by Tara West
Magnus gulped air, hardly realizing he’d been holding his breath. All this time his brothers had stood by him, defending him while their father blamed him for their mother’s death. Never had their support wavered until this night. Why? He clutched his chest, his heart feeling buried beneath an avalanche. “And she let you?”
Raine licked his lips. “She begged for it.”
Clenching his fists tight, Magnus fought the urge to pummel Raine’s face into oblivion. Instinct took over, and he shifted into a giant, hulking protector, panting like a wounded animal while bearing down on Raine. He’d expected his brother to shift, too, but he only blinked at him, unmoved.
A roar erupted from his chest so powerful, the ground shook under their feet and the barn doors rattled. “What’s next? You’ll take her virginity without including me? You’ll vote me out of the pack?”
Raine was impassive. “I never said that.”
“Why not?” Magnus pounded his chest, anger clouding his vision. “Then you could be head alpha.”
Raine went up on his toes. “I already am head alpha!”
Magnus stumbled back, his jaw going slack as he gaped at his brother. “N-no,” he stammered.
Still in human form, Raine advanced on him. “I am as long as you refuse to stand up to Father and continue to blame yourself for our mother’s death.” He sucked in a breath. In an instant he transformed into a giant hulking beast eye-level with Magnus. “I. Am. Head. Alpha.”
Magnus could scarcely hear anything above the torrid beating of his heart and his shallow breaths as he stared into his brother’s golden eyes. He’d expected to see the usual pity there, but this time he saw only revulsion. Something deep inside Magnus snapped, and he let out a deep, dark roar, feeling as if he was expunging not just his breath but his very soul. Panting heavily, he grabbed the barn door and ripped it off its hinges. The door had his mother’s name carved on it inside a heart and was surrounded by the names of her mates and sons. His heart plummeted. Gently leaning the door against the wall, he turned from Raine, unable to meet his eyes.
Raine was right. He’d never have a future unless he let go of the past. He thought of carving Annie’s name into the other side of the door and how much he wanted his name to be joined with hers. He wanted to find a little piece of happiness in his bleak existence, even if he was only half a man and hardly a protector.
A familiar roar cut through the silence, and he spun around, exchanging a apprehensive look with Raine.
“Where are those goddamn boys?” Father slurred drunkenly.
Their father stormed into the barn in human form, not even noticing that the door had been pulled off its hinges. “We have to go,” he said, buckling his belt.
Magnus frowned at him. “Where to?”
Father looked at him through a scowl. “The Coyotechasers called a tribal meeting.”
“You’ve never followed their orders before,” Magnus said.
“Cesar says it’s urgent.” Father threw up his hands. “We have to hear him out.”
How odd that he was suddenly taking commands from the Coyotechasers. This was not like him, which made Magnus suspicious.
“And if it’s not urgent?”
Father rubbed his hands together, flashing a fanged grin. “Then we kick Coyotechaser ass.”
JAX RELUCTANTLY LOADED his shotgun in the back of the truck he shared with his brothers. He didn’t want to bring guns to the meeting, but Father had insisted. He glanced at Raine. “We’d better not need to use these.”
Raine grimaced. “Annie wasn’t happy last time she saw us with guns.”
“I’m tired of the tribal fighting.” Hanging his head, Jax leaned against the truck. “I want a fulfilling life. I want to serve in the Army.” Jax was hardly aware he’d revealed his deepest desire until the words were out. His blood ran cold as he looked over his shoulder for any sign of Father.
Raine clasped Jax’s shoulder. “You would’ve made a good tracker.”
“It’s not too late,” Frey said, grunting as he threw a bag of ammo in back of the truck. Holy cowshit! Was Father preparing for WWIII?
Magnus was heading their way with more guns, and his heart sank. No way would Annie agree to this lifestyle, not that he blamed her. Heck, he didn’t want to bring a mate into the middle of this turmoil.
“Annie’s not going to mate with us until he’s gone,” Jax said, making sure his voice carried far enough for Magnus to hear.
