Liesel pushed herself to her knees and crawled in the direction of the couch so she could look out one of the small windows.
In the darkness, she couldn’t make anyone out, but her wolf sensed a mountain lion somewhere out there. Maybe they were hiding in hopes of catching someone in an ambush?
“Do you have your cell phone?” she whispered back to Bailey.
She heard the rustling of fabric as he checked himself.
“Gone,” he muttered.
“Same,” she replied.
She crawled back as quietly as she could to the deputy.
“There isn’t an obvious guard posted outside the door, but I can sense one nearby. Not sure where or if there is more than one.”
“This is a mess,” the deputy muttered as he put his feet on the floor and worked his hands free of the zip ties. He was making a bloody mess of his skin, so Liesel let a claw out and sliced through the plastic for him.
Before he could thank her, she froze. She darted a glance around the windows, trying to get a lead on what she was sensing. It seemed wolf to her, but whoever it was, they were trying to be stealthy. No, more than one.
There were at least three shifters out there and her heart nearly blasted through her chest when she felt a pulse come through her bond from Gray.
He was here!
“The cavalry is here,” she whispered and pushed herself to her feet, no longer caring if their guards knew they were awake. “Get ready.”
The snarl of a cat outside let them know the wolves had engaged and she heard the smashing of a car window and the snarl of a wolf. Someone had shifted, but she couldn’t sense if it was Gray.
“To hell with this,” she muttered as she kicked open the front door of the trailer and readied her wolf for the shift.
She followed the sounds of fighting toward Gray’s parked truck, engine still on and radio playing. Beside it, Brody’s truck was waiting, too.
He’d come, too? Despite the current situation, she couldn’t help but feel a swell of love for her mate and her Alpha, both men promising to keep her safe no matter what.
She pushed toward the fight and was nearly upon it when a huge sable wolf leaped from the bushes and nearly knocked her backwards.
The tears were instant and intense as Gray’s wolf invaded her space and rubbed himself all over her.
“Oh my god,” she cried between gulps of air. “I missed you too, baby.”
***
It had taken both Brody and Pax convincing Gray to let her come along to the second half of the mission. She knew he’d finally relented because of Pax’s report that the majority of shifters waiting in ambush had been rounded up and collected without the Kings realizing it.
“I need this,” she’d told Gray. “I’m not someone’s easy target. I’m a Boulder and Canyon wolf, Gray. I’m meant for this.”
He’d agreed only if Liesel shifted and went in her wolf form. She was stronger, faster, and healed quicker in wolf form and on top of that, Liesel was such a dominant female wolf, that she’d give most other shifters a run for their money—male or female.
Liesel watched her mate walk down a long gravel road in the dark, toward the building where a bunch of bad men were smugly waiting to hurt him. Her wolf bristled at the thought, but relaxed knowing in just a few minutes, they’d all be either arrested or dead.
She slinked through the underbrush under the cover of trees as Gray walked toward the building, which was illuminated only by one weak, wan lightbulb outside one of the large bay doors.
As he neared, the large enforcer they’d called Knuckles appeared and had his hands nonchalantly looped through his belt loops. He was probably smug because he thought the fact that he had nine shifters hidden in the warehouse and ten in the woods was going to make Gray an easy target.
Too bad he didn’t realize that Gray’s team had taken out all of the backup in the woods and that he’d brought a dozen of his men, along with 10 deputies from neighboring counties with high-powered rifles located through the tree line.
Liesel’s wolf chuffed as she kept pace alongside her mate, watching him in all his glory.
“You made it, Sheriff,” the man called Knuckles called out with a laugh.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” her mate called back. “You ready to surrender? You and those eight idiots hiding behind that bay door?”
The mountain lion didn’t answer right away, but eventually he tried to recover some of his bluster.
“We’re not surrendering, wolf,” he said. “Now either cooperate, or we’re going to hurt your mate.”
From where she stood, Liesel could hear the edge in Gray’s voice.
“Wrong answer, asshole.”
Epilogue
“Wake up.”
Liesel ignored the voice and the hand that was shaking her.
“Wake up, lazy bones.”
She groaned and tried to bury her head deeper in to the pillows.
“Go away or I’ll gut you.”
That got a chuckle out of Gray, who proceeded to rip the blanket from her body, leaving her naked skin open to the cold hair circulating from the ceiling fan.
“Grayson Anders,” she yelped, grasping for the corner of the blanket which he ripped out of her reach.
“Damn you make my name sound sexy when you’re mad,” he whispered in her ear as he put his knees on either side of her body and sat gently on her bare ass, pressing kisses down her spine until she was arching back up into him and making his body roar to life.
“Keep that up, sweetheart, and you’ll be late to your own mating ceremony,” he growled into her ear. “Both packs are starting to show up and Brody’s grumbling that he had to wear a suit to perform the vows for us.”
Liesel smiled and ground her ass against her mate’s pressing arousal, knowing she was going to push him over the edge of his control. With a feral growl, she felt him pulling his clothes off before he rolled her onto her back and pulled her wrists above her head.
