Falling for the Alphas: Part One (6 page)

Dylan frowned. She was
right. Even if he killed Kayden, he'd be wounded. Weakened. He
growled at the thought. Turned away and strode toward the trees.
Stood with his hands on his hips, staring at nothing. His thoughts
spun. Things had been so simple under Gerard. Now there seemed to
be no correct move. No right way forward.

Naomi stepped up behind
him. He tensed. She slid a smooth palm over the curvature of his
shoulder. Her touch was cool against his fevered flesh. "Let me go.
Let me try." He looked over his shoulder at her. She was beautiful,
but it was more than that: she had spirit. Naomi licked her full
lower lip. He wanted to catch that lip between his teeth, to kiss
her deeply. To crush her curves against his own body.

"Alright." He turned to
face her once more, and slid his hand around the nape of her neck.
Her hair lay thick and wet over his wrist. "But if you're not back
by tonight, I'm gathering my pack, and I'm coming after
you."

She shivered. He ran his
fingers down her arm, then slid his hand around to the small of her
back. Pulled her against him. Her breasts pressed against his chest
as he kissed her. Her lips were soft, delicious. He heard her moan.
He wanted to pull one of her legs up past his hip. To place her
against the side of the car and mate with her right here, under the
blue sky, standing.

But no. He could still
sense her hesitation. Her mind warring with her body. So he broke
the kiss and stepped back. Naomi almost stumbled, and then caught
herself. Raised her fingertips to her lips, and then stepped back
herself.

"Hurry," he said. "When the sun sets,
I'll come for you. And if Kayden tries to stand between us, I'll
make him regret the day he was born."

