Alpha Blood Box Set (BBW Werewolf / Shifter Romance) Page 8

  “And no one knows how far they went?” Luke asked him.

  “No one but each other, and they won’t tell,” Burnbaum replied. “Do you suspect they blow up the train?”

  “Not the train, but the tracks were set with explosives. I don’t know if they meant to kill anyone, or if it was just a warning,” Luke mused.

  “Just a warning?” I exclaimed. “The train could have all fallen over and we would’ve all died!”

  Burnbaum chuckled. “It would take more than metal to kill us unless it is silver.”

  “Unfortunately, there was more than just explosives in that bomb,” Luke revealed. He turned to his manservant. “Repeat to me what you found, Alistair.”

  “At least some parts of the explosive device was silver. I inspected the engine and found fragments of silver nitrate wedged into the machine. Fortunately, the impact was minimal and the engine took most of the damage,” Alistair told us.

  Burnbaum scowled. “I do not like this one bit. There are disagreements, I know, but this is no good. They will kill innocents.”

  Luke smirked. “I’d like to think I’m an innocent, but I see what you mean. Lance or some of his compatriots desperately wanted to keep us from the Council meeting.”

  I raised my hand. “Could I get in on this conversation? Who exactly are these Lance and Christian guys?” I’d heard the name before when that lady had called and warned Luke about the moved meeting.

  “The monsters I told you about,” Luke replied.

  “Oh, those guys. I take it I don’t want to get to know them?” I guessed.

  Luke shook his head. “No, but that can’t be avoided. They’re the leaders of two other werewolf regions, and will be there for the vote.”

  “What vote?”

  “For High Lord, or First Alpha, the grand leader of all the regions. It’s the highest executive position in our loosely bound government.”

  I gagged. “Bureaucracy? Couldn’t I have stumbled into a world without a messy government?”

  Luke and Burnbaum chuckled, and the larger man stepped forward. “Our government is good. It has worked for several thousand of years.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Thousands of years? I don’t think any country’s been around that long.”

  “Ours is a country without borders,” Luke assured me. “But as I was going to say, Lance and Christian possibly planned our detour to keep us from the vote for leadership. Only those region leaders present at the election can be elected. This is so a werewolf leader in rebellion can’t be voted into the office by sympathetic factions.”

  I sighed and plopped myself down on the bed. My head suddenly hurt and I squirmed on the sheets. “Great. I’ve been kidnapped by a politician.”

  “It’s an inherited position, but yes,” Luke agreed.

  I rubbed my aching head and fanned myself. “Is it getting hot in here?” I asked the others. Luke raised an eyebrow and glanced at the others. Burnbaum smiled, bowed his head to us, and hurried out. Alistair pursed his lips, but bowed and also left. I was alone with Luke and outside the sun set behind the mountains around the town. “Did I say something wrong?” I wondered.

  “On the contrary, you said something perfectly fine,” Luke consoled me. He strode over to the door and turned the old-fashioned key in the lock, and then removed the key. He set that on a nearby table and turned to me with a wide grin and glistening eyes. His voice, too, had changed. There was a deep growl to it. “As I told you this is the night when you become a full werewolf, providing I’m with you.”

  I scuttled back to the head of the bed and waved my hand at him. “Then get out because I don’t want to be a were-anything,” I protested.

  Luke smoothly stepped over to the end of the bed and grasped one of the bottom posts. I noticed his hands were longer and thinner than I remembered, and his nails were sharpened to points. “I’m afraid there’s no going back,” he growled.

  The need in his voice was unmistakable, and it awakened within me my own lust. My breath quickened and my heart beat faster in my chest. I felt a wave of heat wash over me as I thought of his long arms around me, seducing me to his whims and fulfilling my own carnal desires. My deceitful thoughts kept me from noticing Luke as he slipped away from the post and set himself on the bed. He crawled on all fours over me so his hands were on either side of my legs, and one clawed hand reached out and grasped my thigh. His touch burned like fire, a roaring flame of sensual need that overwhelmed my senses.

