(No way. I am not doing it.) Greg said shaking his head and sending water droplets flying from his dark fur.

(Are you a chicken or a wolf?) his brother Trevor asked. Greg snorted and gave him a toothy grin.

(Today I'm a chicken. Can't you see my feathers?) he asked swatting his brother in the face with his tail. Both wolves looked up at the large brick house out here alone in the middle of nowhere, Washington.

(All you gotta do is go up there and pee on the porch banister and then take off running.) Trevor urged. Greg glared over at him.

(Can I ask why in the hell we are doing this?)

(Because Hudson dared us too and if we don't do it then we'll be laughed right out of the family.')Trevor reminded him.

(Maybe that would be a good thing considering our family wants us dead.) Greg said matter of factly. (They must if our own cousin is daring us to pee on Charles and Jake Collin's porch.)

(Just go on.')Trevor said nudging Greg in the ribs with his snout. (The sooner you do this, the sooner we can leave and go home.) Greg glared over at him.

(Why don't you do it?') he demanded. Trevor snorted and shook his head.

(Because I'm older than you that's why. Now get up there.) Greg threw one last glare in his older brothers direction and then started slowly through the rain and the darkness toward the house. He sniffed the air and felt his nerves begin to eat through his stomach.

The house was silent and Greg was praying that everyone was asleep and that he would not get caught. He had never met Jake or Charles but he had heard enough about them to know they would probably kill him if he was caught sneaking around their home in the middle of the night. Let alone marking his territory on their porch.

He walked up onto the porch and raised his leg, wondering how his life had sunk this low.

(Damn, you really had to go.) Trevor called from the edge of the woods and Greg growled in his direction. Greg finished his business and was really beginning to think he was going to get away with his prank when a low growl sounded from his left.

He wasn't sure how he managed to turn to face the sound since his legs seemed to have disappeared beneath him.

(What are you doing here?) A deep voice with a slight Scottish accent asked. Greg looked harder toward the woods and nearly took off running with his tail between his legs when a black wolf with silver streaks in his fur and bright gold eyes came walking toward him. The wolf stopped about three feet from him and Greg felt his confidence rise just a bit. This wolf might be a little more heavily muscled than he was but he wasn't a very big wolf and Greg was confident he could outrun him with his much longer and more slender frame.

(I was just leaving.) Greg said. He looked around for his brother but he couldn't smell him anywhere and knew that the traitor had already turned tail and run. Greg thought about dashing but he had heard rumors that Jake and Charles could trace you anywhere that you dashed to so he figured he'd be better off trying to stay and explain himself.

(I was just....') Greg stopped trying to explain when the wolf growled low in his throat and glared at him. Greg tried to make himself seem smaller and lowered his head in submission to the more powerful wolf. He definitely did not want to fight.

(Jake, he marked his territory on our house,) The wolf said and Greg realized that this wolf must be Charles and he wondered where Jake was. He had heard that Jake was the one you had to worry about even though Charles was the leader.

Greg yelped and spun around when he felt hot breath blow against the fur on his back. His tail quickly went between his legs and he went down on his belly at the sight of the huge black wolf behind him. Jake was much larger than Charles. His golden eyes were full of fire and muscles rippled beneath his thick black fur. Jake made Greg feel very much like a tiny puppy.

(What do you want me to do with him?) Jake asked Charles so Greg could not hear.

(Kill him.) Charles replied privately to Jake.

(No. We don't know that he meant any harm,) Jake replied. Charles growled low in his throat.

(You dare defy me boy!?) Charles bellowed loudly forgetting to keep it private and yelling it in Greg's head as well. Greg was confused. He hadn't thought he'd defied anybody. He was being as submissive as he possibly could, he thought, as he buried his belly deeper in the mud.

(I'm not killing him and neither are you. Not until we know that he's a threat.) Jake replied calmly leaving Greg in on the conversation. Greg would have peed on himself if he hadn't already emptied his bladder on their porch... Charles wanted to kill him? For taking a leak?

(I am the alpha here and what I say goes.) Charles said facing down his son.

(This is not like the old days, father. There is no giant pack for you to lead. It's just the family and there are no alphas and no submissive's.) Charles and Jake continued with their argument and Greg seized the opportunity to try to slink away.

