The Alpha's Reluctant Mate (16 page)

“We'll see how much laughing there is when you have to visit me in Sing Sing,” I said as she handed me a plate piled high with pizza.

“Ed will handle everything, trust me,” Tera said as she bit into a piping hot piece of pepperoni pizza.

Chapter Twelve

 

 

In my honest opinion, Ed was the least intimidating man I'd ever seen, wolf or human. He stood about 5′7″ in his patent leather shoes; wildly curly long hair was haphazardly contained in a ponytail. I say haphazardly because the majority of it sprang out at different angles all over his head. His brown suit looked as if he'd slept in it and unless I was mistaken, he'd cut himself shaving because there was also a large bloodstain on the edge of his collar.

Ed's sharp-edged lawyer look was finished off with a pair of horn-rimmed glasses riding low on his nose and small brown eyes that darted around the room nervously.

I stared at Tera and Connor in abject disbelief. This was the pack attorney that was going to face down John Drake's legal eagles? The legal eagles I was pretty sure would be barracudas ready to wreak all sorts of carnage on myself and my erstwhile representation.

Prison bars were definitely in my future, that or debtor's prison… did they still have debtor's prison?

Maybe I could throw myself on John's mercy.

“Alexandria?”

I jumped as Ed's surprisingly deep baritone invaded my vision of groveling at John's feet. “Yes?”

“I was asking you what precipitated your attack on your boss.”

“It wasn't an attack, it was self-defense! The man was trying to molest me in his office,” I said in protest. “I guess I pushed him a little too hard, but I had no idea about the superhuman strength at that juncture.”

The twinkle that rose in Ed's dark eyes made me suddenly revise my initial impressions; there was more going on inside his head than met the eye. He began rocking from his heels to his toes in glee, obviously relishing the coming battle.

“This was after you'd been bitten?”

“Yes.”

“Had your boss ever made any sort of advance on you previously?” he asked, a definite predatory gleam in his eye.

“No, never. I was always so fat; why would he?” I ignored Connor's growl of outrage. After all, truth is truth.

Ed steepled his fingers across the bridge of his nose as he studied me thoughtfully; just as I was beginning to get nervous, he sat forward with a huge grin.

“We've got him!”

I blinked. “We do?”

Ed looked at Connor and Tera. “She'll need a new outfit for the deposition. I'm thinking a snug leather skirt with a slit to mid-thigh, a cream-colored silk dress shirt open just enough to reveal the lacy camisole underneath, and pearls. Definitely pearls.”

“Done,” Connor said decisively.

“Huh?” I was worried about staying out of prison and they were talking wardrobe?

“I can call Mira to do her hair and makeup that morning,” Tera interjected.

“Perfect,” Ed said with a satisfied smile.

“I don't understand. Y'all are acting like we've won and we haven't discussed anything but clothes,” I said with no little irritation.

“Alexandria, you have nothing to worry about,” Ed assured me.

“I get that you all think that but I don't get why,” I said in exasperation.

“Simple; your boss was enthralled by the she-wolf in you, he found you irresistible to the point that he lost his good sense. We are counting on him to do it again, only this time with witnesses. We will be countersuing for sexual harassment, and Mr. John Drake will prove our point to everyone involved,” Ed explained patiently.

I frowned. “I don't understand why you're so sure this will work.”

“Xandie, you've always been pretty and the morning that your boss hit on you, he sensed something different about you, but that's nothing compared to how you look now,” Tera said with a grin.

“I'm surrounded by men all the time and none of them are jumping my bones,” I said with a shrug. I mean I knew I'd changed but I didn't think I was exactly the sex on a stick they seemed to think I was.

“One, you're surrounded by wolf and vampire males; while they think you're attractive, the draw isn't quite the same as it is to human males. Two, they all know you're my mate and want to keep all their body parts,” Connor said succinctly.

I glared. “I thought we weren't discussing the whole mate thing.”