  Luke growled and I whimpered. Outside the last rays of the sun disappeared and with it my desire to fight him. His hand traced up my thigh to my waist and leg long, deep cuts in my jeans that revealed my uncut, quivering skin. I slipped down so I lay atop the luscious pillows and my breasts heaved with my impatience. Luke slid up and lay himself atop me, where he buried his face into my neck. His sharp teeth nipped and suckled at my tender skin. I gasped and clutched at his shirt. The cloth was aggravating me, keeping me from him, so I pulled and tore at it. My strength surprised me when the shirt ripped in two, but my eagerness to touch him dulled my confusion.

  I ran my hands all over his smooth back as his hand slid up the outside of my leg and slipped beneath my shirt. His warm fingers danced across my quivering skin and I jumped when he touched my bra. He growled and cut away the strap with his nails. I moaned when he touched me, softly at first but soon with more insistence. I squirmed beneath his gentle, firm handling and rubbed my legs against him. I was hot and wet between my legs and my body demanded friction.

  Luke grunted and raised himself so he loomed over me. His breath was ragged and his eyes had a wild flare to them. He clenched his teeth and shuddered. “I-I can’t control the Beast for much longer,” he warned me.

  In response I grabbed my shirt and pulled open the buttons to reveal my heaving, swollen breasts. “Please don’t,” I whispered.

  Luke’s eyes widened and all semblance of man was swept away. He growled and swept down to experience me with his mouth and hands. Our clothes were torn and tossed aside in a rage of frustration and incessant, demanding need. We clawed and rubbed against each other, and he took me with a swiftness and feral lust I’d never known. I howled when he penetrated me, and he thrust hard and fast into my hot, wet center.

  I reveled in the feel of him trapping me against the bed and making me his in a furious, lust-filled lovemaking. My hands dug into his back, pressing him close to me as our wet bodies slid against each other. I panted for breath as the heat and tension built inside me. The full moon rose outside the windows and shone down on us. I was filled with a strange sensation as my muscles tightened and my hands lengthened. Beneath my fingers Luke’s back strained and stretched as his body transformed. Fur sprouted over us as our lovemaking reached a feverish pitch. Our faces elongated and our teeth filled with sharp teeth.

  I squirmed and clawed at my lover, my mate, and he snarled and pinned me fast to the bed. Our sensual experience turned into an animalistic orgy as we sought release from our human bodies and our indescribable sexual thirst. I felt my stomach tighten as my orgasm washed over me, and I leaned back my head and let out a great howl. Luke soon joined me and together our cries echoed through the night. They would do that countless more times as we rutted our way until morning, and then collapsed into each others’ arms.

  13

  I woke up groggy, covered in dry sweat, and aching in parts of my body I didn’t know existed. There was a limp body atop me and the sheets were twisted around my ankles. My cheeks blushed when I realized the limp form was Luke, and we were both very much naked. Memories from the night before flashed through my mind and it looked like a commercial for aphrodisiacs and shavers. I lifted one of my hands and was relieved to see it wasn’t a paw. I was back to my human self.

  Luke’s face was tucked into the covers beside my bed, but I was pretty sure he was asleep. I tried to squirm my way from beneath him, but I froze when his muffled voice drifted through the sheets. “Getting up so soon?” he muttered.


  I rolled my eyes. “It’s probably almost noon,” I pointed out.

  “Probably, but after a night like that I thought you’d want to sleep until evening,” came his muffled reply.

  “That would be you, lazy bones, now let me up.” I pulled at his shoulders and managed to slide my way out of his sphere of influence. I gathered up a sheet and wrapped it around myself as he sat up and turned to me.

  He had a mischievous smirk on his face, and he didn’t bother to hide his nakedness from me. “Surely you’re not shy with me. Not after last night,” he teased.

  “Especially after last night. I don’t want to give you any more ideas,” I countered.

  “Any idea is worth a try,” he replied. He stood and held out his arms to me. Did I mention he was naked? “But come back to bed. We have an hour or two until the train leaves and-” there came a knock on the door. I was saved.

