Alphas Gone Wild Read online

  “Hey,” she hissed, writhing so the muscles of her backside bunched and her tail flexed. He got hard just watching her squirm. “This wasn’t part of the plan!”

  “Plans change,” Jared said. He swatted her rump once hard for the simple pleasure of watching her jump. Then he carried her into the bathroom and shoved the door closed for the little privacy it afforded.

  “Put me down, you Cromag wolfman.” She threatened him with the glide of claws across his bare back. Jared didn’t flinch. He trusted her—more than she did him. It wasn’t a wise choice, but he obeyed his instincts.

  Hefting her off his shoulder, he set her down, placing her feet firm on the tile floor. He exhaled hard so his nostrils flared. He looked down at her and remained silent, thinking hard. She claimed to trust him. How much? Fuck, he loathed having to destroy any of her hard-earned trust.

  Josie’s eyes grew round, and she backed away from him, staring with a fearful expression. “Jared? Okay, now you’re scaring me for real…”

  He held up his hands in a staying gesture. “Josie, would you do something for me? Please? Just once do as I ask without a thousand questions and arguments.” Out of desperation, he attempted to use his wolf to soothe her, allowing his power to flow across her tense frame. It was risky. His attempts to treat her as a submissive wolf tended to provoke a negative reaction from her.

  She stopped retreating just before she ran out of bathroom. “What?” she asked. Her mysterious cat mind was philosophical. To trust? Not to trust? That was the question.

  “Shift fully to human,” Jared said. He waited. Time passed and he realized she wouldn’t do it for him. Her half-cat, half-human form was her armor.

  Trust had been a mirage in their personal desert.

  Frustrated, he closed his eyes, sorting possibilities and attempting to revise his escape plans into some kind of workable strategy. The odds of getting out and keeping Josie alive in the process seemed insurmountable without her cooperation.

  “Jared?”

  He opened his eyes and found her in human form. She held her head high and stood with her back straight, enduring his inspection. She was petite and whip-thin with high pretty breasts and a tiny waist. Her skin was a dusky mocha, and her short black hair sleek and shiny. The clunky gold collar around her neck contrasted with her refined beauty.

  “Josie, you’re gorgeous,” Jared said. He beckoned her to him, not bothering to conceal his arousal. “Why don’t you want me seeing you like this?” As a rule, shapechangers had no taboos about nudity and little personal modesty.

  His cat took three nervous steps forward, entering the circle of his arms of her own free will. “I feel…exposed.”

  “You’re gonna need to stay like this for my plan to work. Just remember, stay human no matter what. They’ll know you’re not dead if you shift,” Jared said, reaching for her throat with his hands.

  “Plan? What plan?” she asked. Her pulse accelerated but then settled as he fumbled with the collar, working the combination lock so that it snapped open. Jared pulled the hated thing from her neck and then tossed it into the trash.

  Josie blinked, her breath hitched, and her blue eyes glimmered with unshed tears. Jared ran his fingers over the red indentation the tight collar had left on her delicate flesh.

  “Never again, Josie Cat,” he promised. “No one will ever put a collar on you again.”

  Josie reacted with something between a meow and a growl. Then her small hands were between them—insistent and urgent—tugging at the fastening of his pants. She ripped open the button fly, freeing his cock, which sprang into her open palm. Her fingers wrapped around his pulsing rod, and she squeezed hard enough to make him gasp.

  “Fuck, Josie,” he snarled. His eyes flashed with pent up aggression. “I don’t want gratitude sex.”

  “Jared.” She flashed small, sharp teeth and her hand imprisoned his cock. Her other slipped between his legs to cup his balls. She had him; oh, she had him good. “Don’t be an ass. Shut up and enjoy the fucking blow job.”

  She bent her head and he ground his teeth, expecting the punishing nip of her feline teeth, and yet he made no move to shove her away. He definitely trusted her more than she did him.

  Her silken tongue passed over the head of his cock, tasting the pre-cum beading there, as the tip delved into his slit. She worked him with her hands, fisting his shaft and massaging his balls.

