Pleasured By The Dark & Damaged (11 page)

We arrived in Baton Rouge ninety minutes later and stopped to pick up some necessities at the nearby retail outlet. It was another twenty minutes before we reached the Alpha’s safe house.  Amazingly, it didn’t resemble anything we had expected.

“Are you sure this is the place?”

“This is the address he gave me.”

“I’ve seen shacks with more class. And what’s that behind it? Swamp?”

“Be grateful it’s winter. Come on. The inside has to be better.”

Pink rays of dawn glimmered on the horizon as we walked up the rickety steps and onto the porch. Boards creaked under our feet and the screen door opened on screeching hinges. Dean entered first.

“What the hell?”

I peered over his shoulder at the domicile’s single room.

A double bed stood at the center of the room and that was it. There was no kitchen, no closet space and no indoor plumbing.

“What does he think we are, real wolves? I’m sorry, but I don’t shit in the woods.”

Dean carried the shopping bags into the room and dropped them on the bed. “We’ll stay here until he says otherwise.”

“Do we have to suffer because you want to prove yourself? Can’t we do that in a more livable atmosphere?”

“This is nothing. I’m used to this kind of thing.”

“Well, I’m not, Dean, and unless you want to hear a barrage of constant nagging, you’ll get me out of here.”

He laid back on the mattress and crossed his arms behind his head. “Nag away.”

I stamped my foot on the floor and crossed my arms.

“Are you going to hold your breath next?”

“Very funny, Dean. But, no…I’ve got a much better idea.”

Jumping on the bed, I covered his body with mine. Before he could react, I sat on his chest and pinned his arms with my knees.

“How are the nose plugs working?”

He turned his head. “They aren’t.”

“You might as well take them out then. I’m tired of hearing that voice. You sound like the chicken guy on TV.”

Dean faced me, took a deep breath and then blew. The plugs flew out of his nose and bounced off of my forehead.

“Now, that was just g-gross.”

“Why are you laughing then?”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t funny.”

I reached behind and lifted the hem of his shirt. Muscle tightened under my fingers as I slid them under the waistband of his pants.

Dean lifted me and I clamped down, forcing him back. Digits entwined in his wiry pubic hair, and searched for his dick.

With a sudden surge of strength, he turned and threw me off.

“You want to play?”

Cotton tore as he grasped hold of my pants, and cold air rushed over my skin as he tossed the remnants aside. Shoes went with them, and I lay naked from the waist down.

He stripped his shirt off, revealing the muscular build I had seen earlier, and stared at me with blazing eyes. Then he dropped down with his head between my legs and sank his teeth into the pale flesh of my left thigh. I arched my back as biting gave way to sucking.

Little crimson bruises rose on my skin when he pulled away.

Turning his attention to my right thigh, he licked it with his rough tongue then nibbled it. I struggled and he trapped my leg beneath his body.

This time when he pulled away, he went straight for my pussy. He ran his tongue over the lips, and then took the delicate flesh of my clit between his teeth and drew it into his mouth.

“Oh…shit…” I cried, raising my hips. Heat flooded over me and I writhed beneath his tongue.

Dean moved off of my clit and dipped his tongue into me. His tongue rubbed against the edge of it, sending shivers throughout my form.

He crawled up on top of me and I lifted my head, tasting his tongue and his lips. They were sweet and carried my unique aroma.

Dean backed up and leaned against the pillows. His pants were unzipped and his shaft had been released from them. It stood thick and rigid as pre-cum oozed like honey off the tip. My pussy ached for that magnificent tool, but when I rose up to engulf it, he pushed me back.

“No. Suck it.”

Leaning over, I slowly licked the honey off. He watched me through half-closed eyes as I moved down the shaft to his balls. Musk surrounded them and I drooled before my tongue touched.

He threw his head back as I took both of them into my mouth.

