“I’ll see you in Hell, you sadistic lying bastard.”
Mogul landed and sprung. The sound of tearing fabric rent the air as he shifted midair, his body sliding effortlessly into the form of a large black wolf. Fangs barred and claws flashing, he met Justin blow for blow as the hybrid wolf man attacked, his talon tipped fingers slicing through the air. The two spiraled into action, claws and fangs slashing and shredding at each other in a fight for dominance.
Carrick maneuvered past them toward the cells. He had to find Jess. Now. He stalked forward, eyes on the cells in front of him. Glittering eyes met his in the faint light.
“Carrick?” A wobbly female voice called out, her thin fingers wrapping around the bars.
“Jess?”
“Look out!”
Other female voices whispered in the shadows and he knew without a doubt she wasn’t alone. Horror swirled in his belly. How many women had Justin taken?
“Behind you.” A girl’s voice that he didn’t recognize called out to him and he whirled just in time to see a large form slam into him, knocking to the floor. His head crashed into the bars and in the seconds it took for him to clear his vision the beast rounded on him, mashing his face into the cold metal. Another hybrid? What exactly had Justin been up to? Rumors of medical experiments ran rampant, but no one got close enough to find out anything specific. Until now. Several wolves died just getting into the mansion but it looked like they’d arrived none too soon.
Justin was the owner of Petrolis Chemicals, and Mogul had found evidence of council malfeasance. He’d tried to sell off pack lands in order to buy it himself. But for what?
How many of his inner circle were effected by his bizarre fucking experiments? It was impossible to know.
And the bastard had his sister.
But not for long.
Motherfucker.
A feline growl sounded from the cage and a claw snaked out and sliced down the side of the beast’s muzzle.
The brute roared, his fist flying out toward his attacker. Michael. It had to be Justin’s second.
“Bitch. I’ll kill you.”
A gasp sounded from the shadows and Jess emerged with another young woman in tow. Her face blurred from a partial shift, a single whisker protruded from her tear streaked face. The scent of cinnamon and blood wafted toward him. She had been wounded. Her anger blazed through her tears and as her eyes connected with his, a stirring rose inside him.
Protect.
The feeling rocketed through him like a bolt of lightning.
Mine.
Carrick staggered back, struck by the sudden visceral emotion that infused both wolf and man.
Mate.
Who was she? Why had he not scented her before at any of the pack functions? It didn’t matter. He put his hand up to grasp the metal bar. Electric shocks slid along his skin as her fingers slid over his for the briefest of seconds.
“You…” she whispered. “I…”
“I’ll get you out.” He brushed his thumb over her finger and shivered at the energy between them. She was his. His wolf wholeheartedly agreed, running in circles and yipping. His cock stirred to life and he shook himself. Not now. They had to survive this first. The beast threatened the woman destined to be his mate. His wolf howled inside of him, clawing and scraping to get out. His eyes followed the sharp tang of blood and narrowed down on a bite wound on her shoulder.
The bastards had tried to force a mating on her. It was just a question of which one had done it.
“The fucking hell you will.”
Her gaze shifted to his attacker, the revulsion clear on her face, only to center her attention on him once more, her eyes blazing at the edge of her shift.
“Not now. Don’t change now.” Jess shook her, her voice rising in panic. “He’ll get us out. Don’t worry.”
The girl nodded and licked her lips, eyes never leaving his.
Carrick grunted and climbed to his feet as the snarling creature lurched toward him and clamped down on his throat. He kicked out with his legs and felt the flesh along his collarbone tear, the mutated shifter thrown backwards. In moments Carrick’s shift was complete and he faced the abomination in front of him with a body mass more in line with what his task required.
The battle continued to rage between his father and Justin. He could at least make out that much from the sounds echoing from the front of the chamber. His attention divided, the creature laughed, a dark viscous line of black blood running from its maw.
“You will not win, pup. Neither will your father.”
Carrick growled, low in his throat and showed his teeth.
He dared not look at the cage but he knew Jess and his future mate watched. His sister wouldn’t shift before, terrified of the monster she was afraid she would become, and now this. Fury filled him and he lunged, giving no warning. Carrick clamped down on the beast’s throat and he scissored his teeth until he tasted the coppery bite of the shifter’s blood. Howls and yips accompanied the frenzy of activity and finally Carrick scented the hybrid’s fear.
Biting and tearing, Michael clawed at his sides, but Carrick didn’t let go. He snarled, throwing the wolf’s weight to the floor. Carrick shook him, slamming his head into the ground until he stilled. Hot blood poured down his throat but the wolf wanted more. He longed to tear the lightly beating heart from Michael’s chest and howl his victory.
A sound reached his ears that halted his tightening jaws.
“No! Daddy!” Jess wailed, tears streaking down her cheeks. She shook her head. “Carrick…Oh no.” His sister sank to the floor, the strange girl coming to her aid, soothing her with comforting words.
Carrick dropped the shifter’s still form and loped toward his father but it was already too late. He arrived in time to witness his father tumble to the floor, a dark pool of blood forming underneath his body.
