To Seduce an Omega (12 page)

The other woman shifted to sphinx form. Her lioness’s roar filled the cell as she threw Tansy off with ease. She leaped at Titus. He snarled and met her assault with his battering ram of a fist. She dropped instantly, but lost in his beast’s urges, he kept punching until he felt a bone shatter and she lay on the floor senseless.

He flung her limp body over his shoulder, and when he spoke his voice came out deeper, more animal than human. “Daniel, Tansy, you keep Viola safe, but lay another paw on her, and you lose it. I’m taking this bitch to King Caleb.”

Trusting Daniel and Tansy to obey him, Titus flashed away. Before Viola had a chance to protest, Tansy wrapped her arms around her. “We’ll get you out of here. Dan, we’d best take her to our place and keep her hidden. No one will look for her there.”

* * * *

The Tundra Tough pack lived in the far north of Lykae-held territory. Their massive valley had a microclimate that kept the air balmy despite the ice sheets beyond. Titus knew the Lykae king had scheduled a weeklong visit to the Tundra Tough territory. King Caleb’s closest friend and Tundra Tough alpha, Joel Blackheart, had mated a couple of years ago with a half human, half Fae, but like Viola, Ellie hadn’t known her origins.

Cursed into perpetual sexual heat, the former Fae king hadn’t cared who he shagged. Birth control hadn’t been an option for him. He’d left a trail of pregnant women behind him, but he hadn’t given a damn.

After King Herodotus’s death, Leonidas, the new Fae king, had inherited his curse, but his true-mate, Meena, had found a way to break it. Once Leonidas came to the throne, he began tracking down his half siblings and providing for them. He found Sylvie first, and she’d wed the Lykae king. Next King Leonidas found Ellie, but she mated Joel Blackheart and became the Tundra Tough pack’s alpha female.

Despite the way Titus had tried to steal control of the Tundra Tough pack, he owed Joel for taking him in. Even after everything that happened between them, Joel had been the first to support Titus in his quest to become Rock Prowler alpha. That dream was gone now. His future glowed bigger and brighter, always assuming he hadn’t alienated Viola by screwing her in that cell.

Then it hit him. He wanted nothing to come between them, especially not his past. He’d started to tell her about Jilly and how the Fates had shattered their bond. Hell, he’d meant to open his heart to Viola and tell her how much he loved her, but instead her distress at revealing her beautiful body had fired up every possessive instinct inside him.

One look at Viola, and she scrambled his brain. Every word he’d meant to speak evaporated as mating heat set his libido roaring. Then he’d almost lost it when Daniel and Tansy put their mouths on Viola’s breasts. Just thinking about it sent his inner wolves wild.

All Titus wanted was a long life with Viola beside him. Once he’d warned the Lykae nation of the threat from the sphinxes, he’d flash back to her side and woo her.

A passing youngster stared at him. Unfazed by Titus’s huge primal form, the cub stared at the battered sphinx. “What’s that?”

Titus held out one hand in a
stay back
gesture, but the youngster simply high-fived it. The boy’s older brother called him away, but Titus yelled after them, “I need Joel or better still, King Caleb. Stat.”

“You got it, big T,” the older boy called as he grabbed his brother and flashed away. Titus grinned his approval. Once he ruled the Rock Prowler pack, he’d put them straight about King Caleb. No way would their king ban anyone from flashing.

They must have known where the Lykae’s hereditary king resided since King Caleb flashed onto the green moments later. His mussed-up hair and the way he fumbled to fasten his pants made Titus grin.

The Lykae king’s frown would have crushed a lesser man. “This better be good. Sylvie had just settled the boys for a nap, and I had plans.” He stared at Titus’s prisoner. “Is that a sphinx? Some of my councilors have tried to convince me they were extinct. They never traded with us, and they never traveled though our lands. I guess they’re just antisocial. Why did you demolish this one?”

Titus turned back human. “They should be extinct. This one and her pride have been picking off females from the Rock Prowler territory for years—with that piss-poor excuse for an alpha’s consent.”

Joel Blackheart arrived a couple of minutes later. He stared at the sphinx, then at King Caleb, but he waited for Titus’s explanation.

Caleb’s eyes narrowed. His growl reverberated with thunder and fury. “And no one thought to inform me? Heads will roll for this. The sooner you take over that pack, the better.”

“Not happening,” Titus snapped.

Caleb stopped studying the sphinx and turned his full attention to Titus. “Why not?”

