Alpha Prime: Shiftily Ever After(23)
Miles shrugged Destiny off and glared at her. “You dared to speak to them on my behalf?”
Destiny stifled a whimper as waves of fury rolled off him, and Dakota flinched, catching the hot, raw edge of his rage. “No, I mean, I knew you didn’t want them here and I was just trying to help…”
“I didn’t want them here? Says who?” he snarled.
She tried to stroke his arm, and he batted her hand away. “Let’s just forget about them and go back to your cabin and I can show you a new trick I learned.” She ran her tongue around her lips.
“Easy,” Naomi said to Dakota, and Dakota realized she’d just snarled.
“Hey, when she said easy, she was talking about you,” Sarah yelled to Destiny.
“Sarah!” Dakota gasped.
“What?” Sarah raised an eyebrow.
“Umm…solid burn. Eight out of ten.”
Miles looked at Destiny with disgust. “I already told you no. I saw you less than twenty-four hours ago sticking your tongue down Mickey’s throat.”
“But what I want is a real man. An Alpha Prime.” She petted his arm and simpered up at him. “I’d do anything for a man like that.”
Dakota felt a short, sharp flash of disgust zapping from Miles, and then Destiny made a gagging, retching sound and vomited on the ground.
“That’s how I feel when you touch me,” Miles said coldly.
Anderson and Baldwin came trotting up towards them, and both of them winced at Miles’s wave of anger.
“Give her a ride back to town,” Miles said to Baldwin, who grimaced but nodded gamely. “And she’s banned from pack property.” As Destiny stormed off with Baldwin, Miles turned his attention back to Dakota.
“I knew you’d change your mind. Just didn’t think it would take you so long.”
“I did not change my mind!” Dakota glared at him. “We’re here because we were attacked last night.”
He still looked smug. “Of course you were. Whatever you say.” Then he saw the look on her face. “Wait. You’re serious?”
Dakota shook her head in amazement. “Of course I’m serious. You actually thought I made that up as an excuse to come bask in your macho glory?”
He shrugged. “Why not? I mean, not that you need an excuse. The invitation’s there. Anyway, tell me what happened.”
As she told him, she could see his expression growing angrier and angrier.
“Right,” he said abruptly. “I’m going to have one of my men take you to a cabin to get settled in. From now on, you’re all living on Fenris Pack property.” He turned and stormed off, and she could feel the fury crackling around him like hot little sparks in the air.
* * * * *
That afternoon, while Miles and his crew were tracking the kidnappers, Dakota got one of his packmates to give her a ride into town so she could use one of the phone booths in the general store.
When she got there, the store was crowded with shifters of all species, but fortunately the area around the phone booth was clear.
Dakota looked around to make sure nobody was listening before she placed a call to Tina’s cell phone.
The cubs were back on the Fenris Pack property, safe and being watched by Naomi. They’d unpacked and settled in for now, the cubs all staying in one of the bedrooms, Naomi and Dakota staying on bunk beds in the other. But how long would they be safe? This wild frontier was no place for them.
Maybe she could take the children back to her home pack. Surely her father would have to take pity on a group of orphaned cubs. Even if he was so mad that he wouldn’t let Dakota come back, at least the children would be safe.
However, the news she got from Tina made her heart sink.
“Your father has completely flipped out,” Tina said. She spoke in a low voice, as if fearful of being overheard. “He feels like you challenged his authority, and he’s in a total rage, twenty-four hours a day. If somebody so much as sneezes around here, he goes mad and beats them half to death. He is literally saying that he will end your life if you come back here.”
“What about Percy? Is he using his Omega to help him stay calm?”
“No, he is not. He won’t let Percy anywhere near him. He wants to be pissed off.”
Dakota felt her throat closing in panic. “But…I’m taking care of some orphaned cubs, and they need a home. I was hoping I could at least send them to stay with our pack. Not me. Just them.”
“Are you listening to me?” Tina’s voice rose in panic. “Do not do that. He would kill them.”
“Kill cubs? No way. He would never do such a thing,” Dakota said, horrified.