FIGHT FOR ME
By
Natalie Kristen
Also by NATALIE KRISTEN
MISTY VALLEY SHIFTERS
Growl For Me
Fight For Me
Purrfect For Me – coming soon!
MATE series
Alpha Mate
Bear Mate
Vampire Mate
Wolf Mate
Wild Mate
Dark Mate
Blood Mate
NORTH WOLVES NOVELLA
To Kill A Wolf
Copyright © 201 5 Natalie Kristen
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are used fictitiously or are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual locales, events, establishments or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
About this book
Bitten and captured by the Red Fangs pack, Chloe Sullivan refuses to give in to those ruthless, savage wolves. She hates all the Red wolves, every single one of them.
Especially Logan Reed, the pack Beta who is in charge of every vicious, cold-blooded attack by the Red Fangs pack.
Logan Reed is shocked to realize that the curvy, feisty half witch, half human female held captive in the Red Fangs compound is his mate. Chloe is running out of time. The werewolf toxin in her blood will soon drive her mad with a wolf's hunger and lust. She has been fighting the toxin, but it is just a matter of time before it kills her.
Logan will have to fight to free Chloe and his pack from the savagery and tyranny of his Alpha. It is a fight he cannot afford to lose.
But can he let her go if he wins?
*****
CHAPTER ONE
Chloe Sullivan wrapped her arms protectively around her friend. Abigail's skin felt too hot to the touch, and she was shaking, sweating and muttering deliriously.
“Abigail! Just hang in there, you'll get through this,” Chloe hissed through gritted teeth. “You'll be all right, Abigail. You'll be fine.” She squeezed her eyes shut briefly and whispered, “We'll both be fine.”
That last sentence was a lie, and she knew it.
They were running out of time, and from the looks of it, Abigail wasn't fine. Abigail had already lasted longer than the rest of the human captives. Abigail's human body shouldn't have been able to resist the effects of the werewolf toxin for so long. She should have succumbed long ago, yet she was still hanging on, still fighting. Chloe was so proud of her, and so afraid for her. Abigail's will and resolve might be strong, but her body was human. It would break soon.
Chloe swallowed painfully. Abigail wasn't going to be fine. Her friend was losing the fight, and losing her mind. They had both been bitten by a werewolf, and not just any werewolf. They had been attacked by Rhett Kelly, Alpha of the Red Fangs pack. The Red Fangs pack was one of the most dangerous and most feared wolf packs in Misty Valley. The Red Fangs were violent, savage and utterly lawless. While most of the other packs were generally law-abiding and owned large, successful businesses in Misty Valley, the Red Fangs pack was a violent, lawless pack of wolves who just took what they wanted. Money, territory, humans, females. Every one of the Red wolves was lean, mean and hungry. They were vicious, merciless fighters, and most of the inhabitants of Misty Valley knew better than to get in their way.
Packs only protected their own. The Red Fangs wolves were savage, but they weren't stupid. They ambushed and attacked only those who were helpless against them and didn't have the protection of a powerful pack or clan. Lone wolves, small human families, harmless witches, defenseless females. These were their targets. Misty Valley was largely a town of shifters, but there were some humans and witches living in the small town. The Red Fangs pack steered clear of the most powerful covens, but any lone witch was fair game.
Chloe bit her lip. Perhaps she should have joined a coven. Perhaps she shouldn't have tried so hard to hide the fact that she was a witch. The Alpha of the Red wolves had seen two human women cutting through an alley at sundown and ordered his wolves to circle round and cut off their escape. Rhett had attacked them in the alley, bitten them and dragged them off to the Red Fangs compound at the outskirts of Misty Valley.
If she hadn't hidden her witch powers, perhaps the Red wolves would have left them alone. They wouldn't have been bitten, and Abigail wouldn't be drooling and convulsing in her arms right now.
Chloe felt Abigail's nails dig into her arm but she didn't pull away. Instead, she leaned in and held on to her friend even tighter. There was just the two of them left in the cell. The other women had been taken away when their bodies showed the first signs of turning.
There had been five of them in the holding cell. The other three women were human, like Abigail. The other women had all been bitten by Rhett as well. And when Rhett bit them, he injected a small dose of werewolf toxin through his fangs into their bodies.
Chloe saw what the werewolf toxin did to the human women. At first, their skins began reddening, and they started to feel hot and itchy all over. As the itching and burning became unbearable, the women tore off all their clothes and writhed against the cold cement floor as they sobbed and begged. Their fits and spasms became progressively more violent. The women screamed and blubbered as the werewolf toxin coursed through their bloodstream.
Some of them sprouted tufts of reddish fur on their bodies, but the fur would just fall away after a few days. The women never fully shifted into wolves. It was obvious that Rhett didn't inject enough toxin into their bodies. He only half turned them. The women couldn't shift. They suffered, they sobbed, they screamed, but they just couldn't complete the shift. Rhett never wanted to fully turn them into werewolves. He just wanted them hungry, raving, desperate, unable to fight back.