Gripping his cock and moving my hand up and down brought an even greater reaction from him. Eyes closed, he groaned softly, moving his hips in time with my fingers. Releasing his balls, I drooled over his dick and covered the top with my palm. He gasped when I pushed down.

His cock grew harder under my touch and his balls retracted against the base. I jerked him hard and fast until he began to grunt and growl.

Before he could come, I enveloped the pink tip with my lips. Hot, gushing, sweetness passed my teeth as I swallowed.

Dean panted as I licked him, his eyes still closed. But he growled low and soft in his chest when I moved next to him. I paused and waited before trying again.

My second attempt was more successful. He allowed me to lay in the crook of his arm while he drifted off to sleep.

Cravings grew worse as I lay next to him.

When I awoke beside Dean later that afternoon, his body lay spooned against me, cock twitching and rubbing my pussy. The touch honed my desire to razor-sharpness.

I turned to face him, and his eyes glittered under half-closed lids.

My hand cupped the side of his face and this time he didn’t growl. Instead, he pulled me so close our noses touched.

“This is bad, Cherry.”

“I know.”

He suddenly pushed me away. “I don’t care anymore.”

Pain constricted my heart. “About me?”

“About anything. I want you so bad I can taste it.”

“Then, take me Dean. Let’s get out of here.”

He shook his head. “No matter how you and I feel, it can never be. You have to go back to him, have his children. It’s the only way to keep the pack going.”

“I don’t want his children. I need yours. There’s something wrong with the Alpha, Dean. I can feel it. How can you just hand me back over?”

“I have to before it goes any further. Loyalty is important to me.”

“Loyalty shouldn’t be blind. It should be earned. What has Morte ever done to convince you he deserves it?”

Dean didn’t answer.

“Do you know what will happen if we go back? Every day, you’ll have to watch him paw me and kiss me. On certain nights, you may even have to stand outside the door and listen to him groan as he fucks me. And through all of it, you’ll know that I love you and you love me. Do you really want to live in that kind of torture?”

His eyes hardened.

I turned on my back. “If you must, then I must. I would rather be miserable than be without you.”

Dean’s cell phone ring suddenly pierced the air. He pulled it from his pocket.

“Hey, Doc.”

The doctor didn’t answer right away. When he did, his words were slurred as though he were drunk.

“What? I can’t understand you.”

He repeated what he had said. The words were clear this time and they sent a chill through me. I sat up on the bed.

“Get her out. He’s going to kill her.”

Then, the line went dead.

Dean tried to call Claudius back, but he couldn’t get through. After the last failed attempt, he hurled the phone at the end of the bed.

“Who was he talking about?”

“He didn’t say. We’d better get out of here.”

“Where?”

“Where we should’ve gone in the first place.”

***

I dressed in the clothing we had purchased and joined Dean at the Humvee. Within minutes we returned to the road. He checked the rearview mirror several times during our journey to ensure that we weren’t followed.

Our destination was ten minutes outside of Baton Rouge, nowhere near a swamp. I had never mentioned it to anyone in our pack for one simple reason.

It didn’t belong to me.

The cottage was part of what had once been a great plantation, and belonged to a human friend of my mother’s. The woman resided in Europe for most of the year and allowed my mother to stay there. She thought we all belonged to a hippie commune. As far as I knew, she didn’t know that my mother had died.

A cleaning service came in once a month to keep the place up. When we arrived, the house seemed deserted. We pulled into the nearby garage and began to unload the Humvee.

“We’ll be safe here.” I said. “Whoever it is won’t be able to track us in a vehicle.”

Dean surveyed the property. “Funny that your mom never told the Alpha about this place. Do you know why she split off from the pack?”

“She never said. Mom never did like moving away from North Dakota, and I assumed it had something to do with that. Of course, it might’ve been because she didn’t get along with Morte. I’ve never understood why we moved down here. Summers here are too hot and the winters are too mild. I think—“

“Highway to Hell” interrupted him as it blared from his cell. Dean pulled the device from his pocket.

