Chapter Three

A dam Broyles sat in his home office, watching the amber liquid swirl around the glass in his hand. Social rules be damned—if he wanted a drink at ten o'clock in the morning, he'd have a drink. It's not as if he'd get drunk. His inhumanly fast metabolism made it extremely difficult to achieve a state of inebriation. His hand squeezed around the cut lead crystal and the pointed edges dug into his palm. He'd like to feel his fingers curled around something else at the moment, preferably the supple neck of one traitorous bitch.

His eyes unfocused as he stared out the large window. The land surrounding his Northwoods compound became a haze as his mind drifted. Nicole's image floated before him. The dark-red, almost burgundy hair, the plump tits he loved to squeeze until a little squeak escaped her lush mouth. He'd initially taken Nicole because the DNA tests had shown that she would be the perfect host for his latest experiments. However, unlike the others—humans who were only disposable tissue to him— he craved the little spitfire and contemplated taking her as a mate. The test results were inconclusive, at this point, but Adam suspected that, thanks to Nicole, he'd finally achieved perfection with the latest trial.

He'd offered her everything. Being a powerful female, it was only right that she serve at his side as his queen. Normally, he'd simply take what he wanted, but that somehow seemed wrong when picking a mate. So he'd plied her with treasures and promises. He'd given her freedom within the compound that no other had. Still, she'd held herself apart from him. Adam had made it perfectly clear that his kindness only went so far, and she really didn't have a choice unless she wanted to suffer the consequences. He'd done all this and still the bitch somehow escaped. He would find her, he knew. When he did, he would teach her why nobody ran out on him. If a tiny slip of woman thought she could get away with insulting him this way… Well, he was just going to teach her another lesson.

The ghost of a smile on his lips that had appeared as he thought of all the lovely ways to punish Nicole for her defection changed to a scowl as his office door flew open and Kenneth, one of his earliest acquisitions, rushed his desk.

"What have I told you about asking for permission before entering?" he shouted. Kenneth retreated several steps back.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, cowering.

Adam watched as the young telepath danced on the balls of his feet. He was obviously fearful of breaking the rules, but desperate to relate his information.

"Well, what is it?" he said, exasperated.

"You told us to monitor any transactions occurring on Ms. Holland's accounts.

She just withdrew a substantial amount of money from her savings."

He quickly stood, circled the desk, grabbed Kenneth's shirt and yanked him inches away from his face. "Where is she?" he growled.

"We're working on it, sir. Jasper is trying to hack into the banking system to find the branch location of her withdrawal. However, the new firewall program is one he hasn't encountered before. It's going to take time."

He pushed Kenneth away, and the small body hit the door of his office with a hard thud.

"You go tell Jasper I want that information five minutes ago. If he doesn't have it by the end of today, I will punish him in front of the others tomorrow. Let him know he is to report to me personally when he has her exact location."

"Yes, sir." Kenneth clutched the handle of the door and left the office as quickly as possible.

Adam paced in circles for a minute. The vein in his neck pounded in time with each step. They were so close to finding the faithless whore and she still slithered away. He would know where she was by the end of the day or there would be hell to pay. He picked up the lead crystal glass and slammed back the remaining seventy-year-old scotch. The fiery liquid seared his throat and churned his stomach. The conflagration burned his senses, and he launched the glass towards the wood panel wall, watching dispassionately as it shattered. Lead crystal rained down, catching the sunlight filtering through the large window, and tiny prisms littered the oriental carpet.

He stalked to the door, wrenched it open, and took several steps into the foyer. "Lenora!" he shouted. His voice echoed off the marble and stone filling the expanse of the house.

A few seconds later, a small woman ran into the hall from the back of the house that led to the kitchen. She dropped to her knees before him.

"Yes, Alpha?"

"Clean up the glass in my office. And don't you dare get any blood on my carpet if you cut yourself."

"Yes, sir. Right away."

Adam watched as she scampered into his office and his sensitive ears picked up the sounds of glass pieces hitting each other as she gathered them off the floor. He threw open the back door, walked across the stone patio, then out onto the grass. He needed to be in the labs for the latest round of trials in an hour, but he knew that if he didn't blow off some steam first, there was a good chance he would cause irreparable damage to the subjects. Punishment was one thing, but there was no sense in damaging the goods to where they would be useless when the time came to implement the final stages of his master plan.

Nicole pushed against the arms, imprisoning her. "That's impossible!"

"No it's truth," Jaryn corrected.

"I'm not one of you! I'll never be one of you! I won't have it!" She took several steps back and held out her arms to halt Jaryn from gathering her back into his arms.

"Easy. I won't hurt you. I could never hurt you. We are mates. My wolf recognizes you. Close your eyes, and open your senses. You'll see it for the fact it is."

