Behind him, Daemon stalled and muttered, “Motherfucker!”
In the stairwell, Koe double-timed it back up to his office. He told himself it was because he wanted to watch Daemon’s misery in real time, but the truth was, he wanted to make sure Daemon was gentle with Jury in her transition from prisoner to “guest”.
Thrall passed him on the stairs, eyeing him suspiciously. “Why are you grinning like a maniac?”
Koe kept climbing the stairs, “Jury’s moving to a guest room. Daemon’s in charge ofher, andyou'rein charge of making sure he doesn’t try to slink off. Enjoy.”
“What?” Thrall bellowed? “Why? What did I do? I wasn’t even there!”
Koe grinned as he reached the top of the stairs and stalked toward his office. Some days it felt really good to be in charge.
Chapter 6
Jury had been staying in a guest room for three days. Escape attempts? Four. Attacks on the pack? Just that one time with Koe. Thank fuck! Koe didn’t want to think about what would happen if she went after Daemon the way she’d charged him.
Standing hip deep in the creek, Koe’s gaze slid to where Daemon came up from the water, hair plastered down his face like some swamp thing. Daemon got a bad rap because of his upbringing and because of his wolf, but Koe knew him better than anyone. Daemon would never hurt Jury. Well, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t. Koe’s attention went back to where Jury stood beneath a tree on the riverbank. It was a beautiful day. Summer in Montana was the stuff of fables, but the season lasted a mere blink, so the guys tried to capitalize on it while they could. It’s part of the reason he was pissed at Jury. She refused to get in the water even though it was just her, him, Daemon, and Thrall. They’d brought Jury out to show her some of their territory. Daemon had moaned that she was getting restless and Koe had figured she’d been cooped up long enough. Stupidly, he’d assumed she’d begrateful for a swim in the creek on this glorious summer’s day. But no, she was pouting in the shade, wearing that ridiculous goddam outfit that covered every inch of her. Just even having that thought pissed him off? Was he mad because he couldn’t see more of her? Was he mad because she wouldn’t come to him? Was he mad because she didn’t like the small gift he was trying to give her?
Behind him, Thrall and Dameon started wrestling, their splashing loud and distracting. They’d all shucked their boots, socks, and shirts before getting into the water, leaving their jeans on out of respect for Jury. Eyes locked on her as she avoided his gaze, Koe was pissed. She’d occupied his every waking thought. He hadn’t been able to shake the plea about her sister, still unsure if it was a lure or the truth. He watched her incessantly on the cameras and checked in so much with Daemon that Daemon had started avoiding Koe so he wouldn’t have to report Jury’s every singular breath.
Now, frowning at Jury, Koe knew she was hot; she had to be. Hell, he was waist-deep in water—snow melt from themountains that was cold as hell—and the sun was still almost too hot on his shoulders and head, and she was in a long-sleeved turtle neck!
Annoyed with what he perceived was her continued obstinacy, Koe let all the authority he held lash through his words like the crack of a whip when he snarled, “Get in the goddamn water, Jury.”
Head snapping up, she glared at him hard. He matched it. Glare for glare, their gazes held until Jury, helpless to stop it, buckled under the command.
Eyes locked on Koe’s, she reached down and unfastened her jeans as she toed off her sneakers. Shoving the denim down her thighs, her furious gaze stayed locked on Koe’s.
Swallowing hard, he wanted to tell her to stop. She didn’t need to get undressed. She could stay fully clothed for all he cared, but the words never left him.
Stepping out of her jeans, Jury’s socks got tangled and were removed too as she stepped free of the pile of clothes. Handsgripping the hem of her shirt, she finally broke Koe’s gaze as the shirt was ripped over her head.
Entranced by both the sight of Jury stripping and the challenging glint in her eyes, it took Koe a moment to register the sharp inhalations that came from behind him. Tearing himself from his rapt attention on Jury’s hate-filled gaze, Koe blinked, trying to identify what had shocked Thrall and Daemon.
“He tried to drown me in the river.” Jury’s words registered the same time as the sight of her marred flesh did. “He didn’t try,” she snorted disdainfully, a slight tremor in her tone. “Bragga did drown me. He killed me.”
Koe’s eyes dropped down Jury’s legs, and his stomach tightened at the sight of the myriad of scars along the entire length of her from hip to foot. The marks were in the shape of half-crescents; they were healed bite marks. Eyes snapping up, they found similar scars on both of her arms and her torso. Even her chest wasn’t free of harm; the evidence of healed claw marks marred her flesh.
