable.

  Lucien, Rafe, and Gabe convened in the dining area, waiting for word from Chase, Tony, Luke, and Damian. Alice bustled around the kitchen, cooking up a storm, knowing there would be a large amount of people to feed throughout the evening. She also made sure there were snacks for them, knowing they would get no sleep this night.

  Rafe paced the house and it was hard for Lucien to keep from biting his brother’s head off. He knew that Rafe blamed himself for not protecting Tessa and was probably castigating himself for not realizing there was danger. But Lucien knew his brother well and after they found Tessa he would make sure he realized he wasn’t to blame, that all the blame lay at Brett and Stephanie’s feet.

  Gabe had gone to the office to help Chase and Damian hack into council files. They were looking for property titles belonging to Brett or Stephanie and also going through bank files, anything they could think of to find the two pack members and their missing mate.

  Lucien was in the kitchen grilling Luke and Chase and going through the information they’d gathered from the town’s people. His muscles were tense and he was getting a stress headache but he wasn’t giving up until he found Tessa.

  The hours seemed to drag by. Every time Rafe walked into the kitchen he glanced at the clock and so did Lucien. The hours seemed to take days to pass, and the minutes, hours. Lucien was beside himself with fear, frustration, and panic. He needed to hold his mate in his arms, love her with his body and tell her he loved her. The longer she was missing the harder it would be to track her down. He’d tried to use his mind to link to find Tessa, as had his brothers, but they hadn’t been mated long enough for the bond to have formed strongly enough.

  “We found it,” Gabe yelled, and rushed into the kitchen waving the piece of paper about in his hand. “Brett bought a house situated about an hour away from here. I’ll bet that’s where they have our mate.”

  “It will be light in half an hour. They are probably feeling secure since we haven’t found them yet, probably still sleeping. Let’s go get our mate,” Lucien commanded and ran
outside toward his truck.

  Lucien, his brothers, along with the Betas and Omegas, arrived at Brett’s farm house just after the sun rose. Their trucks skidded to a halt in front of the house.

  Rafe was the first out of the truck and he looked ready to kill. The front door didn’t even slow him down. He kicked it with such force the hinges came away from the door jamb, splintering the wood. His body braced, ready to attack whoever came at him. Lucien and Gabe rushed in after him and searched the house. They ran from room to room and couldn’t find Tessa anywhere. She wasn’t here.

  “Where the fuck is she?” Rafe roared. “She’s not here.”

  “We’ve found her,” Damian yelled from out the back.

  Lucien, Rafe and Gabe ran in the direction of Damian’s voice, to another smaller building out back. Luc entered the granny flat to find Luke ripping handcuffs apart with his bare hands. Tessa was sobbing quietly as Luke released her from her restraints. He stepped over Stephanie’s body with a cursory glance and rushed over to Tessa. She was bloody and bruised but she was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

  “Lucien, you came,” she cried.

  “Of course we did, little bird. I love you, Tessa.” Luc sat on the side of the bed, carefully picked Tessa up, and cradled her in his arms. Gabe and Rafe came close and touched her gently, being careful not to touch any of her wounds. When she calmed down, Lucien kissed her on the temple and handed her over to Gabe. After Gabe was reassured she was alive he passed her over to Rafe.

  Rafe held her in his lap, moisture evident in his eyes. “Tessa, baby, I’m so sorry. I love you. Please forgive me. I didn’t protect you when I should have. I’m sorry.” Rafe put his nose to Tessa’s neck and breathed in her scent.

  Tessa looked up to Lucien and Gabe and smiled at them. The love she felt for them shone through loud and clear. Luc and Gabe turned their back to Rafe and Tessa, giving them a little privacy while they tried to deal with Stephanie’s wolf body, but they could still hear her with their wolf ears.