Leader of the Pack (22 page)

“The story is too long for the telephone dear. I’ll be ready when she gets here.”

“Alright Grandma,” Aislinn said softly. “I guess I’ll see you soon. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Brinah replied, and they hung up.

Aislinn stared at the phone for a short time before she put it down. Cullen came up behind her and put his arms around her. “Grandma knows about your pack.”

“We’ve been around for a long time Aislinn. There are a lot of people who know about it. We just do a very good job of making sure that the only people who know are people who won’t say anything,” Cullen said, trying to be reassuring, but feeling a bit uneasy by it. Apparently the Circle kept tabs on the Pack. “Aren’t you the one who pointed out that you seem to have been headed in this direction your entire life?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Aislinn turned in his arms and rubbed her face into his chest. She always felt better when he was holding her. “Can we get dinner now? Before the next disaster strikes. I need to figure out what to tell my grandmother about you.”

At that Keith started laughing. The first real good laugh he’d had in days it seemed. It felt good. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day.”

* * * *

Rafe stood in the middle of the room surrounded by the sounds of people in misery. The lycans he was holding captive were Arnauk and Tairneach alike. He walked over to one of the women who was chained naked, on her knees, with her arms behind her. She immediately began growling at him, and he smiled at her unimpressed. He pulled a dagger from his belt and slowly ran the blade across the woman’s naked breast, cutting deep. She refused to give him the pleasure of hearing her cry out. He looked at her with amusement. “Maybe if you continue to behave yourself you’ll get lucky, and I’ll keep you for myself.” She spit at him. “It’s either that or I give you to the troops. Trust me, no matter how unpleasant you think I might be, it could be worse. Have you ever considered what it would be like to be bent over by a were-elephant-bear? Just think, an elephant’s size, strength of both, and the claws of a bear. It’s an amazing sight.” He grinned again and held up the bloody dagger. “A present for your mate. To keep him docile.”

Rafe sheathed the blade and took it with him as he left the room and mounted the stairs. He had several things to attend to. Jenna would be mated to him that evening, then the rest of the Tairneach should fall in line. He figured that he could keep her around until he had complete control of the dogs, and then he could give her to one the men who had been eyeing her. She was attractive. She just wasn’t his type. But she’d make a decent prize for someone.

Rafe intended to put the army together and head for the Arnauk reservation within the week. He’d been cheated out of his birth right for long enough. The stones were going to be his. He couldn’t believe that the Circle had left it under the control of lycans all this time. The Circle Council would have to acknowledge him once he had possession of the stones. Then he’d force them to finish his training. One way or another. All that left was Aislinn, and he was about to resolve that as well. He opened the door to a room where a large lycan was sitting. “You haven’t brought me what I asked for,” he said sharply.

“Cullen hasn’t let the woman out of his sight since she arrived. I need more time.”

“You have 24 hours.” With that he threw the blood coated dagger on the table. “It’s still warm. If you return without the girl again it won’t be.” Then Rafe slammed out of the room.

* * * *

Jenna was pacing her room. She couldn’t believe how uneasy she felt in her own house. Tears streaked down her cheeks continuously. She couldn’t stop them. Since Rafe had killed her father everything in her died as well. Her ambition to rule had stemmed out of the fact that her father had never believed she was capable. She had just wanted to show him. Now he’d never see, and Rafe wouldn’t have been here to kill her father if she hadn’t brought him here. Jenna couldn’t understand what the hold Rafe had on her was, but it seemed to wearing off because she could definitely see more clearly since she’d watched Rafe kill her father. More tears streamed down her cheeks.

The lioness was watching her warily. The girl was good. Kara saw the wheels turning in her head. When Rafe was present, the girl simpered and pleased. Then Rafe would leave and she would turn into a plotting
galla. Kara had told Rafe about the quick change behavior, but he had his mind elsewhere. He was far too confident in his own abilities to see it as a threat. Kara resolved to keep a closer eye on Jenna.

Chapter 10

Bàthaidh toll beag long mhòr.

A little hole will sink a big ship.

