Untamed Force (Force of Nature Series) (4 page)

Chapter 3

Rich kicked out at the man curled in a
ball at his feet. Fucking bastard wasn’t worth even learning his name. And now
he was dead. It was getting harder and harder to keep an enforcer to help him
out. He knew that he was scraping the bottom of the barrel and was getting men
who were more terrified of him than wanted to keep him safe. He walked over to
his phone and picked it up.

“Find someone that can replace the idiot
I just killed. And if he isn’t any better than this one, you’ll have the job.” He
hung up, knowing that his butler would do it at all costs. They knew the life
expectancy of an enforcer was small and no one wanted the job.

He moved to the fireplace and leaned
against the mantle. He’d not been able to find that fucking bitch either. Rich
knew that they all were talking about him and his lack of ability to keep his
bitches in line. He snarled at the dead man on the floor and wished he could
have another go at him. But dead men were not nearly as much fun as living,
whimpering ones. He kicked at the wood near his feet. The door opening behind
him had him stiffen, but he knew if anyone tried to kill him, they’d be as dead
as the man on the floor.

“I’ve come to clean up the mess, Lord
Sterling.”

He wanted to laugh but only nodded.

“Shall I dispose of him as the others?”

“I could care less if you took him home
with you to fertilize your garden. Just get him the fuck out of here.” Rich had
a moment of panic when he realized that the butler knew where all the bodies
were, but let it go. Your own brother didn’t turn you in to the council no
matter what you did. “Harvey, you know what will happen to you if anyone starts
asking questions about any of this.”

Harvey nodded, but didn’t speak. He
picked up the dead man and walked out of the room. There wasn’t a lot he could
do to his brother any more. He had no mate, no children, and their mother had
been killed long ago. Harvey didn’t have anything thanks to him. He moved to
the desk again and tried to think if there was one person in the pack he could
bring in.

Over the years the pack numbers had
dwindled. He had started out with over a thousand and now he thought he had
less than half that, though he wasn’t all that sure. He knew that word had
gotten around that it wasn’t going to be long for this pack, so Rich had made
laws to increase the number of members. He’d decreed that every female would have
a litter a year without fail of he’d kill her and find one that would. It
mattered little to him if they had mates or not. If they didn’t have a cub then
he’d simply kill them. So far, the numbers seem to be increasing, but not at a
rate that he’d hoped for. When his phone rang, he nearly didn’t pick it up.

“Rich Sterling, this is Councilman Nigel
Briggs. I’ve heard you’ve had some problems in your pack.”

Rich wanted to snarl at the man to mind
his own business.

“I’ve called to see if the rumors are true.”

“Well, since I don’t have a clue what
you’re referring to, I’m not sure how I should answer that.” He wondered if
that bitch Georgia had contacted them and was sure of it when he spoke next.

“Well, let me see…I have a report that
you have invoked the rule of death to your enforcer. I’m not sure we’ve used
that rule in…well, centuries. What sort of harm has befallen you from the
neglect of your man?”

Rich closed his eyes and counted to ten.
If he told the old bastard what had really happened, he’d be brought before the
courts. He doubted very much he’d live long if he told them that his pant leg
had gotten muddied when they’d been walking to his car. It really hadn’t been
the man’s fault. It had been completely Rich’s, but someone had snickered and
his enforcer had been the closest.

“My enforcer…oh you mean Reynolds. Well,
it seems that he coveted my female. He has his own wife, you see, and when he
started making advances to my bitch, I had to put him down.” Rich rolled his
eyes. Like he had a bitch at all. “I can’t have that sort of thing going on,
especially when it involves a man who is supposed to enforce the rules, not use
them for his own personal gain.”

“I see. Entirely different story than
the one I got. I can see where that would…I had no idea you’d taken a mate. Congratulations.
Best thing in the world for an alpha to take a mate and breed more of his own.
Your numbers have been going down of late and, well, we feel that we may have
to come and see what is going on.”

Over his dead body, he thought. “Nothing
the matter. Just the economy. You know how hard it is for a pack to keep
together now days. Younger breeds wanting to strike out on their own and all.”

“Yes, but you see, your numbers aren’t
coming up at all. Not even your births have been reported in the black for some
time now.” Rich heard him rattling around papers as he continued. “There hasn’t
been a recordable birth in your pack for a number of years. Oh, there has been
a few, ten, over the past five years, but your infant death rate is nearly
double that. What could be the problem?”

“I’ll have to see who isn’t giving you
the correct numbers and get back to you on that. I’m sure it’s been a great
deal more than that.” Or it would be soon enough. “I know that there are a
number of bitches ready to whelp, but as of…let me get back to you soon.” He
leaned back in his chair. “I don’t suppose you know where Reynolds’s mate and
family have gone, do you? I can’t tell you how concerned I am about them and
her children. She must be terrified out of her mind right now.”

“No doubt, no doubt. But I only have a
missive from another pack leader. I don’t recall his name right now, but when
you call me with those corrected numbers tomorrow, I’ll see if I can locate it.”

Rich wasn’t happy with the way the call
ended, but the stupid bastard on the other end didn’t know anything about his
pack member and that’s all that Rich cared about. He began to pace the room and
thought about what he had learned from the call.

So, she was with another pack. Well,
that didn’t really narrow it down, but it did tell him that he’d have more
members by the time he got her back. And get her back he would, along with the
pack of the man who dared hide her away from him.

He stopped pacing and moved toward the
door where there was a file cabinet. He pulled open two drawers before he found
what he’d been looking for. Pulling out the directory he tried to figure out
whose territory was close enough to his that she would have been able to get to
quickly. There were two that he could get to in a day, one that was further out,
and one that was brand new. He dismissed the one that was new. That alpha would
be too set on following rules because he would want to make a good impression
right now. The council was breathing down everyone’s neck and the new guy would
want to be on his best behavior.

