The Alpha's Choice (19 page)

It was a good solution and as it turned out,
the only solution. As he carried her back to the house they found
that every stitch of her clothing was gone. They were giggling and
laughing like silly fools by the time they reached the back door.
Charles kept trying to uncover her breasts as he trotted across the
dew damp yard and Kat kept fighting him off.

She slapped his hand and shushed him one last
time as she reached down and turned the knob. "If we get caught,"
she hissed, "I'll never…"

"I think we already are," he whispered and in
a louder voice, "Good morning, Mrs. Martin. Up early I see."

"I like to get an early jump on the day," the
housekeeper said conversationally as if it was perfectly normal for
her half-naked employer to be passing through her kitchen with a
fully naked woman in his arms. "Good morning, Kat. Your clothes are
in the wash. I was just about to start breakfast. I'll have it
ready by the time you're showered and back in bed if that's all
right with you."

"Yes, thank you," Kat squeaked into Charles'
chest where she'd buried her red face.

"That will be fine, Mrs. Martin," Charles
told her sounding once again like the Lord of his Domain. "We'll be
ready for it. It's been a, um, a strenuous night."

"Hmph," the housekeeper snorted, "Well,
before you begin anything else that might be strenuous, be sure to
check your bed. I think you might find an unwanted critter in
it."

"Thank you, Mrs. Martin, we will."

They were at the foot of the stairs before
their laughter sputtered forth, hissing and giggling like a couple
of kids.

"Strenuous? Is that what you call it, a
strenuous night?"

"Well what would you want me to say?" Charles
screwed up his face and said in a dorky voice, "Gee thanks, Mrs. M.
We were in the barn fucking our brains out all night and we're
really, really hungry."

"Would you be quiet!" she giggled a whisper,
"Keep it up and everyone will be awake. Bad enough Tilda saw me
like this. I don't need half the house witnessing it."

Unfortunately, half the house did see her,
obviously naked and wrapped in an old blanket with bits of straw
sticking out of her hair. They all came running when Charles
dropped Kat to her feet in the hallway when he opened the bedroom
door and bellowed loud enough to rattle the windows.

"Get the fuck out of my bed!"

Fortunately, half of them weren't dressed
much better or more completely than she. The next door down flew
open and Ryker came charging out into the hall in a pair of olive
drab boxers followed closely by Jo wearing Ryker's gray tee which
was barely long enough to give modesty inches to spare.

Hyatt came barreling through the door to the
back stairway like a caped Crusader with his flannel robe flying
out behind him. Interestingly, or so Kat thought, his PJs looked
like they might be silk. Once he saw the Alpha was unharmed, he
turned his attentions to his sister who he tried to chase back into
her bedroom with a flutter of his hands.

Tanner and Rhonda, who looked like two people
who'd worn out the sheets, came running after Hyatt, Tanner looking
ready for battle, Rhonda looking frightened. Rawley was there with
his arm around the shoulders of the little freckled redhead. His
face looked angry and hard and his free hand was clenched in a
fist.

Two other young men, Kat couldn't remember
their names, came bursting out of another door on the second floor.
The lighter skinned of the two was completely naked and the other
wore a shiny black thong that was so tiny it was obscene.

"What the fuck is going on out here?" Ryker
growled, but Charles ignored him. He was too busy shouting into his
room.

"Did you not hear me? Get the fuck out of my
bed. Now!"

Stephanie came sauntering out of the room.
"You needn't yell, Charles dear. I only came to keep you company
after the hunt. We all know how you get after an evening in the
wild. I must have fallen asleep."

She was wearing a black peignoir so sheer the
dark silhouette of her perfect body was clearly defined. She
stopped, just outside the door, to inspect Kat from head to
toe.

"But I see you've expended your energies on
the hired help."

Kat's fist clenched beneath her rough wool
covering and she took a step toward the woman. "Bitch," she said
clearly.

Stephanie's laugh was derisive. "As a matter
of fact, I am, sometimes quite literally. I don't know who you
think you are, but you're nothing to me."

