Alpha Blood Box Set (BBW Werewolf / Shifter Romance) Page 11

  “It has been a while,” Luke admitted.

  For the first time the woman noticed me peeking out from behind Luke. Her smile softened and she stepped to the side to garner a better view of me. “And who do we have here?” she wondered.

  Luke, traitor that he was, pulled me in front of him. “Stacy Stevens, this is my mate, Rebecca,” he introduced us.

  Unfortunately, I hadn’t forgotten how this Stacy had aspired to be Luke’s love interest, so I nervously smiled at her. She smiled, but I detected a hint of disappointment in her lips. “So the rumors are true, you’ve found someone.” She paused, tilted her head to one side, raised an eyebrow and cast a side glance at Luke. “A lovely face, but I don’t remember ever seeing her before. Where did you find her, Luke?”

  Luke sheepishly grinned. “Truth be told I-”

  “Kidnapped me,” I finished for him.

  Stacy crossed her arms and gave Luke a severe look. “You stole away a human to be your mate? Luke Laughton, I thought you were made of better stuff than some of these barbarians.”

  Luke cringed and shrugged. I had to laugh at him cowering before a woman. “It was unavoidable,” he defended himself.

  I snorted. “Yeah, like you sticking me with that needle and dragging me off into the nineteenth century was unavoidable,” I quipped.

  Stacy’s brows crashed down and she pulled me from Luke’s arms. “And no doubt she’s traumatized by the experience of being dropped into all this trouble.”

  Luke stiffened and placed a finger to his lips. He shook his head and his eyes roamed the room. “Not here,” he whispered to her.

  “Then where?” she asked him.

  “Follow me.”

  Stacy kept me beside her as Luke led us out of the meeting hall, through the front doors and turned off the station path onto one of the woodland paths. He didn’t venture to speak, but Stacy took on the silence and won. “When did Luke and you meet?” she asked me.

  “An eternity ago, but I think it was less than a week ago for everyone else,” I replied.

  “That’s hardly time to get your bearings around his home,” she wondered.

  “He kept me locked up in a white room.”

  Stacy frowned and shot a glare at Luke’s back. “Did he really?” she mused.

  Luke glanced over his shoulder at us. “She kept escaping,” was his defensive reply.

  Stacy snorted. “And good for her. Who would want to be stuck with a wild animal who kidnapped her?” I was really starting to like this woman.

  Luke, however, wasn’t very happy and quickened his pace. When we were a good half mile from the villa he turned to us with a serious expression. “Has there been any more news?”

  Stacy, too, dropped her humor and shook her head. “None at all since my father learned about the meeting date change, but I can tell you he was very confused to learn of it. I don’t believe it’s happened in times of peace.”

  “No, but I think war is what Lance intends, or at the very least he’ll go that far to achieve his ambitions,” Luke replied. “Do you know if this will skew the vote?”

  “His party was alerted well before any of the other lords and they’re sure to vote in favor of him,” she pointed out.

  “Party?” I spoke up. I felt like the third wheel on a two-wheel bicycle.

  “The opposing party to Burnbaum’s decentralized Lone Wolf Party. They fear the encroachment of humans into what has traditionally been our territories and want to band together to keep them out,” Luke reminded me.

  “Oh, right. That mess. So we’ve got the Lone Wolf Party and the what again?” I wondered.

  “Lance calls his the Alpha Party,” Stacy spoke up with a roll of her eyes. “He always likes to give his projects a dramatic flare.”

  I glanced at Luke. “And we’re stuck where?”

  “In the middle,” he replied.

  I groaned and slumped my shoulders. “Oh goody.”

  Stacy smiled and set a hand on my shoulder. “You’ll get the hang of things. It may take a few centuries, but things will make sense,” she assured me.

  “Thanks, makes me feel a lot better,” I grumbled. For the first time all I wished was to be back in that simple white room at Luke’s home with nothing more than being kidnapped to worry about.

