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Cathy
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2024-10-29 19:42:56I wake up with a gasp, sitting up so fast that the world spins around me. I am not sure where I am. The bed is rough under me, not as rough as some of the places I’ve slept, but different to the silks of the bed that I’d become accustomed to over the last few days…or is it weeks?
In Rocky’ stronghold, I’d lost track of time, and suddenly I can’t wait to see the outside world. One look…one glance to see where I am, enough to get my bearings. I swing my legs over, and when my feet touch the floor a pain shoots up my legs. My guts churn, and bending over, I try to retch, managing only to dry heave.
Footsteps thud toward me, and before I can straighten, hands grasp my shoulders, holding me as I cough.
The acidic taste of bile is in my nose, crowding in on my throat, and I rest my forehead against my knees.
I feel lifeless, like everything in me has been brushed out, like every part of me has been broke
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ALPHAS COMMAND Rocky
I wake up with my heart pounding. Sweat drips down my back so my vest is stuck to it. There is a feeling of impending darkness, of something so heavy in my chest that it seems to get larger by the minute.I swing my legs over the side of the bed and stay there, panting. My heart stutters, and I rub my chest.The beats are erratic. There is a sense of impending gloom. Of something coming at me, something more sinister than anything I’ve faced before. I hang my head forward, grip my knees, and will myself to breathe. One breath, two breaths, slowly, in and out. Focus, I must focus. The mating cord in my chest strains and a groan rips out of me.My scalp prickles and I wipe my damp palms on the sheet covering the bed. I know it’s her emotions I am feeling. She’s afraid.When I’d taken her, I had only meant to bind her to me. My only thought had been to ensure that I had someone who belonged to me. Not to th
ALPHAS COMMAND Cathy
I walk to the window and look out over the grimy city.The buildings are all low, a relic of the past when government laws decreed that no construction would be tall enough to block the view of the parliament building from anywhere.The same structure that the monster now uses as his base.The same monster who had taken me, rutted me and broke my heat cycle. A trickle of slick dampens my core. I squeeze my thighs together.He is still a monster.He may have not fucked me against my will, still, he had taken advantage in the midst of a heat cycle when I had been desperate for any leader’s touch.No, not any leader…but him.I push the thought away.He hadn’t given me a choice. He hadn’t restrained himself. But then…I hadn’t wanted him to either. So why are my thoughts still on him?Why does every part of me want to go to him, to feel his touch on me, his wide palm grippin
ALPHAS COMMAND Rocky
I race out and onto the streets I’d traversed as a child. The safe house is in the East End of the city. I am sure this is where my father met my mother. Neither of them mentioned it to me, but the thud of my heart, the heavy feeling in my chest, and that sinking hole in my gut confirm to me this is where the two of them had run into each other. This is where my father took her for the first time. For all I know he fucked her in the very house, in the bed where I had lain at night. My gut churns, and leaning over, I puke. I’ve never done this before, been so affected by the thought of my parents, been so tuned in to the plight of my mother.I cared for my mother, protected her from hoodlums in the neighborhood when I came of age…but had always consciously blocked out all thought of how it could have been for them to be together. How it was for her to have run into him, to be attracted to him, to submit to him knowing all along he was never goi
ALPHAS COMMAND Cathy
“I THINK I’m too old for the floor,” Rocky murmured, kissing the top of my head. We were lying in the entryway, both of us naked now. I’d pretty muchsucked Rocky’s balls dry, but his dick hadn’t even flagged. Not one bit. He remained hard and stripped me bare before getting me beneath him, fucking me. Hard, quick, dirty. I had his cum dripping from me and down my thighs as I rested my head on his shoulder, his arm around me and caressing the skin on my hip.I’d never gone without a condom before. Not until Rocky. We hadn’t used one when he’d fucked my ass the other day, but there’d been no worries about pregnancy with that. I was on the pill, so I had that covered after this latest round. I didn’t think Rocky was negligent. We had both been… feral.So wild for each other we hadn’t even thought about protection. Maybe that was what something s
ALPHAS COMMAND Rocky
I CAME in from the stables a week later to find Layla whipping up a storm in the kitchen. Seth and John were both at her mercy, her calm orders getting them to do her bidding. Get the eggs from the fridge. Fill the big pot with water to boil. Not that platter. The big one.Jenny sat at the table peeling potatoes. She didn’t look too thrilled, and as she was the first to admit she couldn’t cook, it was prockyably safest for her with a table between her and the sharp knives. While she could wield a scalpel in the operating room, she couldn’t chop onions without disaster.“Where’s your phone, asshole?” John demanded. He glanced up from the sink where he was filling a pot. “You haven’t returned any of my texts.”I checked my back pocket, found it empty, then groaned. “I don’t know. I must’ve left it at Grace’s last night.” The thing
