Howl’s Beauty (Woodland Pack Book 2) Read online

  Just as the elevator doors opened, he narrowed his eyes at her.

  “You can shift right?” he asked her.

  She rolled her eyes. “Have you forgotten Barbados so quickly, Alpha?” she asked with a shake of her head, leading the way into the elevator. “Of course I can shift.”

  The sound of Joi yelling, the sound of glass breaking, jerked his attention back to the matter at hand.

  Some idiot was trying to take his wife.

  “Joi!” He yelled into the phone.

  “Angelo! It’s P-Peh!” Joi’s mouth was muffled by something and he snarled before following his pack members, his family, into the elevator.

  “Someone took Joi,” was all he said, and like a flash of lightning, or a crack of thunder, every single shifter, full blooded or half, growled. The tension was thick, and Angelo knew that whoever had taken his mate, was going to be praying and wishing for death long before he gave it to them.

  They all strode out of the elevator and to the SUVs awaiting them outside. Angelo didn’t speak to anyone the whole ride over the mansion he and Joi now lived in. It was surrounded by a gate, with security at the door and a large backyard and garden that ran into the forest. Angelo couldn’t understand how someone had been able to get past his guards and fury caused him to clench his hands the moment he saw the bodies of his security strewn across the driveway, bullet holes in their heads, some with their throats torn out.

  With a roar he leapt from the vehicle, shifting midway, and raced up the driveway to his home, where the door stood ajar. The windows were shattered. Bullets littered the floor of his entryway and the formal living room. But there was one thing that made him freeze in place.

  Angelo’s wolf scented blood. A scent that made him growl.

  His mate’s blood.

  Before he could move to sniff around, distinguishing the different scents that permeated the air, he heard Talia gasp behind him. Turning he snarled at her. She lowered her head, tilting it to the side in a show of submission.

  “Forgive me, Alpha, but I know who took Joi,” she murmured softly.

  Angelo shifted back into his human form and marched over to her. He wanted to shake the identity from her, but she was his brother’s mate. He would respect her.

  “Speak, halfling,” he growled.

  Talia swallowed at his words, Angelo knew they were an insult, especially as she was a “halfling” in both the shifter and the human worlds, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Not when his mate’s life hung in the balance. Not when some death-seeking fool had seen fit to take her from what should have been her sanctuary.

  “Perry. Her ex. He took her,” Talia said.

  Angelo narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to her. “And how do you know this?”

  Talia looked at him, before lowering her eyes again. “Because Perry’s last name is Bianchi. The same as mine.”

  Angelo roared and punched the wall next to Talia’s head. He had to give her credit, she didn’t flinch or jump as his fist slammed through the wood and plaster. She didn’t even lift her eyes or gasp. He wasn’t sure if it was because she’d been trained so well in how to be submissive to her Alpha or if it was because of something more sinister.

  “Let’s go,” he snarled and turned without another word, shifting back into his wolf, ignoring his family as they grabbed clothes, weapons, and medical supplies, shoving them all in various duffle bags.

  Though shifters rarely used weapons when engaged in combat with each other, when humans were involved, when human authorities could be summoned. They used weapons, cleaned them, and disposed of them. They had enough of humans putting their noses into pack business when one of them died. It was even worse when a human was the victim… or the preparator.

  Rumble, his younger brother, drove silently beside him, listening to Talia’s directions as she directed them to the “private-not-so-private” cabin that belonged to her brother in Upstate New York. They didn’t stop directly in front of the residence, instead, parking down the road a bit, and climbing from inside. Angelo sniffed the air and detecting a wisp of Joi’s scent.

  He tried sending her a message through their bond again—as he’d been doing every minute since he’d heard her scream—to no avail. Everything was quiet on her end, and that worried him even more. Joi was never quiet. Her incessant chattering, wild thoughts, creative imagination, it was soothing, white noise to him as he worked or went about her day. His wolf was soothed by it, his human mind was calmed and settled by it. It meant his mate was safe. That she was whole and happy. But now?

