Curse of the Alpha: The Complete Bundle (23 page)

A
insley crashed
into the woods behind the house without breaking her stride.

Branches tore at her beautiful dress, but she didn’t care. The rain pelted down and drenched her. Soon she would look like the wild creature she was at heart.

She was vaguely aware that she was running barefoot through rocks and brambles. The little voice in her head warned her that she was sure to trip over a tree root if she insisted on being so heedless. That was the way it always happened in the movies.

Maybe she should hide?

She knew that Clive would be furious and she had no idea how long the magic would last. Even in his human form, he was bigger and stronger and faster than Ainsley. And of course he could track her, so hiding was out of the question.

So she ran on.

She ran without any sense of what lay ahead. Her whole consciousness was focused on what might be behind.

Something crashed through the branches close by.

Adrenaline kicked in, and she tore through the woods even faster than before.

She could barely hear over the sound of her own ragged breathing, but she thought the sounds were getting closer. It was something big.

Suddenly it crashed through the branches and whipped around to stand in front of her. The moonlight gleamed in its glossy fur. Its eyes were a burning amber.

Terrified, Ainsley tried to wrench the words out of her mind again.

“Sub…subsento…subsisto lupis mutatim!”

Nothing.

She had tripped over the words and now she was going to die.

As Ainsley prayed it would be quick, the wolf before her melted into human form.

Erik.

Ainsley’s knees went weak with relief and she began to sink to the ground, shivering as the cold rain finally caught up with her.

Quick as a thought, Erik’s strong arms were around her. For a moment, Ainsley allowed herself to rest her head on his warm chest.

“Ainsley, what happened?”

“I- I- Clive…” The words just wouldn’t come.

“It’s okay, you can tell me later, just try to relax.”

She sank against Erik again and tried to get her head together. In a few hundred heartbeats she began to feel better.

It dawned on her that he was naked. There was an incredible heat radiating off him. It soaked down to her bones and made her feel sleepy and exhilarated at the same time.

Although she knew she could probably explain everything now – and that it was imperative to do so, before Clive found them – she didn’t really want to let Erik go.

His arms felt like a fortress and his woodsy, masculine scent enveloped her. She felt that days or lifetimes could pass while she lost herself in his warm embrace.

With regret, she tore her head from his chest again and stole a glance around.

Her heart almost stopped. It was like they had gone back in time.

They were standing in front of the sycamore tree. The old tree fort was still mostly intact. The creek rushed by, swollen by the storm, frothing and bubbling over the rocky bed.

She had run without knowing where she was going and ended up here.

Wrenching her mind away from that thought, Ainsley looked Erik in the eyes.

“I was trying to choose Clive as the alpha.” She had to look away. “But I found out something awful about him. And when I asked him to leave he said he was going to be alpha and he tried to…um, force me.”

A low growl emanated from deep within Erik’s powerful chest.

“What did you do?” Erik’s face was incredulous.

“I hit him with my old softball trophy. And then I…”

How was she going to tell him about the spell? Wolves and Magic didn’t mix. She couldn’t risk turning Erik against her.

“Someone’s coming,” Erik said, before she could continue. “Ainsley, you need to shift.”

She gazed up at him mutely.

“Ainsley, you need to shift
right now
.”

“I – I can’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know how.”

“What do you mean you don’t know how? The same way you always do!”

“I mean…I’ve never shifted before.”

He stared at her in confusion. Suddenly, he lifted his nose to the wind, and the confused look disappeared.

“There’s no time to talk about this. There’s more than one wolf coming. I’ll shift to fight them. You run!”

Ainsley remembered the crazy look in Clive’s eyes.

“No, Erik, you can’t – they’ll tear you apart. We need to hide.”

C
live thundered
down the stairs and burst out the back door into the rain, but that dumb bitch was nowhere to be seen.

Although he wanted nothing more than to smash through the woods and catch her, he forced himself to be smart. A good cop calls for backup. Especially when the perp has a weapon.

And Ainsley certainly had a weapon. He wasn’t really sure what it was but the thought of what she had done scared him. Clive didn’t like to be scared.

He jogged around to the front of the house and realized he was naked.

