Unstoppable Force (Force of Nature Series) (14 page)

Long ago, the human had reached for the
empty palm and had come up empty handed, as well as missing two fingers. William
liked his tricks, but he didn’t want anyone to know them either. He moved his
empty hand and watched the human stare.

“That’s a great deal of money you got
yourself there. What if I just killed you for it and took it?”

William said nothing.

“I don’t know if ten thousand dollars
will be enough for her. I can win that on one horse.”

William moved his hand again and waited.
He didn’t have long. The man did stand up straighter and licked his lips.

“Is there enough there now? Do you think
that this will be enough for you to bring her to me unharmed?” William wanted
her to himself, but needed the human to get near her. “If you bring her to me
unharmed then I will double what I have here for you.”

“I can do that. Yeah, I can do that for
you and more.” The human took a step forward then another. “She won’t come
easy. She’ll…she might get hurt if’n I have to subdue her. She don’t fight fair,
not even for a girl.”

William was well aware of her fighting
back. He had a few scars from her as well. Glancing at his other hand, the one
she’d ruined, he thought of what he had planned for her when he had gotten all
he could from her.

“Do your best. I would like her to be
unharmed, but as you have said, she does not fight fairly.” William put his
hand back into his pocket and stood. “You will bring her to me in three days
time. I will meet you here. If you have her, all the riches I wish to bestow
upon you will be yours.”

The human nodded. As William began to
pull the shadows around him again he heard the man speak. It made no sense to
him so William didn’t bother to go back and see. He was well on his way to
having her back. And this time, she would stay put. Smiling, William gave a
flick of his wrist and gave the human behind him a bit of his magic. Not enough
for anyone to know about it, but enough that the human would be able to take
the girl from one smallish wolf pack.

William was back to his home within
minutes of leaving the human male. He looked down at his laboratories and
smiled again. This time, no one would suspect that he was experimenting, and no
one would ever find this place. He closed the connection between the world that
humans lived in and the one he was creating.

Soon, he’d be able to move between the
worlds with his family. And what a family it would be. Her eggs would produce
such a race that he’d be the greatest being in either world. William moved to
his throne, the one he’d stolen from the museum so many years ago. He would be
king someday soon and when he was, there would be no one to gainsay him.

Closing his eyes, he thought about the
girl when she’d been first brought to him. She’d been a mere teenager, or as
close to one as she could be. William had already had a plan in place. A plan
to make him the strongest mage in the world. But she had something he didn’t.

As soon as the humans, a male and female
back then, had brought the girl, Ginger Louise, to him, he knew that she was
going to help him in his cause. After paying the couple and sending them on
their way, he’d had her put into a holding cell to watch.

She’d been drugged, he realized, after
she’d gotten away. That was why he’d been so lenient with her. He’d never
bothered to tie her up because he’d never realized that she was so strong. But
after taking the first harvest, she’d lay docile for so long that he’d went to
her to comfort her. And in doing so, she’d nearly taken off his hand with her
vicious teeth.

He’d slapped her away and in doing so,
he’d tossed her to the door. As he turned his back to wrap his hand, she had
slipped out of the room and into his home. He still to this day did not know
how she’d gotten out so quickly. He had killed everyone in the household,
knowing that one of them had aided her. But no one confessed; no one knew how
she had managed it either.

“But I will find out. And when I do she
will rue the day that she got away from me.” He sat up straighter in his chair
and looked over the ruination of his hand. “This, too, she will pay for.”

Chapter 12

Lou opened her eyes slowly. She hurt and
tried to remember what she’d done now, but all she could come up with was a
headache for her troubles. When she rolled to her side she bumped up against
something and it took her a few seconds to realize it was Connor. He was
snoring very loudly.

Sliding from the bed she moved toward
the door. Grabbing anything she could put her hands on, she dressed as she
moved. By the time she got across the room, she was fully clothed in a mixture
of his and her clothing. Opening the door as quietly as she could, she slipped
out of the room and into what could only be described as…bedlam?

There were what appeared to be seven
hundred children. All of them bent on running her down. When she tried to dodge
one, three more took his place. She pressed herself against the wall and tried
to think how to get out of this mess when she heard a shrill whistle.

The young girl standing there still had
her fingers in her mouth while glaring at the group of short people at the same
time. When she ordered everyone to sit, Lou looked around to find herself a
chair or seat of her own. But the girl was only talking to the rug rats.

“You’ve messed up the living room again.
The next time I have to straighten it up, I’m going to boil someone in oil.” The
children now sitting on the floor swallowed hard. “Now, Tim, you and Jake go to
the living room and help Sis clean it up. Austin, you and your sister go to the
kitchen and clean up the milk and cookie mess you made in there.”

“But we didn’t get our—”

The girl simply pointed in what Lou
assumed was the kitchen. The little boy, Austin she’d called him, bowed his
head, but the little girl looked ready to take her on. As they moved past her
Lou could see the glint in the girl’s eye and knew that once the older one’s
back was turned, all hell was going to break loose. Lou didn’t know whether she
wanted to be around or not. She didn’t doubt there would be bloodshed.

The girl smiled at Lou. “I’m sorry. I’m
babysitting while Alexis finishes an order that must get to the store and CJ
and Holly are working on something for Austin. The alpha Austin, not the boy.”

Lou nodded, not really understanding
what was going on.

“I’m Darcy, by the way. You must be
Connor’s mate. Tim said you were beautiful.”

“Tim. I met him and the little one, Sis.
They were…” Lou tried to remember what had happened and realized she was
starved. “Do you think I could get some lunch or something? I feel like I’ve
not eaten in a week.”

