[Pack 01.0] Defying Pack Law Read online

  He took a heavy step toward her, and Dana, usually so brave, couldn’t help but whimper. The pathetic sound halted the creature in its tracks. Before her wide-eyed gaze, the wolfish features shrank in on themselves, melting and reshaping into the face of a man. A face she recognized, even though she hadn’t seen it in over twelve years.

  He shook his head at her. “Caught you,” he announced in a low timbre that still had the ability to make her tummy flip over, even in her current state.

  Her heart raced faster. Her past had finally caught up to her, and the shock of it, along with the rest of her injuries, thankfully made her black out.

  Chapter Four

  Nathan looked down at Dana’s still form and seethed. Her naked flesh was covered in bruises, scratches, and welts. Even more astonishing, her captors had feared her enough to wrap her body in links upon burning links of silver. He dropped to his knees, and ignoring the sizzling pain, he grasped the silver chain and pulled it apart as easily as snapping thread. Her skin was chafed red and blistered where it had touched her, and he boiled with anger.

  I’m going to kill them slowly and painfully. He’d reserve a painful punishment for the dirty miscreants—those who still lived, that was—who’d dared touch the woman he’d claimed as his when still only a boy. Never mind she’d run from him. Dana was, and always would be, his.

  His beta appeared in the doorway and whistled as his keen gaze took in her state. “Holy fuck. What kind of sick bastards treat a woman like that?”

  The kind who need to die twice. Nathan couldn’t speak. He couldn’t. Anger and grief over her condition choked him. He sniffed her, the stench of her pain and blood heavy enough to pull his wolf to the surface to growl at the insult done to his woman. But relief tinged his emotions, as he didn’t find any traces of rape. Thank God. Healing her body would be easy given her lycanthrope blood.

  Healing emotional trauma would have been a lot harder.

  He scooped her up, her weight like nothing in his arms. He winced as her face spasmed into a grimace as he unwillingly caused her pain, but he had no choice. He couldn’t leave her lying there for the amount of time she’d need to heal.

  He cradled her to his chest, wishing he had a blanket to cover her as he strode past his beta, who had joined him in freeing Dana, along with several others from the pack.

  John sucked in a breath as he got a closer look at her. “Damn. They beat the living crap out of her.”

  “Gee, I hadn’t noticed,” Nathan replied through gritted teeth. “Status report.”

  “Eleven of the bastards are dead, but the leader and several others got away. We saw evidence of others living here, women too, but they appear to be gone.”

  Nathan turned a cold gaze onto his beta. “I want the cowards found and brought back to me—alive. Especially the leader.” He had plans for the bastard, painful plans.

  “Eddie and Joe are already tracking them.”

  “Good. Let’s get her home.” Nathan emerged from the cellar of the dwelling in which they’d found her imprisoned. In the light of the fires burning as his men set the makeshift compound alight, Dana appeared even frailer, her injuries more glaringly bright. Nathan breathed deep of the vengeance he’d wrought. The scent of carnage hung in the air, a miasma of violence that would serve as warning, hopefully, that his pack meant business. Touch my woman, and face the consequences.

  It mattered not that he hadn’t officially marked her or that she’d fled him so long ago. She is mine. How she’d managed to evade for so long not only him but also the scores of other Lycans hot on her trail was a mystery. Her scent shone like a bright beacon that drove him wild with an urge to possess her, to mark and claim her. And claim you I will, willing or not. I won’t let you leave me again.

  The growl of his Jeep as it approached made him hug her to him tighter. Kody was at the wheel, and with a flourish, he swung it into the gravel drive and leaned over to open the passenger door, flashing a white-toothed grin.

  “I see you caught the runaway. Awesome.” His smile faltered as he caught a glimpse of her. “What the fuck did they do to her?”

  Nathan just growled.

  John replied, “Apparently, they mistook her for a punching bag. Ignore Nathan. He’s just bent ’cause she fainted when she saw him. Can’t say as I blame her. That’s one ugly-ass mug he’s got.”

