Beauty Dates the Beast(47)

I crouched low in the kitchen, raising my arms over my head. “No, please, Roy … I’ll be good.”

“It’s because I love you that I have to teach you a lesson,” Roy said, snapping the belt over my head and lashing my arms and shoulders.

I whimpered in pain, knowing he would hit me harder if I screamed and alerted the neighbors. Roy wanted me to be strong. The beatings, he told me, were to condition me to pain.

I huddled smaller and waited for him to be done with his lesson. But then the belt caught me across the mouth and my mouth filled with blood. I spat it on the floor, then looked up to see that Roy was changing, his nose becoming to a wolf’s snout, his arms covered with hair …

I shivered and pushed the horrible memories aside, my entire body tense. Wolves pushed out of the woods, two … three … six … seven. Beau had told me that the Anderson wolf pack had eight male wolves and one female, so two were missing. I craned my neck, looking for them until I heard Bathsheba’s gasp. Her gaze was on the pack, and I looked back to them. They had stopped and now were crouched, changing back to human form. As I watched, one naked man rose and stretched as if he had not a care in the world. He looked over at me and winked, unconcerned that he was naked.

My sister averted her eyes.

I stared back at the man. How the hell had he shifted so very fast? My own shift was always painful and drawn out, leaving me aching and heaving. This man acted like he’d woken up from a pleasant nap.

As the others quickly changed, they lined up behind the other man. He stepped forward and looked at Beau. “You brought the wolf girl?”

I tensed. Roy had always called me “girl” too … just before he beat me. Was I going to be just a nameless, faceless creature to abuse? Again? The skin on the back of my neck rippled and I bit down on my cheek again, willing my body under control.

“We brought Sara, yes,” Beau said. “Where’s Savannah?”

The lead werewolf glanced back at me. I remained where I was. I wasn’t moving forward until I had a nod from Beau or Ramsey. My stomach churned hard, and I forced myself to relax my sweaty hand so I wouldn’t accidentally squeeze the hell out of Bathsheba’s fingers.

The lead wolf raised a hand in the air and motioned someone forward. I heard the rustle in the woods, then a man about my age and a young, dark-haired woman emerged. She smelled like the wolves and her clothes looked borrowed, but underneath I could smell the faint scent of cougar.

“That’s Savannah,” someone murmured to my sister. As the only human at the parlay, she missed the subtle signals that put the shifters a page ahead of her.

Savannah slowly moved forward. One of the Russells breathed out hard, and I wondered at the angry sound. Savannah gave the wolf shifter at her side a long look, then rushed toward us.

The Russells enveloped her in warm hugs, patting her on the back and clapping her shoulder, but their expressions remained grim. A short distance away, Beau looked furious. Savannah’s smile was wide and she wiped relieved tears from her eyes. Her scent was heavy with wolf—one wolf in particular. And noticing her calm demeanor I realized why the Russells were mad.

Savannah was no longer in heat. That meant …

“She’s all yours again,” the Anderson wolf leader drawled. “Give us Sara.”

I fought the sick feeling in my gut and gave my sister’s hand a squeeze, and then released it. I stepped forward, past the Russells, past Beau and Ramsey, and approached the naked pack of wolves. All of them were tall and muscled. The leader had a beard and a rather stern face. The others were younger, but I was still the youngest—and smallest—one. The leader’s gaze was assessing as I approached, studying my figure, my face, testing my scent on the air. I knew what he was looking for.

He was judging me as a potential mate.

The skin on my back bunched and rippled, and I inhaled sharply. The scent of wolf was almost overwhelming, and my legs were cramping up. Shit! I bit my cheek so hard that I drew blood. I would never take another wolf as my mate. I’d die first.

“Hello, baby doll. We’re gonna treat you real nice,” he said in a mild drawl, clearly sensing my nervousness. His gaze was oddly hypnotic, and I avoided making eye contact. An alpha could control the wolves in his pack, couldn’t he? I felt that strange thread of compulsion and I wasn’t even officially in his pack. It frightened me.

