Bridenapped: The Alpha Chronicles (16 page)

              “You should have called off the match when you smelled the silver,” Caitlin said in exasperation. Her heartbeat still hadn’t slowed to normal.  Kristofer was sitting up on the edge of his hospital bed, with bandages wrapped around his mid-section.

              “An Alpha doesn’t call off a match,” Kristofer said firmly, but he gave her hand an affectionate squeeze.

              “Stubborn mutt,” his mother growled at him, but her tone was laced with affection.

              “That’s my boy,” his father said, glowing with pride.

              “Your boy’s stubbornness almost got him killed. He could have at least insisted that the silver be safely removed from Taddeus’s claws, and then allowed the match to proceed,” Kristina said with a sniff.

              “To halt a match is cowardice,” Kristofer said firmly. “Once an Alpha enters a match, the only way the match ends is with defeat, or death.”

              Then he stood up and reached for his shirt, which was folded up next to him on the night stand. He winced as he leaned over.

              “What are you doing?” Caitlin asked with alarm,

              “I need to see Frank,” he said. He slowly moved to pull the shirt on, and Caitlin quickly helped him, leaning forward to button the shirt up.

              “He’s still in surgery,” Ebon told him. “There’s a fair amount of silver in his system. Half the pack’s lined up outside his room donating blood to him. The doctor said we might not know anything until tomorrow.”

              “All right, then I’m going down to the waiting room and I’ll stay there until he’s out of surgery.  He nearly sacrificed his life for me,” Kristofer said, moving with some stiffness towards the door.

              “You really shouldn’t…” a male nurse protested, then wilted under Kristofer’s look. “Sir. Call us if you need anything,” he said, as Kristofer headed for the door, with Caitlin and his parents trailing behind him.

              “Milady,” the nurse added, with a deferential nod to Caitlin.

              She was almost getting used to it.

              Downstairs in the waiting room, Caitlin gratefully accepted a cup of coffee and leaned against Kristofer as they sat anxiously awaiting any news.

              “Frank thinks the world of you,” Kristofer said, after they’d sat in silence for a while. “Did you know he has a daughter?”

              “I did not. Shocking, giving how he’s usually so chatty,” Caitlin said, with a faint smile. “I mean, you can’t shut the man up. How old is she?”

              “Twenty. She’s in love with a man from our financial clan, one of the pack’s business managers, who returns her feelings but never thought he’d be able to marry a woman from the law enforcement clan. Frank told me that. You gave her hope.”

              Katrina took a sip of coffee and smiled at Kristofer, who sat across the table from her in the dining room.  She’d actually gotten a decent night’s sleep the night before, as soon as the doctor called to let them know that Frank would pull through. Part of the reason she’d slept so well was that she’d been forced to stay in her own room and avoid the moonrise pheromones, because Kristofer needed to lay off the sexing for a few days while his wounds healed.

              Kristofer was good for many things in the boudoir, but allowing a good night’s sleep wasn’t one of them.

“Frank actually wanted to come to work today, despite the doctor’s orders,” Kristofer said, shaking his head. “He’s not supposed to even get out of bed for a week.”

              “I can imagine him doing that.”

              “By the way, one of your relatives is on their way up, along with a friend. My security called to let me know. Perhaps they’re starting to come around?”

              “Which one?” Caitlin couldn’t imagine Maggie and Rich giving in, and even though her mother was much better know, she still was a little foggy and wasn’t up to driving.

              “The younger ones. Your cousin and some young man.”

              “Priscilla and Troy? Alone? They’re both too young to drive.” She stood up quickly, feeling faint alarm bells ringing. More trouble at home? Please, no more trouble, she thought. I would like one day without drama. Just one day.

              Kristofer stood up too, and followed her downstairs to the living room, where Priscilla and Troy were standing and staring goggle eyed.

              “My God, that ceiling is so high,” Priscilla said to Caitlin. “You have GOT to marry this guy.”

              “I’m going to get you a house with a ceiling this big,” Troy said to Priscilla in a defensive tone. “Bigger, in fact. Like ten feet higher. You’ll need oxygen masks and spelunking tools to travel to the top of the ceiling.”

              “Why would she want to travel to the top of the ceiling, and what are you doing here?” Caitlin said, exasperated.

