To Seduce an Omega (5 page)

Viola laid her hand on Tansy’s forehead. “She’s lucky. Most people come off far worse when they tangle with a murder thorn. I have a tincture of willow bark and meadowsweet here that will help with any residual pain.”

The storekeeper nodded but looked uneasy. “Thanks. This seems churlish in view of how you’ve helped Tansy, but I daren’t trade with you again. I think the attack was Zebadiah’s way of telling me to toe his line.”

Viola closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, but her stomach churned, and she felt sick. Living half-wild and isolated in the woods, she couldn’t even afford the cost of a few chickens, let alone a horse.

She’d survived the flames, but all she possessed were the clothes on her back. If she hadn’t remembered the old hunters’ den, she’d have been sleeping rough. Most packs would have rallied around and helped her start over, but Zebadiah had forbidden the Rock Prowlers from aiding her. Just buying food and vegetable seeds had left her without enough money for furniture.

Daniel’s hand lingered on hers as he took the tincture. His gaze held nothing but compassion. “I’m so sorry, love, but my mate’s welfare comes before anything. I’ll wash the bottle and return it. I know how much the trade means to you, but Tansy’s life is too high a price no matter how good your remedies and herbal treatments.”

Despite her forced smile, Viola wanted to throw up. Her vision blurred, right along with her thoughts. She wouldn’t survive if she didn’t sell her products, and without cash for fresh meat, she’d starve. She leaned against the flimsy wall and breathed deeply. Finally, her brain kicked back into action. “Can you at least give me a ride into the town?”

The storekeeper looked around the hut. “I’ll take you as far as the bridge, lass, but I daren’t take you any farther. Zebadiah’s sent one warning shot across my bow, and I won’t put Tansy at risk again. Of course, I’ll pay you for caring for her.”

Viola clutched the coin purse on her belt. “Titus already settled the account and then some.”

She hated the blank expression that flitted over the storekeeper’s features. Even after twenty-two years of been spurned by the pack, that closed-down look that said she didn’t exist crushed her every time. “I’ll hawk my goods in the marketplace then. Zebadiah can’t punish the whole town for trading with me. Can he?”

Daniel slipped the bottle of medicine in his pocket and gathered Tansy in his arms.

Tansy roused slightly as he carried her out to the wagon. “Cats, Daniel. Giant cats with women’s heads. They shot an arrow into my leg, but I fooled them and hid in a murder thorn. I thought they were going to kill me.”

Viola exchanged a startled glance with Daniel. “She’s delirious. There’s no such thing as cat shifters.”

The storekeeper settled his wife on the nest of blankets on the back of the wagon, then strode back inside and picked up Viola’s bag. “I’ll take that, love.”

Viola tucked a blanket around Tansy, then took a deep breath, and she climbed up front on the seat alongside Daniel. Head high, spine stiff, she tried not to weep.

Chapter Five

Prowlerville had a grand name, but it was little more than a hamlet that had grown up around the market square and a great hall. Back in Tundra Tough territory, the great hall resembled a Viking longhouse. The Rock Prowlers’ hall had crenulated walls around a medieval-style stone keep—all dominated by a bell tower and flagpole. Above everything, the Rock Prowlers’ yellow pennant fluttered in the breeze.

He frowned at the stone wall surrounding the place. Otherworld species could flash inside, so the statement of strength seemed out of place. Why the hell did the pack need a shelter no one could take refuge in?

Titus made straight for the oak doors and hammered on them so hard his fists hurt. Waiting like a beggar demanding an audience with a king set his primal beast roaring. He marched up to the stronghold, fully expecting Zebadiah to greet him, but the gate stayed locked despite him banging on it. He considered flashing to the top of the tower walls and fighting his way to Zebadiah’s chambers. Titus’s primal beast reared up, eager for fresh blood and violence.

He considered it for a moment. If he went down fighting, that was okay by him. His life wasn’t worth much anyway. He hammered on the door again. “Open up, you lazy sods.”

A two-foot-square window slid open in the door, and a servant barked, “What do you want?”

The doorkeeper’s tone dripped insolence. Titus grinned and took a step closer. He slammed his fist through the gap in the door and into the servant’s face. The man fell as though poleaxed, giving Titus a clear view of the courtyard.

Now that he could see through the giant peephole, Titus flashed inside. “Zebadiah Lightfoot, your hospitality sucks.”

