Willing Sacrifice (8 page)

Robert was waiting for me in his room so we could talk privately and I didn't bother knocking before going in. I had underestimated him on a large scale, so from now on I figured honesty was my best chance. "The Elders don't like what you’re doing." I said as a greeting.

He laughed softly from his bed and sat back against his headboard, crossing his ankles. "And they sent you to do what, exactly?"

"They haven't been totally honest with me so I'm guessing it’s one of a few different things."

"Which are?"

"They want me to kill you and take the fall, or report all your bad deeds back to them, ’til they have enough for a trial."

"What's the third thing?" He smiled knowingly.

I did the one thing I had been dying to do since meeting him and crawled onto the bed and straddled his lap, running my hands over his chest, while breathing in his scent. "They want me to seduce you." I whispered in his ear. When he didn't push me away I kissed the strong pulse in his throat and wiggled gently in his lap, pulling a handful of his hair to expose his throat fully. "They think you’ll either fall for me… or I’ll furnish you with an heir, or I’ll kill you. So which one am I doing right now?”

"I don't care." His voice scratched out and he pressed up against me lifting me to meet his mouth. "Do you want to know why I sent for you?" He smirked and tried to kiss me again but I backed away teasingly.

"Why?"

"Because it’s my birthday," He rolled on top of me and growled when I gasped. He slid a hand under my shirt and cupped one of my breasts, while nibbling the other gently through the cloth.

Suddenly I felt very out of my league and I wasn't sure I wanted this to happen, at least not yet. "What do you know about Jack?" I asked seriously.

He dropped his head onto my chest and sighed. "This is some of my best stuff here, and you want to talk shop, right now?"

"If you know something, yes."

"What if I tell you later?" He pressed against me again and kissed the skin just under my jaw, grabbing my ass with strong greedy hands.

I moaned and arched my back.

"It’s been that long huh?" He smirked. "Have you had anyone since Jack?" He asked without hesitation. Alpha’s are like that, they just expect questions to be answered.

I leveled my gaze with his, my hormone-fogged mind clearing suddenly. "I was never with Jack."

He stopped groping and pulled away slowly. "I thought he died because you were separated, that only happens with a Mated pair."

"I tend to be the exception to a lot of your rules." I sat up and straightened my clothes, while he watched me with a heart-stopping gaze.

“Your Council is corrupt.” He stated flatly.

I laughed and climbed off his bed, putting much needed space between us. “Let’s get one thing straight: they were never
my
Council, they made that very clear when they left me and my bitten pack for dead at the hands of a sociopath they created.”

He nodded in agreement as if he had already been privy to the story. For all I knew he had been. “Elder Coon is a dangerous woman Sugar, don’t underestimate her or you’ll end up dead just like Jack. If she’s willing to kill her own grandson, she won’t blink before sending the order out for your head.”

"She won't kill me until I promise her my soul and she's going to continue harassing me no matter what I do, so I might as well have a little fun between here and hell." I stretched slowly not wanting to provoke his prey drive, but teasing him just the same. I may not have trusted Elder Coon, but I didn’t trust Robert either. Despite this I turned my back on him to leave. It was an insult to an Alpha, but not quite a Challenge.

He leaned forward and hooked one of my belt loops, pulling me towards him. I didn’t react though my heart surged, my instinct telling me to run. I couldn’t see his face and this scared me the most. I couldn’t read him.

"Sugar, I can taste Gage on you, and I don't like tasting other men while I'm with a beautiful woman.” He released me slowly and tilted his head up to look at me when I turned to face him. “Tell your friend if he touches you again, I'll kill him." His voice was soft but the threat was cold as ice and I felt it numb me from the inside out.

"This is what's pissing off the Elders." I answered.

"I'm not breaking the rules, Sugar. Every female in the pack is mine until I say otherwise. You were raised as a human; things are different in our culture. If you were a good match I might allow it, but he is nowhere near your equal."

"And what is your pack without men?" I answered back. "It’s just a furry cheerleading squad for the full moon."

He chuckled at that and sat back again. "Sugar, if you're worried I'm using my position to abuse my pack, you've got it all wrong. I wouldn't have taken a pack if I wasn't ready to take a mate, but I want the best. I am a new Alpha, to an old pack. Jack was able to spoil you all by bending to your every whim because he was supported by a long dangerous reputation.”

