The Alpha's Pulse (Paranormal Shifter Werewolf Romance) (4 page)

Chapter 4

The man stared at Elissa so hard it made her skin crawl. He had tried to talk to her before and she had kept silent.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” He touched her face, and Elissa snatched away from him.

“The quiet type, huh? That’s okay. I don't need your voice.”

Elissa looked around her, trying to remember everything she saw. If she got out she would be able to tell the authorities where she was and what the man looked like.

She pulled at the handcuffs on her wrists. She was in a dingy room. An old cot and a toilet was all that was there. It was hard for her to see being that the only light was a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

She was scared out of her mind. What was this man going to do to her?

Keep it together Elissa. Don’t let him see your fear. Just keep it together until you can find your way out of here.

Her pep talk almost worked until she realized she didn’t know where here was. Panic began to rise in her throat. She swallowed it in one gulp.

Panic won't get you out. Keep a clear head.

She needed to know what he planned for her. She needed answers.

“What do you plan to do with me?”

“Oh, sweetheart, lots of things.” He was sitting in a metal fold up chair with his legs crossed. “I’m not going to kill you if that’s what you're worried about. But hurting you, now that's an entirely different matter. If you even think about trying to escape, well, I can't make too many promises. So be a good girl and do as you're told." He leaned forward and his cold eyes flickered. "Oh, your precious Vance won't find you here either. So don’t count on a heroic rescue.”

At the mention of Vance, Elissa’s head whipped around. “How do you know him?”

“Let's just say we go way back.” He got up and approached. “You are a very special woman.” His finger ran along her face. Its soft touch made her skin crawl and the way he looked at her made her want to vomit.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He never answered. The door opened and a man in hospital scrubs came in.

“Ah, Whitley, there you are.” Her captor turned around.

The scrubbed man nodded. “I’m here for the sample, sir.”

The man waved his hand toward her and the doctor came in her direction. Elissa started yanking on the cuffs, moving around the small cot, trying to get as far away from the doctor as she could.

He captor was on her in a second. “Hold still beautiful, this will only hurt a little bit.”

A needle slid into her arm and Elissa cried out from the pain. She looked down and saw a vial being filled with her blood. Tears immediately came to her eyes. Why her? Why was this happening to her?

The doctor moved away from her and she scrambled away from her captor. “Don’t touch me again. I will fucking kill you, you bastard.”

The laugh that came out of his mouth was chilling. And the pain that followed brought stars. The slap across her face left her cheek throbbing. Strong fingers gripped her chin and tilted her face up. She couldn't look away from those cold eyes even if she wanted to.

“Kill me? You?" He sneered. "You humans are such funny creatures. I'll put this in simple words even you can understand. This stay of yours can be pleasant or it can be hell. The choice is up to you.”

He turned to Whitley and started rolling up his sleeve.

What the hell? Is he going to inject my blood?
She thought.

“I’m only going to give you a small dosage until we see what the effects of the blood are.” Whitley said.

Elissa couldn’t believe her eyes. What was all this about? How could her blood have any effect on someone?

“You don’t know who you are, do you?”

“I know exactly who I am.”

“Wrong.” He pulled his sleeve down and flexed his fist as Whitely injected him with Elissa's blood. “Your blood. I can feel it already.”

The man’s eyes rolled in the back of his head as if he were high.

“So special.” He whispered. His head rolled around until he was looking right at her. This time she knew she wasn’t seeing things. The man’s eyes were glowing. A bright gold. She had seen the same glowing from Vance and the two men who attacked her.

“What the hell are you?”

He walked around the room, looking at her as if prey. “I am unlike anything you have ever seen before. That is if my buddy Vance hasn’t spilled the beans already.”

“What are you talking about?”

He walked over to the door. “The world you live in is a fairy tale, sweetheart.” He unbuttoned her shirt slowly. “The sooner you realize that the better.”

***

Vance sat in the front of the SUV. It was parked just outside the Wilkos compound. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. He was ready to attack, but knew barging in was not smart. Better to do things right the first time. Unlike his pack, which stayed together, the Wilkos pack stayed in groups scattered around land of about a hundred acres. The most prominent living closer together to the main house.

His head of security John stepped out and drew a deep breath in the night air. “Smells like the whole damn pack. They must have her hidden somewhere. I can't get a whiff of her.”

“If she’s not here then someone inside knows where she is. They’ll talk.”

John nodded. "I'll make them sing."

Vance and his men, twenty of his best, moved on the main house. John kicked in the door. The wolves inside weren’t expecting them. A few tried to put up a fight but were no match for Vance and his men.

“Search the place. Tear it to pieces if you have to.” Vance ordered.

Twenty minutes later, John came up to him. “She’s not here. He must have her somewhere else.”

“Where is your Alpha?” Vance yelled. He took in the shabby state of the house and the men inside. They all showed signs of neglect. Half of them hugged their knees and rocked back and forth on dirty floor.

John reached down and plucked a needle from the ground. Giving it a long sniff, he threw it down in disgust. "Wolfeiturlyf."

