TUCKER: Valley Enforcers, #3 (19 page)

“Men don’t like prickly women, Emily.”

“I’m not prickly. I don’t like you. There’s a difference.”

His smile was back. As much as I didn’t like him, I couldn’t deny that he was attractive. All of the Silver boys were. They were like Italian models mixed with Olympic athletes. When he pulled the sweater over his head, I only allowed myself two seconds to stare at his well sculpted chest before I looked away. He was built for sin, but I didn’t feel anything for him. There wasn’t even a damn spark.

A surprisingly calloused finger brought my face back towards his. I went rigid under his touch, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Shame. You’d be a great mate to the Alpha… with a little conditioning. If you change your mind before our little game, come find me. The roster is full, but I’ll make room for you.”

“What makes you think you’ll get the Alpha title when your father steps down?” I challenged, stepping back.

It was a low blow and one you probably don’t dole out to the youngest son of the Alpha, but I was beyond caring at that point. The cocky smile on Reid’s face turned to a scowl and he crossed his arms over his chest, muscles bunching. I expected him to say something, but after a stare down that had my wolf quaking in her boots he turned and stormed away.

I let out a breath and lingered on the outskirts of the group that was rapidly growing. I noticed Reid clinging to a woman I didn’t recognize. We were in the middle of the forest in late January, but she was wearing a pencil skirt and high heels. She held a clipboard and was walking around, briefly stopping by each person. They never came my way, though she did look in my direction before Reid put a hand on her arm and stopped her. I concluded that they were taking roll and waited, rather impatiently, for our shift.

When everyone was accounted for, our charismatic royal son jumped up on a rock and started outlining the rules. I was anxious and the sound of his voice grated against my skin, so I let everything he said go in one ear and out the other. Though the trees blocked a majority of the wind, it was still cold and snowy on our little bluff. Most of the adrenaline from my argument with my parents was gone, so every inch of my skin prickled with an acute awareness of the frigid temperatures.
And now you have to take your clothes off
. Some of the pack was walking around to shield themselves behind their vehicles while they stripped down. Others, like Reid, stood where they were and de-robed. Normally, I’d join the modesty club. But I was ready to shift and feeling a little defiant so I stayed where I was and stepped out of my clothes, carefully folding them before I walked to my Jeep and stacked them on the hood.

“You definitely don’t disappoint, Emily.” The noises of dozens of pack members shifting surrounded me, so I didn’t hear him approach. I wanted to cover all my lady bits with my arms; instead, I tilted my chin up and turned around to face Reid. He was the Big Bad Wolf, and I was Little Red Riding Hood. Dark eyes turned even darker with lust, but his need didn’t stop the playful tone in his voice while he stared at my breasts. “Cold?”

I stepped to the side and tried to be civil. “Very. My wolf hates winter.” He followed, arm brushing against mine. Again, I felt nothing. Before he could say or do anything, I worked the tiny kink out of my shoulder and braced myself for the shift. I let my soul step back and handed the reins over to my wolf.

I hadn’t shifted since before everything with Tucker went to shit. Stretching into my fur was cathartic. Things were simpler when you were in form. Emotions had the ability to control shifts if they were too strong, so a lot of shifters turned things over to their animal side and ran out their problems. I’d been aching to roam with my wolf and think about Tucker, but the ban and group shifts kept me from doing that.

There was still a heaviness in my heart and a weight pressing down on my shoulders, but I forced myself to ignore my problems – even if just for a few moments – so I could enjoy being in form with my pack. I hadn’t listened to Reid’s rules at all, and I almost regretted ignoring his speech. We weren’t walking together. There were little groups of shifters spread out in front of me, playing or wrestling. Some were loners, just running around. I knew that we were restricted to a certain area, but I had no idea how far that went out.

A sleek silver wolf with eyes that still reflected a carnal hunger stepped in front of me. Reid. Only the Silver family had such exquisite coats; his fur looked like it was woven out of a precious silk. He was as beautiful in form as he was human. It was strange that he was shifting with the rest of the pack; neither my parents nor siblings mentioned a member of the Alpha family leading their shifts. We rarely saw their beasts. Yet, Reid was here. Any questions I had were soon smothered when he playfully nudged me with his nose.