Naomi nodded and pulled
the car door open. Got in. Turned the engine on, all the while
watching him. He stretched his arms to the sky, and
shifted
. Up into his
war-form. Her eyes went wide. He turned, and ran into the wood. He
would pick up that deer's trail. It was time to hunt.

~~~

"Holy crap." Naomi drove
faster than she should. Illixy floated beside her. She wanted to go
faster. She wanted to outrace her panic and arousal. Leave that
complex firebomb of a man behind in the woods. His eyes had
devoured her. She'd felt like prey. Unsafe, yet while he'd stared
at her there was no where else she'd wanted to be. Adrenaline
coursed through her veins. Her stomach was as tight as a drum. Yet
she couldn't stop thinking of his kiss. His lips, firm and
commanding, hungry and searching. The strength of his hand as he
had cupped her neck.

Illixy had appeared
shortly after she'd driven away. She shot him an accusatory glance.
"Where have you been?"

Thinking.

"Thinking? About what? You're a
totem-seed. What you got to think about?"

So much, Naomi. I'm
learning about myself. What I am. What I'm meant to be. It's...
frightening.

That stilled her anger, her
excitement. She shot him a second glance. His golden and pearl
patterns were quiet, subdued. "Frightening?"

Yes.
A long pause.
I've never wondered
what I was, not even when you asked me. I am myself. But now I am
learning that I am much more. I am a seed. There is so much
potential. But if I grow, if I become a totem, will I still be
myself?

Naomi pushed a lock of
hair out of her face. The dirt lane turned once more, and then she
slowed and stopped. The T-junction with the paved road. She looked
at him.

"I don't know, Illixy."
She felt helpless. "There is so much I don't know." He didn't
respond. Remained still, pulsing quietly. She bit the corner of her
mouth. "We could leave, you know." She tried the words out for size
even as she said them. "Dylan said we could. Just go. Leave all
this madness behind us. You could stay Illixy. I could stay Naomi.
No totem-seed, no alpha mate."

We
could
. He didn't sound convinced.
But would that be right?

"I don't know." She stared
out at the woods before her. "I don't know."

Tell me again why you
began investigating Stark
.

She narrowed her eyes.
"You know why. I talked it over with you last year." He stayed
silent. She sighed. "Are you trying to make a point?" No answer.
"Fine. I picked Stark because he seemed to be at the center of it
all. The Global Bank scandal. Lorenzo Scarzini walking free. His
connections to West Baptist Church, and the money laundering." She
paused. "Ring any bells?"

But so what?
Illixy flashed with a brief light.

"So what?" Naomi shook her head. "Fort
Brixton is going to hell. He's like the shadow godfather behind it
all."

So?

"So?" Anger flared. Impatience. "What
are you getting at?"

Why did you
care?

"Because it's not right!"
She hit the steering wheel. "It's not right that he keeps getting
away with it. If I could stop him, if I could bring to light the
truth, I could help, I could maybe make a difference -" She
stopped. Illixy glimmered. "Oh." She sat back. "I see what you're
getting at."

This is another way to
make a difference. Perhaps a deeper, truer one.

"Yeah." Naomi rubbed the
base of her palms into her eyes. They sat in silence. She sighed.
"We can't just leave, can we?" No answer. "No, I guess not."
Shania's words came back to her:
Nothing
seemed to have any meaning away from here.
"We can't just turn our back on this, can we. No matter how
crazy it all is." She thought of Dylan. His burning intensity, his
smoldering hot looks, his struggle to do the right thing, to be a
leader, to protect his pack, his kinfolk, the city. Could she turn
her back on him? No. She shifted in her seat. No, she
couldn't.

"Let's find this Kayden." She nodded.
"Let's smack him upside the head, make him see sense, and get the
packs back together. Yeah?"

Yes.
Illixy's colors grew richer, his patterns more
defined.

"Well, alright then." She
shifted into first, looked both ways, and accelerated.

Chapter 5

Kayden popped open the can
of beer. A sharp click, then the fizz of foam running down its
side, cold over his fingers. He didn't bother shaking it off.
Raised the can to his lips and drank. Never took his eyes off Ella.
Sweet Ella, beautiful Ella. She stood in a column of sunlight that
speared down from the warehouse's ruined roof. The rest of the pack
was scattered amongst the shattered crates, seated on steel drums,
lay hidden in the shadows. All eyes on Ella, and she had eyes only
for Kayden.

Her blond hair had mostly
escaped its braid, and hung in diagonal wisps across her face. Her
green eyes smoldered, ringed with kohl. Expression almost solemn.
Tall, slender hipped, long legged. Her shirt was torn off just
below the nipples, so that the full swell of the undersides of her
breasts were visible. Torn jean shorts. Her chest rising and
falling. Kayden canted his head slowly to one side. Waited.
Watched.

She raised an arm to cup
the side of her head, turned her face away. Closed her eyes, and
began to move sinuously to a beat only she could hear. Undulate.
Her other hand moved down her side, pushing down at the top of the
shorts, exposing the angular ride of her hip. Ella danced, slowly,
as if alone, alone with her alpha. Sensual, unabashed, bathed in
glorious gold light, the rest of the vast echoing space hidden in
shadow.

Kayden felt his cock stir.