“Your father's blood tasted sweet.” Justin wiped the blood from his face with his arm, his eyes glittering in the dim light. “But your sister’s. Now that will be even sweeter.”
Carrick snarled, flattening his ears as he let fly at the abomination. He fought like his life and every other life of his pack depended on it. With tooth and claw he struck, knocking the alpha male to the floor.
He latched on to his neck and didn’t stop until he’d torn the bastard’s throat out. It wasn’t until he raised his head when he heard the familiar voice of his pack mate Reid as he and the others tromped down the stairs that he realized Justin was dead.
Disgusted, he threw the corpse away from him and turned his gaze to where Michael had lain only moments before only to discover the creature had vanished.
Chapter One
Carrick stood with his back to his second in command, his wolf pacing beneath his skin. He wanted to break the double doors open and bound into the woods rather than face the torment waiting for him in the grounds outside. Women. Hundreds of single wolfy females. All vying for the privilege of putting his cock and balls into their handbags like some godforsaken trophy.
Fuck.
Ever year he’d dodged the bullet, but this year one of the hungry piranha circling his house would become his mate.
Double fuck. He’d been through this before. He already had one. He just needed to find her, but the elders wouldn’t listen.
“You have to make a choice, Alpha.” Reid crossed the room and stood in front of him, blocking his view.
Carrick growled and spun away. “I’ll find her.”
Reid’s lips flattened, his dark eyes flashing in his anger. “You know the rules. Thirty-six is the last year an Alpha can rule without a mate by his side. The pack needs an Alpha female to be whole.”
“The pack is stronger than it’s been, or are you forgetting how I got here?”
Reid swallowed and backed up a step. “No. Justin was a horrible Alpha. You were right to destroy him. He was wrong for the Westmore Pack. Evil.”
And the bastard had been. He’d abused his power as Alpha to
enslave his pack rather than uplift it. The amount of victims he’d unearthed in the days that followed would disturb him for the rest of his days. He could still see the faces of the women Justin had taken against their will and the shivering form of his sister and the strange girl who stood up to a monster.
Hers was the face that haunted his dreams. Her need reached out to him and made him into who he needed to be to overcome a near impossible situation. He had been up against a being far superior in strength but what he lacked in brawn, he’d more than made up for in sheer bullheadedness. And the electricity he felt when he touched her. His wolf recognized his mate and so did he. Now all that remained was to find her. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been looking. No one knew her name and, with her face partially shifted, her image was only a fleeting ghost in his mind.
“You’re damned right.” Carrick leaned back against his desk and rubbed the bridge of his nose. His father would be proud of the work he’d done. He’d turned the Westmore Estate from a near financial ruin to a lucrative operation centered on the newly formed security company owned by him and his second, Reid. Where people had once feared shifters for their propensity for violence because of Justin and his henchmen, he’d turned the tide and people paid for their protection. Handsomely. So much so that when the media had heard about the weekend’s festivities, he’d been dubbed the Ultimate Bachelor.
It made him fucking nauseous.
The one person he needed to find and he couldn’t and it made him crazy. Now, in a matter of a few days, he would either have to relinquish his role as Alpha or marry a gold digging piece of arm candy. The closest person he’d found was a barista at the coffee place he frequented but she didn’t look anything like the girl in his dreams. And now whenever she saw him coming, she hightailed it for the hills.
But she had popped a whisker.
Just like his goddess.
Jesus. He was losing his shit. Completely.
“All the women from the outlying packs are assembling and should be here by tonight.”
Carrick curled his lip, his stomach rolling at the thought. “This year there will be even worse than last year. God, did you see the crowd out there?”
“And what’s wrong with hundreds of women throwing themselves at you?”
“Have you tried it?”
Reid chuckled. “I can’t say I have.”
“Then you have no idea.” Bitterness swirled inside of him. All the women out there wanted was his title and the palatial estate the Pack Alpha had held since the pack’s inception back in the 1880’s. Tradition being not entirely lost on him, he understood, but having a choice made for him by an antiquated set of rules remained beyond irritating. And he’d be damned if all of his hard work at rebuilding the estate from the mess Justin had left in would be lost.
He had to find her.
Files and paperwork lined his desk and he stared at it, a bitter taste growing in his mouth. In a few days it would be over and he’d either be married to the biggest gold digging bitch at the gala or someone else would take over as Alpha. Another pile of papers occupied a separate corner of his desk. His short list of candidates for his replacement. So far only one name had remained.
Reid.
He was loyal and if he had anything to say about it, he’d be asking his sister to be his mate any day now.
“Did you talk to the women there that day? Did they come up with anything new?”
Reid gave him a weary look. “Yes. And the answer is still the same. She wasn’t someone they recognized from pack functions and they didn’t exactly want to relive what they went through.”
Carrick sighed. “I can understand that. What about the healers?”
“Jeez, man. You have to get over it. She’s gone, whoever she was. The best you can hope for is she might be summoned for the Gathering. If she isn’t, you know what you have to do.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“It’s not an option like in years past. Every single female has to attend the Gathering. It’s pack law. They are bound the same way you are.”
“Don’t I know it.” Jess stalked into the room, fire snapping from her eyes. “Big brother, I love you but I think when this is all over, I’m going to pour honey on your ass and leave you staked out on an ant hill.”