“I know,” Magnus said, adding the case to the weaponry.
Jax shared hopeful looks with Raine. Do you think he’s coming around?
Raine nodded. About damn time.
Their gamma father, Sami, approached, dragging his bad leg behind him. He carried a cooler, no doubt stocked with Vidar’s beer. Jax elbowed Raine when he saw the splatter of blood under Sami’s nose and the bruise darkening his only eye.
“Do you need help, Sami?” Raine asked.
“No,” Sami mumbled. “I’ve got it.”
The weird thing about Sami was that they never called him father. Probably because he never acted like one. Usually he was no more noticeable than the old beaded lamp in a corner of the living room that nobody used for fear it would burn down the house. After their mother and alpha father were murdered, Sami had withdrawn from everyone, claiming his injuries prevented him from shifting. Jax and his brothers agreed it was probably a mental thing, and they’d never pressed him. They’d always been afraid of hurting him by dredging up old demons he was trying to drink away.
Magnus folded his arms. “What happened to your eye?”
Sami tried to heave the cooler into the truck. Frey quickly raced to his side, taking it from him and sliding it in the backseat with one hand.
“Did Father hit you?” Magnus pressed.
Jax wondered why Magnus was so concerned. Was he finally sick of Father’s shit, too?
When he dragged himself back to the house without answering, Magnus stopped him, searching his eyes with concern.
A hopeful seed began to take root in Jax’s chest. If they had Magnus on their side, there would be no stopping them. Father would finally be forced to back down.
Sami sniffled, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. “I haven’t been doing a good job keeping house.” As if that was an excuse for Father to hit him and risk injuring his remaining eye.
Magnus was pissed. “There’s no reason for him to hit you.”
“He’s under a lot of pressure,” Sami answered, looking away.
Magnus shook his head. “Great Ancients, is this how I sound?”
Raine smirked. “Exactly.”
“You’re not well, Sami.” Magnus clutched Sami’s shoulder with his one hand. “That bully knows it, too.”
A tear slipped down Sami’s cheek. “I’m well enough to make dinner and clean the floors.”
Magnus released Sami like he had the plague. “That monster needs to go.”
Sami’s shoulders fell. “Where do you propose he go?”
“This house belongs to all of us. If we all stand firm, he’ll have no choice but to leave.”
Sami looked at Jax and Raine in alarm. “He won’t go peacefully.”
Jax again looked over his shoulder to make sure Vidar wasn’t nearby, hating himself for his cowardice. “We lost our sister because of him. We won’t be able to bring a mate here until he’s gone.”
To Jax’s delight, his brothers, including Magnus, voiced their agreement.
“You still haven’t told me where he’ll go.” Sami’s voice shook like a sapling in a thunderstorm.
Magnus’s face reddened, making him look like a volcano ready to explode. Removing the case of guns from the back of their father’s truck, he threw it into the horse trough, laughing. “He can go to hell for all I care.”
Chapter Nine
CESAR STOOD AT THE pulpit like a preacher ministering to his flock, frowning at his tribe. They were in the old barn that had been converted into a meeting hall.
Magnus leaned against a wall in a darkened corner, eyeing Annie, who sat on a bale of hay in the front row, legs crossed at the ankles. Her lower lip trembled as she wiped a tear from her eye. What had upset her? If his brothers had hurt her during their marking, he’d pummel them. She scanned the room and stopped on Magnus. His world came to a grinding halt at the hopeless look in her eyes. He ached with the need to protect her.
“Brothers and sisters, please be seated,” Cesar said from his podium, waving at the bales of hay circling him.
Shifters took their seats in an orderly fashion, which was strange. He didn’t remember Amaroki speeding to their seats when Father was in charge. Usually Father had been forced to break a beer bottle over the side of the podium to get their attention. He also noted how those tribal members who’d supposedly been on Vidar’s side wouldn’t make eye contact with any of the Wolfstalkers, which meant they’d all turned on Vidar.
