Night Fall on Dark Mountain Read online

  Stasia wondered at the enmity she sensed between the two. Once, they’d been as close as any two brothers could be. Since returning to Dark Mountain, Alec had kept silent regarding Max other than to say his brother preferred life among the vampires since taking one as a lover.

  Stasia had died a little that day. Hope that Max would return to claim her dried up, and a bitter anger filled her. She’d been good enough to fuck, but not to love. Despite her pedigree and rank among the clan, her barren womb placed a ceiling on her aspirations.

  “Goddammit, let us out of here!” Max roared.

  The tension in the basement was thick enough to taste. The heady mix of male sweat and testosterone had her salivating and fighting the urge to sniff the air and drag the scent deep into her nose to savor it on her tongue.

  If they’d faced each other in their animal forms, hackles would be raised and teeth bared. As it was, Max’s square jaw rippled with rage and Alec’s strong back was taut. The rift between the brothers appeared as deep as a mountain chasm.

  Her interest piqued at their animosity—as did the edge of sensual tension still gripping her body after Alec’s surprising aggression in the woods.

  Max. Alec. Two dominant alphas from the same ancient lineage.

  Perhaps they shared more in common than she’d originally thought.

  Stasia’s glance rested on one then the other, measuring, assessing. The Max she remembered hadn’t changed—he was still a mountain of ridged, tensed muscle. She’d cupped the hills, licked her way along the valleys and scaled sheer agonizing pleasure when she’d sheathed his enormous cock.

  Tonight, Alec didn’t seem so lost in his overpowering shadow.

  Physically, both were tall and broad-shouldered, although Alec was leaner of frame. In the glare of the bright bulb, both their faces were harshly etched—both their bodies were held rigid and wary as they circled—only stopped short of a true challenge by the steel cage.

  But where Max was dark as a moonless night, Alec was a blond Viking. How he’d hidden that brawn beneath an accountant’s bland façade during his time in vamp territory was a wonder. Stasia swallowed to wet her dry mouth and shifted to ease the ache between her legs.

  “Alec!” Max gripped the steel bars so hard his shoulders flexed. “You know I wouldn’t have brought him here if this wasn’t an emergency.”

  “Law is law—written for a reason. You taught me that,” he drawled. “Would you really have me ignore a century and a half of tradition on your word? You promised us the breeder. How’s that going?”

  A growling hiss sounded behind Max, and the vampire stepped out of the shadows. “Something else you failed to mention, dog-breath?” he lisped around his fangs.

  Max rolled his eyes. “Not now, buddy. You know he’s only trying to rile us.”

  “Well, it’s working.”

  Stasia’s glance roamed the vampire. Leaner than either wolf, his pitch-dark hair and round brown eyes betrayed his Latino heritage. Exotic like a poisonous snake—he drew her fascinated glance. His fangs curved over his lower lip, and the exaggerated ridge of his brow cast a sinister shadow over his eyes. She’d seen vamps before, but not in a long, long time. He was delicious, forbidden—and sexier than she should allow.

  Her legs tensed closer, trying to shut off the arousal that wafted like a pungent cloud around her. But her nipples beaded hard against her shirt. It was all Alec’s fault!

  If he hadn’t given her the roughness she craved, she’d be in control. Her body still resonated from the unexpected pounding it had received. She stepped deeper into the shadows, hoping he’d end the interrogation quickly so they could slip back up the stairs and leave before she embarrassed herself.

  “Stasia.”

  She jerked as Max’s gaze drifted past Alec’s shoulders to seek her in the darkness. “Hello, Max,” she said, hating the breathless sound of her voice.

  “You shouldn’t be here, sweetheart.”

  “She’s with me,” Alec said, his jaw tensing.

  “I can see that.” Max’s narrowed gaze settled back on his brother.

  Stasia dragged in a ragged breath. “This is a little awkward,” she said, injecting a note of humor she was far from feeling.

  “Hope you know what you’re doing, baby girl,” Max said, his gaze remaining on his brother.

  “You think I have any choice in the matter?” she asked, her voice tight. “Like I ever did?”

