Lost Alpha: Collection (bbw werewolf/shifter romance) (17 page)

She flew through town, hoping no deputies would catch her. She considered pulling over and grabbing Travis for protection, but she knew he would try to start a fight. The Lockharts would smell the wolf on him and everything would be ruined. She had to do this alone.

She pulled through the iron gate outside the Lockharts old mansion just a bit after four p.m., the sun hanging heavy behind the house. The mansion had been built plantation style in the early 1940’s for an old rich man that still held ties to the south. After he had died it had bounced around in bank sales, finally being bought by Jasper Lockhart in the early 80’s. Her parents told her he seemed like a nice enough guy, until he moved his five children into his house with their spouses and children.

She didn’t know exactly how many Lockharts there were. She knew the youngest, Janie, went to school with Lyric, but she didn’t know if there were any other children. Rumors in town flew about as to the actual number, but most agreed there were at least twelve of them living in the house. She wasn’t even sure if old Jasper was still alive.

The mansion rose up at the top of the hill, like a stern father looking down on its children. She had never been inside before, just outside the mansion to pick up her nieces. The only Lockhart she ever met was Angela who was Janie’s mother. Angel was always waiting out front with her nieces, but today she was nowhere to be found. Had Billy called to say she was coming? Usually he did.

She got out of her car, her heart pounding in her chest. The gigantic front porch with its great wood columns loomed in front of her. The house hadn’t been painted in years; the white paint was chipped all over the house and columns. Weeds and plants grew up all around the house, covering windows and scratching away at what paint was left.

It’ll be fine,
she thought.
Just walk up, ring the doorbell and ask for the girls.

Earlier she had thought it would be a good idea to try and spy on the Lockharts herself, but now that she was face to face with their den she was scared shitless. It took all of her strength to take those first steps away from the safety of her car and towards the unknown that waited behind the front door.

The front door was painted bright red; the only thing that was freshly painted on the train wreck of a house. The golden knocker was a wolf’s head, very appropriate for the situation. She knocked three times, hoping that Angie would open the door and the girls would be standing right there.

She heard the big door unlock and then it swung open slowly, revealing a short, fat man who appeared to be in his early forties. He had stringy hair that horseshoed around a bald spot on top of his head. With grubby fingers he reached out and shook her hand.

“You must be Paige,” he said.

“I am,” she said, realizing she had been holding her breath. “And you are?”

“I’m William,” he said. “I’m Angie’s father in law, Jasper’s son.”

That would make Janie the great granddaughter of the families patriarch; there were a lot more of them than she realized.

“Please come in,” William said, motioning for her to step into the foyer.

“I thought Angie was Jasper’s daughter,” she said, speaking without thinking.

William chuckled and put his hand on her back, sending chills all the way up her spine. “Oh no, there are a lot of us here. We don’t come into town too often.”

“How many people live here?” she asked.

“I’m not even sure,” he said. She turned to look at him and he was eyeing her with a smile on his face. Finally he busted out laughing and elbowed her in the side. “I’m just joshing with ya! There are 15 of us living here: Jasper and his children, which are me, Virginia, Gabriel, Silas and Patricia. Then there is my son William Jr and his wife Angie. Virginia has a grown son named Robert and then Silas has three kids: Louis, Trevor and George. Gabriel has a son named Bart and Silas has a wife named Amy. Then there’s also Janie, she’s the youngest.

Only two significant others in the whole bunch,
she thought.
I wonder what they do with their significant others?

She shuddered at the thought, not wanting to know the answer.

“The girls are upstairs,” he said, leading her through a side door to a large staircase. “Follow me.”

Paige wanted to do anything but follow him. She wanted to pull out a gun and blow the dirty rat away before setting the house on fire and running away forever, but she had to rescue her nieces. Hopefully he would just give her nieces to her and then send her on her way. He seemed nice enough right now, just a creepy old man.

The inside of the house was just as dirty as the outside. No rugs covered the musty wood floors and there were no paintings on the walls which were peeling away, revealing the old lath and plaster walls behind. This place would be a nightmare for her allergies if she had actually lived there, but luckily she was just picking up her nieces and getting the hell out.

