Force of Nature Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 4) (56 page)

“What will happen to my mate if he takes her blood and she is killed?”

He didn’t answer her, letting Jose do the talking. He thought he might be safer if he didn’t.

“He will do as he’s told. I am the one who is in charge now and I will—”

Holly could move fast, that was true, but Austin was just a tad quicker it seemed.  Until that moment, he’d not even known the man was there but apparently someone had given him and the entire Force pack a call to arms.

Austin had the man by the throat and up in the air before Jose had a chance to finish. Austin let a little of his wolf go and stood holding him with fur covering his body and his claws digging into his flesh. Phil was sure that given a reason, even a small one, Austin would break Jose’s neck and simply walk away.

“You’ll keep a civil tongue in your mouth or I will take it from you. Then I will feast on it as you watch. This is my sister, you bloodsucking asshole, and I protect what is mine. Her mate there”—he nodded to Phil as he continued—“will do what he wants, not what you think he should. Do I make myself perfectly clear?” Jose nodded. “Good answer. Disappointing, but a good answer. I’m going to let you down now. And so you know, I intervened on this not because Phil can’t protect his mate, but because I figured you’d live to your next breath if I took you instead of him doing it.”

Jose dropped to the ground and incredibly, he started to attack Austin. Dallas and Connor were there before he could raise his clawed hand. Phil spoke before things got too much more out of control.

“Think, Jose. Think very hard. There are nearly forty wolves here and all of them loyal to that man. You strike and you are as good as dead.” Jose looked at him, his eyes red as his anger boiled through. “Is your being angry at this situation worth dying for?”

“He should learn his place. He isn’t to….” Jose seemed to gather himself as he stood there. He looked back at Anye then at him. “Finish with her. I need to kill someone and it might as well be her.”

Phil nodded then grinned. “Thank you, my friend. Austin would have made a mess of things and, right now, I simply want to go home and fuck my mate. But as for Anye, I cannot take from her what is not freely given. It is the code of the knights. And as I am mated, she will need to take from her as well.”

That wasn’t entirely true and Phil was pretty sure that Jose knew it. Technically, as a mated knight, he should have been removed from service. But as he’d made the rules, he didn’t have a problem with bending them to suit himself. Besides, he was pretty sure that Holly could help him if she could rely on her own senses rather than his.

“So be it.” Jose stood near them as they both took from her offered wrist. When they had both stepped back Jose picked up Anye and tossed her over his shoulder, then looked over the people gathered around them. “Kill the rogue. I want her dead before the next rising. And if you need to have more involvement of your new family then you will do well to tell them that they will answer to me if there is ever a word about this to anyone.”

“They will keep us safe.” Phil didn’t even look at Austin when he growled. He knew as surely as he was standing there that Austin would die before he gave him up. CJ would kill him. “I swear to you on my oath.”

Jose nodded once and disappeared. Phil thought he heard Anye screaming as they misted out of sight.

Chapter 16

Holly had her scent. Not only that, but the blood she’d taken from the woman had made her feel euphoric, energized, and like she could take on the world. She slowed in her movements as she felt Phil near her. He entered her mind and she lay down to listen.

Would you mind, oh, I don’t know, waiting for me?
He sounded pissed and his next words confirmed it.
Holly, so help me, when I catch up with you, I’m going to wring your pretty neck.

She hadn’t thought
. I’m so sorry. You have no idea how…do you feel it?
She didn’t know what she was feeling really, just powerful along with everything else.
Her blood is like a major hit to my system. I couldn’t wait there any longer.

It will wear down. But for now I need you to wait. I’m coming to you, but so are your brothers. And just so you know, Austin is not a very happy wolf either.

She could feel his anger as he got closer…or she thought it was him. But at the last second she could only watch as something, something incredibly fast, snatched him out of the air just before he reached her.

Austin!
she screamed in her head as he disappeared. She moved toward where he’d gone only to come up against a large wall in the form of Phil.

Don’t move,
he whispered through her mind
. It’s not only the rogue, but beings who smell like her with her. I think it’s—

People appeared. There were six of them, all vampires, and most of them as young as a year or two old…not their actual ages, but how long they’d been vamps. She didn’t know how she knew that and looked to Phil for answers.

It’s what I can do. If given enough time, I can give them the exact date and time of their conversion. But these people, these vamps….

When he didn’t finish, she did for him.
They’re starved. All of them but her.

And she wasn’t either. She stood proudly among the men and women around her and looked ridiculous. It was then that Holly saw why she stood out. She wasn’t just healthier than the others, but well dressed and clean.

“Where have you taken the alpha? I demand that you bring him to this field now.” Phil’s voice rang over the field loudly. “As a master over you, I demand your compliance.”