“Thank you for coming at such short notice,” Cesar continued grimly. “We have no time for formalities. Our tribe has faced many trials these past twelve years, but never have we faced a crisis of this magnitude. As many of you know, Annie Thunderfoot and her uncles are visiting from Alaska.” He nodded at her with a tight smile. “Blessed by the Ancients, Annie has the gift of telepathy. Not the kind that we all share within our packs, but she can listen to anyone’s thoughts, even humans and demons.”
The crowed broke into gasps and murmurs.
Magnus straightened and glanced at his brothers. “Did you know this?” he asked Raine.
“First I’m hearing of it.”
“Yesterday she heard the thoughts of two demons,” Cesar continued. “They are sex traffickers, and they know about the Amaroki.”
The gasps and murmurs grew louder, accompanied by whimpers and cries.
Raine stiffened, his face a mask of stone.
She didn’t tell you that either? Magnus projected into his mind.
No, brother, Raine answered solemnly. She didn’t.
Magnus jerked when Cesar banged on the podium. “Quiet, please.” He held his hands out, trying to control the crowd with a calm voice. “Their magic can’t harm us. One of the demons was found dead yesterday, but the other is still at large.” He held up a picture of a large black man with ripped jeans and a bald head that shone like marble. “This is what he looks like. We have strong reason to believe this demon killed his partner and kidnapped Agent Roy Miller, Annie’s brother. The trackers traced them to a heavily guarded ranch. We think that’s where they’re keeping Agent Miller hostage.”
Pushing off from the wall with a curse, Magnus shared dark looks with his brothers.
Father let out an ominous, deep chuckle while smacking his open palm with a fist. “Why is that our concern?”
Cesar looked at Vidar like he was a wayward toddler who’d been caught stealing cookies. “Agent Miller may be in trouble.”
“Let me guess,” Father said with a sneer. “You want Amaroki to risk their lives for a human.”
Annie jumped to her feet, hands fisted by her sides. “He’s my brother!”
“So?” Father chuckled. “No good can come of this,” he warned the others, his gaze sweeping the room. “When we risk our lives for humans, we risk everything.”
Cesar gave him a long look of derision. “I need every available tracker. I will also need protectors. Breaking into this compound will get ugly.”
Jax pushed off from the wall and stuck a hand in the air. “I’ll go.”
“Like hell you will,” Father roared, facing down Jax.
Surprisingly, Jax stood his ground, snarling at Father.
Raine held up a hand, smirking at Father. “I’ll go, too. We’re not sitting on our asses while our mate’s brother is in danger.”
Father threw back his head with a roar, his brothers ducking behind him while he swung his fists. “You goddamn worthless pussies.”
“Worthless?” Raine chuckled. “You’re slap-ass drunk every day by noon, and you call us worthless? Look around.” Raine gestured at the rest of the tribe, that had gone eerily silent. “Your tribe has abandoned you. Nobody respects you, least of all your sons.”
“I’ll kill you!” Father shifted, bursting through his clothes and pounding his chest like an ape. With a roar, he launched at Raine, who shifted and matched Father’s blows, letting out a howl when Father raked long nails down his face. Jax and Frey shifted into angry wolves, nipping at Father’s feet and crying out when he kicked them. Magnus’s other fathers slunk into the shadows, saying nothing.
Tor Thunderfoot and Cesar Coyotechaser transformed into protectors, too, roaring as they tried to pull Father and Raine apart.
“Stop!” Annie cried, racing toward them.
Magnus’s vision tunneled on Annie, and he ran toward her. Time seemed to slow, and he felt as if his feet were once again stuck in quicksand, just like in his dream, as he dodged flying bales of hay to reach her. He couldn’t let anything happen to her.
Scooping her up in his arms and then draping her across his back, he ignored her protests, taking a glancing blow to the head when he ducked under his father and carried her to the exit.
“Go help your brothers, you goddamn coward!” she cried, punching him.
He winced, his heart splitting in two at her admonition, but he refused to release her until she was safe.