"She's something to me," Charles snarled,
"And that's all that counts."

"What is she, Charles? Tell us all. Please.
Tell us all what she is to you." The woman's smirk turned her
beautiful face ugly.

Charles put his arm around Kat and pulled her
close. "Suffice it to say she's mine."

"But who is she, Charles? Where did she come
from? What does she want? This isn't the time. Don't go all Alpha
on us now. She isn't worth it. She may be a Mate, but that doesn't
mean she isn't trash."

Charles took a step towards Stephanie,
leaving Kat behind. He drew himself up as Kat had seen him do
before when looming over Mrs. Martin. He suddenly appeared
larger-than-life. Kat could hear the collective intake of breath
and even the bold Stephanie stepped back and lowered her eyes.

Charles' voice was deadly calm. "You have one
hour to pack your things and get out, Stephanie. You are no longer
welcome here."

Stephanie looked up and her eyes flashed with
surprise and anger. "You can't do that. I'm a member of the
Council."

"Yes, I can. You may be a member of my
Council, but I am the Alpha."

Charles seemed to grow even more in stature.
His power seemed to swell the walls outward and when he turned that
power upon Stephanie, she cringed.

"You breathe by my will and word. You have
one hour to get out or I will throw you out and you'll be grateful
that's all I do," Charles told her. Then he turned and addressed
those standing in the hall after nodding to each, in turn. "Anyone
else have anything to say? Good. Then thank you. Thank you all. I'm
sorry you were disturbed. We'll meet tomorrow to go over my
plans."

Alex, whose door had remained closed during
the shouting, now opened it and took in the situation at a glance.
Unlike the others, he was fully dressed.

Stephanie, finding no sympathy or support
from anyone else, looked to him. "I've been banished, Alex. Would
you come help me pack my things."

"Of course, Stephanie. Let's get your things
together and I'll pull your car around."

He led her down the hallway to the stairs to
her room.

Jo laughed and put her fists on her hips.
"Bitch," she mocked, "Kitty Kat. Honey. Stephanie could tear you to
shreds."

"I'd like to see her try," Kat challenged and
said to the others. "I'm small, but I can take care of myself. I
could have taken her." She shouted after the retreating Stephanie.
"Even if she does outweigh me by thirty pounds."

"Ooo, low blow," Jo laughed. "Now tell her
you're smarter than her, too."

"I probably am," Kat agreed and gathered her
breath to shout again.

"Katarina! That's enough. It's over. Come to
bed." Charles held the door and motioned with his hand. His power
rippled over her and she felt the infuriating compulsion to obey.
This was different from his commands during sex. Those she obeyed
because she chose to.

She fought the compulsion and hesitated just
long enough to let him know it and then she issued a "Hmph" Mrs.
Martin would be proud of and ducked under his arm. As soon as the
door was closed, she flung off her blanket and turned on
Charles.

Hands on hips, she hissed at him. "Did you
hear her? This isn't the time. Don't go all Alpha on us now," she
mimicked viciously. "You can't do that," she continued. "Who in the
hell does she think she is talking to you that way. You're the Big
Bad. You can do anything you want. I could claw the bitch's eyes
out."

Charles started to laugh. "I didn't know my
kitten had claws."

"Well, now you know and it's not funny,
Wolfman. She has no right to talk to you that way, the fancy-assed
bitch, waltzing around in her sexy nightie, making herself at home
in your bed." Kat was fuming and Charles laughing at her wasn't
helping.

He was still laughing. "She has no right to
talk to me that way and yet you call me Wolfman and Beasty
Boy."

"That's different. Those are terms of… of
affection. That bitch has no right to call you anything but
Sir."

"I think you're jealous," he laughed.

"You're damn right I am."

Stephanie was everything she wasn't. She was
those girls in high school who always made the cheerleading squad.
She was those girls in college who never had to roll out of bed and
run to class looking like death warmed over because they'd worked
late the night before. She was those women who look down their
noses at Kat when they picked their children up from school in
their brand-new Volvo's wearing outfits that cost one of Kat's
paychecks.