Titus clenched his fists, but he still grinned. “Because I’ve met Zebadiah and his daughters. Besides, he abused Viola just because she’s Fae. I will have his throat for that. I’ll clear up the mess, but if Viola wants to move on, I’m standing down as alpha.”

The Lykae king’s head shot up. “Fae? Bloody hell, that means I have to drag the Fae king into the Rock Prowlers’ mess. Go do what you have to while I get into damage control with the Fae king. Afterward we’ll work out what to do about your sphinxes. Joel, you and your lieutenants question this one, but don’t kill her if you can help it. Hold her somewhere warm and dry. Ration her fluid intake since sphinxes need liquids to stay strong and flash.”

Oblivious to the interracial politics, Titus flashed back to the Rock Prowler marketplace. Stalls lined all four sides of the cobbled square, their colored canopies humming as the breeze flowed over them. “Zebadiah Lightfoot, I challenge you for the pack. Come out and fight like a true alpha.”

Shoppers and stallholders scattered, leaving Titus isolated in the center of the cobbled square. He waited, seemingly patient. Inside his wolves clawed at his chest, wanting out. Every part of him needed to avenge Viola’s suffering.

Zebadiah appeared on the tower wall. Fleur stood beside him, smiling as her hand rested on her father’s arm. He laughed and nodded, agreeing with something she said. Finally, his voice rang out over the square. “This is ridiculous. Marry my daughter, and the pack’s yours anyway. I thought you had a fancy for Fleur. She says she’s willing if you are.”

Titus clenched his fists and struggled to stay human. His primal wolf revolted at the idea of being with anyone but Viola. His natural wolf threw back its head and howled its distress. “The wedding’s off, and your reign as alpha finishes today. Fight or forfeit.”

Zebadiah vanished inside. It took a while, but eventually the keep’s heavy door swung open, and the alpha’s leather-clad enforcers swarmed out. They lined up in front of the doorway, then spread down the sides of the market square.

Zebadiah stood behind them, oiled and stripped to the waist. With his bulging muscles and yellow leather pants, he looked every inch a wolf in his prime—except for those few extra pounds around his waist. “You want a fight? Then get ready for me to take your throat. After my men have softened you up, of course. In your own words,
fight or forfeit
. Only, the second one isn’t an option.”

The full complement of Zebadiah’s bodyguard surrounded Titus. Once he’d have thrown himself into battle, but now that he’d found Viola, he had something to live for. That would just make him fight harder, but not with the reckless glee of his packless years. He recalled the ache of those years, and the bleeding wound in his heart that Jilly’s rejection had inflicted. For once, he welcomed the anger swirling inside him. His wolves ran wild, desperate to get out and fight. Even his human side wanted Zebadiah’s blood, no matter how many soldiers he had to go through to get it.

Chapter Twelve

Titus’s primal beast roared as he set it loose. Seven and a half feet of fangs and fury assessed the mass of bodyguards flooding into the market square. Titus’s enemies stepped closer, tightening the circle around him. His primal beast bayed, impatient to wipe those cocky grins off their faces. Making them bleed or breaking their bones would be good too. No one beat on his hedgewitch and lived.

He flashed to the left. His claws opened the nearest wolf’s jugular. Another flash to change location. A swipe of Titus’s claws, and a second Lykae clapped his hands to his thigh, putting pressure on the torn artery. Titus flashed again. This time he stood behind the ranks, but Zebadiah had fled. Titus turned and pounced on the hindmost bodyguard and slashed a claw across his throat. Slow to react, the remaining bodyguard finally turned primal.

This was getting nasty, bloody, and painful. Titus couldn’t have been happier. Then King Caleb flashed into the market square. When he spoke, his voice reverberated with the alpha power no Lykae could resist. “On your knees. Titus, not you, but stand down your beast. Zebadiah Lightfoot, get your sorry ass out here and kneel to your king.”

Titus wanted blood, death, and destruction, but he could no more resist King Caleb’s power than he could willingly stop breathing. Zebadiah, still in human form, walked out of the keep like a reluctant puppet on a string, then fell to his knees. As the throng of primal beasts—the alpha’s supposed bodyguard—dropped to the ground, they howled their distress and fought the compulsion.

Titus shrugged and stared at the ground. “I could have taken them.”

King Caleb nodded. “I’m sure you could, but then I’d be stuck explaining matters to King Leonidas.”

