Part 5 (1/2)
Ali's pulse hammered in her ears.
If not for him, she wouldn't even be here. If he hadn't come up with his ploy to eradicate the Zante pack from the face of the earth and leave the Kolen pack as the sole surviving tribe of weres in Connecticut, Ali would be celebrating the success of some mundane bounty hunter job in a dark bar somewhere.
And she certainly wouldn't be fighting her feelings for a wolf who wanted to change everything about her.
Without another second's hesitation, she shoved her paw through the bars and yanked the gate open further. It obeyed with a loud squeak that floated through the air, making her wince. Fury rolled through her as she lunged through the opening.
The claws that raked down her spine came with no warning. She yelped and spun around to defend herself, but Victor was quicker. He pulled her down on the ground by her hind legs and pinned her there. His breath came hard and fast, and the savage anger in his dark eyes bore right through her.
For the first time since he'd captured her, Ali was genuinely afraid of the intensity she saw in his face. She struggled against him, but she was no match for his strength and skill. He didn't budge as she fought him, but he didn't sheath his fangs, either.
Instead, he waited until she began to s.h.i.+ft, and then did the same. For the third time, Ali found herself trapped beneath him, her thighs spread wide on either side of his powerful legs, her p.u.s.s.y open to his demands.
This time, though, he made no promises of pleasure. Only hard disappointment shone in his eyes as he grabbed her wrist and yanked her to her feet.
”I warned you not to try to escape.” Grabbing her around her waist, he once again tossed her over his shoulder as though she weighed no more than a sack of potatoes, and was just as much fun to carry.
”I didn't try to escape.”
His growl left no doubt of what he thought of that line of argument. ”Like h.e.l.l. Soon you'll be telling me you were running out the back gate to pick flowers.”
She squirmed, heat creeping up her cheeks at the indignity of being carried into the mansion like this. She could only imagine the amused glances of the guards. ”Listen to me. I saw --”
The blow Victor landed on her a.s.s wasn't cruel, but neither was it teasing. The pain shocked her, spreading through her flesh with a fiery intensity that left her breathless.
”Stop.” The menace in his voice sent a s.h.i.+ver through her naked body. ”I said I wouldn't hurt you, but I won't be able to keep that promise if you insist on lying to me again. So do us both a favor and stop talking. You've lied enough for one night.”
”I didn't --”
The second slap came harder, and Victor followed it with another smack. He was careful to land the blows in different places each time, never hitting the same segment of flesh twice. She knew the spanking wouldn't leave bruises, and her skin would remain unblemished, but tears came unheeded and spilled down her cheeks regardless.
So much for trust, and openness, and nothing but infinite pleasure.
Who was lying to whom, anyway?
If there had been any doubt in Victor's mind of Ali's ability to change based on learning the pleasure of submitting to a dominant Master's will, there wasn't anymore.
d.a.m.n, but she was good. She'd actually managed to trick him into believing she understood the lessons he'd been trying to teach her. For a moment, he'd allowed himself to think that he'd been able to get through to her, to open her eyes to the cruel torment she'd caused and to the joy redemption would bring.
He'd been such a fool.
Standing outside the door to her room, Victor clenched his fists at his sides. After unceremoniously dumping her on the bed, he'd turned and walked out of the guest bedroom without another look back. As he'd slammed the door behind him, he thought he heard a sob. The sound had gone through him like a spear, piercing his heart. He'd gritted his teeth and steeled his emotions against getting the better of him. There'd been no sob, he convinced himself. It had simply been the squeak of the hinges echoing in his wake.
Even if he was wrong, that still wouldn't make the fabricated whimper anything more than another of Ali's futile attempts to play games with his mind.
With his heart.
f.u.c.k.
”No one goes in. No one comes out. You got it?”
Two guards stood on each side of the door. They nodded silently and snapped to attention, hands tightly clenched around the hilt of their weapons, fur-lined collars glistening in the bright light of the hallway.
They were four of his best. He'd trained them all to fight as he'd been trained, and each man was an expert in the use of a katana, a short sword, and a staff.
Unfortunately, so was Ali.
”Good. I want to make sure she doesn't get another chance to flee. You're all personally responsible for ensuring she's still here when I return. Understood?”
”Yes, Master,” one of the guards said, his scowl deepening. ”She won't get through us.”
After stopping in his room, just long enough to dress in his customary black slacks and long-sleeved s.h.i.+rt, Victor stormed through the garden, letting his anger and bitter disappointment envelop him like a cloak. It soothed him, in a way, knowing Ali had tried to betray him.
It would make what he had to do much easier. He might have been in love with her once, but he was now smart enough to heed the words of his Alpha. He had a backup plan, one he'd gladly put into motion now that she'd given him a reason to believe there was no hope left for her, no chance of redemption.
Still, a tremor ran through him as he pushed through the back gate and closed it with a loud metal clang behind him. He folded his arms across his chest and scanned the shadows dancing beneath the trees surrounding his property.
At last, he caught sight of a silhouette shrinking against the tall trunk of a white pine, and beckoned the man forward. ”We're alone.”
”Not quite.” He stepped into a circle of moonlight, three more shadows detaching from the shrubbery behind him. Daniel's men flanked him from all sides. ”There are another dozen wolves hidden in the darkness until I give the command.”
Victor waved a hand dismissively in the air, but his muscles tensed as he tried to catch sight of the other members of the Kolen pack. ”You won't need them.”
Daniel scoffed. ”Your b.i.t.c.h was sniffing around here not too long ago.”
Victor narrowed his eyes. A muscle jumped in his jaw as a thought struck him. ”Did she see you?”
”No,” Daniel said, his white teeth flas.h.i.+ng for a moment in the moonlight. ”She was too intent on getting the h.e.l.l out of there.”
Disappointment settled like lead in Victor's gut. d.a.m.n it, but he'd wanted to believe she had another reason for attempting to push through the gate. He'd left it open on purpose, testing her resolve. He hadn't thought he'd be a.s.sessing her so soon, but after what they'd shared, he'd really believed she'd changed.
He'd wanted her to taste the freedom of the night air and then return to him, exuberant and loyal. There were no guards outside the walls. Even with the extra men he'd hired to watch Ali, he didn't have enough manpower to post guards at the edges of his property, too.
Seeing Daniel out here might have caused her to want to confront him, but why would she do it alone?
No, Ali hadn't seen Daniel. True to her mercenary nature, she'd simply spotted an opportunity to grab freedom with both paws, and she'd attempted to take it. Unfortunately for her, Victor had expected as much. He might have been enamored with her, but he wasn't an idiot.
”The plan stands, then,” Victor said.
Daniel raised an eyebrow. ”You really want to go through with this, don't you?”
Victor shrugged, feigning nonchalance. ”What choice have I got? After taking the Alpha's sister into my home and promising him I'd be able to show her the error of her ways, I can't exactly present myself in front of the circle of elders and tell them I've failed.”
”So you want me to do it for you.”
”I don't care what you do with her. All that matters is that she'll no longer be my concern. If you can promise me she'll never show her face in Zante territory again, she's all yours.”