The Alpha's Choice (41 page)

When they came to a stream and were forced to
walk in the icy water, she remembered what Jo had said. She
purposely set Meadow up on the bank to walk. It was a good minute
or two before it was noticed and she was forced to pull her back
in.

"It's too deep and cold for a little girl,"
Kat complained and hoped that they allowed her to continue.

"Tough shit. She walks in the water or you
carry her."

Kat carried her, but managed to stumble and
fall to the side, catching herself on the bank.

The boys seemed to understand her intent.
Dakota suddenly howled and jumped for the bank.

"Something bit me!" he screamed and rolled in
the weeds in pretended agony.

He got a cuff to the back of his head for his
efforts which gave him an excuse to howl again loud enough to be
heard if there was anyone near enough to hear. The boy flashed Kat
a grin as he rubbed the back of his head and Top yelled.

"Will you shut that kid up!"

Ranger, more timid than Dakota, fell more
often, too. He wasted no time rolling on the ground, but Kat saw
him wipe his hands through the weeds each time before he stood.

Meadow began to cry loudly as if she, too,
understood.

Kat shushed her quickly.

After what seemed like hours, they reached
their destination, another hole in the ground.

Chapter 40

"What is this place?" Kat asked of the giant
oil drum they were forced to climb down into. It was an underground
bunker of some sort and she had a feeling that this was not the
whole of it. Top had disappeared through a door to the side,
leaving it open and she could hear nothing from the room beyond.
She was surprised when the man called Kirby answered.

"This place? Beats the hell out of me. One of
them old survival types lived here. Didn't do him much good. He
didn't survive." The man grinned and in the light from the overhead
fixture, Kirby's need for intensive dental work became apparent.
Added to that, he had an ugly scar that ran across his eye and over
his nose that made his appearance both sad and frightening.

Kat gathered the children to her. "What do
you want from us?"

"Not a goddamned thing. I would have been
done with you the minute we found you, made it easy on ya, you
know?" At his malicious laugh, Kat was afraid she did. "But I'm not
the boss, you know?"

Top came back in and jerked his head toward
the door. "They said bring 'em up."

Kat hurried the children along, picking up
Meadow when she didn't move quickly enough. She didn't want these
animals to touch any of them again. They passed through two rooms;
one used for storage and one a bedroom. The bed had no sheets, no
cases on the pillows and there were blankets and sleeping bags
spread everywhere. They had to walk on them as they passed through.
Dakota's foot caught in a tangle of blankets and he fell to the
floor. Top grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him
forward.

"Leave him alone!" Ranger ran back to his
brother.

Top took a step toward the two boys with his
hand raised.

"Back off and get them up front," Kirby
ordered and shoved them forward.

They passed through another bedroom, neater
and less occupied than the last and from there into a kitchen that
reeked of grease and spoiled food. Ranger pushed through the next
door and then scrambled back. He grabbed Dakota's shirt and pulled
him back to the safety of Kat, a safety she couldn't provide. They
squeezed through the door as a single unit.

"How sweet. Mother Goose and her goslings."
She stood beside an ugly giant of a man. "Leon, allow me to
introduce you to Katarina Bennett, the key to our success. Or do
you go by Goodman now? Not that it matters. By tomorrow you'll go
by nothing at all."

Kat had seen the woman as spoiled and
somewhat greedy, but to stoop this low, to deal with the lowest,
most disgusting form of criminal? No, she hadn't seen that.

"My God, Stephanie, what have you done?"

"What should have been done months ago."
Stephanie propped her fists on her hips. In her designer clothes
and two thousand dollar boots, the woman looked perfectly at home
standing in the midst of filth. Kat's nose itched with the smell of
the place, but Stephanie didn't seem bothered by the smell of
unwashed bodies and inadequate plumbing.

"Where's the girl?" Leon asked.

"There's the girl," Top said, "This is it,
boss. You said the woman and the kids and that's what we got."

"The girl, Goddamnit!" Leon glared at
Stephanie. "You said she was there."