He thought perhaps he was going to make it when he heard a noise behind him and turned to see Jake, as a man, glaring at him. Jake, as a man, was just as damn scary as Jake, as a wolf. He was six and a half feet of solid muscle and right now he looked very pissed.

Greg tried to run but somehow, even as a man, Jake was faster and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. He lifted him in the air and even as Greg fought against him, Jake closed his free hand around his throat, holding him in place as if he weighed nothing more than a newborn pup. Greg whined loudly but then everything started to get fuzzy and black as Jake cut off his air supply.

"Go to sleep, puppy. When you wake up we'll figure out what exactly you were doing here." Jake said and Greg was helpless to do anything else.

888

"It was just a stupid prank, I swear! My brother and cousin put me up to it!" Greg yelled weakly after Jake's fist had connected with his face for easily the ten thousandth time in the last hour. Greg was naked and chained with silver to the brick wall in the basement of the house. He was covered with blood and bruises from the beating he was receiving at Jake's hands. His immortal healing could only heal him so quickly and Jake had been at it for a while.

"Hit him again, son, he's still lying." Charles said from where he was sitting in a chair in the corner looking at papers on his desk.

"I'm not lying, I swear!" Greg said, hoping that Jake wouldn't hit him again. Jake looked at him and shook his head.

"I think he's telling the truth." he said and those words were music to Greg's ears. Charles looked up and shook his head at Greg.

"Are you that stupid, that you thought it would be funny to pee on our porch? Do you realize how many enemies we have made over the years? You're lucky you and your brother weren't killed on sight."

"You know about Trevor?" Greg asked weakly. He hoped Trevor was okay because if Greg ever made it back to him he was going to kill him for abandoning him last night.

"Of course we do." Charles snapped. "We watched you both for a long while. We let Trevor leave because he didn't seem to be any kind of threat."

"I think you need to forget about your brother. He left you here to die last night." Jake said as he grabbed a bottle of water out of a small refrigerator in the corner of the room and handed it to Greg who gladly took several long drinks. Greg looked at his captors more closely now that the swelling in his eyes was going down.

Charles was dressed like any other rich business man of the time. He had his black hair slicked back and was wearing a fancy black suit with shiny shoes. Jake on the other hand looked like some kind of cowboy/biker man which was a combination you did not see very often in 1927. He was wearing jeans and a tight blue t-shirt. He had been wearing a brown leather jacket but had taken it off when he'd begun his beating and it was lying over a chair by the desk. His black hair was hanging messily around his face and hung nearly to his shoulders.

The room looked very much like any other office in the world on one side with books, desks, papers, lamps. All the normal things. The other side however was different. Weapons of every kind, shape and size were hanging on the walls and maps covered every square inch of extra space. Add to the that the silver chains that were currently being used to hold Greg to the wall and it was safe to say this side of the room was not a normal office.

"Well, I'm off." Charles said standing up from his desk and smoothing out his suit jacket.

"What am I doing with him?" Jake asked waving his hand toward Greg with irritation.

"Leave him. We'll make up our minds about him tonight. I still say he should die." Charles opened the office door and walked out before letting it slam shut behind him. Greg heard a loud growl come from Jake and looked at the man to make sure he was still a man.... He was, and Greg nearly laughed out loud. He had never heard any other werewolf growl like that when they weren't in wolf form.

"Here's a chair." Jake said practically throwing a high backed, velvet seated chair at Greg who sidestepped just in time to save his kneecaps. He used his free hand to set the chair upright and then he sat down.

"Do you think I could get some clothes?" he asked. Jake growled with irritation and rolled his large shoulders.

"You should not have been here last night. I should have killed you then but I didn't and now you have the nerve to be asking me for shit?"

"Not shit. Just a pair of boxers." a man said as he opened the door and walked into the room. Greg looked at the new man as Jake rolled his eyes and stopped his fist with less than an inch to spare before it would have went through the brick wall.

This man was shorter than Jake and while he was still muscular he was much more lean. He looked like he had slept in his suit the night before, he smelled like a bar, and his black hair was a mess on his head but his blue eyes were friendly as he smiled at Greg.

"Who are you?" the new man asked.

