Night Fall on Dark Mountain (8 page)

“Who’s playing?” Alec murmured and leaned back against the wall in mocking indifference. “I’m here. So, talk first. Then I’m going to dust your buddy.”

“Now, you wait a damn minute!” Max stalked across the cell to stand as close to Alec as steel would allow. “We’re here for a reason. This concerns the clan.”

“You know the rules, brother. And you knew what you risked when you brought that parasite here.” He canted his head. “Hell, you know you’re not any more welcome around here than he is—unless he’s your peace offering.”

“Alec…” Max’s voice trailed off in warning.

Stasia wondered at the enmity she sensed between the two. Once, they’d been as close as any two brothers could be. Since returning to Dark Mountain, Alec had kept silent regarding Max other than to say his brother preferred life among the vampires since taking one as a lover.

Stasia had died a little that day. Hope that Max would return to claim her dried up, and a bitter anger filled her. She’d been good enough to fuck, but not to love. Despite her pedigree and rank among the clan, her barren womb placed a ceiling on her aspirations.

“Goddammit, let us out of here!” Max roared.

The tension in the basement was thick enough to taste. The heady mix of male sweat and testosterone had her salivating and fighting the urge to sniff the air and drag the scent deep into her nose to savor it on her tongue.

If they’d faced each other in their animal forms, hackles would be raised and teeth bared. As it was, Max’s square jaw rippled with rage and Alec’s strong back was taut. The rift between the brothers appeared as deep as a mountain chasm.

Her interest piqued at their animosity—as did the edge of sensual tension still gripping her body after Alec’s surprising aggression in the woods.

Max. Alec. Two dominant alphas from the same ancient lineage.

Perhaps they shared more in common than she’d originally thought.

Stasia’s glance rested on one then the other, measuring, assessing. The Max she remembered hadn’t changed—he was still a mountain of ridged, tensed muscle. She’d cupped the hills, licked her way along the valleys and scaled sheer agonizing pleasure when she’d sheathed his enormous cock.

Tonight, Alec didn’t seem so lost in his overpowering shadow.

Physically, both were tall and broad-shouldered, although Alec was leaner of frame. In the glare of the bright bulb, both their faces were harshly etched—both their bodies were held rigid and wary as they circled—only stopped short of a true challenge by the steel cage.

But where Max was dark as a moonless night, Alec was a blond Viking. How he’d hidden that brawn beneath an accountant’s bland façade during his time in vamp territory was a wonder. Stasia swallowed to wet her dry mouth and shifted to ease the ache between her legs.

“Alec!” Max gripped the steel bars so hard his shoulders flexed. “You know I wouldn’t have brought him here if this wasn’t an emergency.”

“Law is law—written for a reason. You taught me that,” he drawled. “Would you really have me ignore a century and a half of tradition on your word? You promised us the breeder. How’s that going?”

A growling hiss sounded behind Max, and the vampire stepped out of the shadows. “Something else you failed to mention, dog-breath?” he lisped around his fangs.

Max rolled his eyes. “Not now, buddy. You know he’s only trying to rile us.”

“Well, it’s working.”

Stasia’s glance roamed the vampire. Leaner than either wolf, his pitch-dark hair and round brown eyes betrayed his Latino heritage. Exotic like a poisonous snake—he drew her fascinated glance. His fangs curved over his lower lip, and the exaggerated ridge of his brow cast a sinister shadow over his eyes. She’d seen vamps before, but not in a long, long time. He was delicious, forbidden—and sexier than she should allow.

Her legs tensed closer, trying to shut off the arousal that wafted like a pungent cloud around her. But her nipples beaded hard against her shirt. It was all Alec’s fault!

If he hadn’t given her the roughness she craved, she’d be in control. Her body still resonated from the unexpected pounding it had received. She stepped deeper into the shadows, hoping he’d end the interrogation quickly so they could slip back up the stairs and leave before she embarrassed herself.

“Stasia.”

She jerked as Max’s gaze drifted past Alec’s shoulders to seek her in the darkness. “Hello, Max,” she said, hating the breathless sound of her voice.