  Josie’s mouth closed on the head of his cock and Jared’s last coherent thought went south. He moaned and rocked his hips in rhythm with her hands and mouth. His wolf longed to bypass the light stuff and plunge his entire shaft down her throat until his scrotum seized.

  The violence of his urges scared him. Bending, Jared pried Josie from his cock, freeing first her mouth then her hands.

  “Jared, what’s wrong?” She sounded confused and maybe hurt.

  “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just too close. I want to be inside you when I come,” he assured her, hauling her up his body. His hands gripped her buttocks, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. It was strange to feel her smooth skin against his. No fur; no tail.

  Damn, he missed her tail.

  Being careful with her required a great deal of effort and caused his hands to sweat. With all of the strength and precision he could muster, Jared guided the head of his cock to the entrance of her tender pussy; he must not be rough. He fumbled a bit, negotiating angles of entry and depth. Got in an inch, then two, then withdrew.

  “Stupid wolf,” Josie hissed. With a sinuous twist of her hips, she rose and sank down on his shaft. Half in, she wailed. Jared felt his eyes cross and his heart tried to leave his chest.

  “Tight, so fucking tight,” he managed, and it was all he could do to hold on and remain still while Josie negotiated his cock. The werecat was so tiny he feared splitting her in two. The urge to fuck her as hard as he could—to see if he could—terrified him.

  Josie dug into his shoulders with her fingernails, drawing blood, and she came down on him again with a look of fierce determination. She rocked her hips and sank until fully impaled, mewling in mixed pleasure and pain.

  She did not give herself time to adjust. She rode him, rising and falling with tiny thrusts. Her taut pussy tugged his cock, causing Jared more torment than satisfaction. Somehow she pushed him right to the edge of darkness and then over.

  His control slipped, and he started to change, transforming into a wolf. His teeth lengthened and sharpened into incisors, and his fingers grew about two inches, most of it claw. His eyes turned gold, and his muscles rippled, and bones threatened to crack. Every part of him lengthened and thickened with the change. The silver bracelets cut into his flesh, causing his wrists to bleed. A howl rose from his throat: the proud, confident song of a dominant wolf.

  In his arms, Josie froze and watched wide-eyed as he struggled to regain control. He slipped far enough to be more animal than man, and then managed to halt the transformation. His cock no longer fit inside her sweet pussy, even though the head was against her cervix. He had inches left and nowhere to go unless he rammed into her womb, and the temptation was unbearable. It was all he could do to hold onto his humanity.

  Josie panted and sweated, shaking with reaction to the strain. Every inch of her pussy was stretched around him. Her small human hands clung to him, but it was his strength alone controlling the depth of his penetration. Jared expected Josie to react with disgust or fear and to flip out on him at any second. Instead, she gazed up at him with awe. A smile lit her face.

  Jared shifted his hold on her ass, being ever so careful not to nick her soft skin with his claws. He lowered his head, inhaling the scent of her skin and her sex. Cat. Companion. Friend. Lover. Mate. How the hell would he ever explain her to his parents?

  “Fuck me, Wolfy. Fuck me hard,” Josie teased, pressing a kiss to the underside of his throat. For a wolf, it was a sign of submission.

  Howling loud enough to raise the roof, Jared surged
against Josie’s core, eliciting a scream from the werecat as his cock slammed her pussy. He took her with powerful thrusts, claiming her in the most primal way possible. He stood with his head thrown back and his hands supporting her buttocks, maintaining a precarious balance. His hips undulated, driving the rhythm and the pleasure that defied reason.

  Josie held her own, demonstrating a sinuous limberness. Her ankles were locked across the small of his back; her powerful thighs gripped his hips. She slid along his length, owning him, redefining the very act of copulation. Together, grunting and sweaty, they strained until Josie climaxed with a long wail of pleasure.

  The second before his balls tightened, Jared turned his face into the curve of Josie’s neck. He snarled, and his teeth flashed, ripping out the side of her throat. Her blood burned his mouth. She tasted of copper and sex and life and death. Her body convulsed with inseparable pain and pleasure as blood gushed from the wound. Jared threw back his head to release a triumphant howl and then everything went white hot as his climax crested.