  Now there was nothing but emptiness and darkness.

  They raced down, across, then up towards the cabin, surrounding it, before dispatching the guards who stood watch outside, silently and quickly. Slowly shifting and taking their places. Once everyone was standing in position, Angelo creeped to the back door of the cabin, which he slowly and quietly opened.

  Stepping inside, he followed the sounds of voices. One agitated male, one female.

  Who sounded pissed beyond belief.

  That’s my girl. Angelo grinned.

  He crept down the hall, perking his ears for their conversation. He wanted to take this Perry asshole by surprise.

  “All you had to do was take me back when I asked you, Joi. I could have spared you all of this,” Perry was saying, and Angelo could hear him pacing back and forth.

  “And how would you have done that, Perry?” Joi’s voice sounded exhausted and disgusted. “You said your father put you up to this. So it seems to me, that no matter what, I would have found myself tied up to a chair, in an abandoned cabin, while you threatened me and tried to get your Daddy on the phone.”

  Stop taunting him, he told her over their link, but it was as if there was a blockage there, nothing but darkness and silence met him. Though it concerned him, just knowing she was still alive and well was enough to make his limbs momentarily weak with relief.

  “Just shut up, Joi! You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Perry groaned. “Look. My father doesn’t even want you. He wants your mate. And he wants your company. But mainly, he wants your mate.”

  “Angelo? This is about Angelo? B-but, why?” Joi asked, her voice trembling and Angelo felt his wolf pacing inside of him at the sound of their mate’s distress.

  “It’s about that man thinking he runs things for the packs here in America. It’s about him reneging on the deal he made with my father. It’s about his ancestor and what he did to the Bianchi pack centuries ago. It’s about the fact that he’s a Marconi.”

  “B-but…” Joi stammered, and though Angelo knew Perry probably heard fear in her voice, Angelo could sense she was putting on an act. Just as he went to peer around the corner of the room where they were, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet crashed into the wall behind where his head had just been.

  “Come on out, Marconi! I know you’re here. I could smell your filthy fur a mile away,” Perry yelled.

  Angelo bristled and clenched his fist but refused to move.

  “What? You gonna be a pussy and keep hiding behind walls in my home? Or are you going to come out and fight me like the Alpha you want everyone to believe you are?” Perry’s taunts continued, but Angelo ignored him. Instead he continued to try and push at the wall that was up between him and his mate.

  “You look and sound like an idiot, Perry. Even if you weren’t high on drugs and pacing around the room like a souped up junkie, you are no match for my man. Wolf shifter or not. Gun or not. Angelo will rip you limb from limb if you try him.” Joi’s words reached his ears and Angelo’s chest expanded with the pride and sureness he heard in her voice.

  Will you get in here? Joi’s voice was like sunshine blazing through the cracks of the wall erected in their bond. It was then Angelo realized that Perry had drugged his woman. His chest vibrated with the low, sinister growl that emanated from his throat.

  “Wha—?” Perry’s tone was hesitant and fearful, and before he could think ab
out it further, Angelo shifted and leapt into the room.

  He crouched low; his eyes fixed on the man who had taken his mate. His Joi.

  The half-human, half-wolf who was about to die.

  “N-now l-look Marconi,” Perry stammered. “Don’t make any sudden moves, or I’m gonna have to s-shoot you,” he stated, his hand shaking. Angelo narrowed his eyes on the gun, sniffing the air and smelling silver.

  Like father, like son.

  Joi snorted and Angelo offered her a wolfish grin. It was a grin that turned into an angry growl when he got a glimpse of her.

  Her normally luminescent, glowing, brown skin was marred with dark bruises, around her wrists, her eyes. Her lip was bleeding, her lace front wig was laying in her lap, her own naturally thick, black hair hanging in relaxed strands around her face. Her dress was torn at the shoulder and…

  Right where her pregnant belly was.

  Had Perry tried to kill his children as well as his mate?

