by Kimber White
Val took the disk from me and held it under the light.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I have no idea. But...shit…”
“What?” I asked. I felt Val’s alarm. His pulse quickened.
“Whatever it is,” he said. “It’s uh...beeping. Can’t you hear it?”
I did then. Just a tiny, barely perceptible sound. But, it was there. A rhythmic beep like when a smoke detector battery is about to go out.
“What about you?” I asked. “Do you feel anything different?”
He rolled his shoulder and took the towel away. The wound I made was angry and jagged, but the edges of it were already starting to reknit. The bleeding had stopped.
“Just stings a little.”
“Val,” I said. The hair on the back of my own neck started to rise.
“What?” He froze, sensing the change in me.
“It’s just…” I backed out of the bathroom. I found my jeans and t-shirt. “I just think it’s time to get out of here.”
“I think you’re right,” Val said. He stood beside me.
The next sound went through me with the force of a gunshot.
A low, keening howl. Then another. And another after that.
Val ran to the window and peeled back the curtain.
“Fuck,” he whispered.
“What is it?”
Val let the curtain drop. When he turned to me, his wolf eyes flashed bright.
“It’s Soren’s pack,” he said. “They found us. We’re surrounded.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Val
My growl was a low vibration. I curled my fist and watched my claws come out. Pairs of yellow eyes glittered and swung back and forth as Soren’s wolves took their position around the perimeter of the motel.
“Val,” Willow said behind me.
I wanted to tell her it was going to be okay. But, I knew this would only end in death.
“How many?” she asked.
“I don’t know for sure. He had a least a dozen that I saw back at the compound. There might have been more hiding in the woods.”
“A dozen. Plus Jason. You can’t take on thirteen at once. Val, we need help.”
There was no help to come. That was my fault. I wasn’t ready to trust Wolfguard. I wasn’t willing to put my nephews in harm’s way until I knew what I was dealing with.
Well, now I knew.
“I led them here,” I said, my words leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. I held the black disk in my hand. “There must be a tracker in it.”
I punched the wall. My nostrils flared.
“Val, stop,” Willow said. She grabbed my arm. “You won’t do us any good if you go feral on me. We have to think. Jason wants something. He could have killed you a hundred different times back in that barn. You’re right. He let us get away. It means there’s still room to negotiate. We can stall for time.”
She was logical. I was predatory. I knew what Soren wanted. He wanted Willow. He wanted to torture me.
“Let me try to talk to him,” she said. “Jason isn’t going to hurt me.”
“He’s going to mark you!” I growled. “He probably wants to make me watch.”
“So you do it!” she yelled. “If you mark me first, he can’t, right?”
“It’s not that simple,” I said.
“It is. That chip is out of you. There’s nothing stopping us. Val, I won’t go with him. I can’t. I’d rather die than let him touch me again.”
“If he gets a hold of you, even after I mark you, he can mark you himself. I can’t protect you that way.”
Willow sank to the bed. God. I’d failed her. I’d made her a single promise, to protect her. Now, I couldn’t keep it.
“Then, we stall for time, just like I said. I don’t care what Jason is. He’s also a man living in the world. His family business relies on alliances like the one he’s trying to form with my father. That’s still true. My father has to be worried sick about me. Jason made him a promise to look after me. So let me lie to him. Let me tell him I’ll go with him but not until he lets me talk to my dad first.”
Again, she made sense. And again, I felt my feral side coming out. I wanted blood. I wanted to feel Jason Soren’s life leeching out of him at my hands. Because I knew exactly what he wanted with Willow. I felt his need when he tried to get inside my head. And I’d underestimated him.
“Kalenkov!”Jason’s shout echoed across the parking lot.
“He needs an alliance with your family too,” Willow said. “Am I right? I told you I overheard him saying you were just as important to him as I am. You said your brother is head of a powerful pack in Moscow. What do you think he’ll do to Jason when he finds out what he’s trying to do to us?”
“They won’t do me a lot of good five thousand miles away.”
“We have to try,” she said. “If you won’t go out there and talk to him, I will. We can’t fight our way out of this. We have no choice.”
“Kalenkov, either you come out willingly, or I send them in after you.”
To punctuate his point, Soren’s wolves let out a chorus of howls that sent a chill through me. I could detect thirteen distinct voices. So it was fourteen against one. I could handle four or five of the betas on my own. Not thirteen.
“Val,” Willow said. I was already only my feet and heading toward the door.
“Don’t come out,” I said. “No matter what you hear.”
She had the Swiss army knife in her hand. It wouldn’t do her a bit of good. Even a beta wolf was far too powerful for her to fight off.
“I’m going with you,” she said.
I snapped my teeth. “Stay. Here. If you come out there with me, I’m going to shift. I won’t be able to stop myself. Soren will see it as an act of aggression.”
She sank to the bed. “Oh, God. Val. Be careful.”
I took a breath and opened the door. I shielded Willow from view with my body and closed the door.
Jason stood behind four of his largest betas. The others formed a wall around the motel, cutting off any line of escape. I couldn’t see them all, but I could sense at least four on the other side of the building. The thought occurred to me to punch a damn hole in the wall and take Willow out through it. There was now no chance of that working either. The only way past Soren, was through him.
