42 Projectiles

Carrie

The next few days brought more disruption than was normal.

Porter had confined Amanda in his trailer, and she did not take kindly to captivity. She made my time trapped in Jason’s trailer look like a peaceful dialogue between friends.

“This whole kidnapping mates thing is becoming an unfortunate trend,” I commented to Jason as I poked my finger into his chest. We were sitting together in the office and both having trouble concentrating on regular pack work with so many problems looming over us.

Leaning forward, he caught my finger in his teeth. Sparks ran down my finger straight to highlight the emptiness between my legs. He released it and looked into my eyes. “I barely kidnapped you.”

I scoffed. Just because he made me want him all the time, didn’t mean I had to agree with him.

He smirked. “Maybe it’s trespassing mates who are the problem here?”

“I told you that you should have put up signs. See? It happened again.”

“Well, you might be right. We’ll make up some ‘Beware of Werewolves’ signs.”

I laughed and pushed up from the desk. “I’m going to try to talk to her again,” I said. My first couple of attempts had not gone well, but I wasn’t doing any worse than Porter in getting through to her.

“At least take Lee with you,” he suggested.

I rolled my eyes. “I can handle a human.”

He sighed. “You can, but you’re probably pregnant and last time she almost hit you with a toaster.”

He had a point about the toaster. “Well, I doubt I’m pregnant. I feel great.”

Jason raised a far too sexy eyebrow skeptically in my direction. “You’ve been eating a ton.”

I faked offence with wide eyes and pouting lips. “Are you implying I’m gaining weight?”

“No, but I’d still want to screw you every day even if you did, babe.” He winked shamelessly.

I rolled my eyes even though I liked it. “Anyway, it could just be stress eating. We’ve got to deal with the Alpha Association, and the Amanda problem, not to mention we’ve got a few more candidates for pack members to deal with.”

“And now Porter has to stay here so we’re down our beta,” he agreed. The plan had been for Porter to come along to the assembly, leaving Randy in charge at home, but everyone had agreed that he needed to be there for his mate. Randy was nervous about the sudden change, which was just another worry on top of all the others.

“I wish we could just let her go,” I said.

He didn’t look any happier about it than I felt. “If we do, and she talks, the Alpha Assembly will use it against us to deny our legitimacy. We can’t take the risk.”

“I know that it’s the one thing they can all agree on, but it doesn’t stop me from wishing otherwise.”

Since there wasn’t anything else he could say, he kissed me instead, a long slow kiss that teased my senses.

Lee’s voice interrupted us from outside the office. “Luna?”

Jason pulled away. “Good luck with the human.”

“I’ll probably need it.”

Lee and I found Porter sitting on the step leading into his trailer. He looked tired and stressed, and what I could feel of him through the pack connection was just as stretched. The situation had been terrible on his wolf.

He met my eyes. “The stories about human mates were never this bad, were they?”

I pasted on an encouraging smile. “I’m sure it wasn’t easy for them either, at the time.” I patted Porter on the shoulder. “I’m going to try talking to her again.”

He nodded but didn’t look hopeful.

I stood back while Lee opened the door. Nothing happened, so he went in and checked.

“It’s safe to come in, Luna. She’s sitting on the couch, giving me a death glare, but there’s no projectiles flying.”

I walked inside to the stench of bachelorhood. Porter, Kain, and I didn’t want to know what was nearly overcoming the fading scent of Max. Amanda was exactly as Lee had described her. She was sitting in the middle of the couch, anger and fear in her eyes.

“Hello, Amanda.”

Her scowl deepened. The girl really had a stubborn temper.

“If I come sit by you, could you not assault me? It’s possible that I might be pregnant.”

“What?” she asked, surprise momentarily overcoming her pique, before snapping her mouth closed.

“Do you promise?” I wanted the words.

“Fine. It’s not your maybe baby’s fault.”

“Thanks,” I said, moving closer and taking a seat on the shabby armchair across from her. At least this close, her much more tolerable human scent blocked out some of the other stale smells of the trailer. I wasn’t putting up with this nonsense when we all moved into the pack house, that was for sure.

“So, I actually think I understand why you’re so angry.”

“Well, I’m impressed. How did you ever figure it out?”

Ignoring the sarcasm, I said, “Well, aside from the obvious, Jason did the same thing to me.”

Her mouth flopped open for a second. “What? Don’t tell me that this is some creepy werewolf human-trafficking operation. I was thinking drugs or a gang or something.” She glanced over at Lee to see he wasn’t looking and mouthed, “We’ve got to get out of here.”

