"I never said I was repulsed. I merely said that you can't go around biting anyone else. I won't have you drinking from everyone because you didn't share you wer-"

"Shut the f.u.c.k up, Gordon." Austin stood up and shoved his brother in the chair when Gordon stood. "Sit down and shut the f.u.c.k up before I do it for you. Of all the stupid, asinine...what the f.u.c.k do you mean she can't... Have you been paying attention to what's going on around us? You'd rather she die than drink from... You fool. You don't deserve a mate."

"She's not a vampire. Not even a half-breed like me. And for the record, when Holly and I come together as mates you so much as breathe a bad word to her about me drinking from her and I will tear you apart." Phil pulled out a file and handed it to Alexis. "Here you go, sweetheart. If you have any questions give me a call. I'm leaving. I wouldn't want to sully the air around here anymore."

He was around the house and almost to his car when he heard the first of the loud voices. He was too angry and too hurt to care what they did to each other anymore. He was going to find himself a woman and f.u.c.k her until she couldn't walk then he was going to drain her simply because he could. He was nearly home when he had to pull over and take a few deep breaths. He couldn't do either of those things and he knew it. But he was going to wash his hands of Holly. There would be no way for him to be around the young wolf without remembering what her brother thought of him.

Chapter 9.

After she threw everyone out, including Gordon, Alexis went to her room and locked the door. She didn't do that often, but she really needed to think and she couldn't do that with everyone coming to her.

She started to open the file when she realized she was afraid. She wasn't sure what was in the information, but whatever it was couldn't be good. She glared at the file when her phone rang. She picked it up and debated on whether or not to throw it at the wall then gave in and answered.

"Can I come over? Actually, I'm here. Can I come down and talk to you?" Gordon sounded as resigned as she felt. "We have to talk and I want to grovel to you in person."

She leaned against the coolness of her window, looked out into the dark, starless night, and watched the water fall over the stones a few feet away. She didn't want to deal with him tonight, if ever again, but if she hung up she'd have to deal with the file and thought he might be the lesser of two evils.

"Why? If you really want to know the truth, I don't care what you have to say to me. I'm thinking you might be smart by staying away from me." She saw a movement out of the corner of her eye and watched as Gordon came into view, naked except for the cell phone at this ear. "What the h.e.l.l do you think you're doing?"

"I left the pack house to go on a run and came here. I didn't have anything stored here so my clothes are still back at the place I took them off." He moved to where she was standing and put his hand near where her cheek was pressed against the gla.s.s. "I'm a fool. Worse, I'm a stupid, arrogant fool who should be shot."

"I'm not going to argue with you on any of that." She knew she couldn't really, but she thought she could feel his warmth. "I didn't know I could do that. I've never bit anyone before and you hurt me." She turned away from him to wipe at the sudden flow of tears. She looked back when he said her name through the phone.

"I'm more sorry than I've ever been about anything. You've no idea how much I enjoyed you biting me. And after...I said those things because I was scared. Not at you," he said hurriedly, "but at me. Christ, I wanted you to do it again and again, but I felt...well, I felt betrayed because you hadn't told me then-"

"I didn't know. I had no idea that I could do that. The urge to bite you came over me so quickly and suddenly it seemed right. And, Gordon, you have..." She was almost ashamed to amid it so she looked down. "I came so hard and it felt so right to do it. Then you looked at me like I was a disease or something and I couldn't tell you anything."

"Let me in, love. Let me in and let me make it up to you. I know what I did was horrible, and if Phil never speaks to me again or drains me it will be no less than I deserve. I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to both of you, I swear."

Alexis looked at the only opening in her room that didn't come from the inside of the house. She hadn't told anyone about it and had had several contractors work on the emergency exit over the entire work being done so that no one but her knew the route. Did she trust Gordon with the knowledge, or should she just have him come into the house like a normal person? She looked back at him and nodded.

"Do you see the falls?" He nodded, turning to look at the small falls that hid the doorway. "Behind it is a split stone. When you step behind the water it will look like a solid wall, but the closer you get to it you'll be able to make it out. And once you get into the stone you'll want to make constant rights. I know that you'll think you're going the wrong way, but make all rights at every split."

He nodded then turned back to her with a grin. "If you're trying to get rid of me, will you please let my mother know that I loved her? She might not mourn now about my pa.s.sing, but she may wonder a little later."

"She's mad at you, is she? Good. I hope she kicked your a.s.s." He kissed the gla.s.s were she still was.

"They all did. So when you see my battered body in the light know that I deserved every one of the bruises and I should have gotten more." He was gone before she could make a comment. His cell phone dropped where he'd been standing. She hoped that she hadn't made a terrible mistake when she saw him dive into the icy water.

