Mastering His Mate Read online

  “I know I kind of thought they’d be…”

  Liza’s sentence was cut off as both she and Roz were grabbed, gagged, and pulled into a dark alley. Before they knew what was happening, their hands were bound, black hoods were placed over their heads, and they were shoved into a large vehicle, most likely a van.

  Roz could hear that Liza was struggling with them as was she, but they were outnumbered and the men were incredibly strong. She kicked and tried to scream through her gag. She connected with one of them and obviously in a vulnerable spot as he swore.

  “Bitch!” he cried.

  “That’s enough. We need them in good shape. We’ll get them out of town and then turn them. They won’t feel much like fighting after that and so we should be able to get them home fairly easily.”

  Roz couldn’t see them, but their words did not bode well for her or her little sister. She began to struggle even harder.

  The man who was behind her holding her by her arms shook her. “Knock it off. We’re going to give you girls such a gift. You’ll be healthier than you’ve ever been, live longer and fuck harder.” He laughed as he said the last. “You know, I think since we took all the risk to get them, we ought to at least have a little taste.” He pinioned her arms behind her against his chest and then reached around to fondle her. Roz snapped her head back and heard his nose break as he howled and let her go.

  She was immediately subdued and her hood was removed. The first thing she could see was Liza. Her hood had also been removed and there was a nasty long, thin knife being held to her throat. Liza’s eyes were wide with fright.

  Roz shook her head and looked at the men pleadingly.

  Blondie, who was holding the knife, said, “If I take your gags off, will you promise not to scream?” He looked first at Liza, who nodded. He then looked at Roz, who nodded as well.

  The gags were removed and both sisters could breathe easier.

  “Don’t hurt her,” Roz managed to get out.

  “We aren’t going to hurt you. Well, only a little bit. That’ll start the change. The change can be rough, but you’re both tough and healthy so you should make it through all right.”

  “What change?”

  “That’ll be our little secret until it’s complete. Then like Jack said, you’ll feel better than you ever have. And you’ll be part of a family.”

  “So are you guys a cult?” whispered Liza.

  The men all laughed. “You might say that, but really more of a family. Everyone will be so happy you’ve joined us.”

  “What if we don’t want to join you?” asked Roz, trying to keep her voice neutral.

  “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice about that. We need you; we caught you; now you’ll be one of us.”

  Roz saw Liza shudder. “Please don’t hurt her. She’s sick. Let her go and I’ll do anything you want.”

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  “A rare blood disorder.”

  The men laughed and nodded. “That’s not a problem. The change will cure that.”

  Blondie turned to the driver, saying, “Find a place to turn off. We can turn them, which will make transport easier. Then all we have to do is see them through the change and they’ll be ready to be placed with a mate.”

  Roz could see the chills running down her own spine echoed in her sister’s demeanor.

  “We’ll be missed,” offered Liza.

  “Not really,” replied Blondie. “Neither of you have serious relationships, and all of your family except the two of you are dead.”

  “You planned this,” whispered Roz accusingly.

  Blondie smiled a very feral smile. “Yes, we did. Our pack needs females and two sisters were more than we had hoped for.”

  “You can’t get away with this.”

  “Yes, we can. Shifters have been turning females for centuries. A turned female isn’t as good as a shifter born, but she’s a whole lot better than nothing. Just be grateful that the old man doesn’t need a mate. I understand being knotted by an alpha is an unpleasant experience. But you should know, most shifters are well endowed and like to keep themselves well laid. It may take a while for your body to accept being used that often, but you’ll get used to it and I’ll bet you both learn to enjoy it.”

  Roz and Liza both shuddered as the van pulled off on a side road and after a bumpy ride came to a stop.

  “Who’s going to turn them?” said one of the smaller males.

  “I’m the only ranked member of our pack that’s here. I’ll do it,” said Blondie.

  “That doesn’t seem fair,” muttered one of his pack members.

  “I’m beta. It’s part of my responsibility and one of the perks. Keep in mind it doesn’t mean I’ll get to mate with either of them. But I’m hoping the old man will let me have this dark one. Would you like that?” the blond said, leaning into Roz.

  Roz snorted at him. “I’d rather fuck a dog.”

  That caused all of the men to laugh. Blondie smiled. “That can be arranged once you’ve turned. Let’s get them out. I’ll turn them and once the change takes hold we can put them back in the van. They’ll be preoccupied with trying to get through the change. Come on.”

  Blondie exited the van first. Roz and Liza were each taken out and held between two men. They seemed very strong. Roz glanced down and could see the pronounced bulge in Blondie’s pants. He smiled at her and patted himself. “I’ll do the younger sister first.”

  He advanced on Liza, who screamed. Roz struggled to get away to get to her sister. The two men held her fast. Blondie pulled her close and opened his mouth. Roz could have sworn she saw his two upper canines elongate slightly and drip something that looked to be more than saliva.

  “We’re going to make you well. When you make it through the change, it will have fixed whatever is wrong with your blood.”

  He held her head cupped in his hand and lowered his mouth. With a feral noise that sounded like a growl, he sank his teeth into her neck where it joined her shoulder. Liza screamed Roz’s name and began to struggle even harder. Blondie bit her long and hard and then lifted his head.