"She was, darling, she still is, but you
don't need her now. You can have her later when our work here is
done." Stephanie stroked his arm. "When we're in charge, you can
have anything you want. You'll have nothing to do but keep the pack
in line, spend money and play with your little friends. You've got
five out of six. There's no need to be greedy."

"The deal was I get the girl. She's mine."
His hair was long and coarse, a dirty looking brown and his curled
lip exposed long and yellowed teeth.

Kat knew who this was and she swallowed the
bile that rose in her throat. The boys knew, too. This was the
wolver they had run from.

"Stephanie, you don't know what he is. You
don't know what he's…"

"I know a hell of a lot more than you do,"
Stephanie snapped, whirling toward Kat with her manicured finger
pointed dangerously close to Kat's eye. "I know that the cash cow
that was our pack is running dry and dying a slow, painful death. I
know I can revive it if people get out of my way. Leon here is
going to make that happen and the first step to making that happen
is to get rid of you. Poor Charles will be consumed with grief. It
will weaken him and then Leon will finish it." She laughed shrilly.
"It appears that my Alpha is bigger than yours." She ran her
fingers up his arm seductively. "It's time for you to take the
first step, Alpha."

"Not until I get the girl."

Stephanie tossed back her mane of perfect
hair and huffed. "Oh for heaven's sake, you'll get the goddamned
girl. Now kill her!"

Leon moved faster than Kat thought possible
for a man of his bulk. Stephanie was grabbed about the neck and
flung up against the wall before she could squeak in surprise. Her
tongue was caught between her teeth and her eyes bulged.

"Don't try to order me around like I'm one of
your prettyboy lackeys," He roared into her face, "
I
say
what's done and
I
say who does it. This bitch is a Mate and
if I don't get mine back, I'll take this one instead." He tossed
Stephanie to the ground and slammed out the door.

Kat had backed the children as far away from
the brute as she could. She was more frightened now than she was
before. The threat against her was nothing compared to the idea
that Forest could be returned to this monster and there was nothing
she could do.

Stephanie picked herself up from the floor
and wiped the spittle from her face, not in the least subdued. She
brushed at the sleeves and lapels of her jacket. "A Mate, a Mate.
They all want a Mate. How does it feel to finally be popular?" she
sneered.

"Is that why you're doing this? Charles chose
me over you? You can't be an Alpha's Mate, Stephanie. That's not my
fault That's not their fault." Kat nodded toward the children.

"You think this is about you?" the other
woman asked, looking at Kat the way she had the first time they
met. "You couldn't be more wrong. You're nothing more than a baby
making machine to them. Who cares?" She flicked her wrist. "This is
about the pack, the way it's supposed to be, the way Charles said
it would be.
I
should have stood at his side.
I
should have run the business and I would have, given time. Alex is
a poor Second, though he'd make a perfect Alpha. Your arrival just
confirmed my belief that a change in leadership was necessary."

"You could still have that, Stephanie," Kat
lied, thinking sympathy might help her cause. "You bring us back
and Charles will be so grateful he'll give you everything you
want."

"Oh, I'll get what I want and Charles will
get what he deserves. Charles will come to your rescue, dear Kat."
She smiled and placed her hands together by her cheek as if in
payer. "Oh Charles, Charles," she called in a sing-song voice,
"Come quickly. I've found our Mate. Please, Charles, hurry before
it's too late." She smiled, flipped her hands open and shrugged.
Her face sobered. "Then I'll introduce him to Leon and it will be
too late for Charles, too."

"The pack will never accept that monster as
their Alpha."

"I don't expect them to. That's part of the
plan."

The woman was insane. "What about River?" Kat
demanded.

Stephanie motioned to the men standing guard
in the corner. "You," she said, pointing to Top, "Go back and get
the girl and don't screw it up this time. You," the finger moved to
Kirby, "Bring in the boy. Let the Kitty see what's been done to her
cub," she told him.

River, beaten almost beyond recognition, was
dragged from yet another room off to the side and dumped
unceremoniously onto the floor. The boys were there before Kat,
pushing past Kirby and falling on their knees beside their hero and
calling his name.