"Are you crazy! I'm not going to close my eyes while standing in a parking lot with a stranger who says he's about to claim me."

She was breathing rapidly, her fists clenched—a hair's breadth away from bolting back into the bank for safety—but she knew she could never outrun him. If he pursued her, he would have her in his powerful arms within seconds.

"Okay, that's sensible. Look, before we continue this debate, will you please tell me your name? I'd like to know who I'm arguing with." He smiled.

"It's Nicole Holland," she answered quickly.

"Nice to meet you, Nicole. I know you have no reason to trust me, but you obviously know what I am—what being my mate means. So tell me why it's impossible, other than stubbornness."

She pushed back the hair that had blown in her face again. "First, I'm not a werewolf, so telling me to open my senses won't achieve a thing. There's no reason for me to recognize one of you as a mate. Second, I'm pretty sure I'm already marked. And third, I have no interest in being some chauvinistic Alpha asshole's chattel. Why do you think I ran in the first place?"

A low growl rumbled in Jaryn's chest. "First, there is no mating mark on you. I would detect it. Second, I'm a shifter, not a werewolf. It's an entirely different concept. Third, I believe somewhere in your family history there is a shifter because we can identify each other—call it a sixth sense, if you will. And you did recognize our connection, so don't think you can lie to me. You can't lie to a shifter, and you especially can't lie to your mate and expect to get away with it. Once you stopped fighting, you clung to me like I was a piece of driftwood on the open sea. And fourth, I don't know where you got your ideas of what it means to be an Alpha's mate, but I have no intention of treating you like a chattel. In our pack, we honor, protect, and treasure our mates."

He slowly stepped forward, and taking Nicole's hand, he placed it on his chest. "The concept of a mate is that we find the one individual who is a perfect match for us out of the entire world's population. We treat any mating like the miracle that it is because the odds are astronomical. Being your mate also means that I can sense your emotions, especially when they are running hot. Earlier, I detected fear. And I suspect it had to do with more than dealing with the shock of all the new feelings coursing through you. Tell me. Let me help you."

Nicole's fingers dug into the hard, warm chest. Her breathing had instantly calmed with Jaryn's touch. This was the complete antithesis of how Adam made her feel. He was right—she wanted to cling to him, but fear made her skittish as she imagined an abused animal might feel. She'd been through too much in the past year and a half to accept anything on blind faith.

Faith no longer existed, not in her.

Since the revelation and integration of shifter communities some twenty years ago, humans clamored to learn more about their culture. The discovery of the mating bond a decade ago meant that the world learned a secret that the shifter community had kept secret for centuries. It was said that when a shifter met his or her mate, the two individuals experienced a biological response that linked their psyches together. Wolves, along with several other shifter species, mated for life and those fortunate enough to be part of a pair experienced a love greater than any previously known in their existence. There were entire dating services dedicated to searching out shifter mates for humans. Those masses didn't care that the odds of it happening were few and far between.

She'd promised those she'd left behind who had aided in her escape that she'd find some way to expose Adam Broyles for the monster that he was. Could Jaryn help her? He was a shifter, so maybe he had inside contacts. But she didn't know how deep the corruption went. What if all the shifters already knew about Adam's little colony? What if someone sanctioned his torture and experiments, intending to keep humans in the dark all along? Oh God, what if the government actually knew—planned to take over Adam's compound when the time was right and use those being held captive for its own purposes? Nicole closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to get her heart rate to slow down. A year and a half under Adam's control and she'd turned into a conspiracy nut. She'd promised that she'd somehow find help. In order to do so, she'd have to trust someone. Nicole looked up into Jaryn's silver eyes. He watched her in silence, waiting.

Could she be Jaryn's mate? What did that mean for her? Surely not all packs functioned the same way Adam ran his compound—a world of servitude and submission… being forced to give up your sense of identity and capitulate to an Alpha's whims.

Then again, with the world network being what it was, undesirable shifter communities would certainly have been exposed by now.

Nicole didn't know why Jaryn couldn't detect the mark Adam had told her he'd placed on her. She'd felt the scar on the back of her neck. How many times had she twisted and turned in the mirror to study the evidence? She didn't actually remember Adam making the mark, but then again, there were several voids in her memory since the time Adam had kidnapped her—periods of time that Nicole simply refused to ponder or investigate out of fear of what she might uncover. She suspected that ignorance was bliss. But why did Jaryn claim he couldn't detect the mark? Maybe there was something special about it?

"Why don't you detect the mark Adam forced on me?"

"Who's Adam, and what do you mean, forced?" he growled.

"Don't growl at me, Cujo. Just answer the question."

He smoothed the hair away from her slender neck. "May I?"

