Bride of the Alpha (9 page)

sleeping in separate bedrooms, I thought ruefully.

I went back in to the house, picked another bedroom, and locked myself in. Max didn’t try to come talk

to me when he got back. Fine with me, I thought furiously.

I waited until I heard him leave again that evening, went into the kitchen and grabbed some cold cuts

and a glass of milk, and took it to my room. I spent the night alone, tossing and turning fitfully in my room.

In the morning when I woke up, I heard his truck pulling away. I looked out the window. Sunrise. He

couldn’t wait to get away from me.

Well, that was a short honeymoon, I thought to myself. At least he’d dropped the façade that he liked

me and wanted to spend time with me. It should make it easier to leave when the time came.

Somehow, that thought offered me no comfort at all.

I went into the kitchen to find that he’d left a pot of fresh coffee for me. I was kind of hoping for a note saying that he was incredibly sorry, and he’d been an ass, but there was nothing.

Fine, I thought, as I sipped my coffee. So here I was sleeping in a house with a man who already

couldn’t stand me, no cell phone, no car, and if I left the compound and went home, I would be risking my best friend’s life.

Sad, angry, and disappointed, I decided to walk down the road into the main family compound. I wore

the tie dye dress again, since the only clothing I had with me was the few outfits that had been dropped off for me by Lance.

The main compound area was a collection of houses and buildings, all in rustic style, with a lot of log and flagstone construction. There was one huge house up on the hill, where Max’s mother, father, and

siblings lived. They would most likely live there until they started families of their own.

The other houses belonged to cousins, aunts, and uncles, or to other families who were members of the

pack.

Some of the buildings were set aside for things like canning and preserving, or preparing meat. There

were chicken coops, and neatly laid out vegetable gardens and herb gardens to the side of many of the

houses. It was a beautiful, bucolic scene, and everybody but me looked happy.

A group of people were gathered around a picnic table on the lawn in front of a sprawling log home.

Nearby, an older shifter was cooking on an elaborate outdoor stove. The shifters at the table spotted me and happily waved me over. When I got there, they poured me coffee and served me up fluffy scrambled eggs

and delicious bacon.

I put on a happy face and pretended everything was fine. Everybody was gossiping and chattering and

including me in the conversation. They were all getting ready to clean up the reception hall after the

wedding festivities, and then head off to their various jobs, either on the compound or in town.

Cody, the shaman, was there. He waved at me from across the table. “Did everything go okay with that

human family?” I asked him.

“Sure did. We called the sheriff, had him follow them out of town just to make sure they found their

way back okay,” he said. “That was a close one. Can’t really blame the coyote shifter, I guess, we don’t normally get any humans just wandering in like that. Turns out, he had a cold, that’s why he couldn’t scent them right away.”

After breakfast, I helped carry the dishes into the big flagstone house, and then I insisted on helping to wash them, which apparently was a big deal since I was married to an Alpha. Everyone apparently expected that I’d just sit there and be catered to.

“I like that one,” I heard a woman whisper, which made me smile, but then I reminded myself that I

wouldn’t be here much longer.

Lance’s little sister Virginia came over to help me dry the dishes. She had her pouty face on.

“What’s up?” I asked her.

“Sometimes the men in my family can be total caveman asshole bossy dickheads,” she grumbled.

“No kidding! You noticed?” I said. “What’s the problem?”

“I want to go shopping, and I don’t want them coming with me and following me around. They don’t

want me to go into town without a damn escort. They treat me like I’m twelve.”

That sounded ridiculous to me. She was eighteen, for heaven’s sake! Why would she need an escort?

“Hmm. What if you pretended you were going for a walk with me, and once we got out of sight, we

shifted and ran into town together?” I suggested in a low voice. “Then technically you’d have an escort.”

Her face lit up. “Really? You’d do that?”

“Heck yeah. Max ran off somewhere, I’m bored, let’s do this. We’re goin’ over the wall, kid.”