The water wasn't just cold, but blue b.a.l.l.s, my-blood-is-going-to-turn-to-ice cold. Gordon surfaced just below the small falls and climbed out where the water met the wall of stone. He was scaling the embankment when he saw the place he thought that she'd been talking about. He emerged behind the wall of water only to be faced with a sheer wall of rock.

Using his hands he felt his way along the large stones. It was dark in the smallish cave, but he would bet that even in broad daylight it would be dark under here. He finally found the crevice and moved to stand in front of the opening.

It looked impossible for him to go through. His first thoughts were that she'd planned this to get rid of him. Then he took another two steps to stand to the direct right to the cliff and saw that the opening was incredibly wide. He stepped to it and slid inside.

He knew now what she'd meant when she said that he'd want to go left. First of all, the house was to the left. If he went left like he thought, he should he'd be going toward the house, not away. Secondly, the way to the left was clearer and definitely brighter. Taking a deep breath, he started walking to the right.

The first turn opened into another small cave of sorts. There were lights coming from above and he thought he could make out a few bats hanging in the smallish alcove. He tried to ignore them, but there was just something very eerie about bats in a cave. He moved to the next opening and saw that if he went right again he'd be hitting a dead end. He started to turn around and go back, but remembered she's told him to go right. He moved closer to the large wall and couldn't find anything.

Gordon was cold, wet, and tired. He'd had the s.h.i.t beaten out of him by his brothers and his mom was p.i.s.sed at him. CJ threatened to castrate him and Austin told him if he didn't fix this with both Alexis and Phil he'd have him thrown from the pack. And he was beginning to realize that he could care less about any of that because, in the end, he'd hurt two people that were very important to him. He turned to go back out when he saw the opening.

It was to the right of the way he'd come through. Not only was it well hidden, but the way it was situated made him think that he'd only seen it because he'd been about to slip against the wall. Had he not seen the small crease in the other stone he would have completely gone by it and that would have made him lose his way. Clever, he thought. Smiling, he moved toward the opening and down a small set of stairs. When he got to the bottom, there stood Alexis. He stopped a few feet from her.

"I thought you'd changed your mind," she told him softly, and she bunched a towel in her arms. "I was just about to lock up when I heard you. Aren't you supposed to be very quiet when moving?"

"If I know I have to be." He took a few steps toward her, took the towel, and wrapped it around his waist. He knotted it at his hip as he continued. "Why did you have this built? Are you expecting trouble?"

"Always. I learned that I should always have another avenue of escape." She moved back when he was close and for now, he let her. "I'm still not very happy with you. Any of you, for that matter."

"You should be mad at me. I am an idiot and a fool." He ran his fingers down her cheek. "You saved my life and I let you down. Again. I'm sorry."

She looked away and he moved closer. When she moved back again he simply lifted her chin and kissed her gently on the mouth before moving into the room. And Christ, what a room it was.

He'd been in here before, but he'd been seeing her for the first time in that white towel. Now he could see what Phil had said about the room was true. It was a work of art.

The windows that he'd been talking to her though were huge and showed so much of the outdoors. The only lights were from the moon reflecting off the water and the dewy gra.s.s. He heard her shut the doorway between where he'd been and the room, but was so focused on what beauty lay before him that he didn't turn. A half dozen deer walked into view as he watched.

"They come every night about this time. I think that the big boy, the buck, thinks I'm caged up or something and trusts I won't hurt his little family." She moved to his side as she spoke, but far enough away that he couldn't touch her. "Sometimes there are more, but always these few."

"They're hungry this time of year. It's too early in the spring for them to have enough food. But they look healthy and strong. They'll be foaling soon enough and you'll have more than you're little grove can handle, I think." He looked over at her as he finished. "You could move a few of the pairs over to my brother's land. They have several hundred acres there that they maintain."

She nodded and he turned to watch her look out the window. He looked around the room, wondering what other surprises she had down here. He smiled when he saw that she'd not only made the outdoors come into her room from the gla.s.s, but she'd brought a great deal of the forest in here too.

Her bed was made of fallen timber. He could see that someone had preserved the natural wood and had done so without losing the beauty of it. The four large logs looked to be from a variety of trees that held a mattress that had to of been specially made to accommodate it. The walls were made of barn siding and looked to be an old oak. When she started to move away he reached for her and pulled her into his arms with her back to him.

"I'm sorry, Alexis. What I did, what I said to you, was horribly wrong and mean. I was afraid, terrified actually. Not at you, but...well, at me."

