Untamable (11 page)

“Jasper?” Ms. Angela called. He’d stopped listening as he looked at the reminders of his past.

“Sorry, please finish telling us.” He shut the book and brought Sidda’s hand to his lips. Her warmth comforted him, and he’d need that comfort to get through the deed of marking the stolen, lost, or dead.

“The warehouse isn’t very far from here.” Ms. Angela’s voice shook. “Maybe about an hour, I think. It’s been a long time since I was there so it might take me a little while to get my bearings.” Ms. Angela wrung her hands. “I know it was near the airport.”

“Hartsfield?” Jasper asked.

“Yeah, I never went back after I grabbed Sidda. They were just gonna leave her to be picked up by the garbage truck that morning.”

A growl tore from Jasper’s throat.

“I grabbed her and ran. I never even got my last paycheck. I was too scared they’d know somehow and take her from me.” Ms. Angela grabbed Sidda’s other hand.

Jasper grimaced, knowing how scared the woman must still be even after twenty-three years. She’d hidden well in a small town outside of a major city. He couldn’t imagine what all the worrying Sidda’s mother had done over the years. No doubt if Dane had thought for one second that Sidda still lived and Ms. Angela had taken her, they’d both be dead..

“He won’t try to hurt her, will he?”
Sidda stared wide eyed at him. She was beginning to understand that wolves didn’t care for their possessions to be taken. And Dane would consider Sidda his, even if she were dead. He’d put her in the dumpster and fully expected her to have been dumped at the landfill.

Jasper shook his head and kissed her forehead.
“Not if I have anything to do about it, babe. It’ll be all right.”

Ms. Angela kept talking, ignorant of their silent conversation. “Well, I didn’t really know where else to go, so I moved back to my hometown. My parents’ little house had been left to me. Once I got Sidda there, things seemed to be normal until her eyes turned orange and she growled. Jared, Dr. Thomas, and I were on-again, off-again, so I took Sidda to him. All I knew was I wouldn’t let anyone or anything take my baby from me, and Jared helped me with that. He made sure everything worked out.” Tears filled her eyes.

The thick scent of arousal filled the air. Jasper looked at Sidda, who had her nose scrunched up and was staring at her mother. Dr. Thomas smiled warmly at Ms. Angela, and in a blink, Sidda jumped from the couch to pace in front of the fireplace, her lips curled in disgust.

Jasper laughed. He’d smelled many people in the throes of arousal, but for Sidda, this was new, and to make it worse, it happened to be her mother and her mother’s old fling.

Jasper rose, striding to the fireplace. He wrapped his arms around Sidda to hold her close. “Babe, it gets better. I promise. Soon you won’t notice things like that, unless it’s someone you’re attracted to. And, if that’s someone other than me, then he’s a dead man.” He grinned at her, hoping to make her feel more comfortable. He got a small, sheepish smile and a snort in return.

She sighed. “Come on, let’s finish this. I imagine we have lots of work to do before we go in search of the warehouse.”

“We do, but I doubt Velham has left anything behind. He might have, seeing as he didn’t have a clue anyone had figured out what he was up too. Still, he would have just eliminated Ms. Angela had he discovered she knew. If any of the pack are still alive, they’ll be somewhere else.” He turned back to Ms. Angela.

“Ms. Angela, what about me? How is it that Sidda happened to be the one person to find me?” He cocked his head to the side to see around Sidda’s head.

“I’m not real sure. I’d told Sidda and Cole not to go near the woods. A lady I later recognized as the Luna Alpha Female from television stopped by the house one day to let me know she would be staying in the cabin near the house. She said she’d seen Sidda and Cole playing in the forest and warned me that there were wolves out there. I didn’t know what she was talking about at first, but then her eyes flicked brown and then back to green. I recognized her then, and after she left, I realized she had gone to the cabin to hide from the Pack War. That was the last time I ever saw her.”

“So Sidda and Cole ignored you like usual and went off to the woods that day and found me? No other wolves ever came by?” He stroked Sidda’s back, wishing the conversation was over so they could go back and rest. He wanted to have her close, just the two of them.

“Me too. Hurry up, I’m still tired.”
Sidda nipped his neck.

“There was one, a young boy about twelve. He said he was looking for his brother. He even showed me a picture. Something told me he wasn’t telling the truth and not to trust him even though he was just a child. But he seemed so cold, evil-like. To this day, the thought of him makes me shudder. I’ve seen him with Velham. I thank god every day for that cellar and for Joy being there to keep you calm.”

Stephan Donaldson. Jasper snarled at the thought of the evil bastard being near Sidda’s home. According to everyone, Stephan worked as Velham’s hired man, silencing all threats and opponents. Rumor also said he would be the next in line for Luna Alpha if Velham didn’t chose an heir from his offspring.

Jasper nodded at Ms. Angela. She’d been right to hide them all. “Stephan Donaldson isn’t much older than me. Maybe a few years. Both his parents were killed in a car crash or something. From what my father heard, someone cut the power steering cable and their car ran off a hill into a ravine. No one ever admitted who’d cut the line, but everyone suspected Stephan.”

“He’s still a cold bastard.” Dr. Thomas shook his head and settled down beside Ms. Angela.

“He’ll go after my weakness.” Jasper tightened his grip on Sidda. “He’ll see Sidda as my greatest weakness, which in a way is true. If he threatened her, I’d go after him blind in rage. Is Sidda strong enough to shift? There’s a training room down the hall, and I’d like to start teaching Sidda about her wolf, how to fight another wolf, and how to control another wolf. If she can control Stephan, it’ll force Velham to do his own dirty work.” He pulled away from Sidda to smile down at her.