She giggled, looking around furtively. “You’re my favorite sister in law ever. Well, so far you’re my

only sister in law. I hope all the other ones will be as cool as you, but I doubt I’ll be that lucky.”

I wondered if this was the kind of thing that would anger my lovely husband, but the way I was feeling

right then, I didn’t particularly care.

Half an hour later, we were trotting up to the outskirts of town, our clothing hanging from our purses

around our necks. If we were male shifters, our clothes would have been clutched in our mouths.

With Green Street in view, we shifted into human form and quickly got dressed.

We went to the mercantile and Virginia insisted that I pick up a few outfits. I resisted, but then I

rethought it. I was going to be there the next few weeks, and I didn’t want to have to wear the same outfit every day. I picked out half a dozen outfits and a couple of pairs of shoes, and then we headed to a coffee shop.

We sat by the window, and I glanced across the street. To my surprise, I thought I saw Camille for a

minute, walking around a corner. She was wearing big sunglasses, hair tucked under a hat, but I knew that face, knew that figure and her body language, well enough to recognize her even from a distance – or did I?

That could not possibly be her, could it?

She disappeared in an alleyway between two shops.

It couldn’t have been her. She’d have to be crazy to stick around here.

I studied the menu as Virginia sat and texted on her cell phone. Teenage shifters are no different than teenage humans like that.

“Why are they so protective of you, anyway?” I asked her . “Are they like that with all of the girls in the pack?”

“No,” she shook her head. “Just me. There’s no reason at all. I’m the little sister, they’re a-holes.”

“Is that so?” an angry voice cracked through the air. “No reason at all? Care to rethink that, Virginia?”

Virginia let out a squeak of dismay and shrank back in her seat.

Lance and Maxwell were standing there, glowering at her.

“How did you know I was here?” she pouted.

“Oh, come on, Virginia. It’s a small town. People called and told me,” Maxwell snapped.

“Max,” I said. “She’s an adult. Why on Earth wouldn’t you let her drive into town by herself?”

He stared at her and raised an eyebrow. “Would you care to explain, Virginia?”

She stared sullenly down at the menu.

“How about because somebody tried to kidnap her the last time she came to town by herself, and she

barely escaped?”

“What?” I turned to stare at her. “Why didn’t you tell me that? You said there was no reason they were

acting like this.”

She stared down at her plate, not meeting my gaze. “That was a whole two months ago,” she mumbled.

“Yep. We never caught the person, and we have no idea who was behind the attempt. And a female

member of an Alpha’s family was kidnapped in Wisconsin a month ago, a teenaged girl, and she’s never

been seen since. It is possible that for some reason that we don’t know, someone is targeting teenaged

female Alphas,” Lance said.

“Did you know that?” I demanded of her.

“That was in Wisconsin,” she said in such a low voice I could barely make it out. “It wasn’t here.”

“You’re not helping,” Lance growled.

Max jerked his head towards the door. “Let’s go.”

We walked outside to Max’s truck. As we drove out of town, I saw the woman in the sunglasses again.

She was standing in the shadows, and she looked at us as we drove by. I still couldn’t tell if it was Camille.

I had an odd feeling, a feeling that I couldn’t explain. I felt like she was looking at Max. Was she an ex-lover? Was he sneaking into town to get together with her? Maybe that’s what the phone call was all about.

Maybe he’d manufactured that whole fight this morning as an excuse to get away from me.

Or, maybe I was being insecure and paranoid. It was really hard to tell. Gee, I thought, it would be nice if I could call my two best friends and talk it through with them. Too bad I didn’t have a phone so I could do that.

We pulled in to the big flagstone house where I’d picnicked earlier. Someone had told me that it belonged to Cody and his wife and their kids, but apparently a lot of the socializing went on there.

Vince and Jade were waiting outside the house. Virginia got out of the truck, head hanging, and sullenly walked over to them, with Max and Lance by her side. There were a few dozen shifters standing around

chatting amongst themselves.

After some angry, animated conversation with a lot of arm waving and yelling on Vince and Jade’s part,

Vince, Jade, and Virginia walked over to a car, got in, and drove off.