"Shut-up Lane." Jake snapped. "What are you doing here? I thought you were living the good life out in New York." Lane laughed and grabbed a steel ball off of the big desk and began to toss it up and down.

"I was until those damn sub demons got their hands on a couple of Tommy Guns." Lane made a painful grimace and put his free hand over his stomach. "Those things hurt." Jake growled.

"Well quit gambling away their money and they wouldn't shoot you." Then Jake turned his attention back to Greg.

"I'll have somebody bring you down something to eat." he said. Lane raised his brow when Jake looked back at him.

"Did you do that to his face?" he asked indicating the many cuts, bruises and welts that still weren't fully healed. Jake shrugged and nodded.

"At least I didn't kill him. I'm getting better." he said. Coming from anyone else this comment could have been funny but coming from someone as deadly looking as Jake, it didn't give Greg very much hope for his future. Jake and Lane walked out of the office then leaving Greg alone.

He yanked his arm with everything he had but still didn't succeed in doing anything other than nearly dislocating his shoulder. He leaned back in the chair and took another drink from the water bottle and just sat there and waiting on the Collin's men to decide his future.

(Trevor) he called to his brother. It took longer than Greg thought it should before Trevor responded.

(You're alive.') he said. Greg snorted.

(You sound surprised.) he said. (You expected me to die last night after you abandoned me here didn't you?)

(I just figured you would. I didn't want to abandon you but I knew I couldn't take them.) Trevor replied. Greg sighed. He wanted to be mad at his older brother but he was used to his selfishness.

(I just wanted to let you know I'm alive.) he said.

(When are you coming home?) Trevor asked. Greg looked around the room and sighed. That was a damn good question.

(Don't know yet. But when I do, I'll let you know.) he said and then he closed the link with his brother.

***

"Take a plate to the prisoner in the basement." Jake said to Bethany as she went about making herself a plate of their mothers homemade tacos. She swung her head around, causing her golden bob to whip around her face.

"I don't feed your pets, Jake." she said.

"Just do it." Jake snapped and walked out of the kitchen. Bethany rolled her eyes and sat her plate, which now belonged to whoever was locked in the basement, on the counter. She smoothed out her bright red flapper styled dress and ran her hands over her thick hair. She slid her feet into her black four inch heels and then picked the plate back up. There was no point looking frumpy when she fed the pet.

She walked down the hall to the basement door and opened it. She got to the bottom of the long stairway and then froze with her hand on the doorknob. She took a deep breath, confused by the scent she was picking up.

The wolf in her went crazy. Mate! she screamed. 'Get to our mate! He is in pain! Help our mate!' Bethany nearly dropped the plate of tacos from her hand. She leaned against the wall and tried to steady her breathing. Surely by now the werewolf in the room had noticed her presence behind the door and so she couldn't just turn and run away.

Besides turning and running was not in her nature. She had spent over one hundred years having a good time with her life and there was no way she was going to stop now just because she had found her so called mate. She had seen the pain that a mate could cause by watching her mother cry endless tears when her father mistreated her and Bethany vowed she would never be that way.

She would take whoever this was his food and then turn and walk away and hope that Jake or her father would kill him before this was over and she would never have to see him again. Because the wolf in her was already driving her crazy with all this frantic mate talk.

She squared her shoulders, happy to have a firm plan, and threw open the door.

Greg jumped to his feet as the wolf in him came alive and yelled 'mate' at the sight of the tanned, blond goddess that had just breezed into the room. Her golden hair was cut in a chin length bob that hugged her neck. Her bright red dress stopped at the knees revealing long, lean tan legs and her heels made her easily six feet tall. She had long slender arms, graceful hands, big blue eyes and unbelievable sex appeal as she, quite literally, sashayed across the room.

"Here's your food." she said in a breathy voice that had the man in Greg coming alive just as much as the wolf in him. This was his mate? Oh damn life was finally starting to look up! But why was she here and how did she know Jake and Charles? He noticed that she was avoiding looking at him as she sat the food down within his reach and turned to go.

"Where are you going?" he asked quickly. She turned back to him and finally took the time to look at him.

