by Helen Scott
"Juan, Terry, get her out of here," the woman called the two wolves that were closest to me. She looked at my men and said, "I'm trying to protect your mate. Please go. We will take care of this. Try and trust somebody. I know it's hard, but go."
Wolves had already lunged forward to attack the ones from Roman and Micah's old pack. Juan and Terry were slowly edging towards me and pushing me backward unless I wanted to try and fight my way through them, which I didn't. They hadn't done anything to me. They hadn't posed any kind of threat. So the last thing I wanted to do was hurt them, especially if they might be willing to be on my side later.
Finally, the woman turned to me and said, "You can't risk your life in a fight that means nothing. Your fight is bigger than this. You're more important than this. We need you to stay safe so that you can fight the fight you're intended to fight. You can fight Jax. You can fight for all of us. Could I say the word fight any more?" She sounded insanely frustrated and I felt guilty for being the cause of that, so I backed up.
I moved back as Juan and Terry herded me and my mates followed. We disappeared into the trees. And as we moved farther and farther away, I realized that this must be their territory. I had no idea that Roman and Micah's old pack territory butted up against Jax's territory and this other pack's territory.
It was the only reason I could come up with as to why they would be there though and why they would be willing to defend us, especially if this was a dispute on territory boundaries. Usually between each pack's territory, there was a no man's land kind of space where the wolves could roam without actually crossing into somebody else's territory. That was where I guessed we had been when the other wolves had attacked.
Now, we were backed up into a deep grove of trees that was well shaded and hard to see through. I knew based on how the wolves that were herding us relaxed, this must be their territory. I wanted to ask them about it, to figure out why I'd never really heard much about their pack before, but now wasn't the time. Not when they had pack members whose lives were at risk.
We had no choice but to wait, and every so often we moved farther back, farther away from the fight. The whole time the woman's words rang in my head. She said I needed to keep myself safe from the fight that was coming, like she knew my entire story and what was going on, which was a little unsettling, if I was honest. Yet the truth to her words was there nonetheless.
One of the wolves, I think it was Juan, had walked over to a large tree and whined softly. Roman went over to investigate and returned a second later with a black duffle bag. He pulled the zip down the center, which was the loudest noise in our little area at that point, and reached into the cavity of the black canvas bag. He pulled out a pair of basketball shorts and tossed them at me as soon as he realized what they were. I caught them and pulled them on, thankful to not be completely naked anymore. He reached back in and pulled out more shorts and t-shirts as well, distributing them among us.
When he was done there were a few pairs of shorts and t-shirts left in the bag, which I figured were for the wolves that were with us or fighting. Since the woman had already been dressed and in human form I had to assume that this was in case something happened to her and one or two of the others needed to shift. None of which was something I particularly wanted to think about.
The last thing I wanted was for someone to die for me, but I did need to stay safe. I did need to preserve my small little pack so that we could fight Jax later, hopefully with allies by our side. If we didn't fight Jax, then he would win by default. The packs in the area would be stuck under his control, they would be forced to bow down to him and follow his law. I didn't want that for any of them. It didn't matter how much they disliked me, or thought our mate bonds were unnatural, or how they thought that I needed to go with Jax, no matter how much they may have betrayed me I knew right from wrong. My parents had raised me that way for as long as they were alive.
And Jax?
He was wrong personified.
Even if we did decide to try and run I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to live like that, how long it would take for the guilt to eat away at me and have me turning around to face my fears. I didn't want to live life looking over my shoulder and I was sure that the shifters in this area didn't either.
Nobody deserved to live like that. Nobody deserved to live in fear. And that's what I was fighting against, not only for autonomy and the ability to choose who I love and how I love and how I live my life, but also for everybody else to have that same freedom.
Jax wouldn't allow that if he was in control. His power was chaos and he would rule by violence and fear. That was all he knew and that was all he was capable of doing. I knew that down to the very core of my being. So as we were forced to wait to see who survived and who didn't from this fight on territory lines, I realized that she had been right.
This fight was nothing to me. I shouldn't endanger us just to stand up against some nobodies, some random shifters that couldn't understand when they were beaten. I needed to make sure that we were safe enough to stand up against Jax when we had the opportunity to.
It was also as we were standing there waiting when I realized I had been naked in front of strangers this entire time. To shifters it wasn't a big deal. It was something we grew up dealing with, and nobody ever really blinked an eye at somebody being naked. But for somebody who had been out of the shifter community for the last few years, some of which were my most formative? It felt strange.
I felt like people should be staring at me, but nobody was. My mates were just standing huddled around me, protecting me like always. The gesture didn't go unnoticed and I wanted them to know so I grabbed Blake and Denver's hands, squeezing them as I did and leaned forward to drop a kiss on Roman and Micah's shoulders, before I leaned back and rested against Tate, who wrapped his arms loosely around my stomach.
