by Jessic Ryan
The man was one of the cleanest-looking shifters she had ever seen. He was a tall man, but not muscular like Travis, with ice blue eyes that looked coldly on everyone sitting around the table. He reminded her more of a mob boss than an alpha wolf with his slicked-back silver hair and perfectly-tailored Armani suit.
Yet there was also something sexy about him, something that took her breath away when she looked at him. There was raw power radiating off this man, a kind she had felt only once before.
Shit, Paige realized. He’s not a wolf, he’s a goddamn vampire.
It was obvious to her in that moment as she felt the dominance radiate off of him, the assured cockiness that only the undead displayed. She had only met one vampire, Victor Dance, but she could spot them anywhere after that encounter.
Travis felt it too, gripping her hand and growling under his breath. If anyone hated vampires more than she did, it was her mate.
“Welcome,” another man said, standing up from the table. “We’ve been expecting you, Travis.”
Travis grunted in response. The man’s eyes lingered on Paige for a moment before a kind smile crossed his lips. “I see you’ve brought your mate. She is very lovely.”
He stepped forward, taking Paige’s hand in his own. He was warm, very warm, marking himself as a shifter. He was completely bald, with hard, jagged facial lines that led to a black goatee with a silver streak right down the middle of his chin. He was shorter than Travis, but stockier. She wanted to call him Fridge—something about him reminded her of the old beer fridge Billy kept in the garage.
Travis’ eyes grew wide and his lips pulled back from his teeth as he gave a silent snarl over the man’s unwanted touching. The new wolf ignored Travis and bent low to kiss Paige’s hand.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, ma’am,” he said politely.
“Thank you,” she said, her face flushing with embarrassment. He was just being formal and polite, but she could feel Travis’ grip tightening on her other hand just the same. “I’m Paige Strong.”
“Paige,” the man said, like he was repeatedly rolling her name over in his head. “I like that name. My name is Asher. I am the head alpha of the Miami packs.”
“Well, then, we’re in the right place,” Paige said, laughing.
Asher looked up at Travis, his polite expression unchanging. He either didn’t feel threatened by Travis or he was a master at hiding his emotions, because the look Travis was giving him would certainly cower a lesser man or wolf.
“Travis,” Asher said, putting his arm around her mate’s neck. “I’m very pleased to have you here. It’s not often we have an alpha move into the neighborhood.”
Travis just grunted and followed him to the table. Paige hesitated for a second; the whole situation made her uncomfortable. Asher seemed nice enough, but the vampire still sat at the head of the table watching them all. She took a deep breath and followed them to the table, hoping Travis didn’t say something that would get them both killed.
Chapter 2
Travis took a seat directly to Asher’s left with the rest of the shifters at the table shuffling down a spot. Nobody moved to let Paige sit down—it was obvious she wasn’t as welcome with the others as she was Asher.
“Would you like my seat?” Travis asked Paige.
“No, I’m okay,” she said, patting him on the shoulder.
A few of the other shifters at the table grunted their displeasure at his offer.
Travis smiled and then stood up. “No, baby, I insist. You’ve been walking a lot and I don’t feel much like sitting.”
Paige smiled nervously and sat down. Travis glared at one particular shifter who was giving him a deadly stare. He was definitely a wolf—Travis could smell it on him. He had tan skin and a bald head accented by bushy, silver eyebrows. It looked like he had once been in shape, but his muscles had been replaced with the kind of flab that follows someone when they get too comfortable.
The stare-down continued for several tense seconds before Asher cleared his throat and spoke up.
“Brothers and sisters,” Asher said. “Please welcome Travis and Paige to the fold. They are shifters from the great state of Oklahoma and they have just moved into our territory.”
Many of the shifters nodded a greeting or waved a hand. Travis expected a formal introduction to each one, but Asher just continued with his speech.
“As you all know, the Miami area is controlled by this council and has been for seventy years. Travis was an alpha where he came from, but his pack was destroyed during a misunderstanding,” Asher said.
Misunderstanding? Travis thought. It was murder.
“You all know the rules,” Asher continued. “For a shifter to live in our territory and reproduce, they must be a pack member.”
Shit, Travis thought, tightening his grip on Paige’s shoulder. She gave him a worried look but he just nodded forward for her to listen. He had expected that this was the reason for the meeting. Jacob had once told him that packs formed a large alliance in bigger cities in order to control the shifters.
“Normally we allow a new pack member a pledge period before we decide if we will accept them or not,” Asher said. “As you all know, this is the custom.”
The other shifters nodded their agreement once more.
“However,” Asher said, standing up and walking to an empty chair at the end of the table. “As you all know, our Sunset Pack leader recently departed when he… how should I say this? When he reached a little too high.”
I don’t like where this is going, Travis thought.
“Our departed alpha decided he didn’t want to do business with the Giacomo family anymore,” Asher said. “In the end they had to deal with him as they saw fit. Do we seek retribution?”
A few of the shifters grumbled and glanced up at the vampire sitting at the head of the table. Finally he rose and looked down at them.
