Leader of the Pack (29 page)

* * * *

Cullen was standing in the security suite. The lycan on security duty had found Aislinn on the tape. His heart sank into his stomach. He watched Aislinn walk through the lobby and out the front doors. He saw the direction she had gone in, but who the hell knew where she went after she left the building.

He continued watching and saw several different members of the pack coming and going at the same time. A couple of them even watched her leave. But she had that air of someone doing exactly what she should be doing, so no one stopped her or said anything.

Cullen pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He called Keith. When the tired voice came through the line Cullen growled at the phone. “Aislinn is missing,” he said simply.

That woke Keith up. He looked at the clock on the night stand. It said 7am. The sun was just barely peeking through the windows. “How long?” He said getting out of bed. Jaylyn growled a complaint. She spent most of her time in bed recently, seeing as she was heavily pregnant and due to drop any time now.

“Since she left the meeting yesterday,” came the deadpan over the line.

Keith was surprised that it had taken this long for Cullen to call. “Where are you?”

“The security suite.” Cullen was still watching the tape. She looked like she was fine. She just left. “I’m watching the camera footage of her leaving the lobby. There are a few others who left at the same time. I’m going to start calling and see if anyone saw anything. I want you to get Brinah working on that stuff she said she could do. I get the feeling I’m going to need it sooner than I originally intended.”

“I’m on it.” Keith had already left the room and was headed into the elevator. He’d need Sarah, considering he didn’t know what room Brinah was in. He put his cell phone back in his pocket and headed for Sarah’s room.

Cullen watched the tape and paused it. He stared at the man who left shortly after Aislinn. Ranaild. He opened his cell and searched for the number then hit send. On the other end of the line Ranaild held his phone up and looked at the caller ID. Then he looked over at Elise. She stared at him with tears in her eyes. They were walking down a deserted street, headed away from the Tairneach manor. Ranaild couldn’t face it yet. When he knew that Elise was safe, he would probably go to Cullen and confess what he had done. For now, he silenced his phone and placed it back in his pocket. Cullen left a message, telling Ranaild to call him back.

Cullen forwarded the tape to the next people out the front door. Celia and Mack. Cullen growled and shook his head. That’s just what he needed. He found Celia’s number in his phone and hit send. Again no answer. Celia was down the hall in the gym. She was running the track, trying desperately to get Mack and what had happened out of her head. He was asleep at the moment, so at least the only misery she was feeling was her own. Cullen growled a message to call him back into Celia’s voice mail and moved on to the next number.

Cullen dialed Mack angrily and listened to the phone ring and ring. He was about ready to rip the computer panels out of the desk when Mack picked up the call. “Yeah,” a tired voice said into the phone.

Cullen’s dead pan voice was eerie and had Mack listening to the man on the other end of the line with even more attention than usual. “You and Celia were on your way out of the building last night about the same time as Aislinn. Did you see her?” Cullen was answered with an extended silence that had him wanting to crawl through the phone and shake the man on the other end of the line.

“Yeah, Ranaild was following her.” Mack was suddenly sick to his stomach. Celia had been right. “Cel thought that he was up to something and was trying to follow him. I thought that you’d stuck Ranaild on her as a tail and talked Celia down and brought her back to the den.” The apologetic tone on the other end of the line did nothing to stem Cullen’s temper.

Cullen threw the cell phone across the room then proceeded to have a temper tantrum that included destroying quite a bit of computer equipment, scaring the shit out the poor man on duty, and drawing the attention of half the floor. The lycan on duty had to jump several times to get out of the way. Suddenly Cullen stopped and stared at the ceiling with his hands balled into fists at his sides. “The report,” he said far too calmly. He looked over at the security guard. His eyes were wild swirling amber. His wolf was ready to go at anyone who breathed wrong. “I wanted more proof. I ignored the report. His name was in the report,” Cullen said to the confused guard. Then he turned and left the room.