I growled. My wolf wasn’t a loner, but Reid had been pressing my buttons wrong all afternoon. I wanted to be alone, but I felt him follow me as I trotted away. I picked up my pace, circling around the others in the group. My stress floated away the faster I ran, so I pushed harder. The reins of my humanity were loosening, and my wolf had more control than I did. It was dangerous, but it felt nice to step back and let her handle things.

Reid followed me, playfully running into me or sprinting ahead of me before turning and issuing me a challenge. It was actually
fun
playing with him. He almost reminded me of Echo. As much fun as my wolf was having playing cat and mouse with the youngest Silver son, she was very aware that he wasn’t her mate.

So when he pounced and pinned me down, she let a growl warn him that his behavior wasn’t acceptable. He didn’t budge, and instead nipped at my neck. I was seconds away from tilting my head and biting down on his front arm when the devilish smile on his face fell, turning to confusion. And then he was dead weight on top of me.

I pushed him off, rolling to stand on all fours. My fur stood up and my ears tilted back as I surveyed my surroundings. Reid and I had gotten away from the pack. I didn’t see another shifter in sight, actually.
Reid. Reid.
I glanced over and my gut twisted. Three tranquilizer darts stuck out of his back.
I need to alert security. I need to
– I saw movement in the trees. I didn’t smell a shifter. I didn’t smell anything, actually. I howled, hoping my cry of distress carried over the tree tops to wherever our pack was.

My howl turned to a whimper as fire spread in my back.

The world turned upside down and my vision went blurry. I barely saw the outline of two men standing over me.

And then everything faded to black.

Tucker

It was too fucking cold to be crawling around on hands and knees looking for a necklace in the snow. A small herd of us combed through the chunk of land behind the Alpha and Beta’s homes looking for the damn thing for Elizabeth, mate of the Alpha. She stood bundled on the porch with wary eyes, overseeing the entire operation. Every now and then Deacon would stand up and go up to comfort her. I felt like a damn Peeping Tom watching him hold her and whisper in her ear, but I missed Emily so damn much that I couldn’t help but watch the mated couples around me like a sick fuck.

“I’m going to look under the deck again. Deac’s like a fucking ogre. There’s no way he could have searched properly under there.” Beside me, the Beta and brother to the alpha, Dean stood up.

“I heard that, asshole! If you want to crawl around with the spiders, be my guest. Just don’t freak out when one lands on your forehead.” Deacon released Elizabeth before drawing her in again and pecking her forehead. He took the stairs two at a time before standing at the bottom of his lifted deck and crossing his arms, glaring at his brother. “I didn’t miss it.”

“I just want to double check, bro.”

The necklace was apparently a gift from Elizabeth’s father before he passed away. That was basically all the information we were given. Elizabeth stood in front of our little search team and passed around her phone, showing each of us a picture of her and Deacon so we knew what we were looking for. I was surprised to see my Alpha smiling for a photo in front of a Christmas tree, but a lot had changed since he took Elizabeth as a mate. He was still mean and grumpy, but he wasn’t nearly as standoffish. He treated her like a Queen and demanded everyone else did, as well. From the stories that circulated after her arrival, she deserved to be handed the world. She was kidnapped and forcibly turned by some crazy psycho who was convinced they were mates. It wasn’t hard to like Elizabeth. It sucked crawling around in the snow for what felt like two hours, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat for her.

Parker Oakley, one of the twin’s best friends, stood up and dusted the snow from his jeans. “I’m going to go check on Callie.”

“You just checked on her twenty minutes ago. I think she’s fine, Parker,” Nate Boone ribbed. He was Parker’s business partner and the last member of their group. They’d been friends since as far back as I could remember.

“Excuse me for worrying about my pregnant wife,” Parker grumbled, eyes narrowing. He and Callie were the only bonded couple in our clan. Hell, they were the only bonded couple I knew of. Their relationship went beyond the fates and was truly something magical. Word around the clan was they could talk telepathically, which seemed like it was something straight out of the storybooks to me. I rubbed my aching chest.
I want that with Emily.
I wanted anything from her, really. “When Orsa was pregnant with Thor you were a complete spaz.”

“To be fair, he’s always a complete spaz,” Dean chimed.