The Lykae king didn’t often display the power that marked him as the alpha of alphas and hereditary king of all the Lykae packs, but when he did, he brooked no argument. Caleb shrugged, clearly aware his intervention robbed Titus of his revenge. “Sorry, T., but after you left, I realized Zebadiah wouldn’t play fair. I filled Sylvie in on the situation and sent her to see the Fae king. Besides, since King Leonidas is her half brother, he won’t be so pissed at her as he would me. It saves me having to do the diplomacy thing, but the Fae King will want the pelt of any wolf who hurt one of his subjects. Hell, I’d be the same if someone had abused a Lykae.”

The Lykae king let the compulsion build, then spoke again. “Zebadiah Lightfoot, you accepted Titus’s challenge. All I have done is level the playing field. Everyone will remain in human form until the leadership challenge is satisfied.”

Titus growled but stood alongside his king.

King Caleb stared at the leather-clad goon squad as they fought his compulsion. “There will be justice here. After your punishments are decided, the lot of you will spend a decade or so in the Lykae army—spread around different squads of course. For now, you will march back into that ridiculous keep and confine yourselves in the dungeons.”

The hired-in bruisers scrambled to their feet and flowed around Zebadiah as he remained on his knees in the castle’s entrance. Under his breath, Caleb murmured to Titus, “It does have dungeons, doesn’t it?”

Fists curled, Titus dragged himself back from the edge of fury. Nothing would stop him from taking Zebadiah down now. The man crossed a line when he hurt Viola. Titus grinned at the Lykae king. “It does.”

Caleb hopped up onto an abandoned market stall and sat on a pile of animal pelts. “Zebadiah, get up and take a moment to shake out your muscles.” He waited while the Rock Prowler alpha rose to his feet and flexed each of his muscles in turn. “Right, gentlemen, shifting restrictions are lifted on the pair of you. Let battle commence.”

Titus and Zebadiah turned primal and charged. Zebadiah’s reliance on paid muscle left him vulnerable to Titus’s flat-out fury. Titus’s punch sent Zebadiah reeling. Titus kicked the alpha’s legs from under him, and the fight finished before it began. Zebadiah lay on flat on his back on the cobbles, staring into Titus’s face. Then Titus closed his teeth around Zebadiah’s throat.

“Hold.” King Caleb leaped to his feet and strolled toward them. “The battle is done. The Rock Prowlers have a new alpha.”

The combatants froze, neither able to resist the compulsion in their king’s voice. Lykae crept out from beneath canvas-draped stalls or peered around buildings and stared at the Lykae king. Windows in the surrounding buildings opened, and people cheered. Titus growled and stared up at King Caleb.

The king shrugged again. “I know, T. You could have taken him. Actually, you did, but I’d rather spoil your fun than face a furious Fae king. Don’t worry, the Rock Prowlers have their new alpha—you. Now let the evil sod up.”

Titus rose to his feet and turned back to human. Still in primal form, Zebadiah hurled himself at the Lykae king. Titus shot forward. He caught Zebadiah’s arm and shoved him back. Zebadiah spit and growled, then lunged for Titus’s throat.

Instinctively, Titus let his nails lengthen into claws and rammed them in Zebadiah’s eyes. Zebadiah’s howl turned into a yelp. He tried to pull back, but Titus claws stuck fast.

Zebadiah’s screams filled the market square. King Caleb yanked on a handful of the former alpha’s hair, pulled his head back, and calmly slit his throat. Zebadiah’s blood spurted like water from a hosepipe. His body crumpled, and he died at Titus’s feet.

The Lykae king wiped his dagger on the nearest pelt. “Tell whoever owns this stall that I will pay for the fur I ruined. Damn, T. Now I’ve got to toe the diplomatic line with the Fae king. Leonidas might be my brother-in-law, but he can still be an ass. I should have compelled Zebadiah into his natural wolf form and made him lie at your feet like a lamb. Do you need a healer?”

Titus did, as long it was Viola. He said nothing, shook his head, and turned primal. Two seconds later, he shifted back into his human form. “That’s better. I’m fine now.” He nodded toward Zebadiah’s corpse. “The world’s better off without him, but I’m still undecided about taking over as Rock Prowler alpha. That said, they deserve someone with enough backbone to get them out of Zebadiah Lightfoot’s mess. The thing is, there’s this adorable Fae hedgewitch, but I need to grovel at her feet and hope she’ll forgive me for acting like an ass. I’ll move heaven and earth to win her heart. This place probably has too many bad memories for her to want to stick around.”