The Alpha’s Tempting Mate

Sedona

I lean my head against the airplane window and stare down at the fluffy clouds below us. Garrett, followed by most of our pack bum-rushed the airport last night in time for him to find Amber, his mate. In front of all of us, he declared his love and his intention to make up for his mistakes with her and she allowed herself to be reclaimed.

Now, they sit in the seats beside me, fingers intertwined, her blonde head on his shoulder. If it were up to me, I would’ve given them some privacy-have them sit next to a stranger so they can wrap into themselves, but Garrett insisted his pack member, Trey, book me a seat beside him. I guess so he can send me concerned glances every so often.

“Stop it,” I snap when he does it again.

“Stop what?”

“Looking at me as if I’m broken.”All content is property © NôvelDrama.Org.

Garrett grimaces. “I guess I just don’t know what to do to help. Short of going back and tearing throats out.”

“That’s what you did to the guys in the warehouse? The ones who kidnapped me?” I both want and don’t want to hear the answer to this.

Garrett scrubs a hand over his face. “Yeah. I lost my shit because Amber was there and my wolf needed to protect her. I killed everyone before we questioned them. Thank the fates it didn’t keep us from finding you, or it would’ve been my fault completely.”

“Carlos called them traffickers. Said he’d heard there were shifters selling shifters but hadn’t believed it. What do you think they’re selling them for? It can’t all be sex traffic because they had a male shifter in a cage when I was in the warehouse.”

“Yeah, they captured us when we first showed up and put us in cages, too.” Garrett tugged on his ear like he was embarrassed. “Amber picked the locks to get us out. But I did wonder why they didn’t just kill us.”

“They were shifters themselves, right? Not humans who want to study our genes or something.”

“Smelled like shifters to me, although I didn’t see any of them shift. They had guns they probably thought would work to defend themselves. I killed them before they had a chance.”

“What if they’re shifters unable to shift? Carlos said his pack is full of them from too much in-breeding. I forget what he called them-defectives or something. That’s why their council bought me-to rejuvenate the bloodline.”

“Carlos. Is that his name? The guy you didn’t want me to kill?”

Oh lordy. Just hearing his name brings on a rush of pain. I duck my head. “Yeah.”

Garrett reaches out and touches my knee. “Did he hurt you, sis?”

The victim cloak falls on me like a smothering blanket. I struggle unsuccessfully to free myself of its confines and my eyes fill with tears. “No.”

“But he marked you?” Garrett clears his throat, obviously uncomfortable talking about sex with me, his little sister. “Claimed you?”

“Yeah.” My voice comes out as no more than a whisper.

“You can tell me, Sedona.”

I try to swallow down the lump in my throat. “I was jogging on the beach when this guy approaches. Shifter. He says something to me in Spanish, which I can’t understand, and the next thing I know, there’s a dart in the back of my neck and I’m on the sand looking up at four shifters. They put me in a cage and on a plane. I was in and out-I think they re-dosed me with the tranquilizer a few times. I woke up in the warehouse, and then they took me in a van to Carlos’ pack where they sold me to two older men. They sedate me again to get me out of the cage and I wake up in a cell, chained to a bed. I have no idea how they got me to shift back to human form, but the last drug seemed different from the other tranquilizers.”

Garrett is growling, eyes glowing silver and I shoot him a warning look. We’re on a plane full of humans. I purposely left off the “naked” part because I knew he’d go berserk.

“Maybe we should talk about this later.”

“No,” Garrett snaps, pulling his alpha obey-me-or-else tone on me. “Tell me now.”

“I will, if put your wolf away.” I’ll obey, but I won’t be treated like a child. It’s time for my father and brother to learn that.

Amber’s fingers squeeze his and I’m soothed, knowing he’s taken a mate who obviously cares and supports him.

Garrett cracks his neck, like he’s about to go into a fight. “I’m in control.”

I snort, but continue. “The door opens and Carlos enters. He acts shocked and walks over to free me and they lock him in.”

Garrett’s eyes narrow and I know what he’s thinking. It totally could’ve been a setup.

“He shifts out of rage and tears around the room for a while, but they don’t open the door. They keep us in there together over the full moon until we mated, then they hit us both with tranquilizers. I woke up locked in a bedroom upstairs. Carlos sent the boy to set me free when you guys showed up.”

Garrett’s face crinkles into a grimace but it seems he has no words.

Amber supplies them. “No closure. That must make it even harder.”

I blink back tears, grateful she identified my malaise. I shouldn’t need someone else to tell me why I’m so mixed up, but I do. “Yeah,” I choke.

“You have to tell me something.” Garrett’s frowning. “Was it rape, Sedona?”

My face grows hot. I shouldn’t have to talk about my most intimate moments with members of my family like this, but I get it. Garrett’s going to go back and kill Carlos if I say yes. I’m glad I don’t have to lie. “No.”

His shoulders relax a bit. “So you believe he had nothing to do with it? He was a victim like you?”

“Don’t call me victim.”

Garrett studies me. “Sorry.”

“Yes, I think so, to answer your question. But I’m not positive. If he were in on it, why would he let me go?”

“Because we were going to kill every last one of them and he knew they’d lose you anyway?”

My solar plexus tightens. “Right. That’s a possibility.”

Garrett turns to his mate. “Do you get anything on the guy?”

I don’t understand what he’s asking her at first, but Amber closes her eyes and I remember that he said she’s a psychic. Daggers of anticipation stab me. Do I want to hear her answer? What if she tells me Carlos was a fraud? My stomach turns just thinking about it.

Amber shakes her head and I hold my breath. “I don’t know.”

Thank the fates.

She leans past Garrett to look at me. “I don’t suppose you have anything of his that I could hold? We found that helped when I was trying to locate you.”

“No, nothing.” I left with nothing but the stupid nightdress thingy they put me in. Fortunately, Garrett brought my suitcase from San Carlos so I don’t have to fly home in it.

Trey’s head appears from the row in front of us. “What about the mark? His essence is embedded there.”

Nice to know our conversation was completely un-private. I should have remembered my brother’s pack members were right in front of us and could hear every word. Shifter hearing picks up far more than human ears can detect. Oh well. There’s rarely any privacy in a pack, anyway.

I cover my healing wound and lean toward the window, away from Amber, even though she hasn’t reached for me. I don’t want to hear what her psychic abilities tell her.

“It’s okay,” she says softly. “I don’t think you should trust my visions to make any decisions, anyway.”

Garrett frowns. “Your visions are the reason we found Sedona. We trust them. You should, too.” He reaches up to rub away the line between Amber’s brows. The gesture is sweet and it makes me smile. I love seeing this side of him. I always knew my brother would make a great mate, but he’d never been interested in claiming a female until now. He could’ve had the pick of any litter-in any pack, but he only went through the motions when our father held inter-pack mating games up in Phoenix.

And no, they never let me participate, not that I had any interest, either.

Trey shrugs and turns back around. He’s like a second brother to me-all of Garrett’s pack members are. I’d trust them with my life, know they’d do anything for me, any time. But it’s not because they care so much about me. it’s because of whose sister I am. Up in Phoenix it’s because of whose daughter I am. That’s why hanging out with humans in college had been so refreshing for me.

Except when I think about my friends now, it’s with total emptiness. I can’t explain any of this to them. What would I say?