“If you’re going to kill me, go ahead and do it! Do it now! I’m ready!” He banged the flat of his hand against the bars.
Ian took a step toward him, and Logan jumped back, startled by the quick movement. He quickly recovered, though, and tensed his body, ready for a fight. Ian managed not to smile. The young man really was entertaining. Undeniably handsome too. He would probably be a handful to any wolf who took him on. To me. He’ll be my handful from now on.
“Why don’t you say something? Why are you just staring at me like that?” Ian made up his mind and spun, walking away. He needed to speak to Marco. He found him leaning against the wall, speaking softly to the guard. He turned when he heard Ian coming.
“Well? Have you decided?” Ian took a deep breath. “Yes, I’ll turn him, but I won’t mate without his agreement after the Werekin bite. ”
“Agreement?” Marco shook his head. “What if he doesn’t agree?”
“Then we’ll find out what happens when the heat isn’t satisfied. I know it’s not traditional, but I won’t force him any further than the Werekin bite. If he’s forced, he’ll never accept me or our people. He’s too stubborn. He’s also brave and very handsome. He has a lot to learn, for sure. If he agrees, I think he’ll make a good mate for me once he adjusts, and we have an opportunity here to learn a great deal about the Hunters. ”
Marco put his hand on his shoulder. “A good beta to the c
ore. Always thinking of the good of the pack. ” He drew Ian to the side and lowered his voice. “Don’t do this if you’re not attracted to him, Ian. I’m not about to make you sacrifice yourself. There are other young wolves impatient for a mate we can try, or we can do as you said, turn him and see what happens. ”
“No. ” Ian surprised himself at how quickly the word came from his mouth. “The boy is mine. ” Ian dropped his gaze, not wanting to challenge his alpha, but he’d made his decision. “I-I mean, no, Alpha. He belongs to me. ”
Marco nodded. “Of course, if that’s your decision. When do you want to do this?”
“Since he’s not eating and making himself unwell, I think we should go ahead right now. ”
“I agree. Let’s go get him. ”
Chapter Two
Logan paced back and forth across the small cell. Since he’d been captured by these fiends, he’d resigned himself to a fast and painful death, but things weren’t working out quickly at all. He’d been captured over a week ago in a reconnaissance operation turned terribly wrong.
He and the other operatives, four H unters in all, had ventured too close to the wolves’ compound and been spotted by an alpha wolf and another young man. One of the Hunters panicked and shot at them, wounding them, but not enough to incapacitate the big wolf. He’d shifted into his wolf form—the first time Logan had witnessed such a thing, and it still brought shivers to his spine—and attacked them. They should have withdrawn then with the informationthey’d gathered. They had identified the alpha. The squad leader refused, wanting to kill the alpha and weaken the pack before they returned to the compound. On the second attempt, wolves had run up out of nowhere. As he was about to take aim at one of them, he was knocked to the ground and surrounded. The memory of being surrounded by the bristling wolves, with one standing on his chest, fangs snapping at him, ripping his clothes to shreds,was something he’d have nightmares about forever. Why none of them actually bit him he still didn’t understand. His most severewounds hadn’t come until they transformed to their human shapes and beat the hell out of him to subdue him when he refused to surrender.
They took him alive, though he knew the others had been killed in a brief but fierce skirmish. The wolves had never taken a captive before to his knowledge, and they had questioned Logan relentlessly, stopping only to give his wounds some basic treatment after he fainted from loss of blood. He fell back on his training and refused to answer any of their questions, even though they threatened him without end.
Refusing to eat or drink anything they gave him, other than water, he was growing weaker, but he was afraid of being drugged. Of course, they could overpower him easily and inject him with drugs, but so far they hadn’t resorted to that. He’d been storing up knowledge of what he’d seen and heard, in case he was somehow rescued. His father might try if he had any indication he was still alive, though knowing his father, he held little hope of that. The wolves had held onto him so long, he even hoped some kind of trade was being worked out. After the stare down he’d had with that big wolf, he thought it more likely they’d execute him soon. He and the other members of his squad had shot their alpha, trying to kill him, not to mention the other young man.
One of his guards taunted him with the knowledge the other young man they shot was the mate of the main interrogator, Casey, a big mean wolf they’d known about since Logan’s rotation for recon duty started a few months before. Casey had been the one who’d interrogated him with the most determination too, and Logan had expected him more than once to bust into the cell and rip him apart. No wonder since he’d been blamed for almost killing his mate. He knew the wolves often mated with other males, one thing his father used as proof of their debauchery and animalistic nature. What was more important to Logan than their unnatural mating habits was the fact they hadn’t known Casey was another alpha. The clans were joining, information they needed at headquarters.
Logan had mad e a mental map of what he’d seen of the inside of the compound, matching the locations up with what they’d seen from the outside, just to pass the time in his cell. If he could escape or was, by some stretch of his imagination, traded, all this would add to their knowledge of the wolves and possibly aid in their eventual destruction, of this murdering, thieving clan at least.
