CHAPTER THREE

 

Selena had been disappointed to see Lloyd, but she’d had no choice but to invite him in and offer him a seat and some tea or coffee. He took the seat but declined the beverage.

“So how are you settling in here, Selena?” he asked.

“Believe it or not, Lloyd, I’m adjusting,” she told him, honestly. “They are a different sort of people up here. I started thinking a lot about that after we sent you up, and I thought maybe I should talk to you about that and clear some things up.”

Selena smiled. “That’s nice, Lloyd, but you could have called.”

He laughed. “You know how hands on I am. I thought I should come up and put my hands on the situation. How are you and your fiancé? What was his name? Tony...something? How are you faring in your long-distance relationship?”

Selena thought that an odd and startlingly personal question for him to ask her. She wasn’t comfortable with Lloyd the way she was with Daniel. She thought maybe it would be better to just answer him simply, rather than get up in arms about him getting too personal with an employee so she said, “We’ve broken up.”

“Oh dear. I’m so sorry to hear that. I hope it wasn’t because you were sent here.”

“It was…kind of. It turned out to be a good thing though,” she told him, thinking about Conner.

Lloyd did the oddest thing then. He put his head back and sniffed the air. Selena breathed in deeply, but she didn’t smell anything. “Selena, you haven’t gotten involved with Conner, have you? I know what a playboy he can be.”

“I’m sorry, Lloyd, but all of these questions seem so personal. Would you like to hear what I’ve found out about the company finances since I’ve been here?”

Lloyd smiled. Selena suddenly found his smile to be creepy and lecherous. She all at once didn’t like the idea of being so far out here alone with him. “I’m just trying to know you better, Selena. If we’re going to be working closely together, shouldn’t we know each other better?”

“We’re going to be working closely together?” she asked. She was confused.

“Yes. I think I’m going to move my home office up here and bring in my own executive staff.”

“What about the people who already hold those jobs here…and Conner?” she asked.

He sniffed the air again.

“What is it that you smell?” He looked directly at her then and she saw his eyes shift from blue to brown. “Your arousal. Every time Conner’s name is mentioned.”

Selena was really frightened now. She got up from the couch and took a few steps away from him toward her phone.

He grinned again. “You’ve already mated with him. That little pup moves fast, I’ll give him that.”

“I’m sorry, Lloyd,” she said. “I am not comfortable with this conversation. I’d like for you to leave.”

Lloyd stood up, but he didn’t look to be headed toward the door. “I think taking his company and his title won’t be enough. I think I’ll defile his mate as well.”

Selena saw his eyes shift to black, and she pounced for her phone, which was lying on the counter. Before she got there, a large gray wolf was between her and the counter, teeth bared. Just as quickly, Lloyd was back. Only now his clothes lay in a shredded pile at his feet, and he was nude. His pot belly and gray chest hair did nothing to hide the fact that he was also excited.

Trying to buy time, Selena said, “Lloyd, why did you send me here?”

Lloyd grinned again. It was horrendously unattractive. “To seduce and distract my alter Alpha,” he said, like that made all the sense in the world. “These people are old school. They won’t turn their back on their Alpha for many things. The one thing they will not forgive is for their Alpha to become involved with an outsider. They will never consent to allowing him to change you, but you’re under his skin now, and he won’t stay without you. I know…because I’ve been put in that situation myself. It only took Tony two years to bore you to tears and push you into a sexually frantic state. Aroused to the point of a simple push from a dominant man, and you were relegated to a rutting animal.”

“Tony? What do you know about Tony?” she asked.

Lloyd laughed. “I know that I had to supply my son with plenty of wild whores to keep him docile when he was with you. We had many a row about it.”

“Tony…He’s…”

“Yes, dear. He’s my son. He’s a wolf like me, and he was exiled as I was while yet in his mother’s womb. As your child will be.”

Selena really felt like she was in Hollyweird now. But some innate instinct led her to place a protective hand across her belly. Lloyd laughed again.

“Yes, Selena. The Alpha rarely plants his seed without it taking root. I think I can even smell the little creature growing its claws inside of you as we speak.”

The room was spinning, Selena needed to sit down. She backed as far away from Lloyd as she could, not wanting to turn her back on him, and she reached back for a chair. Dropping down into it, she put her head into her hands. “What have you done to me?”