-Gaelic Proverb

Rafe stood in the great room of the Tairneach manor. One thing he did like about Brennus Tairneach was his taste in decorating. The manor was huge and richly furnished. Everything was brocade, silk, antique, or plush. A grandfather clock on the wall began to chime. The moon was high and could be seen through the skylights in the ceiling of the great room. Every room in the manor seemed to have a fireplace. That was Rafe’s favorite part about the manor. It was as though the fates had planned for him to be here. He was seriously considering having the cabin on the Arnauk reservation remodeled in this fashion. Large green tinted fires blazed in every fireplace, and no one questioned the oddity, even though the nights had been far too warm to justify lighting them.

Jenna stood in the middle of the room. She was naked except for a large ruby signet ring hanging from a thick gold chain around her neck. It had been her father’s ring. Rafe had been gracious enough to let her keep it. Rafe walked up behind Jenna. He was in a relatively good mood, so he allowed her to wear the ring during the ceremony. He found it morbidly amusing in some way that he was about to mate with the girl while she was wearing the ring that had been on her father’s hand when he died.

Rafe smiled as he thought about the look in Brennus’s eyes when he died. Rafe pushed Jenna down to her hands and knees roughly. Then he dropped his pants and took up his position behind her. The movement brought some halting applause. Rafe was pleased by the turn out. He grabbed hold of Jenna’s hair and yanked her head back as he thrust into her. She cried in pain as he forced himself into her dry cunt. She hadn’t been ready for him. How could she be? He disgusted her, but this wasn’t the time to fight him. Jenna knew that she’d have her chance soon enough. She stayed herself with the thought that she would be there to see him die.

Kara watched Jenna submit to the punishment that Rafe put her through. He appeared to be thoroughly enjoying himself. He seemed to be using this as practice for when he turned himself into what he was calling ‘perfection’. Kara seethed with jealousy. The idea that Jenna wasn’t appreciative of what Rafe was giving her was beyond Kara’s ability to comprehend. Aislinn had baffled her the same way. Having Aislinn around had been worse though. Rafe actually wanted her.

Rafe continued to fuck Jenna until she finally responded. Jenna was doing her best to cooperate through her revulsion. She managed to imagine herself in a different enough situation that when she faked her orgasm he believed it. Rafe considered himself to have been infinitely generous, allowing Jenna to come first.

Rafe yanked her upright by her hair as he released into her. Positioning her the way he wanted, he bit down on the crease between her neck and her shoulder. Since he wasn’t were yet, his teeth weren’t exactly made for this part of the ceremony. He bit down hard on Jenna’s shoulder, his teeth finally pierced her skin and drew blood. There was some additional applause at that point. He had at one time considered this ceremony to be barbaric, but now that he was in the middle of it he could see the appeal. He swallowed the blood readily, and then pulled away from Jenna to admire his handiwork.

Jenna had yet to fulfill her half of the mating. It wasn’t as if this could work the way it was supposed to. He wasn’t a lycan. She hadn’t even bothered to take her wolf form. Rafe was only doing this because it would send a message to the pack. Jenna decided that the positive point about it was that at least she didn’t have to force her brain believe this was an actual mating. She felt no bond with him. She was totally unsatisfied, and her wolf wasn’t anywhere near interested in the situation. She took his arm in her hand and brought it to her mouth. She bit down just hard enough to draw blood, but she made sure that the wound would heal without scaring. She didn’t plan on keeping him around for life.

The ceremony didn’t last long at all. Rafe watched the weres he had created rut throughout the great room. There were a number of differences in the tendencies of each of the species. He vastly preferred the habits of the katta. The lycans tended to make each session of sex long, drawn out, and overly intimate. The cats liked theirs short, sweet, to the point and then they moved on.

Rafe and Jenna spent the rest of the evening mingling with their pack. Rafe was enjoying playing the part of the alpha male. Jenna was frustrated, angry, and ashamed. She tried several times to escape the ceremony, but Kara would appear and send her back into the mix. Rafe mostly ignored her after he finished fucking her. Various members of the pack approached her, and Jenna stood bored and indifferent as they knelt in front of her and showed their respect by pressing their faces against her sex and taking in her scent mingled with Rafe’s.

