Bridenapped The Alpha's Choice (5 page)

The road wound through thickly forested land and led to an enormous set of iron gates decorated with elaborate scrollwork, with the Magister Pack’s giant “M” in the middle of each gate. It was the second set of gates they’d passed through.

“Why are there two sets of gates?” Mary asked.

“Oh, now you’re speaking to me?”

Mary had sat there in furious silence for half an hour as they drove.

“Don’t get used to it.” She scowled.

“This is the Alpha’s compound. Pack tradition says that now that I’ve bridenapped you, we must remain in here until the wedding.”

“For the next three weeks?”

He grinned wickedly. “I promise to keep you entertained.”

“In your dreams.” But her mind was immediately flooded with erotic images of him keeping her entertained.

“You’ve got that right. However, all I meant is that we’ve got plenty for you to do here.”

Craig kept driving, past hillsides with scatterings of houses grouped together, and farmland, until finally they pulled up in front of an enormous Gothic revival house which fittingly enough looked like an old castle. It had steeply pitched roofs, arched, leaded-glass windows, and tall spires jabbing at the sky. The front-facing gables were adorned with exquisitely carved lacy wood trim. Liveried servants who would easily have graced an eighteenth-century estate stood at attention by the front steps, and next to each servant stood a wolf, holding a basket of flowers dangling in its jaws.

Jarrod, Mary and Craig climbed out, and Mary stopped where she stood, sucking in her breath in amazement at the beauty of their surroundings.

Acres of flowers flowed around the house in rivers of brilliant color. Red and yellow tulips echoed the colors of her apartment’s décor. The blue trumpet flowers on the morning glories twined up on wooden lattices and made her heart sing. She envied whomever Jarrod was really going to end up marrying, for a million reasons, not least of which was that they’d get to call this amazing paradise home.

She imagined strolling through the gardens, snipping flowers and arranging them in crystal vases… No, that wouldn’t be her, it would be someone else.

“Man, this sucks,” she muttered.

“It sucks?” Jarrod asked, sounding surprised and shaken for the first time ever. “You don’t like the flowers? I had the gardeners start on them months ago. I picked all your favorite colors and… It’s okay, I’ll get them removed immediately.”

He was going to rip up acres of flowers, just for her? And what did he even mean, he’d had the gardeners start months ago?

The look on his face was so genuinely hurt that she felt a lance of remorse stab her right through the heart.

“The gardens don’t suck. They’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” she rushed to explain. “I just mean it sucks that you’ve only pretended to bridenap me to get back at your uncle, and I don’t get to stay here.”

“Oh!” Jarrod said with an expression of relief. “So you do like them, and the only problem we have to deal with is that you’re crazy enough to think I’d fake a bridenapping. I can work with that!”

“I don’t like them – I love them to a degree that’s obscene,” she said, looking at the gardens with naked adoration.

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Jarrod said happily. “Tell me what else you see around here that you love to an obscene degree. Emphasis on
obscene
.” He gestured at himself. “Hint, hint.”

Before Mary could scorch him with an appropriately sarcastic answer, a pack member rushed up to them.

“Sir, there’s a problem,” he said in urgent tones.

“Not right now. My future bride is about to tell me how much she appreciates me.”

“Sir, it can’t wait.”

Jarrod spun angrily to glare at the man. His face went hairy and he snarled at him.

“Not right now,”
he growled. “I’m about to bring my bride-to-be into our home. Do you want to keep your face attached to your body?”

The man cringed away from him.

Craig frowned. “With respect, Alpha,” he said in formal tones, “perhaps you should let him speak in case it’s a matter of pack security.”

Jarrod nodded reluctantly. “What is it?” he growled at the man.

He gestured at the truck. The rear door was wide open. Angela stepped out, looking sheepish.

“It seems we have a stowaway,” he said. Then he bowed deeply to Mary. “Your Majesty. I am Theodore. It’s an honor.”

“Oh, the honor is all mine. I mean… Just ignore me. My brain is kind of scrambled right now.”

As she spoke, a young woman in a pantsuit bustled up to them holding a clipboard. Her hair was scraped back into a bun.

“Your Majesty,” she said, bowing her head. “Constance Jensen, pack secretary. Delighted to make your acquaintance.”

“Me too. Excuse me a second, I just have to murder my cousin real quick, and then we can chat some more. Angela!” Mary bellowed.

