Taken by the Wolf: Collection (5 page)

“I thought I could get answers out of him,” Rowan said.

“Did you get any?” Aster asked.

Rowan looked at the ground, conjuring up memories of that night. The words the biker had spoken were cryptic, but disturbing. He looked back up at the council, trying not to waiver. “He said the deal was broken. She’s missing.”

The four council members exploded in chatter, each trying to talk over the others. Finally Aster shook his head and stood, towering over the four alphas below him.

“Silence!” he boomed. “Do not speak!”

They all shut up, waiting for their head alpha to speak.

“Is that all he said?” Aster asked.

“That was all he said,” Rowan answered. “They were coming this way anyway, as I said: unavoidable.”

“That still does not explain why you would bring the human here,” Aster said. 

“She required my protection,” Rowan said. “Satan’s Angels would kill her when they caught her scent.”

“So?” Aster asked, his eyebrow rising. “Why is that our concern?”

“I have claimed her,” Rowan said, standing up straighter and projecting his voice farther. He had to be confident in his declaration or this would never work.

“You have?” Aster asked. “A human?”

“I have,” Rowan said, not taking his eyes off his alpha. “She is mine.”

“I want to speak with her,” Aster said, turning to look at Eva. “You will be silent while we speak.”

Rowan took a deep breath and gave Eva a stern look. He had told her to agree with everything he said, but Aster didn’t give him much chance to talk. Hopefully she wouldn’t screw this up. She looked back at him, a worried look in her eyes.

This would be interesting.

* * *

Eva could feel her stomach doing flips. Her throat felt dry and itchy, and she didn’t know if any sound would come out once she opened her mouth. This man, this wolf, was the most intimidating person she had every encountered, even worse than her father. It wasn’t just the raw physical strength he exuded; it was the power that radiated from every fiber of his being. If looks could kill he would be a mass murderer. She had wondered what kind of man could rule over someone as confident and strong as Rowan, and now she had her answer.

Please don’t grill me,
she thought. Eva was horrible at answering questions in any kind of interview style. It was shocking she’d been able to get the two jobs she already had; she had bombed both interviews horribly. For a second she found herself becoming aroused at the sight of Rowan standing down the council, but now that feeling was out the window, along with her own confidence. Her hands were sweating and her knees were shaking.

This
is as real as it gets.

“What do you remember from that night, Ms...?” the lead wolf asked.

She froze, unable to speak. Was he asking her name? The lead wolf leaned heavily on one elbow, his upper lip curling as he stared at her.

“Eva,” Rowan whispered sternly. “Tell him your name.”

She shook her head, snapping out of her fear-induced funk and answered, “Eva Thompson.”

“Ms. Thompson,” the big wolf said with a smile.

“I’m sorry,” she interrupted, her mouth moving before her brain. “I never caught your name.”

The bald one’s eyes grew wide and he leaned forward. “How dare you speak in such an insolent tone….”

“It’s okay Crow,” the big one said. “She has a right to know who she stands before.”

“I am Aster, alpha of the Dawnguard pack,” the big one said. “Your, ahem, savior is my second in command.”

Eva smiled inwardly.  At least she’d been captured by someone worth a damn.

“This charming fellow is Crow,” he said, pointing to the bald wolf. “He is the alpha of the Red Moon pack.”

She didn’t like Crow already—he looked at her with such contempt it hurt. She quickly looked away as Aster pointed to the wolf on the far left. He could only be described as burly, the first wolf she had seen who didn’t have a ripped six-pack. He was older, with long white hair and a white moustache that really stuck out over his exceptionally tan skin.

“This fellow is Forrest, alpha of the Oakdale Pack.”

“Ma’am,” Forrest said gruffly, nodding his head.

“This is Hawk,” Aster said, pointing towards a wolf who somehow resembled his name in every way possible. His black hair was slicked back, hanging to his shoulders, making his beak-like nose appear even larger. His yellow eyes didn’t seem to miss a thing as they studied her. He was taller than all of the other members, except Aster, but he was sleek and lean. “He is the alpha of the Skyvale Pack.”

