Love Found [Pack Law 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (13 page)

“Umm, shit. I had no idea. Oh. My. God. Does that mean that my cell phone has been giving me away the whole time? He has probably known where I was since I left Phoenix?”

“Baby, calm down,” Rylan said. “We’ll turn off your phone and get you a new one. He won’t be able to follow you then.”

Alyson shook her head, her expression frantic. “It’s too late. Oh God, you could all be in danger. I have to leave.” Alyson let go of his hand, rose to her feet, and began to pace while gnawing on her lower lip.

“Stop, Alyson.” Rylan stood, walked toward her, and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You aren’t going anywhere. You are our mate. It is our job to protect you, not the other way around. Do you think this asshole is going to be able to get to you with us around? We are part wolf, which means we have heightened senses, baby. Our sense of smell is far better than a human’s. Our eyesight is sharper, and we are stronger and faster. There is no way he can get to you. Plus, the rest of the pack will make sure you are safe, too.”

“You have other women here, and there are children. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to them. You have to let me go.”

“No fucking way,” Chevy snapped. Alyson looked at him with shock on her face. He had shocked himself, too. Normally he was the mediator of the family and kept his brothers calm. Now it seemed having a mate to protect made him more dominant.

* * * *

Alyson stared at Chevy, who looked just as surprised as she felt. She’d never heard him talk so vehemently before. Chevy recovered from his surprise first and met her gaze with a stony look that was a lot like the one Rylan was giving her. But she was unconvinced. She could curse her oversight, but that didn’t change the situation. She knew leaving was the right thing to do. She remembered baby Stefan sitting on Michelle’s knee at the dining room table. The recollection brought back another mother and child. Virgil had tried to kill Mary’s baby, and Alyson couldn’t risk that he’d show up at the pack house and try to harm Michelle or Stefan.
He can’t be allowed to hurt them. I have to go
. But she could tell by the fiercely determined expressions on all three men’s faces that wasn’t about to happen.

“You. Are. Not. Leaving,” Rylan spoke between clenched teeth, but his voice was firm. “You are our mate. We want you to be our wife. What sort of men would we be if we let you go? This Virgil may already know you’re here. What then, Alyson? As soon as you left the estate you would be in danger.”

“Honey.” Tarkyn’s voice drew her eyes. “We have state-of-the-art security. No one can get in or out without the code, and if by chance the gates failed, we have cameras around the house and grounds. There is no way in hell someone could get in here without one of us knowing about it. We can scent a human from quite a distance. We would smell them before they even got close.”

Alyson sighed and shrugged her shoulders, dislodging Rylan’s hands from her body, and began to pace again. What they said made sense. But she was still worried. If Virgil was determined enough, he would find a way onto the grounds. Even if he managed to circumvent the security, there was no way he could avoid their noses.

She turned to look at them all and gripped her fingers and whispered, “I don’t know if I’ll stay.”

“Yes, you will. There is no way I’m letting you leave,” Rylan said in a steely voice.

“You are such an ass. There is no way you could keep me here if I didn’t want to stay.”

“Stop pushing me, Alyson. You may just find yourself over my knee.”

“Are you threatening me?” She glared at Rylan.

“No, baby, that’s a promise.”

Alyson spun away and began to pace again.

“Sweetie, we’re all tired,” Tarkyn said. “Let’s sleep on it and figure it out in the morning.”

Almost in unison, Rylan growled and Chevy snapped, “No!”

“She needs to decide,” Rylan said firmly.

Alyson looked him straight in the eye.
Could I bear to leave them?

“What’s it going to be?” Chevy asked.

All three of them looked tense as they awaited her answer. Their body language told her that they cared about her just as much as their words did. Nowhere else had she felt such a sense of belonging as she had with them.

So trust them when they say they’ll protect you.

Alyson let out a sigh. It wasn’t going to be easy to learn to lean on them, but she’d try. “I’ll stay. For now.”

Chevy and Tarkyn both smiled, but Rylan’s expression stayed serious. Alyson found herself looking away from him as she got into bed.

If Virgil comes for me, I won’t let him hurt anyone here. Even if it means leaving.

* * * *

Alyson came out of the bedroom and stopped. The three Friess brothers sat on the couch in the living room, dressed and looking as sexy as ever. She had woken up alone in bed, wondering if last night could really have happened.

Rylan stood up, enfolded her into his arms, and gave her a smoldering kiss.

That answers my question.

“Sleep well, baby?” he asked.

“Yeah. You guys should have woken me up. I didn’t mean to sleep so late.”

“It was kind of a long night,” Tarkyn said with a grin.

“Breakfast is still being served downstairs.” Chevy stood. “Let’s go.”

Alyson moved to follow him, but Rylan stopped her with a hand around her arm. “Baby, the whole pack will be at breakfast.”

“Um, is that bad?”

“No. We want you to meet them. They’re our family, and we’d like them to be your family, too.”

That idea warmed Alyson’s heart, but she read hesitance in Rylan’s eyes. “So what’s the problem?”

“You met Jonah and his brothers last night, and you saw what happened when you challenged one of us in front of them. Challenging the Alphas isn’t a good idea either,” Rylan said. “Jonah’s word is Pack Law.”

“I won’t challenge anybody,” Alyson promised.

“Then let’s go. I’m hungry,” Chevy said.

Tarkyn opened the suite door. Following him down the hall with the others behind her, Alyson asked, “Not that I’m going to do anything to get you in trouble, but what happens if you challenge the Alphas?”

“Our Alphas are pretty lenient, actually,” Tarkyn said, “especially with newcomers. But because he is our most dominant and oldest Alpha, Jonah can use his voice to compel the pack to obey him. He doesn’t use it often, but when he does, everyone has to submit to his will and follow whatever directive he has given.”

