Their Alpha Bitch (12 page)

A knock at the door brought a tray of food, and Dune insisted that she eat as Gant built up the fire for the night. When she was fed and warm, Gant sat on the edge of the bed while Dune held her in his arms, gently stroking her bare shoulder comfortingly. “What happened?”

She sighed and closed her eyes. ”Sheba left the compound while everyone was busy cleaning the area. I had hoped to get her alone to talk to her…maybe find out what is going through her mind.” She snuggled deeper into Dune’s embrace. “But once she was out of sight, she took off fast, and I followed without thinking how dangerous it was. Before I realized where she was headed, I was way outside Dumont territory.” She met Gant’s eyes. “She entered a huge ravine after breaking from tree cover, and I stopped because I realized she was probably headed back to report to Draga. She wasn’t out for a walk. She knew where she was going.”

“Go on…” Gant breathed softly.

“I turned to return to the compound, and found myself face to face with a loner I had never seen before, and his brother caught me to stop me from running like hell.”

Dune’s low growl and the look on Gant’s handsome face had her fighting to calm both of them. “Stop that! They realized who I was, and knew I was pregnant. Neither of them made so much as an indecent move toward me. When they told me that Draga had offered them a place in his pack, but that they had refused, I offered them and their brothers a place with us. We could certainly use some strong fighters, and Lance and Blade Yellowhorse look pretty damn strong. Was I wrong to make that offer?”

Gant lifted both brows. “I didn’t know they were so close to us. They haven’t been near Dumont territory for over five years.” He seemed thoughtful. “No, sweet thing…you did the right thing…but it was foolhardy of you to follow Sheba away from safety. Other loners might have attacked you, or Vincent’s men may have caught you.” His dark eyes searched her face. She knew what he was waiting to hear.

“Gant…when they escorted me safely back to the woods outside the compound, I gave each of them a kiss to thank them. I thought nothing of it because humans hug and kiss to show gratitude and friendship. And to be very honest, I felt I owed them a great amount of gratitude for their protection.”

Dune growled again, and she turned her head to glare at him. He frowned and groused, “That’s a bit more than gratitude. Sounds like someone took advantage of your
gratitude
.” His tone was more than sarcastic. It was accusatory.

Kenna pulled away from Dune and slipped out of bed, picking up her robe and pulling it on. Gant stared at her quietly, as if looking at a different woman than the one who had shared his bed. She turned to face them and sighed. “I was the one to offer a kiss. No one took advantage of me. I felt it was desperately needed at the moment, and you’ll just have to trust me. Kissing a lonely male and comforting him is not a symptom of an unfaithful mate.” She gazed into angry eyes, and sighed. “I’m going to sleep in my old room. When the three of you grow up, come talk to me.”

She got three steps before Gant caught her arm. “Oh, no, you don’t, Kenna.” His voice was a low growl. ”You sleep with your mates. Do you
wish
to be punished?” His voice was deep and angry, and his eyes were almost black. She shivered and strained to loosen his grip.

“
Punished?
Are you going to beat me?” Her voice was tight with indignation. “You know that if you lay a hand on me, I’ll tear it off!”

“I have no wish to hurt you, Kenna…but you
will
stay in this bed.” His tone and the way he let his eyes taste every inch of her left her in no doubt about his intentions.

“You kissed another male…” Dune’s voice was a deep rumble.

Kenna shook her head and glared up at them. “You are deliberately misreading what happened. Get over this petty male macho bullshit and understand that I have a brain and I know how to use it! I did what I felt was needed to settle a debt…a debt of
honor
. Of course, that’s something you big apes wouldn’t understand.”

“
You
belong to us. If you wish to see another male torn to shreds by your mates, kiss him in
gratitude
. Do
you
understand?” The jealousy bled from Dune’s pores.

Kenna struggled against their hands. “Am I or am I not the alpha bitch of this pack? Why should others have any respect for me if my own mates don’t? I’ll sleep in the room I had before I left. You don’t own me…none of you. I stayed as your mate because I thought you needed me. There will be no punishment, because I did nothing wrong. Don’t expect me to act like some little cowering wolf-bitch because you three can’t handle reality. These aren’t the middle ages. Men don’t own women. And men who can’t trust a woman don’t deserve to have her.”