"What kind of Alpha poisons his own pack?" Vance looked at the ragged faces around him.

"Wilkos has always been a cunt." John shrugged and turned to the ragged pack huddling in the house. He kicked one of the wolves gruffly and asked. “So where is he?"

No one said a word. A young wolf in the corner of the room cleared his throat. He was a thin little thing. Scars and bruises ran along his arms and there were tufts of missing hair on his scalp. Scabs dotted the crook of his arm, the space between his toes, and even along his neck. His nails were yellow and cracked. Several of his teeth were missing.

“Micah, don’t.” An older wolf trembled. “You know what he'll do to us. Please, Micah, please don't.” He looked up at John and Vance. "We don't know anything. I swear it. We don't."

Vance ignored the old wolf and knelt down by the young wolf. “Micah, if you have something to say, say it. Your Alpha stole someone important from me and I want her back.”

The young wolf Micah hesitated for a moment before he looked away and muttered. “He, he bought some land in Columbia. Has houses being built there. I don’t know if that’s where he’s taken her, but that’s where he’s been staying.”

They boy looked at his pack members. They avoided his gaze and scooted away from him as if he were diseased.

"How long has this been happening?" Vance asked.

"I don't know. I, I shouldn't tell you anymore. He'll get mad at me. I've said too much." Micah crawled away and hugged himself, rocking back and forth, muttering. "I've said too much. Please don't tell him. Please don't..."

"Columbia, eh? That's a tough nut to crack." John pursed his lips as Vance stood up. "What do you reckon we ought to do with this lot?"

"One thing at a time, John. First we get my Mate back, then we'll make Wilkos pay for his crimes."

Chapter 5

Elissa woke with a start. She was disoriented and didn’t know where she was. She looked around her and tried to place her surroundings. Then it all came rushing back to her.

She had gone in the kitchen to retrieve another order when a hand closed around her mouth. Then everything went black. Now she was here, handcuffed to this bed.

She still didn’t understand why she was here. That doctor, Whitley, had come back and took more of her blood. Knowing her captor was injecting it into himself gave her creeps. She wanted Vance. She always felt safe when she was with him. There was just something about him. She would give anything to be wrapped in his arms right now.

Elissa heard noise in the hallway in front of her room. She immediately tensed not wanting to be stuck with more needles.

When her door opened, it was one of the ladies who came in to bring her food and to let her go to the bathroom. She didn’t know how long she had been there. There were no windows in her cell and the hours had started running together.

The woman set her food down in front of her on the bed. She didn’t look at her and looked as if she was scared.

“Do you need to relieve yourself?”

Elissa saw a bruise on the woman’s face and anger spiked immediately. “Did he do this to you? Did he hit you?”

The woman’s eyes got big and she started rushing around, trying to finish her duties.

“Are you ok?” It was kind of ironic for her to be asking someone else that given her predicament, but the woman looked as if she was being mistreated.

She left without answering any of the questions that Elissa asked her. Elissa closed her eyes and tried not to cry. She didn’t know if she would ever get out of this place. She couldn’t stay here. She had to find a way out.

***

Vance had just received the call he had been waiting on. It had been a week since Elissa had been taken. His men had been searching the housing track that Wilkos had purchased and hadn’t been able to find her.

His luck had changed when he heard that Wilkos attacked a neighboring pack. He had easily overtaken the pack’s Alpha, which surprised Vance.

Patrick Wilkos was not an overly good fighter, and inherited the title of Alpha. By all rights, the wolf was a Beta. There should have been no way he could beat the Alpha so easily, even if the wolf was taken by surprise.

He had taken in the wolves his men had found. Wilkos had been using them for his twisted experiments, injecting them with varying degree of Wolfeiturlyf and other poisons to keep them addicted to him. It was sickening but explained why no one had challenged Wilkos for Alpha in all these years.

They had gained an ally in Micah, albeit a reluctant one who was prone to the violent withdrawal symptoms of Wolfeiturlyf addiction. The young wolf had told him that the Alpha had taken his mate and was holding her in the main house of the new pack he had acquired.

He also found out that the Alpha was using her blood. For what reason he didn’t know, but that enraged Vance like nothing else. Wilkos was hurting his mate, and that was something he won't stand for.

It was easy enough to get on pack lands. The old Alpha was a friend of Vance's father and there were still a few friendly faces in the pack. They wanted Wilkos gone just as much as Vance.

There was security guarding the main house, all of them mercenary wolves from out of country. It would appear that Wilkos didn't trust his new pack. Small wonder.

Vance signaled to John to move. He had Caleb and Matt with him tonight. They had begged to help get their future mistress back. He still had yet to hand down punishment to the two young wolves since he was so worried about finding his mate. But he made it plenty clear that punishment would come as soon as she was safe.

John and three other wolves snuck up behind the guards and snapped their necks with synchronized precision. The rest of the pack swarmed around the house. Vance pricked his nose. Elissa was near. He was sure.

Vance entered the home first. His wolf was so close to the surface, anxious to be back with his mate.

Their presence was immediately noted.