  Jared left Josie in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor. She lay on her back with her hands clutched to her torn flesh. Her breathing was fast and shallow, and her heartbeat labored. Cheeks wet with tears, her expression was one of pain and despair. He’d done worse than rip out her throat, he’d broken her heart.

  He sank to one knee beside her, leaning over to whisper into her ear. “Don’t shift until I’m gone.” He did not apologize for being a bastard; the anger would keep her strong. The cat glared at him with baleful eyes, accusing him of being a wretched traitor. The worst part? She had been right from the beginning.

  He washed in the sink and then went to the outer cell area to dress, leaving the door wide open behind him.. The black leather pants and boots were skin tight and not something he would have chosen, but he pulled them on anyway.

  Jared finished rubbing the oil onto his chest and shoulders, giving up on his back with a shrug. So what if the fang gang was disappointed because every inch of him wasn’t shiny? In an hour, they would have much bigger concerns. Jared had picked up the studded leather collar to examine when Carl entered the basement. As predicted, there were two vampires with him—Evangeline and a strange male. Both of the leeches picked up on the blood scent.

  “Smells like a fresh kill,” the male vampire commented, sniffing with interest. “Evangeline, you never said you were feeding your wolf live food.” As he spoke, his eyes flared and his fangs elongated with arousal.

  “Jared, you finally ate her.” Evangeline smiled. The vampire wore a black gown, and her chestnut hair was pinned up in an old-fashioned hairstyle.

  “I didn’t leave enough for you,” Jared informed the male vampire. He deliberately did not look back, ignoring the body in the bathroom.

  Carl stared at Jared with disbelief and maybe disappointment. “I didn’t think you’d really do it,” Carl mumbled, staring toward the bathroom.

  Jared shrugged. “Payback’s a bitch. She had it coming, and she’d served her purpose.”

  “I couldn’t be more pleased,” Evangeline said, running her hand across Jared’s bare chest. He endured her molestation for the moment.

  The human servant regarded the wolf for the longest time. The stench of Carl’s fear was thick in the air. “You gonna take me up?” Jared asked, cocking his brow.

  “You gonna keep your word?” Carl asked, digging a finger into the neckline of his shirt to vent his sweaty throat.

  “His word on what?” the male vampire asked.

  “He promised to behave.”

  “Of course he’ll behave,” Evangeline said, shoving Carl toward the cell door.

  Jared smiled and showed fang. He no longer bothered to hide his power, allowing it to rise to the surface and fill the space. He dominated everything around him, including the vampire. Evangeline’s susceptibility to his sway made it almost too easy. “I always keep my word. Just ask her.” Jared indicated Josie. “I promised I’d make her pay.”

  Carl recoiled and opened the cell door with shaking hands. The human made way for the werewolf, cringing and skulking, displaying subservient behavior. Jared decided then to let the man live. There were too few creatures who knew their place.

  Carl started to swing the cell door shut. “Leave it,” Jared commanded. The human looked at him and then walked away from the door.

  Jared cast one final glance over his shoulder at Josie. He hesitated and then gathered his resolve, ascending the stairs two at a time. The vampires followed him up.

  Jared’s betrayal hurt worse than the wound to her throat. Josephine remained supine and motionless with a hand pressed to her throat, staunching the blood. The bite wound was low and close to the shoulder. He had missed the vital areas higher up.

  Don’t shift until I’m gone.

  His final words to her were more real than the voices not too distant outside the cell. She heard Jared and others, but they might as well have been on another world. She focused on the sound and registered his hurtful words.

  Payback’s a bitch. She had it coming.

  Tears flowed down Josephine’s cheeks. God, how could she have been so stupid? How could she be so naive to think for a second that the bastard had forgiven her betrayal? Her willingness to believe his lies demonstrated the extent of her weakness and neediness.

  For unknown reasons, Josephine obeyed Jared and remained still, not shapechanging until the voices had grown distant, indicating they were heading upstairs.