Angela strolled over to them, eyes wide, looking innocent. “Wow. Fancy meeting you here?” she said hopefully to Mary. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this? Don’t kill me – I’m young and have so much to live for.”

“Oh. My. God. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more out of control.” Mary threw up her hands in despair.

“Hello, Mary’s equally crazy cousin,” Jarrod said.

“What do you mean, ‘equally’?” Mary yelped indignantly, at the same time that Angela replied, “Ciao. Pleased to meet you, again. You made the right choice, by the way.” She nodded approvingly at Mary.

Jarrod shook his head in bemusement. “I hope you don’t have anywhere you have to be for the next three weeks.”

“Me?” Angela answered cheerfully. “Oh, no, I’m good. I don’t have anywhere to be. Nowhere at all.”

“Why did you stow away?” Mary asked her cousin.

Angela’s face turned pouty. “Because I have nowhere else to go. I’m sick of sitting around all day long getting my butt chewed out by my parents, and I don’t know what to do next.”

“There’s got to be a friend you could crash with,” Mary said desperately. She had enough to deal with right now as it was.

“She’s not going anywhere until after the wedding, which is in three weeks,” Jarrod said firmly. “It’s Magister Pack tradition. It’s not just you and me who are required to be inside the compound. It’s everyone. We’re in for the duration.”

“But…there must be hundreds of people in this area alone,” she protested. “They all have to stay here?”

“Yep. Several different clans who have served my family for generations. Woodworkers clan, farmers clan, medical clan, gardeners clan, the housekeeping staff, members of the pack Enforcers…close to a thousand people live in the compound. It’s like a city within a city. They’re prepared for it. We have a medical clinic, and if there were a life-and-death emergency we’d make an exception and take them to the main hospital on our grounds. We have several farms in the family compound, where we get all our food.”

“But why?”

“It’s an ancient tradition designed to ensure that nobody compromises the honor of the Alpha’s bride until the wedding day. Foolish, I know, but tradition is of supreme importance to our pack.”

“This is my cousin we’re talking about. My
female
cousin. My aunt’s daughter. Odds are pretty good she won’t compromise my honor,” Mary said, raising an eyebrow.

“I might compromise
his
honor, though,” Angela said, her head swiveling as Craig walked up the front steps to talk to one of the servants. “Who is that guy?”

“Craig. He’s a good man,” Constance said.

“Don’t say that,” Mary said quickly. “I’m sure he’s a low-down rogue with bad intentions.” Angela started to look even more interested.

“Craig? No, I’ve known him for ages.” Constance frowned in puzzlement. “He’s dependable, trustworthy…”

Angela gave Craig a long, searching look. “Hmm. Still hot,” she said, but Mary thought she detected a little less enthusiasm.

Mary sighed. Maybe she could convince Angela to like a decent guy for once, and if Angela was on pack lands, she’d be safe from the man hired by Regina’s dad.

“Pack tradition says there are three times we’ll leave the Alpha compound before the wedding,” Jarrod continued. “After this weekend, I give you a tour of the entire property. Then a few days later, I introduce you to the Pack Council. Then you and I tour the Banquet Hall.”

Part of Mary was wondering how she’d get out of this ridiculous bridenapping, which Jarrod had only carried out to thumb his nose at his uncle’s orders. Part of her was leaping into “psycho organizer” mode, in which she’d have to plan a wedding in three weeks.

And part of her was wondering, yearning, hoping that Jarrod really wanted to be married to her.

“This suite of rooms is yours for as long as you want it,” Jarrod said.

The suite was big enough to swallow her entire apartment times three. Somehow Jarrod had found out her decorating style and he’d had the rooms splashed out in bright reds and yellows with retro 1960s style artwork.

“And our room is right down the hallway,” he added, gesturing at an enormous set of oak double doors. It was a long, long hallway, but then everything about this place was oversized.

And he’d called it “our room”. She gave an unladylike snort, and he broke into a grin.

“What?” she demanded suspiciously.

“I’m glad you’re here. I’ve always loved your laugh. I missed it.”

“Don’t you dare make fun of me!” She glared at him.

“I’m not.” He looked puzzled. “You have a big, enthusiastic laugh. It’s contagious.”

“Oh,” she said, slightly mollified. “Everyone else makes fun of my laugh.”

“Everyone else is stupid.”

“Sometimes I think that.” She sighed. “So, if you want to go ahead and admit that you’re doing this just to get at your uncle, we could just get a cab to take me back home and call it a day.”