“Your nieces are in Janie’s room,” he said, stopping at the end of a long hallway. “That’s an interesting perfume you’re wearing. What is it?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, realizing she was trapped at the end of this hallway. She did not like the feeling gathering in the pit of her stomach. Alarm bells started going off in her head when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, unlocking the door. She had to leave, but she couldn’t do it without her nieces. “Why do you ask?”

“Because it smells like wolf,” he said, his face suddenly twisting into a mask of rage.

She turned and tried to run, but he was quick. She felt his grubby fingers catching ahold of her hair, yanking her backwards towards him.

“Do you think you can bring that wolf into our home?” he demanded, his voice a tidal wave of rage. “I knew we didn’t finish the job!”

The door swung open to reveal her two nieces sitting on the ground beside Angie and Janie Lockhart. All four appeared to have been crying as they sat huddled in the empty room. With all his might William flung her into the room, bouncing her off the floor as she hit.

She felt all the wind go out of her body and she reached up, gasping for air. She thought a rib had cracked as she felt pain shoot through her midsection.

“Stay in here, wolf lover,” he said. “Victor will be back tonight and he’ll want something good to eat. Hopefully that wolf comes looking for you so we can finish the job.”

Her senses started to come back as she heard the door slam and lock behind him.

“I’m so sorry,” Angie said, reaching a hand out to touch her.

She recoiled in fear, not wanting to let the wererat touch her. She scrambled back towards the wall, cornering herself as she stared out at her nieces and the mother/daughter combo.

“Get away from me!” she screamed. “Girls get away from her! She’s a wererat! Stay away!”

Angie’s eyes grew wide and then the tears came cascading down her cheek as she grabbed her daughter and hugged her tight.

“It’s ok Aunt Paige,” Lyric said, crawling over to her. “She’s on our side.”

Paige looked up at Angie, feeling every emotion possible sweep through her body. Why had they trapped this wererat in the bedroom with her? Why was she locked up with her daughter and Paige’s nieces? Something didn’t add up. Then something Travis said hit her. He told her that werewolf females hardly ever produced children and they had to go to humans to produce their offspring.

“Oh my god,” Paige said, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes. “You poor woman.”

She crawled over to Angie and Janie, wrapping her arms around both.

“It’s ok,” she whispered as mother and daughter cried in her arms. “We’re all going to get out of here. You won’t be a prisoner anymore.”

Paige didn’t know how she was going to get them out; they were trapped in a rat hole, used as bait to lure the wolves. She joined Angie and Janie in weeping as her nieces wrapped their arms around her.

Chapter 6

“How did you find out?” Travis demanded, still standing in the doorway to Paige’s trailer.

“I was checking out the mansion when I saw Paige’s car out front,” Dario said.

“You were what?” Travis asked. “Why would you do something so reckless? I did not give you permission to go snooping around.”

“Forgive me, alpha,” Dario said, looking at the ground like a scolded child. “I was hoping I could find something out to help you.”

“We don’t know for sure they’re holding her,” Travis said, thinking about it. “Her nieces play over there all the time, maybe she was just picking them up.”

“Do you want to take that risk?” Dario asked.

“I do not,” Travis said. “Let’s go.”

Travis had just
shifted
, so he was unable to
shift
into wolf form this quickly. Luckily he had the body and stamina of an Olympic sprinter due to his superior wolf genetics. He followed Dario, both men running down the street on foot. The entire time they ran, Travis felt anger welling up inside of him. Paige wouldn’t be over at the Lockharts this late; they were definitely holding her hostage. He didn’t care about plans or being careful or anything of that sort now, he just wanted to wrap his hands around the throat of a rat and squeeze the life out of it. When that failed he would turn into a wolf and tear them limb for limb, he didn’t care if they could shift into lunar form, they had made a big mistake.

