Seduced by Wolves (11 page)

“She needs us both.”

His words were meant to be reassuring
but instead they unlocked a pit of nightmares and despair hidden
deep within him. Hadn’t he believed Linnea could love them both ten
years ago too? Her death would forever stain his hands, his love
for Zane severing the mating bond back then and eventually
resulting in her suicide.

Losing his mate had shredded his
soul.

Zane had salvaged him somehow. He was a
man Cory loved throughout it all, a man he’d been willing to
sacrifice his happiness for now in order to help him do what was
right. Despite himself he smiled, knowing they had each other for
eternity now. “Well, she’ll get us both now whether she needs us or
not.”

He was still mad as hell Zane stripped
his choice but nothing could have stopped him from tasting Selena’s
flesh once she begged him so sweetly. He didn’t know how a double
bond was possible but he recognized the sheer ecstasy thickening
his blood from the mark.

Selena was his mate. Which made Zane
his too. “When Linnea died, a piece of me went with her. I didn’t
think I’d ever be whole again.” He twined his fingers with Zane’s,
enjoying the rough tangle of fingers. “Until tonight.”

Zane’s slow smile squeezed his heart.
Dark and smooth. He was a true Alpha—demanding of everyone but
helping the Pack members find and receive what they needed. It just
took Cory longer than most to accept his help.

“Felt that good, huh?” Zane drawled,
turning onto an ill-lit back alley they’d recently tracked two
other rogues to.

“Selena’s so sweet I nearly came in my
pants.”

Zane’s hand slid higher, cupping Cory’s
still thick shaft through his jeans. “I could fix the nearly
part.”

Cory dug his nails into the leather
door handle as Zane stroked his cock with the precision of a man
who knew exactly how he liked it. Firm. Slow.

His head was just hitting the seat back
when the perturbing odor wafted to his nose. “Stop the truck.” He
growled, instantly on alert.

The truck slammed to a quick stop
beside a nasty looking abandoned building, the yellow light of a
single lamp giving an eerie glow to the thick shadows. “Do you
smell him?” Cory asked, hyperaware of the tension radiating off
Zane even though he still remained relaxed against the bench
seat.

“If he’s seeking to divide the Pack,
chances are he’s not alone. Even if we can’t scent the
others.”

Cory nodded, adrenaline spiking his
blood, leaving his skin tingling and fingers itching to end this
and keep the Pack safe. Keep Selena and Zane safe.

He grabbed his wallet and cell phone
from his pants pocket and shoved them in the glove compartment.
“Good point. No sense in losing these during the shift.” The fact
they would be letting the wolves out unquestioned.

Zane thought on that a moment as if
leaving his phone wasn’t worth it before tossing it alongside
Cory’s. Without another word Cory pushed from the truck and into
the frosty night, eager to catch this damn rogue, return home to
Selena and lose himself in mindless bliss.

Forever wouldn’t be long
enough.

Chapter Eleven

Zane waited for Cory to round the truck
before following Aden’s stench and not surprisingly, one of death.
The putrid smell sickened his stomach no matter he’d long since
adjusted to it as part of his job duties. He didn’t have to peer in
the nearby dumpster to know a body rotted inside but it came as a
surprise when Aden himself stepped around the other
side.

The red glow of his eyes damned him as
rogue. They were blood eyes. A symbol of a wolf that’s killed a
human. A trait that marked him as fair game for Zane and his
hunters.

“Imagine that, Zane. Aden wants to give
himself in.” Cory stood a few steps behind and to his side, his
cocky attitude usually a welcome distraction from the physical
brutality that usually followed on a rogue hunt. Only tonight he
wasn’t looking for distractions.

Aden had been organizing meetings with
the wolves who were on the fringe of dissent for weeks now. Youth
and adult alike who were killed for their roles in attacking
innocent humans as Aden would be killed too.

The question was what had he hoped to
gain? A following large enough to overthrow Zane’s
hunters?