Holly saw her shift on her feet. The young girl fought against the command and nearly gave in. She saw the moment that she was able to throw him off. But she knew it wouldn’t last. Holly knew this as well.

“You aren’t my boss. I’m my own lord and master. I’m powerful and you, you’re nothing more than an old fart that can’t possibly see me for what I am.”

Holly raised a brow at the girl and Phil laughed. He laughed so long and so hard that he had to grab the tree next to him to stand. Just before Holly thought she’d have to have him committed, he flashed to Theresa and held her up by her throat high off the ground. When the others moved as if to go after him, he raised his hand and they all dropped to the ground.

“You’ve no idea what power is, little child.” He shook her once and Holly heard her teeth rattle. “You’ve managed to hide for a long while, but now I have you. You’ll stand before a council and you’ll be tried. Or….”

Theresa didn’t fight against the hold, but did put her hands on Phil’s. She looked…well, Holly thought she looked too relaxed, too sure of herself. When she grinned down at Phil, she finally asked him, “Or what?”

“Or I get to kill you. Tear your head from your shoulders while your black heart still beats. It would be my pleasure to kill you, as a matter of fact. So please,” he said as he shook her hard enough that Holly heard her teeth bang together. “Please make it so that I have to kill you.”

It happened quickly. One moment Holly was watching Phil hold the rogue, and the next, he and the girl were gone. Before she could see where they’d gone her brother came limping across the field, his wolf covered in mud and blood. She was at his side in seconds.

“What happened? Where did you…? Are you hurt?” She couldn’t find a place on him where the blood had come from, so she threw him to the earth and checked his legs both front and behind.

His low growl made her look at his face. His eyes were filled with pain, but when she started to check him again, he growled.

“All right, then where? I can’t find a frigging thing wrong with you.” She rubbed her hands over his muzzle and he whimpered.

“It’s his…you might want to check his mouth. I think that’s where he…where he might be hurt.” One of the vamps that had fallen when Phil took the girl sat up. He made no move to come to her and she was glad. He didn’t look much older than seventeen.

Holly opened her brother’s mouth and saw that he’d lost a tooth. Not one in the front, but a molar in the back. Plus, it looked as if he might have bitten his tongue. She looked over at the boy again.

“How did you know?”

She watched as he looked away, then he answered her. “I was a vet. Well, a vet’s assistant. She…the kid, she took me one night when I was coming out of work and bit me. Said I’d have a better life and she was lonely.” He laughed without humor. “Some life. I can’t do what I’ve always dreamed of because some bloodsucking bitch decided she was lonely and thought that changing me to the monster she is would be a lark.”

She could feel his anger, but she could also feel his need to come to Austin’s aid. She moved back from her brother after taking a deep breath, and asked the kid to see where else he was hurt. Austin looked into her eyes, but he didn’t growl when she moved further back from him and the young man.

“He needs fluids. I’m guessing…I never knew there were wolves that could change. Hell,” he laughed, “I didn’t know there were vampires either until now. Can he…shift, I guess it’s called?”

“Soon.” Austin would have to wait at least another twenty minutes before he could. She didn’t tell the man that, but watched as he gently looked him over. Even when he found a bloody wound on his left shoulder, Austin lay very still and didn’t snarl at him at all.

“I’m Alexander Hawkings, by the way. You’re Holly Force. I met you a few years ago when your family…Dallas, is he your brother?” She nodded at his question. “He interviewed me for a position as doctor. I didn’t understand why they needed a vet back then.” He laughed again. This time, she could hear the humor. “I guess he was getting someone to care for his people.”

“Yes. But the man you’re helping, he’s the alpha, the big cheese, I guess. Austin Force is my brother, as are Connor and Gordon.” When he moved back, she could see that Austin was sleeping. “You put him to sleep?”

“No!” he shouted then seemed to gather himself. “I mean no, not to sleep. I can put people in a sort of restful state, but I’d never….” He laughed again and then looked at her. “You simply meant asleep. I’m sorry. Where I work…worked, putting someone to sleep had very little to do with a restful state.”

She grinned too. She heard him before she saw him and stood up. Phil was walking toward her and he was alone. She stood up and noticed that other than Alexander, everyone else was still out.

“I’ve taken her in. She has been put behind silver bars and will remain there.” Phil glanced over at the young boy then back at her. “He’s been near you.”

“Yes. But not touching.” She knew that vampires were very territorial. She also knew that he’d kill Alexander if he so much as moved right now. “He is a vet and has helped me with Austin.”

Ignoring him for the moment Phil continued to talk about Theresa. “The Trustees took her. The trial will be set for the week after next. I told them that you and I would be there. Is that all right with you?”

“I can help.” They both turned to the girl who spoke, and to Alexander. “We all can. None of us were…I’m not sure what it’s called, but none of us were made what we are because we wanted to be.”