“You shouldn’t be here, sweetheart.”

“She’s with me,” Alec said, his jaw tensing.

“I can see that.” Max’s narrowed gaze settled back on his brother.

Stasia dragged in a ragged breath. “This is a little awkward,” she said, injecting a note of humor she was far from feeling.

“Hope you know what you’re doing, baby girl,” Max said, his gaze remaining on his brother.

“You think I have any choice in the matter?” she asked, her voice tight. “Like I ever did?”

Max’s gaze came back to rest on her, and he nodded. “I’m sorry about that.” He drew in a deep breath. “Meet Joe Garcia,” he said, and glanced back into the darkness behind him where the vampire prowled. “This is Stasia.”

“An old friend?” Joe said, one dark brow lifting in sardonic amusement.

“Something like that,” Max muttered, but his gaze never wavered from her.

The hint of apology that crimped the sides of his mouth nearly made her lose control of her tightly leashed anger.
He feels sorry for me?
She shook her head, letting her hair settle around her shoulders and stepped closer to Alec, lifting a hand to caress his shoulder. “I don’t need your approval—you’re not the clan alpha anymore.” She stepped closer, pressing her breasts to Alec’s back as her hand trailed around his belly.

Alec’s breath caught. “Stasia…” he warned, his body tightening beneath her touch. “Maybe you’d better wait in my office.”

“Gonna be long?” she asked, leaning closer to aim the whisper up into his ear. She liked the way the two behind the bars watched her play—their nostrils flared, no doubt to catch her ripening scent. Max’s gaze narrowed to fierce, feral slits.

Alec’s head swiveled, and his lips hovered just above hers. Anger flared in his hard glare, but she didn’t care. She had his attention. She had all their attention. Not because she was an available were-bitch—she was a bone between two fierce dogs. “Upstairs,” he ground out. “Now.”

Her hand drifted lower, grazing his beltline, and she laughed, low and husky. “Anything you say. It’s not like I can refuse, hmmm?” And because she’d accomplished what she’d set out to do—determine whether Max was still interesting and to annoy the hell out of Alec—she left, swaying her hips and leaving her scent to tease their nostrils. She laughed again, letting the sound echo in the silence behind her, and made her way up the stairs.

Todd waited for her at the top. He gripped her elbow and jerked her through the door, shutting it with a slam. “Little bitch, did you do them all?”

Stasia jerked away from her brother and scowled. “It’s none of your business anymore who I do.”

He leaned close, trapping her between his arms against the door. “Who you fuck will be my decision very soon,” he growled. “So don’t piss me off.”

She snorted. “He kicked your ass the last time. You really wanna go back for more?”

Todd’s cheeks flushed an angry red. “Is the vamp still alive?”

She nodded and let a little smile play at the corner of her lips. “He’s playing with them now.”

His expression grew impossibly darker and tense. “Did Max say why he came back?”

Stasia’s lips twisted, and she pushed away the arms confining her. “I suppose they’re talking about it now.”

“You didn’t stick around to find out?”

This time she blushed. She’d been so busy getting horny, swimming in testosterone, she’d blown her chance to learn what was going on. “Alec sent me to wait. I guess he’ll tell me all about it when he comes back up.”

“You think just ’cause he fucks you he’ll tell you everything?”

She lifted her chin. “Yeah, he will.” He promised he would.
And I’ll fuck him again to make sure he doesn’t go back on his word.
Of course, as hot as her cunt was now, she’d fuck him just to ease the ache—not that she’d let him have it without a fight. Her body craved more of his sweet violence.

Todd stomped to his desk and picked up his deputy’s hat. “I have to get on the road, but you find out what they’re doing here. By the way, who’s staying with Sissy tonight?”

“Mrs. Hughes said she’d check in on her. She’s plenty old enough to be on her own at night.”

“She’d have to be with a slut like you for a sister.”

Stasia had heard that slur so often, she no longer flinched.

“You find out what’s going on here. I’ll see you later.”

“Sure thing,” she said and sauntered toward Alec’s office to wait for him to come.