The only thing Aden succeeded at was
scaring his Pack. Not a single member wanted humans to start
retaliating for the kills. Enough blood had been shed over the
years. A new fight was not in their interests now.

“The only thing I intend to give you
queers is a quick and painful death.”

As Alpha, he picked up on the other
wolves’ scents long before Cory was able to, his wolf recognizing
each of them as someone he’d fail to keep safe from this blood
thirst. Unable to do much in terms of positioning, he allowed
themselves to be boxed in.

His fists clenched, the single outward
sign of concern. “Have a problem with your Alpha’s sexual
orientation?” He lifted one eyebrow, forced slow breathes into his
lungs as he gave Cory time to adjust to the newcomers before the
fists—more likely paws—started flying.

“It’s one of many problems I have with
you, Zane. But I don’t anticipate it being an issue much
longer.”

Aden’s lips curled into a sneer, his
gaze flickering past his shoulder. Zane couldn’t risk a look
without exposing himself to attack and only hoped Cory was taking
care of it. Seconds later when Cory’s back brushed against his and
he could feel his lover’s muscles straining, he knew whatever left
Aden so overjoyed meant bad news for both of them.

“So tell me,” Aden drawled. “Did you
give your wench a final kiss goodbye?”

The explosion knocked him off his feet
and Cory landed on his back before they both rolled to the side.
Taking one quick glance at his now flame engulfed truck, his rage
intensified beyond control. “Can you handle them?” he grunted as he
rocked to his feet, watching Cory do the same.

“Easy prey.” Cory’s face hardened as he
scanned the three rogues closing in. They spent hours a day in the
gym honing their bodies for these fights and though outnumbered,
the rogues were no physically stronger than a normal
wolf.

He sprinted off toward where Aden
watched from the side, his claws breaking through the skin of his
knuckles, eager to wipe the satisfied grin from the cocky bastard’s
face. “You know the rules, Aden.”

Aden’s claws slashed outward in warning
as Zane neared, delaying the attack for only a second. “And I’m
looking forward to taking you out.”

Zane narrowed his focus to Aden alone,
blocking out the growls and grunts of the fight Cory immersed
himself in behind him. There was no room for distraction, no place
for emotion in the hunt. He circled the dirty rogue, his wolf
itching to be let loose to end this. “Then bring it on,
rogue.”

Aden swiped first, not throwing a punch
like expected but rather sinking his claws into the flesh of his
forearm and shoving him sideways. Growling against the numbing pain
shooting through his tendons, he sidestepped the next swipe,
ducking beneath claws and fists and swinging his leg out to buckle
his opponents.

Aden rolled before he could strike on
the ground, his claws hitting concrete. Zane turned as Aden lunged
having just enough time to sink his claws into the other man’s arms
and roll backwards to toss him to the ground behind him. Spinning
with practiced precision, he easily pinned the man’s claws with a
steel-toed boot and hand and used his free hand to grip Aden’s
neck.

The rogue was as good as
dead.

“What the hell were you hoping to gain
by killing those women, Aden?”

Aden’s eyes glowed a disgusting red as
he smiled despite the pressure Zane exerted on his air pipe. Zane
needed to know if it was just a personal vendetta against his
sexual orientation or if it extended somehow deeper. Would the
threat to his Pack’s safety die with the sick ass crushed beneath
him?

Aden snarled from the ground,
struggling to free his hand. “Even if you kill me, another will
rise up. Mark my words the Pack is sick of following your
direction.”

Zane released his pressure on Aden’s
hand and the rogue rolled from beneath him. Fury over this personal
grudge surged through him, and he kicked out, connecting with
Aden’s side and throwing him another few feet on the
ground.

“If the Pack had issues, they’d take it
up with me. The torturing of innocents is unconnected.” Bending
over, he grabbed Aden by the shirt collar lifting him from the
ground and let his claws sink into the flesh of his chest like he
so warmly did him moments earlier.

“Bloody hell!”

