He didn’t know the man personally, but Gray had attended a few meetings with him and said that while he was a bit cagey and standoff-ish, Sanders was a good man with good intentions.
Well, that was good, because if he had anything but good intentions when dealing with Ava, Pax’s wolf would likely tear the man’s throat out on site.
Yeah, his wolf was a little edgy and seemed to be getting worse the more that Pax was around Ava. It would pass, he promised himself. Hell, even if it didn’t, he would be done with this job in a few weeks and he could disappear again and hope that his wolf would forgive him. He likely wouldn’t, his wolf hadn’t since he left Ava a decade ago, but Pax was working the best he could with what he had.
Seated in the back of the SUV, the group headed north on the highway after breakfast and Ava spent the majority of that ride on a call with her brother. She had the phone on speaker so she could look through the notes on her laptop and the entire thing had Pax’s head spinning, not understanding why the soft approach was so necessary with the alphas of the smaller packs.
Didn’t they see what a threat these ferals were? Why did they need to be convinced to look out for one another?
He asked Ava that very question after she’d hung up with Mason and closed her computer. They were less than an hour from the Kalis lands.
“I think it boils down to heritage and history,” she explained, still keeping her eyes from meeting his today, which both cut like a knife and pissed his wolf off. “Some of these packs predate the European settlers. They’ve survived by relying on themselves and themselves alone, so trusting outsiders to do right by them isn’t in their nature. And can you blame them, really?”
No, given the history that the Native American tribes and packs had been subjected to, it made a lot of sense actually.
“And that’s not the worst of it,” she continued. “There are so many conflicts and wars between some of these packs that go farther back than written history. They aren’t going to suddenly chum up one day because some asshole coyotes are banging on trashcans and threatening people.”
Pax let out a sigh and wondered how he’d react if he were one of these alphas. Lucky for him, Gray was a great leader and did all the heavy lifting (hard choices) for the rest of them.
“We have a few security protocols in place for your meetings,” Pax said when there was a lull in the conversation. He wanted Ava to understand ahead of time that she wouldn’t be going anywhere alone when meeting with these packs--as per Mason’s direct orders, though Pax never would have allowed it, either.
He explained her brother’s requests (it was always easier to blame him than to admit his own reluctance to let her wander off alone with these strange shifters). She rolled her eyes a few times and once she even shook her head at him, but she let him finish.
“I’m not an idiot, Pax,” she finally said. “I know what’s at stake and I wouldn’t put myself into any unnecessary danger if that’s what you’re worried about. That, and I don’t have the energy to argue with you about any of this, so as long as you’re not intrusive, I don’t really care where you’re standing when we’re meeting.”
It wasn’t exactly a glowing endorsement, but it would do.
They stopped for a late breakfast in Kalispell, as they had an hour to kill before heading out to the Kalis Pack lodge. Ava and Pax squeezed into one side of a diner booth while their driver, Adam, and the second security officer, Omar, sat across from them.
They were from the Pueblo Pack, Ava explained, and had been members long before she and Mason arrived. They’d been born into the pack but had embraced Mason taking over the leadership role from his uncle, as Mason wasn’t just a dominant wolf, he was one of the strongest personalities in the shifter world. A little overbearing at times, according to Ava, but the two shifters in the booth with Pax seemed to agree that Mason was doing a good job keeping the Pueblo shifters safe from the rising feral threat.
“Do you have problems with ferals up in Canyon territory?”
Pax shook his head.
“We haven’t even seen a lone shifter in over a year, let alone ferals,” he said. “We have some gang-type activity from mountain lions, but that’s about it. A den of rogue bears passed through last year too and caused trouble with local packs, but they were fairly easy to run off.”
No, ferals hadn’t reached their territory, but it wouldn’t have made sense for them to even try with both their Canyon Pack and their neighbors and good friends, the Boulder Pack so close by. The fact that his own Alpha, Gray, was also the county sheriff helped keep drifters and people up to no good away from their area, too.
Ava hardly ate her food, instead pushing it around and picking at it. She wasn’t talking much either, and Pax guessed it had to be nerves.
“What are you worrying about?”
She gave him a weak smile and just shook her head.
“Nothing,” she lied to his face. “I’m fine.”
It pissed his wolf off and the beast growled low. It took exception to Ava not trusting them with the truth. He’d get it out of her, but when they were alone.
His chance came after they had paid for breakfast and Adam and Omar had gone to get the truck.
“You’re the worst liar and you always have been,” he said, grabbing her arm before she could walk outside. She stopped and looked down to where his hand grasped her elbow.
“Maybe,” she said slowly. “But your job is to keep the outside of me safe from ferals. You’re not privy to the workings of my mind. You’re hired help.”
She gave him a flippant smile so he thought she was initially teasing, but when she kept walking and let the door from the truck stop close in his face, his mouth fell open in shock.
Ava had just completely shut him down.
The anger was swift and his wolf bared its teeth from deep inside Pax. Oh, hell no. She wasn’t just going to just dismiss him like his concern and care for her meant nothing--like he had no right to care about her both mental and physical health.