  Max’s gaze came back to rest on her, and he nodded. “I’m sorry about that.” He drew in a deep breath. “Meet Joe Garcia,” he said, and glanced back into the darkness behind him where the vampire prowled. “This is Stasia.”

  “An old friend?” Joe said, one dark brow lifting in sardonic amusement.

  “Something like that,” Max muttered, but his gaze never wavered from her.

  The hint of apology that crimped the sides of his mouth nearly made her lose control of her tightly leashed anger. He feels sorry for me? She shook her head, letting her hair settle around her shoulders and stepped closer to Alec, lifting a hand to caress his shoulder. “I don’t need your approval—you’re not the clan alpha anymore.” She stepped closer, pressing her breasts to Alec’s back as her hand trailed around his belly.

  Alec’s breath caught. “Stasia…” he warned, his body tightening beneath her touch. “Maybe you’d better wait in my office.”

  “Gonna be long?” she asked, leaning closer to aim the whisper up into his ear. She liked the way the two behind the bars watched her play—their nostrils flared, no doubt to catch her ripening scent. Max’s gaze narrowed to fierce, feral slits.

  Alec’s head swiveled, and his lips hovered just above hers. Anger flared in his hard glare, but she didn’t care. She had his attention. She had all their attention. Not because she was an available were-bitch—she was a bone between two fierce dogs. “Upstairs,” he ground out. “Now.”

  Her hand drifted lower, grazing his beltline, and she laughed, low and husky. “Anything you say. It’s not like I can refuse, hmmm?” And because she’d accomplished what she’d set out to do—determine whether Max was still interesting and to annoy the hell out of Alec—she left, swaying her hips and leaving her scent to tease their nostrils. She laughed again, letting the sound echo in the silence behind her, and made her way up the stairs.

  Todd waited for her at the top. He gripped her elbow and jerked her through the door, shutting it with a slam. “Little bitch, did you do them all?”

  Stasia jerked away from her brother and scowled. “It’s none of your business anymore who I do.”

  He leaned close, trapping her between his arms against the door. “Who you fuck will be my decision very soon,” he growled. “So don’t piss me off.”

  She snorted. “He kicked your ass the last time. You really wanna go back for more?”

  Todd’s cheeks flushed an angry red. “Is the vamp still alive?”

  She nodded and let a little smile play at the corner of her lips. “He’s playing with them now.”

  His expression grew impossibly darker and tense. “Did Max say why he came back?”

  Stasia’s lips twisted, and she pushed away the arms confining her. “I suppose they’re talking about it now.”

  “You didn’t stick around to find out?”

  This time she blushed. She’d been so busy getting horny, swimming in testosterone, she’d blown her chance to learn what was going on. “Alec sent me to wait. I guess he’ll tell me all about it when he comes back up.”

  “You think just ’cause he fucks you he’ll tell you everything?”

  She lifted her chin. “Yeah, he will.” He promised he would. And I’ll fuck him again to make sure he doesn’t go back on his word. Of course, as hot as her cunt was now, she’d fuck him just to ease the ache—not that she’d let him have it without a fight. Her body craved more of his sweet violence.

  Todd stomped to his desk and picked up his deputy’s hat. “I have to get on the road, but you find out what th
ey’re doing here. By the way, who’s staying with Sissy tonight?”

  “Mrs. Hughes said she’d check in on her. She’s plenty old enough to be on her own at night.”

  “She’d have to be with a slut like you for a sister.”

  Stasia had heard that slur so often, she no longer flinched.

  “You find out what’s going on here. I’ll see you later.”

  “Sure thing,” she said and sauntered toward Alec’s office to wait for him to come.

  *

  “Listen to me, Alec,” Max said his expression turning from irritated to deadly earnest. “What I tell you has to stay between us for now—until I can speak to the warlairds.”

  Alec shook his head. “Do you really think they’ll grant you an audience?”

  His fists tightened around the bars. “If they aren’t the ones who agreed to an alliance with a homicidal maniac—then yes, they will.”

  Alec’s heart stilled, and then pumped a slow, thudding beat. “What are you talking about? Still having problems with weres in Vero?”

  “No, we just about have your mess cleaned up.”

