“When does Alanna go into heat?” As soon as he said it, it struck him that this was a strange conversation to have from Christa’s perspective. Humans didn’t place nearly as much emphasis on procreation, and they weren’t as aware of the fertility cycles of their females. Well, they blamed a lot on fertility cycles, but they didn’t seem to reap the benefits. Christa even seemed ashamed to be talking about it.
Travis didn’t even pause. “She’s late. Late March. I think that’s part of what has given her an Alpha streak. She’s the last to go into heat, and it keeps the males hoping if they stay unattached…”
“So really, you’d be doing the pack some good if you took her as Alpha.”
Travis nodded with a slow smile. “Yup. And the good of the pack comes first.”
“Call a meeting—everyone brings something from yesterday’s clothing in a labeled bag, and we’ll compare before they leave. You can tell them I need to rule out their scents while I’m tracking so I’m not wasting my time.”
Leaning forward, Travis clicked open an email window. “Okay, but I’m still hoping this is a waste of my time.”
…
Christa put Nathanial’s head up to her nose and inhaled. She might not have a great sense of smell, but enjoying the sweet scent of a baby wasn’t lost on the non-furry. “How are Lycans made?” she asked Vanessa.
Vanessa kept drifting off to sleep while they were talking, but she smiled at this. “Well, Christa, when a mommy Lycan and a daddy Lycan like each other a whole lot…”
“So, it takes two Lycans?” She’d guessed otherwise from what Jordan had said.
“Nope, it just takes a bit of Lycan genetics and a couple of two-leggeds getting funky. Lycans pop up randomly in families where they didn’t even know they had Lycans way back in their ancestry.”
“But two Lycans always reproduce Lycans?” Maybe Jordan would have more luck contributing to the pack if he’d picked someone else.
“No. Well…maybe…if any of us had pure Lycan blood, but none of us do; there are generally a few humans in the litter. Jordan was the only Lycan in the pack born to two Lycan parents. His siblings aren’t Lycans.”
“Is that why they don’t get along?”
“Jordan and his brothers?” Vanessa frowned. “I think it’s that, and they’re all a little too much alike. Hardheaded. Secretive. Arrogant. I haven’t met the one that’s married, but the other two—well, I wanted to punch them within seconds. I think if they’d stop this endless pissing match long enough to notice what they have in common…but they won’t.”
“Is it going to make it worse that I’m human?”
The frown dropped from her face. “No, actually, that might help.”
It was almost a relief she hadn’t joined an entirely Lycan family if they were all like Jordan. And if she could somehow help heal his relationship with his brothers…
Christa kissed Nathanial’s forehead just as the baby went to sleep. “Is he a Lycan?”
Vanessa peeked her eyes open and then sat bolt upright, her jaw dropping. “No way! He went to sleep for you?”
Nathanial jerked in her arms, and his eyes fluttered, but he only snuggled deeper against her.
“I’m tempted to pinch him just to wake him up,” Vanessa muttered.
Christa raised her eyebrows. Seriously, her sister-in-law needed more sleep if she thought that was a good idea.
“I won’t. Still, that’s not fair.”
“So, is he a Lycan?” Christa asked again.
“Oh, I don’t know. We won’t know until he hits puberty and changes or doesn’t change. His lack of respect toward his parents seems to imply otherwise, but that might just be his age.”
“Lycans respect their parents?”
“They show deference at a young age toward those they recognize as Alphas. So it’s also possible he just doesn’t recognize my authority.” Vanessa yawned so wide Christa could swear she saw the inside of Vanessa’s stomach. “He’s lucky he’s so cute.”
“Oh, like we could make an ugly baby,” Dane said, walking in. He was strapping a gun on his hip.
“Mmm” was his wife’s response…just before her mouth dropped open and she started snoring—loudly.
Christa looked from the baby to his mother—who could wake the dead with her snoring.
“He’s used to it. He got nine months of that,” Dane said, nodding at his wife. “I’ll go drop her in bed and close the door. Can you stick around with Nathanial? I’ve got to meet with some of the pack to discuss patrol routes.”