There were so many things about our current situation that broke my heart, but being with my guys wasn't one of them. Just being surrounded by them was enough to help me relax. My mind was still spinning over this encounter with the female shifter, and I hoped that she and her pack mates survived the fight. I thought they would considering how sneaky they'd been earlier, so much so that we had only noticed her, not her pack mates.
Part of me wanted to ask Juan and Terry about her, to see who she was to them and why they all followed her orders so readily, but I knew they wouldn't shift to tell me. They wouldn't leave themselves so exposed and vulnerable. Even though I'd only known them a few minutes I could tell that much already. Everything about this group seemed more organized, more tactical than the other packs in the area.
It was the one thing that gave me some confidence in them returning, hopefully, unharmed. They seemed prepared to fight whereas the other pack seemed to be running on instinct and adrenaline. Not a great combo in my experience.
Still, it was as we stood there, with two unknown wolves protecting us that I realized how much we needed help. The six of us against multiple packs was never going to work, just as the three of us in the beginning against multiple packs had never going to work. We had never had much of a chance to come up with a plan and even if we had it would have been next to worthless now since that was before we knew about the whole balancing act that I was responsible for restoring.
It was a lot. It would be a lot for anyone to handle, but I thought we were doing pretty well considering. I just hoped that if Juan and Terry lost members of their pack in this fight they didn't take it out on us. As much as I would understand, I really just wanted to go a day without fighting. As though my thoughts had summoned an attack, the leaves on the other side of our grove rustled with movement.
21
Nina
The leaves rustled even more as we stood there, my heart pounding in my chest as I waited to see who had made it from the battle or if this was another attack from the men that had been following us. The jet black hair of the woman that had warned us about our attack poked through the bushes and her head
snapped up so she could look at us in the eyes as she grinned maniacally, clearly happy to have won the battle. The electric blue of her eyes seemed even more vibrant as they shone with the heat of victory.
"Told you we would take care of it," she said smugly.
I couldn't help but smile in relief as I saw her and the other men that had accompanied her appear from the shrubs.
"Now that that's taken care of," she said as she dusted off her hands on her tactical pants. She thrust one out in my direction as she continued, "I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Serenity. I don't think any of you are familiar with our pack. We haven't exactly been the most sociable since Jax took over."
"You're the Alpha?" I asked. There was something about the way that she said our pack that made it seem more like she meant my pack.
She laughed. "Yes, I am the Alpha, which Jax was not a fan of in any way, shape, or form. It's almost like the guy has a thing against women."
Now that she was relaxed and we were talking, she actually put me more at ease than anybody had in a while other than my mates. She seemed to understand what it was to be a woman in a wolf pack, also to be an alpha, which even I couldn't really understand. "And you guys all made it out okay? Nobody's injured? I asked, trying to keep the tension from my voice as I worried that there was something going on I couldn't see.
"Yeah, we're fine," she said, waving me off. "Nothing that a couple more shifts won't heal."
I had never heard of wolves that shifted frequently to heal before, other than the shadow pack, and then was almost instantaneous. As I looked them over I wondered if they were almost a branch that had split off from the shadow forest pack.
"I know this is going to be a touchy question. But do you mind if I speak with you alone?" she asked as she watched me.
I could practically hear the guy's responses in my head all screaming, No, don't do this. But sometimes I felt like they were more protective of me than they needed to be. And this was one of those instances. Yes, she was obviously a good fighter, but she was also somebody we needed to talk to, needed to make an alliance with.
If she wanted to speak with me alone, then I was willing to take that chance. I had taken it with Roman and Micah's alpha, after all. I nodded and waved at the guys to wait where they were with Juan and Terry and the other men that had come back from the fight. "I'll be fine," I muttered under my breath to my mates before I walked away, following Serenity deeper into the woods.
Could she trick me and attack me? Absolutely. But I didn't think she would. After all, she was clearly not a fan of Jax, and we had that in common. When we were far enough away that I couldn't hear any of the rustling of my mates or Serenity's men, we finally stopped and she turned and faced me.
"You're right, I am the alpha," she said, as though this was a big reveal, even though we had already established that. "What I wanted to talk to you about was the fact that I have been under Jax's thumb for the past few years. I wanted to talk to you away from my men because sometimes people share things with the wrong people, if that makes any sense."
I thought I knew where she was going with that. She was worried that some of her men might be friends with men from Jax's pack and share information that way. If we had this conversation in private, then hopefully it would stay private except for my mates, obviously.
"I heard about what happened with the other pack. That's why we were heading this way. Thomas has always had big ideas, and he thinks he can get them accomplished by making friends with Jax. It's not just the safety of his pack that he's concerned with, even though I'm sure that's what he told you. Both of them made it very clear to me that they would prefer that I was not the alpha of this pack. But that's not going to happen. This is my pack. And these men are loyal to me for the most part, with the exception of some occasional loose lips, which I deal with when it arises. I would like to take Jax down. I would like to remove him as alpha of his pack, and preferably I'd like to end his life because he's a scumbag. If Thomas happens to get caught in the crossfire, I wouldn't exactly be upset about it, but I'm not going to take him out just because he's a sexist asshole. Sorry, I know I probably sound excessively violent to you, but I promise I'm not. I'm just sick and tired of being treated like a second second class citizen because I have a vagina."