* * * * *

Mace stepped into the big bedroom, his anger having been extinguished by a hard run in wolf form. His eyes slid to the bed, then to his brothers, who sat staring at each other across the coffee table before the fireplace. “Where’s Kenna?”

Gant lifted one dark brow. “She’s banned us from her bed until we grow brains.”

Mace glanced at Dune as the youngest sibling spoke. “She’s sleeping in her old room. And I wouldn’t go there right now, if you want to keep your dick firmly attached. She’s pissed as all hell at the three of us.”

“What? She weighs about 120? You couldn’t control a small female?”

Gant shook his head. “You’re welcome to go try to talk her into coming back to sleep with us…it’s your funeral.”

Mace swung around and headed for Kenna’s old bedroom, hearing them wish him luck as he strode down the hall to drag their mate back to her proper place.

Kenna heard him coming, and frowned as he tried to open her locked door. “Go away. I don’t want to see your face.”

The door crashed inward and the broken lock flew halfway across the room. She glared at the angry male from her chair beside the window. “You’ll have to fix that. Are you happy?”

He crossed the room in three long strides, and swung her up into his arms so quickly, she gasped in shock. “Put me down, Mace. I’m so damn angry, you don’t want to open your fly anywhere near me.”

His green eyes narrowed on her furious face. “What the fuck is your problem, woman? Since when do you decide to refuse your mates your body?”

“Since my “mates” decided I was some kind of slut for being nice to people. I said,
put me down
!” She flashed to wolf form and snapped at him as he swore loudly and dropped her. She snarled at him when he stepped closer, and he cursed.

“Dammit, Kenna! You could have hurt yourself and the pups! Stop being stupid and come back to our bed.”

Lay a hand on me, “mate” and you’ll lose it.

“You are being obstinate and ridiculous. You will come back to our bed, or…”

Or what? You and Gant and Dune will beat me? Stop with the macho shit. If you don’t want what I am for your alpha bitch, then let me leave. I will not sleep with three assholes who don’t trust me. Go find one of the unmated bitches and fuck her!

Mace drew a shaking breath. “We don’t want any other female. We want
you
…”

Kenna jumped up on the narrow bed and curled up to sleep.
Well, I don’t want you.

Pride smarting and body at the boiling point, Mace left the house to run again, and heard his brothers as they joined him.

Great job of getting our mate back into our bed, bro.

Shut the fuck up, Dune.

As far as I’m concerned, I’d rather grovel and beg forgiveness than sleep without her.

I refuse to grovel and beg for the privilege of sleeping with a female. There are too many females who are willing.

But not one of them fires your blood like Kenna does, asshole. I’m with Dune. I plan to crawl to that female and beg. And I’ll be damn happy to take your place as her first, brother.

Mace snarled viciously and nearly knocked Gant over as he plowed into his older brother’s side.

Like fucking hell!

Then stop your whining and go with us when we beg her forgiveness. I, for one, will not lose the one female among the packs that can bring us back together.

You really believe that Kenna is the one?

Gant eased back and sank to his belly in the deep grass, panting.

Our parents believed it. And the bitch shows so many of the traits, it has to be true.

Well, great alpha…she’s always had me by the balls…and I know Mace has always had the hots for her, too. I can’t make it another day without having her close enough to touch. I vote we get our collective asses back to the house and grovel.

Mace glared at his younger sibling, but for the life of him, he couldn’t find the desire in him to disagree. He needed Kenna like he needed to breathe…and no other bitch would ever satisfy the deep searing need she filled in him.

Chapter Twelve

“Well, well, well…” The husky voice that brought her up from sleep did not belong to any of her mates. Kenna knew that voice well, and she tried to fight free of the strong hands that held her flat on the mattress.

“How’d you get in the house?” she managed to squeak through the hand that covered her mouth.

