Force of the Dark Wolf (Force of Nature Series) (21 page)

He was afraid, not that he’d admit that to anyone but himself
,
but the police showing up at his door shortly after he’d gotten back in the house made him realize that he shouldn’t have killed Logan. And raping his cook, or almost doing so
,
didn’t seem like such a good idea now either.
But they
had
hurt him.
She
,
or someone there with her
,
had hit him hard enough to make it so that the cops had almost gotten him.
He hoped that they got what they deserved.

There were other wolves around the compound and he could smell even more that had been around recently.
Even in his young life as a wolf he knew that one of them was powerful.
An
a
lpha if he didn’t miss his guess
,
and one of great strength.
He wondered
,
not for the first time
,
if it was the one who’d marked Alexis
,
but he’d missed cataloging the scent and now he was lost. He was still learning more and more every
day
,
and making mistakes, especially one like that
,
made him angry.

The car coming down the road had him pause. He watched as it drove by slowly but didn’t stop.
Didn’t these stupid people need to get stuff or something?

Food
,
for one thing. He had been here for several hours off and on and couldn’t believe that not one person didn’t need to get something from the store or just to get out into the open. He’d been to the store down the street three times since the crack of dawn and still nothing from the people inside.

Another car came down the street and this one slowed in front of the gate
,
but drove on.
The prick was teasing him and Paddy just knew it. If he wasn’t so afraid of missing the chance to get inside
,
he’d
have
gone after the driver and torn him to bits just to prove who the bigger man was.
Smirking
,
he wondered what the guy would do if a big
,
bad wolf jumped in front of him.
Probably piss himself.

Paddy tried to shake the feelings he was having.
Terror and anger, meanness and hatred seemed to roll over him in waves until he had no idea what to do other than just let them go.
The worst was his need to fuck.
Everything that walked
,
and it mattered little to him what the sex was either.
He started to pace again and look at his latest problem.
The gate was keeping him from getting just what he wanted.

The monstrosity behind him was made of stone and metal and
,
in addition
,
electricity
.
He
was left wondering who the hell she’d been trying to keep out when Alexis had had it installed.
He knew it was more than likely him and then smiled when he remembered why she’d been trying to keep him out. He’d tried once before to get in, before the fencing had been put into place
,
and that hadn’t gone well.
A
ll that had gotten him was a workman trying to shoot him
.
T
he ignorant ass had had
a small pea shooter
on him
at work
,
for Christ’s sake
.

He’d followed the worker home after that.
He’d found him outside the gates and made sure the idiot never shot at him again.
Of course that had earned him a swift and horrific punishment from the guy paying the bills
,
but it had been worth all the pain to taste his first human blood.

He began thinking of one of the other times he’d tasted blood.
It had been his ex-wife’s and it hadn’t been as sweet as he’d hoped it would be.
Terror made the blood rich and spicy.
Judith’s was hard, bitter
,
and a little on the sickening side.
She’d been protecting her cubs
,
Tom had said
,
and that made her blood nasty.
He would know
,
Paddy supposed.
He’d been around for a long time. Frowning
,
he tried to remember more of what had happened at the house
,
but drew a blank.

Alexis must have been there when he and Tom Garrison had shown up to get Judith and Darcy.
Judith had been packing a van with suitcases when the two of them had come to the house.
When he’d been trying to scare his wife into cooperating with him Alexis had come from nowhere and jumped him.
Paddy hated Alexis after that. Didn’t mean he didn’t want her
,
but he did hate her.

Paddy knew that she’d hurt him that day. He wasn’t sure what she’d done to him
,
but when she’d hit him it had hurt more than anything he’d ever had happen to him.
He told Tom that she’d stabbed him
,
but he swore that she’d only touched him.
What the hell did he know anyway?
The pain had been stablike, not touchlike at all.

He’d lost control then.
His wolf had sort of jumped out and taken over his body and mind before he knew it was even possible for it to happen. Things had blacked out for a time after that.
When he’d come back from his wolf he was in the back of a car and it was speeding down the road.
His naked body was covered in blood and his head was pounding.
Tom was staring at him with mean eyes when he looked up at him
,
and before he could ask what had happen
ed
, the cane the man always carried was coming down across his head.
He was out again before he knew it.

The next time he woke he was in a cage and still a human. While there were people all around him, none of them made any sort of move to release him.
There was a guy in a lab coat
,
a pretty nurse he instantly wanted to fuck
,
and Tom.

“You really fucked up this time
,
Patrick Booth.
You fucked up so bad that I had to use my considerable resources to clean up your mess.”
Tom had come to the cage and rapped the cane on the metal and Paddy jumped back.
“You need to learn your place
,
young man
,
and starting with that young woman who came in and had the nerve to knock me down.”

Paddy didn’t remember that
,
but then he didn’t remember much when he was a wolf.
He moved to the middle of the cage and looked up at Tom.

“Why am I in here?
I didn’t do anything you didn’t tell me to.” At least he didn’t think he had.
And if he had, he was pretty sure that he’d be dead now and not just in a cage.
“Let me go and we’ll talk.”

Tom sat back down in his chair and waved the others out. The nurse looked at him and it was then that he could see the hatred on her face.
He tried to think what he’d done to her too
,
but the door was shutting and he looked back at Tom.

“You killed that woman.
You
r
ex-wife, she’s dead.
You went nuts and…well, I’ll be lucky if I can ever get the stains out of my suit.
You’ll be paying for that
,
you can bet.
Dry cleaning blood out is a no-no. So I’ll expect you to compensate me nicely. As for her death, it is my understanding that wolves, once they get a taste for blood, they never can get enough.”

Paddy sat back on the wall and took several deep breaths.
He’d killed Judith. He didn’t remember
,
but he was sure that Tom was telling him the truth.
He looked up at the man.

“How?
I mean
,
how did I kill her
?
A
nd the kids, are they okay?”
He wasn’t sure what Tom had in store for his daughter
,
but he was pretty sure it wasn’t good.
“I think I’d like to change my mind about Darc
y
.
You can’t have her now.”

The cane hit the cage again, this time so hard that it rattled him too.
When he scooted back this time
,
he was afraid.
He was suddenly very afraid not only for Darcy
,
but for him as well.

“You’ll give me what I want or else I’ll hurt you in ways you can’t imagine.
I will make your conversion seem like child’s play compared to what I’ll do to you.”
He sat back again.
“You are going to get me the child. And you’ll get me the woman that knocked me over and took the child from me. She will pay for her…indiscretions.
The girl, she’ll be my day walker and someday my bride.”

Paddy remembered shuddering, thinking that he didn’t want the vampire to touch him much less his daughter
,
but a deal was a deal and he didn’t want to be hurt.
Darcy would have to be on her own
,
he reasoned.
She was smart, she’d learn her way.
Paddy nodded and after a bit more conversation, mostly from Tom
,
he was let out.
That had been just over two months ago.

After another hour of nothing moving in and out of the driveway Paddy shifted and ran to his car.
He hated that he had to go back to human form to get inside his dive of an apartment
,
but there was no hope for it. The first time he’d tried to get inside as his wolf
,
the neighbor, a nosey bitch
,
had called the police and he’d been chased out.
Since then he’d made sure he made a great deal of noise when he heard them go to bed and when they’d complained
,
he’d met them at the their door as a wolf.
They didn’t complain any more.