Claiming Shayla (28 page)

“Of course I will,” Shay countered. “We have to continue on as normal, like we don’t know.”

“No.” Very firm. Very final.

“Rory, be reasonable and think for a moment. I’m all for pack justice, but you can’t just kill the woman, not without proof. She’s damn good at what she’s doing. She’s the pack healer, for God’s sake. She has almost as much, if not more, clout than you. Who’s going to believe she intentionally tried to harm our child? By your own admission, Kian’s known her true nature for years and no one believed him when he tried to warn you. You think the pack will believe you?” Shay asked, her eyes gazing appealingly into his.

Rory opened his mouth to answer, but she continued, pressing her point. “Some might, but there’ll always be this question in their mind. This fear. Worse, you’ll undo everything you spent these last years trying to build.”

Eyes narrowed, a hint of gold around the pupils, he said, “Fuck the pack.”

Shay shook her head and cupped his clenched cheek. “You say that now because you’re angry and frustrated, but you also know I’m right.”

He growled low and fierce, the sound rumbling through his chest. The gold edged out a little more of the hazel.

“We need to trap her. Force her into showing her true face, not only to us but to the pack,” Shay finished.

“And how do you propose to do that?” Caleb asked. As the man most responsible for the alphas’ safety, of course he’d want to know.

Shay’s gaze was measuring, watching closely to see his reaction to her coming question. “Rory, do you trust Caleb?”

“Shay!” Kiesha protested.

“Aye, with both our lives.” Rory’s answer came swift, with no hesitation or qualifications.

Caleb’s eyes crinkled with suppressed humor, and the corners of his mouth tilted up ever so slightly. “Shay, I have no desire to rule. I’m content where I am. Besides, if something happened to Rory, I’m not the one the pack would look to for leadership.” He glanced pointedly at Kian, who showed no reaction to Caleb’s claim.

Shay allowed a small smile to appear. “I thought so, but it doesn’t hurt to be sure. Okay, first I think we should let Ms. Thing believe her plan is working. I’m sure half the pack knows you guys are here. Caleb, maybe you could let it leak that Alex examined me and is concerned about the progress of my pregnancy.”

Rory’s body turned to granite beneath her. “Not just no, but hell no. You will not set yourself up as bait.”

Shay turned so they were face-to-face. “You know this is the only way. Conor said our enemies were treacherous. They won’t come against us openly, so we’ll have to outtrick them.”

If possible, his face got even harder. His eyes were a brilliant gold now. “I said no. I forbid it!”

As his words sank in, her eyes popped wide open, then narrowed to dangerous slits. “What did you say?” she asked in an oh-too-soft voice.

“Oh shit, he’s done it now,” someone—probably Kiesha—exclaimed.

“I said I forbid it,” Rory reiterated, a hint of belligerence in his tone. The pinprick of claws dug into her thighs.

Someone, a male, groaned. Shay ignored the byplay, totally focused on her mate. No one, absolutely no one dictated to her. She didn’t tolerate it from her mother, and she wouldn’t take it from this overgrown wolf trying to stare a hole into her.

Though her hands balled into fists in her lap, Shay forced her expression to show only the mildest hint of curiosity as she blandly asked, “Is that right?”

“Aye. That’s what I said,” he answered in a voice gone wolf.

“Ah, Rory? You might want to rethink that. Shay doesn’t respond well to orders,” Kiesha offered helpfully.

“She’ll bloody well follow mine.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Shay saw Caleb shake his head. His gaze flitted from Shay to Rory and back again. “Bro, if I were you, I’d sleep tonight with one eye open—in a different room.”

A tense silence fell as everyone watched the staring contest between her and Rory. No one moved. It didn’t even sound as if they breathed.

The doorbell rang, its loud, jubilant tones striking a discordant note.

“Food’s here,” Caleb announced, sounding relieved.

Chapter Sixteen

Rory took a calming breath and then eyed his furious mate. Her wolf had submitted to his dominance, but her human half needed to recognize his authority. As much as he loved her feisty nature, when it came to her safety and that of their children, he would not bend. Shay would obey him in this.

He allowed her to give him the cold shoulder and tolerated her snipes when forced to address a comment to him. Simply biding his time. She was safe. That’s all that mattered.