  Stacy glanced at her watch and sighed. “And speaking of things that take a few centuries, my watch is telling me it’s almost time for the first region meeting.”

  Luke raised an eyebrow. “So soon? Are all the lords here?” he asked her.

  She nodded. “They were all alerted early enough to arrive accept you and Baker, and he had less distance to travel.”

  “Why was Baker another exception?”

  “There’s a feud between Baker and Simpling. You know their territories abut one another, and all the major rivers go through Simpling’s area before they reach the farmlands in Baker’s region. Baker’s accusing Simpling of reckless management of the mines and of dumping waste into the rivers.”

  “I see. So they thought to get back at Baker by forgetting to tell him about the change?” he guessed.

  “Precisely.”

  “What is this meeting about?”

  Stacy grinned. “The environmental impacts of each region on the others. They put that at the head hoping Baker wouldn’t arrive in time to voice his complaints.”

  “I’m glad he made it, but can we consider him an ally?” Luke wondered.

  She shrugged. “I haven’t asked him, but I’m sure Burnbaum will. We’d better hurry, too, if we want to get there in time for the start of it.” She looked to me. “Luke is practically required to attend, but would you care to come?” she asked me.

  “Is it a boring meeting with a lot of political talking?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then no.”

  “Then it would be best to get you back to the room,” Luke suggested.

  I didn’t like the idea of being cooped up in a room with such neat woods and views to explore. “Isn’t this place supposed to be safe?” I reminded him.

  “The safest place in the world, but that doesn’t guarantee safety when our enemies are trying to kill us,” he pointed out.

  “And how long am I going to be stuck in the room?”

  “The meeting should last no longer than four hours,” he assured me. He turned us around and took a few steps back toward the villa with Stacy close behind him, but I wasn’t going with that.

  My mouth dropped open. I snapped my teeth shut, dug my heels into the ground and crossed my arms over my chest. The other two stopped a few yards ahead of me and glanced over their shoulders. “Hell no am I going to be stuck in a room for that long.” I’d been stuck in one room and train car after another, and now with a beautiful forest so close at hand they wanted to stuff me in another place with four walls.

  “Then you’d rather come with us?” he asked me.

  “I’d rather be roaming these woods.” I looked up at the canopy overhead and the shimmering sun shining through the branches. I felt a stirring inside of me that I couldn’t explain, but it didn’t want to be cooped up inside.

  Luke slipped on a small smile and walked back to me. He set his hands on my shoulders and gave me a gentle shake. “I promise I’ll take you for a walk when I return from this meeting.” The innocent smile turned to a roguish grin. “We’ll make it a night walk beneath the moon,” he promised me.

  I saw the hint of some sexual romping and rolled my eyes. “Fine, but don’t take too long at that meeting.”

  17

  Luke took too long, or at least longer than I wanted to wait. Stacy and he dropped me off at our room, and I was left with nothing to do but nap and watch the hands of an elegant grandfather clock tick around its face. I was thinking of breaking the boredom with another nap when I heard a knock on the door.

  I crawled off the bed and looked through the peephole of the door. Nobody was there, but I saw a shadow lower down. I knelt in front of the keyhole and peek
ed through. An eye looked back and me, and I heard a familiar giggle. “Abby?” I guessed.

  “Hi, Becky!” came Abby’s familiar voice from the other side of the door.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked her.

  “You promised to play with me, remember?”

  I smiled. “I remember you promising to play with me.”

  “But do you still want to play with me?” she persisted.

  I sighed and slid down to the floor. “I don’t think I can. Luke’s grounded me to my room until he gets back.”

  “Oh. . .” came the disappointed reply. I could almost see her drooping face. “But aren’t you a grownup?” she wondered.

  I laughed. “That’s what people keep telling me,” I replied.

  “Then how come you’re grounded?” A child’s logic is the most sensible and devious characteristic of man, and Abby was no exception.

  I furrowed my brow and thought over her statement. “Why am I trapped in here?” I wondered. To keep yourself safe, my inner thoughts scolded. As safe as a bird trapped in a cage, and this birdy was doing a jail-break. I stood and flung open the door, and was met with Abby’s smiling face.