A bark of laughter burst forth from me at her words and I said, "I can relate. So much."
"I figured," she said with a grin.
"What about the shadow forest pack? Do you know anything about them?" I asked. I purposefully left out that Denver was from the shadow forest pack. I didn't want to give any information away that I didn't have to. Besides, he was part of my little pack now.
"Shadow pack... I think they would be willing to help. They're not exactly social, hell, they're even less social than we are. But I think that they would prefer to keep their customs and their way of life, and not be forced to bow down to Jax."
I nodded. "I can't say I've had the best experience with them since they tried to kill me and my mates the last time we ran across them. But if you have a way of contacting them, I would like to speak with them," I said. I did a mental double take at how business-like I sounded. It wasn't that I didn't want to be friends with her, I thought that actually might be nice but I needed to be sure I could trust her first. I mean, I didn't get any bad vibes from her like I did from Thomas.
"Shadow pack is... unique. They are territorial to the point of almost causing a pack war multiple times, but that doesn't mean they are unreasonable. Honestly, they just want to be left alone for the most part. I can't guarantee that they'll be on board but I am. Seriously, I want to help you take down Jax. I don't know how we can do it, but I know that we need to try. Even if it's just you and me. I can't be under his thumb any more."
"That's the second time you've said that. What do you mean under his thumb?" I asked. I wished I had jeans on so I could stuff my hands into the pockets, but I didn't. I put my hands on my hips but that felt very cocky so I crossed them over my chest, which was probably the better idea anyway given the thin scratchy nature of the t-shirt and the chill in the air. I knew it made me look defensive but it was better than feeling like my nipples were about to slice through the t-shirt, and it gave me something to do with my hands. Win-win.
Serenity sighed heavily. "He's been doing raids on our land. Terrorizing the members of my pack that own businesses and charging them protection fees even though they are on our territory. Harassing our female members, trying to lure them away. We're just fortunate that we haven't let any of the pups off our land in the last few years. He's made no bones about the fact that he'll take any females he can, no matter their age. He told me once he's willing to wait and let them grow up and that his men can have their pick of all the females he can find and get to join his pack."
I nodded, everything she said sounded like Jax. "Apparently he's taken at least one woman and child from Thomas's pack."
Serenity's hand went to her mouth and then dropped to her chest a moment later. "I'd hoped it was an empty threat."
"I don't think Jax makes empty threats," I said, sounding a lot more weary than I'd intended.
"True story," she replied. "Now, why don't we head back to the guys and we can take you to our pack house if you want. You can rest and recuperate for as long as you want, but you're free to leave whenever."
"That would be amazing, thank you."
Serenity smiled and gave a single nod before turning and heading back the way we'd come. I was honestly taken aback by this whirlwind of a woman that had burst into my life when I least expected it, but it also made me immensely hopeful. After everything that had happened with Thomas and his pack, I had expected the six of us to be walking this lonesome road by ourselves and having to take him on with no help. The fact that I might be wrong was amazing to me and I couldn't wait to see if the shadow forest pack would be on our side as well.
It was more than just that though, it was the fact that Serenity was a woma
n similar to myself. She was kicking ass and taking names, or at least doing so when the situation arose, and the rest of the time she was just trying to look after the people she cared about.
I could relate to that on so many levels.
The two of us walked back to the clearing and I saw my guys sag in relief as soon as they saw me. They knew they could always check the mate bond to make sure I was okay, but we all tried to give each other privacy and only do that when absolutely necessary. I wasn't sure how long they would have waited to check but I appreciated that they'd waited as long as they did. Honestly, I wasn't sure that I'd be as patient.
"We have lots to talk about," Serenity announced as we emerged from the bushes.
Her words were a huge understatement, but that was fine by me. We did have lots to talk about and lots to plan, like how we were going to kill Jax for instance.
22
Denver
By the time we got to the pack house for Serenity's pack we were all exhausted. Her offer of food and lodging for the night wasn't one we were going to turn down, not when Thomas' men had hunted us through their lands and onto Serenity's territory. I wished I could take Nina back to the pack lands in the shadow forest, but we weren't ready for that encounter just yet. Not when there was still going to be so much hostility from my old pack.
The place wasn't huge, definitely not as big as Roman and Micah's old pack house, but it felt more like a home and less like a business, which I appreciated. The other place had been cold and formal. There was life in it but it had felt like it wasn't being lived, not fully at least. This place was the opposite and reminded me more of my old home.
The long picnic style tables held family style meals where the dishes were all passed between the people sitting there, of which there were many. This time there weren't any hate filled stares, only curiosity, which had to feel better on my mate's sensitive heart. I hadn't been with the group long, but it had been long enough that I knew she cared, not just about us, but about everyone.