The run was long and brutal, taking much longer than Travis expected. Halfway through, when they had left the main road and entered a wooded area, Dario peeled off his shorts and shifted into wolf form, using all four legs to move quicker. Travis tried to pick up the pace, but the wolf was too fast.

Finally, after an eternity of running, they stopped outside the iron fence that surrounded the Lockhart’s estate.

Travis was completely spent, gasping for air, as he leaned against a stone pillar for support. Dario looked up at him with big wolf eyes, waiting for him to give direction.

After catching his breath Travis pointed towards the house. “They don’t have cameras or anything, do they?”

Dario shook his head.

“Did you enter the property earlier?”

Dario nodded his head.

“Then show me how you got in.”

Dario got low and stalked around the perimeter of the fence, heading west of the house. He brought Travis to an area where one of the stone columns had collapsed, leaving an opening for someone to hop through between the fence and column. Dario nimbly jumped through while Travis, much more awkward in his human form, slid through causing the iron fence to collapse even more. It made a horrible creaking sound that filled the nighttime air. Travis stood frozen for a minute, his eyes darting around. After several moments he felt satisfied nobody had heard them.

He squatted low and followed Dario to the house. There was a huge stone driveway out front where several old cars sat in addition to Paige’s cherry red Mustang. Travis’ nostrils flared and he bit back his anger as he saw her car sitting in the driveway, waiting for her to come back and take it away.

Travis pointed to the front door and Dario’s wolf nodded, wanting to check out the lay of the land. They began to sneak that way when the front door opened, bathing the front of the house in light. Both wolves ducked behind a beat up old Cadillac that was at the very edge of the driveway. Dario managed to crawl under the Cadillac, concealing himself completely, but Travis was too big to work his way in. Instead he just sat calmly, hoping nobody walked their way.

He could hear his heart beating as he heard two people talking in front of the house. He strained to listen, but they were speaking in hushed tones.

Just as he decided to peek his head around the fender of the car and get a look headlights bathed the front of the house. He slid to the rear of the car, looking at the driveway that led to the house. A large, black stretch limousine was pulling up to the house.

Who the fuck is that?
Travis thought. He continued to watch as a short, fat, balding man ran to the limo, hopping anxiously from one foot to the other.

A large driver exited the vehicle, stoically walking down the edge of the vehicle, pushing the squat wererat back in the process. He opened the door of the limo allowing a tall, older gentleman to stand up out of the vehicle. The man wore a long peacoat over a dark suit. His eyes were glowed a ghostly red and his gray hair was slicked straight back. There was no doubt in Travis’ mind, this man was a vampire.

“Victor,” the wererat said loudly. “Welcome back.”

“Cut the crap William,” Victor responded. “What news do you have for me?”

“We caught the werewolves’ girlfriend,” William said excitedly.

“And?” Victor asked, sounding annoyed.

“We can capture the werewolf now,” William said. He was cowering at the power radiating from the vampire.

“Do you think I care about some damn werewolf?” Victor asked. “If I cared about the werewolf then I would have killed him the night I grabbed the staff. I saw him as I was leaving; he looked me in the eyes. If his life was consequential to anything then I would have ended it right there. But I didn’t. You know why?”

“N….” William started, but the vampire cut him off.

“Because he’s a worthless piece of garbage that can do nothing to stop me now. Who cares if one survives? This isn’t a TV show; he won’t be having his revenge. I have the staff, the land is mine. They will break ground tomorrow on the oilfield project and the land will grow my pocket book.”

“Yes sir,” the rat said. “Of course sir.”

“Is there anything else important?” he asked.

“Well we did capture his girlfriend and her nieces,” William said. “Perhaps you’re hungry?”

“William, you are making sense now my good boy,” Victor said. “I’m famished from the flight over. Let’s go.”

Travis watched as the two of them went back into the house, leaving the brutish driver and a smaller, skinnier rat behind.

You cocky bastard,
Travis thought, thinking about the vampire’s words. He wasn’t scared of Travis at all, a big mistake.
They’re going to destroy Bowshot tomorrow, I have to rescue Paige and get the staff back.