“Converted. And how many of you are there? Surely there are others, older than you?” Phil nodded to the others. “None of you are much older than a year. The rogue, she’s been around for nearly seventy years. Where are the others?”

Alexander cleared his throat. “We’re it. Last month, or the month before, there was this woman, but….” He looked at the girl. “Shelly, when was the last time you saw Anye?”

“Could be a couple of weeks. Don’t know. She hates our boss. Man, you should see the two of them go at it. Like they wanna kill each other but can’t. Anye said there was a law about killing your own kind. Didn’t seem to bother our boss much. She killed others like it was her job or something.”

Holly hid her laugh. This girl was young. She couldn’t have been much older than a teenager. And she sounded like one too. Holly turned to Alexander. She smiled at him when he took a step back when Phil growled.

“Don’t mind him. He’s my mate.” He didn’t move, nor did Phil. “How old are you both? You can’t be very old.”

“I’m twenty-five,” he answered her. “Those two there are eighteen, and Daniel and Corey are nineteen. She took them about three weeks ago. The girl next to them, her name is Lisa and she is twenty. She had the misfortune of wandering into the building where we were and the boss took her about a week ago. And that young man is nineteen. I don’t remember his name. She picked him up last night. Shelly here is the youngest at sixteen.”

Lisa stayed on the ground. She looked so bad that Holly wanted to offer her her wrist. She knew that she couldn’t, but it didn’t make her want to do it any less. She looked away when the girl looked up at her.

“Can you change us back?” She scrubbed her hand over her face to wipe at the tears. “I had a life. A home and a boyfriend. He wasn’t the greatest boyfriend in the world, but he was mine. I want to go back to my life.”

Phil kneeled down to her and Holly had the overwhelming urge to snarl. Sheesh, what a mood swing. One second she wanted to help her, the next she wanted to kill her. She took several steps back when she heard Phil speak to her.

“I’m sorry, Lisa, but we cannot. She made you into a vampire and there isn’t a way to change you back. There is help you can—”

“I don’t want any fucking help. I want to be human again not this…this monster.” The girl stood up and backed away. “Do you have any idea what it’s like? What it feels like to want to grab the first thing that gets close enough to you to drain them? Every second of every hour of every day, a constant hunger burns at you? My God, I went to see Howard and all I could think about was how much his blood was making my mouth water, how much I wanted to throw him to the floor and rip his throat out. I want to die.”

“Stop,”
Phil shouted. “Right now. You can control this with time and training. And as for the hunger, that too can be taken care of. There are places that will take you in and feed you. Show you how to take care of yourself. You can make this work for you.”

“No, I can’t,” the girl said softly. “I have no desire to.” And with that, she disappeared into the woods. When Holly started to go after her, Phil stopped her.

“Rolland is on her trail. He’ll help her. There are places that…you all will be taken to a place where you’ll get the training you need, help.”

The forest seemed to light up for several seconds and with the dimming, Holly had her gun out and was standing in front of the younger ones. Before she could react, her brother suddenly sprang up and growled low. There were ten men and women standing in the field around them.

“These people are our trainers. They will take you with them and help you all. No more harm will come to you.” Phil looked around as he continued. “Don’t worry about Lisa. When she’s ready to accept, she’ll be brought with you.”

“I’d like to stay. I’d like to…there’s someone I want to find. A man by the name of Clint Burris. I’d like to find him.” Alexander turned to Phil. “I…I’ve figured out what he is and I think I can help him in his work now. He said I had a place with him.”

Phil looked at Holly. “The doctor you had in the hospital. The one that has joined your pack. What do you think?”

She didn’t get a chance to answer as her brother took that moment to shift. “I think that would be a great idea. But only if you work with Phil here too. He’s my friend and he’ll…if he’s willing, he’ll get you on the right path.” He looked at Phil when he growled. “You owe me, buddy. This will make us about even.”

“Like bloody hell it will. You owe me more than your fat ass can pay.” Phil looked at her while he spoke to her brother. “But I’ll call it even if you tell me that you’ll leave us alone for a long week. Holly and I have some catching up to do.”

She shivered. Her entire body was on fire for the man in front of her. When she stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around him, she could hear her brother cussing and Alexander laughing. As they left the area for wherever Phil was taking them, she thought she heard her brother telling Alexander that his day was coming too.

The room he took her to was one she’d never seen before. Not that she had a lot of time to look around. She was naked before she hit the bed and Phil was inside of her scant seconds later. She screamed her first of what she was sure would be many climaxes before she had a chance to ask him anything.

“Again. Come for me again, love. I need to feel it before I can come inside of you.” Even as her body lifted again she knew that she’d never get enough of him. Not just the sex, but his love. As her third then fourth peak took her, Holly screamed that she loved him, loved Phil for all of time and then some.