Untamed Force (Force of Nature Series) (15 page)

“If you don’t stop that I’m going to
have to hurt you.”

He looked up at Austin, who was leaning
against the column to his porch.

“You just have to realize that wolves
are by far smarter than vampires and you won’t be so disappointed when it hits
you between the eyes.”

“Fuck off. She could have been killed.
Or worse, she could have been taken by that vampire and we’d never know it.”

Austin shrugged.

“You mean you don’t care that she was a
paid assassin by your rival?”

“Oh I care all right. But this is the
new me. The more ‘in touch with my inner self’ alpha.” He grinned. “What do you
think?”

“I think it’s stupid. Where did you come
up with that lame-brained idea? Reading one of those girly magazines for help?”

Austin growled low.

“Oh no, let me guess. Your mate. CJ
decided that you needed to be self-aware and now you’re a pussy instead of a
wolf?”

“Yes, it was her idea and until you came
along and fucked it all up, it was working for me.” Austin stretched his neck.
“Not really, but it makes CJ happy so I was willing to give it a try. Tell me
what you know about the imposter.”

“She’s not. An imposter, I mean. She
really is being blackmailed by Rich. And he really does have her family. Her
human mate as well as their household. He gave her as much information as he
thought she’d need except for one thing. Stacy’s ability to smell a vampire.”

“I don’t understand. Can’t anyone smell
one of you guys? Especially if they’re not human?”

Phil shook his head.

“I can smell you.”

“Yes, because we’re friends. But a
normal wolf, one without contact with one of our kind, wouldn’t know what we
smell like. I bet if you asked any of those people you brought here if they
could smell her they’d tell you no. Stacy, because of her inability to be
scented, has a little extra nostril power.”

Austin sat down on the steps and looked
to be processing what he was telling him. That’s why he liked the big man. He
never went off half-cocked. Phil moved to the steps and sat beside him.

“You’re saying that because of our
friendship we can have a certain ability over a lot of other wolves? That not only
can we smell you, but you can’t hide from us as easily?”

Phil nodded.

“How was she able to hide her scent from
me then?”

“She can mask her scent, as can I. But
she didn’t fool Stacy because of what she is. And what she is can be something
very useful to you if you want to employ her to use it.”

“No.” Dallas came out of the house and
glared down at the two of them. “You’ll not use her in any way, shape, or form.
I’ll not have my mate used as bait so that we can catch the bastard that sired
her.”

“I don’t think you have much say in that,
buddy. You’re going to have to do better than that if Stacy has any say in
this.” Phil nodded to the doorway. “And a great deal of explaining to do if her
face is any indication.”

Stacy stood there looking like fury, if
fury had a face, that is. Phil could see the tension in her body and her eyes
had turned. He’d been around Holly when she’d been nearly this pissed and didn’t
envy Dallas her anger at all. She simply walked between him and Austin and
toward the tree line. Phil put his hand out to stop the man before he could
follow.

“If I were you, I’d wait. I’ve seen
pissed off mates before and she looks to have murder in her eye. And right now,
I can’t blame her.”

Dallas jerked away from him, but not
when Austin grabbed him. “You’ll stay here. She’s going to see Alexis and she
said to wait.”

Phil looked at Austin with a raised
brow.

“Alexis just contacted me. She said
Stacy is on her way there and that she didn’t want anyone to come over just
yet.”

Dallas looked torn. He wanted to go to
his mate and he also couldn’t go against his alpha. Phil would have said fuck
it and had the shit knocked out of him for his effort. Holly could be a mite
mean when she needed to be. Phil smiled. But the makeup sex was phenomenal.

Dallas went to the yard and watched her
disappear into the trees. He looked so hurt that Phil almost felt sorry for
him. He looked at them as he spoke. “She’s been so hurt by all this. I don’t
want anything to happen to her. I’ve fallen in love with her and I can’t stand
to see her hurt anymore.” He looked at the trees again. “If that were your
mates, you’d go after her, right?”

“Hell no,” both him and Austin said
nearly at the same time. “You have to give them their space or they make living
with them unbearable.”

Phil nodded at Austin’s advice before
adding his own. “She’s used to doing things her own way and at her own pace. If
you want her to be happy then you need to back the fuck up, as your sister is
so fond of telling me.”

Both men laughed at him. “I’m glad to
see that Holly isn’t letting you push her around.”

Dallas laughed at Austin’s observation. “And
I’m glad you know not to push when she doesn’t need you.”

Phil laughed and agreed with her
brothers. He almost added the part about the makeup sex, but decided that he
might need Holly here to protect him if he did that. Then again, she might help
them hurt him.

Phil smiled again. Oh yeah, this family
was a great deal of fun.

Chapter 12

The notebook was not what she’d
expected. There were dates and notes under them, but nothing…she handed it to
Alexis. She’d wanted her mother’s thoughts, not everything her father had done
to her mother when they’d been married.

“She tells of the night you were born.”

Stacy nodded.

“And she says that your father didn’t
show. He was on some kind of hunt, but your mother says he was with another
bitch. Several it seems.”

“He still does that. Goes to several
women at the same time.” Stacy looked at one of the cubs sleeping on the couch
while the other played quietly near the table where the two of them sat. Stacy
really liked Sis, but it was Jake that held her heart.

“He beat your mother a great deal, it
seems. Nearly to her death a few times.”

Again Stacy nodded but said nothing.

“Why would she leave you this, or would someone
leave it behind for you to find?”