The one that was out about three hundred
miles he marked off too. She had a shit ton of kids and going that far on foot with
as badly as he’d beaten her and her brats, she’d have to be local. He picked up
his phone and thought about what he was going to do to the pack leader
harboring what was his.

“I want the car ready in an hour. And as
many of the pack as you can assemble to go and find my bitch.” Harvey said he
would. “Oh, and by the way, you’re coming too.”

He didn’t know why he wanted his brother
there, but decided if he didn’t come back, so be it. He was a good butler, but
not worth much else. He leaned back in his chair and thought about the pack he
was going to destroy. Yes, Alpha Alan Wilkinson wouldn’t be doing something so
stupid like this again.

Laughing, he wondered if the man had any
breedable bitches he could steal off while he was there. This was turning out
to be much more fun that he’d thought it would ever be.

~~~

Connor looked around at the destruction
that had once been someone’s home. He’d snuck onto the property with Phil’s
help late last night and had come out now to see what they could see. He pulled
out his phone and started taking pictures of what once was nothing more than a
few slabs of wood surrounding what looked like three two-by-fours. He looked
over at Phil who’d just come from the woods behind the house.

“I can’t find anything that resembles a
house anywhere. She was right. They all seem to live like this. How can he do
that to his pack?”

Connor shrugged.

“I can’t understand any of this.”

“He apparently wanted to keep them
beholden to him. And from what Georgia said, they all gave more than they could
afford and then some.” He took a few more pictures before turning to his
brother-in-law. “Will I want to puke again if you take me to where the lord
lives?”

“Nah. You should be okay this time.” Phil
laughed. “Never seen a wolf puke as much as you did. Not even Holly throws up
that much.” He seemed to forget what he was saying for a minute and Connor
nearly leapt at the man.

“She’s whelping? Are you insane? What if
she…why aren’t you taking care of her right this minute?” Connor flushed when
Phil laughed. “She’s my baby sister and I don’t want to think of her having sex
with anyone much less having cubs. Especially with a prick like you.”

“She didn’t have sex with me, Connor,
she got pregnant by thought. You moron. I suppose you think your brothers aren’t
having sex either.”

Connor grinned. “They can have all the
sex they want. And do, I would imagine. But Holly? She’s still just a kid.” Connor
knew his logic was askew, but he didn’t back down. “Especially with a blood-sucking
ass like you.”

Before they could get to the obvious end
to their kidding around they heard something and Phil grabbed him and pulled
the shadows around them again. Both men stood as still as the trees around
them.

The man who walked toward them looked as
battered as Georgia did. Connor watched the man search through the rubble as if
he was looking for something. Connor wasn’t sure what he’d hoped to find, but
the man seemed intent on something. When he pulled a chest from the floor, he
thought the man had found a stash of money, but all that he pulled from the
small chest was a few canned goods and a package of what looked like moldy
bread. But if the look on the man’s face was any indication, it might as well
have been gold.

After he left, Phil stepped back. “This
is horrible. If your brother treated his pack this way, I’d drain him then lay him
out in the sun until he burnt to a crisp.”

Connor knew just what he meant.

“Are you ready? I can’t be here any
longer.”

Connor nodded and was soon going across
the compound at a dizzying speed. He didn’t get ill this time, but he did feel
his legs tremble a little bit. He didn’t ask for help, but Phil led him to a
tree and helped him sit.

“Sorry. I didn’t slow down when I knew
it made you sick. I needed to…I don’t know how you stood there with the stench
so bad.”

Connor raised his hand to say he was
fine. “No problem. It was getting to me as well. Let me send these to Austin
and Dallas and we’ll have a look around the alpha’s house. I’m ready to call in
the council and have his ass put into chains.”

They walked to the house after the
pictures uploaded. And Christ, what a house it was. The thing was three stories
of brick and wood that made even the rich and famous look poor and unknown. Connor
walked around the house twice and still couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“This borders on sickening. I mean, really?
Why does he need to wipe their faces in the fact that they are paying him to
look this good? I bet you there are Italian suits in every closet too.” Phil
walked up to the front door. “I’m going to drain the prick and piss on his
shoes.”

Connor thought he was going to have to
knock Phil on his ass to keep him from knocking. Which would have been a good
thing but for the car that was coming up the drive. Phil grabbed him from
behind again and they stood still on the steps when a man got out of the back of
a limo. This had to be the alpha.

“I don’t care. Find the bitch and bring
her and her filthy brats to me now.” It was then that they noticed the device
in his ear. He was on a cell phone. “You either bring her to me by the end of
the week or you’ll be joining your family in the grave out back.”

The driver walked around the car after
closing the door after the alpha got out and stood there for several minutes. Connor
thought the man was looking at them, but Phil spoke to him through their link
that they’d established before coming here.

“He can’t see us. I think he’s watching
the alpha or waiting. He might have to wait to be dismissed. If dumb fuck goes
in the house without the driver leaving, I’ll go and touch him after securing
you. All right?”

“
Christ, be careful.”

The front door to the house slammed shut
and the man stood still where he’d been left. Phil moved them both, slower this
time, to the edge of the tree line and left him there. Connor didn’t have long
to wait, maybe ten minutes before he came back. Phil looked ready to explode. “Let’s
go.”

Connor didn’t ask what he’d found out. He
let Phil wrap his arms around his waist and they were off again. He’d thought
they were going back to their pack house, but they were deep in the forest now.