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Authors: Adaline Raine

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BOOK: Marked by the Alpha
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Her pulse quickened and she began to run back towards the shop. Whatever had happened Alisha knew that
Dani
was no longer at the house. She made it back to the store in record time and locked all three doors.
She touched
Dani’s
cell phone and firmly clicked on Mason’s name.
H
e was the only one that would believe her.

“Hello?” Mason answered on the second ring.

“It’s Alisha. I work with
Dani
at her store.” She trailed off then. What could she possibly say that would convince him that something was horribly wrong?

“Is everything
a
l
right?”

Alisha took a deep breath. “No.” She sat down on floor and tried to calm her frantic heart.

“What is it?”

Alisha blinked back tears. “
Dani
and I created a code a few years ago. In case she was ever in trouble
,
you know?” She continued without waiting for his answer
,
“I told her if she was ever in trouble to throw her phone. To just throw it in the woods and I would find it
and
I would know what it meant.” Alisha took another big breath.

“Is that w
h
ere you found the phone?”

“Yes
,

s
he
breathed out
,
still caught in a panic. What if she never saw
Dani
again? Why had she left her alone at the store? She should have called Mason earlier.

“Just stay there.
Listen to me, just close the shop and stay inside. I’ll send Phil to come and sit with you. Don’t let anyone else in.”

“I locked all the doors. I just didn’t
…” s
he trailed off again. “I didn’t know who else to call.”

“It’s al
r
ight. Just try to calm down.
I’ll find
Dani
.” Mason ended the call and Alisha pulled her knees to her chest. She had to believe that he would do everything in his power to find
Dani
.

She blinked away a fresh round of tears.
Had he
said that Phil was coming to sit with her? What on earth for? Alisha brushed at her cheeks. Of all the wolves this man had at his beck and call why would he send his
second-in-command
to come and sit with her? She was not that important. Alisha wiped at her cheeks. Poor
Dani
, where was she?

 

* * *

 

Mason growled and threw his phone across the room.

Phil caught it. “What is it?”
he asked, concerned.

Mason shook his head and continued to growl as he paced along the length of the room. Whoever took
Dani
was dead. He would pull him apart with his bare hands.
Mason
looked up
when he saw that
Phil had
purposely
stood directly in his way
. He reared back and punched him
in the chest
without thinking.

Phil fell against the floor with a thud. “Damn it!” Mason stopped and pulled him
up and
onto the couch. “Why in the hell would you do something so stupid?” Mason was glaring down at him.

“You
r
mind was
off somewhere
, and
I needed you back in the moment.” Phil shrugged innocently.

Mason growled again. “
Dani
is missing.”

“Was it a hunter?” Phil groaned
, still catching his breath after the punch.

Mason sat down. “Who else could it be?”

“Well let’s go sniff out
where they took
Dani
and kill those sons of bitches.”

“I told
Dani’s
friend that I would send you over to the store to sit with her.”

Phil nodded his acquiescence, and he didn’t even look disappointed. He really had taken an interest in Alisha, Mason thought.

Mason
called the pack together, then
looked around and pointed out ten of his strongest males. “We need to go find
my future mate
right now
.
Hunters have her. Follow me,

Mason
ordered,
then
took off toward the cars. His plan was to go to
Dani’s
house and sniff around. There should be some clues there that would lead to the hunters.

“Should I bring Alisha back here?” Phil
asked,
nearly running to keep up with Mason.

Mason stopped. “Yes. Do that.

He gave a shadow of a smile. “Sometimes you do have good ideas.”

Phil shrugged. “I’m not as stupid as people think I am.” He touched
Mason’s
shoulder. “Please let me know when you find her.”

Mason nodded. “Of course I will.”

 

* * *

 

Dani
tried to open her eyes but she did not have the strength. They kept plunging needles into her thighs every time she started to come to.
Dani
focused on keeping her breath and pulse steady as she
a
ss
essed
the situation. Her hands were bound in chains and her legs were bound
by
ropes. She had felt hands on her body but her clothes remained in place. What were they planning on doing to her? She had heard that hunters usually raped and tortured their prey before forcing a shift and literally hunting the wolf down.
Or w
as she a bargaining chip for
some
unsavory deal?
Dani
kept her eyes closed and tried to slow the panic that was seeping into her brain. What if Alisha didn’t find her phone? How would anyone know where she was? She knew that her car
in the parking lot
would
alert
Ali but who would she reach out to? Did she even hope that Mason would be told?