“It’s Morte.”

“Don’t answer it.”

He paused, finger poised over the SEND button.

“Please, Dean. Something tells me we can’t trust him. I’m not just saying this. There really is something wrong.”

“Have you become psychic all of the sudden?”

“Maybe.”

The phone continued to play. At last, it stopped. He replaced it in his pocket.

“Will you be ok if I leave for a few hours?” he asked.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to New Orleans to check on Doc. I have to find out what happened to him.”

“He didn’t sound good,” I said slowly. “He could be dead—”

“And, it might be a trap. I know.”

“You aren’t going to contact the Alpha, are you?”

“Not until I find out what’s going on.” He got back into the vehicle and backed out of the garage. Within seconds, he was on his way.

Cool breezes whispered through the Cypress outside as I closed the garage door. I lifted my face and sniffed the air. The pungent odor of the Mississippi wafted drifted toward me. I sensed nothing else.

The interior of the cottage was clean, leaving no sign that my mother had ever been there. Memories of her flooded in any way, and an invisible weight crushed me. My head ached as I thought of the time we had spent in the house. I had stayed here off and on during the past few months, living with her and my uncle, Alfred. My father had been executed months before I was born. His crime: mating without permission.

I didn’t even know what he looked like.

Maybe that was the true reason my mother had split from the pack. She didn’t want to look at his murderer anymore.

When the plague came, I watched her die in a human hospital. The humans didn’t know how to treat her, but she wouldn’t go to a doctor like Claudius. I always wondered why she died, while other wolves suffered only from infertility. Others, like me, didn’t get sick at all.

Alfred left me alone shortly after her death. I came home to the cottage one day to find him gone. He left no explanation. The Alpha’s people came to me shortly after.

I was still twenty-three when they presented their case to me. I was the only unaffected and fertile female in New Orleans. I had to become the Alpha’s mate and carry on the line. I had bought their crap and agreed to their plans.

Then, they sent me to quarantine.

For a full month, I was poked and prodded, tested and tweaked. Then, they let me out to be attacked.

And to meet Dean.

My thoughts turned to him and the weight lifted. Walking about the sun-drenched living room unable to sit, I wished for his return. Smiles came easily in his presence.

Glancing about, I also wished for a working telephone. Any contact would be better than the confinement of my own thoughts.

My eyes lighted on something in the corner. It was covered with a lace tablecloth. I’d never seen it before.

I crossed to it and lifted the corner.

A large, black safe stood beneath. A keypad was the only way to access it. My mother had never owned a safe. I wondered how it had come to be here.

***

Hours passed. At last, I heard the roar of a V-8 engine coming up the drive. I peered through the curtains and recognized the Humvee.

Dean pulled into the garage and I hurried out to greet him. Grim lines marked his face.

“What happened?”

“Found him barely alive. I…I couldn’t save him.”

He slammed the garage door shut, then turned to a support beam and nearly put his fist through it.

Coming to his side, I wrapped an arm around his waist. We walked into the living room and sat on the couch.

“You were right not to contact the Alpha. He killed Claudius. Almost tortured him to death. Doc told me…”

“Why?”

Dean revealed a slip of paper that had been hidden in his pocket. Hastily scrawled numbers, written in pencil and smudged with blood, marched across it. There were six in all and I recognized them immediately.

“This is my birth date. Why did he give you this?”

“It was the last thing he told me. Kept saying it was a code.”

I looked toward the safe in the corner. “It can’t be.”

“Huh?”

I quickly stood and uncovered the bulky object. The keypad was numerical and I punched the numbers into it.

It clicked, and on silent hinges swung open.

“What the hell?” Dean called out behind me.

There was a large sheaf of documents within. Pulling them out, I noticed that there was a note on the top written in an unknown hand.

Dean joined me and I showed him the page.

“Claudius wrote that.”