Reid winced and moved away, a sharp laugh quickly masked by a cough.
“Jess. What’s wrong?”
“You should have booked them a rooms in town. Now I have three women in my room bitching about where they’re going to sleep and the fact that there aren’t any rooms all by their lonesome. God. I hate pack functions here at the house. We should have booked the ballroom at the Monaco downtown and made them all stay at the hotel.”
“Says the sister of the Alpha. Whatever happened to puppy piles and the shifter sense of community?” Carrick tried to suppress a grin, but at her look of outrage, he laughed.
“You are no help at all.”
“See to their comfort.”
Reid blanched. “But you…”
“You can’t leave. We have to plan this…” Jess sputtered, a red flush coming over her cheeks. “The staff has all but deserted us and I have no idea where to put all these women.”
“I am going out.” If he didn’t the probability of him becoming insane before breakfast tomorrow was entirely probable. And he thought his sister and his second should have a little bit more time alone. He didn’t miss how either of them was looking at the other.
Carrick reached over on the side table, scooped up his keys, and headed for the door. Time for a trip to into town to get away from the madness.
***
Sage wiped the counter around the espresso machine and waited for the next shot to pour. Her pitcher of milk bubbled and steamed alongside it, timing off when it reached the correct temperature. It was a far cry from when she had to time every shot and wrestle with thermometers each step of the way. Funny how things could change in six years.
She’d started at the coffee shop as a frightened young woman who needed a job and now she ran the place. It made her proud. The Hot Whips Café was her life. What she put into it came back to her in spades. And she loved working with the girls. Before the café, she’d never run into anything other than the shifters in her own family or the pack. Now the café was run by a host of witches, demons, and Helen, a water elemental who washed dishes and hummed Connie Francis songs. It was home and she loved every second of it.
“You got the next one?” Maya filled the steam pitcher on the right hand side of the espresso machine and started cranking out the next drink in the lineup. On busy days, they danced around each other, but they did it and kept the line flowing seamlessly.
“Yeah. Got it.” Sage nodded to Melissa at the register when she slid another marked cup her way.
The din from the guests in the seating area and the servers running back and forth behind the bar and the kitchen stayed a pleasant hum. The scent of almond croissants cooling filled the air, mixing with the heady aroma of coffee and a hint of chocolate chip cookies. It was still early in the day and the weather was about to turn nasty. Gray clouds poised on the edge of rain blocked out the sun, the wet chill in the air palpable every time a customer opened the front door.
“Grande mocha for Denise!” She finished the whip, lidded the drink and had it on the counter and started onto the next one in moments. The line wasn’t getting any shorter and pretty soon she was going to have to fill up the pastry case or they wouldn’t have anything left. She stole a glance away from the machine as it pumped out another shot and watched her server Jo scoot by with a platter of eclairs and cream horns. They would need more before she left or she was going to have a mass of disappointed customers. Not what she wanted on top of everything else.
Melissa cashiered, bagged, and boxed muffins and coffee cakes, hardly stopping in between orders. The girl was a blur. Part demon, she loved the challenge and every once and awhile, a flash of annoyance showed with a red spark to her eye.
Like now.
“What do you mean you want a decaf caffeinated mocha with no chocolate? Are you serious?”
The blond woman in front of her narrowed her eyes and leaned forward, the skin tight yoga top she wore showing off every asset she had.
“You forgot skinny with two sweeteners. And I want it at one hundred and forty degrees. In a cup for here.”
Sage cringed.
“You okay, Mel? You need a break?” Sage called out, catching one of the other girls with a meaningful glance.
“Fine,” she huffed, but the red glow gave away her fraying temper.
“I got it.” LeTeisha flounced over, her long black braids swinging as she scurried to take her co-worker’s place. With a wink, she set about taking the customer’s order.
“Yeah. Okay. Thanks.” With a sheepish smile, Mel swung out from behind the counter and down the hall to the small break room.
Maya snagged the ceramic cup and started in, a spell whispering past her lips as she blended the milk and espresso.
“Careful,” Sage warned.
“What?” Maya blinked at her, innocent eyed as she finished the drink and set it on the counter.
“No spelling the customers.”
“It wasn’t much.” Maya blushed, her lips curving up in a mischievous smile. “Attitude adjustment. That’s all.”
Sage rolled her eyes. “Just don’t get me flagged please. No magical mishaps here.”
Maya chuckled. “Come on, boss…would I do that?”
Sage gave her a deadpan look.
“Fine…” Maya grinned and they got back to work. “But you know she needed it.”
“Maya…”
It was heady rush and kept Sage careening through her demanding day with hardly a breath in between. Busy was good. She liked the pace. It left little room for thinking. She grabbed the shot glasses full of espresso and poured them into the cup, snagging the steamed milk as the steam wand stopped. She wiped the wand and grabbed a large spoon from the dipper well next to her station. With a deft movement of her wrist, Sage poured the milk into the cup and layered the frothy white foam on top. Maya matched her drink for drink.
Westmore Wolves Series: Shapesifter Collection Bks 1-5 Page 2