Robert squinted up at my medallion and touched the metal gently examining it. “The only other person in this house that remembers what it was like when Jack first took over is Kyle. Why don't you go talk to Kyle about your perfect Alpha before you accuse me of abusing my position?" His voice warmed slightly with anger. "You think the reason the Council’s angry with me is because of this? The Elders can't control me... I didn't want Jack's old job as the executioner and they want someone like him, close to home that they can puppet around, and I'm sorry to say Sugar, but I think the chosen puppets are you and Gage. When it comes down to it, baby girl, they know you won't agree to be my mate. They know your fast temper and your black and white concept of right and wrong. They think you'll try to kill me and you're right about one thing, they don't care whether you take the fall or not. That's why they sent back up." He rubbed his hands together and bowed his head. "I'm sorry I'm not a nice guy, but I can't afford to be right now. Do you understand that much at least?" He met my eyes and his were almost pleading.

"I'll talk to Kyle, and see what he has to say." I answered before walking away.

"What I said about Gage touching you again, still stands." Robert the ultimate asshole Alpha had returned, his face again a hard mask of barely kept rage. "He can have the bitten, to sate his appetite if it means he'll leave you alone."

"Her name is Jersey and you don’t barter people around, weirdo.”

"Unless she can have my children, she's useless to me."

"Are you looking for a brood mare or a wife?"

He smiled at that, "I'm looking for the future mother of my children. No less than what Jack wanted."

I swallowed hard, "Can I make one request?"

He nodded re-crossing his arms, "Just know that there is a price."

"Stop trying to force out Sarah and Kyle. They are my family and I love them and their little boy very much."

"Elder Coon is using them against me Sugar, and she’s already used them against you. Otherwise I don’t think you would have come back. Am I right?"

I felt stupid, like a dumb ox being led around by a bull ring. “I still want you to leave them alone.”

He smiled and nodded. "As you wish then, my love."

At those words I wondered exactly what he wanted in return, but I figured I'd deal with it later and I finally left his room my heart hammering out my worry and fear.

I went upstairs to my room to find Gage still waiting inside. When I didn’t say anything he stood and started pacing the room quietly. He definitely wasn’t one to start a conversation but his nervous meandering was driving me crazy.

“Yes Gage, can I help you with something?” I asked as I went through my shopping bags of clothes, putting them away one piece at a time.

He stopped pacing and watched me for a moment, “So, I guess you’ve decided to stay?”

I rolled my eyes at him, “That’s been the plan all along.”

“Then why does it feel as if you’re going to blow out of here at any given minute?” He sat down on my bed.

“Paranoia,” I answered folding a pair of socks.

“So, what did the Alpha have to say?”

“Not much more than we already knew.” I tossed the folded socks into the open dresser drawer one pair at a time.

He shifted uncomfortably, “How much did that information cost you?”

I stopped folding a shirt and snorted at him, “No more than the Elders were willing to barter me off for to begin with.”

His face hardened and he stopped pacing abruptly, “Well nobody had to nudge you in that direction very hard did they?” The words were barely out of his mouth when he tried to take them back, stammering an instant apology.

I held up a hand to hush him. To be honest the sooner he lost interest in me the better, maybe he would even leave. “The Alpha says that you had better keep your hands to yourself from now on.” I left out the part about Robert allowing Gage to start seeing Jersey and I tried to tell myself it was because I didn’t feel right talking about Jersey as if she were someone’s property.

“You told him about what happened?” He whispered out, his strength and power washed over me like a nuclear blast, and I realized he was hiding a lot of his potential. I swallowed past my shock, "I didn’t have to tell him anything, he smelled you on me.” I finished picking up tags and receipts and stuffed them all into one of the bags.

“You’re going to just hop into his bed and become someone else’s top winning bitch?” He said levelly and it scared me more the calmer he got.

I locked eyes with him, “Careful Gage, the ice you’re on is getting thin.”

“You parade around pretending to be this ultimate warrior Alpha female, willing to do anything to save her pack, but you’re just like those snotty show bitches he’s got lined up outside his bedroom door, looking to fuck their way to the top.”

“You’re forgetting who asked whom for help in the first place. You haven’t been honest with me about anything since this whole thing started and instead of feeling like the hero, I’m feeling a lot like the bait.” I poked him in the chest hard. “The new Alpha said things were no different when Jack first started out, and the only reason the Council is pissed is that they can’t outsmart him and control him. He’s a danger to the way things have been for them and they are starting to panic.”

