Casey tightened his lips, and he stared straight into Rory’s eyes. “You’re my mate, Rory. I
can’t hate you, damn it! And I couldn’t kill you if I wanted to. But humiliation—it won’t physically harm you, but it will hurt. I can do that much at least for my brother. From now on, you’ll submit to me totally. No more wolf for you. You’re a pet now—dress the part. Get used to
it!”
Rory shook his head in disbelief. “No. No, I won’t let you do this to me. If you do this, if
you try to humiliate me like this, I’ll end up despising you. Is that really what you want?” Casey gripped tight Rory’s arm. “Shut up, Rory, and take orders. You’re my property! My
boy! You’ll do what I say, when I say. Is that understood?”
Rory glared at him. “Oh yeah, it’s understood. Now understand this. I may not be a shifter
anymore, but I’m still a wolf, lead gamma of the Dark Hollow Wolf Pack. You can beat me up,
’cause you’re bigger and stronger than I am. You can feed me your damn blood until I’m
drugged with it, and you can rape me if you want to. But it will be rape from now on, Casey,
make no mistake about it. I’ll never submit to you willingly again. I reject you as my mate. Do
you understand? I reject you! We’re through!”
Casey pushed him roughly onto the bed, ripped the blanket off, and fell on him. “Bullshit! I
won’t allow that. You’ll do as you’re told!”
Rory pushed back against his chest. “Oh no, I won’t!”
As they struggled, an insistent knocking made the door shudder in its frame, and Marco’s
voice rang out. “Rory, Casey, I know you’re in there. What’s going on? Let me speak to Rory.
Open the damned door!”
“Help me, Marco!” Rory’s voice called out before Casey could stop him. A bare second's
hesitation passed before the door burst open. Marco took one look at what was going on and
grabbed Casey from behind. Hauling him up and off Rory, he flung him across the room. Marco
turned and reached a hand out to Rory, but Casey jumped up off the floor and was on him. They
crashed around the room, their powerful, muscular bodies breaking up the furniture and making a
wreck of everything.
Chapter Four
Rory jumped off the bed and to his feet. “Stop! Please stop! You’ll kill each other!” The loud crashing and sounds of yelling soon drew others crowding into the room, trying to pull the two furious wolves apart. Rory grabbed the blanket from the bed to wrap around himself and fell back miserably on the bed. He shivered under his blanket, rocking back and forth, eyes tightly closed, waiting for it all to be over. His emotions were ripping him apart. Devastated by Casey’s betrayal and furious with him, he didn’t want to care about him, wanted him punished for what he’d done. At the same time he couldn’t help loving him and was terrified Casey would be hurt. Strong hands on his shoulders lifted him to his feet. He opened his eyes to see the kind face of Marco’s beta, Ian.
“Let’s get you out of here, son, until these two get it all worked out. ” Ian pushed him gently from the room, and Rory glanced back over his shoulder to see a pile of bodies on the floor. Instinctively, he knew Casey was on the bottom, and he tried to turn and go back to him. Ian tugged him away.
“They won’t really hurt him. They’re only holding him down. He just needs to cool off, and so does Marco. Let that happen and you can see him later. C’mon, Rory, come with me. ”
Rory allowed Ian to draw him away and down the hall, and he’d almost made it safely away when he heard the howl of a wolf. Bloodcurdling, and lonely and full of heartbreak, he knew it had to be Casey. The sound called Rory back as clearly as if it had been calling his name. Out of Rory’s throat came a weak answering howl, and his wolf stirred somewhere deep inside him. Ian steered him gently down the hall to his suite of rooms.
Ian must have known he wasn’t really cold—the shaking was no more than reaction to all that had happened in the last forty-eight hours or so. He sat Rory down on the sofa and made him a cup of hot chocolate. Rory tried to calm down and make sense of what was happening.