Wanted by the Alphas(31)
Shannon has suspected the deaths of old man Pullnam and the others were due to these shapeshifters who were unable to rein themselves in. And now she knows for sure. Jared was the same. At first flush of his transformation, he went on a small animal hunting spree. She is glad the only slaughter of human beings he ever performed was on those cartel lowlifes in Tupelo. Those men who held her prisoner in Conchita’s hacienda were killers and mutilators of innocent women and children. She did not regret their deaths at the jaws of her brother.
The only slaughter she knows of, that is.
“Jared!” she cries out in fear.
He bounds in front of her, shielding her. The pack of werewolves pace, circling them. This is not a good situation. Both she and Jared may be staring at their deaths right here if the werewolves have no control over themselves.
“Please,” she cries to them, calling to their reason. “My brother and I have no quarrel with you. We just came here to get away from our pasts. We won’t tell anyone about you and we will leave you alone. Please let us be!”
The growling continues. Rumbles from deep chests and deep throats. Light gleams from malignant eyes. Has this pack gone too feral to understand human words? But the fact that they are standing their ground gives her hope. The panther is far bigger than them, but there are five or six of them, and Jared is only one. Bullets cannot impact them, but a fight with another shapeshifter can do serious damage.
The lead werewolf takes one step forward, and then another. Emboldened, the others do so too. The heat rises from their bodies and their hackles make them look very large. Their teeth are sharp and white in the scant light afforded by the moon.
Shannon wonders if both of them have miscalculated in coming here.
Please, she prays.
A deep growl behind a thicket of trees makes them all look up. Another werewolf bounds into the clearing. This one is the largest of them all, with glowing green eyes. It is very clearly a male. The other werewolves immediately retreat at the presence of this one, signifying that he is the alpha of the pack.
Do not run, Shannon tells herself. They would only come after you. Jared seems to agree with this as well as he stands his ground.
The alpha werewolf throws up his head and howls. She recognizes that howl. It is the one she heard when she was in Lucien’s bedroom that very first night. Then he favors her with a stare and she can see the supreme intelligence in his eyes.
The pack does not move.
Jared seems to intuit that they are letting them go. He turns away, nudging her to do the same. She does so, taking small steps backward. She is very careful not to run just in case this invokes the werewolves’ ire.
In this manner, they retreat from the thicket of trees. The werewolves – under the command of their alpha – do not follow. Once they are a considerable distance away, they both break into a run and head back for the sanctuary of their cottage.
THE WOLVES
“Jared, you have to be more careful!”
“I am being careful! It’s just that I didn’t know they were there!”
Shannon examines her brother’s naked and now human form in their cottage. There are no scratches or marks anywhere.
“Well, now that you know, you can’t go hunting.”
“I have to go hunting. Jesus. Hunting is what I do.”
“They have obviously been here for a long, long time. This is their territory and they are staking their claim.”
“Then I’ll have to hunt in a different zone. Or take them on.”
“You can’t take them on! You have seen them. There are five or six of them.”
“I have taken on far more than that, sis.”
“But those were men! These are werewolves. Haven’t you seen them with your own eyes, Jared? Don’t let your macho shtick get the better of your brains!”
“I’m bigger than any of them.”
“And if you ran in a pack, by all means, take them on!” Though she privately thinks that is a stupid idea too as she detests violence of any sort. “But you don’t run in a pack, and you can’t go against a pack.”
Jared gets up from the couch. His long, lean body is all sleek muscle. His erect penis bobs in front of him. After a transformation, he is usually hungry and horny.
“I’m going to get something to eat. And then I’m going to get someone to fuck,” he declares, picking up his clothes from the floor. “Unless you’re willing to put out, sis.”
“Don’t talk like that. You know I don’t like that,” she counters, her eyes flashing.
“Fine. I’m going.”
He heads out and slams the door behind him. She hears the engine of his new Pontiac start up and its tires screech as it back out of the little driveway and down the road.