“So, now Robert is some sort of crackerjack Alpha, and not a raging asshole. Am I getting this right Sugar, because I’m having a hard time following the hero worship here?” He looked at me with distain.

“I don’t see what you’re so mad about Gage; I’m doing exactly what they want me to do. This way once he’s made his choice, other men will join the pack. There are more females here than probably any other pack on the eastern seaboard. It will be stronger than it’s been in a long time.” I shrugged and opened my bedroom door. “Isn’t that what they wanted?” I asked softly.

He didn’t move and he didn’t argue, so that told me two things. Robert was right, the Council was just looking to upgrade to a more controllable Alpha. And Gage was looking to fill that position, but he was hoping to do it sooner rather than later and if that meant throwing me under the bus by framing me for murder, then so be it.

Gage left the small bedroom in a whirlwind of anger. I was calling his bluff and there was nothing he could do about it. The Council really hadn’t expected me to consider Robert as a potential mate. They had banked everything they had on my over-inflated image of Jack and my own bloated pride. They watched me walk away once because of this and just assumed I’d do it again.

I flopped face down on my bed feeling dejected and emotionally drained. I had been used, and I had been so stupid for believing them when they said they needed my help. Was my ego so large that I really thought I could make that much of a difference in their world? Even the story Elder Coon had given me about being like me, I had no way to find out if she were lying or not. This was just what I required to remind me how hard a fall from grace really was and now that I was firmly grounded I needed to get up and dust myself off, then decide my next move; I just wasn’t sure what that would be yet.

Though I was playing the part of the hopeless slut, perfectly egger to jump into another Alpha’s bed, I really wasn’t that person at all. I may have just suffered a lesson about having too much pride but I still had some left and I wasn’t ready to use the remainder up on my back with my legs in the air.

I groaned in irritation as Brian burst through my door and started jumping on my bed. Sarah came in and scooped up her son and sat down on the bed next to my prone form.

I reflected briefly on how sad it was living alone but I had become used to the privacy; now that’s all I wanted and I wasn’t getting it. “Robert told me you guys talked?” She bounced Brian on her knee and pretended we were having a regular conversation.

“Sarah, you’re usually more subtle than this.” I mumbled out through my pillow. “And I can’t believe you used your own son to infiltrate my inner sanctum.” I rolled onto my back and put my hands behind my head.

“This is good stuff and I’m feeling left out.” She continued to bounce Brian.

“Join the club.” I sat up and scooted next to her. “This is way over my head.”

“So you’ll swim or sink… potentially dragging us all down with you.” She teased.

“No pressure or anything.” I griped.

“So, rumor has it you’ve got yourself an Elder with attitude?”

“It’s not like having six toes; she wants to kill me, and then damn my eternal soul.”

“Only if you’ve already promised her your soul… but she’s not going to want you dead until then, in fact it’s in her best interest to keep you healthy until then.”

“What; do you have my room bugged or something?”

She shrugged, "I might have been listening to your conversation with the Alpha earlier."

"Why? Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do, I just don't want to be left out of the loop. I've got a lot riding on this." She gave a pointed look at her son and smiled sadly.

"Did you hear the entire conversation?" I asked.

"Enough to know things aren't always as they seem. I know the Alpha doesn't have to let us know what's going on at every second, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live outside the pack as a regular family." She shrugged nervously and stopped bouncing Brian.

"You have that right, you know."

"You need us, plus Brian is still the next in line and he needs to see how it’s done, whether I agree with how the Alpha works or not." She shrugged but the movement seemed more like resignation rather than indifference toward the matter.

"I don't know what to do." I said honestly. "I know what I should do; I should force the situation, that way I can call the Elder's bluff, or the Alpha's. I should see if either of them really means what they’re saying but I'd have to sacrifice more than I'm willing to, especially if I'm wrong."

She smiled and sighed, "You've only been here two days. You're not exactly on a crunch schedule, so why don't you take your time and feel things out. Sometimes things fix themselves if they’re given enough time."

"You are so wise, Sarah." I said only half jokingly.

Rather than acknowledge my comment she surged ahead. "So, what are we going to do for the Alpha's birthday?" She shifted happily to face me. "I was thinking we could rent out Rainbow Cove and invite all the other packs?"

"For tonight?" I asked shocked.

"Don't worry, they'll come, he's a new Alpha. He kicked ass at last summer's Challenges and other Alphas and their packs are going to want to make alliances with him, plus it will be good P.R. Maybe if everything goes well, it will force the Council to back off a little."