His words echoed over the central courtyard and bounced off the surrounding walls. A door opened in a low stone-built building, and ten Lykae marched into the courtyard. In the mundane world, they’d pass for Hell’s Angels—all black leather, steel studs, and sneering arrogance.

Titus put his kitbag down and ran one hand over his five-o’clock shadow. “Ah, the welcoming committee. We could do this the easy way. You know, where someone has enough sense to tell your alpha I’m here. Or we could do it the fun way where I get to smash skulls and break bones.”

Surprised by the trespasser’s confidence, a couple of the Hell’s Angels exchanged worried glances. The bald one at the front drew a knife from his belt. Its serrated blade glinted in the early-afternoon sunshine. “You won’t be so cocky when we’ve finished with you. Where shall I send the body parts?”

Titus did a quick head count. Ten to one weren’t good odds—for them. For him, it was just a chance to release the ever-present anger in his gut.

Baldy stepped forward, knife raised. He stuck fast and hard, but Titus moved quicker. He sidestepped. Off balance, Baldy stumbled closer. Titus’s fist pounded Baldy’s windpipe. He staggered back, gasped like a fish washed up on a beach, and his face turned as red as a beetroot.

Baldy’s knees buckled, and the knife dropped from his hand. It clattered against the cobbled floor. Baldy crumpled with a ballerina’s grace. As he lay alongside his knife, his chest heaved, and he struggled to catch his breath. Then his eyes glazed, and his body went limp. One unconscious, nine to go.

The others circled him, more cautious now, each searching for a vulnerable point to attack. Titus spun on the balls of his feet. His heel flew out in a spinning sidekick that caught one of the Hell’s Angels square in the balls. He clutched his nuts and dropped to the cobbles. Still spinning, Titus slammed his fist into the shortest one’s chin. Shorty howled as the impact shattered his jaw.

The one with a black leather jerkin and no shirt leaped at Titus from behind. Titus dodged so fast he blurred. He captured Jerkin’s head beneath his arm and pile-drove it into the floor. The sound of Jerkin’s skull hitting the cobbles made Titus think of a watermelon splattering after someone tossed it from the top of the bell tower. Blood oozed from Jerkin’s nose, pooled on the cobbles around him, then oozed into the cracks.

Another kick—lightning fast and deadly—shattered the nearest Hell’s Angel’s femur. Five sidelined and injured; five left.

Titus grinned and cracked his muscles. His beasts demanded he tear out their throats and break their bones. “Who’s next? Don’t be shy. You wanted a fight. If you like, we’ll take this primal.”

The thugs still standing exchanged startled glances and backed away. From the walkway above, a thickset man applauded. “Magnificent. Enough, gentlemen. Back to your quarters. Take your injured with you. You must be Titus. After a display like that you’ll definitely make a suitable mate for my daughter, Fleur. I’m Zebadiah, the Rock Prowler alpha, but I’m sure you’ve realized that by now. Forgive my little test and come up into my private quarters. Fleur’s busy making herself beautiful for you, but I’m afraid Iris is out with some of the other cubs. It’s time my youngest daughter learned some manners. Forget her, and come up to the hall. I’m sure you’ll be glad of some refreshments after your exertions.”

Exertions? Test?
Titus looked at the battered Lykae bodies littering the courtyard. Zebadiah’s “test” left Baldy and Jerkin seriously injured. Fury flooded Titus’s soul, and his primal beast howled to take this careless alpha’s throat. Then he remembered his promise to King Caleb and forced a smile. “Meat and ale wouldn’t go amiss.”

Zebadiah beckoned him up the stairs. “Good. Good. Come up, and we’ll get to know each another while we wait for my girls.”

As he stepped over the threshold and into the castle, Titus gawked at the opulent tapestries covering the walls, so at odds with the wattle and daub walls of Viola’s hut. Usually, the pack healer ranked second to the alpha female, and it baffled him that they didn’t support her more. He decided her money-grubbing attitude had pissed everyone off, and tried to put her out of his mind.

If only it was that easy. When their lips had touched, their souls connected. His kiss had started as a punishment, then morphed into something intense and satisfying. When she responded with such fervor, it had tamed the wildness inside him.

That glorious moment of calm soothed his beasts and briefly extinguished the angry fire that burned in his gut. Then the stroppy she-wolf bit his tongue.
Yeah, but I deserved it for bullying her. I’d kiss her again in an instant, given half a chance.