  If Nathan’s cargo hadn’t meant more than his pride, he’d have punched his best friend’s lights out. As it was, he made a mental note to do so later.

  Kody, usually the jovial one, didn’t reply to the banter. It seemed he couldn’t tear his green eyes from her unconscious form. “Is she going to be okay?”

  “She will be,” Nathan replied—she has to be.

  John opened the rear passenger door and hopped in before holding out his arms to take Dana. Nathan just glared at him. No one would touch her until he’d made her irrevocably his. He wouldn’t take any more chances.

  John snorted. “You can’t get in while holding her, man. You might end up hurting her more. She’s not going anywhere, and I’m not going to steal her. Tell your beast to take a pill.”

  Nathan sighed. His rational side understood John was right, but he still found it hard to hand her over, even for the few seconds it took to clamber into the backseat and get her back. He didn’t like the keen interest both his friends showed in her. Sharing Dana wasn’t a part of his new plan, not knowing what he did about her.

  Her face contorted for a moment in pain at the shuffle as they got situated, and Nathan’s rage bubbled up all over again. If only I’d caught up to her sooner, this would have never happened. “Get the syringe,” he barked.

  “She’s gonna be pissed if you dope her,” John remarked as he leaned over the seat to grab the med kit in the back.

  “She’s going to be pissed no matter what once she wakes up. I’d rather that not happen until we’ve made it back to the compound.” He left unsaid, where running away will be a lot harder now since we beefed up security.

  John rummaged in the kit until he located the needle filled with a tranquilizer, a must for the times they needed to bring in a wild rogue for questioning or, in this case, a reluctant female.

  “Go ahead.” Nathan watched as John pricked her shoulder and depressed the plunger. At the sharp prick, Dana’s eyes shot open, wild with anger and pain.

  “You bastard,” she spat. “I’m gonna-gonna…” Her voice trailed off as the heavy-duty tranq put her back to sleep, a deep one that she wouldn’t wake from until he had her right where he wanted her—in his house and in his bed.

  John handed him a blanket as Kody took off with spinning tires. Nathan tucked it around her as best he could, uncaring of his own nudity. John managed with some contorting to get into his tracksuit and waved Nathan’s at him.

  “Come on, man. Hand her back over for a second and get your bare ass covered. No one wants to see your dick. Besides, I want to get our deposit back on this baby from the rental place. I don’t need your ass sweat stinking it up and costing us extra.”

  John’s humor pulled a smile from Nathan, and he handed his precious burden over to his beta, only long enough to pull on his own clothing. He had to admit he did feel a little better clothed. He also took an extra moment to get his boots on. Dressed, he held out his arms, and John, with a wry smile at his impatience, handed Dana back. Nathan settled her into his arms and finally relaxed enough to look at her and past the bruises marring her skin.

  She’d changed in the last twelve years, matured. She’d let her hair grow out, and it tumbled about her in a messy golden wave. Her skin, the parts unmarked by violence, was lightly tanned and just as soft as he remembered, he found, when he traced a finger across the curve of her cheek to lips still plump and full. She’d lost the softness of youth, just like he had, but he didn’t mind the toned muscles he’d noticed in her arms or the flat ridges of her stomach. A life on the run spent in defense mode would make anyone hard. He’d soon see to it that she reg
ained the soft life she deserved.

  He stroked her hair with a gentleness his friends would look askance at. He’d been anything but gentle these last couple of years. He hadn’t had a choice. With the Lycan population explosion across the country, and the increase in rogues, survival was for the fittest only. As pack alpha, he’d fought to get his position, fought his own father, as a matter of fact, who refused to face the fact that the world had changed and they needed to change with it. But that had been only the beginning of his battles. He’d invested time, sweat, and money into making their compound secure, in making life for his pack a better one.

  Yet, in everything he’d done, he’d never forgotten his primary purpose—find Dana and make her his.