ALPHAS COMMAND Cathy
I SHOWED up at the Wolf Ranch carrying a tray of deviled eggs. I wasn’t much of a cook, but that was the thing my foster mother had always brought to potlucks, so it seemed like the thing to do.I’d hated these get-togethers as a kid, always feeling out of place. I was just another one of the Johnsons’ many foster kids that everyone kept a sharp eye on because we couldn’t be trusted with their children or their things.I didn’t particularly want to be at this one, either. No, that was a lie. I liked being here.Too much. I liked the closeness of Rocky’s family. The way they seemed to have each other’s backs.The past week with Rocky had been delicious. Sinfully delicious. But the whole time, I’d known they were stolen moments. I couldn’t have Rocky Wolf.Being here with his incredible family and pack made that painfully obvious. I didn&rsqu
ALPHAS COMMAND Rocky
WE WERE NEARING the full moon, but this wasn’t a get together to shift and run in the moonlight. Instead, it was an afternoon picnic. By five o’clock, about twenty pack members were in the field behind the house. Usually, we met in the barn, so there was some shade and a roof in case it rained, but the construction project wasn’t finished. Sawhorses with boards across were set up as tables for the hefty quantity of food everyone brought. From Layla’s and Jenny’s potato salad to peach pie, hamburgers and even homemade ice cream had been devoured. The Barn Cats were tuning their instruments and setting chairs beneath a tree where they’d perform. Some laid out blankets, so they could sit and listen. Others had brought fold-up chairs.Grace sat beside me in a pretty green sundress that matched her eyes and had me wanting to slip the little straps off her shoulders and devour what was beneath. I’d kept as close as I could to her since she
ALPHAS COMMAND Cathy
I STOOD ROOTED to the ground, staring at the beautiful alpha wolf meant for Rocky. The one Layla had told me about.Oh God.This was the train wreck I saw coming.Rocky wasn’t looking at her, though. He was looking at me—the pain of betrayal burning in his gaze. I’d made him look at me that way. It was my own doing.I scrambled into the car and rushed to start it. I had to get away. Leave him to get on with his life. I backed up fast, tires skidding the dirt, then took off for home.Home. Ha. What a joke.I tried to stay strong, but halfway back to the house, I broke down and cried the whole rest of the short drive. It was any wonder I didn’t end up in a ditch. Everything I’d thought would happen, had. Rocky learned the truth and felt slighted. No, that wasn’t the right word. Betrayed.He’d bared his soul, and that of his community, to me
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ALPHAS COMMAND Cathy
THE LOCAL SHERIFF and his deputy arrived first. I was still a little lightheaded from the gunshot, or maybe from discovering I was a shifter, but years of protocol pushed to the forefront.“Agent Johnson?”“Yes, sir.”After I’d shifted back, I’d called Vaughn and tried to convince him to send backup, so we could catch whoever showed up with the empty trailer for the cows and drugs, but he wouldn’t have it—especially after he heard I’d already been shot at. He’d notified the sheriff to get there immediately, and the sheriff had arrived with lights flashing, which prockyably meant whoever was responsible for driving the drugs across the border would keep right on driving past.I kept my hand over the wound at my side as I reached out to shake his hand.John and Jenny had brought me a change of clothes, which I’d stained a little with blood from
ALPHAS COMMAND Rocky
CATHY STRUGGLED, rolling to her side, then emitting a yip of pain. She was panicking, her amber eyes wild and almost feral. This hadn’t been one of her secrets. I was sure of it. She hadn’t known she was a wolf—or part wolf— because she sure as hell had smelled like a human before.Which meant… she’d never shifted before and only did so now because of the pain of being shot. Her biology kicked in to save her life. No one had seen her like this before. No one knew how perfect she was… human or wolf.I stroked my hand over her soft fur. “Shh… settle.” I put alpha command in my voice. “It’s all right. There’s nothing to be afraid of. You’re a shifter, like me. That’s why my wolf chose you.” I smiled down at her. “I know you hurt, but shifting is a good thing. You’ll heal and quickly. Your body knows what to do. Don’t be afraid, you’re go
ALPHAS COMMAND Rocky
I KNEW IMMEDIATELY GRACE—CATHY—WASN’T in the house. I would’veheard her breathing. Hell, even her pulse. Now that I’d made the choice that she was to be mine… officially, my wolf was attuned to her. Or the lack of her.Her scent was in the air around the exterior of the house but not strong. There was a distinct path of the scent. She rarely used the front door. My wolf picked her up going in and out of the back door more. I followed across the back porch and back down the steps, across the grass and toward—“Fuck,” I said, cutting through the night. She was at Sam’s.I knew it. My wolf knew it. It was after eleven. Unless she was at his place to fuck, she was there for work. I didn’t even give the first any thought. I’d satisfied her. She didn’t need Sam for that. Besides, now that I could see past my anger at her secrets, I knew she wo
