Chapter 5: Alpha’s Prize: Chapter 5

Carlos

I walk along the outside perimeter of our citadel. The buzzing in my ears makes my head pound, but I keep pushing on. I’m going to walk the entirety of our pack territory every day until I know who lives in which hut, the names of their family members, what they do for us. Even as I vow it, though, the landscape goes by without my seeing a thing.

All I see is Sedona, chained naked to that bed. My terrible, wonderful prize.

Watching her leave was like allowing someone to steal away with a vital organ from my body. I stood there, numb, not understanding how I still lived, still breathed without her here. It took all my willpower not to shift and chase after her pack’s vans like a common dog. Not to howl.

But somehow I managed to stay on the terrace and watch, keeping my pack out of danger.

The council couldn’t believe I let her go. When they saw her standing out there, her white filmy wrap threading around her legs in the breeze, their pompous airs dropped.

“Why is your female out of her room?” Santiago demanded.

“I set her free,” I said calmly.

“Are you mad?” Mateo asked. “She’s your mate.”

Yes, mine, my wolf howled.

But it doesn’t matter. I wasn’t going to show my teeth to her pack, to her family. It was wrong to keep her this way. Wrong to have bought her in the first place. Everything we’d done to her had been wrong.

“Go and fight for your female. Or are you too much of a coward?” Don Santiago challenged.

I punched him in the face. I would never do something like that to an elderly human, but an old shifter can take it. The pack surged around me—I didn’t know whether they meant to stop me if I continued, but no one touched me.

“Crazy, like his mother,” Don Jose proclaimed.

“I’m not keeping a female against her will,” I snarled. “Not even one I’ve marked. And if any of you here believe such a thing is acceptable, you are the reason this pack is falling to ruin.” I turned in a circle, meeting every male’s eyes, forcing their gaze to drop in the face of my dominance. A small victory, but it satisfied my wolf.

Don Santiago rubbed his jaw and climbed to his feet. “So, what? You’re not going to fight to win her love? Her affection? I daresay you already had it.”

My heart squeezed painfully, then, and it’s still squeezing. I want to believe that much is true. But it could’ve been simple biology. The council knew exactly what they were doing putting a fertile she-wolf naked in a cell with a virile male over the full moon. And the adversity brought us together. Holding her to anything based on what we shared in there wouldn’t be fair. She had no choice but to accept me. It doesn’t mean she wants me as her mate. If she did, she wouldn’t have been so quick to jump in that van and disappear.

But even if she never wants to see me again, I will still avenge her. I gave the council one week to produce the traffickers who kidnapped her. When they hedged, I made it clear. “I will have blood for what was done to my female. Either it’s yours, or theirs.”

They’d better deliver.

I walk on the edge of a small coffee grove. The front of Monte Lobo is covered in trees, but small farm plots make up the entire back side of the mountain, forming a patchwork quilt of color and texture. This extinct volcano we call Monte Lobo doesn’t provide the best climate for coffee—not like the coastal states like Chiapas—but our pack has always been able to grow enough for our own use. It’s actually impressive the variety and quantity of crops our pack produces simply for our own subsistence.

Centuries ago, when our Spanish ancestors settled peacefully with the indigenous people who lived here, they set up a wonderful system for sustainable living in isolation. They frightened the indigenous people off, not through violence, but by inciting their superstitions. Men who change into wolf form at the full moon won the awe and respect of the tribe, which moved to the base of the mountain and guarded it from outside visitors. It allowed our pack to shut themselves away.

“Buenas tardes, Don Carlos.” An elderly wolf in dirty, worn clothing and a wide-brimmed hat stops what he’s doing to greet me. Despite the greeting, he looks wary, or suspicious of me.

I stop and lift my hand in greeting. Judging by the way he scrutinizes me, he already knows what happened today. Or was he there? It’s sad that I’m not even sure. I don’t even know this wolf’s name. I’ve been a piss-poor leader of this pack. I don’t deserve the position of alpha.

I force myself to stay, even though I’d rather walk on, immersed in my thoughts about Sedona. “How’s it going?” Yeah, it’s lame, but I don’t really know how else to shoot the shit with the guy.

He nods his head. “It’s going. Almost finished with harvesting this year’s crop. Then moving onto the cacao.”

“Good.” That’s all I can think of to say, but I’m thankful when his name comes to me—Paco.

A woman comes out of the hut and shades her eyes as she looks in our direction. She walks up the hill and stands beside the old man. Must be his mate.

“Alpha,” the old woman inclines her head. “Is it true?” She’s wearing a dress that looks straight out of the 1950s. It probably is, actually. Some secondhand find shipped over as a donation from the United States. I look over at their hut, where a curl of smoke comes from the chimney. The hacienda has every luxury imaginable and these people don’t even have electricity. I knew things were bad, but this makes me sick. What sort of alpha leaves his pack in poverty?

“Hush, Marisol,” Paco admonishes.

“Is what true?” I brace myself for whatever is being said about me. That I’m mad or that I let my mate go.

“You hit Don Santiago?”

Oh that. Yeah. I shove my hands in my pockets. “It’s true. The council and I are in disagreement about some actions they took.” Right. I doubt I’m projecting the confidence I mean to, but it’s the best I can muster when my mate is on a van driving miles away from me.

“Be careful, Don Carlos.” Marisol’s voice wavers, but I can’t figure out why. Is it out of fear? Or ire? Is my pack ready to mutiny against me?