Bethany saw that he was tall. He was probably close to seven feet tall and he was thin, but it was an athletic sort of thin instead of skinny. He had dark hair that was maybe just a little too long and untidy. He had features that were almost pretty and his dark blue eyes were full of awareness as he stared down at her. He was also naked and his legs were long and lean, his hips narrow, his 'male parts' well endowed and his stomach and chest were lightly muscled and lean.

Even covered in dried blood he was good looking and she was mad. Why couldn't her mate have been some ugly troll that she could have easily walked away from? No he had to be a tall, good looking, drink of water and she would have to force her feet out of this room.

He was looking at her with a possessive, passionate look in his eyes and she realized that he knew she was his mate. Dammit, she had never thought about the fact that he would recognize her as his mate the same as she did him.

"Back upstairs. I would invite you but apparently you did something to really tick off my dad and brother." she said. Greg groaned. She was related to them?

"Get me out of here." Greg said pointing at the silver chain connecting his wrist to the wall. Bethany shook her head. Her entire body was screaming at her to touch this man but there was no way she was going to listen. Touching her mate was a surefire way to cause herself pain.

"What did you do to end up chained to the wall?" she asked rubbing her hands over her long arms and looking down at the papers covering the desk.

"I'd rather not tell you." Greg said yanking again at the chain holding him to the wall. He had to have this woman. The wolf in him was going crazy. It wanted to claim her as his mate. The wolf wanted to cover her in his touch and his scent so that no other man would ever touch her.

"I have to go." Bethany said. The tension in this room was too much for her. She had always been cool headed and able to handle any situation but then again she had never been in a room, alone with her new naked mate.

"No please don't!" Greg said almost desperately. "What is your name?" he asked yanking harder at the chain.

"Bethany. Not that it's any of your business." she said tossing her hair and crossing her arms over her very ample chest. Greg felt his mouth go dry.

"I'm Greg." he replied.

"Goodbye Greg." Bethany said and she once again started for the door. She stopped suddenly when the smell of fresh blood reached her nose. She turned and stared in horror as Greg worked desperately to free his hand from the chains and blood dripped off of his fingers from the handcuff digging deeply into his skin.

"Stop it!" she said with horror. The sight of her mate in pain was almost more than she could handle. She should be afraid that he was so desperate to get free because she knew what he wanted. He wanted her. But that didn't scare her at all because despite all her good intentions, the wolf in here was stronger than she was and she wanted him too.

"Then help me." he said simply. She walked over to her fathers desk and opened the top drawer. She pulled out a key and tossed it across the room to him. He caught it and quickly undid the chain on his arm.

"Thanks." he said and then he strode across the room to her quickly. He didn't even take the time to worry about someone walking in or the fact that her father and brother could be upstairs right now. All he could think about was her. Over one hundred years he had been searching for his mate and right here she was and she was more beautiful than he had ever imagined she would be.

Bethany had been with a lot of men in her time. She knew how to turn on the sex appeal when she wanted to but she had been working hard to turn it off since coming into this room. Whatever she had been doing, it hadn't been working because this man was very turned on right now.

She felt him wrap his strong arms around her waist and pull her close to his long, lean body and she didn't fight him. She should fight him. Mates caused pain. But she couldn't push him away. This was nature, fate, destiny. They were mates. Their bodies were made to be together. But her heart.. She could keep that to herself.

She pressed her body long against his, now that she had a new plan. The new plan was; give her body to her mate but keep her heart for herself.

"I want you, Bethany." Greg said. There would be time for getting to know her later but if he didn't have her right now then the wolf in him was going to burst free and take her itself. She saw the animalistic light in his blue eyes and knew that it was probably mirrored in her own.

"Then take me, Gregory." she purred. She knew how to do this. Seduction was something she was good at. Gregory groaned and pushed her back against the wall. He pressed kisses to and ran his teeth across her chin and down her neck as she threw her arms around his neck and tossed her head back.

They didn't take much time for touching or learning one another's bodies. Both knew they could be caught at any moment and both just wanted to satisfy their most primal urges so that they might once again be able to think clearly. They made love hard and fast right there against the wall in Charles's office and when it was over Bethany was surprised at the tenderness he showed when he helped her smooth out her dress and hair and kissed her forehead.

"I never thought I'd find you." he said. Bethany was taken aback by the words. This was not what she wanted.