The women experienced the powerful, crippling wants and cravings of a werewolf, but they lacked the strength and power of the wolf. They would never be able to shift into wolf form. They were in constant heat and hunger, but they lacked the instinct and power of the beast to hunt, to fight and claim their mates. They would always be hungry, wanting, in perpetual agony. They would always be in Rhett's control, at his feet, at his mercy. They had not been turned in full werewolves and they lacked the strength and instinct of the wolf to protect themselves and fight back. Half turned and half mad, they would be Rhett's slaves forever. They would only be free when they were dead.
Chloe could only watch with impotent rage as one by one the women lost control of their bodies and their minds. With their fragile human bodies tormented by hunger and lust, the women were helpless to defend themselves as they were dragged out of the holding cell and taken to Rhett's chambers. There had been five of them. Now it was just the two of them left.
Being half witch half human, Chloe's body seemed better able to fight off the most devastating effects of the werewolf toxin. But she was losing the fight. She could feel it. Her body's defenses were being broken down, and she was beginning to hallucinate. She would break out in cold sweat or hot flushes in the middle of the night, and she would see people and things which weren't really there. She saw her parents smiling down at her. Her mom, a clever, powerful witch healer, and her dad, an upright, courageous human man. She missed them both so much. They had died four ye
ars ago when she was eighteen. Her parents had built their house on a remote piece of land, away from the hustle and bustle of the town. Chloe had been relieved when Dr. Zhou and his daughter, Abigail, moved into the house down the road from them. After her parents died, Dr. Zhou had insisted that Chloe go over to their place for dinner every evening. Dr. Zhou was worried about Chloe living alone in that little house, but even though the house was quiet and empty, it was home to Chloe. It was her home, and she would live in it for as long as she could. Abigail and her father seemed to understand, but they would often pop by unannounced to check on her.
Chloe closed her eyes and recalled Dr. Zhou's kindly, wrinkled face. Dr. Zhou had repeatedly told them not to be late for dinner that day. It was his birthday, and he had whipped up a feast. Abigail had wanted to go shopping to get her dad something special. A new coat, she'd insisted. His old doctor coat was getting too worn and frayed in her opinion. Dr. Zhou practiced Traditional Chinese Medicine, and he was an excellent physician. His patients would travel for miles to see him, and he treated everyone, even shifters. Chloe often saw groaning werebears, werewolves and other wounded shifters on his couch. Abigail and Chloe were his assistants. Dr. Zhou had offered her a job after her parents died. It's not charity, he'd insisted. He really needed an extra pair of hands, and it was the truth. Shifters seemed to get into fights and scrapes a lot, and Dr. Zhou treated all their injuries swiftly, effectively without batting an eyelid. He could ease their pain with a few sharp jabs of his acupuncture needles. Abigail wasn't just her dad's assistant, she was his apprentice. She learned fast, and was attentive and decisive. Chloe just knew that Abigail would make a great physician.
Chloe sighed deeply and stared down at Abigail, who was moaning softly in her sleep. She tried to brush Abigail's matted hair away from her face, but her hands were shaking too much. Chloe grimaced at her uncontrollable shivering. She was losing control. Her limbs would twitch and jerk out on their own accord, and she was suffering from memory lapses more and more frequently. She would wake up and not remember where she was. Her panic attacks were becoming more severe and debilitating. She was growing weaker, and she knew that it was only a matter of time before she succumbed to the toxin like all the other women.
She was fast losing control over her body. Her body was beginning to feel less and less like her own. The werewolf toxin would soon overrun all her nerves and senses, and then all would be lost. She would be dragged out of the cell to join Rhett's harem of half-turned human women.
Not if she could help it.
Chloe bit the inside of her cheek hard. She ground her teeth as she tasted her own blood.
She would not succumb and submit to Rhett. He might be the Alpha of the Red Fangs pack, but he would never be her Alpha. She would never obey him and she would never let him take her.
She would rather die.
Her knuckles ground into the concrete floor. No, she would rather he die. And Rhett deserved to die, for what he did to all those women.
“Be strong,” Chloe whispered as Abigail whimpered and curled up tighter into a ball on the floor. With Abigail's head lolling in her lap, Chloe leaned back heavily against the stone wall.
Chloe stared at Abigail's tear-streaked face and swore viciously. All the women had cried and begged, but Chloe hadn't shed a single tear since her capture.
Tears were precious. Blood, sweat and tears held a person's love, dreams and fears. She would not give the Red Fangs pack her tears.
Those red wolves had helped their Alpha ambush and attack all those human women. They were all guilty. She hated them all. Every single one of them.
She had heard them talking and laughing. She had listened to the guards' conversations and tried to remember the pertinent details. The devil was in the details. Details were important if one wanted to escape. And she was going to escape with Abigail.
She had to know what to look out for, and who was in charge of what. By listening and observing, she learned the names of most of the lieutenants in the Red Fangs pack. She kept hearing their names, but one name in particular kept coming up.
Logan Reed.
Logan Reed, the pack Beta and second in command to the Alpha. He was Rhett's right hand man, and he was in charge of every attack, every operation by the Red Fangs pack.
She hated them all, but she would never forgive this Logan Reed. He was in charge of the attack. He was the one who put them in this hell.