There was one wolf left: a tall black wolf with violet eyes and long black dreadlocks. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days. Out of all of the other wolves he seemed to be the most easy-going, leaning back in his chair and smiling at her calmly. He was just as muscular as the rest, but he didn’t flaunt it like the others. Where they all sat there shirtless, with only furs to cover their private areas, he had the furs slung over his shoulder, covering most of his body. He immediately put Eva at ease, his smile soothing her tattered nerves.

“This is Thorn,” Aster said. “He is the alpha of the Stonewall Pack.”

“Your beauty is a welcome sight in these dark chambers,” Thorn said, bowing in his chair.

She looked over at Rowan, who was rolling his eyes; it was obvious Thorn was the schmoozer of the bunch.

“Pleased to meet you all,” she said, doing a little curtsey. It was funny to act like that, but she wanted to appear as polite as possible. These weren’t men who were used to people being rude to them, and she was unsure how they’d react if she walked over and fist bumped each of them.

“Ms. Thompson,” Aster said. “What happened last night?”

“Well, I was working at Cowboy’s Landing,” she began, trying to recount the details of the night before, but her memory was hazy. “This greasy biker guy kept hitting on me. I finally told him off and he got into a fight with some younger guys. They threw him out and he attacked me in the parking lot, threatening to rape me. Rowan saved me.”

“Did you catch the man’s name?” Aster asked.

“It was something to do with a car,” she said, trying to recall. “Ratchet, wheel, piston, it was something like that.”

“Could it have been Axel?” Crow asked.

“That’s it!” Eva said, snapping her fingers and pointing as a smile appeared on her face. “His name was Axel.”

All of the wolves, except Aster, shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

“Did I say something wrong?” Eva asked.

“Not at all, my dear,” Thorn said. “You have provided us with very valuable information.”

“Very valuable,” Aster repeated. He turned to Rowan, his face a mix of disgust and anger. “This is not going to end well for any of us. However, if you have truly found your mate then I cannot keep you from that, even if she is human.”

“What of her pack?” Forrest asked. “Will they come looking for her?”

“I have forbidden her from contacting anyone until we sort out this mess out with Satan’s Angels,” Rowan said. His voice never wavered: he was confident no matter who he was speaking to. Eva was realizing that not much bothered Rowan.

“Good thinking,” Aster said. “Keep it that way; we don’t need any humans mucking this up. She may stay with you, but she is not to leave Bucklin or contact anyone in the outside world. If she does, she will be subject to our laws and penalties.”

“Of course, alpha,” Rowan said, bowing politely. “I must return to my duties now, but perhaps someone else can help her understand wolf life? Maybe Eden or Rain?”

“That will be fine,” Aster said, waving his hand. “You are dismissed.”

Rowan flipped his hand at Eva as he turned to walk out of the chamber. She followed, her feet feeling like lead. She had hoped the council would decide they didn’t want a human around and tell her to take a hike, but here she was, still a captive.

Chapter 7

As they settled into his truck Rowan looked over at his captive, who was very nearly crying. Her tears weren’t from sadness; they appeared to be from anger and frustration.

“You seemed to be warming up to the idea of staying here,” he said, trying to be consoling. It was tough for him to deal with women sometimes, as he wasn’t the gentle type. “Why are you suddenly upset?”

She looked up at him, her face beet red and tears welling up in her eyes. “My entire life I’ve had to live by everybody else’s rules. My entire life I haven’t been free to make my own decisions. Yeah, I was broke all the time, and yeah, I struggled to make ends meet, but at least I was free the last six months. Now I’m right back to being in a prison where I can’t make my own decisions.”

Rowan tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth; he was at a complete loss. He wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her, yelling at her and telling her this was for her own good. How could she not see that? She’d be in great danger going home by herself and she would put her family in danger if she went to them.

“You’re not my hostage,” he said, calmly. “You’re under my protection.”

“What’s the difference if I have no choice?” she asked.

“Think of it as witness protection,” he said as they pulled away from City Hall.