Nate lifted his middle finger. “Fuck all of you.”

“Orsa never believes me when I say that you have the hots for me, but man… if she were here now.” Dean slung his arm over his friend’s shoulder and planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek.

“I’m going to bleed you, Beta!” Nate yelled, shoving his friend away. There was no stock in his threat, and he wore a smile. “And stop telling her that. She gets freaked out. The last time you told her I came on to you, she spent a week telling me it was okay to ‘experiment’ in my younger days but we were mated and that meant I was hers only.”

Dean howled with laughter. “She did not!”

“She did. She asked me if Nate and I uh, did the dirty. Nearly threw up on her shoes, so I think that shut her up real quick.” Parker rolled his eyes. “Where the hell does she come up with this stuff, man?”

“You two
are
pretty chummy,” Dean grinned.

Nate pointed a finger at him. “This idiot puts it all in her head. Not to mention Alexis has been showing her how to use the Internet more, and she’s been all over these Marvel fan fourms. She talked my ear off for
three hours
about some stories she read about Captain America and Iron Man being in a relationship together. Seriously? I didn’t even know what to say. She was talking about anal sex between super heroes.”

A few of the guys snickered. On the porch, Elizabeth leaned over the railing and hollered, “It’s called fanfiction!”

“Whatever. It freaks me out. I’m waiting for the day that I walk into her studio and see erotic paintings of those two together.”

“And I’m bowing out. Kissing my pregnant wife sounds a hell of a lot better than standing in the cold listening to you talk about butt sex.” Parker jogged away and headed for the stairs. He nodded his head at Deacon and then Elizabeth before disappearing inside the massive lodge like structure.

Dean lowered himself to his knees and started wiggling through the slats that covered the open space beneath the lodge. He hollered for someone to give him a flashlight. I turned my attention back to my own search. The blanket of picturesque white snow was now a dirty, footprint riddled mess. It was making it more difficult to search, but we kept going over the area to make sure we didn’t miss it. Elizabeth was certain it fell off before she shifted, so we were exhausting the entire area before going out into the woods.

A few minutes of near quiet searching went by before I spotted someone come around the corner of the lodge. I groaned, realizing it was Justin. I’d been avoiding him for days; I’d been avoiding everyone, really. Despite my negligence, he smiled when he saw me and approached.

“Try to run from me and I will gut you like a fish, Tucker. I mean it.”

“Wow, what a great way to greet your best friend,” I murmured dryly. I scooted a few feet over and began combing through a new patch of snow. “You off already?”

“Went in early so Hakeem could take Naya to her doctor’s appointment. Have you seen her lately? She’s like a balloon. Keem’ swears it’s just Lucy in there, but she’s huge. She still has like, two months left, too.”

“Yeah, you probably shouldn’t tell a man his mate is huge. Just a heads up.”

He kicked some snow in my face. “I’m not an idiot.”

“Sure do look like one.”

“You’re an asshole, Tucker. I was going to invite you over to play zombies and drink some beers and maybe listen to you whine about your girl problems, but you’re still doing whatever the hell it is you’re doing so I’ll just leave you the fuck alone.”

I felt the need to shift, but I pushed it aside and stood up. I was pissed, but I wasn’t stupid enough to go on a rampage outside the Alpha’s house. That didn’t keep me from shoving a finger in his chest. “Don’t push me today, Justin.”

“Or what? You’ve been a dick ever since Emily dumped your sorry ass.”

“She didn’t dump me,” I seethed, trying my hardest to keep a lid on my anger. I was failing, and we already had a small audience. The mini search group had stopped their efforts and were now staring at us. And Deacon was heading our way looking about as pissed off as I felt. “You need to stay out of my business.”

“One of these times you’re going to tell me that and I’ll listen, man, and you’ll be all alone.”

“Maybe that’s what I want. Did you ever think about that?”

Our Alpha stepped between us. In an annoyed voice, he sighed, “What this time?”

“It’s nothing,” Justin spat, stepping away. “Just Tucker being Tucker.”

Before I could say anything, Deacon held up a finger. “You two are acting like teenage girls. You’re what? Twenty one? Twenty two? Act like it. Man the fuck up and stop having these hissy fucking fights. I expect more from my Enforcers, and if I hear or see another fight between you two I’m going to have to reevaluate your positions.”