I stood outside of the truck, waiting for Max. Max walked back, with a surprisingly jaunty spring to his step. The other shifters were standing there, looking at Max and me expectantly.

“Why are they all here?” I asked.

He smiled devilishly. He no longer looked mad. “To witness the punishment,” he said.

“Punishment?”

“Here’s the thing. I understand that you didn’t know that Virginia was in any danger. Virginia lied to

you, and she is now grounded, and will have security following her around for a long time. Until we figure out who tried to kidnap her and why, she’ll be shadowed everywhere she goes. She screwed up, she knows

it, and she’s in trouble. However, you also sneaked off the compound and defied my authority, and Timber Valley tradition calls for me to re-assert that authority and assure everyone that I am still in charge here. I can hardly lead a new pack if I can’t even control my wife.”

I gulped. “I thought you wanted me to go away. You left without talking to me.”

“You didn’t want to talk to me!” he said, exasperated.

“You didn’t even try!” I protested.

He shrugged. “That’s what happens with couples. Sometimes they get in spats. I’ll admit that I have a

hot temper, and I am very jealous. I should have dealt with it better. I’ll get you another phone.”

I felt an odd thrill ripple through me. “You were jealous? Of me?”

“Of course I’m jealous of you. I see the way other wolves look at you. I see how they want you. It

makes me want to wolf out and rip open their throats.”

I felt like that was all in his mind, but then, there have been plenty of times that Corwin and Bess told me about how guys were checking me out and I didn’t notice. I loved that Max was jealous of me, that he didn’t want any other wolf to be with me.

He waited. “Uh, Josephine, this is the part where you say you’re sorry too.”

“I am sorry about the massive screw up that ended up with Peter showing up at the compound. I am

sorry I took Virginia into town without talking to you first. If I’d known that she might be in danger, I swear to God, I would never have done that. Even so, I should have checked with you first before I did

that.”

“Yes, you should have. You will next time.”

“So – no punishment?” I said hopefully.

He threw back his head and laughed. “Ha!”

“What is the punishment?”

He grinned, picked me up, and threw me over his shoulder. He stalked across the yard, with me kicking

and yelling the whole way.

When we arrived at the porch, the next thing I knew, he was sitting down on a chair with me sprawled

face down over his lap…and he flipped the hem of my dress up, and yanked my panties down.

Now, shifters are part animal by nature, and we’re not particularly shy about public nudity. Still, there I was with my bare ass hanging out in front of dozens of strangers…who were watching very, very eagerly.

This was embarrassing.

Even more mortifying, I felt myself getting really turned on by the public spectacle and the prospect of being spanked in front of everyone. I felt heat sweep through my body, and dampness seeped between my

pussy lips. Maxwell would know it too, of course; he could scent my arousal.

“What are you doing?” I shrieked. “Put me down!”

In a booming voice, he called out “I, Alpha Maxwell Battle, son of Alpha Vincent Battle, will administer discipline to my bride as I see fit. She will receive fifteen strikes.”

My arm was bent up behind my back. My butt was hanging out. Maxwell’s hand came down on my

right cheek with a tremendous smack. Everyone cried out approvingly.

I shrieked and thrashed my legs, but only partly from the pain. The jolt of arousal that shot through my body nearly made me come right there.

His hand came down again, and again. I screamed, writhing and thrashing and struggling to get away.

Maxwell held me pinned firmly in place, and spanked me again and again.

With every smack of his hand, I could feel the outline of his palm print, burning into my flesh. A dozen hand prints bloomed like roses on my butt cheeks; I knew because I could feel them throbbing there.

The arousal that swept through me could not be denied. It was a raging tsunami of lust, barreling

towards me.

“Stop,” I pleaded. “You’ll make me come. Not here. Please! Please!” I was practically sobbing, I was

struggling so hard not come in front of everyone.

I could see wolf couples pairing off in the crowd. Men grabbing their women by the hair, kissing them