“It’s never a good idea to tease me, baby,” he growled against her mouth as he pushed himself into her swollen center. She gasped as he entered her fully before growling her own satisfaction.
“I’m not teasing if I back it up, love,” she practically purred as she ground her hips up against him and started that blissful friction that had them both mindless in no time.
“Marrying and mating you is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said as they collapsed back against the pillows, panting. “I’ll never get enough of you.”
Liesel smiled as she crawled on top of her mate with a knowing look.
“Prove it,” she challenged as she slid down his body and he roared back to life. He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her lips down to meet his.
“Gladly.”
*****
THE END
BETA'S SECOND CHANCE
Chapter One
Pax
Pax Carrigan wanted to be anywhere but the stuffy lobby of a crowded hotel conference center. The meetings were endless and despite the gathering being rather small, maybe 100 or 150 shifters in all, he felt caged and claustrophobic.
His wolf was feeling worse.
The animal felt more caged than normal, pacing back and forth inside Pax, pawing for escape, urging Pax the man to leave the damn hotel and return to Canyon pack lands. Beside him his Alpha, Grayson Anders, was talking to another faceless shifter from some pack he’d already forgotten.
Pax wasn’t concentrating today and it was getting worse. It was as though he felt something in the air. Something was coming. His senses were piqued and he couldn’t settle down.
“Do you need to get some air?” Liesel, the Canyon Alpha female was always one step ahead of all of them whenever it came to whatever they were trying to hide. She was good. Having gone through plenty of her own shit, namely being kidnapped and damn-near trafficked by a rogue bear den, Liesel knew when people were hurting and when they were hiding it.
If a mating bond is in place and one mate dies, the other one will likely follow soon. If they’re unmated, the surviving shifter is doomed to wander the rest of their days with no hope of the soul-deep love and connection that comes with true mates.
It was a dangerous thing, love, and Pax, despite having found it himself, had given up on it a long time ago.
The talk in the air was of recent attacks. Three shifters across two states, Colorado and Utah, had been killed in attacks recently and word on the wind was that it wasn’t just ferals who were behind it. But, it was ferals who had banded together causing the problems. Big problems. Murder. Extortion. Robbery.
Whoever they were, they were getting bolder and prompting the more traditional packs to assemble and talk options. Namely, how to look out for one another and how the larger packs can help look out for the smaller packs who, naturally, were easier targets.
In the shifter world, animal instincts ruled the day and a pack of ferals would start low on the totem pole to gain strength. Small packs throughout the southwest were on edge and nearly all of them had sent representatives to this small gathering in Denver.
Pax scanned the crowd, unable to push the feeling that something big was happening away. His wolf growled from deep in his chest, loud enough that his Alpha paused mid-sentence and raised an eyebrow at him.
With a quick shake of his head, Pax let Gray know it was nothing. Not yet, anyway. Gray had been his platoon sergeant in the Rangers unit they’d served in during their Army years. Made up mostly of shifters, they’d seen pure hell in the Middle East and if it wasn’t for Gray’s leadership, Pax wasn’t certain he’d still be here today in more ways than one.
The battlefield had been hell, certainly, but the nightmares and anxiety that he’d had to overcome when he’d returned to the States had been just as bad—if not worse. Pax freely admitted he was a work-in-progress and had a long way to go, but the reason he was standing here at all was thanks to one Grayson Anders. He owed the man his life, and Pax took both his Alpha and their pack’s safety seriously.
Scanning the room for a third time in as many minutes, Pax’s eyes rested on the back of a tall, curvy brunette. She was turned away from him, but something about her refused to let him look away—his heart rate accelerated, and suddenly his wolf was less anxious and way more persistent.
Without realizing he was doing it, Pax took a few steps toward the woman, who was engaged in a conversation with three other male shifters, whose attention, Pax noticed, she raptly held. They hung on each of the woman’s words like they were a lifeline, and he couldn’t help but notice how the man closest to him couldn’t help but dip his eyes low to the woman’s cleavage every so often.
His wolf took exception to that. Big time.
Advancing a few more steps for reasons not entirely clear to Pax, he froze the second the woman’s scent hit him. In an instant, Pax was 19-years-old again. In his mind, he saw her. Felt her. Felt her lips against his and the way she drove his wolf absolutely insane with just a touch. Images of her eyes, filled with tears as he did the best thing he could possibly do for her—break her heart.
The memory of the gaping hole left in his soul when he walked away from the girl she had been nearly staggered Pax where he stood—a hole he’d never been able to fill. A loss he’d never tried to repair. For him, there’d only been one woman in his life and there’d only ever be one woman. And he’d walked away and left her behind to save her a life of heartache, knowing full well he was enlisting in the military and was volunteering for one of the most dangerous units out there.
Even at 19, Pax knew his chances of surviving what was ahead of him were slim. He had no idea that he’d been on a crash course to meeting Grayson Anders, the man responsible for Pax still having a pulse in his body.
Ten years later, just the thought of her name on his lips made Pax struggle for breath. She’d been his everything and he’d walked away from her, assuming he never had to see her again because he’d never return to their small California hometown, to the small pack they’d grown up together in.