“It’s over, Kalenkov,” Soren said. “You’re beaten. If it makes you feel any better, you’re smarter than I thought you were. Valiant, even. But you know this only ends one of two ways.”
“What’s your play?” I asked.
Soren’s brow went up a fraction of an inch.
“You’d be an asset to the pack. I’d make you my second in command. You’d have your own territory in northern Virginia. Money. Power. Any mate you want. Except for Willow. She belongs to me.”
“You know what I am,” I said. “And if it’s an alliance you want with my family, this is the wrong way to go about it.”
“You’re an Alpha,” he said. “I’ll admit, that surprised me. With Andre Kalenkov as your brother, I just assumed you weren’t. That was my one mistake.”
“Just the one?”
Soren smiled. “Fair enough. But I’m offering you more than you’re getting from your brother. You have no place in the Kalenkov pack with him in charge. And Wolfguard? You’re just a worker bee there and you know it. I’m offering you real power. A stake in something big. If you’d look past your own ego for two seconds, you’d see I’m right. Why do you think I asked Payne Fallon for you special? This doesn’t have to be so...epic.”
“Oh,” I said taking a step toward him. “I think it does.”
His wolves bared their teeth. Soren put a hand up to quiet them.
“You may not know it, but our families already do go way back. My mother’s family was in Russia before there were Kalenkovs. A thousand years ago. Our families were allies then. We can be allies again. It’s for the good of all of us.”
“I doubt
my brother thinks so,” I said.
Soren raised that brow again. “You sure about that?”
My step faltered for a second. He seemed so sure of himself. My heart and thoughts raced. Did Andre already know what was happening?
No. Soren was trying to get under my skin.
“I won’t lie to you,” I said. “I’m not cut out to follow another Alpha.”
It was in me to remind him he already knew that. But, as it stood, I figured I had exactly one advantage. Soren had no idea I’d already ripped out the chip he put in my neck. Let him be cocky. Let him think he could control me anyway with a single press of a button or however the hell he controlled that thing.
If I got close enough. If I had the element of surprise. Because that was the one thing I hadn’t told Willow. If I got close enough to Soren to break his neck, it would only take me an instant to do it. Then, his pack would be in disarray. With me being the only Alpha around, I could subjugate them myself. It was a long shot. Dangerous as fuck. But, I saw no other alternative.
“Maybe there’s another way,” I said. “I do have influence with my brother. And he is looking for ways to expand the pack here. If our families go way back like you say, then you already know what we’ve had to overcome to take pack power in the motherland. Andre never wants to be vulnerable like that again. You can never be my Alpha. You knew that was off the table. But, I can be something else.”
Soren’s lip curled into a smile. I took another step closer. If I couldn’t get those wolves to break their line in front of him, this would never work.
As long as Jason thought he had the chip to his advantage, he might let his guard down long enough to shake my hand.
“I’ll partner with you,” I said. “In spite of everything. But, I have my own price.”
The black wolf at Soren’s left growled low. The hair on his back went up in a ridge.
“You’re bargaining with me now?”
“I am. You have something I want.”
Soren looked back toward the motel room. I didn’t dare follow his line of sight. If Willow met my eyes, she might figure out what I was doing. Or she might distract me without meaning to.
“Dragonsteel,” I said. “I want to know where you got it. Last I heard, nobody could get their hands on the stuff anymore.”
“Now, what would you want with dragonsteel?”
I gritted my teeth. “Let’s just say I’ve got some scores still to settle on behalf of my family. And I know some people who might pay a pretty hefty price to get their hands on more of it.”
I took another step toward Soren. I was no more than a foot away from his closest wolves.
“Just dragonsteel?” he asked.
“The source of your dragonsteel...and the girl. That’s my price. You give me that, you have your partnership. You have your alliance with the Russian pack.”
Slowly, carefully, I reached out and offered Jason Soren my hand. I could feel his wolves’ breath on my wrist. My fangs dropped. I kept my jaw clamped shut to keep him from seeing.
“Willow’s mine,” he said. “She was part of another bargain my family struck long before she was even born.”
“She’s not yours,” I said. “You know she’s my fated mate. You sensed it. And because of it, you also know she’s a deal breaker for me. You’re a smart man, Jason. Cunning, even. If I told you anything else, you’d know I was lying.”
This got a genuine laugh out of him. “You’re right. But you’re also out of luck. Willow stays with me. Never mind what I paid for her. She’s how I know you’ll fall in line.”
His words lit a fuse in me. What he paid for her? She was nothing more than a commodity to him. He would use her against me as long as he lived. As long as I lived.
At that moment, I knew one thing with total clarity. Jason Soren would never stop trying to collect whatever debt he felt he was owed for Willow. The only way to keep her safe was if Soren was dead.
My life no longer mattered. My pain no longer mattered. Willow was my fated mate and I would protect her no matter what.
An instant. A movement. A flash of fangs. I would rip Jason Soren’s throat out and taste his blood as he died. I would die with him, but it was the only way Willow would be truly free.