“I also love your sense of humor. Okay, so tonight we’re having dinner with the household staff. Pack tradition. You look adorable when you cross your eyes and stick your tongue out, by the way – that’s a good look for you. Oh, and the middle finger is a nice touch.”

“I seriously hate you right now.”

“I know.” Jarrod grinned. “That makes you even sexier. Hate sex is the best.”

“Then our sex is going to be the best in the history of the universe,” Mary snapped without thinking. “Wait. I mean…” Heat flooded her cheeks as Jarrod threw back his head and laughed.

“Finally, we’re getting somewhere!”

She tried to slap him, but he just captured her hand in his, kissed it, and released it. The brief brush of his lips on her hand made her whimper.

“Fuck. You,” she growled at him.

“Definitely. You know where our room is. By the way, I’ve got a deal for you. It’s an offer you can’t refuse.”

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this one,” she said.

“Agree to have dinner with me tomorrow night at 6 p.m., and I’ll make sure that Angela’s interested in Craig.”

“That’s dangerously close to moonrise,” she said suspiciously. Moonrise started about fifty minutes later every day, cycling through the entire day throughout the year. From what she’d heard, she’d need to be at least a couple hundred feet away from him to be safe.

“Sure is.” He smiled.” How fast can you run?”

She considered it. She would love for Angela to date someone decent for once.

“Pretty fast, if it’s to get away from you,” she said huffily. “Fine, I’ll do it. If you can get Angela to date Craig.”

“Deal. And now—”

They were interrupted by the shrill ringing of her phone. She winced. It was Hilda’s ring.

“I hope you’re happy!” Hilda yelled at her when she answered. “You ruined everything for me! Did you know Regina’s disappeared and nobody can find her? I should have known better than to trust you to do even the simplest thing!”

Mary tried to interrupt as Hilda ranted, feeling her stomach churning with dismay.

“I wish I’d never hired you! After everything I’ve done for you, this is how—”

Jarrod snatched the phone out of Mary’s hand and hung up, despite her squawk of protest.

“That was my sister!”

“And the way she spoke to you was unacceptable. If she were a werewolf, I’d have challenged her,” Jarrod said.

“It’s just how she deals with things when she’s stressed.” Mary rubbed her face with her hands. “Regina’s missing. I hope she hasn’t done anything crazy.”

The phone started ringing again. Mary reached for it, but Jarrod held it high out of her reach.

“Even if you were in the wrong, she’d have no right to address you like that. But you’re not in the wrong. Did you cause this problem for her? Did you encourage me?”

“Hell, no,” Mary said fervently.

“Exactly. It was me. I carried out the bridenapping. So why should you have to listen to her screaming insults at you?”

“She’s done a lot for me over the years,” Mary protested faintly.

“While constantly making you feel like you were a terrible burden for needing help after your mother died when you were in high school.”

“True, but…” Mary trailed off. “You’re right.”

Jarrod answered the phone.

Hilda’s shrill, outraged voice rang through the air. “Mary, if you ever hang up on me again—”

“You’ll do what, exactly?” Jarrod demanded.

There was dead silence on the other end of the phone.

“Don’t ever talk to my bride-to-be like that again,” Jarrod said firmly. “You will treat her with respect, or you will not talk to her at all.”

“Your bride-to-be? That’s a joke!” Hilda shrieked. “You’re not going to marry her! You just carried out that bridenapping out of spite! And you did it at my expense, and you ruined my business! There’s no way someone like you would want to marry—”

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Jarrod’s voice had turned deadly. “Or you’ll find out exactly what kind of enemy I am.”

He hung up the phone. Mary let out a squeak of dismay.

“You don’t deserve that kind of treatment,” he said to her. “If she’s not screaming at you, she’s doing that passive-aggressive thing where she compliments and insults you at the same time. I won’t tolerate it.”

And then Jarrod’s phone rang.

“One damn thing after another today,” he grumbled. He walked away, and answered it, scowling. “What is it?” he demanded.

Then Mary saw him shaking his head. “You’re kidding. How? That’s… All right, fine. Fine. I’ll be down in a minute.”

He hung up.

“What is it?” Mary asked.

“Well, we found out where Regina went. And yes, she did something crazy.”

“What?” Mary asked, worried despite herself. Regina was horrible, but she didn’t want her dead. Had she jumped off a bridge? Hurled herself in front of a train? Drowned herself?

“She broke into the compound. My security’s brought her here; she’s waiting downstairs.”