Fuck. There was no time to get dressed.

He spied flowery blanket draped over a sofa on the front porch. After a quick sniff of the air to make sure none of the neighbors were around, he slunk onto the porch and wrapped the blanket around his waist. It wouldn’t do to have the good people of Tarker’s Hollow see their sheriff running around buck-naked.

Satisfied, he trotted down the street a ways to where a non-descript Malibu waited. He rapped on the roof, making the two guys inside jump out of their shoes.

Classic.

The driver’s side window slid down. The two kids inside were grinning widely.

“Hey, man, did you do it?” Justin asked.

“No, get out, NOW.”

Clive didn’t have time for these two jokers, but they were all he had. The two omegas were eager to please and didn’t ask a bunch of stupid questions – they were just glad to be recognized by a high-ranking beta.

He thought he had been pretty smart to send them into the house ahead of time on Ainsley’s Neighborly.com ad. That way they knew the layout and could help if things got sticky once he got started.

He never thought she’d get out of the house.

Will scrambled out the passenger side and Justin hopped over the hood to join him on the sidewalk, slipping on the wet surface and hitting his ass pretty hard on the way down.

Clive pretended not to notice, though he wanted to cuff the kid. Instead, he strode purposefully to the back of the house. The omegas scampered after him.

“What happened?” Justin asked, trying to shield his eyes from the downpour.

“She did something to me and I can’t change,” he thundered.

“I hear that happens to a lot of guys!” Justin blurted and began giggling. Will smiled down at his feet.

The frustrated rage that had been brewing in Clive’s chest boiled over. He changed in a joint popping instant and snarled viciously.

The kids took a hint at least and changed on the spot, shredding their clothes.

Clive headed into the woods, his nose filled with Ainsley’s scent. She reeked of fear and flowers. It was goddamned delicious.

The rain felt great to his heated body. It ran in rivulets off his glossy topcoat, leaving his soft undercoat nice and dry. It made it a little harder to track, of course, but Clive was a legendary tracker. That was part of what made him such a great cop.

Ainsley’s scent led him deeper into the trees. Every couple hundred feet his tracking would be verified by a wet pink sliver of her dress. They looked like little pink cunts, wiggling in the rain, teasing and beckoning to him.

He growled in excitement.

When he found Ainsley Connor he would pin her down and fuck her to pieces before forcing her to choose him. Once that was done he’d let the boys finish her off.

If they did a good enough job helping him catch her, maybe he’d let them have some fun with her first.

B
efore Erik could think
, Ainsley had him by the hand and was pulling him upstream.

Her small hand was cold and slippery in his, but the throbbing of her blood called to him and he followed. Her dress had been torn half away. It was hard to concentrate on the wolves behind them when he could see so much of her pale skin.

What had Clive done?

It made his blood boil, but he didn’t dare let himself change after seeing the fear in her eyes a few minutes ago.

Suddenly, Ainsley was pulling him into their cave. He let her hand slip in disbelief and she reached back and dragged him into the darkness with a strength he didn’t know she had.

“Ainsley, this is crazy! There’s no way out – we’ll be trapped.”

He tried to push past her, but she grabbed him and held him close.

The simple gesture melted his heart and he wrapped his arms around her.

He liked how big and powerful his arms felt when her small, soft form was between them. Her exquisite smell filled his nose. It was mixed with an intoxicating cocktail of pine and rain and blood.

Erik felt his body begin to respond to hers. It was totally inappropriate after what she’d just experienced. Desperately, he tried to restrain his thoughts, but when she sighed and snuggled closer he could feel her rock hard nipples pressing his chest through what was left of the dress.

She’s just cold
, he told himself.
She’s cold and frightened and I’m here to make her feel safe.

“Hey!” Ainsley cried joyfully, pulling back from their embrace.

Erik let go with equal measures of relief and disappointment. Ainsley was in the corner of the cave, she had an old garbage bag in her hands.

“Is this our supplies?” she asked excitedly.

Erik smiled and took a last whiff of the wet air outside the cave. The wolves were still well behind them. He could humor her for a few minutes.

“It sure looks like it.”