* * * *

Aislinn’s head was swimming. She wasn’t sure how long she had been unconscious, or when exactly she had passed out. She was naked and on her stomach, tied down to a bed. She tried to move her arms and legs, but pain shot through her body and she drew in a sharp breath before lying still again. When she tried to open her eyes, the light from the room stung and sent a new pain into her head. She closed her eyes again. Somewhere in the background, she could hear people talking, but couldn’t quite make out the voices. She couldn’t remember where she was or how she had gotten here, but she was scared and cold and in pain. “Cullen,” she said softly not really thinking that he’d be there or hear her.

“Does Arnauk tie you down to beds as well?” Rafe’s voice sank into her and suddenly she remembered what had happened to get her there. Aislinn pressed her face into the bed. She didn’t bother to try and pull away. She knew that it wouldn’t get her anywhere. When Rafe’s hand touched the back of her leg she flinched. Pain sliced into her again and she went still, her breath hissing out of her. Rafe chuckled and continued touching her.

Aislinn could feel a bandage on the back of her leg. Rafe’s fingers probed the sensitive wound and pain shot through her. “I do have to apologize for this one,” he said and poked the bandaged wound again.

Aislinn’s head spun with the pain. When she finally groaned and her breath choked out of her with the sound, Rafe removed his hand. “The incompetent lycan who brought you to me stabbed you with a dagger coated in lycan blood. You’ve been tainted. I don’t think there’s much to worry about. But we won’t know how much of your change has been affected until I finish it.”

Aislinn’s brain was swimming with what he had said. “What did you do to me,” she whispered, afraid to know the answer.

“You’ll see,” he replied, stroking her hair. “Trust me.”

Aislinn shivered at the thought. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck. After being with Cullen, the of passion and pleasure she had felt with him contrasted sharply with the revulsion and terror she felt when Rafe’s hands began to explore her body. Aislinn knew that if she protested, it would just get worse. She laid perfectly still and bit back her disgust as she felt his hand stroke up the inside of her thigh. When he reached her sex, he pushed his fingers into her. “Hmm, I wonder what you were dreaming about to be such a welcoming target for me,” he said angrily, pissed because he knew that if she had been thinking about him she wouldn’t be like this. Then Aislinn felt his attempt at a caress turn to agony as he dug his fingers sharply into her sensitive flesh. “How are you blocking me Aislinn? You’re not that strong.” After he finished the question his fingers let up and he waited. The pain he had caused ebbed slightly, but the sting was still there. A tear formed in her eye and trailed down her cheek.

When she didn’t answer right away, he dug into her again. “I asked you a question.” This time his brutal fingering lasted longer and Aislinn couldn’t hold back a strangled cry.

Finally, he stopped and she answered him this time. “I don’t know,” she whimpered quickly. She pressed her face into the bed, crying.

“That’s not a very good answer,” he said soothingly. He was stroking her again. He gently rubbed her clit and the tender area he had been torturing. When she seemed to gain control of herself, he moved to stand in her line of sight so that he could look at her and asked again.

“I really don’t know Rafe. I just did it. I wanted you to stop. I don’t know what I did. I just thought about making you stop.”

Rafe listened, his eyes narrow and angry. He was staring into her eyes contemplatively. “Lucky for you, I believe you.” He put his fingers to his mouth and Aislinn saw blood on his finger tips. He breathed in her scent and then licked the blood and juices from his fingers while she watched. “Don’t get too comfortable pet. We’ll be leaving for the reservation soon. I’ve decided to move things up. I’m far too excited about bringing you back into the fold. My little lost lamb.” Rafe moved around to where she couldn’t see him again. She was terrified that he was going to touch her again.