“I’ve made you the Alpha female,” he said with a grin. “You just have to take that title elsewhere because these old-fashioned people won’t have it here. You could have stayed a bit longer, had you and that young wolf been able to practice a modicum of self-control. My Tony called me last night after you broke up with him and told me that you were ready…so soon. The poor boy was a little put off by it.”

There was a knock on the door. Lloyd went over to it and sniffed around. He crossed back to her and whispered, “I’ll be in the bedroom. If you don’t want your pathetic new friends bleeding out on your pretty wood floor, I suggest you get rid of them.”

Lloyd went in and closed the bedroom door. There was another knock. “Miss Selena, it’s Slam and Cub. Can we come in?”

Selena opened the door. Slam stepped in and put his finger to his lips as Cub went over to the bedroom door. “Miss Selena, we were just on our way to the festival and wondered if you would be up to going with us?” Slam was shaking his head no as he spoke.

“No, thank you, Slam,” Selena said, playing along. “I think I’m going to stay in for the evening.” Cub had on a rubber glove and was putting something in the doorknob as she and Slam talked.

“Okay then, come on, Cub, Conner will be expecting us. I wouldn’t want him coming out here looking for us.”

Cub went over to the kitchen then and said, “Do you mind if I get a drink of water, Miss Selena?”

“No, Cub. Go ahead.”

Instead of water, Cub started quietly looking through her cabinets until he found a bottle of white vinegar.

“Okay then, Miss Selena. You have a good night.”

Selena knew they had some kind of plan but it made her insides turn to see them go, knowing they were leaving her here alone with crazy wolf in there. As soon as the front door closed, Lloyd came out of the bedroom. He didn’t touch the outside door knob. Selena wondered what would have happened if he did. He was still nude, and he was still semi-aroused. When he crossed to look out the door, she went over and, covering her hand with her sleeve, she closed the bedroom door.

Lloyd turned around when he heard it. “Closing it won’t do any good. As soon as I know Tweedledee and Tweedledum are gone, we’ll be going back in, and I’ll be mating you properly. It will be fun not knowing who fathered your little bastards, I think.”

He took a step toward her, and she took another one back. “Oh, we’re going to dance. This will be fun.”

Selena stepped behind the kitchen counter, but within seconds the big gray wolf had jumped across and over and was now behind her. She went back around to the living room, and Lloyd changed again, this time grabbing her and holding tightly. She fought against him but he was too strong. He lifted her feet off the floor and carried her to the bedroom door.

“Open it!” he said.

Selena kicked him in the thigh, her only regret being she couldn’t reach higher. “Open it yourself!”

He tucked her under one powerful arm and opened the door with the other hand. Selena was waiting for something to happen, but it didn’t. He continued to carry her until he got her to the bed and then he threw her down on it. She turned on her belly and tried to scramble away but he heaved his heavy body on top of her and held her down with his heavy thighs. Then, he began ripping at her blouse. Selena screamed and when he covered her mouth with his hand, she bit him, drawing blood.

Lloyd laughed. “Conner’s in for a treat. You might be well worth giving up the Alpha spot for.”

Selena heard a click from the doorway then.

“I’d like you to get off the lady, please,” Slam demanded.

Lloyd looked over his shoulder, and Selena got a glimpse of Slam holding a rifle trained on Lloyd. “You got silver bullets in that thing, son? If not, then I suggest you either go, or watch me have my way with the lady.” Lloyd reached down and touched himself, trying to reposition as he stripped away the rest of Selena’s clothes.

Slam waited until he was finished and then he said, “Sir, you just wiped wolf’s bane on your skinny little stick there. I think here in a minute it may not be willing to work for you.”

Lloyd looked at his hand. It was starting to turn purple and mottle. He jumped up off of Selena then. “You little son of a bitch.” He morphed and lunged for Slam.

Slam changed as well, just as a big white wolf ran into the room. Selena grabbed the comforter off the bed and covered herself where her breasts were exposed. She watched what was going on in the room, numb and in disbelief.

The gray wolf had Slam’s wolf form by the throat when Conner came crashing in. Conner bit Lloyd on the back of his neck, hard apparently, causing him to howl in pain, letting go of Slam. Conner shook his head then, his powerful jaws sunk deep into the other animal. Before Selena realized what was happening, her room was beginning to fill with wolves, every size, shape and color. It was insane.