  I bolted for the dresser while Luke scowled at the door. There was another persistent knock while I scrambled to put on clothes. “They sound pretty impatient,” I remarked.

  We found out how impatient when the door burst open and a large werewolf jumped into the room. It whipped its head over the room and snarled at each of us, but particularly Luke. My fully-dressed self yelped and stumbled back only to fall on my sheets on the floor. The beast sprang for the weak link, which meant me, but Luke followed the intruder’s spring with his own quick sprint across the room. The werewolf was nearly on top of me when Luke slammed his shoulder into the beast and knocked it against the wall.

  A deaf man could have felt the vibrations from that collision and it alerted the whole inn to the trouble. The werewolf stood on all fours and shook itself, and Luke moved to shield me from the intruder. There was a commotion in the hallway and our new friend decided it didn’t want to stick around for the welcoming party. The werewolf turned tail and raced out of the room. It took a hard right and dove out the window. Luke chased after it and I chased after him with one of my sheets clutched in my hand.

  We reached the window in time to see the werewolf race across the carriage house and over the rear side that faced the woods. The only proof it was ever there was the broken window, bits of fur, and some blood. Other guests, Alistair, and Burnbaum hurried up behind us. I turned to Luke and gestured to where our intruder had gone. “That is why you shouldn’t sleep in so late. You’ll end up on the wrong side of the coffin lid.”

  Luke’s serious face didn’t crack a smile, but I noticed something that had a crack. He was still naked, so I used the sheet to hide his indecency. Alistair and Burnbaum lay at the head of the worried brigade. “What happened?” Burnbaum asked us.

  Luke turned to him and plastered a fake sheepish smile on his face. “Just an accident. I tried to open this window to get some fresh air and it broke.”

  Alistair raised an eyebrow, and Burnbaum glanced suspiciously between Luke and the window. “This window outside your room?” he wondered.

  “Yes. The hallway felt stuffy,” Luke replied. I rolled my eyes at that lame excuse, and Luke noticed and stuffed me into our bedroom. “If you wouldn’t mind coming in here, Alistair, I need dressed. Mr. Burnbaum, you may want to send your cleanup crew to manage your grounds,” he suggested. Luke hurried inside after me with Alistair close behind. Alistair righted the door and knocked it shut.

  Luke strode to the center of the room and paced the floor at the foot of the bed. His sheet billowed behind him like a strange bathrobe. I plopped myself down on the end of the bed and watched him work away at the wood floor with his feet. “What was with that cleanup crew business?” I asked him.

  “Our friend Burnbaum has his own private policing force. It’s a precaution against unruly guests,” Luke explained to me. “He’ll send them to track down our furry friend.”

  “Isn’t this something the were-police should take care of, or is this a human town?” I wondered.

  He stopped his pacing and smirked at me. “This has always been a bi-species town. As for the police, I have more faith in Burnbaum’s guards than any uniformed officer. If anyone can find the intruder it will be them.”

  “So why do you really think that wolf tried to make sushi out of us?” I wondered.

  “For the same reason the train was derailed,” he answered.

  “That they love you so much here that they want you to be buried in the local cemetery?” I quipped.

  “It does appear to be a smothering love, doesn’t it?” he mused in answer to my playfulness.

  “Would you care for breakfast or lunch, sir?” Alistair spoke up.

  “Clothes first, and then lunch,” Luke replied.

  Luke dressed, Alistair packed our luggage, and Burnbaum himself brought us our food. He was his normal jolly self until the door was secured behind him, and then his face blackened. “The cursed traitors mean to drive business from me!” he exclaimed as Alistair set the table in the room.

  Luke stood close by the bed and raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

  “My guests do not want to stay here with such noise! They flee to Simpling’s monster. That tall, new building near the station.” That was the gaudy building I’d seen from the train car as we pulled in.

  “Why that one in particular?” Luke asked him.

  “They smell war and trouble, and think he is good force to stop. They support him through his business-”

  “-and Simpling earns his ill-gotten gold from scaring them himself,” Luke finished.