He wanted to show her just how much he really cared, how deep his feelings went when it came to her but it was hardly the time (if there would ever be a time for it now) and definitely not the place.
Instead, Pax just blew out a frustrated breath and conceded the battle--knowing full well he had every intention of winning the war he’d just entered into.
It wasn’t his plan, but dammit, seeing Ava and watching her cry had ripped open every old scar that existed and it became clear that the feelings on his end hadn’t changed, no matter how much he lied to himself.
Chapter Six
Ava
“Territorial wars last a long time, Ms. Montclair,” Shep Sanders, the Alpha of the Kalis pack said as he blew a breath of cigar smoke out. The cloud hovered between them before being consumed by the smoke of the campfire they were seated around.
Ava shifted in her uncomfortable lawn chair and clamped down on her lips, willing the response that longed to break free to fade. He didn’t get it. But she knew that coming in--Sanders wasn’t likely going to get it. Not at first, at least, but when the Redemption threat got closer, when it began to affect the people in his vicinity, then he’d probably understand.
Never mind the fact that people would likely get hurt in the process and a few might even be killed. Shep Sanders, despite being a supernatural, was a man who believed in what he saw and what impacted him directly. So, for him, standing in the center of Montana, the goings on of shifter packs in Arizona and Utah didn’t really concern him much.
“I understand that,” she said, keeping her voice calm despite her mounting frustration. “But I don’t think you’re grasping how far their reach is, just how many there are.”
He chuffed a laugh and she didn’t miss the roll of his eyes, making her own wolf show its teeth at the Alpha. Never a smart move to smart off to an Alpha like that, but this one, Ava reasoned, was being an especially large jackass.
“A couple of loners don’t
concern me,” Shep said and took a swig of his beer. “Never have.”
Again, Ava white-knuckled the arm rest on her chair and kept herself still.
“Not loners, Alpha,” she bit out the title, the word sour on her lips. “We’re dealing with ferals. There’s a big difference and there’s more than just a few. You’ve got roving bands of 10 to 15 attacking at a time. There’s rumors that there are hundreds of these shifters looking to take advantage of smaller packs and we need help from the more powerful packs. We need to band together.”
The shake of the Alpha’s head was unmistakable and in frustration, Ava’s eyes darted to Pax. He was looking out into the dark forest--Kalis Pack territory. Was he searching for something? Or just drowning out the talk?
Her eyes followed his gaze and even with her supernatural hearing, Ava could sense nothing amiss in the distance. He shifted his gaze directly to her and when they locked eyes, she swallowed. His eyes were blazing and he was obviously having a hard time containing whatever emotions he was experiencing. He looked ready to boil over and she frowned slightly. What had set him so on edge? And what had him gazing out into the distance?
“Are you okay?” She mouthed in his direction and he gave her an almost imperceptible nod, letting her know that he seemingly was, though she didn’t buy it for a second.
Something was up.
Eventually, thankfully, the night was over. As the groups said their goodbyes, Ava knew this meeting in particular had been in vain. No agreements were reached, no help was offered from the Kalis shifters and no help was requested from them, either. They preferred to take their chances with whatever might come their way, gambling on the fact that nothing ever came their way.
Ava did her best not to feel defeated, but it was hard. The entire mission was hinged on her getting these outlying packs to support one another and to look after each other and she was off to a terrible start.
Beyond that? She’d been disrespected, plain and simple. The Kalis Alpha had been so dismissive, and he refused to take her seriously. She doubted that had Mason come to do the talking, he’d have needed to start watching the other alpha drink a beer while tearing his words down like they were a joke.
The anger beneath her skin was like a white-hot electricity, making her feel hot, cold, and uncomfortable all at the same time.
This wasn’t something she was unprepared for, exactly, and Mason had even warned her that Sanders was a bit of a dick. Still, she wanted to punch him in his smug nose for his attitude and for wasting her time.
Back in the SUV, nobody talked beyond a few logistics.
“Our hotel is about two hours’ drive from here, Ava,” Omar said over his shoulder. “If that’s okay?”
She closed her eyes.
“It’s fine, thanks.”
Despite the emotions and anger roiling within her and the fact that her wolf was cagey and snappy, Ava was painfully aware of Pax and his unstable energy next to her. The man was being as quiet as she was, but the problem was she had no idea what was on his mind. To any onlookers, it was clear that Ava was frustrated with the lack of results from the Kalis Pack.
But Pax? What was his deal?
She didn’t have the stomach to talk to Mason, so she spent the majority of the two hours texting him back and forth with the update, and by sleeping. She was so very tired all of a sudden and suddenly wishing she was at a beach somewhere with an umbrella drink. The whole mission was dangerous, she’d known it from the start, but she’d just always assumed the two sides were very clear--the ferals versus everyone else. But she wasn’t so sure that most of these packs weren’t out for their own best interest even if it was at the cost of those around them.
The anger was back and she slammed her head back and closed her eyes before she started crying out of frustration. She hated crying when she was frustrated, but it was her default.