"I wouldn't have hurt you." He heard the past tense of the sentence and felt his heart skip several beats. "You should probably go. I have to look over this file that Phil gave me. He and I have an appointment in the morning."

"I want to help you sort it out. I need to. I won't sleep with you." He grinned at the expression on her face. "Unless you want me to. I'm not saying I don't want to, because I very much do, but you have to trust me and I know you don't."

She looked over at a small table tucked in the corner and he could see the file there. There was also a large wall unit that was closed up and he'd bet that it held a computer and anything else she'd need for an office.

"I don't want you here. You're messing with..." She walked toward the door that he hadn't noticed before. "No one has ever been down here before except for the builders. You're messing up my karma, or vibes, or something. I'd really like for you to-"

"My wolf wants to touch you, smell you," he told her quickly. He didn't want her to send him away. "He's beautiful. And he'd very much like to meet you and not rush out the door like he did before. He snarls at me every time I can scent you."

She looked at him, but didn't tell him to leave. Yet. "You say that like he's a different person or something. Isn't he just something inside of you that you let out sometimes?"

"Yes and no. He's there inside of me, but he is a different being. He's the part of me that is beast. As for letting him out, I do when he wants. Sometimes for him and sometimes for me. He wants to meet you. He would never harm you. You don't have to be afraid of him."

"I'm not afraid of either of you," she snapped. He hid his grin by looking out the window again. He heard her move to the center of the room, but didn't look at her yet. When she spoke again, he turned slowly. "I can change too. Myself, I mean. I can change into anything I want, but I'm partial to an eagle."

He moved back slowly, trying to gauge when he was near enough to something to sit down or at the very least, lean against. Gordon felt something hit the back of his legs and reached behind him to grab on. He was grateful when he realized it was a chair and that he was in the correct position to sit in it.

"How long..." He cleared his throat twice before continuing. "How long have you been able to do that?" Thousands of questions popped into his mind while that many more tried to come to the front of the line. How? When? Why? Were only a few that he could get a fix on. He realized that she was looking at him and he tried to regain control of himself.

"You're mad again. Whatever." She moved to her bed and sat down. "I first changed into the eagle by accident. I'd been watching one in the backyard for a few days and wondered what it would be like. The next thing I know, I'm soaring through the sky with him. The next time, I really thought it out and felt it roll over me. The change, I mean. After that..." She shrugged. "I did it whenever I wanted to get away."

He nodded. He could understand wanting to get away, but that still didn't- "How old were you the first time? I mean, you make it sound as if you've been doing it for some time."

"I was six. It was right after my parents married." She stood up and started pacing as she told him more. "I didn't know why I could do it. And I'd always known that I was...Mom never lied to me about being adopted...well, she lied, but I hadn't realized she was lying. Anyway, so I didn't go to her about it. First of all, I was really afraid that she'd not want me anymore and then later I didn't because it was something I had of my own."

"Do it," he told her softly. "Change for me."

She stared at him for several seconds and he knew she was going to tell him no. She nodded once and went to the door this time. He started to follow, but she stopped him at the doorway.

"No. You have to stay here and watch me through the gla.s.s. I can't do it with you too close. You'll make me nervous." She looked at the window and then back at him. "The sun will be up soon and you'll be able to watch. I won't come back here until...you'll be gone when I return, or I won't. It's as simple as that."

He didn't answer or move until she turned and walked away. He wasn't leaving. He wasn't even going to stay inside and wait for her to change. As soon as she was out of sight he closed her door and rushed to the panel he'd come through. Tearing off the towel and letting it fall to the floor he shifted and leapt to the first left. In no time he was at the falls and diving into the water as his beast. Coming up on the side, he shook the water free and looked skyward. Just as the sun crested over the trees she flew over his head and took his breath away.

Chapter 10.

"Okay, tell me again why you can't get into the compound. Because the last I'd heard from you, it was a done deal. Nothing was in your way. You had her in the bag." Paddy looked at the man cowering before him and felt his fear wash over him like a very good drug. "But now," he said with a heavy sigh, "now you're telling me that it's not so easy to get to her and that...and how did you put it? Oh yeah, 'she's slippery as an eel in a tub of soapy water.' What the f.u.c.k does that mean anyway?"

"She's got her some guy living there all the time. He's a big f.u.c.ker too. And he has this family I don't think you should be f.u.c.king with. Some say that they're all a bunch of wolves." Logan someone...Logan Gla.s.s, Paddy thought his name was, started nodding and all he could think of was that he'd like to snap his f.u.c.king head off. "And that lawyer guy? He's been telling people around town that he's gonna sic some heavy stuff on whoever tried to touch his friend."