She nodded, and this time voluntarily stepped into the circle of his arms. Jaryn leant down to Nicole's neck, and inhaled deeply. His scent washed over her. A small voice inside her hummed in approval and assured Nicole that he belonged to her. His hands rested on her hips, and she longed to close the remaining distance between their bodies. Her eyes closed as Jaryn nuzzled into her neck far more than she suspected he really needed to in order to discover Adam's mark. And when his tongue snuck out and licked at a small patch of skin, Nicole's knees trembled, and she almost pleaded with him to never stop. Jaryn pulled back and Nicole reined in her whimper of disappointment.

"There's nothing there. I detect the lingering smell of another male, which raises every hackle in my body, but definitely no mark. Now tell me about this… forcing."

She looked around the bank parking lot and shivered as a cool breeze blew around them. Despite Jaryn's large body shielding her, she still felt exposed. If she was going to take Jaryn into her confidence, she'd be much more relaxed somewhere secured and preferably indoors.

"Can we go somewhere else to talk about this?"

"You're cold. I'm sorry. Let me take you home, then we can talk about everything. I'll have my Beta come pick up your car later and bring it to the house."

Nicole stepped back from Jaryn's arms and immediately felt the cool air whip through her. She hadn't realized how much heat the larger man put out, and missed the cozy warmth. However, she wasn't ready to chuck all her apples into his basket yet.

"Look, I know you're convinced about this mating thing, but I'm not." She held up a hand when she saw him about to protest. "I'm not saying it's impossible. I've become cautious by nature and have no intention of exposing myself to another dangerous situation. So here's the deal. I'm going to get a hotel room. I've been driving with very little rest for the past two days and I'm exhausted. After I've gotten some sleep and can think clearer, then we'll talk."

"I'm sorry. I'm sure it feels like I'm trying to rush you, but you have to understand that I've waited…" He closed his eyes and let out a slow breath. "Doesn't matter. Let me show you the best place to rest. Then tonight we can have dinner together at… that is,Inside, I'd like to have dinner with you, if you'd accept my invitation."

She gave Jaryn points for effort. Inside she felt like smiling but lacked the energy. He probably knew the best place to stay in town… but then again, there probably weren't too many places in a town the size of Stonepass.

"I appreciate that, and a dinner out that doesn't involve some type of processed food sounds nice." She pointed to the silver compact behind them. "This is mine."

Jaryn walked over, then opened the driver's side door. "Come on. Let's go get you tucked in bed."

She settled into the seat and looked up at the man who claimed to be, for all intents and purposes, her husband as deemed by the cosmos. She didn't understand him. One minute he was basically ordering her to spill all her secrets, and the next he capitulated to her demands for space and even offered to suggest a hotel for her to stay at. Her mind was too tired to unscramble the intricacies of this dance. She needed sleep before attempting to continue this battle of wills.

"If you follow me, I'll show you a comfortable place to rest your head for a few hours," Jaryn said.

Jaryn closed her door, and she started the electric motor. The instrument panel showed that she only had about an hour's charge left in the battery. She glanced in the rear-view mirror to see which car he climbed into. The Jeep was an old model with four doors. It was deep blue and had a black soft top. When he turned the vehicle on, it was obvious that he hadn't converted it to electric. Government mandates required that all new cars use a renewable energy power source fifteen years ago. The rumble of the engine reminded her of the growl she'd heard with her head nestled against his chest a moment ago.

The vehicle appeared taller than others she'd seen on the road and had large knobby tyres. He must either do a lot of driving off-road or had it outfitted for harsh winters. She didn't know how much snow they got here, but she'd always heard that Montana winters could be brutal. Maybe he lived in the country, where plows didn't frequent? What would it be like to live away from the conveniences of town in winter? Did he ever get snowed in? What about power? Visions of long, dark nights with nothing to do but conserve heat by snuggling together in front of a fire flashed through her mind. She had a feeling with Jaryn they wouldn't need many blankets. The man was a walking furnace. He could be completely naked and still radiate enough warmth to keep her comfortable. What did Jaryn look like naked?

She'd felt the firm muscles of his chest and arms as he held her. His waist was trim and hips lean. Nicole had often fantasized about being with a man who could become aroused simply by being in her presence. Would there come a time when she could step into Jaryn's arms, press against his hips and feel his hardness against her stomach? She knew one thing—standing there in Jaryn's arms had definitely awakened something in her. A few moments ago, her mind was too scattered to focus on any aspect of desire, but now that she had calmed down, she recognized the signs. Her nipples were tight and her belly fluttered. She had the urge to clench her legs together to appease the tingling between them.

Looking back up into the mirror, she saw the Jeep waiting at the exit to the parking lot and shook her head to clear the fog of arousal. As she pulled out into traffic behind Jaryn, she prayed she hadn't lost her mind.