“I am here to extend an olive branch,” the vampire said. “Things got heated, but that was because your alpha interfered in our business dealings. He wanted a piece of the pie, a piece that was not due to him.”
A few of the shifters nodded in agreement. Travis felt himself getting sick to his stomach. This group was in bed with the vampire and his crime family.
“So we would like the pack to return to the Sunset area,” the vampire said. “Under new leadership, of course.”
Travis felt really sick now. The vampire was looking directly at him.
“We have a great opportunity, brothers,” Asher said. “We can forge a bond with the Giacomos that Sonny would never have formed. We have a new alpha in our midst who doesn’t have a pack and doesn’t have any of the bad blood or history that was there before.”
Everyone was now nodding their heads in agreement.
“An alliance between the Miami packs and the Giacomo family would benefit everyone,” Asher said, drawing his fist up in front of his face. “Travis would lead the pack with help from Bartoli and me until he is up and running.”
“It would be my pleasure to help,” the vampire—who Travis could only assume was Bartoli—said.
“What do you say?” Asher asked, turning to Travis. “You would have a pack again and be free to do what you want here in Miami,” he added, turning his eyes to Paige. “Even reproduce.”
Paige looked back up at Travis, her expression even more worried than before. He could feel his blood boiling. He had to remove his hand from Paige’s shoulder before his grip tightened to the point that he would hurt her. This was unacceptable. He’d known he would have to join their pack, but he hadn’t realized they would try to put him in some kind of puppet leadership position under a goddamn vampire. What was worse was that Asher obviously knew his past history, and how he felt about vampires.
Paige grabbed him by the front of the shirt and pulled him down, whispering furiously in his ear. “Don’t do anything crazy. Ask for more time to think about it.”
When Travis looked up again, they were all
staring at him.
“Can I have some time to think about this?” he asked, his voice quivering as he spoke. He could barely hold back his rage as he looked around.
“Of course,” Asher said, smiling. “We will check with you tomorrow night.”
“I only get twenty-four hours?” Travis asked, his voice rising.
“You have to understand, Travis,” Bartoli said with an icy coolness to his voice. “This is a time-sensitive matter. We will pay you a visit tomorrow.”
Travis growled at the vampire, barely able to prevent himself from leaping up on the table and tearing his insides out. Luckily Paige was already on her feet, pulling Travis towards the exit.
“Thank you, gentlemen,” she said, bowing her head. “We look forward to your visit.”
Just as they reached the door Travis heard Bartoli speak again.
“Oh, and Travis,” Bartoli said. “I will be expecting a ‘yes’. We won’t have any more incidents like we did with Victor Dance. I don’t forgive or forget.”
You son of a bitch, Travis thought as he stopped and tensed up. Paige squeezed his hand, calming him back down. He took a deep breath and followed her out the door.
Chapter 3
The ride home was one of the most silent and tense Paige had ever experienced with Travis. Every time she started to speak she stopped after one look at his face. He was clearly in no mood to have this discussion.
It was obvious that the night’s events were weighing heavily on his mind, and why shouldn’t they? He had a fantastic opportunity to jump right into a new area as alpha of his own pack. The only drawback was that he would be under careful scrutiny by a vampire.
It was just one vampire, she thought as they continued to drive. This is a totally different vampire, even if he is into organized crime.
That part bothered Paige a bit; Bartoli was obviously some sort of mob boss. At the same time she’d learned that the lines between legal and illegal seemed to blur when dealing with the supernatural—they didn’t always follow man’s law.
She and Travis couldn’t have children until they were accepted into this community. If Travis turned down the offer, he could end up being removed from the area or even killed. She didn’t put it past that group to deal with shifters who didn’t fall in line with a strong hand.
Finally they pulled into their driveway, with Travis not even waiting for the car to stop before he jumped out and slammed his door.
Not another temper tantrum, Paige thought. He had gotten much better at controlling his emotions recently, but every now and then he still had flare-ups like this.
She sighed and quickly parked the car, then chased him around to the back of the house. She found him standing on the beach, staring out at the water with his fists clenched.
“You need to talk to me about this!” she demanded, stomping up behind him. “I’m your mate, goddammit! You can’t bottle everything up!”
“Can’t I?” he asked, spinning around. “It’s obvious that you’re going to want this. You want a family, I know that. We can’t have a family unless I agree to this. I need to agree to be a pack alpha under the thumb of a goddamn vampire?”
“You don’t even know this vampire!” she said, poking Travis in the chest.
“I don’t need to know him,” he growled back. “He has fangs and he sucks blood. That’s all I need to know.”
“You can’t treat every vampire like Victor Dance,” she said, pulling his hand into her own. “Please, Travis, you have to think about this. I love it here in Florida. I get to see my parents all the time, and my nieces. Billy is finally back in the saddle, making a good go at life. You can’t uproot us because you can’t swallow your pride.”
Travis pulled away, staring out at the water again. “They know. They know everything about Bowshot. They want me to fall in line. How do I know this vampire doesn’t know Victor? What if he’s trying to force me to fall in line as some sort of sick game for Victor?”