“
Never forget surviving isn’t living. I need you to be strong, to accept our life, and to fight for our pack.”

“I’m the head bitch, remember? I can do all that and more.”

The depths of the pure and complete trust Sidda showed amazed and awakened the Alpha within him. He wanted to prove to her he was more dominant and powerful than any bastard out there.

He grabbed her hand. There would be no going back to bed and resting. After hearing everything Jasper knew it was time to see if Sidda could fight. “It’s time to train. Dr. Thomas, I’m taking Sidda to the training room where she is going to shift. I want you to lock the steel door behind us and then come back in here. I’m leaving the last Blue Moon Pack directory here with you. Go through it and write down anyone you’ve seen since Velham took over and if you know where they are now. Nothing comes in this house or goes out, understand?” Dr. Thomas lowered his head in a show of respect.

Jasper tugged on Sidda’s hand and stopped just in front of Dr. Thomas. “Do I have your word?”

Dr. Thomas tilted his head, showing throat. “Of course, Alpha, you have my word, my life if you wish. Nothing will leave nor enter this home until you come back.”

Jasper’s wolf roared to life. Yes, he was Alpha and not Dane Velham, and soon, all the Lunas would know the rightful Alpha. Jasper nodded and left the room with Sidda in tow. It was time to train the top bitch.

Chapter Ten

Sidda rushed behind Jasper, holding his warm, strong hand. Her nerves nearly overwhelmed her. She didn’t know how to shift and doubted it was really something she could do. It’d always looked painful. Jasper had shifted in front of her many times, and while he had made grunts and grimaces during the process, he’d never complained about it hurting.

He said it was natural to him. It hurt more not to shift than it did to finish it out. She’d always thought he lied about it to keep her from worrying, but after hearing the voice in her head screaming for her to change, she knew he had spoken the truth.

Her body ached just thinking about fighting off the urge to shift. Every nerve in her body trembled with anticipation when Jasper opened the large steel door leading to the training room.

“Jasper?” Her heart rate increased when she stepped inside the concrete room. It looked to be nearly as large as the living room, only it held no comforts. Instead, to one side, there were weight-lifting machines, treadmills, and other various exercise machines.

“It’s ok. I’m going to talk you through it all. Once your shift is done, I’ll shift. We’ll stay here the first time, and the next time you shift, we’ll go for a run. But first I want you to get to know yourself in wolf form. You need to learn your body movements, your instincts, and get used to the new sight and hearing. Like everything else you do in your life, you’ll adjust to it and prevail.” His smile and voice both held more pride than she’d ever seen or heard.

Sidda tried to smile at him. Inside, she was anything but sure. Jasper had always told her she could do anything, but this was stretching the limits. She closed her eyes to listen to the voice of her wolf. The voice whispered encouraging words of confidence. She wanted to be free, and Sidda no longer wanted to fight the urge to release her.

Sidda nodded at Jasper. “All right, pup, what should I do first?”

“Get naked.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

She put her hands on her hips and cocked one to the side. “Jasper.”

He laughed. “You gotta be naked to shift. Well, you don’t have to be, but if you aren’t, you’ll ruin your clothes.”

“All right, but you stay away from me. If you come over here and touch me, both of us know how it will end, and it won’t be with me shifting.” She grinned.

“You’re right about that, but I won’t touch you. You’ve got to shift, and I need to also. It’s been a hell of a few days, and I’m a little twitchy.”

“Twitchy?” She wanted to laugh at the big bad wolf using a word like twitchy.

“Yeah. I get cabin fever if I go too long without shifting or if I get stressed too much.” He rolled his shoulders. “Okay, everything off, and get ready.”

Her body hummed with energy. Even though her mind still couldn’t grasp she was truly a Luna, her body knew. The voice in her head sighed when she let loose her last bit of apprehension along with her clothes. Sidda’s skin tingled, and she shut her eyes when her vision began to blur.

“Don’t fight it. This shift will be fast and easy. She’s been waiting twenty-three years to be released and wants out bad.” Jasper’s thick voice broke the silence in the room.“Keep your eyes closed and let her take over. This isn’t something you can do. She’s the wolf. She’ll take care of it.”

“Wait, what do you mean? I’m in charge of my own body. It’s me, all of it.” Sidda trembled, unable to stop her body’s reaction to the calling to shift.

“No, your wolf is her own. She stays dormant inside you until you shift, then things are swapped. You’ll be the one who’s a whisper, who only gets glimpses of everything. The more you shift, the more you get to know your wolf and she you. The more you know your wolf, the more dominant you’ll be during the shift.”

“But, right now, I won’t have any control? She could go crazy and kill you?” Panic swelled within Sidda. She didn’t want to shift, not if there was a chance of hurting someone.

“You aren’t that type of Luna. She isn’t going to do those things. She’s a part of you. You won’t do anything as a wolf you wouldn’t do as a human. Well, you might get the urge to let me take you as a wolf but…”

“Oh shut up. I don’t even want to think about that possibility.” But she did. The idea felt so wrong yet so right. Her wolf loved the idea of what he’d joked about, but Sidda shook the idea off. She couldn’t do the nasty as a wolf, could she?

“Really? Hmmm, I was thinking it would be a great possibility. You know, let our wolves get to know each other.” His smirk made her laugh. “Come on, relax. You’ll be just fine, and if not, I’m here to make sure you’re fine.”