The new werewolf may not have been doing anything more than trying to intimidate him. He’d stepped up close to the bars and stared in at him. He was a little older than Logan, probably around thirty. Dark hair and eyes like all the wolves, and like all of them, supernaturally attractive, with sculpted muscles like a bodybuilder, and a handsome face. His dark eyes were particularly intense as he stared at him. He never spoke a word even though Logan challenged him, tired of the cat and mouse game the creatures seemed to be playing, and then the guy had turned on his heel and left abruptly. If he was trying to intimidate him, he’d succeeded. Logan was pretty sure they were done screwing with him even before the door opened again.
The new werewolf was back with two others, all three of them huge and imposing, including none other than the alpha, Marco. They came over to the cell door and opened it. This is it, Logan thought, tensing his muscles, though he knew struggling would be futile against these giants. He just hoped he would die well and not embarrass himself or his father. The one who’d been staring at him came in and picked him up as if he were a child. He threw him over his shoulder, despite his struggles, and strode out of the cell with him. The others followed silently.
Logan was anything but silent. He cursed them and yelled himself hoarse until the one carrying him slapped his ass hard. Pain exploded across his butt cheeks and shot through his body. He was stunned into silence.
“Be quiet!” the wolf said, his voice authoritative and firm, but strangely not angry. Logan stopped struggling, a useless effort anyway. He was too fucking weak from the beating he’d taken and from not eating to put up more than a token fight. He couldn’t get away from the arm locked around his legs, and he only caused himself more pain by trying. Better to save his strength for the final moments. The wolf carried him to a sort of bedroom, a little like a hotel room, with a huge bed in the middle of the room. It seemed a strange place for an execution, but he tried to prepare himself for whatever was coming.
“I have to wash him first,” the wolf holding him said to the others. “He reeks. ” He put Logan down on his feet, and all three ripped his clothes off. He was helpless in the face of such a concerted attack and stunned to find himself flat out on the floor, stripped naked in mere seconds. The first wolf grabbed him again, hauling him up to his feet. He pushed him into the bathroom while another one turned on the shower, adjusting the spray. They threw him inside. He fell back against the tiled wall, feeling vulnerable in his nudity, knowing it would be stupid to even try to cover up. Logan was horrified to see the first wolf removing his own clothing to step inside with him. With an inkling of what might be about to happen, he backed away as far as the tiny space would allow, cringing against the sides of the shower, trying hard not to look at the wolf’s muscular body, after one frightened glance.
The big wolf poured a quantity of liquid soap in his hands and rubbed the creamy liquid all over Logan’s body, despite Logan’s efforts to push his hands away or get out. He screamed, cursed, and yelled, but nothing stopped the wolfman. He tried to throw himself against the door in a panic, but the wolf pulled him back and spun him around. He batted his hands away as if Logan was no more than a child, and to stop him from fighting at all, he simply locked Logan’s arms down to his sides with one arm wrapped around him. He was helpless against the wolf’s strength. Bracing his feet against the wall and pushing accomplished absolutely nothing. The wolf simply picked him up and shook him like a rag doll until he stopped struggling.
Holding him in one arm, the wolf soaped him well from head to toe. He released each arm, one at a time, and used the soap liberally on his underarms, Logan strained away, pushing on his chest as hard as he could. The wolf spent way too much time on his groin area for Logan’s peace of mind. As much as he hated it, the treatment was giving him a damned hard-on. Most humiliating of all, the wolf put up one foot on a seat in the shower, picked Logan up as if he weighed nothing and draped his body over his knee. With one hand holding Logan down at the neck, he scrubbed hard at his ass, shoving a soapy finger all the way up inside. Logan kicked and screamed his outrage and anger. What the hell could be happening? Was this some kind of ritualistic killing where the victim had to be cleaned and purified first? Or was the beast preparing him for what he feared the most?
The wolf ignored his struggles, set him down, rinsed him off and stepped out of the shower, dragging him along with an arm around his waist. The other two attacked him with towels, drying him off, roughly but efficiently. The wolf who’d bathed him picked him up again, carried him back to the bedroom, and threw him on the bed.
Logan scooted back up to the headboard. “Stay away from me! What are you doing?” he screamed at the still naked wolf.
Advancing toward the bed with a determined look on his face, the wolf told the other two, “Hold him, so he doesn’t hurt himself. ”
They captured his arms and legs, ignoring his shouts, and finally his pleas. He was a brave man, and being killed was one thing. Being raped by one of these monsters was quite another. Two of them dragged him to the foot of the bed and sat him up on the edge, holding him firmly on either side with hands locked on his shoulders and arms and their legs locked over his to prevent him from even kicking. Logan got one terrifying glance at a mouth full of extended canines before the naked one took hold of his head, pushed his chin to his chest, and bit him on the back of the neck.