              “I have the best news ever, and now you have to forgive me!” Priscilla crowed. “We cracked the case.” She glanced over at Kristofer. “So please don’t murder me. Even though I deserve it. I’m too young and cute to die.”

              Kristofer suppressed a smile. “I will try to restrain my homicidal impulses then. Since you’re so young and, as you put it, cute.”

“How did you get here?” Caitlin demanded. “Did your mom drop you off?”

              “Nope.” Priscilla shook her head. “She’d kill me if she knew I was here. But I had to come see you in person, so we took a cab.”

              Caitlin looked at her skeptically. “Where did you get money for a cab?”

“I paid. A gentleman always pays,” Troy said cheerfully.

              “I semi-approve of you, then, except you’re not supposed to be here,” Caitlin said. “I’ve got to call both of your parents.”

              “Wait!” Priscilla held up her hand. “You have to do two things first.”

              “Two?” Caitlin put her hands on her hips. “I don’t have to do any things.”

              “You have to watch the video I’m going to show you.  And you have to promise to put a good word in for me when they come to take me away.  Also, don’t let Hailey go in my room while I’m in juvie.”

              “That’s three things.  And what have you done?” Caitlin asked with alarm.

              Priscilla shuffled her feet. “Well, I felt really, really bad about almost getting Kristofer killed...”

“As well you should have. What have you done?” Caitlin demanded.

“It is possible that we did a little creative internet surfing and, among other things, accessed video that shows Melodee stealing the deed from the hall of records, the day after the Welcome to The Alpha event.”

              “Are you saying there really is a deed?” Kristofer asked, looking bewildered.

              “I’ve been saying that for a year!” Caitlin said indignantly. “My whole family has! If you weren’t injured, I’d smack you!”

              Then she turned her attention back to Priscilla. “But…the company that does the video surveillance for the town claimed that all of their video was lost. I assumed that they’d conspired with the Verhold pack and secretly destroyed it.”

              “Hey!” Kristofer said indignantly.

              “Turns out that the security company keeps a backup on their servers, which I recovered,” Troy said with a shrug. “The video surveillance shows the mayor’s daughter walking in there the day after the  Welcome To the Alpha event, going through the files, taking something out, and putting it in her purse. She was looking all furtive and guilty.”

              “That’s a good start,” Caitlin mused. “So, we can prove that she stole something. But we would need to be able to prove that what she stole was our deed.”

              “I don’t understand. Why would she steal your land deed?” Kristofer looked bewildered. Apparently, for all of his intelligence, he did not understand conniving, desperate women.

              “She wanted to cause trouble between me and your pack,” Caitlin said. “I’m sure that she’s the one who called up claiming that our family didn’t really own the land, and set this whole thing in motion.”

              “I’m not even done yet,” Priscilla said. “We saved the best for last.”

              “Go on.”

              “It is possible that the mayor’s computer had a malfunction which is, even as we speak, emailing copies of the picture of the deed to every newspaper in the country, and identifying the picture as having come from his email account.”

              “Wait – the mayor was in on it too?” Kristofer looked even more confused.

              “I don’t know if he was in on the actual theft, but I think he stole the deed from Melodee,” Caitlin mused. “You know, Melodee accused me of stealing from her.  I thought she was talking about me stealing you, but now I think that she believed I stole the deed from her.”

              “Why would he do that?” Kristofer asked.

              “Er, I need to tell you something,” Caitlin said, blushing. She quickly recounted the mayor’s blackmail scheme.

Kristofer flashed her a wounded look. “I wish you’d just come to me and confided in me. If I’d known the mayor had your deed, I would have-”

              “Done what? He would have denied it,” Caitlin pointed out. “I needed that deed back. This was my family’s land, their future. I was pushed into a corner. And I didn’t know what you would have done with that information…although I do now. I know you would have done the right thing.”

              Kristofer bent down and whispered in her ear. “There’s still a punishment coming for your deception. Let’s just say that spanking is a very common occurrence in an Alpha household.”

              She whispered in his ear “But what’s the punishment?” and was gratified to hear him catch his breath and then let out a low growl.

              “I still don’t get why that pig would steal from his own daughter,” Priscilla said, scowling.  “I thought his whole gig was to get Kristofer to marry her.”

              “Well, unlike Melodee, he finally accepted would never happen,” Caitlin said. “And he’s a greedy opportunist, so he figured he’d at least make all the money from the news media this way.”