  “Yes. It is maddening. Can you not do anything about this?”

  Luke pursed his lips together and glanced over at me. “I can’t make any guarantees, but I’ll pull what strings I can with some acquaintances at the meeting. With other matters dealt with I won’t be distracted at the meeting and taken unawares a second time.”

  “Third time,” I corrected him.

  “The train hardly counts,” he protested.

  “Yes, it does.”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  Alistair coughed and gestured to the table. “Lunch is served,” he announced.

  “Shouldn’t we test the food to make sure it isn’t poisoned?” I suggested.

  Burnbaum chuckled. “I beat you to it and watched the food cooked myself. It is okay and delicious.”

  “Speaking of danger, have you had your guards trail the intruder?” Luke wondered.

  “Yes, but the trail was very hard to follow. Many scents in town with all the people going to meeting,” Burnbaum replied. A dark shadow fell across Burnbaum’s usually happy face. “They follow his scent to the police station and-” The conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door that caused it to collapse into the room.

  A tall man in a policeman’s blue uniform stood in the doorway. He wore a white cowboy hat and dark sunglasses, and walked into the room with a confident, insolent gait. “Good afternoon, folks,” he greeted us.

  Burnbaum stepped between us and the cowboy stranger. The inn owner glared at the man. “What are you doing here?” he gruffly asked the man.

  The stranger smirked and took off his glasses to show off a pair of golden eyes. I figured that made him a werewolf, and when his furry scent hit my nostrils that confirmed my suspicions. “Don’t be like that, Burnbaum. I just heard about a bit of trouble some of your guests had here and wanted to see if there was anything I can do to help.”

  “No, now you leave,” Burnbaum demanded.

  The man didn’t listen, but instead strode about the room and stopped at our table. “Nice setup you got here. Mind if I join you?”

  “Actually, we’d prefer-” Luke began, but the man took the fourth chair and invited himself to our meal.

  The man rocked his chair back and forth, and picked at the soles his heavy black boots. “Mind telling me what happened to that window?” He nodded his head to the broken window through the open door.

  “I broke it,” Luke repeated his lie.

  “Ya broke it?” the man repeated. Luke didn’t deign to repl
y a second time, and the stranger raised an eyebrow and looked Luke over. “You’re that one lord, aren’t ya?”

  “One of many,” Luke quipped at the vague question.

  “I meant that one from the country, Lord Laughton,” the man rephrased.

  “I am he, but I don’t believe I know who you are,” Luke countered.

  The man lifted his chin and smirked. “The name’s Sheriff Steve Brier.” He leaned over the table toward me and his grin took on a more lecherous tint. I nearly lost what food I’d eaten. “And who might you be, pretty lady?” Luke stood up, but the sheriff was as fast as him. Brier pulled a pistol from his belt and pointed it at Luke’s chest. “Don’t go making stupid mistakes, boy. This gun’s got silver bullets in it and I ain’t afraid to dispense justice with ‘em,” the sheriff warned.

  “You do not understand. This woman is his mate, and no wolf should make love talk with another man’s mate,” Burnbaum gruffly told him.

  The sheriff shrugged, but stood. “Doesn’t seem like I’m wanted or needed around here, so I’ll just be going. Good day to you all.” He tipped his hat and left us. Alistair secured the door behind the man, and Luke whipped his head over to our host.

  “Who was that guy?” he asked Burnbaum.

  “I am told he was elected sheriff last fall. I do not believe the election was fair,” Burnbaum told us. “Other sheriff much better, but this one is friend of Lance and of man who attacked you.”

  “And you were saying what about our attacker entering the police station?” Luke wondered.

  Burnbaum frowned. “The trail led to police station, but the sheriff and his men would not let my men inside. They come back and tell me, and sheriff must have followed them.”

  Luke’s eyebrows knit together and I jumped when he pounded the table. “Damn it, but he’s been busy!” he exclaimed.

  “Busy doing what?” I asked him.