“We should open it!”

“Alright, but you’re freezing, come close so I can warm you.”

“What did we put in here? Do you remember?”

“Not really – but I like surprises!” he teased.

He strode over and sat. She stood above him uncertainly, then carefully lowered herself to his lap. He loved the demure way she tried to smooth her torn skirt over her legs.

She leaned back against his chest.

“You’re so warm,” she sighed.

The feel of her on him was incredible. He reveled in their closeness and tried not to let himself think about her warm thighs squirming against his lap to get comfortable.

Before he could fully enjoy the moment, she leaned forward again to open the bag. He put his hands on her hips to steady her and his wolf moaned at the suggestive position.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Everything in the cave was covered in dust and spider webs - just like the day they’d found it. He couldn’t believe that prim and proper grown-up Ainsley was rummaging through the leaves and dirt just like she had when she was ten.

Triumphantly, Ainsley pulled out a flashlight. She tried to turn it on, but of course the batteries were long dead.

“What else is in there?” Erik asked.

“Ooooh!” Ainsley held up a can of chicken soup.

“Yum – my favorite.”

“Oh, wow! How did we know we would need this?”

Ainsley pulled out a folded acrylic blanket. It was the kind that had probably cost five dollars at the drug store back when they were kids. It was still in its package wrapper.

They both stared at it for a moment in wonder.

Ainsley tried to open it but her hands were shaking.

“Let me.”

He ripped the plastic open. By some miracle the fabric was unspoiled. It was probably because there wasn’t a natural fiber in it. He unfolded the blanket and wrapped it around them.

Ainsley shivered with delight. Erik could feel her skin begin to warm as the blanket trapped his heat against her. He couldn’t resist pulling her fragrant wet tresses out of her eyes.

She smiled shyly, her lashes brushing her cheeks. It seemed like maybe she was trying not to look into his eyes.

He caught his breath as he realized why. She must be afraid she would draw his alpha. Which meant she was feeling the attraction too.

His heart thundered and he fought to stay calm. His job was to protect her. But he could feel himself hardening and tried to wish it away.

“What else is in there, Connor?” he asked, slipping into their old vernacular to distract her, and himself.

She giggled and kept digging.

“Oh, wow,” she pulled out a comic book. It was practically disintegrating.

“Do you still read those?” Erik asked.

“God, no,” she replied with her new tight smile. “I barely have time to read the Journal.”

“What’s it like up there?”

She paused and he could feel her thinking.

“It’s different,” she said simply.

They sat in silence for a moment. Erik rested his chin in the crook of her neck. Her skin was as smooth as silk. It felt like she was trying to mold herself into him.

“Do you remember when we found this place?” she finally asked.

He smiled against her hair and nodded.

“Tell me,” she demanded.

“It was hot, was it summer break?”

“Yes,” she agreed.

“It was summer and it was hot. We wanted to play in the creek but you promised your dad you wouldn’t because it was still swollen from that storm.”

She nodded.

“So, we walked along the bank, hoping for a breeze across the creek – but there were only mosquitoes.”

“Yes.”

“And then you spotted it! You ran ahead of me and started pulling branches out of the way without even thinking about what might be in here.”

“And you told me to stop because there might be snakes!”

“But you said I was chicken. So I ran right over to show I wasn’t.”

“Remember all the crap that was in there?” she asked.

“There’s plenty of crap in here now too.”

They looked around. There were piles of leaves and sticks and tons of cobwebs. But now that he could shift, it didn’t matter. He leaned his head to the opening of the cave. They had a few more minutes, maybe.

“Ainsley, when you said that you never shifted before, what did you mean?”

She went still in his arms.

“I meant that I’ve never shifted before…” She paused for a moment, considering something. “I thought I might have once, but now I’m not so sure.”

That was impossible. Everyone knew that wolves had to change at the full moon.

He listened to her heart beating steadily. She was telling the truth.

“What do you do when the moon is full?” he asked incredulously.

She turned and looked him in the eye.

“Do you really want to know?”

He nodded.

She turned back and nestled into him again.

