I wished I could put my hands over my ears, but the handcuff chain wasn’t long enough for that. I didn’t want to hear anymore of this bullshit! The whole town was crazy—Wolverton had turned into a cult. And I had been caught in its web with no apparent way out.
At last the van I was in stopped jouncing and bouncing and came to a halt. The back doors opened and two men with shotguns were standing there—one of them was the policeman who had taken me captive in the first place. I still didn’t know his name—nor did I care to learn it. I just wanted the hell out of there.
The man beside him also appeared to be a policeman—judging from his uniform—but possibly with a higher rank. He was an older man, with salt and pepper hair buzzed short and a beer gut straining the front of his white uniform shirt. There was an air of authority about him that said he was used to being obeyed. He was also the one who did the talking.
“All right, single females, listen up,” he announced in a voice that had a lifetime smoker’s hoarse rasp. “In just a minute, we’re gonna let y’all out into the clearing we use for the Open Breedings. You’ll have a few minutes to orient yourself before the Alphas come in to breed you. When a male catches you do not—I repeat, do not resist! This breeding is for your benefit. If you want to avoid Breeding Fever—”
“Bullshit!” I snapped, before I could stop myself.
The man’s eyes narrowed to icy blue slits.
“Excuse me, young lady—what did you say?” he demanded.
Well, no backing out now. Since I was already in it, I thought I might as well go on.
“I said all this is bullshit—it’s just an excuse for tired old men like you to fuck younger women!” I said, lifting my chin. “It’s not for anybody’s good but yours so don’t pretend like it is!”
Instead of answering me, the older man turned to the guy who had taken me captive in the first place.
“Who the hell is this? I don’t even recognize her!”
“This is the one I was telling you about, Chief,” the younger man said. “The out of towner with Were blood. You can smell it on her—she’s Kira O’Shea. I think her father was Patrick O’Shea—the one who was co-Alpha of the pack before your time?”
“Is that right? hmmm…” The older man looked at me with renewed interest. “Well, well, girly—and here I thought we’d never see you around these parts again. Looks like you grew up real nice. And you picked the perfect time to come home.”
“I didn’t ‘come home’—I was here looking for my great aunt,” I snapped. “So why don’t you let me go back to my real home? I don’t want anything to do with your sick rituals.”
“Oh, this is your real home, sweetheart.” He was grinning at me now, showing yellowish teeth that were ever so slightly too long. “You can take the girl outta Wolverton but you can’t take Wolverton outta the girl, you know.”
“No, it’s not!” I insisted. “I live in Massachusetts now. I teach Women’s Studies at Mount Holyoke.”
“Oh, so you went and got yourself a fancy job at some fancy feminist college, huh? Sounds like something your Mamma would do. Come to think of it, you look like her too—except for the red hair of course. That’s from your Daddy.”
Reaching into the van, he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out so he could size me up. I stumbled and would have fallen face-first onto the rutted dirt road if not for his punishing grip on my upper arm, which felt like it was going to bruise. He forced my chin up with his other hand and studied my face.
“Yep, just like your Mamma,” he said, nodding. “All that smooth, mocha skin and those big brown eyes…”
He bent forward, staring into my eyes intently. Out of sheer stubbornness, I refused to drop my gaze. His breath, when it puffed into my face, smelled like a damp ashtray.
“Brown with a ring of gold,” he murmured. “Well, well, well…could be we have us an Omega here, Deputy Boyd.”
“Yeah, Chief—that’s what I thought too!” my original captor said eagerly.
“That’s something your Mamma couldn’t claim,” the Chief said thoughtfully. “If she had, I would have fought a hell of a lot harder to keep her. But she didn’t have any Were blood at all—not like you, sweet thing.”
I shook free of the older man’s punishing grip and glared up into his leathery face.
“Let go of me and stop talking about my mom! I don’t even know you!”
The ice blue eyes narrowed and his lip curled, showing more of those long, yellow teeth.
“Oh yes you do, girly. I’m Jareth McCain—the Alpha who took the Wolverton pack from your Daddy back when you were just a little bitty thing. But now look at you—all grown up and ready to breed!”