  He turned his head slowly in Perry’s direction and stalked towards him. Perry’s eyes widened as he backed away, the stench of his fear filling the room.

  “Uh-oh Perry. Looks like you fucked up,” Joi continued to taunt him as he moved around the room, trying to stay away from Angelo, one hand shakily holding a gun, while the other held a cellphone.

  “You think he knows that you threatened to tear his baby from my body?” Joi whisper shouted. Angelo growled at her words, feeling as if his body were growing bigger and wider, his teeth growing sharper, the angrier he got. “I’d throw yourself at his mercy, Perry. Before he finds out that you tried to jerk off on my stomach but couldn’t because I kicked you in the nuts.”

  As the image of Perry standing over his mate, his pregnant mate, with his no-doubt short, thin dick in his hand, attempting to spew his jizz on Angelo’s mate… marking her… Angelo threw back his head and released a howl that vibrated the walls. He jumped high in the air, straight towards Perry, landing on top of the man. He heard Joi scream, but he ignored her. Instead, he focused on planting the lethal claws of his paws into the skin of his arms and legs, ripping into the flesh. He buried his canines into one side of Perry’s face, tearing off portions of skin and bone, before turning his attention to the other side. Perry’s body was still twitching, and Angelo still felt enraged.

  So he used his paws and snout to dig into Perry’s chest-bone. He latched his jaws around Perry’s sluggishly beating heart and ripped it out. He lay on top of the corpse and bit into the organ, watching as the blood oozed out. Hearing Joi gag, he tossed the heart away and backed away from Perry’s lifeless form. He shifted back into his human form and watched her carefully.

  She sniffled. “Oh, you’re okay,” she said tearfully.

  Angelo tilted his head to the side in confusion. “What?”

  She inclined her head. “He shot you. I was sure you were dead.”

  Angelo shook his head and rushed towards her, taking her face in his hands. “No, no. I’m okay, my love.” He moved to kiss her, but she jerked her head away.

  “Umm…. Not to be a bitch, but maybe you can untie me and get me to a bathroom before I wet myself? Then you can wash that blood off your face, and you can kiss me all you like.”

  Angelo chuckled. “Yes, my queen. Your wish is my command.”

  Joi shook her head and leaned forward to rest her forehead against his.

  “I love you, Growl.”

  “I love you, Joi.”

  Chapter Nine

  House Arrest

  Talia opened the door to the four-bedroom home Howl had insisted she move into and welcomed her mate inside with a smile. A smile that quickly dropped when he stepped across the threshold of the house without a sound or a word to her.

  She pressed her hand against the cool wood as she closed and locked the front entrance before following along behind Howl towards her bedroom. She was a little surprised that he hadn’t simply turned her around and fucked her in the hallway against the wall the way he had the week before. Or taken her in the living room like he had a week before that. They very rarely made their way to her bedroom, much less the bed that she slept in every night, missing and longing for the very man who despised her.

  But she couldn’t really blame him. Not only was her father trying to kill Howl’s brother and everyone who was close to the handsome alpha, but her half-brother had attempted to kill Joi, her best friend and Howl’s sister-in-law. While Talia had only spent brief moments with the son her father had with another woman, she’d been surprised to find out that her father had already put one child in Joi’s life to keep an eye on her. Though he’d never told Talia why.

  Not like you can really ask him now, is it?

  No, she couldn’t. Not only was Talia’s father not speaking to her, but she wasn’t speaking to him either. She’d only needed to be kidnapped once by the man who was supposed to love and care for her unconditionally in order for her to know that she needed to stay away.

  Besides that, it wasn’t exactly like she had the freedom to seek Fernando out. Howl not only had put Talia in a home that was in his name, but after making her confess to her role in Alpha Bianchi’s plan to kill Angelo, and her spying on Joi after years of friendship, Angelo had basically put Talia on house arrest. Someone delivered groceries to her, Howl took care of the bills, the pack’s doctor came out to examine her, and… well… Howl came by once a week to fuck her. She was being completely taken cared of, even if she’d been fired, had lost her best friend, and her mate and his entire family hated her. Talia had spent her entire life being despised and feeling unwanted by both her mother and father, you would think she would be used to it by now. She wasn’t.