He’d never meant to shove her to the floor. Neither had he expected her to be so easily off balanced. As usual, he’d underestimated his strength, but he deserved whipping for hurting a female. Just thinking about the way she’d lain at his feet—body trembling, eyes fearful—sickened him to the core of his being.

He’d respected Jilly too much to force their mating, but she’d still fled from him. Then, when another woman piqued his interest, he mistreated her. No wonder he’d driven off his true-mate. Not that he’d ever been good enough to please her.

He didn’t know what bothered him the most, the way he’d driven Jilly away or the sweet, sensual things he wanted to do with Viola. Either way, he was sick of this endless guilt eating away any peace inside him.

Zebadiah led Titus toward a carved throne on a velvet-covered dais. A group of overstuffed armchairs faced it.
Does the damn man think I’m going to fawn at his feet?

Zebadiah looked up as a door opened and a dark-haired woman slipped into the room. “Ah, here’s my precious flower. Fleur, come here, my dear, and make a curtsy to Titus.”

Fleur threw back her head, letting her curls tumble down her back as she sashayed toward Titus. Her yellow dress clung to her overflowing Lykae curves. Diamonds sparkled around her neck and in her ears. A collection of gold bracelets rattled around her wrists and ankles every time she moved. Titus had never seen a woman wear so much jewelry.

Zebadiah backed out the room. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to get acquainted.”

Embarrassed by Zebadiah’s presumption, Titus looked away. He hadn’t agreed to marry anyone yet. If he did, they’d be partners and friends—anything but lovebirds. Unfortunately, Fleur had other ideas.

Hips wriggling, she stalked him the way a natural wolf stalked prey. Her heavy perfume assailed his nostrils and made him want to sneeze. When she looped her arms around his neck, her hips straddled his thigh. “I never expected you to be so handsome.”

Him? Handsome? One look at his brawler’s physique had set Jilly off screaming. When Fleur went on tiptoe and nibbled his ear, he tried to escape her iron grip.
She must be part octopus or maybe boa constrictor. And damn, is that her hand cupping my balls?

She touched her lips to the pulse beating a panicked rhythm in his neck. “We’re to be mated. Don’t be shy.”

Worried she’d sink her fangs into his neck and screw him right there, he jerked out of her embrace. He wasn’t a coward, but he’d rather face two score of Zebadiah’s army in combat than let this woman maul him again. He’d have hightailed it out of Rock Prowler territory if he hadn’t promised King Caleb he’d find out what ailed this pack. “Married, not mated, but I’d like to get to know you and your sister before we—”

She pulled his head down to hers and silenced him with a kiss. When her tongue invaded his mouth, he wondered if Viola had felt as demeaned when he kissed her. At least Viola had tasted of herbs and clear mountain streams, not pickles and spices.

He forced Fleur’s arms down to her side and took a backward step toward the window. The Rock Prowlers had built their great hall like a medieval motte and bailey castle. When he looked over the walls to the market square below, he spotted Viola setting up a stall. He’d give anything to be out there with her rather than in here with the she-wolf from hell. “Fleur, will you have one of the servants show me to my room? I’d really like to clean up before dinner.”

She pouted as she took his hand and led him toward the rear door. “I suppose. How about I stay and wash your back?”

Has the damn woman no self-respect?
He just wanted out of here and away from this sexual predator. Another glance out the window showed him a crowd of women around Viola. She must be making a killing out there, selling her herbs and potions. If Fleur didn’t back off, Titus would be making a different sort of killing in here.

The she-wolf tossed her hair again, showing off her best feature. “We didn’t know when to expect you, so we decided to hold the welcome party the day after you arrived. It’ll give you the chance to meet the rest of the pack. Afterward, while we slow dance, I’ll rub my breasts against your body and my cunt against your leg. Think about that while you shower.”

Titus blanched. If he could wipe her words from his brain, he would. Worse, the image of her clinging to him in public made his stomach churn. He’d rather slit his throat than marry a predatory woman like her.

* * * *

Viola’s knee throbbed from trudging into town. Daniel had dropped her near the burned-out mill by the bridge—her former home. Back when she’d been a child, she used to race into town as though it was nothing, but she’d always been careful to avoid Zebadiah.
And look how well that turned out. He still sent his soldiers to beat me, and they put paid to me running anywhere ever again.