My phone vibrated against my thigh, but I ignored it. I didn’t know whether to be angry or heartbroken that he was threatening to kick me off the team. There was already a persistent stab of pain in my chest, so I went with angry. My voice came out hoarse, but it was laced with venom. “You can’t take that away from me, Deacon. It’s all I have left.”

“All you have left?” He questioned, steely eyes willing me to spill my guts.

There was no way I could admit to my Alpha that I was an even bigger fuck up than he already thought, so I kept my mouth shut. I shouldn’t have said anything at all, but my job was the one thing that I had to keep my mind off of Emily. Being out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by silence left me with my thoughts, which were full of her. The way she laughed. How she always tucked her feet under me for warmth. The way her lips looked like a heart when she pouted. The sickeningly cute voice she used when she talked to Echo. I was getting good at shutting everything out except my tasks, however mundane. I was overloading myself with work shifts, and when I wasn’t working I worked through the cases of beer in my fridge.

“Tucker. Speak.” Deacon’s voice was more demanding. It was like he was using fucking Jedi mind tricks to get me to talk.

“It’s his mate,” Justin supplied.

The vibrating against my leg started up again. I glared at Justin before pulling my phone from my pocket to turn it off, but I froze when I saw her picture on my screen. “Emily.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

I shook my head, not even looking up at them. “No, Emily is calling.” Not caring about anything but hearing her voice, I took a few steps back and answered. I had two missed calls from a number I didn’t recognize and three from Emily. My chest stung, and there was a sinking pit in my stomach. “Hello?” Silence. “Emily?” More silence. More panic. “Em, baby. Talk to me. Is something wrong?” There was a sniffle on the other end that didn’t sound like it belonged to her. The shooting pains started back up in my chest. My voice cracked when I spoke again. “Baby? Please…”

“Is this Tucker?” The voice on the other end wasn’t Emily’s. It was young and soft sounding.

“This is Tucker. Where’s Emily? What happened? Who are you?” Everyone’s eyes were on me, especially the concerned ones of my best friend and Alpha. It was so quiet that I knew they  could hear the conversation.

“This is Amanda, her sister.” She sniffled again, her voice wobbling as she spoke. “Emily is missing.”

“No.”

“She was out s-s-shifting with her group. Reid –”

“Who?” I snarled.

“Reid Silver, the youngest son of our Alpha. He is missing, too. They got away from the ground and… and… before security could find them, they heard howling. They found blood and human boot prints. They think the poachers have them, but they aren’t telling my family anything.” I fell to my knees the moment she said ‘poachers’. The numbness I felt was replaced with emotions that were swelling out of control. I could barely hear Amanda over the sound of my blood roaring in my ears. She was sobbing again – hyperventilating as she choked on her words. “I don’t know what to do, Tucker. I’m scared.”

That was the last thing I heard before my bones snapped and my bear let loose.

The flashing police lights in my rearview mirror faded until they were nothing more than a memory. I waited until I didn’t seem them any more before pressing down on the gas pedal and kicking my speed back up to eighty-five. Justin gripped the center console and looked over at me warily.

“We need to get there alive if we’re going to be any help, man.”

“And I need
her
to be alive.”

His phone bleeped and he looked down. “Lexi finally got through to the Silver Pack’s Protector. One of them, at least. They’re not giving out too much information. They’re saying that there is no official proof that you and Emily are mates, so they can’t release any information pertaining to the case.” He huffed. “Fucking stupid. That sounds so clinical.”

I gripped the steering wheel tighter. “None of this would be happening if I would’ve just sucked it up and marked her.”

“Hey, not this again. You can’t beat yourself up over this, man. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“With Reid fucking Silver!” I barked. “She was with someone else, Justin.”

“They were on a group outing. Don’t fucking do this. I’m not going to sit here and listen to you bitch about how much she doesn’t love you or want you. I’ve been talking to her sister and her best friend all damn day getting updates. Kate said last night was the first time Emily left her house in a week; she called off work and everything. She’s been miserable without you. You really think she’d be making heart eyes with some stuck up prick that she apparently hates? I don’t know the girl, but I think it’s pretty obvious she only wants you, man.”