Growling, Chloe pressed her nails through a tear in her jeans to claw at her reddening skin. She was still dressed in her jeans and old jumper, warm, comfortable clothes that were perfect for a quick, shopping trip with her best friend.
Dr. Zhou would never get to wear that smart, lovely coat that Abigail had picked out for him.
Chloe's green eyes glittered in the dark. “I will never forgive you,” she hissed. “Never.”
CHAPTER TWO
“Yes, Alpha,” Logan Reed drawled and turned away. He could feel Rhett's eyes on his back as he walked out of the room. Logan's lips curved, but his hazel eyes had turned wolf.
His wolf didn't recognize Rhett as its Alpha. Neither did Logan.
Logan was the Beta of the Red Fangs pack. In the pack hierarchy, he was the second in command. But in truth, he was second to none. He was strong, powerful and just as lethal as Rhett in a fight. He was a fierce, fearless fighter, but he fought fair. Rhett was unscrupulous, untrustworthy and underhanded. Under his leadership, the Red Fangs pack had made many enemies in Misty Valley. Many alliances which the previous Alpha had painstakingly built up over the years had been severed. Logan had no doubt that most of the wolf packs in Misty Valley were just watching and prowling at the edge of their territory, waiting for the right time to strike. With no allies, the Red Fangs pack would be on their own when the other packs declared war. Their territory would be easily overrun and taken. And their members hunted down and slaughtered.
The entire Red Fangs pack would be killed. An eye for an eye.
It would be a revenge killing.
Logan's fists tightened at his sides. Rhett was just too greedy and too stupid for his own good. And his own good was all he cared about. He didn't care about the pack. He never protected and stood up for his wolves. He just used the pack to get what he wanted. Rhett had killed the previous Alpha, Ming, in a leadership challenge. Logan had witnessed the fight. He was just a young wolf then, but even through his inexperienced, immature eyes, he could see that Rhett had not fought fair. Rhett was unscrupulous, cunning and savage. Even after it was clear that Ming was dead, he had torn Ming's body apart, mauling and mutilating every part of the old Alpha’s body. After the fight, while Rhett led the pack off to celebrate his victory, Logan and a group of lower ranking wolves had been made to stay behind to mop up the bits and pieces of their old Alpha and bury the mangled remains in the woods.
The Alpha's word was law in a wolf pack. No one disobeyed the Alpha. No one could question the Alpha. Rhett had made that clear the moment he took over as Alpha. A few wolves who had quietly asked if Ming should be given a proper burial had been silenced immediately and permanently by Rhett. He had torn their throats out on the spot.
Rhett's power over the Red wolves was absolute. The pack carried out his every wish and command without question, without delay. The Red Fangs pack was one of the largest and strongest packs in Misty Valley. And Rhett ruthlessly used their strength and numbers to invade and gain control of the other packs' territories. He used his Red wolves to plunder and pillage. He knew he could take what he wanted, and no one would dare stop him. His Red wolves were his tools, his weapons. When they grew too weak to fight for him, he disposed of them callously.
Over the years, Logan had risen through the ranks, earning the support and respect of the other wolves. He was one of Rhett's best fighters, and he carried out his orders swiftly, effectively. He wasn't just Rhett's right-hand man. He was Rhett's right hand, the hand that wielded the swo
rd. But he knew that once Rhett felt that the hand had grown too powerful to be controlled, he would just chop off that hand and groom a new one. Logan knew that it was just a matter of time before Rhett gave the order to have him removed. He would be assassinated, just like all the other Betas before him. All the Betas had been killed so that they'd never have the chance to be Alpha.
Logan was fully aware of Rhett's growing suspicion and resentment. Rhett was beginning to suspect that not all his orders had been carried out, but he knew better than to question Logan openly. Rhett could see that Logan commanded the loyalty of most of the lieutenants and their fighters in the pack, and an open confrontation was not to Rhett's advantage.
He'd have to get rid of Logan in some other way. Some way that wouldn't involve getting Logan's blood on his hands. And how would he do that? Oh, of course. By getting the lions to kill his wolf for him.
Logan's claws sliced out as he stalked down the carpeted corridor of the lavish mansion. Rhett had used up a sizable portion of the pack's wealth to build this mansion. Logan gave a low snarl. The Alpha lived in a splendid mansion, while the rest of the pack lived in hovels.
Logan was mad as hell, but it wasn't the pack's living conditions that had his wolf baying and clawing for blood.
Rhett had tried to kill him, and failed. Logan's eyes glinted. If Rhett wanted him dead, he should have been wolf enough to just come out and fight him. Fight him, and take him down.
He shouldn't have tried to get the lions to do his dirty work for him.
Logan cursed himself for not seeing through Rhett's devious ploy. He had been ordered to lead a small band of Red wolves to declare war on the Hunter pride of lion shifters. Rhett had wanted a share in their lucrative hotel business, but Sean Hunter, the lion Alpha, had laughed and waved Rhett off like he was nothing more than a whining, petulant child. Rhett had taken Sean's parting shot to heart: “If you want it, you'd have to fight for it, wolf.”
Fight For Me: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Misty Valley Shifters Book 2) Page 1