She nodded and was very grateful when he lifted Vanessa up to carry her to bed. Seriously, no one should be able to snore that loud. Vanessa couldn’t shout that loud—how could she snore at that volume?
Vanessa’s snoring stopped, and she opened her eyes.
Dane grinned down at her. “It’s like how we met all over again.”
“No cages this time,” Vanessa said, and then the snoring resumed.
“Cages?” Christa asked when he walked back in. Their “how we met” story had always been a bit vague but their…affection for each other made you forget all the vague things they said—until you found out Vanessa was a wolf.
“I’ll tell you when you’re older. When I get back, I’m hoping you’ll have taught Nathanial how to walk or I’ll consider you a failure.”
“Yeah, I’m Alpha—your opinion means nothing to me.”
“I swear Vanessa said the same thing when I told her it was her turn to change his diaper.” He patted her on the head like she was five. “Oh, hey, I ordered you something—had it overnighted.” He went to the counter and grabbed a box.
“You bought me a present?”
“It’s like a wedding present.” He pulled a red coat out of the box with a flourish.
Her heart had jumped a bit at the word “wedding.” That was so unreal it felt like a hoax. Maybe it was—she still needed to talk about that with Jordan. “A red coat?”
“It’s a cloak—with a hood.”
It was the word “hood” that clinched it. Little Red Riding Hood.
He set it beside her with a grin, knowing that she would have punched him if she wasn’t holding his son. “Watch out for the Big Bad Wolf,” he said as he backed out of the house, smiling.
“Idiot.” She waited until he’d driven off to take a closer look at the cloak. The lining was soft and the tag said it was “water-resistant.” She was due for a new coat, and this one really was gorgeous. Also, the fact of the matter was that she wanted to see a whole lot more of the Big Bad Wolf, and he’d certainly be able to see her well in that. She could even get away with wearing nothing on underneath it. Hmm. Jordan wanted her. Maybe it was time to find out how much. Especially when the scent-match wasn’t muddying things.
“Your daddy’s joke totally backfired,” she whispered to Nathanial before kissing his head again.
…
Two hours later, Jordan and Travis were in a lodge that the pack had bought, and it was like a singles bar meet-up. Lycans were chatting and flirting, and the cacophony of scents from varying levels of attraction was as eye-watering as a perfume counter. The female in heat, Merilee, was holding court over in one corner. He was relieved her scent hadn’t interested him at all, nor had any of the other females’ scents. But it was strange to see such a polarity to his current pack.
In the fallout of the murders in his pack, he’d heard rumors that several of the single males thought they could have handled it better. After Travis had been offered a job as sheriff over here, Jordan had suggested taking anyone interested in forming a new pack with him. The first three who had jumped on it—Troy, Sean, and Liam—had been a relief. Then Ross, a former coworker of Dane’s, had surprisingly volunteered—he’d have sworn Ross was content in Glacier pack. After the single males had announced their intentions, some of the unattached females had mentioned it would be nice to be near a big city, and that was the impetus for a mass migration.
If he hadn’t been so relieved
, Jordan might have felt like rats were abandoning a sinking ship. As it was, he’d enjoyed the quiet without all the posturing of the younger males, and it would have been pretty damn awkward if he’d ignored all of the single females when they went into heat in the spring.
As he watched them now, though, it seemed…exhausting. He would have been fighting to retain Alpha for years, and he might have given in to pressure from his libido and his pack and had one of these females by his side as alpha female when he met Christa. Helluva nightmare there. It was unusual enough to have a human as female Alpha, but tossing out a Lycan alpha female for a human… He wouldn’t have lasted as Alpha, and while that shouldn’t bother him, it did. He’d been Alpha for over a decade—it was in his blood.
He’d had a narrow, narrow escape, and no, he definitely didn’t want to run around sniffing females, but he should fall to the ground and kiss Travis’s feet for taking this hell off his hands. Instead, Jordan just stood there, shaking his head, before turning to Travis.