  “That should do it. Keep struggling, honey, it’ll help pump the virus through your system.” He turned to Roz. “You’re next. I wish I could just mark you and be done with it, but I suspect the old man will let me have my way with you once we get home.”

  Roz used the two men trying to hold her still as a fulcrum and swung her body upward to connect with Blondie’s torso. She managed to knock him backwards.

  “Damn it. Hold her still.” The men switched how they were holding her so that she couldn’t break free of their grip. “When you’re pack, I’ll teach you to attack your betters.”

  He approached her aggressively and exposed the same place in her neck where he had bitten Liza. Roz screamed as he lowered his head and she felt his teeth sink into the soft flesh and then into muscle. Then, he released her.

  “You tasted sweet.”

  Roz watched in horror as Liza’s struggles lessened. “Liza?” she called to her sister.

  Liza failed to respond and within moments was hanging limply from the grip of the two goons that had held her as Blondie bit her. Roz could feel her temperature rising. She felt flushed; her blood felt like it was rushing through her veins. Her sight was beginning to dim as her skin began to burn.

  She heard a feral growl and in her peripheral sight she thought she saw a large dark gray wolf bound into the clearing with several other wolves. Roz knew she must be delirious as she was about to pass out as she could have sworn the two men holding her suddenly changed to wolves. Her fevered brain registered that she was falling. But before she hit the ground, a pair of strong arms caught her.

  “It’s okay. You and your sister are safe. We’ll see you through the change and deal with these bastards.”

  Roz could barely open her eyes. The last thing she saw was a pair of oddly shaped human eyes that had an ethereal glow.

  * * *

&n
bsp; Bash and a small group of wolves from the Hamptons pack had lost sight of the girls. It took them precious minutes to figure out they’d been snatched and packed into a van that was headed out of town. That they would go after them was never a question. That they would deal with them was also not a question. Bash only hoped they could get to them before anything happened that couldn’t be explained away in strictly human terms.

  Bash had arranged for several pack members to take motorcycles so that they could rush down small side roads to ensure the van had not pulled off. His fear was that the invaders would bite them there to start the change so that they would be easier to handle for the trip to wherever it was they had come from.

  Oliver had been clear. Only one of the kidnappers was to live to tell the tale. The rest were to be executed and their bodies disposed of. Bash shook his head. The pack must have been desperate to come hunting in Oliver’s territory.

  Normally, Oliver was good-natured and easy-going. A shark in business matters but a benign and loving alpha to his pack. However, when crossed—and hunting human females in his territory certainly qualified—he was deadly. He thought to make an example of these men, sending a clear message to other packs that the Hamptons was a no hunting/no trespassing zone and that violators would be dealt with in the harshest of terms.

  The radio crackled. “Bash? It’s Greg. I can see them. They’re stopping. We need everyone here now.”

  “Greg, don’t try taking them on by yourself; wait for the rest of us. If they get them turned, we’ll see them through the change. But you can’t get them stopped by yourself.”

  Bash made a U-turn in the SUV he was driving and made a beeline for Greg’s position. He saw the other two motorcycles get to the road first and accelerate down the road. They all parked, shifted, and made their way to the clearing where the two girls were being held. They heard one scream and her sister call to her. Another scream came shortly thereafter. Stealth no longer served them; they broke into a run and charged into the clearing.

  Seeing they were under attack, the invading pack quickly shifted to their wolf forms. Bash and one of the others of his pack changed back to human form just in time to catch the two women before they hit the ground hard.

  Bash was barely able to shift and slide under the blonde to let his body cushion her fall. Greg barely made it under the brunette. She hadn’t yet succumbed to unconsciousness and Greg was speaking soothingly to her.

  The invading pack was quickly subdued. All shifters changed back to their human forms. Greg lifted the brunette and Bash the blonde and carried them to the SUV.

  “At least the bites are clean and fresh. We should be able to get some antibiotics into them as well as some immune boosters and be able to help them survive the change,” said Greg, who had been a paramedic in Oliver’s ranger unit. Oliver had turned him to save his life in the heat of a pitched battle. Upon returning home, Oliver and Greg’s VA benefits had paid for Greg to attend medical school and he was the pack’s resident doctor. He also had a small country practice for those less affluent citizens of Long Island.

  “Get them as comfortable as you can. I’ll have one of the other guys sit back here with you until we get them home,” said Bash.

  Bash left the SUV and approached the other pack, who were crowded together. “Which one of you bastards is in charge of this group of hyenas?”

  Calling a wolf a hyena was a major insult and one no true wolf would tolerate. The fact that there wasn’t a single growl confirmed everything Bash thought of the men who stood before them. Bash watched as one by one all of the group looked at the tall blond man who had inflicted the bites.

  “And you are?” Bash asked pointedly.

  “I know who you are, Aldrich. I’m beta, same as you.”

  “You aren’t anything like me. For if I were you, and your pack had held the Hamptons for centuries, and I’d been caught trespassing and hunting in your territory, I’d be making peace with whatever powers in which I believed. You will not survive this night. Which one of you wants to live?”