The trip back to his house was painfully silent. Every time he turned to say something to Eva, she would look away from him, staring out the window.

Why do I care so much?
he thought. Rowan had never experienced emotions like the ones he was feeling right now. This human was playing with his mind like nobody ever had. He actually felt sorry for her, a feeling he’d never never had for anyone else. Maybe there was more truth to his words than he’d thought in the council chamber. His human was trying to protect her and had lied about claiming her, but his wolf felt the connection. His wolf had claimed this woman and his wolf was a strong force in his mind.

I wasn’t ready to settle down,
he thought.
I’m an enforcer, not the best job for raising a family.

It was difficult to fight instinct, though, as many of the wolves had learned when they moved to Bucklin in the 1970s. Forrest was the only one still in any position of power from that time, and he often remarked how hard it was not to just peel off all his clothes and disappear into the woods forever.

Duty and responsibility calls, though,
Rowan thought. His duty and responsibility was to protect the town from danger and enforce the pack’s rules. Now he had a new duty, protecting his new mate, even if she didn’t want it. Eventually she would see what he had done for her, and eventually she would thank him.

Eva was throwing the door to his pickup open before it even came to a stop behind his house. She jumped out and rushed for the backdoor.

“Eva. wait,” he said, but she ignored him, slamming his back screen door with such force that one of the screws popped out, leaving it hanging lopsided. “Great, she hates me
and
she’s giving me chores.”

Rowan stomped into the house, unable to play the nice, comforting guy anymore. He looked back and forth as he entered the house, trying to find the angry girl. A slamming door in the back of the home clued him into her location and he stomped down the hallway, fed up with her ungratefulness.

He pounded on the guestroom door, rattling the house’s old walls in the process. “Open this door right now!”

“No!” she called back. “Go to hell!”

“Do you know who you’re talking to like that?” he demanded.

“Yeah, an asshole that thinks he can keep me captive like my father!” she screamed.

Rowan stood still for a second, shocked by her words. It was obvious she had other, deeper, emotional issues, but that wasn’t his concern right now. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but here’s the deal, girl. You found yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time and I happened to be there to rescue you. Thus far you haven’t even thanked me for saving your life. Instead you’ve made fun of the town I live in, showed me extreme disrespect and complained about my protecting you. I’m keeping you here for your own damn good. If you try to go back to work or go home, then they will find you and they will kill you. When they come here we can end this without bloodshed. We’ve done it before.”

There was silence on the other end. She’d either tuned him out or was contemplating his words. He stood there for a few seconds longer, expecting the door to open and her to dive into his burly arms ready to be saved. Instead, the silence continued.

“I have to go to work,” he said. “I will be sending someone over later to show you around town. Goodbye.”

Rowan grumbled all the way to his truck.

No good deed goes unpunished.

* * *

Eva stared at the ceiling for a long time, trying to block Rowan’s words out of her head. Everything he had said made sense, and that pissed her off even more. He had rescued her from certain doom and she hadn’t even thanked the man. On top of that, he was looking out for her best interests. It probably wasn’t easy for a werewolf, especially one who didn’t live around humans, to take a human female into his home.

Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was trapped in another prison like she had been with her father and then Jason. She wasn’t free to leave, she wasn’t free to do whatever she wanted and she damn sure couldn’t earn a living. She was completely and utterly at Rowan’s mercy and that bothered her more than anything else. Eva Thompson had been in no man’s debt, until now.

“Shit,” she muttered, looking out the window. She would have to apologize to Rowan when he got back. He meant well and he had her best interests in mind, even if he had a funny way of going about it. It was obvious nobody questioned him and his decisions: even the council went along with what he said for the most part.

Morning light bathed the room through two windows, one facing the side of the house and one facing the front. She walked to the side window, getting a full view of the driveway. Rowan was throwing a duffel bag into the back of his truck along with a couple of shotguns, no doubt for work. Eva studied him as he moved, his face as always a stern mask of determination. He had a duty to perform, and he was going to do it. She felt the familiar heat of arousal between her legs as she watched the boulders he called biceps stretch and strain as he lifted the heavy bag into the truck bed.