  Alec felt heat fill his cheeks. “All I wanted was the breeder—you know we need her.”

  “I understand, but she’s taken and already bred. Get over it.”

  The vampire lurking in the darkness beyond the light, growled.

  Alec aimed a glare at Joe Garcia. “After she drops her cubs…all bets are off.”

  Max held his hand up when the vamp’s growls deepened. “Someone else wants her worse than you do.”

  “Another pack?” Alec shrugged. He really didn’t care. The warlairds had promised the woman to him. Whoever took her would have to relinquish her to the Dark Mountain clan.

  “Looks like it.” A muscle flexed in Max’s jaw. “But the thing that makes this personal is the wolves who tried to get her killed Darcy Henry. She was my friend, a human—and pregnant. I want the hides of the wolves responsible for it. I’m demanding that satisfaction from the warlairds.”

  Alec felt his stomach clench—he’d liked the woman. So Darcy had poor taste in lovers, she hadn’t deserved to die. “You think it was one of the clans? Not just a few rogues?”

  “Their attack on the compound was organized. They worked like a team—not like rogues in their first bloodlust.”

  “You don’t think our clan was involved—”

  “No. That’s why I need to speak to the lairds. They can find out who crossed into the forbidden territory.”

  “It couldn’t have been any deep cover operatives, like we were. They’d never bring that kind of attention to themselves.”

  “Exactly.” Max released the bars and raked a hand through his hair.

  For the first time, Alec noted the weariness etched deeply in the lines surrounding his brother’s mouth.

  Max’s gaze, empty of all resentment, looked hollow. “But it gets worse.”

  Alec heard the despair in Max’s voice and stiffened. This couldn’t be good if it frightened his stoic older brother.

  “Whoever the wolves are, they made a pact with a real devil—a winged vamp who’s bent on taking the breeder for his own purposes. And he’s not playing nice with his own people. He’s kidnapped scientists—geneticists who can help him grow more winged demons in a Petrie dish using the breeder’s eggs. Zachary Powell isn’t wrapped too tight. If he gets his hands on her, it’s a whole new war. He won’t honor any ancient treaty—he won’t play by the rules. Our peaceful, secret co-existence with humans will be over, and we’ll all be hunted to extinction.”

  Despite the chill his brother’s stark pronouncement sent quivering down his spine, Alec snorted. “A plague of locusts, rivers flowing with blood…what? Armageddon? Like any werewolf would make a pact with a demon like that.”

  Max leaned close, his forehead halted by the bars. “It’s already happening,” he said, his lips twisting. “He has the three men who can make all this come to pass, and he was at the breeder’s doorstep last night.”

  “Sounds like a fairytale to me. Something the vamps dreamed up to fuck with our heads and draw us out of our territory.”

  “Dammit, Alec! They killed Darcy. You knew her. She didn’t fucking deserve to die that way—a goddamn wolf ripped her baby out of her.”

  Alec stood in rigid shock. “That would never happen.”

  “Well, it did.”

  “You saw it for yourself?”

  “No, but he did,” Max said, tilting his head toward Joe.

  Alec narrowed his gaze. “And you believe him? What if they’re using you? Feeding you a goddamn story?”

  Max reached between the bars and clutched Alec’s shoulder. “You’ve got to listen to me. Put aside your prejudice for just one goddamn minute. Consider if what I say is true—life as you know it will cease. You won’t have this cozy little town with your hot little were-bitch to fuck—you’ll both be living like animals in the woods, hunting deer and mice to survive—and every redneck with a rifle will be hunting you for your hide!”

  Alec jerked away from his touch, cold, mind-numbing shock threatening to overcome him.

  It could never happen—not again. Not another bloody pogrom. The wereclans had been decimated before they’d fled the Old Country. They’d learned to co-exist—they’d banded and accepted law, agreed to be governed by the lairds. They were civilized, sentient. How easily could all that be lost?

  Alec swallowed against the horrible possibility and straightened. “I’ll send a message to our overlaird. You’ll get your chance to convince him. But prepare yourself. He’ll probably still demand your death—and his,” he said, lifting his chin toward Joe. He turned on his heel and walked away. His head reeled with all he’d heard, and his stomach churned over what the overlaird would do to his brother. Max’s story was too much to take in, and at the back of it all was the need to find Stasia. Now.