"I don't want sweet words, Greg. This is just a sexual partnership forced on us because the fates decided to make us mates." She said crossing her arms over her chest and tossing back her hair, doing her best to look indifferent.

"Oh." Greg said trying to keep the hurt from showing in his voice. After all he was the man. He was supposed to be the insensitive one that hurt her, it wasn't supposed to be the other way around. Before he could say anything the door burst open and Lane came in.

"What's going on...?" Lane took a breath and stopped talking instantly. He saw Greg, still very naked, free from the wall and standing very close to his sister who looked quite satisfied as she leaned against the wall. The smell of their mingled scents was strong and Lane knew exactly what had been going on.

"I'm not usually the violent one and I have had several drinks so it might take me a couple of tries, but I'm going to kill you." Lane said starting toward Greg. Bethany snorted and stepped in front of her mate.

"Stop it, Lane. He's my mate." Lane tripped over his own feet and did a very unthreatening face plant onto the hardwood floor.

"I think he's had more then just several drinks." Greg said trying to lighten the mood he was in. He didn't want her words to ruin what he knew they could have. Making love to her had been different than anything else he had ever experienced and regardless of what she said, he knew she had felt it too.

"Of course he has." Bethany replied letting out a long breath. "My little brother has more alcohol in his veins than he does blood.

"Stop talking about me." Lane said standing up and rubbing his face. "You do know that dad and Jake will kill him when they smell this room." Bethany bit her lip. She hadn't thought of that.

"What the hell happened in here?" Jake demanded as he stormed into the room. Bethany thought about giving him a play by play but judging by the look on his face that wouldn't do much to improve her mates chances of living.

"You already know. He's my mate." she said instead. Greg felt like his legs were going to buckle beneath him and the only thing that kept him standing was the thought of wanting to look somewhat tough in front of his mate.

The look in Jake's eyes should have been enough to make him drop dead. Add to that the bulging muscles, the tenseness in his jaw and cracking of his knuckles and Bethany was very proud of the way Greg stood his ground.

"Calm down, Jake." Lane said putting his hands on his chest. When Jake didn't relax Lane squeezed his pecs and whistled.

"Damn brother, these things are impressive." Though it wasn't enough to make Jake smile (nothing ever was), it was enough to break the tension of the moment and he relaxed considerably.

"I guess that means I'm not killing you." Jake said to Greg as he shoved Lane out of the way.

"Don't let me stop you." Bethany said. "Kill away." Greg hoped she was joking. He thought she was and was happy to see that Jake obviously thought the same thing.

"I'll take care of everything down here. You go upstairs and introduce him to mom." Jake said grabbing a pair of sweat pants out of a desk drawer and tossing them to Greg and then motioning toward the door. Bethany didn't ask how Jake was going to get rid of the smell, she knew he had bottles of all sorts of smelly things from his many hunts in that room.

Lane stayed down to help Jake while Bethany led Greg out the door after he had pulled on his pants. They stopped at the top of the stairs before opening the door there.

"We need to get some things clear." Bethany said matter of factly as she turned to face him. He was several steps below her so she could look in his eyes and she felt her heart start beating a funny rhythm in her chest as his breath washed over her face.

"What's that?" he asked even as his eyes darkened with passion and he fought the urge to grab her and pull her close.

"You and I," she said pointing back and forth between them. "Are just sex. I'm not looking for anything else from you." Greg nodded.

"Fine but I'm staying here." he replied. Bethany rolled her eyes.

"Don't you have a home and family to go to?" she asked. He shook his head. "Oh come on.. You can't be here all the time." she said as he ran several long fingers down her arm and she felt goosebumps rise on her skin as she shivered with delight.

"You listen to me for a minute. I can tell already that you are stubborn, strong willed, sarcastic and very very passionate." he added in a lower voice. "But you need to understand that I am the male and you are my mate and if I say I am staying here with you, then that is what I am doing." Bethany had never imagined she would like a man to stand up to her but she liked it when he did it. Or maybe it was just the way his fingers had moved from her arm and were now brushing lightly over her chest and down her waist.

"Okay then fine." she said breathlessly. "Gregory, I believe this could be the start of a very satisfying partnership."