“Not discussing it doesn't make it any less real.”

I decided from that point on to ignore Connor and turned to Ed. “So you're counting on John being unable to resist my new and improved charms?”

“Exactly,” Ed said with another grin.

“Hmmm, I may need to go see this whole pheromone thing in action,” I said thoughtfully.

Tera laughed when Connor growled again. “She's just getting you back for talking about the mate thing again.”

He sighed and then said his goodbyes before leaving with Ed in tow. Apparently we were done for now and the only preparation I needed to do was to buy new clothes.

“The draw for humans is really that big?” I asked.

“It has to be. If you need a human mate, there has to be something worth dealing with your spouse occasionally becoming furry. It's the only way our species survives.”

“But you were born a wolf, weren't both your parents wolves?”

“Yes, I'm totally purebred. Although couples don't have to be two wolves to produce a wolf, it's just like any other genetic trait. A mixed couple might have one wolf and two humans but both the humans will have the recessive wolf gene, like you had. You can't survive an attack to become a wolf unless you have the recessive gene. Of course a mixed couple could also have all wolfs or all humans,” Tera explained.

“So do wolf couples always have wolf babies?”

“Usually, although in some instances a pure couple has bred a human. I think that's more of the recessive gene stuff but it doesn't happen often.”

I nodded. In a weird sort of way, it all made sense. The events of the morning gave me a lot to think about. I decided to eat a quick lunch and then rest for the majority of the afternoon since the vampires would be back to train as soon as the sun went down.

 

* * *

 

Nine o'clock found both Tera and me on the practice field stretching. It surprised me when Sebrina suddenly appeared next to me.

“Hi, babe,” she said with a distracted smile.

“What's up?” I asked.

“Ethan isn't coming tonight. He's sending Vera instead.”

“Vera?”

“She's one of our greatest warriors, I've never met her before,” Sebrina said nervously.

“Is she scary?”

Sebrina snorted. “I'm sure she would be if you were enemies. She has special weapons made specifically for her. Vera is fast and furious, one of the oldest of our kind.”

Now I was getting a little nervous. “Why would she help us?”

“She has pledged allegiance to Ethan. So his cause is her cause,” Sebrina explained.

“If she's so powerful, why does she bow to Ethan?”

A statuesque black woman suddenly appeared out of nowhere. “I bow to no one wolf but I do give allegiance out of respect and appreciation for respect given me.”

As I took in the new vampire, I was reminded of Pam Grier as Foxy Brown but with a serious update. She wore tight leather leggings that clung to her every curve, her top was a silver lamé halter that barely skimmed the top of her pants, and loosely connected drop sleeves flowed down to cover her wrists. I couldn't believe how impossibly high her silver heels were, and the tip resting on the ground appeared to be so tiny that the woman defied gravity.

She was beautiful in an exotic way; her hair was gathered into a tight ponytail at the crown of her head, where it fell from a silver bangle in a fall of inky black silk. High brows perfectly arched accented her almond-shaped brown eyes. The lips framed that framed her fangy smile were coated in the same blood-red shade that graced her both her fingernails and toenails.

I cocked my head as I studied her. “You fight dressed like that?”

Vera tipped her head back as her rich husky laugh filled the air before looking down at me with a very real smile. “Ethan said I would enjoy you. In battle, the element of surprise is everything and nothing is what it seems.”

I was rapidly growing very tired of all the cryptic mumbo-jumbo that seemed to be so pervasive in both the werewolf and vampire communities. Couldn't anything just be what it seemed?

“So you aren't what you seem?”

A very feral grin was her only answer before she spun into action. Leaping above me with a kind of lithe sensuality I'd never seen before, Vera allowed the flowing sleeves of the halter brush my shoulder.

The instant burning pain in my shoulder sent me to my knees in shock, and I looked up at her as I rubbed the skin to find blisters already forming.

“Unexpected? My shirt is made of finely woven silver thread, which werewolves are allergic to.”