  To have her so close to him again, even pissed off and injured, completed something in him. She represented the missing puzzle piece in his life, and he’d never let her go again. Even better, he’d do his best to make sure she never wanted to leave.

  If she didn’t kill him first.

  John watched Nathan cradling Dana’s injured body and fought the urge to take her from him. He’d heard of the animalistic need to possess unclaimed Lycan females. He’d actually laughed about it. As resident physician, he’d deemed himself above such a base need, even as he’d watched others succumb. After all, he’d met other unmated Lycan females, and while he’d felt at times a mild interest, he’d never experienced or expected anything like the magnetic pull Dana exuded.

  His recollection of her from way back was vague. He’d left for university before she’d matured enough to be interesting. During his brief visits home, he’d heard about her from Nathan, and even more about her after she ran away. He’d puzzled about the girl who’d made his best friend fall into a funk after she left. He’d wondered what kind of golden pussy she had to make Nathan obsess about finding her again.

  But now, faced with her and, even worse, after having touched her, he couldn’t deny the draw. It didn’t help that his wolf stirred restlessly in his mind and urged him to regress to a more primitive state, pushed him to want to shed his humanity and challenge his best friend and alpha over the right to claim the female. Or, as his mind slyly reminded him, as pack law permitted, share her.

  Were he human, the thought of sharing a woman, any woman, with another man would have horrified him, sent him running. And the human part of him cultivated at their schools did recoil, but his Lycan side that had grown up in a polyamorous household didn’t care. It wanted this woman no matter what. He’d heard the orgy stories from other mated groups, seen the movies. Hell, his own mother had shared her bed with all his fathers, sometimes at the same time—a mental image he blocked quickly. Group matings were a part of his heritage, and while he’d never actually thought he’d indulge, he no longer found himself so sure. Who am I fucking kidding? I can’t deny the idea of watching and participating in a group fuck doesn’t have its appeal. Well, so long as the other guys keep their body parts to themselves.

  Of course, there were a few problems with his fantasy about sharing the golden she-wolf. One—Nathan had made it abundantly clear he’d never share, not after losing her all this time. And second, from what John had learned about Dana over the years from his friend’s drunken ramblings, one of the reasons Dana had fled was to avoid being forced into a polygamous relationship. I wonder if, maybe with the right incentive, she’d change her mind?

  Watching Nathan tenderly stroke her, seeing Kody’s eyes in the rearview mirror tracking them, and inhaling more than likely her scent, John wanted to sigh. Ah shit. Not him too. Talk about a clusterfuck in the making.

  The couple of hours’ drive to the small airstrip was done in tense silence. Nathan had retreated into an uncommunicative shell. Dana slept, still drugged. Kody drove with one eye on the backseat. And John rubbed his temples, trying to dispel the headache caused by his clenched teeth.

  Only once they stopped on the runway did Nathan snap out of it. “John, you’re coming with me. Kody, you go back and meet up with the boys we left behind tracking. Even if they haven’t found those bastards, get your asses out of there. There’s something about this whole setup that stinks, and I’d rather have you back home protecting the compound than out here by yourselves. I’ll send the plane right back for a pickup.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” Kody replied with a grin and salute.

  John hopped out of the truck and came around to take Dana from Nathan. Perhaps a little too eagerly judging by the dark glare his alpha shot him. John couldn’t have cared less. Holding her again did strange things to him. There was arousal, which kind of shamed him given her battered state, but a surge of even stronger protectiveness swamped him, a desire to save her from harm. His wolf’s need was more basic—mark the woman.

  Not wanting to give her up too quickly, John strode away from Nathan, who gave last-minute instructions to Kody. John made his way to the plane. He moved gingerly up the rickety metal stairs, trying not to jostle Dana more than necessary, and went through the open door. The eight-seater plane wasn’t quite as comfortable as the truck, nor were the seats spaced in a way he could sit without squishing Dana.