              Kristofer’s secretary poked her head in the doorway. “Sorry to interrupt, sir. Your attorneys are calling, and so are about fifty different newspapers and television stations. What shall I tell them?”

              “Yep. Everyone got the email,” Troy said with satisfaction.

              “Give me a few minutes, and then I’ll come deal with it,” Kristofer called out to her, and she nodded and disappeared.

              “If the land belongs to your family, of course we will return it to you immediately,” Kristofer said to Caitlin.  “And we will repay all of the legal fees that you’ve incurred.”

              He glanced at Troy and Priscilla. “And I will pay for the legal fees that you two juvenile delinquents will incur, because you are going probably be charged with something for your various hacking exploits. I am sure that, as first offenders, and with my influence, we can arrange for you to avoid time in juvenile detention and just have you do some community service.”

              “Sweet, community service!” Troy looked way too happy about that. “I’m almost a real criminal!”

              “If you ever hope to marry Priscilla, your criminal career better end today,” Caitlin said severely.

              “Got it. No more crimes.” Troy bobbed his head energetically.

              “Worth it,” Priscilla sang out. “We got our land back! We did it!” She threw her hands up and did a happy dance. “I think I should get an enormous increase in my allowance for this, don’t you?” she added to Troy, who gave her a high five.

              “Word,” he said.

              “Oh, now there’s the Priscilla I know and loathe,” Caitlin said, but she couldn’t help but smile.

              The next day, with Caitlin and her family at his side, Kristofer held a press conference announcing that Lakeville police were investigating the theft of the deed, and the land would be returned to the Bellefont family immediately. Melodee and her father were both expected to face criminal charges. 

              It was the first time in memory that the mayor had ever missed a press conference.

              Nature itself smiled down on Caitlin and Kristofer’s wedding.  The sun beamed from a cloudless sky, bathing the pavilion in golden light.  A gentle breeze drifted through the air.  Caitlin wore a frothy white wedding dress, with a veil floating dreamily behind her.

              All of the pack was assembled, except for Elzbetka, which was no surprise and was actually a relief to Caitlin.

Some were in wolf form, with ceremonial clothing. 

              And her family was there, beaming. Her mother sat in the crowd and waved at Caitlin, and Caitlin had to blink back hard to hold back the tears. Her mother was normal. She was her old self again.   Hailey, Priscilla and Troy were sitting next to Maggie and Rich. Priscilla and Troy were leaning in and whispering to each other. Caitlin didn’t even want to know what they were plotting.

              Classical music floated through the speakers, and white streamers twined with pink roses adorned the pavilion. Miranda, formerly from accounting, had been in charge of the floral decorations.

              Alexander, one of the honor guard, was in wolf form, but Caitlin saw how he kept looking across the crowd at Lottie. There were few things cuter than a wolf winking, she realized.

              Pierre, in a tuxedo, was there too, in human form, casting fond glances at Twyla.

              The wedding had everything that Caitlin had ever dreamed of…except the groom.

              And the crowd was starting to fidget. 

              Caitlin stood with her maids of honor, Twyla, Paige, and Lottie, and tried to keep smiling, but worry was starting to gnaw at her.

              “He’s coming,” Twyla whispered to her.

              “Of course he’s coming,” Paige assured her. “This is a man who was willing to fight to the death for the right to marry you.”

              “Where could he be, though?” she asked.  She trusted Kristofer, but she was starting to get a little nervous. “Maybe something happened to him?”

              She kept glancing over at the doorway that led into the rec center. The doorway that Kristofer should be emerging from. He should march towards her, head held high, between two rows of wolves that were standing at attention.  They’d practiced it the day before.

Alexander was in wolf form, or Caitlin would have marched over and asked him if he knew what was up. Was it possible that Kristofer had experienced a change of heart? Old doubts began to gnaw at her.  Was this too much happiness to hope for?

“Cut that out,” Paige said sharply. “I know what you’re thinking, and whatever is delaying him is not-”

Sudden, agonizing pain slammed through Caitlin, and she gasped and clutched at her stomach. She felt as if someone had just slashed across her abdomen with a red-hot sword.

              “What is it?” Twyla leaped to her feet.

              “I don’t know, I…” another sharp lance of pain slashed through her, on her leg this time. She fell to her knees.

              She heard screams from the crowd. Her mother’s voice.

              “Caitlin? What’s wrong? Caitlin!”