Soren saw something in my eyes. I saw the same in his. We were done talking.
He slipped a hand in his pocket. When he took it out, he held something small and black in his palm. He pressed it with his thumb.
A transmitter?
There was no other time but now. I lunged for him, breaking through his line of wolves.
Soren’s eyes went wide as I landed with the full weight of my body on his chest.
I felt fangs ripping into my back as his wolves moved to protect their Alpha. I bit down, tearing at Jason’s neck.
The wolves were everywhere, pulling me back. Behind me, Willow screamed.
I existed outside myself. I saw her running toward me. Two wolves blocked her path, their fangs dripping. Their eyes filled with bloodlust.
Too late.
I tasted death. I tasted failure.
Soren rolled to his side as six wolves descended on me. The weight of them crushed my ribs. Three more came in from the side.
Now it was nine wolves, dragging me by my legs and tail away from Soren.
I tried to fight them off. I tried to scream. I had no voice. I had only feral rage as I fought for my life and the life of my mate
Soren gave the command. I felt it reverberate through his pack of wolves.
Kill!
It wouldn’t be over quickly. They would tear me limb from limb, but it would be Soren who took the death blow.
Then, a blur of movement came from the side. Two of Jason’s wolves rolled off me, yelping as they scattered.
I sank my fangs into another wolf, immobilizing him.
Somehow, I got up. My head swung low, my vision doubled.
I wasn’t part of a pack. But, my family bond was strong.
My nephew Milo’s wolf grabbed one of Soren’s by the neck and flung him against the side of the motel.
My nephew Leo took out the two wolves closest to Willow. She staggered backward and pressed herself against the motel room door.
Erik and Edward flanked the wolves around the perimeter. Soren had the numbers, but each of my four nephews was a full-blooded Siberian Alpha wolf. Soren’s betas were outmatched.
Milo brought friends. A bear shifter barreled down on Soren himself. He scrambled back.
Then, the twin tigers came. They took on the three wolves left standing as they tried to protect their Alpha.
I got to my feet. I headed straight for Soren. The bear and tigers cleared the way. We weren’t pack. We weren’t even the same species. But, these were the men of Wolfguard. We were brothers in our own way.
I towered over Soren’s wolf.
He shifted. He sat up, putting his hands in front of his face.
“Kalenkov, stop,” he said. “This will go worse for you than for me. You have no idea the ripple effect you’re starting.”
I snapped my teeth. The tigers held their ground over Soren’s wolves. He hadn’t yet given them the command to stand down and shift.
I shifted. I knelt beside Soren as he leaned against the tire of a Jeep parked beside him.
“You’re not as smart as you think you are,” I said.
“You work for me!” he shouted. “All of you. I bought and paid for Wolfguard protection. When word gets out you bit the hand that feeds you, none of you will be safe. You tell that to Payne Fallon.”
“Who do you think sent us here, you asshole!” This from the bear shifter. He was huge and broad like all bears were. He had an unruly mass of brown hair and that characteristic “bear” smell. He had hands roughly the size of dinner plates and he held one of Soren’s wolves up by the scruff of his neck.
“Game over,” I said to Soren.
Willow was at my side. “Where’s my father?” she asked, breathless
. In all the chaos, I hadn’t thought to ask about him. Willow was right to be worried. There was no telling how Soren reacted when we left the party. Still part of me didn’t care. Soren’s words reverberated. He paid for her. Paid whom? Rousseau?
“He’ll go to prison now, Willow,” Jason said. “It’ll be on your head.”
“It’s on his,” she said. “He never would have tried to buy his freedom with me.”
“He can’t protect you like I can,” Soren said. “Kalenkov is nothing but a hired gun. He has no real power.”
Willow looked around the parking lot. Every one of Soren’s wolves was backed into a corner by one of my nephews or another member of Wolfguard.
“Looks pretty powerful to me,” she said. “And Val’s power comes naturally, Jason. He didn’t take it by coercion or this.” She opened her palm to reveal the tiny black disk she held in it.
Soren’s eyes changed, going from amber to red.
No!
He lunged for Willow. He gave a single command.
Die!
Every one of Soren’s wolves obeyed. They had no choice. They went after the men of Wolfguard. They never stood a chance.
I grabbed Soren himself as he tried to complete his shift. Willow fell backward. The disk skipped across the parking lot.
Soren and I met midair. Wolf against wolf. I sank my fangs into his neck, shredding his jugular.
He was dead before he hit the ground.
Adrenaline coursed through me. I shifted and got to my feet. I dove for Willow. She was safe, unharmed. She flung her arms around me as I tried to pull her away from the carnage.
“Wait,” she gasped.
She bent down and picked up the disk. It had wedged against the back tire of the parked Jeep.
She held it up. I put my arm around her.
It was then that Leo got to us. Sweat plastered his dark hair to his forehead.
“What was that?” he asked. His eyes traveled to the tiny black circle Willow once again held in her palm.
“Something he was willing to die for,” she said, looking at Jason Soren’s lifeless form.
I held her close. I knew I would never let her go.