  “Where do you want to go first?” she asked me.

  “Any way you can lead me to the cafeteria? I’m starving,” I pleaded.

  She giggled and nodded her head. “Of course!” Then she frowned. “But Mama didn’t give me any money.”

  I smiled. “That’s okay. Luke told me I could use his account.”

  Abby beamed. “Then just follow me!” She pulled me along to the cafeteria where we tried our best to drain Luke’s account. We wandered out onto the deck with our plates piled high and our stomachs grumbling for satisfaction. Tables were set outside the doors to the dining hall, and we commandeered one for our use. The food was as delicious as it looked, and we were just finishing up when a shadow fell across me.

  I glanced up and found myself staring at a man about Luke’s age with dark hair and blue eyes. He wore a white shirt with dress pants, and his smile had a smooth, oily look to it that I didn’t trust. Even with that strange, uncomfortable smile there was something about him that made my body jump to attention. Maybe it was the way he stood erect and confident, or maybe it was the heated look in his own blue eyes.

  “Hello there. I don’t believe I’ve seen such a lovely face as yours at the meeting before,” he greeted.

  “Probably because you haven’t,” I quipped.

  The stranger smiled and shrugged. “I suppose I deserved that for not introducing myself.” He held out his hand for me to shake it. “I’m Lance Connor, Lord Connor and leader of the Connor region. And who do I have the pleasure of meeting?”

  My mind was a swirling mass of panic and confusion. Here in the flesh was one of the names I’d been taught to fear, and he was strangely handsome. I supposed he kept his evil skin hidden beneath his clothes like all the werewolves around here, and shook his hand. “The pleasure’s all yours, but it’s Rebecca.” Last names were still never given out until I approved of the guy, and I knew for sure that I didn’t approve of this guy.

  “A very good, old name. I’m sure you’re interested in why I approached you, other than because of your wonderful beauty.”

  “I’d like to know if I need a restraining order against you,” I replied.

  He chuckled. “I saw you arrive and noticed you were in the same train car as Lord Laughton. Do you two happen to be intimately acquainted?”

  “You could say that-” and a lot of other things related to intimacy. “Why?”

  “Any friend of Luke’s is a friend of mine,” Lance explained to me. He leaned in and sniffed the air around me. His lips curled up into a grin. “And I smell you’re a little more than a friend to Luke. May I congratulate you on the betrothal?”

  The colored drained from my face. “Betrothal?” Luke hadn’t even taken me out on a date.

  “That’s the usual results when a werewolf changes a human,” he replied. His dark blue eyes swept over me, and I shuddered at the strange heat in their depths. “Though there are exceptions to every rule.”

  I leaned away and nervously chuckled. “Yeah, rules are funny that way. Speaking of rules, isn’t there one where you’re supposed to be at a meeting right now?”

  He shrugged. “While I’m proud to represent my region the mundane aspects of the government are, well, mundane, so I’ve sent a representative in my place. On that subject, I hope to see you join my little organization,” he commented.

  I raised an eyebrow. “What organization?”

  He chuckled. “Truth be told-” which I suspected didn’t happen often with him, “-it’s actually one of the minor social parties. I may not have the stomach for boring meetings, but I do like to unite people under a common cause.”

  “And what’s that cause?” I asked him.

  “To protect each other through mutual cooperation,” he grandly replied. “The human world is growing closer and closer to finding out our existence and we need to be ready when the wolf is out of the bag, so to speak.”

  “I don’t think the human world is that dangerous,” I defended my former reality. I looked him up and down. “ Sure there’s a bunch of jerks in it, but that’s not exclusive to the human world,” I pointedly added.

  Lance took my meaning and smirked. “That may be, but we werewolves still need to watch out for one another before our paltry numbers reach zero,” he insisted.

  I glanced around at the busy deck and the crowds that wandered in and out of the cafeteria doors. “There doesn’t seem to be that few of us,” I argued.