              Someone’s hands were on her, and she felt dirt pressing against her face. She gasped and struggled to breathe.

              “Caitlin, talk to me,” Lottie’s voice came through a haze of red agony that enveloped her. “What’s wrong with her? What’s happening? Paige, do something! You always fix everything! DO something!”

              She felt agonizing slashes of pain, tearing through her body, again and again.  Then everything faded.

* * *

              “You’re sure she’ll be all right?” She felt consciousness returning. Kristofer’s hand closed on her arm. “She has to be all right. There is no other option.”

              “She will recover, I assure you, sir,” a male voice answered him.

              She struggled to sit up, and felt everything whirling around her.

              “Don’t get up! I’m right here. I’m with you. Everything is fine.” Kristofer’s voice was right near her ear, so strong and so loving.

              She opened her eyes and looked around. She felt slashes of pain across her body, pulsing with each heartbeat. Machines beeped nearby. Something was in her nose. She patted it with her hand. Plastic. A nasal cannula. She was getting oxygen.

              She tried to speak, and made a croaking sound. She cleared her throat and tried again.

              “What happened?” she whispered hoarsely.

              “It was Elzbetka,” he said.  “She tried to chop down your tree. She took a chainsaw to it. The tree next to your mother’s.  My security guards called me right before the ceremony and told me that she was sneaking off the property, and I had a feeling that she was heading out there, so I followed her.”

“How did she know?”

“It’s my fault,” Kristofer said grimly. “I was talking about your dryad heritage and your family’s trees with my scientists, and while Elzbetka was still your lady in waiting, she overheard me.”

The room was slowly starting to swim into focus around her.  “It’s not your fault she’s a crazy person,” she said, her voice still hoarse. “You couldn’t have known how far she’d go.”

“The important thing is that you’ll be all right.” She could hear the tension coiled in his voice. He had circles under his eyes. “I stopped her before she was able to do permanent damage, and our scientists were able to treat your tree. I will now have a squadron of my men on patrol there in the grove, forever, to ensure that your trees are never harmed.”

“So what happens to Elzbetka?”

His face went grim. “I took a vow as Alpha that I would never strike a female, which is the only thing that stopped me from killing her on the spot. Life in prison.”

Once, Caitlin had felt faint pity for Elzbetka and the pain she suffered from her mad obsession with Kristofer. That pity was gone now. She didn’t want Elzbetka to actually die, but she was glad that she’d never have to see her again.

“We should bring your family in,” Kristofer added. “They’re in the waiting room. They’ve been up all night.”

              “All night?” she said in dismay. “Is my mom still okay? Wait. How long have I been here?”

              “Your mother is fine. You’ve been here since yesterday.”

              “Yesterday!” she cried out. “I missed our wedding!” She sat up in bed. The room shifted woozily, but then settled down. She looked around the hospital room, and pushed a tangle of hair back out of her face. “How long have I been here?”

              He waved a hand in dismissal. “Don’t think you’re getting out of it that easily, woman.  We’ll get married as soon as you’re up on your feet. The doctors think you can go home today.”

             
48 hours later…

              Nature itself smiled down on Caitlin and Kristofer’s wedding. Her whole family was there, sitting in the same row as Kristofer’s family.  Miranda had replaced the fading pink roses with fresh ones. Caitlin’s mother looked better than she had in years, and she and Maggie sat giggling and gossiping with each other as if nothing had ever happened.

The agonizing slashes across Caitlin’s body had faded to faint aches, which the doctors had assured her would be gone within a few days.

“Do you, Kristofer Verhold, take the human Caitlin Bellefont to be your lawfully bridenapped wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish?” the pastor intoned.

              Kristofer looked down at her with shining eyes and an enormous grin. “I do.”

              “And do you, Caitlin, take this Alpha to be your lawfully bridenapping husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish?”

              She stifled a giggle at the “bridenapping” part, and met his grin with an enormous smile of her own.

              “I do,” she said.

              “I now pronounce you Alpha and Wife. You may kiss the bride.” After about a minute, the pastor added “You don’t have to keep kissing her. There’s a wedding suite, after all. Sir? Sir? There are cubs present! SIR!” And then, realizing that the blissful groom and bride were completely ignoring him, he sighed and walked off the pavilion, as the wolves of the Verhold Pack howled their approval.

THE END

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