“Huh, that must come in handy.”

“Only when necessary. We can use our voices, too, if we want, but only on our mate, and only after we’ve claimed you. All the mated wolves have the power to compel their mate to do their will.”

Alyson stopped dead in her tracks. “That means you could make me—”

Tarkyn turned and looked at her. “I haven’t finished yet, Alyson. Hear me out before you get too riled up.”

I’m an independent woman. They can’t make me do anything with their voices if I don’t—

Tarkyn swept her up in his arms, making her squeak with surprise. He smiled. “If you won’t walk, I’ll just have to carry you.”

“I can walk. I’m not an invalid.”

“We know you aren’t, baby. But we want to take care of you. You are our mate,” Rylan said from behind them as they walked down the hall.

Tarkyn continued his explanation as if there had been no interruption. “The only time a wolf uses his voice on his mate is if her life is in danger. At no other time will we use that power over you.”

That was good to know, but all this talk about claiming made her realize how much she still didn’t know about the Friess brothers and their pack. “Will I turn into a werewolf once you claim me?”

“No, darlin’,” Chevy said. “You have to be born with the Lycan gene to be able to shift, or you have to be turned, and there is no way in hell we would do that to you.”

“Why?”

“It is a horrific experience for a human to be changed. A wolf has to bite deeply enough to get the werewolf DNA into the human’s body. It’s the only way for the gene to be activated. Keira, who you’ll meet downstairs, and Rochelle both had to be changed. Those two women are damn lucky to be alive.”

Alyson shuddered, snuggling into Tarkyn. She rested her cheek against his hard chest and breathed in his wonderfully unique, masculine scent. “It’s not something you have to worry about,” Tarkyn said as he descended the stairs.

“Right, I just have to worry about meeting a bunch of werewolves and not challenging any of them,” she grumbled.

At the bottom, he finally set her down. Thinking about meeting the pack made her realize another question. When Tarkyn tugged on her hand, she stayed put. “What is it, sweetie?”

She looked between the three of them, her gaze coming to rest on Rylan. “Why aren’t you guys the Alphas?”

Chevy was the one who answered. “Jonah and his brothers earned the title. We hope to someday be their Betas and help them run the pack.”

“Someday,” Rylan repeated. There was a sour note in his voice, but before Alyson could ask, he took her hand and tugged her toward the dining room. “Let’s eat.”

She could hear voices and the sounds of cutlery on plates from the dining room, and it sounded like a lot of people were in there. Nerves made her stomach flutter. Alyson wanted to make a good first impression on the Friess brothers’ pack, the people who might someday be her family.

Girl, don’t mess this up.

Taking a deep breath, she followed her men into the dining room.

Alyson sat down in her chair at the dining room table with a sigh. After being introduced to the whole pack, she was ready to eat. She was amazed by the number of people filling the room, and her mind was spinning from learning so many new names. She hoped she wouldn’t offend anyone by calling them the wrong name.

As she and the Friess brothers had made the rounds, she had noticed that there were far more men than women in the dining room. Initially, that unnerved her, but she’d already seen many examples of how the men treated their women. Watching the Alphas playing with Stefan at the head of the table warmed her heart and body. Never had she seen such love and devotion. Not only that, but all of their mates had backbone. Even if the women were few, they clearly weren’t afraid of the huge specimens of masculinity that surrounded them.

Jarrod and his brothers were sitting across the table from her and her men with Rochelle. Alyson noticed that Rochelle was the only person not eating meat for breakfast besides herself.

“I’m glad to see I’m not the only one averse to eating meat.” Rochelle smiled at her.

“Oh, I don’t mind eating it, just not for breakfast.”

“Huh, and here I thought I finally had someone on my side for a change.” Rochelle glared at Jarrod. “These big lugs can’t understand all my little idiosyncrasies.”

“Hey.” Jarrod tapped Rochelle on the nose. “You know damn well that’s not true. We’ve done everything we can to see you have the food you need and want.”

“I know.” Rochelle gave a giggle. “I was just teasing you.”

Alyson gave Rochelle another smile and watched as the woman got to her feet. She was still talking to her mate as she walked and didn’t seem to see Angela and Cindy carrying large platters of food toward the table. Rochelle was headed right for them.

“Look out!” Alyson sprang from her seat ready to help, but she wasn’t needed. Jarrod moved so fast he was a blur. He swept Rochelle up into his arms and stepped back.

“God, baby. What am I going to do with you? You could have been hurt. Again!”

“I know.” Rochelle sighed. “Lucky for me I have three big, brawny men to keep me safe.”

Jarrod put his mate down carefully. “Let me run upstairs and get your purse, and then we can go to work.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ll be right back.”

Rochelle turned back to Alyson with a slightly sheepish smile. “I don’t know what I’d do without them.”

Alyson tried to smile back, but she was fighting a strange new sense of envy. What would it be like to have that kind of bond with a man—or three? “You work with him?”

“I’m the dispatcher for the sheriff’s department.” Rochelle suddenly grew solemn, and she leaned closer and placed a reassuring hand over Alyson’s. “Don’t worry, Alyson. We’ll find him.”

Last night had been so amazing that all thought of Virgil Minogue had been swept from her mind when she woke this morning. The danger she was in, the danger she’d put
all
of them in, came crashing back down on her. “Thanks,” she managed to squeak.

Jarrod returned then with Rochelle’s purse, and they headed out of the dining room.

Alyson watched her go. Virgil was upsetting her life in more ways than one. Last night, Jerry had made it clear that Alyson was out of a job until she was safe. Her blood boiled thinking about the job she was no longer “allowed” to do, but the Friess brothers seemed determined to hold her to it, and she had to agree that driving a truck all over New Mexico might put her in harm’s way. Yet she hated being idle.