“It was so fucking easy to get past the guards. Most of them probably didn’t even know the root cellar in the basement connects to the fruit cellar a few yards from the main house by a tunnel.” Jarred Kennard’s sharp-toothed grin left her feeling sick inside.

“My mates will tear you apart!”

Narrowed eyes met hers as he forced his body harder between her bare legs, and she realized that he was as naked as she.
“Get off me!”
She tried to buck his heavy body off, but only succeeded in widening her legs enough to allow his hard cock to press against her pussy lips. She gasped and tried to close her legs.

He laughed softly and lowered more weight until she was totally pinned under him. “It was kind of Gant and his brothers to go for a run and leave the house. How do you like the idea of having a real wolf fucking you, Kenna? I guarantee you won’t need those three to satisfy you. I’ll be glad to keep you full of thick, long cock, sweet thing. I’ll show you what a
real
alpha can do to your lovely body…”

She froze and tried to think calmly. Surely Vincent and his assassins knew she carried pups. He could not impregnate her, but he could harm her babies if he forced himself on her. “If you touch me, I’ll tear your cock off and feed it to you. And Gant, Mace and Dune will tear the rest of your foul corpse apart, piece by piece.”

He chuckled softly, and licked her cheek as she turned her face away with a shudder of revulsion. “So bloodthirsty! It will be a pleasure to fuck you, Kenna. So tight and full. It would be a shame if I was forced to damage your pups to get what I want from you…”

She knew that if she shifted, he could also shift and easily kill her, but to simply lie there and allow him to do anything he wanted to her and her babies was not an option. She had to distract the bastard enough to allow her to shift and get to his throat before he reciprocated.

In spite of the need to vomit, Kenna arched her body and moaned, her eyes dropping half-closed. “You feel so good, Jarred…so hot. You’re making me so horny…”

The look on his face would have made her laugh had the situation not been so dire. The heavy cock pressing against her pubes stiffened even more as she ran her tongue up the side of his face, and groaned. “So hot…”

His excitement caused him to release her face as both hands skimmed down her body to cup her ass. And her shift was swift and lethal as her teeth pushed against his throat and she grabbed his windpipe in her jaws.

* * * * *

As the brothers neared the compound, and the body of one of the younger protectors came into sight where he had fallen beside the open gates, Gant howled in fury as they raced across the compound and shifted only long enough to open the locked doors with the key from his discarded jeans pocket. “Kenna!” Mace’s voice was raw as he shouted loud enough to wake the rest of the sleeping household, before he shifted again and raced up the stairs to the bedroom  that Kenna had chosen to sleep in.

The smell of blood hit his nose, and he crashed headlong through the half-open door, his siblings on his heels. The sight was enough to stop him so quickly, Gant plowed into his ass, and Dune fell over them both.

Kenna sat against the headboard, a pillow clutched against her belly…while the blood-soaked body of a naked male lay face down across the comforter and open bedding. Mace shifted, as did his brothers, and she looked up, her eyes filled with tears. Shocked murmurs filled the room as others rushed into the room behind them.

Mace was the first to reach the bed, lunging over the corpse of Jarred Kennard to pull his trembling mate into shaking arms, his voice broken as he begged her to speak to him. “Kenna, baby…did he hurt you? Were there others?” He turned and shouted, “How the fuck did the bastard get into this house! Find out…now!”

The grisly remains of the second eldest Kennard brother were removed quickly, while others quietly worked to remove the bloody bedding as Mace lifted her from the bed and Gant wrapped her naked body in a clean sheet that one of the household help handed him.

“Please, baby…talk to me?” Mace buried his face in her throat and fought to keep from bursting into tears. Dune went into the bathroom and turned the shower on, then motioned his brothers to bring her.

Kenna had killed Jarred Kennard. She had torn his throat out. The taste of his blood sickened her as she stared down at his thick blood coursing over her mattress. This had to end…she couldn’t handle any more of the fear and the bloodshed. Alpha bitch or not, she was not ready for this horror! Vincent and his lieutenants had to be stopped. That he had killed someone to gain access to the inner compound was a certainty. She wondered who had to die to satisfy the bastard’s blood lust.