He stirred, but was in no hurry to move things forward. Drank from
his beer. They only hunted at night. By day, they rested, slept,
waited. Amused themselves. There was no point in prowling the
streets under the sun. Their enemies were hidden, slunk into their
holes, withdrawn into their nests. It was only once the pale moon
rose and their blood began to burn that they would emerge from
their packhouse. A dozen werewolves, grown feral and strange on the
streets of Fort Brixton. Their wolves having nearly devoured their
humanity. Their instincts raw, their connection to the Earth Mother
grown so faint it was nearly gone.

Ella swayed back, rocking
her hips as if mounted on Kayden's cock already. Mouth parted,
breath audible even from where Kayden sat, his boots kicked up on
the table, resting on the rear two legs of his chair. There had
been a time when he would have mated eagerly with Ella, determined
to impress her, to prove himself, to win her admiration. That time
was long past. He was the Alpha of The Vengeance. He mated with
whom he willed, and it was for them to impress him. To try and
break through his burning wall of pain and rouse some true emotion.
Few managed. Yet still they tried.

Ella stalked forward. The
dark smudges around her eyes made them seem larger. Her tongue was
a vivid red as she licked her lips. Her hair in disarray, the last
of the war-braid dissolved.

Kayden drank from the
beer, then crushed the can and tossed it aside. Stood. Ella froze.
The rest of the pack as one turned their heads to regard him.
Alert. On edge. Ready for any command. Ella watched him, uncertain.
Would he take her, then and there before the pack? He had done so
before. But no. Kayden stretched, heard joints pop. Clenched his
muscles, felt them writhe like snakes across his shoulders and
arms. Took a breath, and
shifted
. Muscle uncoiled, bones
thickened, the world grew sharp as his senses drank in the dreary
shadows and light of the warehouse. Up into his war-form. His
arousal melted into his impatience, his need for violence. For
retribution. He felt caged. Trapped within these walls.

"The enemy is outside."
His words were soft, but Ella flinched. He began to pad toward her.
She could
shift
up. She'd not be as tall as him, nor as powerful, but she
could
shift
. To
do so though would be an implicit challenge. She took a step
back.

"Can you feel them?" He
looked from one packmate to the other. Some in wolf form, others
human. "Can you taste them? That foul taste in the back of your
throat?" Ella took another step back and then froze. Slowly, in no
rush, Kayden approached. "Mocking us. Laughing at us. The
Vengeance. Our pack name. Yet what vengeance have we
taken?"

He reached down with a
powerful taloned hand and wrapped his fingers around her jaw.
Raised her face to his, but she kept her eyes averted "For every
one we kill, ten emerge." His anger was starting to radiate from
his iron gray pelt. "We run in circles, and never draw closer to
the center. To Stark."

Ella didn't shiver or
shake. She was his packmate, not prey. Not the enemy. Yet there was
tension in her. Ready for violence or a caress. He turned her
beautiful face to the other side. Admired her lines. Strong.
Powerful. Dangerous. A weapon. Whenever they mated, it was almost
violent, both unleashing their rage and desire upon the other. He
traced one ebon claw down the length of her neck. She shivered
then.

He looked up. "We need to
do better. We need Dylan's wolves. We need the Silver Song. He
wants a proper challenge. Traditional. A challenge circle with
witnesses." He lowered his hand from Ella's chin to wrap his
fingers around her neck, the talons overlapping around the nape of
her neck. "But what do we care for tradition? We care only for war.
For victory. I want Stark's head, but first we must take
Dylan's."

He squeezed, and Ella
raised both hands. Before she touched him, however, he released
her. She immediately dropped to one knee. Submissive to the alpha.
He considered her, then looked around at the other werewolves.
"We'll strike tonight. Go to Anna's House, and draw the Silver Song
pack to us. Take Dylan down. No mercy. He was our brother, but what
does that matter with Stark polluting the very earth, the sky, the
city, the spirit of the Earth Mother?"

Werewolves rose to their
feet. Feral gazes met his. They had been the youngest members of
the Silver Song when he had broken away and led them into the city.
They were his now. His to command. They would follow him into the
very jaws of darkness. "Tonight. We hunt Dylan, and we take his
pack. When we are joined, when we are strong, we shall return, and
we shall find Stark, even if we have to tear Fort Brixton apart,
brick by brick."

Growls sounded throughout
the warehouse. Growls of approval. Kayden took a deep breath, his
vast ribcage expanding. A dark and dull headache pounded in the
back of his head. Then, all at once, the growls cut out. As one,
every werewolf turned to stare at the door. The handle turned. The
door swung inward, and a beautiful, voluptuous woman stood there,
eyes wide and clearly terrified.

~~~

Naomi's heart was in her
throat. She felt like a deer in headlights. Some seven monsters
were staring at her, a circle of gleaming eyes, and in there center
stood a beast larger than even Stark or Dylan had been. Corded
muscle stood out beneath its iron gray pelt. Black marks swirled
hypnotically across its shoulders, chest. Eyes that pinned her
where she stood. Ferocious. Feral. Hungry.