His heart had stopped and the blood had iced in his veins when he’d pulled into the driveway and Kian had telepathed what Laurie Bell had done. All he could think of was seeing with his own two eyes that his mate and child were safe. After that terror, Shay thought he’d allow her to blithely put herself in the line of fire again?

What if Laurie Bell decided to use a more direct method? Shay was such a fierce little thing, with plenty of heart, but she was going up against wolves in human clothing. Compared to Laurie Bell, Shay was fragile.

Rory had no illusions. It was only his presence, his protection that kept others from coming after her. Shay was human. Humans were prey. Touching his mate meant an instant death sentence. He knew it. The pack knew it. But they also knew killing Shay would kill him. There were some in his pack bloodthirsty and power hungry enough to take the risk.

As they moved the gathering to the dining room and settled down to a meal of ribs, slow-roasted pulled pork, baked beans, corn on the cob, coleslaw, and garlic toast, Rory watched his fuming mate pick at her food. If there’d been any question in his mind, any doubt about the validity of his feelings for Shay, they were now gone. He even loved the crazy woman when she was in a snit.

They spent hours relaxing over their meal and though he’d enjoyed their company, it was time for his guests to leave. When the women rose to clear the table and put away the leftovers, Rory signaled the men his need of privacy with his mate.

Caleb left first, citing a previous engagement for which he was late. Rory smelled it for the lie it was. Fortunately Shay’s senses weren’t as keenly developed, or she was distracted by her conversation with Kiesha.

Nikolai must have telepathed Shannon, for she cut off midsentence in whatever she was saying, shooting a startled glance at her mate, then a wary one at him. “Nikolai’s ready to leave. I’ll call you tomorrow,” she told Shayla.

“You sure you don’t want any of this food? There’s plenty.” Shay indicated all the plastic containers being placed in the fridge.

“No, we’re fine.”

“All right. See you later. Don’t be a stranger,” Shayla said.

“We need to be going too,” Alex said.

“Oh, but—” Kiesha began.

“It’s getting late. We both have work tomorrow and a long drive ahead of us,” Alex stated, giving her a meaningful look.

Kiesha pouted a bit, then said, “Let me finish helping Shay with this stuff. Then we can go.”

Alex motioned Rory out the room and over to the living room door. “It should go without saying, but in case you didn’t know, we’re family now. More than that, we’re friends. Your mate’s blood kin to mine. You trusted your sister to my keeping, and now she’s a valued member of my pack. Screw interpack politics. You need anything,
anything
,” he stressed, “call and we’ll come running. Friends watch each other’s backs.”

Rory mused on that a moment. Friends? He guessed they were. “I’ll do that.” Rory stuck out his hand. Alex clasped it hard and held. More than a handshake, it was an acknowledgment of the bond between them. A bond cemented by the women in their lives.

After Kiesha and Alex left, Kian took one look at Rory’s face and disappeared. But Rory was sure he’d return. Rory didn’t know what magic Shay had worked in his absence to pull his brother out of his shell, but he was glad to have his twin back.

Rory made sure the house was locked up good and tight, then followed his mate to their room. She had her laptop on her lap and seemed very intent on whatever was on the screen.

“Shayla.”

No response.

“Shayla.” This time Rory put a little force behind it.

“What?” Eyes that sparked fire glared at him over the top of the monitor.

“You are the air in my lungs, the very blood in my veins. There is nothing, absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do to please you. But”—he captured her gaze with his and held it hostage—“when it comes to your safety and that of our children, I will be obeyed. Completely and totally,” he finished in a firm tone that brooked no argument.

Shay’s expression went from anger, to a blooming flush of pleasure, to something indescribable as he finished his statement. His gaze dominated hers until after a long, silent, tension-filled minute, Shay capitulated by looking away first.

He continued to stare at her, his will an invisible but weighty force.

“In matters of our safety,” she reluctantly agreed.

He crawled onto the bed beside her. “Shay, don’t you realize you hold both of our lives in your hands? Do you think after having known you, after loving you, I could live without you?”

“I…” Through the bond he felt her need for independence war with his need for her. Love decided the battle, and she surrendered. “I know. You’re right. I love you too. I’d go crazy if something happened to you. I just want this over and done with. I want us to move forward with our lives without any threat to me or our child.”