According to their itinerary, they were due at the Utes Pack in two days. Once they reached their hotel tonight, they could slow their driving a bit and only travel a couple hours per day before reaching Ute territory.
She had a few days to regroup and recover and she’d hit the next round of talks with a little less of the wide-eyed innocent thing and come to the table with a little real talk and some grit, even if she had to fake it.
They arrived at their hotel just outside Salt Lake City around midnight and she dragged herself through the check-in process, hardly paying attention to the discussion going on between Adam and the front desk clerk.
“Four rooms, two adjoining,” he said a second time, the bags under his eyes probably matched her own. They were tired.
“I’m sorry,” the woman said, spreading her hands wide. “We’ve got two rooms, not adjoined. I don’t know how the computer got this wrong, but that’s what we have.”
Ava slumped against a wall, not really caring anymore.
“It’s fine,” she said. “I’ll room with one of you guys. I really don’t care.”
The clerk looked nervously between the three men standing in front of her before getting back to her typing, clicking the keys hard and fast before handing over two key cards. Omar took one and Pax grabbed the other.
“Ava, you can--” Omar began but Pax cut him off.
“No chance,” he said as he grabbed her bag from her feet and hefted it onto his shoulder. “She stays with me.”
If the Pueblo enforcers wanted to protest, they thought better of it as Ava wished them goodnight and followed Pax to the staircase.
“No elevator?” She called up to him as he rounded the first floor and was headed to the second before she’d even started.
“Nope,” he said, plainly enough.
Fine. She was too tired to argue.
Hauling herself up the stairs and through the door Pax was holding open, she snuck a glance at him as she walked by. His face was still stern and he wouldn’t meet her gaze. His distance had her worried all of a sudden--had she insulted him in some way? Had they had a fight that she didn’t remember?
They hadn’t spoken much since her wine-fueled confession the night before, but as far as she could remember, it hadn’t been that bad, had it?
The walk down the ugly-carpeted hallway was quiet and growing more awkward by the step. Once Pax had found the right door, he slid the key card and once again held the door open for Ava to pass. This time she didn’t glance up to try to read his face. It wouldn’t have been rocket science to guess that he was probably still stone-faced and refusing to look at her.
With a sigh, she pushed her way past him, snatched up her bag from the floor beside his feet and chose the bed closest to the bathroom. Without waiting for the offer, she grabbed a change of clothes, her toiletries and hit the shower before he was even fully in the door.
She took her time with the shower, too, not bothering to rush in case he was waiting for a go. It was a big hotel--there would be plenty of hot water when she was done, she reasoned.
When she was clean, when her hair was combed and she had on a pair of shorts and a worn-out cami tank that suddenly seemed like a really crappy idea to throw in her luggage as she was leaving, she opened the bathroom door and headed to her bed.
Without needing to look at his bed as she passed it, she knew Pax was on it. Ever since he showed back up in her life, she could just feel him wherever he was. She didn’t need to look for him--her body and her wolf just knew.
With a sigh, she rolled her neck and stretched her arms over her head, trying to loosen the strain from the day before she got into bed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the nightstand between her bed and the far wall had something on it that wasn’t there when she went into the bathroom--an opened bottle of the very same red she’d been drinking the night before and a clean glass.
Had Pax left it for her?
She spun to ask him, but saw that he was already in the bathroom, water running.
What on earth?
Never one to look gift wine in the tooth, she sat on the edge
of the bed facing the wall and took a long sip from the glass. And it was divine. Where had he managed to find it? And did he know he was grabbing her favorite when he chose that particular bottle?
So many questions, she mused as she took another sip and sighed, suddenly not so concerned with answering them all right now.
The glass was empty just as the shower stopped and she heard the door slide open. She leaned back against the head board and tossed her electronics on the table by her feet, done with communicating with all humanity for at least one night. For the rest of the few minutes she was awake, she was going to watch garbage television and let her mind wander. None of it was worth it.
When the bathroom door opened, a cloud of steam billowed out and with it, she was hit with a hard dose of that perfectly masculine smell that belonged only to Pax. It made her toes curl. It made her eyes flutter closed. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to turn herself on and he’d be able to tell right away and that would be the absolute fucking worst.
Tamping down on thoughts about how great Pax smelled and how great Pax looks and how great Pax is in general, Ava fought to get control of her runaway thoughts as Pax pulled a shirt over his head. He’d come out in low-slung mesh basketball shorts and it was all she could do not to look at the washboard abs or the tapered waist.
Chewing the inside of her lip raw, she stood and dug through one of her bags in search of a few dollar bills she knew she had floating around. She needed to get out of the room and walk to the snack machines at the end of the hallway to clear her head. Her thoughts were getting out of control.
As she walked toward the front of the room, Pax shifted suddenly and blocked her path, backing her up until she was out of space and bumped into the wall on the far side of the room. She frowned up at him, suddenly unsure of what the hell was even happening.
Rocky Mountain Shifters: Complete Series Box Set Page 24