Paddy knew about the pack. h.e.l.l, he was trying his best to get one gathered up himself. But he was having some...difficulties. Mostly it was because the current pack leader was a p.u.s.s.y and the wolves he had in his pack were loyal to him. f.u.c.k that s.h.i.t. Paddy wanted them terrified of him. Loyalty only got you so far before someone threw you under the bus and took your spot on the ladder up. Then there was the lawyer.

He'd heard he was a vamp. Paddy hadn't really believed in that sort of thing before and he hadn't dreamed there were werewolves, and now look at him. He stood up and stretched and took a deep breath of the fear rolling off the man in front of him.

Paddy started to pace. He knew that he had to get to Alexis before the f.u.c.king wolf she was mated to really claimed her. He needed her and the f.u.c.king kids that his first wife had given birth to.

Judith hadn't been the one he'd wanted. At least not after he'd seen Alexis, at any rate. Where Judith was small and willowy, Alexis was an Amazon with her long, slim body and all that rich, dark hair. He wanted to f.u.c.k her every time he saw her. Reaching down, he adjusted his throbbing c.o.c.k and smiled when Logan whimpered.

"Rest a.s.sured, you idiot, if I wanted to f.u.c.k you right now you'd bend over and drop your pants so quickly that my d.i.c.k would still be tucked in my pants before you were begging me to f.u.c.k your tight a.s.s." Paddy grinned as he stroked his c.o.c.k and continued talking to the man. "She is to be here by Friday night or you'll pay the consequences. Do you understand me?"

"Yes. But how I gonna do that if'n she is locked down in that f.u.c.king house with-"

Paddy kicked him in the face. He watched as the man rolled head over a.s.s several times before he gathered himself up and cowered against the wall. Paddy needed to show this mother f.u.c.ker who was boss and unsnapped his pants as he strode across the room. Before he got to the injured man he had his c.o.c.k out and was fisting himself hard.

"Suck me," he ordered. Logan tried to make himself as small as possible by rolling into a ball, but Paddy jerked him up by his hair and pulled him to his c.o.c.k. "Suck me off and I'll think about letting you live."

Logan only looked up at him and Paddy rubbed his c.o.c.k over his mouth. He was so close to coming watching the blood drip from the man's nose that he almost simply came on his face, but the moment Logan's tongue licked at the tip of his c.o.c.k, Paddy knew he wanted more.

He watched at Logan's tongue curled around his thick head. Still holding his hair, Paddy forced his mouth over his c.o.c.k and moaned when he slipped inside. He rolled his hips, f.u.c.king Logan's mouth until he thought he might explode. His b.a.l.l.s tightened to his body and he felt the first tingling of his climax racing up his c.o.c.k. When Logan cupped his b.a.l.l.s and rolled them in his hand, Paddy came. And came hard.

Dizzy with his s.e.xual release and that fact that he'd come in a man's mouth, Paddy put his hand on the wall in front of him and leaned against it. He closed his eyes and tried to shut out what he'd done. Anger surged through him and he lost his temper. Something he'd been doing more and more lately. Jerking Logan up with one hand, Paddy jerked his head back and bit deep into his jugular.

Hot, fear-spiced blood poured down his throat. He barely noticed when Logan began to struggle less, noticed even less when he lay limp in his arms. When Paddy had his fill he simply dropped the man on the floor and stepped over him toward the door. He needed a woman right now and he had not a care in the world who it was. The first female he saw was his cook.

Not saying a single word to her, he slammed her against the counter where she was cutting up something. He took the knife from her hand, threw it toward the wall, and barely noticed when it stuck there and quivered from the strength of the impact. Taking her pants in his hands, he ripped them off her and bent her over. Before he could enter her, he heard a scream and knew it wasn't from her. Turning, he saw a movement and a quick streak of color and then something hit him hard. Paddy had a moment to realize that he should take more care when he did things with a witness. His eyes closed as he slipped away, the feeling of blood pouring from his head.

Paddy woke slowly. The silence around him was profound. He knew that he couldn't have been out long or he'd been out long enough for it to be night again. He could see from where he was laying the moon streaking across his body. Moving gingerly so as not to make noise, he stood up.

His pants were still down around his thighs and his shirt was bloodied where his head had bled on it. He reached up and found that other than a tender stop on his temple, he was fine. Adjusting his clothes, he moved through the house toward his office.