“I told my broker that I have terrible lady problems,” she said, her voice tinged with disgust. “Every month I leave town and check into a motel in New Jersey for three days. It’s a sort of seedy, awful place. But if you make noise there no one cares.”

She paused and tucked her hair behind her ear self-consciously.

“I don’t think you want the details but you can probably imagine it’s painful.”

He was sure it was very painful. She must be strong beyond his understanding. But why undertake it? Why didn’t she just shift?

“Why do you do that? Is it so bad to be yourself?”

He could feel that he had wounded her, but he wasn’t sure how. He curled his arms even tighter around her and brushed his lips against her ear.

“I’m sorry. It’s none of my business,” he whispered.

She seemed to melt into him again.

“No, Erik, you’re my friend. You can ask anything you want-”

“Hush!” he interrupted.

His skin was tingling and he knew they were running out of time.

“Ainsley, we have to go! They’re close!”

Suddenly he felt a current of energy running through her. The hairs on his arms stood on end.

He lifted Ainsley off his lap and moved toward the mouth of the cave. They would be here any second. How had he let himself get so distracted?

He grabbed Ainsley’s hand and pulled, but she didn’t budge. When he turned to her, she wrapped him in a fierce embrace.

“I won’t let them hurt you,” she whispered.

“Ainsley, you can’t protect us. We need to run.”

“I. Won’t. Let. Them. Hurt. You.” There was iron in her voice like nothing he’d ever heard before.

Something moved in the cave. It sounded like whispers. He looked up and saw that the vines around the entrance growing and weaving together. Within a minute there wasn’t a particle of moonlight left in the cave.

“Ainsley, did you…”

“Yes,” she whispered. He could barely see her at all now, even with his enhanced vision.

“How?”

“I don’t know. I never did that before.”

He felt her tremble and knew she was going to cry. He didn’t know what to say.

“Everything is crazy here. It was bad enough to be a wolf,” she sobbed. “Now I shoot blue stuff out of my hands and…and I saw a ghost, and I just made vines grow. I just…I just want to be
normal
.”

She buried her face in his chest.

Without thinking, he lifted her off the ground.

Immediately, she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and wept like a child. After a few minutes her sobs subsided. She still clung to him fiercely.

He began to talk to her gently and stroke her hair.

“I remember a little girl who wasn’t afraid to be extraordinary. She loved comic book super heroes with amazing powers. She was a hero herself.”

Ainsley was still. She was listening. He continued.

“I think that little girl would think it was unbelievably cool that you made vines grow just now to save us - and that you can do all that other stuff. I think she would have loved to be a wolf whenever she wanted and fly through the woods and howl at the moon.”

He could hear her dimpling as she smiled.

Then he felt her fingers slide through his hair. She pulled his face to hers and brushed her lips against his so softly he was afraid he had imagined it.

The gentle kiss awoke a furious passion in him. In an instant his cock was stiff and throbbing. He struggled with his wolf for control, grabbing her face in his hands, and devouring her mouth, when what he really wanted was the tear off the rest of her dress and lay claim to every inch of her.

Ainsley gasped, then arched into him, matching his kiss and sinking her fingernails into his shoulders. Her tongue tasted like honey and the way she moaned softly into his mouth made him want to pin her to the cave floor and---

Erik pulled away quickly and put his finger across her lips.

Outside the cave he could hear Clive and the others. There were three of them. They came very close to the mouth of the cave.

Ainsley’s heart fluttered against his chest like a baby bird. She put her feet back on the ground, but he pulled her protectively into the circle of his arms.

The wolves moved away.

Just as Erik began to breath again, they circled back. Again they went past the cave’s mouth. But Erik knew they had caught the scent and it would only be a matter of time.

“We’re going to have to make a run for it,” he breathed into Ainsley’s ear. “If you can’t change then I’ll carry you on my back.”

“Won’t that slow you down?”

“I’m fast.”

“How fast?”

“Really fast,” he whispered with more confidence than he felt.

“One way to find out!” she whispered back.

He felt her smile against his cheek and his heart drummed.

“Hold on tight,” he said. “And whatever happens, don’t let go.”

Erik eyed the mouth of the cave and prepared to shift.