He stiffened at Cory’s voice, unable to
see the fray behind him and frustrated as hell for it. In the
second it took him to override the fear gripping him, Aden tore a
hand free and sunk his claws into his side.

“Looks like lover boy is about to get
the punishment he deserves.”

Zane maintained his hold on the weaker
wolf, the overwhelming scent of coppery blood and another string of
Cory’s curses, seizing his franticly beating heart.

“I love my Pack, would fight and die to
keep them safe. That includes my mates, whatever sex they happen to
be. It’s time you realize, alternative lifestyle or not, I’m still
this Pack’s Alpha.”

With a smooth snap of his muscles, he
twisted Aden’s neck, dropping him the second the life drained from
the bastard’s eyes. The fight was almost too easy.

He turned. Saw the carnage Cory had
wreaked to give him a fair fight.

Then he saw his partner, his life mate
and his beast came roaring to the front of his mind. Cory lay on
the ground with a fully shifted wolf on top of him, blood pooling
on the damp concrete around them. Zane shifted in a flash of white
and charged the snarling animal. He’d hunted as wolf many times, as
comfortable with his ability to strike and kill in animal form as
he was snapping necks as a human. The killing bite took only
seconds to deliver and a quick scan showed Cory had already
disposed of the other four.

Rushing back to Cory’s side, he howled
at the sight of blood pouring from his lover’s neck. The eyes that
returned his gaze were dull, full of pain. Shifting back he knelt
beside him, pressing his hands to stop the flow of thick, red
blood. His hands shook with the shock of seeing this nightmare come
to life.

“Dammit, Cory.”

He lifted Cory’s trembling, cold hand
to his neck until he could apply pressure to the wound. Naked from
the shift, Zane tore the cloth of Cory’s shirt, twisting it into a
bandage he could tie around the wound. Accomplishing that, he found
he could barely breathe as he took in Cory’s pale face and drooping
eyes. Dear God, he couldn’t lose him now!

Scooping him into his arms, he took off
down the alley unable to use the truck to get them back to the
hospital as fast as necessary or even use his cell phone to call
for help. He had failed those most important to him tonight. Had a
wedge of doubt the size of Texas over his bringing peace to his
Pack stuck in his side. It left him hollowed,
vulnerable.

“Won’t be much fun explaining this one
to our healer.”

Stroking his fingers through Cory’s
hair as he carried him as carefully as possible down the garbage
strewn streets, he shook his head for him to be quiet, to rest. He
couldn’t be more thankful when Cory’s eyes drifted shut, preventing
him from seeing the horror of his fear as it spread across his face
like a virus. Quickening his steps, he prayed for Cory’s safety
because he wasn’t quite sure Selena or he would survive now without
it.

* * * *

The sense of dread in her chest
tightened; a weight that crushed the air from her lungs. Selena
fisted the receiver of the phone as she laid it back into its
cradle and fought back the tears rising to her eyes. A piece of her
she didn’t question—the one that was now inexplicably linked to
both Cory and Zane—knew something had gone terribly
wrong.

Leaving the break room, she paced the
halls, frantic for fresh air. Her heart ached. Her body grew
restless. With a growing horror she found herself traveling the
familiar corridor to the emergency room, the buzz of fast-paced
activity rising all around her. Each step lifted more hair on her
arms, a fine zing of electricity covering every inch of her by the
time she reached the nurse’s station.

She felt his gaze burning a hole in her
back the same moment Jen greeted her by way of “multiple stab
victim just in.” Turning, she found his penetrating dark eyes
locked on her, his body a solid sheet of tense muscle against the
far wall.

Zane was here, dressed in hospital
scrubs, which meant…

Selena was rushing into a set of wide
open arms on her next breath, instantly cocooned in the solid
strength that was her mate—her Alpha. Crushed to his chest, she
could scent the sweat, blood and dirt. They’d been fighting. Her
heart squeezed tighter until she needed to pull away and press the
heel of one hand into her breastbone to massage the sudden hurt.
“How bad?” she breathed.