Page 23 of Wolf Unleashed
“Think twice before challenging me, trespasser. Better yet, think of a reason I need to keep you alive. The female has her uses, but you’re simply an invader.”
“We’re together, with Tiernan,” Alyssa quickly spoke.
Drake laughed. “And you think that matters? Or that you’re mated? Forget what you’ve learned about shifters, female. This ismypack. My rules.” Drake clamped his hand on Alyssa’s arm and pulled her to him. “Take them, Wes.”
Rafe started to shift, and suddenly stopped as eight shifters surrounded the group. Drake lifted the gun from Alyssa’s holster, allowing his hand to run over her hip. Rafe growled, but didn’t move, not with eight white wolves surrounding him and all baring their teeth.
“I’m mated to your cousin.”
“And which cousin is that?” Drake asked, running the back of his fingers down her cheek.
That’s when she felt anger cross the bond. White hot anger. Maddox was nearby, watching. He had to be. But why wouldn’t he show himself?
“Maddox,” she answered as she shoved Drake’s hand off of her, only for him to grab her by the top of her jeans and pull her close. “I know he’s watching. That you’re doing this to bait him.”
“You know nothing about me or my pack, female. They don’t interfere with my rule, or my pleasures.”
“Then it’s a good thing I don’t need him to rip your hands off me, if that’s what you’re thinking, Alpha. I can do that myself,” she said, punching him squarely in the nose.
He never flinched, blinked, or drew in the slightest breath, as if he didn’t feel the pain from where she’d broken his nose.
“Ooh, she’s spirited, Maddox,” Drake called over his shoulder without releasing his grip on her. “Take her, but remember your pledge.” Drake shoved her toward the three white wolves blocking the path. They parted, revealing a huge white wolf who shifted into a man.
“Maddox,” she breathed, stunned to see him alive and well after so long. Her right foot lurched forward as she wanted to run to him, but Tiernan and Rafe remained guarded by eight white wolves and one madman.
“They won’t be harmed,” Maddox said. “Come, Alyssa.”
“Don’t make promises on my behalf, cousin,” Drake taunted. “Especially when I haven’t decided what to do with the trespasser and scout.”
Alyssa shook her head. “I can’t leave them.”
“You don’t really have a choice,” Maddox said, cold and emotionless as he turned and started walking away from her.
“Go, precious. Be with your mate,” Rafe said. “I have an offer for the alpha that I’m sure he’ll want to listen to before doing anything drastic.”
An offer? She sought out those bright green eyes. Rafe’s father underestimated him. He was as cunning as anyone. She didn’t know if Rafe truly had an offer, but he was convincing enough that Drake’s eerie grin disappeared.
“Let’s start with your name and pack, trespasser.”
Tiernan’s eyes caught Alyssa. He nodded toward Maddox and mouthed, ‘Go.’
Reluctantly, she turned, leaving Rafe and Tiernan behind. She felt a growl start somewhere deep inside her, and she wondered if it was Maddox through the bond, or that dark presence that had remained hidden all of her life. One that now seemed to be clawing its way to the surface, whether she wanted it to or not. That was part of what troubled her. She had no control over the situation or the beast inside of her.
Chapter Seven
MADDOX
Four weeks, two days, eleven hours. That’s how long since Maddox had last seen his sweet Alyssa, how long he’d been feeling her anxiety, her fear, her worry. Except those brief moments when he’d felt her spirit soar higher than ever before. He both cherished and hated those moments, because he knew what was happening, that she was in the arms of two other males. He didn’t begrudge Rafe and Tiernan their time with Alyssa. After all, they watched over her, cared for her… loved her. Something he couldn’t do since he’d been arrested and then returned to his pack, under terms he still didn’t know. Drake wouldn’t tell him. Typical of his asshole cousin.
Maddox had never expected Alyssa to show up here, on Novak land. Any of them, in fact, though it didn’t surprise him to find Rafe and Tiernan by her side. They were loyal to her. And now they’d come, all of them, for him. It made him long to leave here, to rejoin this new pack, a pack that didn’t remain together due to manipulations and threats, but out of honor, and in the case of Alyssa, love.
He’d loved Isabella before she’d died, but there had always been something missing in their relationship, even with the blood-bond between them. With Alyssa, the blood-bond ran deep; he could feel her in his soul. A connection so strong that the pull toward her all these weeks away from her had been tearing him apart. He never dreamed he’d have that in his life. A soul-deep, burning love. Or a new pack.
A new pack. He’d never thought of Alyssa, Rafe, and Tiernan as his pack before. He couldn’t afford to, not while he was bound by his alpha’s laws. If he tried to flee, Drake would send guards after him to drag him back, if they didn’t kill him. It wasn’t like he had any friends among the guards who would let him escape and then return to tell Drake they’d failed to catch him. Failure wasn’t an option in his pack. Not when a shifter had a mate and family to protect.
Maddox had to worry about Alyssa in all of this. Drake had known about her, but now he had her scent, and that put her in more danger than ever.
She shouldn’t have come. That thought repeated over and over as he walked down the path that led to his cabin. The one he’d shared with Isabella until she’d died.