They all just stood and watched the two in the center do battle, barking or whining at times as blood and fur flew across the room. It looked to Selena like Conner had the upper hand, but the old gray wolf wasn’t giving up yet. He suddenly put his front paws out and dipped his head low to the floor. Then, in one fell swoop, he flipped Conner over his shoulders and the big, beautiful white wolf landed hard against the wall. Conner got up and bared his teeth again. The fur was standing up on the back of his neck.

As if Selena hadn’t seen enough bizarre things for one day, a sleek-looking black wolf suddenly morphed into Conner’s Aunt Eliza.

“Enough!” she said in an authoritative voice. “Stop this now!”

The wolves gathered around cowered back some as if in fear of the naked older woman standing before them. Selena felt like she was watching a train wreck. She wanted to turn her head, but there was something about the smell of death that kept drawing you back in. The white and gray wolves still stood staring at each other, looking like they were ready to pounce.

“I said, enough!” Eliza yelled again. That was when Lloyd changed back, and then Conner.

The first thing Conner did was look at Selena. His eyes went ice blue for a second. Then he turned his head back to his aunt and said, “This needs to be settled, now.”

“And settle it we shall,” she said. “The council is here, Conner, Lloyd. Put your issues on the table. If the council is unable to resolve them in a satisfactory way…then you fight to the death. You both know the rules. We are no longer a barbaric society.”

The rest of the wolves began to change. When there was at last a roomful of nude people, some Selena had met before and some that she hadn’t, Eliza said, “Conner has something to say.”

Conner looked around the room and then at Selena again. “I want her as my mate.”

Selena wanted to pull the comforter over her head.

“What does she want?” Eliza asked.

Selena looked at Conner and then at Lloyd and then at everyone else in the room. She hoped that she didn’t look as terrified as she felt, because after a few seconds Conner said, “Leave her alone. She hasn’t even had a chance to process any of this. Try to imagine how overwhelming it must be for her.” He looked back over at her and his eyes flashed ice blue once more.

His aunt laughed and said, “You should have worn your shades, dear. We can all clearly see the ice blue of your eyes.”

“Let him go with her,” Lloyd said. “I will lead.”

“Haven’t we been in this same situation with you, Lloyd?” Eliza asked. “How is your pup anyway?”

“He’s doing well, but he would be thriving if he were allowed to be here, in his home. I made a mistake, Eliza. I am here to rectify it. All you have to do is refuse to allow him to take her as his mate…just like you did with me before his father took over.”

“And my father remained your friend, feeling sorry for you. Look what you did to him in return. You’ve ruined his company, and you’re trying to have his son exiled,” Conner said.

“Is it my fault that his son was tempted by human flesh?” Lloyd asked.

That’s when Selena found her voice. “Yes…it is.”

Suddenly all eyes were on her.

“Don’t listen to her,” Lloyd cried. “She’s a lowly human. She has designs on being an Alpha Queen. She even tried to seduce me.”

“He sent me here after he and his son used me for years. I didn’t know any of this until today, but he set the whole thing up. He wants you to turn your back on Conner so he can have everything. He tried to rape me today. Look at his...um…equipment.”

They all turned to look at Lloyd’s crotch. His shriveled penis was as purple as a violet.

“It’s hardly large enough to be called equipment,” Eliza said. The room burst out in laughter and Lloyd’s face went red. “I think it’s time for a vote. All those in favor of allowing our Alpha to take a human mate…” She turned to look at Selena then, “Assuming she accepts the offer…Say aye.”

There was a resounding “aye” that circulated around the room. “All those opposed?”

Lloyd’s voice was the only one heard as he said, “Nay.”

Eliza looked at him and said, “You don’t get a vote.” She looked at Conner then. “What should we do with him, Alpha?”

“Take him to the lock-up in town for now. We’ll cast him out later.”

Lloyd tried to run, which was ridiculous. He was surrounded, and there was nowhere to go. He changed into his wolf form and once again had to be taken down by force. He howled as he was carried out…a chilling sound. Selena was glad to see him go. She looked around her bedroom and the naked people left behind, and wished that they would do the same.

“I have one more question.” Eliza said to Conner. “Is she carrying a pup in her womb?”

Conner looked at Selena again with those gorgeous ice blue eyes and said, “I hope so.”