I shook my head. “It’s not like that either. It’s the whole soul mates thing I mentioned before. We werewolves have something like that, our mates. No one really knows how or why it happens, but it’s a nearly irresistible bond between two people. Jason is mine.”

“And he kidnapped you?” she asked skeptically. “I don’t know about this mate thing, but you shouldn’t have to stay in a relationship where he controls you.”

“It’s not like that, I promise. I could make him do anything I wanted, believe me. And, it’s the same for you and Porter. He’d bend over backwards for you.”

She stared at me like I was crazy. “Uh, no. I’m not interested in that.”

“Fine. But tell me you don’t feel like you can’t live without him. Tell me you didn’t want him from the moment you saw him.”

She narrowed her eyes. “That’s all just physical, chemicals, whatever.”

“Really?”

Her glare deepened and her eyes burned with renewed rage. “Listen, you are not going to convince me to be some forced bride to some misogynistic werewolf cult. I’ve dealt with this sort of bullshit before—to a much less insane degree—and I am not going to fall into this again. I’m never going to just go along with what any of you want for me. You can keep me there forever, and if he tries to hurt me, I’ll do everything in my power to kill him myself.”

“I don’t want you to just go along with anything, and neither does Porter.”

She emphasized every word. “Then let me go.”

“We will.”

Her eyes were slits again. “What?”

“We’ve got a bit of a legal challenge going before the Alpha Assembly—”

“The what?”

“It’s a united group of wolf packs. Kind of like the werewolf UN.”

“Uh huh.”

“And we can’t let a human run around talking about werewolves, because they’ll use it against us to try to make our pack look like it’s irresponsible. We’re really new and it seems they’ll use any excuse to keep new packs down.”

“So what if I promise to keep my mouth shut?”

I looked at her doubtfully.

“What? I can keep a secret.”

“This from the girl who told me about every conquest the day after she went out during our breaks.”

There was a growl from outside. “Shut it, Porter!” I yelled. “What she does is none of your business unless she decides that it is.” Was he trying to make the situation worse than it already was?

“Yes, Luna.”

“Luna?” Apparently the human’s hearing was a bit better than I assumed.

“Jason and I lead this pack of werewolves. Most of us don’t do well when we’re isolated, so we form packs, led by the alpha and luna, and other ranked members. Porter is our beta.”

“Of course he is. And you’re saying he’s my mate?”

“He is.”

“I’m a human. Are you going to turn me into a werewolf so I’m stuck with him?” I felt bad for Porter having to hear this, but it was his choice to sit outside and eavesdrop.

I shook my head. “No, you can’t become a werewolf.”

“Good.”

“And I’ll make you a deal. Stay here on pack territory until we get back from the assembly, and then I’ll tell you how you can break your bond with Porter if you still want to. You’ll be free to leave, as long as you promise to say nothing. I trust you to keep my secret, because no matter what you’re thinking, you’re my friend.”

“And if I break the bond, he won’t want to bother me anymore?”

“Something like that.” I wasn’t going to explain how much it would hurt him.

She was quiet or an uncharacteristically long moment. “Okay. I’ll stay here without fighting. But I need someone to pay my share of my rent.” She cast an angry look at Lee. “I was forced to call work, and my roommates, and so on and claim that my grandma had a heart attack, but I still need money to get by.”

“We’ll handle it.” It was another expense, but a necessary one. Maybe we could retroactively apply for a grant from the assembly after our challenge, since it wasn’t really our fault.

“Thanks.” Her voice was begrudgingly sincere.

“I’ll come back later, but before I go, I just want to say that I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what I was. I was depressed back when we first met because I didn’t have a pack, but we aren’t allowed to just randomly tell humans. I really am glad you know now.”

She shrugged. “I sort of understand where you’re coming from, but maybe Porter should have said something, if he really believes I’m his whatever-he-thinks. Was he just going to lie to me forever?”

“I’m sure he would have told you himself once he thought it wouldn’t scare you off.”

I stood up to leave.

“Hey, can I see you shift?”

I glanced towards Lee. “Could you show her?”

The door slammed open before Lee could do more than nod. “I’ll do it,” Porter said. “I don’t want you to see him naked.”

Amanda’s rage grew again. “You can’t freaking control me, asshole! If I want to look at a naked werewolf, I’m going to look at a naked werewolf, and I don’t need your permission!”

“She’s right. Stand down, beta.” I walked to the door.

He sagged. “I know, Amanda, I know. But please.”

I didn’t stay longer to watch. Lee was there to intervene if necessary, but I really didn’t believe that he would need to. Unless Amanda started tossing plate projectiles again.