  Already his body tightened. Every ounce of desperation, anger, and need seemed to flow straight toward his cock, making his muscles rigid with the need to cram himself inside her, conquer her—mark her so anyone looking at her would recognize his claim.

  She’d flaunted herself before Max, before Joe, her avid gaze drinking in their physiques. She’d compared them to him. He’d make sure she didn’t find him wanting.

  The key to her passion was submission—rough, even cruel, forced submission. He should have known. He’d watched her with Max all those years ago—witnessed the way his brother had handled her.

  At the time, his stomach had turned at the frenzy of violence that overtook Max when he’d forced her, ripping away her clothing, restraining her hands and legs with his weight as he’d entered her in hard, pounding thrusts.

  But Alec hadn’t been so naïve that he’d missed the clues to her arousal. The biggest being her pungent scent. While she’d screamed and clawed at Max, she’d ripened. Her nipples had tightened to hard points, and her howls rang in his ears as she’d writhed beneath Max.

  Unable to intervene unless he was willing to challenge his brother in trial, he’d bit back his objections and watched while Max ravaged Stasia. Hidden in the brush, he’d crept closer, his greedy gaze eating up the glimpses of her honed body—pale skin rippling over muscle, her dark bush framing slick, swollen pussy lips, and pink-tipped tits that jiggled with each hard thrust. He’d admired and envied her fiery passion and the fact that she’d never conceded easily to Max’s domination.

  However, when it had been his turn to claim her, he’d made the mistake of thinking she might prefer a wooing over a rough claiming. He’d coaxed and seduced—and when that had failed to earn her acquiescence, he’d commanded.

  Stasia had responded with a little more heat to his demands for sex, but her surrender was only a pale shadow of the passion she’d relinquished to Max.

  If Alec had never watched them together, he might not have known the difference, but he had. And his failure to bring her fully to completion—trembling, begging for his touch—ate at him.r />
  Tonight had been different. He’d acted on his frustration—and yes, a little jealousy that Max had been able to make her howl so easily. He’d scared himself with her. The violence that gripped him had nearly taken him past the point of control.

  As he climbed the stairs, each step drawing him closer to the she-bitch who burned a hole in his gut for want of her, his body grew rigid, his fists clenched. His cock filled to bursting and crushed against his zipper.

  He’d give her seconds to strip, or he’d tear away her clothes. He didn’t care if she had to walk naked to her truck afterwards. That humiliation would put to rest anyone’s doubt about who she belonged to. With her thighs glistening and the scent of her sweat and their combined cum leaving a trail behind her, she’d be linked with him—irrevocably.

  Alec would never give her up. Even if the breeder shared his bed, gave him children, Stasia would be the one to bring him to arousal—the one he was driven to mount and command.

  As his hand reached out to the door of his office, all thoughts of the men in the pit below emptied from his mind. The woman with the silky brown hair and lithe body fired his desire. He couldn’t wait to see those pouting full lips close around his cock.

  He flung open the door, and his eyes widened. Stasia’s pert, naked bottom faced him as she lay draped over his desk. Her plump pussy lips were visible between her legs and gleamed with moisture.

  It was all he could do not to drop to his knees behind her and lick her like the dog he was. Instead, he closed the door quietly behind him and adjusted his cock in his trousers.

  He’d figured out the way into her heart and passion. He wouldn’t blow this chance by cramming his dick inside her now—no matter how much he ached to slide inside her juicy cunt.

  Stasia rose on her elbows and gave him a glance over her shoulder. Her steady gaze and the tilt of her chin held a challenge. “Am I being the dutiful bitch, now?”

  “Stasi—I’m not very pleased,” he lied. “Now, I’m wondering whether you’re spreading your legs because you want more of me or because you’re all worked up seeing my brother down there.”

  One dark brow rose, mocking him. “What the hell does it matter? I’m here, and I’m horny. You’ve never cared before.” She lifted her bottom and wiggled it. “Fuck me, Alec. Maybe I won’t give you another chance.”