“Then why are you so suspicious?”
“Because I know Tucker a lot better than you do. I know how cautious he is and how long it takes him to trust people and let them get close to him. There’s something not right about all of this, and I’m not going to give up until I find out what it is.”
Richard stared at him speculatively for a long moment before turning back to gaze out the windshield. Ahead of him, Tucker was pulling off onto a road with a gate and a high fence. As they watched, Tucker rolled down his window, spoke into a speaker fixed to a post in front of the gate, and the gate swung slowly open.
“Damn, what is this, Fort Knox?” Kevin commented as he followed the SUV through the gate.
“As we’ve told you, we’re a private family.”
Kevin blew out an irritated breath, feeling even more pissed off when Richard’s lips curved up in a mocking smile. Once through the gate, the road stretched for at least two miles or so into the forest. Trees lined the road closely on either side, rather ominously, Kevin thought. He was beginning to feel claustrophobic when they finally came to an opening, and he could make out lights piercing the utter blackness ahead.
They pulled up to a huge log structure, about three stories high. There was a semi-circular driveway in front that Tucker followed, and he parked right next to the massive double front doors. It was made of huge logs that appeared to be rough-hewn, both rustic and handsome. The place was a far cry from what he’d imagined. It looked almost like a big hotel of some kind, though of course, there were no signs outside and no big parking lot full of cars. As a matter of fact, if they had more vehicles than the big SUV, he didn’t see them. Possibly they had a garage somewhere out back. He pulled his car up behind Tucker’s and got out, aware that Richard had grabbed his bag from the back seat.
It was around nine o’clock in the evening, and a few people were walking around outside, though a stiff breeze made the air seem chilled. They nodded to Richard and Tucker as they passed and looked at Kevin suspiciously. When he followed Tucker inside, he saw a big open area, like a hotel lobby. On the left side of the room were tables and chairs, set up like a dining area, and leading up to the upper floors was a big, wide staircase in the middle of the room. There were maybe twenty people in this area, either talking quietly in armchairs and sofas by the fireplace or moving up and down the stairs. There was an almost equal mixture of men and women. A few were sitting at the tables, drinking something and relaxing together. Nothing was alarming in the scene, but it all felt a bit off to Kevin.
For one thing, many of them seemed to look very much alike with their coloring. Again, that could have been the family resemblance, but they all had similar, wary expressions as they glanced at him and then quickly away. There were more normal sized people, like him and Tucker in evidence, but still there were all the bigger ones, filling at least half the room, and they looked at him with outright hostility. Some of them actually tucked their smaller companions behind them as they regarded him, as if he were some kind of threat to them.
He felt Richard’s hand at the small of his back, nudging him forward, and he saw Tucker beckoning to him from the stairs. Tucker was smiling down at him from a few steps above, and after running the gauntlet in the big living area, he was only too glad to walk toward him. “Let me take you to a guest room and get you settled. There’ll be time to meet everyone in the morning, okay?”
He nodded uneasily and followed Tucker upstairs. Richard followed closely behind with his suitcase. They walked past a few doors in the hallway on the second floor when Tucker stopped and swung open a door. Kevin stepped into a pleasant room, large and spacious, with a king-sized bed draped with snowy linens. “You have a bathroom here,” Tucker said, indicating a side door. He turned to him with a big smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Why don’t you try to get settled in and I’ll go find Gavin. I’m sure he’ll want to say hello.” He glanced over at Richard. “Will you go with me? Um, Richard?”
“You go ahead, Tucker. I’ll follow you in a moment. I need to have a word with Kevin first.”
Tucker glanced back and forth between them, and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I can wait for you. If you think that’s best?”
Richard gave him a look that had Tucker glaring back at him for a long moment before finally lowering his gaze. “Go ahead, Tucker,” Richard said. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. I won’t take long.”
Tucker nodded and left the room. Since when did Tucker take orders from this guy? Kevin glanced at him. “Okay, what now? You want to warn me away from Tucker again? I assure you I got the message, but there’s something weird about this place, and I’m not going to rest until I find out what it is.”
