The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

I got on the minivan’s navigation system and found the closest National Car Rental location that was open. We headed south until we picked up 407, heading southwest of Atlanta until we arrived. Mike turned the rental van in while I waited by the curb, a sleeping Vicki still in her booster seat. Anita rented a mid-sized car and helped me load Vicki into the back as Mike returned. He pulled out of the lot and back onto the road.

“Where to,” I asked.

Mike just shook his head. “Worst case, the Council uses all its resources to come after us. Rewards, wolves sent out to look at likely places, stakeouts around our Pack and our families. We have to avoid detection and wait it out,” he said. “Two, three weeks, maybe more. When we make contact with someone in our Pack, it’s in a driveby using a mental link. Until then, we can’t have ANY contact with anyone.”

“What if our Pack isn’t around by then?” If Leo was rogue, who knows what might happen to the rest of us.

“Then we won’t be able to hear anyone on the Pack link,” he said.

“South,” I said. “They will expect us to head home.”

“Anyplace in particular?”

I thought about where we might go that was away from wolves. I’d love to go to Disneyworld, but werewolves visited theme parks too. It wasn’t like you could hide a five-year-old with the Alpha mantle. It needed to be out of the way, remote, and with some room for us to let our wolves out.

Anita poked around on the navigation system. “Let’s head towards Montgomery, then west to Texas,” she said. “No one will expect it.”

“Fine,” he said. “We don’t have any clothes or anything.”

“Leo gave me a debit card with access to an account he’d set aside for us. We have enough money to make it a month if we have to. Drive through the night, we’ll take shifts,” I said. “We can stop at a Wal-Mart in the morning and get clothes and stuff.”

It was a good plan. Get far away and stay out of sight. “Get some sleep,” Mike told us. “We’ll be two states away by morning.”

*******

Luna Carolyn’s POV

I watched the minivan pull away from us in the McDonald’s lot, pushing down my wolf’s desire to go after them and make them pay for threatening us. “Call the guards, I’m calling my mate,” I told Bonnie. She dialed one number while I dialed another. “Lewis, it’s me. Liv and the others kicked us out of their car and drove away after learning Leo was dead.”

“Shit.” I heard him talking to some of the others. “Sanders will be back soon, and we’ll talk about it. Have the guards pick you up, and I’ll call you back. Are you all right?”

“Shaken up, but all right. We got kicked out at knifepoint after almost crashing the minivan to get away from our escort.” I heard his growl at knowing that we were in danger. “We should have expected it with the news of Leo’s death. They don’t trust us, love.”

“We haven’t given them a good reason to trust them. I love you, baby.”

“I love you too.” I’d just hung up when one of the guard cars pulled up, and we got in the back. Bonnie had told them the last direction we’d seen the minivan going, and we headed that way. Five minutes later, it was clear they were gone.

Lewis told us to come home, so we got the cars back to the freeway and drove east. “Dammit, they took all the pizza with them,” I said as my stomach growled. One slice just wasn’t enough.

Alpha Anthony McInnis’ POV

Once we got to the room, I called my Betas to join us. “Keep the illusion going,” I told her. When the Betas arrived, I switched to the link. “From now on, only mental communication. Pamela, I need you to stay here, and I need them to guard you. Things are going to get bad out there tonight, and I don’t want you anywhere near it.”

“What’s going on,” my Beta asked.

“I can’t divulge that now,” I told them. “The doctors needed to sedate Mom; when she wakes, she’s going to need our help.”Exclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.

“I can’t imagine how tough it will be to lose her SECOND mate,” the Beta female said. “We’ll do everything we can.”

“I know you will. I’m going to head down and figure out what is going on. I’ll keep in touch.” I kissed Pamela deeply, then walked out. My wolf and I hated lying to my packmates, but the illusion had to be complete, or it would be for nothing.

I headed downstairs to the entryway, where most of the Alphas and Betas were gathered and talking. Chairman Sanders came in and called for quiet. “The trial will not restart tonight, even if the Jury returns a verdict,” he said. “With one defendant dead and the other sedated, we will resume no earlier than tomorrow morning. The Single Wolves Reception will start in twenty minutes. All unmated females are to report to the Gymnasium, and all males line up outside the East entrance.

“Twenty minutes to scratch and sniff, no trial until the morning,” I sent to the three in our room.

“May Luna bless some with their mates,” Pamela said.

“May Luna rescue them from awkward moments,” I replied. I’d only attended one. It was when I turned eighteen, and I found Pamela partway down the line. She was twenty-two, and it was her fourth.

“You never knew the disappointment that came with being alone at the end of the night,” she said.

“I’m the luckiest wolf in the world. I found you my first try,” I said. I closed the link and started walking around, keeping my eyes on Alpha Mark. He didn’t have much time to talk to her; since Brenda had rejected John as her mate, both of them had to attend the Scratch ‘n Sniff. I watched as Mark caught Brenda’s eye and walked away. She followed a minute later.

Chairman Steele walked up to me. “I need to speak to you in private, Alpha McInnis,” he said.

“Of course, Mr. Chairman.” He led me out of the room, but instead of heading upstairs to the offices, we went downstairs. He led me to a door marked “SECURITY CENTER.” A guard was waiting, his gloved hands holding a collar. “Let him put that on, and then you can come in,” he said.

“You’re silvering me?”

“We can’t take any chances that you will link to someone and ruin the operation.”

“Love, I’ll be out of touch for a while, don’t worry if you can’t link me.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Of course. Love you.” I turned around and let the man attach the silver-core collar. He closed the locking mechanism and slid the cover over it. The metal was dipped in black plastic, so it didn’t burn my neck, but it cut off my wolf. I didn’t like it a bit.

“Come on.” The guard opened the door, and we walked in. “The wires are working well?”

“Perfectly,” the guard Captain said. “We have audio and video from this camera hidden in his tie, and audio backup from under his shirt.” The room was full of screens showing the installed security cameras, but the main screen showed what Alpha Mark was seeing. “We have officers surrounding the area, far enough back not to raise suspicions.” Mark was walking into the woods surrounding the main compound. He found a small clearing and sat on a fallen log. It wasn’t long before Luna Brenda Petersen arrived in her cocktail dress and handbag.

“You wanted Leo dead, and he’s dead. I want my money.”

“How did you do it?”

“That’s not your business, it’s mine,” I said.

“It is my business if it can blow back on me,” she said.

He paused. “Fine. I used a poison ring. He barely felt the poke, and the toxin causes cardiac arrest after ten minutes or so.”

“Poison can be detected, Mark! They can find it in an autopsy,” she said. “I’ve got a claim in on his heir. If they figure out Leo’s death was murder, I’m the prime suspect.”

“And that’s why you pay a professional. Fifty thousand dollars, in cash, now.”

“I don’t have all of it here. I can transfer the balance, or have it delivered to you after the summit.” She pulled her purse around, reaching in and taking out a wrapped stack of bills and handing it to him with her left hand. “Ten thousand.”