“I doubt my uncle knew it was there and
my father had already changed his name by then so no one thought I would come
back to the house. I guess it might have been overlooked.” She ran her finger
down the soap they were currently wrapping for Alexis’ store. “But it is not
that information I think she meant for me to have. It is the information in the
back.”

Stacy brought the soap to her nose and
inhaled deeply. Lavender and oats, as well as some aloe were what this bar
smelled of. She wrapped it up in the parchment paper with Alexis’ logo all over
it and reached for another bar. This one smelled of chamomile and honeysuckle. She
continued to wrap the product as Alexis read.

“It says here that nearly all the land
your mother owns is yours. And has been since your mother’s death. I’m not sure,
but I think that makes you an alpha person over your father.”

She looked at Alexis when she didn’t
continue.

“Doesn’t that mean that you can order
him around?”

“Yes, by pack law. But when I mated with
Dallas everything I am became his as well. He is now a pack leader over my
father because Dallas is my mate.” Stacy knew it was much more complicated than
that, but did not really know all the rules.

“Does Dallas know this?”

Stacy shook her head.

“Are you planning to tell him? I think
this might be important enough to get over your anger with him to let him know.”

Stacy looked at her. “Are you commanding
me to do this?”

Alexis looked away and Stacy knew that
she was going to say yes. She was not sure if she wanted her to say yes or no,
but she did not want to talk to her mate right now.

“I don’t know what to do. You should
tell him, but I hate it when Gordon gets all bossy with me too. I think it’s in
their DNA or something.” She picked up the next bar of soap and started to wrap
it. “But you should tell Austin. He’s my alpha and if you don’t I will have to
tell him.”

Stacy knew that too. She thought maybe
that she’d been counting on Alexis telling her that as well. Stacy stood up and
walked to the door. Alexis stopped her by saying her name.

“If I were you, and I know that I’ve not
been with this pack long, I would tell Dallas. He’ll find out eventually and
finding out from someone else other than you might make him madder at you.” Stacy
turned toward the door. “And Stacy, the makeup sex is awesome.”

Still grinning, she went out of the
shop. Stacy did not want to go home yet, but she did want to speak to Dallas. She
found a place to hide and laid low to be able to watch and talk to him.

“If you yell at me then I will not speak
to you.”
She was pretty sure that he had not contacted her because he was waiting rather
than her being able to block him out. She did not know much about this mate
business.

“Okay. But you have to tell me that you’re
safe. I can’t stand the thought of you being in harm’s way.”
She could hear
the anger in his voice, but not so much that it made her not want to speak to
him.

“I am fine. I have found a book that I
would like to discuss with you. It concerns the territory my father claims as
his.”
She wanted to tell him she’d give it to him now, but waited to see if he would
demand it.
“The land belonged to my mother’s family and, as she has been
killed, it belongs to me.”

He was quiet for so long she thought him
to be not speaking to her. But when he did speak it was not with anger at all
.
“So he is living off your good graces. What do you want to do about it?”

She felt her pride in him swell. Stacy
pulled out the little book and read a passage to him. “
My mother wrote that
she believed him to be lying about his name. She said ‘I think my mate is a
liar as well as a thief. I heard him tell another of our pack that someday he’d
be rich as any wolf even if he had to kill all he knew to get it. When the
other man, a man called Jacobson, asked him why he needed to be so rich,
Richard said why not? I believe he will do just as he said.’”

“Jacobson, as in the man on the Council
of Wolves Jacobson?”

She told him that it did not say.

“It seems that your father had it in
good with a great many people. Could be why he felt he needed so much money. He
could pay off who needed to be and have enough to run with if it became
necessary.”

Stacy believed him. Her father, from
what she had heard from others, was a man who always had an angle and seemed to
talk a big game. She wondered if he had ever thought of her over the years.

“If I am able to help I would like to be
able to. It is important to me that my father is not a threat to any more
people, especially those that cannot protect themselves.”

He didn’t answer her and she stayed
where she was. It was one thing to be told what she could do. It was a matter altogether
different to be told she could not help when it was necessary.

“They think that you can sneak into his
lair, wherever that might be, and kill him. I think it would be hard to kill
ones’ own sire. But if you insist then I would ask that you let me go with you.
I wouldn’t be able to sit by while you go off somewhere you could be harmed.”

She liked that he was asking, but couldn’t
see how it would work.
“I have no scent. However, you do. If we go together,
then you will get us harmed.”
Probably killed, but she did not say that.

“Come home, Stacy. I need to hold you.”
She felt his
need like it was her own…it became her own.
“If you come home now, the house
is empty and I’ll make it well worth your while.”

She laughed. She couldn’t help it. He
was such a good man and she loved him very much.

“I will come home if you let me have my
way with you first. You are always in such a hurry that I do not get to
explore.”
She felt his growl.
“You are making me wet, Dallas.”

“Come here now, Stacy Force. I’ll let
you play all you want, but in the end I’m going to fuck you hard.”

Stacy stood, suddenly wanting to get to
him now. She turned toward their home and shifted. She could make better time
as a wolf.

~~~

Rich didn’t like the way the alpha spoke
to him on the phone. He was taunting him, plain and simple. Rich went to the
kitchen and looked at the casserole he’d put into the oven before he’d left. He
didn’t have a clue what it was supposed to be, but as he’d already eaten all
the other things this and five other of the same brown and green stuff was all
that was left.