I have to admit to being very impressed by her ingenuity as I eyed those wickedly spiked silver heels warily. “Those are silver too?”

“Indeed they are; you won't underestimate me again.”

“No!” Tera and I replied almost in unison, both of our voices filled with respectful awe.

“That was amazing!” Sebrina cried.

Vera studied Sebrina closely, leaning in to sniff her neck before admonishing her softly, “Young one, why are you not feeding properly?”

“I… I just don't like…” Sebrina started defensively.

“It is a matter of survival, not preference. As you are, in a battle you will only be a liability. Others will give their lives trying to protect you. You must feed and increase your strength.”

Sebrina looked down at the hands she was wringing nervously. “I can't.”

“Then you must stay out of it, lest you put others at risk.” Vera said it like a decree that could not be broken before turning her back on Sebrina and zeroing back in on me and Tera.

“Now, my two furry friends, we train,” she said, spreading her legs apart into a fighter's stance.

Tera and I both eyed all her silver accessories nervously.

“You will learn to be quick and avoid the silver at all costs. Today we are going to work on your defensive moves, avoiding injury. Tomorrow if you are ready we will progress to offense.”

Over the next several hours we dodged, rolled, and did our best to flip out of Vera's way. I discovered she had silver everywhere, even lining the bottom of her fingernails so that the slightest graze of them left blisters and welts in their wake.

By the end of the evening I was a mass of burns and blisters. Tera had fared better than me but to Vera's credit still sported a few burns. Both of us managed to keep from getting touched by silver in Vera's last two advances.

We were panting while awaiting the next onslaught when she bowed to us to indicate the end of the match.

I sank wearily to my knees in the grass as I watched Vera; she looked as fresh and pristine as she'd been when we started.

“You are both apt pupils and will make strong warriors. Tell me your shoe size; I will have my weapons man make you both a pair of silver-heeled shoes.”

“But we're allergic to silver,” I said worriedly.

“You can wear the silver-spiked heels without touching anything harmful to you. Now that you know how it feels and the damage they can cause, you will be able to use them effectively.”

Tera frowned. “How will we wear heels when we change forms?”

“You won't change forms,” Vera said succinctly.

“What?” Tera and I asked almost in unison.

“We are more powerful as wolves,” I said softly.

Vera smiled. “Yes and the rogue wolves will see you both as easy prey. You should be able to take a few out of commission before they realize their folly. Then you can change forms.”

“So we want them to underestimate us,” Tera said thoughtfully.

“Exactly, till the morrow,” she said. Then in the blink of an eye Vera was gone into the darkness.

“Wow, I'm pretty skilled in battle but that woman is a demon! What a great idea to train to avoid the silver; it makes you much more careful. I can't to tell everyone else about this,” Tera said excitedly.

Sebrina came from where she'd been perched on the rail of the fence to sink down next to us. “Vera isn't a demon, but she was more than I expected even after all the stories.”

“Was she an Amazon?” Tera whispered the question like she was afraid of being heard.

“I don't know, I only know she is an ancient and was a warrior even before she was changed.”

Again I was reminded that many the legends and stories I'd been told as a child held some truth. I shivered as I rubbed a particularly deep burn on my forearm.

I'm glad we healed so quickly; if we didn't, my practice with Vera could have well rendered me unable to fight in the real war.

 

* * *

 

Over the course of the next few weeks Vera put both Tera and me through our paces. We went to bed exhausted and sore, usually just as the sun was beginning to peek up over the horizon.

I became a master of avoiding blows and through intensive study learned how to hit back almost as fast as my teacher. While I was sure Vera could end me in a matter of moments if the fight was real, I was still becoming a competent fighter and knew that winning a fight with a werewolf would be much easier than winning one with a vampire.

Vera taught us to always keep the element of surprise and not to telegraph our next move. It was funny to realize I gave a lot more away through subtle nuisances in expression and tiny body movements that I would have thought possible.