She heard metal scraping and rattling. There was a pause, then she heard him behind her again. She felt his hand on her and she whimpered, numb with fear. Then she felt a sting that could only be described as a shot. Was he drugging her? Rafe chuckled again when she flinched. “Don’t worry lamb. I’ll protect you from the wolves.” His voice started to echo in her head. Her mind started to fuzz over. “If you continue to block me, pet, then I’ll find a way to make you less inclined to block me. I’ll start with giving you the choice to cooperate and accept that you belong to me. If you fight me, you’ll only make me hurt you more.” His voice terrified her. Her body felt like it was on fire. Her muscles ached and the room began to spin.

“Lesson 1,” Rafe’s distorted voice blurred in her ears. “The quicker you come, the sooner I’ll stop.” Aislinn felt something, probably his fingers again, press inside her. At least it wasn’t painful this time. She lay there crying, much to his delight, as he plunged into her over and over. Aislinn couldn’t believe her body was responding to him. She was torn between holding out and giving in. She briefly considered imagining Cullen holding her and letting Rafe have what he wanted. The idea of Cullen only brought more tears. The room began spinning more. Rafe said something else. She could hear frustration in his voice. The distortion was getting to be too much. She wasn’t sure how long he continued his assault before blissful blackness settled over her, and she lost awareness of what he was doing to her body.

Rafe was pissed when she passed out. “I didn’t give her enough for her to black out already.” He stomped across the room and grabbed the omega that was standing by to see to his needs. He got no pleasure from torturing someone who couldn’t respond with the fear and submission he found so arousing. He forced the frightened omega to her knees and pulled his cock out of his pants. She hesitantly obeyed his obvious intentions and began sucking on his member. She wasn’t very enthusiastic or good at it, but Rafe was worked up from tormenting Aislinn, and he came quickly. Pushing the omega away he pulled his pants back up and went to check on the other arrangements he had been making.

* * * *

Keith and Sarah pulled Brinah out of bed to start working on the compound she had told them she could make. Brinah argued at first. “I understand that you’re all in a hurry. Is there truly no time for me to talk with Aislinn.? I had hoped she would be able to help me.”

Keith looked at Sarah. He had been trying to find a gentle way of breaking the news, but Sarah was still angry at Brinah from the day before, and she was happy to explain. “She ran off out of the building after you and Cullen argued, and she got upset,” she said shortly. “From what we can tell, she may have been picked up by one of Rafe’s men. We’re not completely positive. Right now the plan is to attack the Tairneach, risk all of our lives, and maybe manage to find her. I guess the assumption is that she’s
not
bull headed enough to take off on her own and just not come back. Which means that someone must be stopping her from coming back. Which means Rafe probably got to her. But, like I said, we don’t know for sure.”

Brinah was wide eyed. “You’re going after Rafe, and you don’t even know if she’s there?”

“Cullen is upset. When you upset an alpha you have problems.”

Brinah was torn between telling her that it was ignorant to go charging off to attack a place over the possibility that they may have taken one person captive and asking why they hadn’t left yet. She opted for not causing any additional trouble. “So do you have the things I asked for? I’ll need a kitchen. And there are a few other things that occur to me might be helpful. I’ll get you a list of ingredients for those as well.” She was wringing her hands and shifting her weight form foot to foot.

Sarah rolled her eyes and took off out the door to handle other duties and left Keith to finish with Brinah.

The Arnauk were drastically out of practice. It had been a couple decades since they had been on war footing. When Cullen had spoken to the elders after the failed mating, everyone had left the meeting believing that Cullen would get it all under control. He always did. The call for fighters to mobilize took everyone off guard. Cullen was pissed and impatient. At one point in time a call to mobilize would have had the entire pack assembled at the den within hours.

As the day wore on, Cullen grew more and more agitated. Brinah wasn’t finished with whatever she was making, and a large number of his pack were still missing. He didn’t know whether it was because they had joined Rafe or because they hadn’t gotten the call or because they were on their way. He promised himself that he wouldn’t let the pack get this out of shape ever again. For now, though, there was nothing he could do about it. He paced and swore and scared people away from himself. He decided that regardless of who he had, how many he had, or whether Brinah was ready, by nightfall they would be leaving for the Tairneach manor.