  “What do you mean?” asked the blond beta.

  “Funny, I thought I was pretty clear. You and your miserable group of mutts are trespassing and hunting in our pack’s territory. That’s a clear violation of the treaty amongst member packs. The penalties are pretty clear… whatever the offended pack leader declares as penalty is the penalty and will be enforced by the Ruling Council. I spoke with our alpha, Oliver, earlier today. He wants all of you save one to die. That one is to go back to your pack and tell them what happened here. And tell your alpha that if any one of you ever violates our territory again, not only will all of the invaders die, our pack will hunt down every last one of you and see that you never bother anyone again.”

  “I’m a ranked member of our pack. I should be the one to live.”

  Bash watched with a certain level of detached amusement as the invading pack quickly turned on each other.

  “Enough,” he growled. “In addition, Oliver was very clear that if the girls were actually turned, whichever one or more of you inflicted the actual bite was not to be spared. I saw you bite both. You die. Now which of you do you choose to have survive?”

  “You’re just going to murder the rest of us?”

  “Not murder… execute. You may have murdered those girls for all you know. You set up a fairly elaborate plan in our territory to turn a couple of humans. They may or may not survive the change. Regardless, their lives will never be the same again. Oliver wants us to be able to tell them that those responsible will never do that again to anyone.” He looked each of the remaining mutts in the eye. Each had the decency to break eye contact. “So who lives?”

  “Joey is the youngest of us and we sort of bullied him into coming,” said one of them. The other members of the group started to argue and the one designated as Joey started sobbing with relief and thanking the man who had singled him out.

  Bash walked over and separated the man who had spoken up from the others. “You alone were willing to be executed for the sake of one of your pack. I choose you to live.” He turned to the remaining members. “Shift and run for your lives. If you make it off Long Island, we will not pursue you, but we will register your names with the Ruling Council as rogues. No pack will have you.”

  The pack shifted and took off. Bash turned to the sole survivor of the ill-fated operation. “Go to the SUV and give the names of those with you to Greg. Then get in the passenger side front seat until I return. After that, you can take that crappy van and leave our home… never to return again.”

  With that Bash and the other Hamptons wolves shifted and went after their prey. One by one the invading pack members were caught, challenged to single combat, and killed. Bash had made certain that everyone knew the blond Beta was his to challenge. It wasn’t much of a fight. The challenger knew almost immediately that he was no match for Bash. He quickly went belly up in surrender and submission hoping Bash would spare his life. Bash did not. He killed him quickly. As much as Oliver wanted whoever had turned those girls against their will dead, Bash wanted the man who had bitten the beautiful blonde girl he’d held in his arms dead even more.

  The pack shifted back to human form. “Rod said the police will turn a blind eye and deaf ear to any of this. Take their bodies to be cremated. I’ll get their pack’s address and send the ashes back to them.”

  One of his pack members spat on the body of the dead beta. “More than they deserved. My Sylvie was turned against her will. It was a horrifying experience for her.”

  Bash clapped him on his shoulder. “I know. Tell her we sent this group home in a box. If I know your Sylvie, that’ll make her feel a little better about this. And unless you think it would be too upsetting to her, it might be easier on those two girls if she was there when they wake up.”

  “I’ll see to it, Beta. You’d better get back to the SUV and get those girls home. Greg’s going to want to start treating them immediately.”

  Ch
apter Three

  Liza woke. She opened her eyes and looked around. This was not a room she had been in before and the two men watching her intently were not ones she knew. The last thing she remembered was the blond guy from the beach talking about turning her and some kind of change. Then he bit her. She didn’t feel bad, but she did feel different. In fact, she felt better than she had in a long time. Liza reached up and felt a bandage on her neck.

  “Where’s my sister?” she asked, her voice cracking due to how dry it was.

  The larger and darker of the two men leaned forward and took her hand. “Your sister is fine. How are you feeling?”

  “My neck hurts. Where’s the sonofabitch that bit me? Did he bite Roz too?”

  “He did, but you don’t need to worry about that right now.” He was talking in a deep and soothing tone that Liza could feel herself respond to. Her irritation and concern at waking up in an unknown place amongst unknown people was fading in response to the tone and presence of those around her. She felt an almost instinctive need to trust them and what they were telling her.

  The lighter colored man moved him aside and removed her hand from the darker man with the deep, sexy voice. Interestingly enough, the darker man growled at him.

  “Enough, Bash. I’m not going to do anything to your mate. I need to check her vitals.”

  “Whose mate?” asked Liza. “I’m not anyone’s mate… much less his,” she said, indicating Bash with her head. “And while we’re at it, who the hell are the two of you, where am I, and why can’t I see my sister?”

  The sandy-haired man spoke again. “I spoke out of turn. You and Bash—that’s Bash over there. He’s never left your side. Hasn’t slept much and has eaten less since we got you home.” The dark-haired man growled low and quiet. “I’m Greg. I’m the physician here. You’re in my medical facility and your sister is in another room. We thought you might come through the change more quickly so we didn’t want you disturbing each other.”