“Did anyone not come or report in?”
“Troy. He’s working as an EMT here, too. He couldn’t get off, but he said he’d drop off his clothes when he could. Then also, Ross—he’s down with some sort of sickness. Cory saw him yesterday and said he looked like death, and we should probably stay away from him.”
“Ross checked in, though?”
“He sent me a text, and his tag shows him at his house. Troy’s shows him in the area he works.”
“You’re sure it was Ross sending the text, and we don’t need to send someone over to verify he only looks like death?”
Travis nodded. “I thought of that. I asked him something odd, something only he would know, and he responded. We’re still looking at a single fatality.” His gaze took in the whole room—which was so loud and boisterous they couldn’t hear him whisper, “If they’re here, we’re dealing with a real sociopath, Jordan.”
“Feels like old times.”
“I’ll call it to order.”
“Let the games begin.”
An hour and a half later, he was more exhausted than when he’d finished sprinting at dawn. Alanna hadn’t told the others that he was no longer available, but he’d finally told the third female who’d met his eyes and stood too close. “I’m matched, and you will respect my mate’s claim on me and step back.” It had spread quickly—as had Travis’s smile. Jordan found himself hoping Travis would scent-match also.
Troy arrived as the others were starting to disperse. There was some rabid hostility in the younger male’s eyes. Distance and time hadn’t solved that problem. Ignoring his lack of deference to an Alpha—even an Alpha from a different pack—Jordan took Troy’s bag of clothing without checking his scent. He didn’t need to—he was almost too familiar with his scent. Troy went to Merilee’s side and left when she did.
Troy had always been a little too cocky of his abilities; he liked to test fences and challenge Jordan’s ability to track. The younger Lycan would borrow things and “accidentally” leave them places. Then he’d say, “Well, you’re the great tracker—go find it.” Jordan always did, which had just served to piss off Troy more. If Troy hadn’t left Glacier pack, he was one act of insubordination from his life being forfeit.
He waited until the sounds of vehicles had faded before he asked Travis, “Troy?”
“Well, his other response to the summons was to ask if you’d really picked a human as an Alpha after all your years of pissing on him. His cousin is still in your pack.”
His cousin had been one of the dissenters—one of the dissenters Jordan had anticipated. “He’s your problem child, for sure, but you remember his games. I swear I know his scent as well as my own—I’ve tracked him that much. The only one I tracked more was Vanessa, and that’s just because she was constantly running off.”
“I do remember his weekly challenges in the spring. The rest of us placed bets on how fast you’d come back with the items. I made a lot of money off your tracking. Troy’s challenges came up when some of the others suggested we ask you to help. Troy got pissy—you two will never be BFFs.”
“I’ll cancel the friendship bracelets.” He tried to picture Troy killing Colby and then leading them on this pointless search. “Still, I can’t see him killing someone—other than me—despite him being an EMT.”
Travis shrugged. “I can see him killing someone, but I don’t think he did this. I’ve had to ask him not to kill farm animals again. Every time, I wonder if he can’t help himself, because only a moron would invite a wolf hunt by the locals. I’ve had to ask him less than you did, so I figure that counts as deference in his mind. I can’t spot a motive though, and while I think he’d enjoy killing, he’s not so stupid as to kill pack.”
Someone had a reason—stupidity didn’t lead to a well-done wild goose chase using the victim’s blood. They’d need to view all of the males in here as potential murderers until they found a motive. “I don’t envy you keeping so many would-be Alphas under control. Dane called this the frat pack, and I think he’s got the right idea.”
“I haven’t had a single challenge for Alpha, but not because of the males. The females like all the other males on equal footing and fighting over position with them, so they’ve told all the males they wouldn’t want them as Alphas.”
Jordan could only shake his head again. There’d been slightly less deference among this crowd when the meeting was called to order, but they did seem to respect Travis. Travis had dropped his slow speech immediately, and the shift from that version of him to Alpha had been as drastic as his human-to-Lycan transformation. To be able to manage that, he really had to be a genius, and the pack could sense that. Jordan had lost count of the number of times that humans had said, “I think Travis is smarter than he looks,” and Lycans were generally more perceptive of a male’s abilities and place in a pack.