Richard nodded. “Yes, Kevin, I think you will find out.” He came slowly toward him and without meaning to, Kevin took a backward step. Something feral in the man’s eyes alarmed him, and he turned to take a half step toward the door. Richard grabbed his arm in a strong grip and with his free hand drew a hypodermic needle covered with a rubber tip from his pocket. Staring down at it in horror, Kevin yelled loudly for Tucker and tried to wrench away, but before he could, Richard used his teeth to rip away the rubber tip and bury the needle in his upper arm. Even as he struggled, a feeling of weakness and warmth spread over him, and he felt his knees collapse. Before he fell toward the floor, Richard caught him, holding him up against his firm body. He only had time to glare up at Richard accusingly, his curses coming out as garbled nonsense, before the darkness swallowed him up. As Richard laid him back on the bed, he could have sworn the man was sniffing at him again.
Richard looked down at the sleeping figure on the bed and then back at his alpha. Gavin was a handsome man, but if he didn’t know how much his son loved Gavin, he might have been worried. As a matter of fact, he found it hard to understand how Tucker could have resisted Kevin’s advances so long. There was no doubt that Kevin Bryson was one very beautiful and tempting human. Richard thought he might be fucking irresistible, in fact, and he longed to get his hands on his body again.
When they arrived back in the compound with him, he’d told Tucker he wanted to talk to the detective, but he hadn’t been truthful. He only wanted Tucker out of the way before he took care of Kevin. Richard had already made a decision on the way to the lodge that this stubborn man would never rest until he’d uncovered their secrets. He wasn’t sure the brainwashing techniques would be effective either. This man was too strong-minded and resistant. No, he had to be assimilated into the pack, even though he knew Tucker still wanted to talk things over. The first step in the process was to immobilize the man and make sure he wasn’t wired, or being tracked in some way.
Once he got rid of Tucker and gave Kevin the injection, he’d sent for Gavin. Gavin glanced down at Kevin’s sleeping form on the bed. “Tucker’s going to be furious at both of us, you realize that, right?”
“I know, but it had to be done. He’s been making a lot of threats to call in the local authorities.” Richard gazed down at him and shook his head disapprovingly. “Stubborn, willful boy.”
“Sounds a lot like your son,” Gavin said, grinning.
Richard huffed out a breath and began to unbutton Kevin’s shirt. “May as well get started. See if he has any kind of tracking devices on him that could lead someone to the compound.” Though gammas usually handled something like this, Richard hadn’t wanted any gammas touching Kevin. He told himself it was because Kevin was Tucker’s friend, and he felt protective of him. They already had gammas downstairs going over his car before taking it back down the mountain to a secure location.
When Gavin put his hands at Kevin’s waistband, though, and started tugging off his pants, Richard felt both hot and cold at once, a feeling of possessiveness washing over him, a feeling so powerful he yelled, “No!” at his alpha in alarm. Gavin froze, looking up at him curiously.
“I mean, uh, let me do that, Alpha. Please.” He gently nudged Gavin aside and took over, the thought of Gavin’s hands on Kevin made him uneasy and nervous.
They had found nothing on him. Kevin was already stirring a bit as he came out of the mild sedative he’d been given. His face was pale, and Richard checked his pulse for the third or fourth time to make sure it was still steady.
Kevin had a nice body underneath the sheet that was covering him. His face actually did look a bit like Brad Pitt’s, as Tucker said, though softer, his face not so angular. Richard thought he was better looking too. His hand strayed to Kevin’s hair, and he pushed it off his forehead. It was too long for a policeman, really. He wondered if they gave him a hard time about it. He noticed Gavin staring at Kevin, and felt vaguely jealous and uneasy. He reached down to pull the sheet up higher on Kevin’s chest and saw his alpha give him a strange look.
“How are we going to proceed?” Richard asked, and Gavin shrugged.
“Hell if I know,” Gavin replied. “I’ve never been in a situation like this before. If no one knows where he is, we keep him in here for a few days to let him get used to us. Tucker’s already furious. He wanted one more try to convince him to leave and keep his mouth shut, but you made that decision easy for me. We’re pretty much committed now. I’ll have to consult with the other alphas, but I know they’ll agree assimilation is our best option. Tucker will have to come to terms with it, somehow. In the meantime, we’ll have time to convince him to let us select a mate for him. I don’t want to have to force him. The full moon is in another few days, so we’ll need to keep a close watch on him until afterward. There’ll be enough going on then without adding this to the mix.” He stared down at him and frowned. “Perhaps in time, he’ll want to join us. Or we can persuade him. Are you sure you couldn’t tell about him from your talk in the hotel or on the way over here? Do you think he’ll be able to join the pack and follow orders? Pack hierarchy is usually the hardest thing for humans to adjust to.”