Lou followed the girl to the kitchen and
just caught herself from throwing the girl out of the way so she could get to
the counter. There were loaves of fresh bread as well as a ham and some sort of
fowl. She wanted it all and wanted it right now. She nearly did snarl when someone
gripped her arms from behind.

“Careful. You need to calm your heart
down. You’re scaring the younger ones.”

She looked at the children who had been
assigned to clean this room. They were cowering under the table and staring at
her.

“Calm yourself down and I’ll feed you.”

She turned to look at Connor and wanted
to bury her face in his neck. He seemed to know what she needed and pulled her
head to him. His gentle, “just breathe” made her feel much better, but she was
still hungry.

Nancy came in from another doorway and
ushered the children out. Connor guided her to the chair, sat her down, got her
a large glass of tea, and set it in front of her. She drained it in one drink.

Nancy set a large sandwich in front of
her and before she could think about it she was wolfing it down as if she
hadn’t eaten in a month. When the second sandwich was put before her Lou could
hardly believe she was still hungry. By the third sandwich, she was feeling
much better. That’s when she realized what she’d done. “I ate that.”

 Connor nodded and smiled.

“I don’t eat that way. Ever. But if you
were to put another one in front of me, I think I could eat it.”

“Your body has burned up a great deal of
energy. And it needed the extra fuel.” Connor took her hand and kissed it. “What
is the last thing you remember before waking up just now?”

She rubbed her forehead and tried to
think. “We were making love and you bit me. Then you…something happened. I
don’t know what it was, but something happened.”

“You and I shouldn’t have been able to
do what we did without the pull of the moon. When I bit you, it started the
change in you to convert you to wolf.” He looked up when Austin walked in. “Austin
has been trying to find anything on why it happened the way that it did.”

“Wolf.” She looked at Austin and he
nodded. “I don’t know what you mean. What do you mean changed? And the pull of
the moon? What does that have to do with me being so hungry?”

“You’ve been starving the wolf in you
for a long time. When Connor bit you, he left his essences inside of you and
changed you. We think that somewhere way back in your lineage, there might have
been a wolf. And she was lying dormant until someone bit you. Your mate. Connor.”

She tried to wrap her mind around what
he was saying. She was a wolf? No, that couldn’t be right. There had to be
something else. Anything else. She rubbed her forehead again. Something wasn’t
right.

“You had her in you all the time and it
took your mate to bring her forth.” Nancy looked so sincere that Lou found she
wanted to believe her. “You knew she was there. Whenever you needed her, she’d
come to you. Remember?”

“When I was in the home I used to think
that there was someone watching over me. Not my mother but someone else.”

Nancy nodded.

“Then when that man tried to hurt me
again, I remember—” Lou stood up. The man. The man at the lab. She closed her
eyes and could see him as clearly as if he was standing next to her, but he was
shadowed deep within the darkness. She waited, knowing that he would turn and
when he did, she’d see him for what he was. “There’s a mountain. It’s nearby here.
Deep within it there is a cave. He has it set up like a laboratory. His play
room, he calls it. There are others there, most of them don’t even know what
they’re doing, but know that once he is finished with them he will kill them
like the others.” She heard someone ask her where the cave was, but she didn’t
know how to answer them. “He’s working on a way to eradicate humans. All of
them. He thinks that once they are all gone, once they are no longer walking
the earth, that he and his kind will be able to run it as it should be. Magic
will rule the world.”

“Tell me what he looks like.”

She turned toward the voice knowing it
was Connor.

“Tell me, love, what does he look like.”

“Tall. His hair is white and long. Stringy.
He is slumped over like he has a great weight on his shoulders. He wears a robe,
though it looks like it has seen better days. His back is to me, but I think if
I wait long enough, he’ll—”

“Open your eyes. Now. Open your eyes, but
don’t look at him.” The voice wasn’t any she’d heard before, but she knew she
must obey. But he turned toward her just then and she did open her eyes.

“No. No. That can’t be right. No. That
can’t be.” She looked at the newcomer and knew that she knew too. “You knew.
You knew who he was.”

She nodded then sat down. “I heard that
he was back. I thought it was just a rumor, but when Phil told me that you’d
been converted without the moon I had to come to see if it was true. But I
didn’t know your connection to him until you said he was slumped. I didn’t know
he was coming for you.”

“Mom, perhaps you could let the rest of
us in on what the fuck you’re talking about. You’re scaring the others, and I
for one don’t want a bunch of angry wolves going for my blood right now.” Phil
handed her a glass of water and told her to drink. “Lou, I’d like you to meet
my mother, Hope Campbell. Mom, this is Lou Force, Connor’s mate.”

“You’re really her. The one he’s been
talking about for centuries.” Hope stood up and reached for her cheek and Lou
backed away. “I won’t harm you. I’m sorry, I should explain.”

“That would be nice,” Austin snarled. “Maybe
you could let the rest of us in on this little story you seem to have.”

“Don’t be sarcastic, young man. I’m
still your elder.” Hope sat down and so did Lou. She could feel Connor nearby,
but not within touching distance. She found she suddenly needed that. When she
reached for him, he took a step back. Everything in her froze.

It wasn’t until Phil touched her
shoulder that she looked at him. She had a feeling he knew what had happened and
wasn’t any happier about it than she was. She looked away from both men and
focused on Hope and CJ.

“He’s my father. The man who…I guess
married my mother. He looked different, but…older, I guess.” She looked down at
the glass of water Phil had given her and wondered about that. “Water. You keep
giving me water. Why?”