“Can you read it? It looks like chicken scratch to me.”

He squinted at the words and muttered. “Damn doctor’s writing. You’d think they’d teach these guys penmanship. I think it says: ‘This information must never fall into the hands of Alpha Morte.’”

“That doesn’t bode well.”

I perused the other papers. Most were termed in medical jargon that I couldn’t understand. I had gone through at least ten pages before I found a small, handwritten journal encased in black leather. The first page was dated a few months ago. Dean translated.

“August 30

The plague has worsened, and my concerns are growing. At first, I thought as we all did, that the disease was a naturally occurring mutation of the flu. I received a message yesterday that states this is not the case. This anonymous person claims that the plague was manufactured in a laboratory at the express command of the Alpha Male himself. Meeting with him tonight to determine whether these facts are true.”

“August 31

Worst fear has been confirmed. Alpha Morte is responsible for the plague. Using a mutated gene from the Blood Fever virus, he created a ‘smart’ virus. The virus targeted those possessing certain genes and ignored those who didn’t.”

“Contact received all information about the disease from the female he had hoped to mate. She was a research assistant at the secret facility creating the disease. No one knew of their relationship because the Alpha had ostracized him. Family members of Contact had split off from the pack and intended to return north once they convinced others to join them.”

“Female told the Contact about the disease and its proposed use: elimination of the Red Eye Pack. All they needed was the DNA from one of the pack members. Test subjects from White Tooth Pack were also being brought in. Most were pack members Morte had deemed ‘unnecessary.’ They all died. Female warned Contact that he and his family might be infected on purpose.”

“Unfortunately, he didn’t heed the warning. He is unsure of the method, but all three contracted the smart virus. Sister died, two survived. A mutation occurred in his body that caused the virus to infect him with Blood Fever. The other survivor was immune. Probably because her father was not of the White Tooth Pack.”

“That’s me.” I said softly. “And he’s talking about my mother and uncle.”

“Where is your uncle?”

“I don’t know.”

“The reason I ask is this. Apparently, he caused the plague. Claudius says here that he spread it to the female but, because her genetic make-up was different, the disease didn’t kill her. Instead, it caused flu-like symptoms which eventually led to her infertility. She unwittingly spread it among the other females.”

He flipped a few pages ahead. “This is interesting. It seems that most of the males were unaffected by the plague. Only a few suffered adverse effects. Guess who was one of that few.”

“Morte?”

“Yup. He also experienced a mutation of the disease. He’s now a carrier of Blood Fever. Claudius says there’s a ninety-percent chance that his children will have the disease.”

“I knew there was something wrong about him. But it’s more than that. He’s crazy.”

“Morte thinks that your immunity will be passed down to the children. He thinks you’ll cancel it out. If you don’t…”

“What?”

“He’ll have you put to death.”

“But I’m the last viable female,” I cried. “If he kills me, there won’t be any pack left.”

“Claudius says Morte will just look elsewhere for a female. Send for one if he has to.”

“Wow. I have some great choices here. Give birth to his freakish children, die, or do both.”

“He’ll die if he touches you again.”

Dean didn’t look at me as he said it. He stared at the floor.

“And I can’t allow him to be the Alpha anymore. I’ll challenge him if I have to.”

“You don’t have to, Dean. We could leave and start over somewhere else.”

“And give him free reign to destroy everyone in the pack? No, Cherry. It has to be done.”

“But, he’s dangerous. You’ll get the Fever if you fight.”

“It’s a chance I’ll have to take.”

I placed a hand on his thigh and looked into his eyes.

“That is a task better left for tomorrow. What are you going to do tonight?”

“I’m going to do what I should have done last night.”

“What’s that?”

He pushed me backward and, before I could recover, pinned me down. His breath blew softly on my skin as he panted above me.

“Let’s play…for keeps.”

His teeth tore into the front of the thin fabric that covered my breasts and shredded it.