Defying Pack Law (3 page)

He shifted back, uncaring of his nudity, and
stood surveying the battlefield. Only one body remained, ignobly
splayed. Everyone knew dead men, especially naked ones, told no
tales, but their body could reveal much. He rolled the still warm
form of the boy onto his back. The youth gazed straight ahead with
glassy eyes. It left him impassive. He would have done worse had he
caught him.

No one touches her.
The mark he hunted stood out in glaring contrast
to the rest of the dead youth’s skin. The sign of the boy’s pack,
tattooed over his heart, was a map to the Lycans who’d dared take
her. A symbol of a pack about to become extinct.

A more frightening question loomed
in his mind—
do I have enough time to save
her?

Another wolf entered the clearing and shifted.
Almost as tall as him but with a slimmer build, John held the
position of best friend and beta. His solemn brown eyes took in the
scene, and he shook his head. “Fuck. We just missed
them.”

“
No fucking kidding, Sherlock,” he
growled. “Where’s the rest of the pack?”

“
They’ve got their trail and are
following. Are you coming?” John asked.

“
I’m heading back to the house and
the trucks.” He didn’t need to waste time tracking, not when he
knew the location of the pack who wore that particular brand. And
what a surprise, they happened to be the rogue group the Lycan
council had sent him to eliminate. Apparently, he should have taken
care of them first before getting sidetracked by his personal
business.

“
Do you know who took
her?”

“
The rogues we were sent to
wipe.”

John grimaced. “Fuck. That doesn’t bode well,
you realize.”

He just growled. Some things didn’t bear
mentioning aloud or even contemplating. “They’ll be slowed down
carrying her because I doubt she’s gone willingly.”

John regarded the dark forest pensively. “We’ll
let the ones tracking keep after them.”

He caught the nuances of his friend’s plan, and
approved. “If they’re harrying at their heels, then they won’t have
time to stop and do anything to her. Come on then. We need to race
back to the trucks so we can head to their den
directly.”

“
So what’s the plan once we get
there?” his beta asked before setting his fingers to his mouth and
loosing a sharp whistle followed by a series of short and long
ones, a Morse code of sorts that would tell the wolves scattered in
the woods where to head.

“
We get her back.” There was no
hesitation. He had no choice.

His friend arched his brows in surprise. “You
do realize these are rogues?”

“
I’ll ask them first to give her
back.” A request he knew would be refused.

John scoffed. “Yeah, like that’ll happen. What
happens when they say no?”

His eyes turned cold and hard. “Then we start a
war like the council requested, and we take her back
anyways.”

Chapter
Three

Dana awoke. How unfortunate. And boy did she
fucking hurt. The agony radiated from every part of her body so
intensely it made her nauseous. It took her several moments to
breathe past the pain.

She didn’t move—it hurt too much—as she took
stock of her situation, or what she could see from her prone
position. It could be summed up in one word—bleak. Even in the near
dark, she could see her cubicle of a prison: brick walls with
crumbling mortar, a silver-inlaid door with a barred window that
let in a fragment of light. The scent of death, comprised of sweat,
blood, and tears, permeated the air, and she wondered how many
others had found themselves in the same prison, gripped in the same
despair.

The cement floor, cold and
unforgiving, didn’t make the most comfortable of pillows. But, it
was still preferable to what she imagined awaited her once they
realized she’d regained consciousness. It took her a moment to
realize the weight on her body wasn’t fatigue and injury—great as
they were—but chains. Silver chains.
How
dangerous do they think me that they must pin me down in an obscene
amount of silver?

The heft of it proved onerous, but at least the
burning pain of its poisonous touch managed to distract her from
the rest of her body’s damage, the cracked ribs being the most
grievous and slowest to heal. Each inhalation threatened to drag
her back into the darkness. Given time, her body would mend, a
Lycan trait that usually served her well, but in this instance, it
would mean a never-ending life of torture, or so she imagined given
what she’d seen of her captors so far. Her brief stint of
consciousness in the packed truck had thankfully been short, and
yet, long enough for the crude leader of the gang to tell her in
gleeful detail the things he planned to do to her.

She attempted to stretch, the clanking of the
metal almost stifling her scream of agony as the bruises she’d
earned in her attempt to escape woke with a vengeance and made a
lie of her earlier assertion the silver was more painful. She
attempted to console herself with the fact that the throbbing agony
of her body was a badge of honor proving she’d acquitted herself
well against the brutes who’d hunted her down like the vilest of
bitches. Their remembered bellows of pain and the blood she’d made
them shed made her grimace in a parody of a smile.

In the end, though, one female Lycan
was no match for the strength of the dozen sent to capture
her.
Bullies.

All the bravery in the world also wouldn’t stop
what was to come because now the true nightmare would begin. The
pain she endured at the moment would be nothing compared to the
lifetime of humiliation and agony they planned to inflict. Female
werewolves were rare. Rare enough that they’d risked lives to
capture her. Rare enough that even as they fought among themselves
over who would claim her first, there was no question they would
share her. Rare enough, she had no choice.

Frustration spilled over, and Dana screamed.
The sound, loud and piercing, was filled with the despair and
unfairness of the situation. She’d escaped from one life of gentle
servitude only to end up roped into a warped one, rife with
violence.

Just wait until they try and bed
me. I’ll rip their fucking cocks off,
she
thought savagely.
I’ll make them bleed and
hurt.

Her primal cry received a response in the form
of thumping footsteps. The click of the tumblers in the lock
preceded the ominous squeak of the silver-plated door being swung
open. Dana narrowed her eyes at the man who stepped into her
cell.