He pulled her close to him. Shay caught the laptop before it could fall off the bed, shut it down, and set it to the side on the floor. Once it was safely out of the way, she snuggled close and rested her head on his chest.

“I thought about what you said,” Rory said as he stroked her hair.

“About?”

“About the damage it would do to the pack if I killed Laurie Bell,” he said.

“Not to mention the difficulty of hiding the body. You can’t just make people disappear like in the old days before computers,” Shay added.

He chuckled at her naïveté. “Shay, people go missing every day. The law is the least of my worries. Besides, it’s not like there’d be anything left of her to find.”

She tilted her head back to look at him, eyes rounded in shock, mouth gaping.

Using the tip of his finger under her chin to close her jaw, he continued with what he was saying. “I wanted to modernize the pack, so we’ll try doing this the human way first.”

Still looking a bit shocky, she asked, “And if that doesn’t work?”

“Then she dies.”

Shay stared for another moment, then shook her head and sighed. “As much as I like the picture you plant in my mind of her being eaten”—he flashed a brief grin—“dying’s too good for her. I want Laurie Bell to suffer and suffer hard for every second of panic she put me through. I want to find out what she desires most in life and take it from her. I want to watch her beg and plead until her tears turn to blood. Then I want to make her really pay,” she finished in a growl, golden sparks lightening her eyes.

Bloodthirsty, vicious, full of vengeance, and all mine
. His smile, when it appeared this time, was slow and full of promise. “I think I can manage that.”

With one accord, they brainstormed the rest of the night.

* * * *

Ashley knelt on the bed, facedown, ass high, arms outstretched and bound. Michael mounted her from behind. The first surge of his cock was deep, hard, and punishing. The second took him in to the hilt. He alternated thrusts with stinging, openhanded blows to her hips that set her pussy ablaze.

The rougher he got, the more she loved it. She was addicted to his brand of dominance. Though she told herself she was still in control, deep inside she knew she’d crawl over broken glass if Michael beckoned.

She clenched her vaginal muscles, smiling into the pillow when he groaned, then praised, “Such a sweet little pussy. You like the way I fuck it, don’t you, little girl?”

“Yes, alpha,” she gasped.

“Beg me to fuck you,” he commanded.

“Fuck me,” she parroted.

He stopped, going motionless. She whimpered and pushed back with her hips.

“Say it like you mean it,” he ordered.

“Damn you! Fuck me!” she screamed.

He laughed, a cold, cruel, mocking sound. Then he began to move. “Later I’ll do something about that dirty, disobedient mouth of yours.”

Punishment. A shiver of delight slithered down her spine, shaking her body, and caused her pussy to spasm.

“Oh yeah. You like that. You’re a good little bitch.” He spread her butt cheeks. “Look at the way your pretty pink pussy swallows my cock, leaving it all wet and shiny.”

Ashley clenched her inner muscles again, trying to lock him to her. She’d never had a man like Michael. One that knew how to turn her body inside out and make her crave it. With him the lines between pain and pleasure burned in an ecstasy so sweet. She’d laid a trap for him, but she was the one ensnared.

He placed a hand between her shoulder blades and pushed down. She obediently lowered her cheek to the mattress, her nipples rubbing back and forth against the sheet. This new angle allowed him to plunge deeper. He thrust harder, faster, until he pounded into her. Sounds of flesh smacking together and wet suctioning with each withdrawal filled the air.

“Please please please,” she begged. She was so close to the edge.

“Don’t come,” he ordered.

Ashley hung there at the pinnacle with every nerve ending screaming for release.

Michael reached a hand beneath her and viciously pinched her clit, ordering, “Now!”

She screamed as she erupted, coming so violently consciousness faded for a few brief seconds. Vaguely Ashley was aware of Michael drilling into her to the hilt, then grinding his pelvis against her ass as his cock pulsed and jerked in release.

Her breath shuddered. Aftershocks rocked her body. When he withdrew, she whimpered and her vaginal muscles tightened convulsively, trying to contain him.

Michael laughed and ran a soothing hand down her flank. “Such a greedy cunt.”

He leaned forward and loosened the bindings. Ashley held her position, though every muscle quivered with the effort.

“Good girl. You can move,” he said.

