It took long moments before she drifted back to herself. Maddox lay heavily on top of her, his face still pressed against her throat, his breath shuddering unevenly. His cock was still half-hard inside her; her thighs were sticky with her excitement and his cum. No wonder Lula was so desperate to fuck an Alpha.
Of course, this particular Alpha was a sworn enemy of her step-father’s pack – and less than a month from now, one of them was going to die. Her heart lurched, and suddenly she was overcome by a feeling of low dread. She didn’t know whether she was worried that Maddox might win – or terrified that he might lose.
Chapter Ten
All right, time to get this out of his system.
Carver stood in the parking lot outside the Bitter Brew. Bambi had called him because she was bored and needed distraction, and apparently none of her other guys were available this afternoon. Today they weren’t even going to go through the motions of hanging out at the bar first; they were going to take their lunch break at her place, and then he’d head back to pack property.
He had to admit, he was just about ready to move on. He’d only seen Bambi for this long because she was always available, she wasn’t a member of his pack and she didn’t live on their grounds. Made it easier to keep it casual.
Growing up with a father who cheated constantly and finally walked out on his family when Carver was ten had made him question whether he even had it in him to have a real relationship. It didn’t seem to run in the genes.
On the bright side, all those schoolyard taunts from his classmates, and the fights that resulted, had ensured that he’d toughened up very young.
He scanned the parking lot, looking for any sign of any Mordhaus pack members. So far he didn’t see anyone. He’d stationed a number of his men in town, and the residents of Greenville would notify them if they saw anyone. There was no love lost between the townspeople and the Mordhaus pack these days.
“There you are, sweetie pie!” Bambi trilled, hurrying eagerly towards him.
He was having a hard time dredging up any excitement at all at the prospect of this afternoon’s bedtime activities, he realized.
As she strolled towards him, he heard another voice call out.
“Oh, hi, honey!” It was the stunning brunette from the other day – she’d just popped out from behind a Volvo parked in the lot. What the hell?
She threw her arms around him. “I am SOOO sorry about our little lover’s quarrel the other day!” she cooed.
He turned to Bambi, trying to push the brunette away.
“Bambi, I swear to God I have no idea who -”
The brunette pressed her full lips up against his, and kissed him. To his shock, he found himself responding. Oh dear God was he responding. His cock swelled in his pants, and he reached down and gripped her hair and plunged his tongue into her mouth, exploring the sweet, silky cave with increasing fervor.
“You son of a bitch!” Bambi screamed. “Didn’t even know her? We are through, you bastard!”
He pulled away to see Bambi storming off.
Bewildered, he looked down at the stunning brunette. “Listen, beautiful, I know you think we know each other-ouch!”
She kneed him in the groin, incredibly hard, and he doubled over in pain.
“That’s for Katrina, you asshole! Cowardly bunch of kidnappers, grabbing a helpless woman! And if you mangy mutts hurt her, I will personally come back and chew your face off!”
She leaped into the Volvo and took off with a screech of tires.
Screw that. He jumped in his jeep and took off after her, calling Maddox to let him know what he was doing.
“She seems to be heading out of town,” he told him.
“And you’re positive she’s not a Mordhaus member?”
“Oh, I’d remember this woman. Believe me.”
“You want me to send backup?”
Carver burst out laughing. “Sir, the day I can’t handle a five foot five she wolf is the day I hand in my badge as pack enforcer.”
“Yep. Sounds like you’ve done a great job with her so far,” Maddox said. And he hung up.
Carver scowled at that. Very funny. Unfortunately, since Maddox was the Alpha, he was the one person that Carver could not possibly suggest should take a flying leap onto a giant dick. Not if he wanted to keep his jugular intact.
He concentrated on the road ahead – she kept driving and driving, zipping around curves, foot on the accelerator. He matched her speed easily, following her through human territory and out again, until a couple of hours later, they were in Timber Valley.
As they crossed the county line, a half dozen cars pulled out from the side of the road and surrounded him, and forced him to a halt. Two of them were patrol cars.