  She’d never been so lonely and depressed in her life.

  Howl growled and Talia jerked her gaze up to his face in surprise. He stared at her, fury causing his body to vibrate, before he strode over to her, his steps determined and angry. Talia wanted to step back and find out what was wrong, and yet, at the same time, she stood her ground, determined to meet her death, or her punishment head on. She’d learned to take punches at a young age, and she had Howl had fought once before, she was certain he wouldn’t kill her.

  “Don’t you ever shut your fucking thoughts up?” Howl snarled before he yanked her into his arms.

  When he pressed his lips to hers, all second thoughts dissolved. She gave in, their lips locking for a long kiss. She pushed back, wanting to question him, staring at his lips, her thoughts a jumble of words and phrases, before she dove back in. She walked him backwards until they came into contact with her bed, before she shoved him down onto it. She straddled him, burying her fingers in his dark hair.

  She trailed her hands up his thighs, the muscles twitching under her touch.

  “Talia,” groaned Howl, causing her to shiver at her name on his lips, it had been so long since she heard it. It made her ravenous for him. For more.

  She dove her tongue inside the mouth that kept her awake at night, embracing the soft lips against hers. In the back of her mind, she wondered if he would ever make her feel like this again. Like his mate. As if he were her home, but she knew they could never truly be together because of what happened. Because of her lies and deception. Because of the actions of her father and brother.

  There was no way he would ever forgive her family.

  With that final thought, Talia threw herself fully into making love with Howl, knowing that this would be the last time she would ever give herself over to Harold “Howl” Marconi. She’d made a decision in that moment, and she slammed a wall down in her mind to prevent her mate from hearing or seeing what she had planned. She wanted them to have this moment. This last time together.

  And then she would go and make things right.

  Talia unbuttoned Howl’s shirt, pushing the white material off his tan shoulders. It revealed his sculpted pecs, the mounds of his shoulders, and the large biceps that always made her tongue water.

  Howl whispered her name again and
when she dared glance into the deep blue eyes she loved so much, she saw the pain, the uncertainty, the anger that was always there, just below the surface, etched on his face. But she also saw something else, another emotion, one that almost made her waver in her new decision, but it was gone before she could identify it.

  “Shh,” she whispered against his full lips. He pulled the dark blue sweater off her body, revealing her bigger, fuller breasts.

  “So beautiful,” he admired. He massaged the mounds with his hands, before wrapping his arms around her waist, and laying her on down on the mattress.

  Talia could feel the hard ridge of his cock trapped in his pants against her inner thigh. Howl gave her a punishing kiss, tweaking her nipples as he drove her body to the edge. She was about to fall and there was no one that could catch her. He ground his hips between her legs, pressing against her swollen and wet mound.

  She was getting wetter by the moment as she felt the thick head of his cock spear her clit over and over. Howl hovered over her mouth, panting hot breaths on her lips as he thrust quicker. She clawed at the sheets beneath her, but not finding it firm enough to hold on to, she wrapped her hands around the thickness of his torso, digging into the perfect divots of his lower back. He arched into her touch, grinding his long shaft against her pussy.

  His hands roamed over every part of her body, melting into every curve. He latched on to her hips, grinding his covered cock against her wet folds. She knew that if she looked down, there would be a wet spot on Howl’s pants, making her even wetter. In her own way she was marking him and the knowledge of that caused the creature within her to let out a prideful yowl.

  “You feel so right in my arms, Talia, and it makes me so angry. I know this is where we belong, but no matter how much I want you… I just—” he intertwined their fingers, pushing her harder against the bed. Again, she didn’t say anything. She knew what he was trying to say, what he wanted to say, and she just didn’t want to hear it. Not right then. Not when he was touching her and kissing her, not simply fucking her and walking away. She both wanted this moment to last as well as wanted it to end quickly.