“I don’t like that bite on her neck.
It
oughta
be healed
,

a
gruff voice spoke up from somewhere in front of her.

“Quit it. We were told that this one was a loner.” That voice was the mocking one from the woods.

“Did you see it? Only an alpha can leave a mark that long
,

said a
nother gruff voice.

“You’re an idiot. She probably bit herself.” Yup, Mr. Mockery seemed to be the ring leader.

“What are you
,
a dumbass? No other wolf has ever had a hickey the size of my head on her


a
new
,
slightly more
intelligent-sounding
voice piped up.

“We were told this bitch didn’t have
no
pack!”
said yet another voice. How many were there?

“Well, she must have some pack cause that bite didn’t appear by itself.” This man could be a professor compared to the other ones.
Dani
nicknamed them in her head.

“I
ain’t
never
seen a bite like that
,

came from still another new voice.

“It’s an alpha
’s
bite
,
and that means that
someone
is going to come for her
.

After those words from t
he
p
rofessor
,
Dani
could feel the tension build in the room.

“Will you two shut the hell up?”
the r
ing
leader spoke up again
,
and the rest quieted.

Dani
kept her pulse steady. If they thought that she belonged to Mason maybe they would let her go?
Then s
uddenly someone was smacking her face.
She could smell tobacco and whiskey on his breath and she gagged.

“Come on,
R
ed
, we
gots
some questions for
ya
.” He was standing in front of
her;
she could feel his legs pressed dangerously close to hers.

Dani
gave a groan as her blindfold was torn away and the small room came into view. It was not as small as she
had
originally imagined and
the
ring leader was now cupping her chin. His breath smelled like tobacco and whiskey mixed with dirty socks
,
and she gagged.

“You belong to an alpha, bitch? Do
ya
?”

Dani
closed her eyes and opened them again. The raw feeling was all over her body and she tried to pull away from his touch. “Go to hell
,

s
he
whispered.


An alpha isn’t just going to abandon his mate
,
Lou
.” The
p
rofessor
must have seen that type of mark before. How else would he know what one looked like?

One of them, presumably Lou
,
smacked her across the face. “That true? You got some wolf on your trail?”

Dani’s
head lolled backwards and it took a lot of energy to raise it again. “You better hope not.”

“Aw, she’s playing, she’s just playing, Lou. She
ain’t
got
no
alpha!”
One of the others
was laughing out loud and
Dani
wondered how he ever got past grade school.

“I’m telling you, if that bite was caused by anything other than an alpha it would be healed over
,

countered the professor.

Dani
swallowed and grimaced. Her throat was dry and irritated and the little amusement
she got from
the idiots around her was fading. “Water
,

she said,
then
looked around without moving her head. Something smelled familiar to her and she inhaled deeply. Was she at her own house? Her senses were numb from the drugs.

Lou, as disgusting as he was, brought a cup up to her lips. “You better tell us the truth.”

Dani
let the water drip down her throat. It tasted awful but it took away some of the pain. He took the cup away and squeezed her cheeks together.

“We got you drugged four ways to Sunday, bitch, so you better tell me right now. Do you belong to an
a
lpha
?”

One of the men shifted from foot to foot. “Did
ya
hear that?
Something’s happening outside, Lou.”

Lou
let go of
Dani’s
cheeks. “What
,
yer
paranoid now? Go check it out and come back here.”

Dani
closed her eyes again. Could Mason really have found her that fast? She struggled against the chains.


Lou, you stupid fuck
! She’s got an
a
lpha
and he’s headed straight for us
,

a voice cried out.

Dani
opened her eyes and for the first time she realized
for certain
where she was. If she were not hurting so badly she would have laughed. She was chained in her own basement. She smiled slowly.

Lou began to take the chains off from her legs and suddenly
Dani
grew scared again. She was still too drugged to shift
into her wolf
form
.
Dani
tried to move her legs but she could
do
nothing more than groan as they gave way and she fell to the floor. He started on her arms then as the sound of fighting and screaming began to filter through the basement window. His men were not holding up well. Some hunters they were. Her arms came free then and she fell on top of Lou. She glared down at him.

Lou pushed her off of him and stood up. “Y
ou
stupid bitch,
y
a
ruined everything.”

BOOK: Marked by the Alpha
9.71Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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