ALPHAS COMMAND Cathy
I WATCHED Sam’s place from the master bedroom window all evening. His fancy pickup truck had been gone all afternoon. My guess was he’d gone to pick up the drugs from wherever Murrieta dropped them. I didn’t take Sam for the kind of guy to go pick up drugs. It was beneath a billionaire to get his hands dirty. But he was the minion now. Murrieta’s mule. Literally. Unfortunately, we didn’t know about that angle of the operation, but if we got Sam in cuffs and in an interrogation room, we’d be able to get the details. Especially if we had him with the drugs. To Murrieta, Sam was a little fish. As for Sam, he only cared about himself, and if he could finagle any kind of deal with the DEA, I figured he’d squeal like a pig.I kicked myself for not seeing him leave, so I could tail him, but so long as I got him with the drugs now, we were in business.It was eleven o’clock when I heard the crunch of t
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THE SHAKING of my bed made me groan.“Get up, asshole.”“What the fuck?” I growled.“You’ve had two days.”Seth.“I’ve never known you to drink yourself into a fucking stupor.” John.I blinked, tried not to have sharp spikes drill into my skull as I did so. My bed was soft. Warm. I didn’t want to move. I was pretty sure I’d been in it for twenty-four hours straight.“I’m keeping away the moon madness,” I muttered. “And thoughts about Grace. I mean, Cathy. Whatever the fuck her name is.”One of them kicked the bed.My stomach flip flopped.“You smell like the floor at Cody’s after closing.” Again, Seth.“Are you still wearing the same clothes as at the picnic?” Fucking John. Groaning, I sat up facing the window. It was dark
ALPHAS COMMAND Cathy
I MARCHED to the end of the property and split the barbed wire to step between it.Rocky and I had repaired the fence where the bull came through, but I had yet to confront Sam about it. I’d been saving it as an excuse to be on his property at some point. And truthfully? I’d been too wrapped up in spending time with Rocky for the last week to use that excuse.Now? It was time.I’d wasted a week, but now I was back on the job.Except the time hadn’t been wasted. It had been everything I needed to live. Now it was all gone. Returning to the life I had before Rocky felt like jumping in a lake with cement shoes on.Nothing could be done about that.I’d hurt him. He wasn’t going to forgive me. Even if he did, I couldn’t stay. I had a job back in Phoenix. Or wherever I went on assignment next.Except that thought made the brick in the pit of my s
ALPHAS COMMAND Rocky
WHAT THE FUCK was I going to do? In the past eighteen years as alpha, I’d never come across such a fucking mess. I was used to working out prockylems for other people. Handling disputes. Leading mating ceremonies. Funerals. But this?It was all about me.I stood stiff and still as the she-wolf was brought to me for introductions. My pack wanted to match me to this alpha’s daughter. I’d balked at the idea because Grace was to be mine.But what in the fuck did it matter?Grace wasn’t Grace. The whole thing had been a lie.I didn’t have a mate.And my pack needed me to take one.Maybe they were right. Maybe I had no fucking sense of what a mate was.That had been proven, loud and clear, when John had helped suss out the truth.How long would she have faked it with me?Unlike Cathy, this pack princess was a shifter. She would ease the minds of assholes like Nat
ALPHAS COMMAND Cathy
I STOOD ROOTED to the ground, staring at the beautiful alpha wolf meant for Rocky. The one Layla had told me about.Oh God.This was the train wreck I saw coming.Rocky wasn’t looking at her, though. He was looking at me—the pain of betrayal burning in his gaze. I’d made him look at me that way. It was my own doing.I scrambled into the car and rushed to start it. I had to get away. Leave him to get on with his life. I backed up fast, tires skidding the dirt, then took off for home.Home. Ha. What a joke.I tried to stay strong, but halfway back to the house, I broke down and cried the whole rest of the short drive. It was any wonder I didn’t end up in a ditch. Everything I’d thought would happen, had. Rocky learned the truth and felt slighted. No, that wasn’t the right word. Betrayed.He’d bared his soul, and that of his community, to me
ALPHAS COMMAND Rocky
WE WERE NEARING the full moon, but this wasn’t a get together to shift and run in the moonlight. Instead, it was an afternoon picnic. By five o’clock, about twenty pack members were in the field behind the house. Usually, we met in the barn, so there was some shade and a roof in case it rained, but the construction project wasn’t finished. Sawhorses with boards across were set up as tables for the hefty quantity of food everyone brought. From Layla’s and Jenny’s potato salad to peach pie, hamburgers and even homemade ice cream had been devoured. The Barn Cats were tuning their instruments and setting chairs beneath a tree where they’d perform. Some laid out blankets, so they could sit and listen. Others had brought fold-up chairs.Grace sat beside me in a pretty green sundress that matched her eyes and had me wanting to slip the little straps off her shoulders and devour what was beneath. I’d kept as close as I could to her since she