Vance saw the two wolves that originally attacked Elissa at the bar. They charged him. Matt and Caleb shifted mid air and countered the attack.

It was then that his wolves came from everywhere. From the kitchen, the back of the house. His men shifted. Some to hybrid form, towering some seven feet from the ground, some to full wolf.

The battle was everywhere, wolves on both sides snapped at throats. Vance took off for the stairs. He knew his mate was here and he was going to get her out of here.

Elissa was lying in bed when all the noise began. She wasn’t handcuffed anymore but she now had guards at her door. She couldn’t get out through the windows, she was too high up.

It sounded like someone let in a pack of feral dogs.

She heard something running past her door and then lots of yelling. She didn’t know what was going on, but she hoped this would give her the opportunity she needed to escape.

She walked slowly to her door. She put her ear to it and listened. She heard a lot of running back and forth but not the steady pacing she had heard from her guards.

Elissa took a deep breath. It was now or never. If the guards were there she would say she had to use the restroom.

She turned the handle and pulled the door open slowly. She poked her head out into the hallway. Her guards were gone. She didn’t waste time. She ran as fast as she could in the direction she knew the stairs were in.

She didn’t pay attention to whatever was going on. She just ran for her life.

Patrick Wilkos cursed his luck. Weiss had found him. He knew that eventually the man would come looking for the woman.

Let him come
, he thought.
He will die, and so will any other wolf that comes up against me.

Patrick Wilkos took the syringe and pushed in the entire contents. He felt the effects almost instantly. His pulse picked up. His eyesight grew keener. His sense of smell sharpened. Strength coursed through his body. This was power! His muscles bulged out and he flexed. He walked out of the study on the second floor.

Two things happened at once. He saw the woman, whose name he finally learned was Elissa, running down the stairs. He also ran right into Vance. The man’s eyes flared.

Patrick just smiled. “Weiss.”

Vance back up on the landing and looked at Patrick. The adrenaline that was running through him made him giddy with excitement.

Time to put the woman’s blood to use once more.

Elissa almost cried. Vance. He was coming up the stairs and she quickened her pace to reach him. A door opened and her captor came out. He looked up at her. Vance ran right into him.

Her captor smiled evilly.
Vance backed up. His eyes flashed.

“Weiss.” He said quietly.

“Vance.” She nearly screamed. She began to run the rest of the way. Her captor looked back at her, his face contorting.

“Elissa, stay back.” Vance yelled. He threw his body in between her captor and herself, just as the man turned from man to something she could only describe as animal.

He was at least seven feet tall. His face was half human with an elongated nose that looked like a snout. His hands were like claws with sharp nails and fur that ran up his arms and neck.

What the fuck!

She skidded to a halt and fell to the ground. Vance bent at the waist and she heard bones cracking. The man she thought she knew shifted the same as the man but he was taller and had more bulk to him. Elissa wanted to shut her eyes but couldn’t look away.

The two animals circled each other. Her captor swung out with his claw like hand and caught Vance in the side of the face. Vance recovered quickly and let out a snarl as he went for the man-wolf's neck.

The wolf that had been Vance sunk his teeth deep into the other's shoulder. The man grabbed Vance by the shoulders and flung him towards the stairs. Vance stopped himself just in time.

The other wolf rolled his neck and advanced on Vance but Vance was ready for him. He shifted from whatever he was into a big grey wolf. Recognition immediately sparked in her eyes.

This was the same wolf that had chased her attackers off that night. He ran for the man, going to the left when her captor would have swiped his nails across his side.

Vance snapped at her captor's ankles and threw him off balance. The jaw tightened around the man's neck and he reached up to throw Vance off.

He shifted into a sleek black wolf. But he was smaller and less fluid than Vance.

They went at each other, teeth, snarls, and claws. Elissa lost track of which wolf was which. They moved too fast. Gray blurred with black and blood splashed the ground.

The wolves went rolling down the stairs and Elissa found herself following. The black wolf landed on top of Vance and was biting on his neck, tugging back and forth with his teeth.

She heard Vance whelp. She was sure the wolf would kill him.

“Vance!”

Somehow Vance got the better of the situation, backing the wolf into a corner. Vance bared his teeth and launched at the black wolf. He bit him and tore a chuck of his neck off.

Her captor sunk to the ground. Vance shifted back to the animal human thing and put his hand around the wolf's neck. The cracking sound made Elissa sick to her stomach.

The black wolf lay motionless on the floor. Blood pooled around him.

She could hear howling all around her. The sounds were slowing. She would never understand what had happened here.

Men turning into wolves. She never knew something like that was possible.

Vance shifted back into his human form and looked at Elissa. He was covered in blood and had a soft limp.

“Elissa? Are you okay?”

She was too shocked to speak. She managed a head nod.

He rushed to her and grabbed her up in his arms.

“I missed you so much.” He was touching her everywhere, looking her up and down to make sure her body matched what she said.

“I was so scared he had hurt you.” She shook and collapsed into his warm grasp. She was safe now. Forever and ever.

“Let's get you out of here. Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.”