“I mostly just stand here and look good while the female pack members keep the peace,” Travis said.
“Well, you’re lousy at your part, but they’re doing fairly well.”
Travis had started step one of courting Alanna. Already Alanna was eyeing Travis differently, and she’d even shaken off one of the other males when he’d come to talk with her.
Picking up the box of bagged clothing, Jordan winced at the mixed scents, still potent through the bags. “I went through each one as they handed them over, and nothing seems like a straight match to last night’s trail.” He shook his head. If only it had been that easy.
“We can take our box of stink home and check closer,” Travis said.
“I can drag you back to that trail—get a second opinion,” Jordan said on the way to his Bronco. He looked up at the sky. “I hope this weather holds out.”
Travis inhaled. “It’ll rain by midnight, so we should have time.”
Jordan could predict the weather in his own territory as well, so he didn’t doubt the prediction. “I keep going back to motive,” he said as they got in his Bronco. “If we find the motive to killing Colby, we’ll find our murderer.”
Travis scowled. “We’ve decided not a poacher and definitely a Lycan?”
Jordan didn’t start the Bronco. He was familiar with that defensive, aggressive need to protect your pack as its Alpha. “That trail I followed was set by a Lycan.” And that was why they’d collected their scents, after all. Easing Travis into recognizing that one of his Lycans was to blame was now at a head. Time to face what few facts they had.
“It could be like last time.”
“A poacher and a Lycan?”
“Yup.” Travis stared at the pack’s clubhouse. “I can’t imagine any of them working alone on this. You didn’t see Colby. It was gruesome. For one of them to have done this…”
After seeing them all together, it was hard to picture. “Maybe it is exactly like last time. A Lycan from outside the pack.”
“Our murderer would have to have been in the area for a while, and we’re not that lax on patrols.”
“
What about a Lycan covering their scent and masquerading as a human? Someone who might know about poachers and be able to follow your scents while disguising their own.” Just like two years ago.
“Well, I’d like to think I’d know,” Travis said, “but I honestly didn’t know about Sammy.” He looked out the window. “It’s been hard letting her disappearance go unsolved all this time.”
“Yeah, but no one needs to know. I’d rather they thought it was a rogue Lycan.”
“Some of them know.” Travis’s tone made Jordan turn toward him.
“They guessed?”
“No. The order to be silent was within Glacier pack from my Alpha at the time. When I became Alpha of Rainier pack and a couple of them asked why I hadn’t hunted down a rogue Lycan’s identity or what happened to a human who disappeared around that time, I told them. We’re not around Sammy’s family, and their implication was that I was inept.”
Travis’s tone was defensive…and while it sat like acid that he’d disobeyed an order from his former Alpha, pack rules didn’t prohibit disobeying an order once Travis became an Alpha in his own right.
Finally, Jordan shrugged. “It was your call.”
“It was,” Travis said. “And I did stipulate the information wasn’t to leave our pack or there’d be repercussions.”
“There would be. I staged the scene so it looked like the wolf had killed a serial killer and the poacher had killed the wolf—but that was for the humans who thought there was only one wolf on the scene. We told the pack the truth about that, at least. Dane came off okay because it looked like he’d killed a rogue Lycan, but if it got around that it was Sammy…”
“It won’t.”
“It better not.”
“I said it won’t,” Travis snarled—and only an Alpha facing another Alpha wouldn’t have flinched. As it was, Jordan just shrugged and dropped it. Trying to maintain an Alpha position in this pack couldn’t be easy. Travis shook his head. “What were we talking about before this?”
“The possibility that a Lycan is masquerading as a human, and motive.” Motive was the key—it had to be. There was too much planning involved for this to have been an act of passion or bloodlust. He started the SUV. “What did Colby do?”
This Weakness For You (Entangled Select Otherworld) (Taming the Pack) Page 14