  He shook his head. “The voting meeting is a little deceptive for evaluating our population. There’s always a good showing, for as werewolves see it as our civic duty to attend.”

  “Even when it started earlier than it should have?” I wondered.

  Lance chuckled. “I’m sure the few days change won’t effect the outcome of the vote,” he assured me. I had every confidence it would ensure the outcome he wanted.

  Our wonderfully uncomfortable conversation was thankfully interrupted by a tug on my arm. I glanced over the table and found myself staring into Abby’s cutely impatient face. “I’m bored. Let’s go for a walk,” she pleaded.

  I smiled at her. “I think that would be a great idea.” I looked back to Lance. “If you’ll excuse us, Mr. Connor-”

  “Please call me Lance,” he insisted. There were other things I wanted to call him, but not within hearing of Abby.

  “-but we need to go have some fun.” Abby pulled me along the deck toward a flight of stairs that led down to the woods.

  “Until later,” he called over our shoulders. I’d make sure later was a really long time.

  We hurried down the stairs and I managed a look over my shoulder. Lance stood at the top of the stairs with a creepy grin on his face. “That guy sure was creepy,” I murmured to myself. I glanced down at my young guide. “What did you think of him?”

  Abby wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like him, he smells funny.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Smells funny how?”

  She innocently looked up at me. “Didn’t you smell his scent?” I shook my head.

  “Nope. He was doing enough creepiness with his mouth. Can you tell me what it smelled like?”

  Abby scrunched up her face and pursed her cute lips together. “Well, it kind of smelled like blood, but really old.”

  I stuck out my tongue. “That’s nasty. Doesn’t that bother everyone around him?”

  “He tries to hide it with other scents, but I can smell it. Papa taught me how to track scents,” she beamed.

  “I’m very glad you’re on my side, Abby,” I smiled in returned.

  “So am I, but let’s go. I want to show you my favorite trail.”

  “Just as long as it isn’t too long,” I told her.

  It was too long, or at least a few miles farther than I wanted to walk. Abby frolicked the entire way, gathering flowe
rs and smelling the trail like a wild, but adorable, animal. I had to admit the trail was beautiful with its wide, well-cared for dirt path and the views of the valley below us. The path followed the steepest part of the hillside so no trees obscured the lower view, but not so close I was afraid we’d fall off the edge. A few miles from the villa we came to a collection of large boulders several stories tall with small nooks and large cave openings. They were smooth-sided granite monstrosities arranged in a prehistoric rock slide motif thirty yards wide along the path and at least that deep into the mountainside.

  “This is my favorite place!” Abby told me. She broke from my hand and hopped into the mess of rocks. The little girl terrified me by climbing all over them while I watched from the ground and winced every time she slipped or disappeared into one of the crevices. Werewolf abilities or no werewolf abilities, if she broke her neck her parents would kill me.

  “Abby, get down off there!” I demanded. All I got was an echoing giggle and the girl peeked her head out from the top of the mess of rocks. “You’ve scared me enough, now get out of there.”

  “Come and catch me, Becky!” She disappeared into the rocks again, and didn’t come back out.

  “Abby?” I called out. I stumbled toward where I’d last seen her. The area was eerily quiet, and I whipped my head up when a bunch of pebbles slid over the top of the rocks. My inner voice was telling me it told me it hadn’t been a good idea to leave my room, and I told it to shut up. “Abby, come on out. This isn’t funny,” I called to my little friend.

  “Boo!” Abby jumped out at me, and I jumped out of my skin. I shrieked and knocked my back into one of the boulders. Abby giggled until I shot forward and grasp her hand in mine.

  “Don’t scare me like that!” I scolded her.

  She shrank away and her lower lip trembled. “I-I didn’t mean to, Becky. I just thought we’d have some fun.”

  I sighed and glanced around at the rock jungle gym. If by fun she meant breaking my neck there was plenty to be had here. “This isn’t exactly my idea of fun,” I told her.