"I need something to wash his face with," Kat
told Kirby as she knelt on the floor to the other side. "My God,
what is wrong with you people?"

Once again, Kirby surprised her by
disappearing for a minute, taking Ranger with him for insurance,
and returning with a wet rag and a bottle of water that he tossed
to her feet. She checked River's body over as well as she could,
found nothing that looked fatal though the bruising on his side
looked swollen and angry.

"Why, why would you do something like this?"
she asked angrily of Kirby. He wasn't much bigger than River, but
he scars on his Face and fists testified to his abilities.

"I didn't, boss did. I only held him."

River groaned and tried to sit up. "I'm
sorry," he rasped through split lips. "The Alpha's going to kill
me."

"No, he won't." Kat helped him to his feet
and then to the only chair in the room. "He'll be grateful you're
alive just like I am."

"I wanted to find them for the Alpha," River
said through swollen and bloody lips. I wanted to show him I was
worth of the pack." Beneath his mask of blood and contusions, his
face was pale.

"I know, sweetheart I know." She was afraid
he was going into shock.

Kirby left them after a time and Kat thought
of making an attempt to escape, but when she made her way to the
back entrance, she found a snarling wolf lying in wait and she'd no
doubt there was one at the front.

They waited and waited. Meadow had fallen
asleep and the two boys were exhausted. River dozed fitfully in the
chair. Kat curled on the floor next to him resting her head on his
knee.

She closed her eyes and called to her mate
"Charles, please, I need you." She'd called to him repeatedly since
the moment they were captured. Surely he was home by now and close
enough to hear her cry. "Charles! Charles! We need you!" and the
tears she'd held back from the beginning of their ordeal threatened
to break through her dam of restraint. "Charles!"

She was so desperate to hear from him that at
first she thought it was her imagination. His voice was so clear
she turned to see if he was in the room.

"I'm coming, Katarina. I'm coming."

"River," she whispered, shaking the knee on
which she'd been resting, "They're coming. They're coming!"

River roused and started to rise just as the
door opened. Stephanie entered and raised a gun.

"Showtime!" she said and pointed the gun at
Kat.

Time slowed, but not enough.

River shouted, "No!" and lunged.

Stephanie fired once.

Kat raised her hand, fingers splayed as if
her palm could stop the bullet.

Meadow screamed.

Ranger and Dakota charged toward
Stephanie.

Kat found her voice and time sped up.

"Stop!"

She grabbed the boys as they flew past and
almost swung them off their feet in her haste to remove them from
the line of fire. She pushed them back toward the corner with the
screaming Meadow.

"See to your sister," she ordered and then
looked straight at Stephanie. "You stupid, stupid woman. Whatever
you want, this isn't the way to get it."

She turned her back on the stunned woman and
knelt beside River, who had crumpled to the floor and was bleeding
badly.

"I wasn't planning to shoot," Stephanie
pouted.

"Then you shouldn't have been waving a gun,"
Kat snapped. She rolled River to his side. His eyes were closed and
his breathing was shallow.

"He shouldn't have gotten in the way,"
Stephanie argued, "It wasn't part of the plan."

"And heaven forbid anyone from getting in the
way of your plans." Kat didn't try to hide her disgust.

Stephanie waved the gun toward the door and
the rising commotion outside. "You need to come with me. Or would
you rather your precious children watch you die, too."

"You do what you need to do, Stephanie, but
if you need me, you'll wait until I'm done here." Kat took the
chance that the woman really hadn't planned to shoot or kill, only
threaten. She motioned to Dakota, who was watching the scene
intently while his brother comforted Meadow. "Bring that pillow
over here."

Kat watched him carefully as he brought the
pillow to her, ready to intervene should he try to extract his own
revenge. She took it from him and placed it under River's head and
then grabbed Dakota's hand when he would have turned away. "Take
off your shirt." She folded it into a thick pad and placed it over
the wound. "Hold it here, press it tight and don't do anything
foolish. Your brothers and sister need you," she told him and hoped
her message got through. It was the best she could do.