“He dragged me into the river and held me under until I stopped breathing. Then left me there.” Jury slowly stalked forward in just her bra and matching black panties until her feet hit the water line. “But not before he pissed on my drowned, lifeless body. Then he walked casually back to the compound to tell people I was missing. But my sister was there. She hid on the riverbank and was forced to watch him kill me lest he kill her too. Narae pulled me from the river as soon as Bragga was gone. She worked to resuscitate me for what she claims was twenty minutes.” Quietly, Jury muttered, “Impossible.” Lifting her chin higher, she turned and presented her back, her hand reaching up behind her to unfasten her bra before that same hand grabbed the fall of long black hair that hung down her back and pulled it over one shoulder to give Koe, Thrall, and Daemon the full view of the damage she’d endured. “And none of this was from that day. This is what you get for not being a fucking mind reader. This is what you get for being slow, or clumsy, or late to serve breakfast, or unwilling to have sex with males in the pack.
Koe hunched involuntarily with the need to wretch. The destruction on Jury’s back was unbelievable, worse than the rest of her body. The scarring from claw marks looked like an animal had tried to dig through her. The devastation to her body was incredibly severe, the likes of which Koe had never seen before, not even on the most hardened of Alpha’s or Enforcers. Not even on Daemon. Her words were just as shocking. He understood now. When he’d initially found Jury cowering in the cave on the edge of his territory, she’d said that she’d escaped after Braga thought he’d finished her. It was all making sense now.
Turning to face them again, Jury’s hands covered her breasts as she held Koe’s gaze. Chin dipping, Jury’s eyes went hard as she growled, “If you want me in the river, Alpha Koe.” She paused a beat, her jaw ticking with an unleashed fury. “You’ll have to fucking drag me in.”
Swallowing hard, Koe instantly released the mental hold he held on Jury with his Alpha command. Her fury carried to him on the wind, but strong as it was, it couldn’t mask the acrid scent of her fear. She was terrified, which gutted him because he’d put thatfear there. He’d tried forcing her into something she didn’t want, something that had traumatized her.
Fuck!It wasn’t something that had just traumatized her; it was something that had killed her. It had him wondering if Bragga had done as he just had when he’d ordered Jury into the water. She wouldn’t have been able to fight Bragga’s command; he was her Alpha. Had she been commanded to acquiesce to her own demise? The very thought had a wave of nausea crashing over him.
When he released his mental hold, Jury staggered back, her mouth falling open. It was a sign of two things. One, his command was the only thing that had brought Jury to the water’s edge, and two, Jury’s ability to fight an Alpha command was incomparable. No female, whether Omega, Beta, or Alpha, should be able to deny an Alpha command. And while, technically, Jury hadn’t because her feet had touched the flowing water, she had challenged it. And it was so goddamn impressive that Koe would have admired her for it, were he not so absolutely positive that itwas her wolf’s battle for self-preservation, a skill she’d been forced to acquire after her own Alpha’s order had destroyed her.
The need for retribution filled Koe so fully that he didn’t know what to do. He wanted to shift and race off to Biter territory; he wanted to decimate Bragga himself. He wanted to annihilate the entire pack, and he would, but he was Alpha, and right now, he had responsibilities. Most importantly, he owed it to Jury to stay and soothe her somehow. Still, his voice was polluted with his enraged beast when he commanded, “Prepare!”
Beside him, Daemon unleashed a furious sound that had the hair rising on Koe’s body. In a beat, Daemon sloshed out of the river with Thrall on his heels. Out of respect, they gave Jury a wide berth. They knew what he wanted. He wanted Bragga’s blood; he wanted to fucking bathe in it, and he would.
The enjoyment of the afternoon, the relaxation of a lazy day on the creek, was now slaughtered. Daemon and Thrall were going to dress and to prepare for a directive. They knew one would be coming. Koe couldn’t let what Bragga had done to Jury stand. No good Alpha would.
Alone now with Jury, the only sound was the rushing of the creek and ragged sound of Koe’s breathing. He hadn’t even realized how affected he was by the abuse done to her until Jury shot him a look of concern—not for her, but for him. He was practically panting with pent-up rage. His wolf was thrashing around inside him, feral. He wanted to be unleashed to hunt. Koe wanted to hunt too. But they had a priority, and that priority was Jury. The realization that she needed him to remain calm was the only thing that kept Koe’s inner beast reigned in.
“Jury,” he started, but his animal was still too close to the surface and made his voice all growl and beast, her name escaping his lips on an inhuman growl. Koe stalled a moment to compose himself, simply watching as Jury backed up and snatched up her clothes before quickly re-dressing. It made sense now, the long sleeves, the turtle neck, the leggings in the middle of summer. He’d thought it was an attempt to downplay her femininity. But it was her protecting her secret. She’d been hiding what had been done to her, but Koe wanted to know everything, and he wanted to know it all now!