"She was in your bed! She was wearing that
peignoir that would probably feel like silk in your hands. Her
hands probably feel like silk, too. She's smart, she's rich, and
she's beautiful, damn her. She's everything I ever wanted to be and
couldn't. And now she wants you, too." Kat stamped her foot in an
attempt to keep the water from filling her eyes.

Charles wasn't laughing now. He held out his
arms to her, but Kat refused his invitation. She felt stupid and
foolish for blurting out what she hadn't meant to say.

"Katarina. Come here."

The power and compulsion was still there and
this time she reluctantly obeyed. Forehead resting on his chest she
stood before him, ashamed of her confession.

Charles enveloped her in his arms. "Stephanie
is all those things and yet, I would choose you. Do you think
Stephanie would have played with me outdoors tonight? Do you think
Stephanie would have made love on the floor of the barn? Do you
think Stephanie would be angry on my behalf when the attack was
against her? I like you, Katarina Bennett, and I think you may be
the best thing that's happened to me in a long, long time."

Kat looked up at him, needing to see his eyes
when he answered. "Do you really mean that?"

"Yes, I really mean that," he told her, but
she'd already read the answer in his eyes and then those eyes took
on the same sparkle they'd held just a little while ago. "You need
to go get your shower, kitten, before I refuse to take no for an
answer." His hands slid down her back to her rear where he gave her
cheeks a light pat to send her on her way. "And kitten?" he laughed
as he turned her around and gave her another playful swat on the
rear, "Stephanie could never be as cute as you are naked and
angry."

Chapter 18

"What's a mate?"

Kat was alone in the kitchen with Tilda
making preparations for a late lunch. Buddy was out in the yard
stacking wood from the fallen maple tree, the same tree that
Charles had used for first base the night before. The others, all
except Stephanie who'd managed to pack can be gone in one hour as
directed, were in the dining room sitting around the long walnut
table with Charles at its head.

He'd invited her to sit in on the meeting
with his Council, but Kat had refused. Being his girlfriend wasn't
the same as being a member of the pack or the Council and she
wasn't the only one who thought so.

Earlier, on her way to the kitchen, she'd
passed Charles' office door which was open a crack. She couldn't
help overhearing him arguing with his Second, Alex. She'd paused
just past the door to listen, knowing full well that this time, she
was guilty as charged.

"I'm not saying you were wrong," Alex was
explaining, "I'm only saying that perhaps you were a bit hasty in
sending her away. Stephanie has an important role in our operation,
Charles."

"And she can play that important role back in
the city with the others."

"She's the one who came up with the idea of
negotiating with the men who're using your land for their business.
She should have been allowed to present her case."

"It's a dog fighting ring! And I can
guaran-damn-tee whatever else they have going in there isn't legal
either, so there is no case to present. I want them gone and
Stephanie is off the Council. It's too damn big to begin with."

"I agree, but if you want to reduce the size,
there are others we could probably do better without. Hyatt, for
instance or Jo who does little but wisecrack her way through the
meetings. Ryker is another we can do without. He's security. He
knows his job, but has nothing to contribute to the running of the
business."

"But he has a lot of ideas about the running
of the pack and that's what we seem to forget, Alex. The Wolf's
Head Pack should come before Wolf's Head Enterprises."

"They are one in the same."

"No. They're not and I'm coming to realize
that more and more. We need to change. As a business, were
flourishing. As a pack, we're falling apart," Charles said using
the same words as Jo.

"Does this have something to do with Kat? I
know you're enamored him with the girl, but…"

"Katarina has nothing to do with this. This
has been coming for a long time."

"Forgive me, Alpha, but I beg to differ. I
think she has everything to do with this and the pack has a right
to know. I fully agree that Stephanie chose the wrong venue to
voice her concerns, but that doesn't negate the fact that her
concerns are real and shared. What do you know about this girl?
Only that Eugene Begley found her at the instigation of your
brother's Mate. A brother, I might add, with whom you've had a
contentious relationship. Who knows…"