The pockmarked face of the prick who’d led the
ambush leered down at her. “What’s wrong, bitch? Feeling lonely?
Eager for the taste of a man?” He grabbed his crotch in an obscene
gesture that made her stomach turn. Dana didn’t show her disgust,
though. She wouldn’t give him the pleasure. Instead, she spit in
his direction.

“
Pig. Only a coward needs to beat
and tie up a woman to have her. Let me go and face me one-on-one,
you chicken bastard. I’ll show you how eager I am to see you.” She
grinned, a feral smile that didn’t scare him—yet. He’d soon regret
his choice in kidnapping her.

“
Dirty-mouthed whore. I’ll make you
choke on your words.” He unbuckled his belt, and Dana, still
trapped by the silver, felt a frisson of fear dance up her spine.
She didn’t stand a chance trussed like a turkey. She’d hoped to
goad him into releasing her and at least giving her a chance to
fight—and die. But, the coward had no intention of playing
fair.

She stalled, for what she didn’t
know.
It’s not like I’ve got anybody to
come rescue me.
“How did you find
me?”

Her abductor sneered. “One of my men stopped
for lunch and came back saying he’d smelt pussy, the Lycan
kind.”

Dana wanted to kick herself. She’d assumed her
mill stench covered her own when she came off work and stopped for
a meal. “Fine, so you figured out I was there and sent your little
spy. Doesn’t explain how you knew where to find me in the
woods.”

“
Our master told us,” he hissed, his
eyes lighting in a way that made her shiver.

“
Master? You mean your alpha, don’t
you?” She didn’t understand. She’d assumed this beast was the pack
leader.

“
I am alpha,” he growled, thumping
his chest. “The master just is
and not to
be talked about.”

“
So you’re just a lackey?” she
goaded in the hopes he’d lose his temper and end her before he did
something worse.

Her comment dropped the miscreant to his knees,
and he hauled her up by the chains, the pain so intense that she
couldn’t even squeak out a scream. She did, however, moan as her
eyes rolled back in her head, but darkness refused to claim
her.

His spittle sprayed her as he spoke with a
tight voice. “Mouthy little bitch. I might be his servant, but
because of the master, I’m more powerful than you can imagine. Now
since you like working that mouth of yours so much, I’ll give you
something to choke on.” He released her to fall back on the floor,
gasping as needles of agony radiated throughout her
body.

The news that someone pulled this pervert’s
strings like a puppet didn’t have the power to stun her like the
image of the dirty pig unbuttoning his pants. He prepared to shove
them down when the sounds of screams came to them.

With a frown, her pockmarked thug buttoned back
up. “Fucking idiots. Now what the hell are they up to? Don’t go
anywhere, my feisty slut. I’ll be right back to take care of you as
soon as I knock a few heads together.”

She’d hoped he would leave the door open in his
distraction, but the door swung shut behind him with a clank. The
sound of the key turning in the lock killed all hope of
escape.

Dana closed her eyes and couldn’t
help the tear that leaked from the corner of an eye.
How did my life come to this? When did dying
become a choice more preferable than life?
Even worse, in her current condition, she couldn’t even be
preemptive and take her life before the brute would return to take
her body.

Misery engulfed her, and she shook
on the cold floor, oblivious to anything but her pain, both
physical and mental.
Stupid. Stupid. I
should have never left my pack. At least there I had a chance for
happiness. Maybe I would have been one of the lucky ones who didn’t
mind sharing my bed with more than one man. If I could turn back
the clock, return to that time, I’d do things differently. I
wouldn’t rely on my emotions to guide my actions, but take charge
instead and make the situation one I could live with. Choose my
fate instead of having someone else, someone who doesn’t care for
me, decide my future instead.

But as her father used to say with a sneer,
wishes didn’t grow on trees, and all the recriminations in the
world wouldn’t change her current situation.

The noise outside battered through her
despondency. She tried to block it out, knowing the savagery was
somehow connected to her. Probably a rematch to decide who would
get the first turn.

However, the strident screams, death knells,
were impossible to ignore.

The chaos of violence moved closer, or so she
judged by the increase in volume, until it appeared to have arrived
right outside her cell door. She held her breath as she listened.
The unmistakable sound of flesh striking flesh and heavy breathing
drifted through the barred window in the door. With a thump and a
gurgle, dead silence suddenly reigned.

Dana’s stomach fluttered.
Rescue?
Could she finally
be so lucky?

Bang! Bang!

Something heavy pounded at the door,
denting it.
What the fuck?
Her eyes
widened in
disbelief. Solid steel did not dimple without tremendous
force.
Tell that to whatever is doing
it.
Something beat at the door, and bit by
bit, incredible as it seemed, the silver barrier crumpled until
seams appeared as the door separated from the frame. Fingers that
ended in sharp claws curled around the edges, and with a groan and
screech of bending metal, the door was torn off its
hinges.

Dear sweet fucking lord.
Dana almost wet herself in fear.

A beast stood in the doorway, literally. Taller
than the doorframe, he loomed, blocking out the light, but not
enough that she couldn’t make out certain characteristics, such as
the fact he sprouted dark hair all over, sported pronounced canines
and a muzzle. A wolf-man, or so it appeared, something she’d never
seen or even heard of before. The beast moved closer, ducking to
pass through the doorframe, and she pegged his height at close to
seven feet. The hulking wolf-man snarled at the sight of her, and
his yellow eyes flashed with ominous light.

He took a heavy step toward her, and Dana,
usually so brave, couldn’t help but whimper. The pathetic sound
halted the creature in its tracks. Before her wide-eyed gaze, the
wolfish features shrank in on themselves, melting and reshaping
into the face of a man. A face she recognized even though she
hadn’t seen it in over twelve years.