She immediately straightened her legs and eased onto her stomach, allowing tense muscles to stretch and relax before rolling to her side.

Michael had the lazy-eyed look of a man whose sexual appetite had been recently sated.

Ashley turned onto her back, spread her legs to draw attention to her sex, and raised her arms above her head, gracefully arching her spine in a languid stretch.

As planned, Michael’s heavy-lidded gaze traveled from her breasts to her mound. He quirked an eyebrow. “More?”

She slid her hands down her torso, paused briefly to tweak her nipples, then rested one hand on her stomach while the other continued south. Ashley spread her legs wide, opening herself completely to his view, rubbing gently at her vulva before easing her middle finger inside her tender, swollen vagina. As he watched, a growing hunger on his face, she finger fucked herself.

When his cock hardened and he rose to his knees in preparation for mounting her, she withdrew her digit and slid gracefully off the bed. Eyes on him, she sucked the juice off her finger. “I have to go. Class in the morning.”

His eyes narrowed. Inwardly she smiled. Power games. He might control her body, but she made sure she kept him wanting, kept him hungering. He gave a short nod. Ashley turned to walk out the room, feeling Michael trail behind her.

At the door he spun her around, lifted her by the thighs, and impaled her. Their fucking was fast and furious. Ashley clawed his shoulders and back. Michael’s eyes changed around the edges, going wolf. The first sign she’d ever seen that he wasn’t totally in control. Even as she thought how she could take that, use it, he gave a final jerk of the hips and pulled out, leaving her unsatisfied.

“Be careful who you tease, little girl,” he warned. Seconds later she stood on the stoop staring at a closed door.

Damn it! What will it take to break that iron control of his?

Ashley shifted and loped the two and half miles to her small place. She lived in one of the efficiency cabins owned by the pack, cleaning the lodge and cabin rentals in lieu of paying rent. Though dark, there was still a spattering of humans, tourists mostly, out and about, so she crept up to her rear door, which faced the woods, shifted, then slipped inside.

The blow sent her sprawling. A growl sounded as her wolf came to the surface, ready to defend.

“Whore! You’ve been with MacDougal. I can smell him all over you.” An irate Wesley stood over her, feet planted, fists clenched.

Reining in her wolf before it could spoil all her plans, Ashley made herself whimper instead. “I had no choice. I’m doing what you told me to do.” Tears sparkled in her eyes and on her lashes as she cradled her throbbing cheek.

“What
I
told you? I never told you to whore yourself,” he said in a furious whisper, his face flushing an angry red in the soft night-light she’d left on.

She held out a hand as though pleading for understanding. “Alpha, Rory’s denied the pack access to the house. I haven’t even been allowed in to clean. Only Caleb and MacDougal know why, and Caleb’s not talking.” Letting her voice go soft and shaky, she added, “I can’t get you his woman if I can’t get in.” Then she cast her gaze to the floor and waited.

There was a long silence. She could feel the intensity of his stare as he weighed her words, his jealousy warring with his thirst for power. Wesley didn’t want her as his mate, but he still considered her his and was extremely possessive. She was the first woman, the first person to recognize his greatness. She was his tool, yes, but one he didn’t want anyone else playing with. Ashley knew exactly how his mind worked.

Finally he sighed, reached down, and helped her gently to her feet. “I’m sorry. I should have known you’d never betray me. Forgive me for being such a jealous beast.”

Ashley slipped closer and seductively rubbed her breasts against his chest. “Alpha, you know you’re the only man for me. MacDougal took an interest in me after the howl. I couldn’t say no, not without causing suspicion or worse, speculation.”

“You’re so beautiful,” he breathed. “Your body lush and firm. It’s no wonder he’s drawn to you.” Wesley ran his hands down her flanks, reversed directions, and brought them up to her breasts, which pebbled in his hold. “I missed you,” he admitted, breath becoming heavy as his lust rose.

She palmed his erection, stroking it the way he’d taught her. “No one pleases me the way you do,” she said in a throaty voice.

She walked backward, towing him by the cock until her progress was halted by the futon. Sinking onto the cushion, she spread her legs wide. “Take me. I need you. It’s been too long.”

Greedy eyes devoured her. Wesley dropped to his knees, gripped her hard by the thighs, and plunged inside.

