LickingHerWounds by Fran Lee Page B

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    The big, scarred alpha listened to the mating howl of his
escaped omega, and he curled his lip in disgust for the male who lowered
himself to take the worthless half-human. He had hated the bitch since old
Petrov had stolen and changed her. But Petrov had been punished. The dark
Seronta had killed her foolish protector. The demented old fool had taken her
for a future mate. A changeling would never be an alpha mate in this pack. He
would have killed her too, but his mate had wanted the whining bitch for a
servant.
    Now the bitch was offering herself to a cat? With a snarl of
revulsion, Jock gazed narrowly at the old house where she committed her
atrocity and remembered the difficulty he’d had the last time he had made an
attempt against the big cats. But one big cat was far easier to deal with than
two infuriated males, like the last time. He would have his vengeance and he
would destroy them all. And this time he would tear out the little bitch’s
throat.
    He whirled and moved swiftly back into the trees, running
for half a mile before shifting to make better time. He would have his pack
tear the lone cat apart. He would devise a ruse to keep the alpha cat out of
the way. And afterward, Jock would deal with the bitch. She wouldn’t escape his
wrath again.

Chapter Nine
     
    Hallie came awake with a start and sat up quickly, her
thoughts a jumble of confusion and fear. Gar lifted onto one elbow and ran a
reassuring hand over her naked hip. “What is it, love?”
    She shook her head, unable to voice the horror that she had
felt. It had receded as swiftly as it had come, but she slipped from the bed
and hurriedly dragged on a soft robe, racing out of their room to the boys’
room down the hall. Gar was on her heels as she shoved the door open and
scanned the room. The boys were soundly asleep. Nothing seemed out of the
ordinary. But her eyes went to the French windows, where a breeze ruffled the
lace curtains, and Gar was moving before she could speak. He leaped over the
beds and sought the intruder.
    The open window was terrifying evidence that someone had
breached the security of the house without setting off the alarm system. Gar
checked the balcony, then shifted and leaped to the lawn below while she
checked the window lock. It had been jimmied with a thin metal strip, which lay
on the carpet at her feet. But breaking the contact should have set off the
alarm.
    With a shiver, she checked both sleeping boys, making sure
they were unharmed. She stepped onto the balcony and scanned the upper portion
of the house—roof, gables and verandah roof—before she carefully re-latched the
French windows and woke the children, herding them quickly into the bedroom she
shared with Gar and tucking them gently into the king-sized bed with anger
boiling beneath the surface of her forced calm. The Lykos had gone too far this
time. There would be no safe place for the pack after this. If Gar and Cal
didn’t find and kill them, she would do it herself.
    She locked the hallway door and settled in to wait for Gar’s
return.
     
    The trail Gar followed through the trees was one lone
dog…but when that track intersected with several more, he tensed and called out
to his brother.
    Lykos are approaching the house. Get your female out now.
Follow the street…the woods are full of them. I will meet you on the way.
    He waited only until he felt Cal’s answer in his mind before
he whirled and raced for the paved road half a mile from where the large
grouping of tracks congregated. Gar had no doubt that his younger sibling could
take on the pack and survive if he were not hampered by the need to protect his
little mate. But alone in an unprotected house with only the Lykos omega for help,
Cal would be easy prey for the whole pack, since he would be preoccupied with
protecting her instead of himself. And he had no desire to see another he loved
die.
    The pack had been whittled down to five adult males and four
females. One of those