*

“Listen to me,
Alec,” Max said his expression turning from irritated to deadly earnest. “What I tell you has to stay between us for now—until I can speak to the warlairds.”

Alec shook his head. “Do you really think they’ll grant you an audience?”

His fists tightened around the bars. “If they aren’t the ones who agreed to an alliance with a homicidal maniac—then yes, they will.”

Alec’s heart stilled, and then pumped a slow, thudding beat. “What are you talking about? Still having problems with weres in Vero?”

“No, we just about have your mess cleaned up.”

Alec felt heat fill his cheeks. “All I wanted was the breeder—you know we need her.”

“I understand, but she’s taken and already bred. Get over it.”

The vampire lurking in the darkness beyond the light, growled.

Alec aimed a glare at Joe Garcia. “After she drops her cubs…all bets are off.”

Max held his hand up when the vamp’s growls deepened. “Someone else wants her worse than you do.”

“Another pack?” Alec shrugged. He really didn’t care. The warlairds had promised the woman to him. Whoever took her would have to relinquish her to the Dark Mountain clan.

“Looks like it.” A muscle flexed in Max’s jaw. “But the thing that makes this personal is the wolves who tried to get her killed Darcy Henry. She was my friend, a human—and pregnant. I want the hides of the wolves responsible for it. I’m demanding that satisfaction from the warlairds.”

Alec felt his stomach clench—he’d liked the woman. So Darcy had poor taste in lovers, she hadn’t deserved to die. “You think it was one of the clans? Not just a few rogues?”

“Their attack on the compound was organized. They worked like a team—not like rogues in their first bloodlust.”

“You don’t think our clan was involved—”

“No. That’s why I need to speak to the lairds. They can find out who crossed into the forbidden territory.”

“It couldn’t have been any deep cover operatives, like we were. They’d never bring that kind of attention to themselves.”

“Exactly.” Max released the bars and raked a hand through his hair.

For the first time, Alec noted the weariness etched deeply in the lines surrounding his brother’s mouth.

Max’s gaze, empty of all resentment, looked hollow. “But it gets worse.”

Alec heard the despair in Max’s voice and stiffened. This couldn’t be good if it frightened his stoic older brother.

“Whoever the wolves are, they made a pact with a real devil—a winged vamp who’s bent on taking the breeder for his own purposes. And he’s not playing nice with his own people. He’s kidnapped scientists—geneticists who can help him grow more winged demons in a Petrie dish using the breeder’s eggs. Zachary Powell isn’t wrapped too tight. If he gets his hands on her, it’s a whole new war. He won’t honor any ancient treaty—he won’t play by the rules. Our peaceful,
secret
co-existence with humans will be over, and we’ll all be hunted to extinction.”

Despite the chill his brother’s stark pronouncement sent quivering down his spine, Alec snorted. “A plague of locusts, rivers flowing with blood…what? Armageddon? Like any werewolf would make a pact with a demon like that.”

Max leaned close, his forehead halted by the bars. “It’s already happening,” he said, his lips twisting. “He has the three men who can make all this come to pass, and he was at the breeder’s doorstep last night.”

“Sounds like a fairytale to me. Something the vamps dreamed up to fuck with our heads and draw us out of our territory.”

“Dammit, Alec! They killed Darcy. You knew her. She didn’t fucking deserve to die that way—a goddamn wolf ripped her baby out of her.”

Alec stood in rigid shock. “That would never happen.”

“Well, it did.”

“You saw it for yourself?”

“No, but he did,” Max said, tilting his head toward Joe.

Alec narrowed his gaze. “And you believe him? What if they’re using you? Feeding you a goddamn story?”

Max reached between the bars and clutched Alec’s shoulder. “You’ve got to listen to me. Put aside your prejudice for just one goddamn minute. Consider if what I say is true—life as you know it will cease. You won’t have this cozy little town with your hot little were-bitch to fuck—you’ll both be living like animals in the woods, hunting deer and mice to survive—and every redneck with a rifle will be hunting you for your hide!”