Jenna couldn’t help a grateful shiver when Maon approached her and spent a great deal of time licking her clit. He had been enraged by Rafe’s treatment of Jenna that evening and pitied her. Besides, there were currently three women kneeling in front of the new alpha lapping at his latest erection. There was no way Jenna’s scent was still clinging to Rafe after the little display they put on. The point of this half of the ceremony was for the pack to acknowledge the joining of the alpha pair. This certainly wasn’t how it was normally done.

By the time dawn rolled around, Jenna was sent back to her room and Rafe retired to his. He had cleared his morning for sleep, but he had several appointments that afternoon. Then he would begin assembling the army.

* * * *

Sarah boarded the plane angrily. She sat in the seat fuming. She was still pissed when she took the taxi to the address that Aislinn had given her. She had more important things to be doing than collecting the grandmother of the alpha’s bitch. Cullen had been insistent, however. He didn’t know who to trust, and his solution to the problem was to only involve the people he thought needed to know. Sarah and Keith were the only two on that list right now. So Sarah was on her way to Brinah Senach’s home, while Keith dealt with the information that Sarah had dug up on a couple of the elders.

Keith had been in the middle of a delicious dinner at
Taigh-O

sda, talking about Aislinn’s grandmother when Sarah had missed another meeting with Elise. She had managed pin down Ranaild’s son Iain on the fact that his mother had been missing for quite some time. When Sarah tried to talk to Ranaild about it, he had also turned up missing.

Sarah though she should be the one looking into it since she had discovered it. Unfortunately, Cullen was adamant that Aislinn’s grandmother be dealt with delicately. Keith was not the delicate type, and Sarah was the perfect candidate, in Cullen’s eyes.
Well right now neither am I,
Sarah thought in annoyance. She had also suggested that Aislinn go after her own grandmother, but Cullen wasn’t letting Aislinn out of the den for any reason. Aislinn had protested, loudly. That made Sarah less angry with Aislinn; however, it didn’t change the situation. Cullen was the alpha and Cullen told Sarah to go.

Sarah told the taxi driver to wait while headed up a path that led to the front door of a pretty little white house. Before she had a chance to ring the bell on the door, it opened hastily. A small woman with gray-white hair, pulled nicely into a bun on the back of her head, and wearing jeans, a t-shirt that said ‘don’t underestimate me’, and carrying a duffel bag appeared in the doorway. She eyed Sarah with the same striking blue eyes as Aislinn, nodded, and then locked the door.

Sarah was nearly bowled over by the woman as she headed for the taxi. “Are you coming,” Brinah called back to the startled lycan.

Sarah got herself together and moved back down the path toward the taxi. Once they were both in the backseat, they exchanged introductions as the driver pulled out and drove to the airport. “I don’t think I will,” Sarah said, indicating the t-shirt. “You certainly weren’t what I was expecting.”

“And what were you expecting dear,” Brinah said. Her tone and words belied the appearance that she was giving.

“I don’t know. A grandmother,” Sarah said. “I guess I can see where Aislinn gets it.”

“I don’t think I know what you mean by ‘it,’ but I’ll take that as a compliment.” Brinah looked out the window impatiently.

“We can’t get there any faster. I got the earliest flight. We should be there by dinner.” Sarah watched Brinah.

“I haven’t seen my granddaughter in a very long time. You’ll have to excuse my haste.”

Sarah nodded. The rest of what she wanted to say to the woman would require privacy and that was something they wouldn’t have until they were back at the den. Sarah and Brinah spent the rest of the trip in silence, save for a few pleasantries when it got too uncomfortable.

* * * *

Cullen wasn’t willing to concede that any of the names on the list that Keith provided him could be in the process of betraying his loyalty. “I want more proof,” he stormed, as he threw the list down on his desk. The names on the list were people who were too close to him. “I refuse to start ripping out throats until I know without doubt that these people have turned. Rafe has to have done something to them.”