I growl. Not to scare her, but my pack needs to know I won’t be cowed.

She takes a step back and her husband grasps her elbow to steady her.

“The council has overstepped.” Ice infuses my tone. “They will not insult me or my mate without retribution.”

Marisol and her mate both wear unreadable expressions. They probably think I’m the enemy, allowing them to live in poverty while I travel and attend the best universities. I don’t blame them. That’s exactly what I did. I don’t deserve to be their leader.

No one speaks for a beat, so I nod curtly and walk on.

“May the fates accompany you.” Paco’s benediction makes me stop and look back. He and his wife lift their palms in a wave.

I return it.

I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but things have to change around here. Clearing this cesspool feels urgent. I’m sure that reason has something to do with Sedona, but I don’t even dare admit what my heart is pattering on about.

Fix it for her.

That’s mad. Sedona’s not going to come back here. Not in a million years. To entertain the fantasy is pure lunacy.

~.~

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.”

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?

Pressure builds behind my eyes and nose as the confining net of victimhood descends again. Hot tears sting my eyes.

“Hey.” Garrett grasps my nape but I shake him off. “What is it?”

“I don’t want to go back to school,” I choke. I only have one quarter left. It would be stupid not to finish, but the idea of returning to the silly farce I’d been living, pretending to fit in with humans, makes me physically ill.

I texted my human friends this morning to let them know that I’m okay, and that I had a harrowing experience with some Mexican drug lords, but that I need some time to recover. Away from Tucson. It’s not true, but I don’t want them showing up at my door with sympathy on their faces, making me out to be the victim.

“Okay. You don’t have to.”

Our parents might have something different to say about that decision, but Garrett holds my gaze, brows lifted with finality. I see a promise in his eyes. Somehow, he dealt with our dad up on the mountain. Made him listen and not fight. I don’t know how he did that, because our dad’s the world’s biggest alpha-hole. But Garrett’s bigger now. Younger. The days of my dad kicking his ass are over. Maybe the power has shifted. I was surprised he accepted Garrett’s choice of mate without ripping into him.

“What do you want to do, sis?”

“Backpack across Europe,” I blurt.

Garrett blinks at me. I bite my lips. What was I thinking? I can practically see him trying not to say “no fucking way.” I mean, he barely let me go to San Carlos for spring break and look how that turned out for me. The idea of them letting me tool around Europe on my own is laughable. And, yeah, even though I’m twenty-one years old, I’m still looking to my folks and Garrett to “let” me do things. Of course, they do support me—I live in one of the apartment buildings Garrett owns, and my parents pay all my other expenses.

Only you can live your life. You should be free to make your choices. The best advice I ever got, delivered to me in a dungeon by a man more imprisoned by tradition and pack history than I’ll ever be.

Promise me.

Garrett arrives at his decision. “That’s not going to happen.”

Shocker. I turn my head to the window to end the conversation. I might not be locked in a cell anymore, but I’m still an overprotected pack princess. I’ll never be free.

~.~

Council Elder

“How did the Americans find us?” I ask the four wrinkled faces of my fellow council members gathered in the meeting room. The trail should have been untraceable.

Don Jose snips the end of an eight hundred dollar Cohiba cigar and lights it. It’s Cuban, from a limited edition box produced in 2007. I know, because I’m the one who bought it at auction last year for council meetings. Jose slides the box to the man at his left. “Through the traffickers. Or the Harvester.”

Not the Harvester. Probably the traffickers.

“I’ll go down to el D.F.”—what Mexicans call Mexico City—“to pay them a visit.” I don’t mention that I’ve already tried calling them in Mexico City. Relentlessly. The Americans stopped there first, I fear. So either someone sold us out, or they’re all dead.

If it’s the former, they’d all be dead by the time I finish with them. But I’ll give them to Carlos, to appease his thirst for vengeance. Hell, I’ll take him there myself and watch him do it. It will be good for my research to watch him in action. I haven’t seen the alpha fight yet.

“What about the boy? He didn’t fight to keep her.” Don Mateo takes his turn with the cigar box, holding one up to his nose and inhaling deeply. “Do you think he’s not truly bonded?”

It’s indicative of how little power Carlos has here that we call him the boy rather than the alpha. But we need to be careful. He’s angry with us now, which may cause unforeseen ripples. I would have preferred a much simpler plan with in vitro fertilization procedures.

“I think Carlos may be more valiant than selfish.” I pace the room. “He may have wanted to spare our pack’s blood.”

“Or his own,” Don Mauricio says drily.

“No. He’s not a coward. The boy is intelligent.” He is my great-nephew after all. “His American business college taught him to strategize. He made the best decision he knew how to protect both the girl and the pack. Don’t think he won’t go after her when the dust settles.”

“Do you know which servant set her free? Juanito?” Don Jose asks.

“Yes, but leave it. Carlos will protect him from punishment and we don’t want to anger the alpha any more. If the only pack member in his corner is a nine-year-old boy and a crazy mother, we could do worse.”

The men around the table chuckle with me.

“I’ll take Carlos to the traffickers. Let him win this round. He’s had his say and his way. He’ll go after the female and bring her back, hopefully pregnant with his young.”

“How can you be sure?”

I lift my shoulders. “He’s an alpha male at the peak of virility. His wolf will demand he be near her.”

“And if he chooses to stay away?” Don Mateo asks.

I smile. “All the better. We only need his young.”

And I would love to keep his body for experimentation.