He climbed out of his car, watching the beautiful brunette leap out of her car and slam the door.
Within seconds, six male wolf shifters were barreling down on him. He pulled out his badge and held it up. They glanced at it suspiciously as they stopped and stood side by side, still bristing and defensive.
“Carver Lawrence, enforcer for the Killingworth Pack,” Carver said. He glanced at Virginia, who was shooting him murderous looks. “I take it this she-devil is one of yours?”
An older man with streaks of gray in his hair stepped forward. Despite his years, he was in perfect physical shape, barrel chested and muscular, with a dominating air. Clearly Alpha. Vince Battle, Carver was pretty sure, from various state-wide shifter gatherings he’d attended over the years.
“Vince Battle, Alpha of the Battle Pack. I expect you’ve got a really good reason for following my daughter into our territory.” His voice was a menacing growl, his dark eyes blazing with anger.
The brunette strolled up to stand next to her father, hands shoved in her pockets.
Carver met Vince’s gaze and didn’t show a trace of submission. He didn’t bow down to anyone but his own Alpha. He’d been told quite often that he could easily be Alpha of his own pack; he was just barely Beta. Sometimes he went over the line.
“I expect your daughter’s got a really good reason for coming in to our territory and physically assaulting me, twice, despite the fact that I’ve never met her before. Something about Katrina?” He raised an eyebrow and shot her a look.
Vince sucked in an angry breath. He turned to shoot an angry look at his daughter. “Virginia?”
She lifted her chin defiantly. “They kidnapped her when she went in to town to go shoe shopping. It’s outrageous. We should be rescuing her. She’s my cousin, for God’s sake!”
“We have discussed this. They did not violate the Covenant. This is an issue between two packs. She is not in danger, and the Killingworth pack does not have the reputation of abusing females or breaking the law.”
She put her hands on her hips. “What would you do if it had happened to me? You’d just sit there and let me be kidnapped? We know you’d go all Alpha and declare pack war.”
“We’re not having this conversation here. You’re grounded.”
Virginia threw back her head and laughed, but there was a harsh edge to it. “I am twenty. You can not ground me!”
“As your father and your Alpha, I damned well can. You just added another month to your grounding.”
“Then I will move off pack property. I am an adult, and you can not continue treating me like a child.” Her eyes glittered with anger.
“So you’re an adult, but you come in to my territory to harass me and then go running back to call for help and hide behind daddy like a five year old?” Carver said scornfully. She was a spoiled little daddy’s girl and a total brat.
She was also incredibly hot and she turned him on like nothing he’d ever experienced before, but at the moment all he wanted to do was throw her over his knee and spank her.
To his surprise, she nodded. “You’re right. Next time, I’ll handle the consequences on my own.”
“There won’t be a next time!” Vince shouted, his face flushing with anger.
“You all have a good day, now.” Carver turned and walked back to his car without looking back, climbed in, and slammed the door. He backed up, made a u-turn, and headed back towards Greenville.
* * *
The sunrise painted a red and orange glow along the horizon, and the high, jagged mountains were outlined against the sky. The pack was up early, as ever. Maddox and Katrina stood on the front porch of the common house, sipping coffee and watching the morning mists swirl on the ground. Soon the sun’s rays would burn the mists away and chase the mild chill from the air.
“Wow, we still haven’t gotten it out of our system. I thought maybe we’d be sick of each other by now.” Katrina shook her head in amazement. It had been a week. A week of the best, most earth-shatteringly delicious sex she’d ever had. A week of waking up, wrung out and sweaty, in Maddox’s arms, breathing him in and feeling his heart beat against her chest. And wishing it could last forever.
Maddox winked at her.
“We’ll have to try harder.”
“Ha,” she scoffed. “I may need a day off just to recuperate.” At his stricken look, she added quickly “Oh, there are other things that we can do. It’s fun to get creative.”
He slung his arm around her shoulder, and she started.
“What?” he said, looking puzzled.