But now, as he stood staring at the way her chestnut hair fell in waves down her back, at the way the black pencil skirt hugged her ass in the most perfect and tantalizing way, he knew it couldn’t be anybody but Ava Montclair standing in front of him.
Maybe he could disappear into the crowd before it was too late, before she realized he’d seen her. Pax moved to the side and just as he thought he’d make it around her group without her noticing, she turned and caught his gaze with those gorgeous turquoise eyes of hers, freezing him in place.
He watched the flickers of emotion that passed across her face, having difficulty reading them. Surprise, obviously, and a bit of sadness? Perhaps, but the next one was far easier for Pax to name—anger. The tight line of her mouth let him know that Ava was still royally pissed at Pax all these years later.
“Hello, Pax,” she said, halting any escape he might have been considering. The anger had been wiped from her features, but he knew better. She had on a mask of indifference and even seemed to be making an effort to look friendly, but inside those beautiful eyes of hers, Pax could tell she was battling the same raging storm of emotions that he was.
He smiled at her then, a genuine smile at the chance of seeing the woman she’d grown into. Gods, but she was fucking gorgeous. She’d always been beautiful, but the years had been kind to Ava and turned her into a goddess among men as she stood in the crowded hallway of the downtown hotel. She glowed, and looking now, every man in a mile-wide radius couldn’t help but notice her. And his wolf didn’t like it. Even after all these years, the animal still insisted that Ava was theirs. Pax just shook his head at the woman and offered a nod.
“Ava,” he said, stepping closer despite the fact that he wanted to run the other way. She was like a tractor beam to him and his wolf—they were suddenly powerless to move anywhere but closer to her.
He struggled with what to say next and noticed the other shifters she’d been talking to start to move away—now he had to come up with something to say. But what? Sorry I dumped you when we were kids? Seemed ridiculous. She probably didn’t give a rat’s ass that his reasons were noble.
Suddenly, he felt Gray behind him, always coming to the rescue.
“Hello,” his Alpha said, sparing Pax further embarrassment at how flustered he was. “My name is Grayson Anders.”
He put his hand out and Ava immediately took it, a smile lighting her face.
“Canyon Pack,” she said and Gray nodded. “I’m very glad to meet you and that you guys came. I was worried we’d have a low turnout. I’m Ava Montclair with the Pueblo Pack. My brother and I organized this meeting.”
Pax didn’t realize she’d been the one to gather the smaller packs together, but it made sense. Ava was always one to stick up for the underdog—it’d been why he’d fallen so hard and so fast for her when they were in high school. Her brother, Mason, was older than Pax and had been away at college when he’d left for the military.
“Isn’t your brother the Pueblo Alpha?” Gray was obviously more up to speed on it all than Pax had been, but in his defense, he’d really only expected to come to the meeting to keep Gray and Liesel safe. The negotiations and details were what the Alphas would worry about.
“He is,” she nodded and smiled at Gray before turning her eyes on Pax again. He held her gaze for a brief moment before looking out one of the large floor-to-ceiling windows beside them, inwardly cursing himself for not having better control over himself. This woman was dismantling all the
control and distance he’d built up for himself over the years in a matter of minutes. “Here he comes now.”
Sure enough, a man with similar reddish-brown hair and clear blue eyes approached, his gaze immediately falling on Gray. It was an Alpha thing—they sought each other out instantly to determine whether the other shifter in power was friend or foe.
“This is my brother, Mason Montclair,” she motioned to Mason as he approached with a shifter Pax guessed was the Pueblo Beta. Indicating Gray, she continued. “Mason, this is Gray Anders with the Canyon Pack.”
The alphas shook hands and made small talk before Gray turned to Pax, who suddenly wanted to melt into the background.
“This is Pax Carrigan, our Beta,” Gray said. Mason offered his hand and Pax took it. He didn’t miss the odd look that crossed Mason’s face seconds before he replaced it with a friendly mask. Hiding their emotions must be a family trait, then.
Another man appeared behind Mason and the alpha introduced him as the Pueblo Beta, Tanner Espinoza.
The man wasn’t exactly unfriendly, but Pax’s wolf was definitely not a fan—the animal bared his teeth at the other Beta and when he saw how easily he put his hand on the small of Ava’s back, he understood. The wolf was being territorial. Pax also didn’t miss how Ava bristled at the contact.
Interesting.
Before Pax could unpack the entire awkward mess even further, shouting started from the far end of the hallway, near the entrances. Loud, angry shouts echoed through the high, vaulted ceilings, followed by screams of panic and chaos.
The sound of gunfire ripped Pax from his stupor and he and his wolf instantly understood what was happening—they were under attack and without hesitation, he spun on his heels and made straight for the only thing in this entire place on his mind.
Ava Montclair.
Chapter Two
Ava
Ava had a few scant seconds to realize there was someone shooting inside the conference hall before a large body slammed into hers and began moving her further away from the chaos.
Rocky Mountain Shifters: Complete Series Box Set Page 21