  Not that he got to keep her for long. Nathan came pounding up the stairs with a growled, “Okay, asshole, hand her back.”

  John didn’t argue, not with her injured and in the way. He handed her back and surveyed the seating dilemma.

  “Do you think your buddy will care if I rearrange the seating?”

  Nathan’s eyes flicked over to the cramped seats and back. “If he has a problem, I’ll handle it. Make some room.”

  John didn’t have the same kind of brute muscle Nathan did, so he didn’t bother trying to arm wrestle the offending seat out of the way. He took his boots to it—and didn’t move the damned thing.

  Nathan sighed. “Hold on to her again, and try not to cop a feel, would you?”

  John happily obliged, snuggling her into him protectively while Nathan bent over and grabbed the offending seat and lifted it straight up and off the bracket that held it.

  John frowned at him. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me I had to lift it instead of trying to wobble it?”

  Nathan grinned. “And miss watching Mr. Cool look like an idiot for once?” Nathan seated himself in the seat behind the vacated one and, with plenty of room to stretch out his legs, held out his arms for Dana.

  John gave her back and headed to the rear of the plane for their luggage and his more extensive medical kit. Armed with a stethoscope, among other things, he derived great pleasure in saying, “Peel the blanket off so I can get a look.” And horrible as it might be given the situation, John didn’t just mean her wounds either. I’ll probably burn in hell for ogling her naked body while she’s passed out, but I never claimed to be a saint.

  Nathan could see John’s interest in Dana. He didn’t like it one bit. There was a time long ago, before Dana had left, when he’d imagined John would be one of the men he’d share his future mate with as per pack law. But, now, having her back again, Nathan found himself less than keen with that idea, a fact that he’d share with Dana if she ever gave him a chance to say his piece.

  Jealousy or not, though, he couldn’t deny Dana needed the attention of a doctor. While her Lycan blood would heal her, broken bones still needed to be set straight, and while rare, there was still a chance of infection.

  Nathan pulled back the blanket, exposing her upper chest and breasts that were more defined than he remembered. The cooler air of the cabin made them pucker, and his mouth dried up, even as lust shot through him, hardening his cock. A quick glance up caught John staring with his mouth open, his eyes glazed.

  “Get on with it,” Nathan growled.

  John didn’t reply, just went to work checking her heart rate, blood pressure, and other vitals. He then proceeded to gently clean the myriad scratches that covered her from head to toe. Nathan cursed himself all over again for not having arrived sooner. It killed him to see the pain she must have suffered.

 
; Never again. I promise.

  The exam done, John injected her with some antibiotics to prevent infection, along with another dose of tranquilizer. Exhausted, Nathan closed his eyes, memories of the past catching up, memories of Dana from a time before she hated him.

  He’d noticed her from a young age, not that he let her or his buddies know. He did, after all, have a reputation as a tough-ass to retain.

  When she’d finally gotten old enough, he’d begun to court her in secret. He’d had no choice, even as she assumed their furtive meetings were because of her own stringent parents. The truth was it would have driven Nathan’s father—a man who ensured through tests that Nathan was his—wild if he’d known. At the time, Dana wasn’t considered good enough for the son of an alpha. But eventually Nathan had reached a point in his feelings that he didn’t care. He loved and needed her.

  Dana had drawn him with her smiles and laughter, with her tough inner core and the way she looked past his sometimes brutish nature. In fact, she’d told him on more than one occasion, with blushing cheeks, that she enjoyed it when he pulled the dominant male on her.

  And he’d loved making her melt. Then the night he’d claimed her body, everything changed. He’d had lots of years to regret the fact that he hadn’t marked her that fateful night. But he’d foolishly believed in pack law, and he’d lost her.

  And now that I have her back, I won’t make the same mistakes of the past.

  Chapter Five

  Dana knew she was caught in a dream, a recurring one, but she couldn’t wake herself, and she was forced to watch and relive the pain of the most defining moment of her life.