She moaned and gasped, uttering praises meant to stroke his ego. He didn’t last long, but it was enough to stir the dying embers of the fire Michael had started.

“I came inside of you,” he mumbled, cheek resting on her chest as he sought to catch his breath.

“I wanted you to. It will cover MacDougal’s scent.” She languidly ran her fingers through his hair, her mind busy calculating her next move. “Did anyone see you come in?”

“No, I came in the back way through the woods.”

That would work in her favor.

He raised his head and looked at her. “You hadn’t been by to see me. Now I know why.” He was still a bit disgruntled.

Stupid of her, she admitted to herself, but she’d never expected him to come looking for her. She’d always gone to him, or they met in the woods. Fortunately she’d had her excuses already thought out. “I’ve missed you. Missed having your cock in my mouth,” she said, casting him a shy glance. Wesley liked it when she played the timid schoolgirl.

Another jealous glare. “MacDougal didn’t—”

“It’s not the same,” she interrupted. Truer words were never spoken from her lips. Sucking Wesley’s cock was simply a means to an end. Sucking Michael’s was pure pleasure.

Ashley pushed steadily on Wesley’s shoulders. “Lie down. Let me…” As he lay back, she flowed over him, her intentions clear.

As she sucked his cock, Ashley admitted once again to herself that she’d miscalculated. Caught up in her obsession with Michael, she’d forgotten her main agenda and Wesley’s part in it. She remembered the anger that had sent her running to Michael. So what if Wesley wanted to fuck the little human before destroying her? The human would be gone, and that’s all that mattered.

Besides, she had Michael in her bed now. The thought of him made the slumbering hunger in her awaken sharply. Lifting her gaze to Wesley’s, she licked her lips. His eyes followed her every movement.

“I want you again. I’ve missed you,” she said.

“You had him,” he complained.

God, had he always been this whiny?
“But he isn’t you,” she explained, somewhat patiently, which was difficult because his attitude was severely straining her patience. “He doesn’t have your experience, your expertise.”

She rolled sensuously onto her back on the throw rug, pelvis tilted invitingly. “Fill me,” she encouraged.

Wesley hesitated the barest of moments before covering her, his hands and mouth greedy in their possession on her flesh.

This is power. This is what woman was created for
. Men only thought they were in control, but let a woman flash some tits or spread her legs, and she ruled absolute.
Men are tools to be used to get what I want. Thank you, Momma, for teaching me that truth.

Ashley let her body work its magic while her mind plotted her next step. Wesley had once more proven himself a liability. Worse, he was slipping the leash she had on him.

How dare he strike me!
Not even Laurie Bell had dared raise a hand to her, and her mother thought Ashley was as worthless as the father who’d spawned her. But soon Laurie Bell would have to eat her words. Ashley would show her mother how important she was. The whole idea of sleeping your way to the top would work.

Wesley would get rid of the alpha’s mate. Ashley would then be honor bound to turn him in, resulting in instant death for the man. In his grief Rory would turn to her, and if not, Michael would make a great alpha. Ashley was sure she could convince him to take her as his mate, making her alpha-fem. And once she was the alpha’s mate, she’d rub her mother’s nose in the fact that her worthless daughter had managed to achieve the one thing Laurie Bell had always wanted.

Wesley hit a spot that jerked her out of her contemplation. Fully engaged, she put all thought of plotting aside and focused on reaching orgasm. When fulfillment was obtained and their breathing had calmed, Ashley said in a low voice, “Michael said I’ll be allowed back in the house on Tuesdays and Fridays to clean. Give me a week to let the alpha’s mate get comfortable with me; then I’ll get you into the house.”

Actually it was Caleb who’d told her, but Wesley didn’t need to know she hadn’t learned anything important from her visits with Michael.

“A week? That will be perfect. Gives me time to set up things on my end,” Wesley said. “Speaking of cleaning, when are you coming back to my place?”

“I’ll come Monday, same time as normal.”

“Good.” He stood and gazed down at her. “I’ll let myself out.”

“Be careful. If you’re seen…” She let the warning trail off.

“I know the consequences,” he muttered. “I’ll be careful.

He went to the door, cracked it open, and looked out, then with a quick wave, was gone.