I didn’t dare look back at the Russell clan. Instead, I took another step toward my new “family.” I tried not to shudder. “I’m going with you of my own free will,” I announced, using the phrases we’d decided on to bring the plan into action. “A trade is a trade.”

The werewolf alpha nodded at me.

I turned back to Beau. “A trade is a trade, right?”

He nodded at me, his body tense. Beau didn’t take his eyes off me. “Agreed.”

“All right then,” I said, hating how small my voice was. “I’m now part of the wolf pack.”

The alpha smiled, a possessive, smug look. My entire body tensed as I waited for the plan to kick in to motion. Waited for rescue.

Behind me, heavy feet stepped forward. A large hand clasped my shoulder and yanked me backward against a massive, firm body. Ramsey said, “In accordance with the law of the Bjorn clan and the were-bear clans, I claim this one as my mate.”

The wolf leader’s face flickered with confusion, then contorted with rage. “What the f*ck is this?”

I quivered, flinching at the alpha’s rage. Normal anger scared me, but the alpha’s rage made my entire being shiver. It affected the other wolves, as well—they shifted anxiously on their feet.

Ramsey’s arm looped over my chest, protecting me.

The wolves frowned and muttered, exchanging glances. The bearded alpha gritted his teeth and glared at me and Ramsey. A low growl formed in his throat. “This is a trick.”

Ramsey’s arm tightened, and I squeaked when I realized his protective hand had accidentally cupped one of my small breasts. I didn’t think he’d realized it either, and his hand shifted lower.

“Not a trick,” he growled back, the rumbling in his throat much deeper than the alpha’s wolf-like growl.

My mouth filled with saliva again. God. Not now. I couldn’t go wolf now.

The alpha’s eyes flashed with anger, anger that he focused on me. “She don’t look excited to be your mate, Bjorn. She looks scared.”

Uh oh. I put on my chirpy smile and gave Ramsey’s hand a little pat. “I’m just surprised that my Huggy Bear decided to declare our love openly. He’s kinda private.”

Someone snickered. I felt Ramsey’s arm tighten on me, and he leaned down and kissed my temple. The oddly tender gesture threw me for a loop.

The wolf leader didn’t look convinced. “You two aren’t a couple,” he declared. “This is bullshit.”

“We are too,” I blurted, desperate. I turned in Ramsey’s arms and looked up at him. He stood at least a foot and a half taller than me, and weighed twice as much. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and tugged him downward, then planted my mouth on his.

I felt a tremor of surprise rip through him but ignored it, kissing his hard, unyielding mouth. I had to make this look as real as possible so I slid my tongue against his lips, coaxing them apart, and then sucking on his lower lip. Ramsey hesitated a moment, and then I felt his big hands cup my ass, pulling me closer against him, and his tongue flicked against mine. I made the kiss deeper, wrapping my legs around his big torso like I wanted to ride him, making small noises of pleasure in the back of my throat for the audience’s benefit. Ramsey’s sharp inhalation took me by surprise a moment before his tongue stroked deep against mine. Startled, I broke off the kiss and stared up at him. His brown gaze met mine and he gave me another light kiss, as if reluctant to let the contact end. It sent a shiver all the way through me, the way he was looking at my mouth.

Perhaps I was not the only great actor here.

I turned in Ramsey’s arms, unwilling to unwrap my legs from around his torso, and glanced at the wolf pack.

I shouldn’t have looked. All the naked men were staring very pointedly at me. And several of them had erections.

Oh jeez. Had I just made things worse? What if they didn’t believe us and I had to go with them? What if I left with them and they all held me down and raped me? Would they even have to hold me down? Or would the alpha bark a command and I’d just drop to all fours?

Fear quickened my breath, and I felt the tight, uncomfortable band of a headache surge through my scalp. Oh no. That was another sign of an imminent shift.

The wolf leader put his hands on his hips and stared at Ramsey, then at me, then at the Russells. His body looked tense, his posture wary. “If she’s your mate,” he growled, “then why’s she so f*cking scared?”

Ramsey’s hand on my ass tightened. “You,” he snarled.