  Then she gathered her strength and rolled to the side. Free of the imprisoning collar, she slipped from her human form into feline. Unlike a werewolf, her metamorphosis was not a horrifying, bone cracking thing. Her cat flowed across her skin as fast and easy as water.

  The magic transformed her flesh, and her throat was healed when the change completed. Blood saturated her fur, but the flesh beneath was whole. Later she would be voracious, but she was otherwise unharmed.

  As a cat, Josephine weighed no more than eleven pounds. Her registered pedigree was as a seal point Siamese, which meant her points were black and her body cream-colored. She fit between the bars of the cage and ran for the stairs. Free at last!

  Carl waited at the top of the staircase. Jared came up behind the human, and the vampires followed the werewolf.

  “Party is through there,” Carl said, pointing the way. “You need anything else from me?”

  “No, I’m good,” Jared said. His hands turned to claws.

  Carl stank of fear. With a final look, he turned and ran, departing without a word.

  The vampires reached the top of the stairs. “What’s going on?” Evangeline demanded, suspicious of Carl’s abrupt departure.

  “I think he said something about an appointment with God.” Jared turned and swung his arm in an upward arch, coming in low and fast. His claw punctured Evangeline’s gut before the vampire spoke another word.

  “You should have followed your instincts and left me alone,” Jared told her. His lips curled back in a snarl, and his eyes glowed golden. The werewolf shoved his forearm deeper into the vampire’s abdomen as Evangeline gaped at him in disbelief. Her flesh was thin and brittle so it was like ripping through tissue paper. Jared’s claw located the vampire’s heart. It was hard and shriveled and did not beat. He pierced it with his claws, dragging out the excruciating execution.

  “I am Alpha of the Roanoke Pack,” he snarled into Evangeline’s horrified face, speaking around protruding teeth. He stared into her eyes, making sure she understood who she had screwed with. Only when he saw comprehension on her face did he yank his claw from her chest, ripping her shriveled heart from her body. Screaming, Evangeline exploded into dust.

  The shocked male vampire reacted, hissing and sporting fangs. He swung at the dust cloud and hit Jared in the shoulder with a random punch. Arms raised, Jared plowed straight through the dust, using it for cover. Werewolf claws caught the vampire in the throat, cutting deep incisions through flesh and bone. The beheaded corpse coll
apsed in upon itself, sending up a second cloud of ash.

  Jared emerged sneezing from the cloud and snorted, trying to blow vampire dust from his nose. His eyes were irritated and watering. He grabbed hold of the silver bracelet on his right arm and twisted the band until it broke. Then he did the same with the other.

  A scurrying sound caught his attention, and he glanced down in time to catch a glimpse of a slender Siamese cat as she shot past his feet. Jared paused to watch Josie flee, figuring it was the last time he’d ever see his cat. She was free and alive. If he died in the coming fight with the other vampires, then his honor remained intact, though sullied.

  Once past him, she stopped to stare back. The elegant creature was long and thin in profile. Shifting had healed the wound on her throat. “You’re smaller than I expected,” he said with a smirk. Josie laid her ears flat. He did not apologize.

  A shout came from the end of the hallway, and Jared turned, seeing three more vampires coming toward him. A roar resounded from his chest, challenging the vampires to fight. His pants split at the seams, falling from his body. Jared allowed the transformation to take him, embracing his very angry wolf.

  He cast one final glance at Josephine, but she was gone. Howling at the top of his lungs, he charged into battle.

  Josephine slunk through the parking lot, moving unnoticed beneath the vehicles. In the distance, screams and angry growls carried well through the clear night air. More than one pair of feet ran past her hiding spot and once a car sped through the lot.

  She came upon a pair of familiar feet beside a battered white pickup truck. It was Carl, making a lot of noise as he fumbled with a rifle, attempting to load rounds into the chamber. His hands shook, and he dropped a handful of bullets.

  A silver bullet rolled to a stop in front of Josephine. Carl stooped to pick up his dropped ammunition, and Josephine froze. She had chosen a hiding spot right behind the left rear tire. If Carl looked close enough, he was sure to see her.