“You’re being paranoid,” she said, putting her hands on his powerful shoulders. “Please. You’ve already sacrificed your pack for us. Now you have a chance to get it back and raise our family. Please.”
“I’ll think about it,” he said. “But I don’t think I’ll do it.”
“If you don’t,” she said, tears starting to form in her eyes, “then I don’t know if I can stay here with you. Dammit, Travis they’ll kill you if you don’t fall in line. I’m not going to sit around and wait for my mate to get murdered over his stubborn pride. Over something that happened a world away. They’ve offered you something great, and you refuse to take it because of who their partner is. You have more than just yourself to think about now, Travis Bowshot.”
“My name is Travis Strong,” he said, turning to look at her with defiance in his eyes.
“It won’t be for much longer,” she said, unable to meet his gaze. She turned and rushed away, trying to keep it together as she headed for the house.
Damn his pride, she thought. Damn it all.
Chapter 4
Travis sat on the beach, staring out at the sea that opened up in front of him. The sea was free—it did whatever it wanted. There was nobody to control it, to tell it when it could make hurricanes or when it could spit out something new. It had dominion over itself.
Unfortunately, Travis was just a pawn in a larger game, with no control over what was coming. Paige had put him in a tough position: he had to fall in line and join up with the packs, or he’d be alone again.
I’ve spent too much time as a lost alpha, he thought. It’s time to pass on my legacy to my children.
What legacy did he have, though? He was a beta male who had lost his entire pack to a vampire’s greedy machinations. Now he lived in a beautiful place with an even more beautiful mate, but it would all be snatched from him if he didn’t step up and lead like his alpha position demanded.
“It’s not an easy decision, is it?” a familiar voice said behind him.
Travis turned slowly from where he was seated to find the head alpha Asher looking at him.
“I didn’t even hear you walk up,” Travis said flatly.
“Of course you didn’t,” Asher said, stopping behind Travis. “I didn’t want you to hear me.”
The older wolf was wearing a blue cabana shirt and khaki shorts, with his hands plunged deep into the pockets. He looked more tourist than alpha right now, like he didn’t have a care in the world.
‘You can sit down if you want,” Travis said, scooting over.
“Don’t mind if I do,” Asher said, flopping down beside Travis.
“Are you here to convince me?” Travis asked, pulling his knees in close. He didn’t make eye contact with Asher as he talked, he just stared out at the water.
“I wouldn’t say ‘convince’,” Asher said, picking up a rock off the beach and skipping it into the water with ease. “Just tell you it’d be a mistake if you didn’t accept.”
“That sounds like a threat,” Travis said.
“It’s not a threat,” replied. “It’s the truth.”
Travis finally turned and looked at Asher, his nostrils flaring with anger. “So I move out here and you threaten me and my family?”
“Nobody threatened your family,” Asher said. “Nobody threatened you.”
“Then what is it?” Travis asked.
“Wise up, buddy,” Asher said, leaning forward and putting his finger in Travis’ face. “You said it yourself earlier: you moved out here. You moved into our territory. I don’t know how you do things in Oklahoma, but we have a way of doing things out here in Miami that keeps the peace between packs.”
“We never had problems with pack war in Oklahoma,” Travis said, shaking his head.
“Probably because you were spread out,” Asher proposed. “Am I right?”
“Yes,” Travis said, looking down at the sand on the beach. He didn’t like where this conversation was going—he could already tell he was beaten.
“There�
��s eight thousand wolves in Miami-Dade County and twenty-seven packs,” Asher said. “How do you think things would work out, keeping ourselves from the humans, if we let every wolf living here do what they wanted? Sure, you may be a great guy. As a matter of fact, I don’t doubt you’re a great guy who wouldn’t do a thing to upset the peace.”
“I wouldn’t,” Travis vowed.
“Beside the point,” Asher said, his jaw clenched and his eyes opened wide. “We have rules. If we let every wolf in this area do what they wanted, then we’d have open warfare in the streets. Right now we have no territory beefs and no problems.”
“You want me to work with a vampire,” Travis said.
“So fucking what?” Asher asked, throwing his hands in the air. “This is unbelievable! You have a prime opportunity to move up the ranks here in Miami and you’re going to throw it all away?”
“You don’t know how I feel about vampires,” Travis said.
“The past is the past, Travis. I don’t care what happened before. Bartoli is not Charles Dance. He’ll treat you fairly and make your life perfect. If you defy him then your life will be a living hell.”
“So I just give myself up to a vampire? I just let him control me?”
“God damn you,” Asher said. “You don’t let him control you, you work with him.”
“Or for him.”
“Whatever, man,” Asher said. He started to walk off, then stopped. Slowly he turned and looked at Travis, pointing the whole time. “You know, Travis, there’s an old saying: if you want to get along, you need to go along. Do what’s right for your family and accept my offer. Your mate will thank you when she’s raising your pups and you’re a made wolf. I’ll be back at this time tomorrow night with Bartoli. You seem like a good kid. Don’t disappoint me.”
Travis buried his face in his hands and nearly screamed as Asher walked away, leaving him alone again.