Page 1 of Bee's Enraged Beast

Chapter One

~ Belinda ~

It was going to be bad. The vision came over me with the subtlety of a Mack truck. From what others had said, I knew that if anyone looked at me now, my pupils would appear blown out. If anyone I trusted was near, I’d grab them and speak quickly, conveying everything I saw before it was gone.

I’m Belinda James. The crazy sister of alpha Bastion James. Many warned him to leave me somewhere, anywhere, but my brother would never discard me. He’s stayed with me every step of the way. Kept me close when our parents found me to be more of a freak than they wanted to handle. I’ve learned the hard way that my brother is the exception when it comes to our society. He loves me, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him, too. But I can’t save him from what he’ll go through. I can’t save either of us.

Right now, I know two things. In the next few minutes, I’ll be taken by my brother’s enemies. They’ll take me, hurt me, and use me in an attempt to bring him to his knees. Use me to try to destroy him and the pack he’s created. What they don’t expect, and my brother won’t know, is someone else will come for me, too. My mate. I’ve felt him drawing closer. I’ve been patient, but if he doesn’t show up in the next twenty-four hours, I’ll never get the chance to know his touch.

Actually, there’s one more thing I know. Betrayal from within your pack is the hardest thing to see. Even with my visions, I didn’t know it was coming until seconds ago.

It came far too late for me to do anything about it. Still, I scan for the closest exit and push my way through the crowd to reach it. I should have known better than to go out without letting my brother or his mate or even Simon know where I was going. But when I’d been offered friendship, I’d grasped at it with both hands. Plus telling Simon would be tantamount to encouraging his crush. And I won’t. I’m not his. We both belong with others. Then again, what do I know?

Foolish. Naïve. Far too trusting.

Raina had warned me some in the former Rigton Pack didn’t want my brother to take over. They didn’t believe the Rigton elders had the pack’s best interests at heart when they’d courted an outside alpha. But I hadn’t felt a moment of unease when Cammy had approached, offering friendship.

I’d taken the fact that she wasn’t originally part of the James Pack as a good sign. Surely, she hadn’t heard all about the alpha’s freaky sister who had visions. She couldn’t hate or fear me as some did. Yet, she’d betrayed me. Betrayed our alpha and our pack. No matter the reason, the die had been cast.

“Bee, where ya going?” Cammy caught my arm and tried to slow me down.

I turned with a growl, shoving her off me.

“Hey, are you okay? What’s going on?” she asked.

“What did you do?” I growled and watched her eyes widen.

“I…” She shook her head frantically back and forth. “They just want to talk, Bee. Your brother won’t even listen to them. They thought if they could talk to you, you’d put in a good word and get the alpha to meet with them.”

“They’re going to kill me.”

Her head began that frantic shaking again. Maybe, that was why I hadn’t picked up on her betrayal. Even she wasn’t aware of what she was doing.

“Call Bastion or Raina. Now, Cammy. Before it’s too late for both of us.”

But it was already too late. I knew it the moment they surrounded us—the four men the pack had looked for since Benji Makers had disappeared months ago. Benji had been a member of the former Rigton Pack. He’d made the mistake of thinking Rebel Cameron was his for the taking. Since her mother played whore for his father and his cronies, Benji believed Rebel should fill the same roll for him and his friends. Rebel disagreed, and since it turned out she was the mate of Taylor, one of the inner circle of the James Pack, she had the muscle to back her up. Not that our pack wouldn’t have backed her up either way, but with Taylor there, it prevented her from trying to handle it all on her own.

It galled me that any woman would ever be forced to deal with an unwanted suitor. It said everything about the male’s character. I mean, Simon fancies himself in love with me, but he’d never do anything to make me feel unsafe. He’d never lay hands on me in a sexual manner without my invitation.

No, Rebel shouldn’t have needed muscle. A woman’s word should be enough. No should mean no. Period. But scum existed in every society, and they believed they had the right to take whatever they wanted. Rebel’s mate, Taylor, had done his best to beat some sense into Benji. He would have killed him if others hadn’t hidden Benji while Taylor cared for his mate. They should have let Taylor kill him.

None of it mattered now. Bastion knew Benji had inside help. Now, I knew who that was. Cammy. He’d hooked up with his three buddies, and somehow, they’d slunk back to create trouble. Trouble involved taking a huge helping of Belinda James.

“Hey, baby, where you two going this early? The night’s just starting.”

One of the guys with Benji stepped into Cammy and dropped a kiss on her lips before tugging her into his side.

“Hey, Hutch. We were just heading toward the bathroom,” Cammy lied.

Benji shook his head, gaze narrowed and focused completely on me. “You want to head out the backdoor? Let’s go. I don’t have time for this shit, anyway. You know who I am?”

I nodded. There was no reason to lie. He knew I was aware.

“Good. That saves time. Your brother’s man took something that belonged to me. Now, I’m taking something that belongs to him. If you’re a real good girl, you might make it back to your loser pack in one piece.” He shrugged as if it didn’t matter to him. I’m sure it didn’t.

“I thought the night was only beginning,” I offered, glancing around, desperate to catch the sympathetic gaze of anyone around. But I wasn’t familiar with this bar. It wasn’t one the James Pack frequented. It was one where no one knew me. One populated by too many humans for me to do anything to draw attention to the fact I wasn’t human. What had been enticing when Cammy suggested it was so much more than I’d bargained for. No one here would help me.

“Oh, it is, sweet thing,” one of the others said, running his hand over my ass. I met his gaze and let him see what I thought of his touch. He swallowed but forced out a laugh as if I didn’t scare him. I did. I smelled it. Alpha blood. My father was an alpha. My brother was an alpha. My mate, who was even now searching for me, had alpha blood. If any of the men surrounding me thought I’d go down easily, they had no clue who they were dealing with.

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