He didn't see anyone. Nor could he smell anyone in the house. Death was there, and when he found Logan slumped on the floor where he'd dropped him, he wasn't surprised. Glancing at the clock in the corner, he realized that maybe an hour had gone by. He looked at the body again and wondered if the others of the house, two others besides his cook, had seen Logan there and if he'd have to be explaining to the police what had happened. Probably not, but he still picked up the body and took it to the rear entrance of the room and out into the darkening yard. Heaving the body into the bushes, he looked up at the waxing crescent.

The new moon was nearly here. He needed to get to Alexis before then. If not, he'd have to give her up. And as much as Paddy wanted Alexis for his own, his master wasn't going to be denied. That was Paddy's price for being changed into the marvel that he was.

Tom Garrison was an old and feared vampire. And he was a person who made things happen. When Paddy had first come to him about being turned he'd turned him down. Then Tom had seen his daughter Darcy. And then his ex-wife Judith.

"I'll tell you what, you bring me your wife and I'll convert you. I won't even charge you my usual fee if you bring her to me before the next moon phase." Paddy was already thinking of ways to get her to him as Tom continued. "And if you throw in the daughter, I'll change you to a wolf too."

He didn't even ask why he'd needed his daughter too, but said he could get her as well. Paddy was changed the next week and had gone to his wife's home to get them when all h.e.l.l had broken loose.

Alexis knew it was Gordon the moment she landed in the branch above him. He looked so big sitting there as a wolf looking up at her. She thought maybe he'd just move on, but the longer she sat waiting for him to leave, the more relaxed he seemed to get until he simply lay down on the ground and watched her.

She might have screamed her frustrations out, but she knew that she couldn't and stomping her foot wouldn't work either. She was a bird. She dropped down to the next branch then the next until she was nearly on top of him. She thought about swooping down over him, maybe taking a chunk out of his fur, but she was a sort of afraid that he'd s.n.a.t.c.h her out of the air with his teeth. Knowing that he said he wouldn't hurt her was one thing. Whether or not he did it was a matter altogether different. Then there was the fact that she would be naked if she shifted back.

Still in the tree she wondered again why he had come out here. She'd hoped that if she told him she could change into a bird he'd be repulsed and leave. She should have known he wouldn't be that easy to get rid of. Sighing heavily, she moved down another branch. When he yawned and closed his eyes, she screeched. Alexis wasn't sure, but she thought he was laughing at her.

This time when she moved, it was to the forest floor. She sat watching him as he opened one eye then the other to look at her. Still he didn't move, didn't even so much as stretch out. The noises of the area around them seemed to still and she looked to her left when she heard a small noise. Looking back at him, she was surprised to see that he had shifted back to human.

"You're a very beautiful eagle. But then, you're a very beautiful woman so it really shouldn't have surprised me." He laid on his belly, his head resting in his hands as he leaned on them. "Can you understand me?"

She nodded before she could think to pretend that she couldn't. His grin made her think he knew that he'd caught her off guard and she thought she'd have to be more careful in the future. He was tricky.

"Trust is a very fragile thing. And I know that I've hurt that between us. You've no idea how sorry I am for that. You've been nothing but honest with me from the very beginning and the one time you let yourself go with me, I do the most incredibly stupid thing and hurt you." He picked up a blade of gra.s.s and she watched as he twirled it in his fingers, remembering when he'd touched her with them. "When Austin met CJ he ordered her around and told her what she was going to do and that she was going to listen to him no matter what she wanted. Of course, you've met her and you know how well that went over. I swore to myself that I'd be a more understanding mate, someone that my own mate would love without thinking I was an overbearing a.s.shole."

Alexis thought about what CJ had told her and what this man was saying. CJ had said that Austin had some major lessons to learn when they'd first gotten together and that he'd had a list of things that he felt she should follow. She'd told Alexis that she'd taken the list, read it over, then tossed it in the fireplace. Then she proceeded to give him the cold shoulder and the cold bed. CJ did admit that she thought that was harder on her than it had been on him, but said she'd never tell him that.

"If you shift, I promise that I won't jump you." He grinned as he sat up and nodded to his hard c.o.c.k. "As you can see, I want you. I want to take you right now, here in the forest like you were made to be taken. But I want to talk to you. We need to talk."

She looked around. Shifting for her was easy, but still, being naked around this man made her think she would be the one jumping him and not the other way around. He groaned softly and she looked up at him as he stretched his ma.s.sive arms over his head and then rubbed his furred chest as he settled back on his hands.

"I can smell you're arousal, love. If you shift back, we can make love then talk. The thought of burying my c.o.c.k deep into your wetness makes me harder than I've ever been." His legs moved out to the front of him and he looked at her. "Come to me, Alexis. Come here and take me."