“Let me go!” she screamed. “Raine! Jax! Frey!”
Magnus’s cracked heart shattered in a million pieces when she called for his brothers. Couldn’t she see he was helping them by keeping her safe? Didn’t she understand his job was to protect her from harm? That he’d failed before, and he was determined not to fail again?
Once they were safely outside and sheltered inside a nearby set of old stalls, he lowered her to the ground, painfully aware of her tempting smell and the feel of her soft skin, and especially of her denim-clad leg grazing his groin when she slid down the length of his body. He smelled something else on her, too: his brothers. Their trace was all over her, from her hair to her feet. It seemed they’d left no part of her untouched. Bastards.
“You’re not leaving my side until the fighting is over.” He sat on a hay bale and forced her to sit beside him.
The sound of women and children screaming, wood splintering, and bodies slamming into one another made him cringe. He hoped his father didn’t kill anyone. Other shifters ran out of the barn, women clutching babes to their chests and alphas shielding them. They fled in the other direction when they saw him. He wondered if they ran because they feared or loathed him. He supposed it didn’t make much difference. The Wolfstakers had become the tribe pariahs, thanks to Father.
“Magnus, let go.” Her lower lip quivered. “Your grip is too tight.”
He instantly released her, feeling like a ten-pound bucket of dogshit for upsetting her. “Sorry. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“I’m not hurt.” She touched his forehead. “You’re bleeding.”
Her gentle caress electrified him. He looked into her eyes, a beautiful mixture of silver, violet, and blue.
“I’m fine,” he breathed.
He wasn’t lying. Pain was irrelevant when he was so near this tempting woman. He badly wanted to kiss her soft, plump lips and wondered how it would feel to have them wrapped around his cock. He wanted to mark her as his brothers had done. He hardened at the thought and then hardened even more when she released a wave of pheromones.
Angry with himself for his lust, he stood, turning from her, and adjusted himself.
When he turned back to her, she was looking away. Crossing one leg over the other, she toyed with a loose thread on her top. Was she turned on as much as he was? She had to be. That’s why she smelled so good.
“Sit down.” She frowned. “Let me take a look.”
Magnus was about to protest, but treating him would keep her busy and away from the violence. Besides, he longed to feel her fingers on his skin again.
“Will Vidar really kill Rai
ne?” she asked, fingering the injury on his head.
He winced when she touched him, then swore at a sharp pain that felt like she was removing a nail from his scalp.
Removing a shard of wood as long as her index finger, she showed it to him. “What the hell, Magnus?”
He remembered being struck by his father’s glancing blow. Had Vidar hit him with a board or stick? “Guess my father fights dirty.” Blood dripped into his eye, and he wiped it away.
Pulling a pretty scarf from her hair, she wrapped it around his head. “This will have to do until we can get you to a hospital.”
“I don’t need a hospital,” he said, feeling bad that she’d ruined her scarf for him. “It will stop.”
“You’re going.” She looked around in alarm when a thunderous roar shook the ground. “Do you think your brothers are okay?”
“They’re faster than Vidar, and they’ll be able to focus without worrying about you getting hurt,” he said.
“I hope you’re right.” She chewed her lower lip and winced when they heard another boom.
Magnus knew it was wrong to be envious of his brothers, but he couldn’t help the wave of jealousy flowing through him. “You care about them?”
“Of course.”
When the slightest of smiles tugged at her lips, a fire lighting in her eyes, he knew she was thinking sexual thoughts. She was probably remembering their wicked night of pleasure without him.
“Did you have fun with them last night?” he asked, unable to keep the note of accusation from his voice.
Cheeks flushing, she looked away. “Yes.”
“I smell them all over you,” he said, unable to stop himself.
She flashed a provocative and bold smile. “Jealous?”
“What do you think?”
She cocked her head with a laugh. “Then you should’ve come.”
“I wasn’t invited,” he said, hating himself for picking an inopportune time to get a boner. Her lilting voice should’ve frustrated him, but it only made him harder.
“You’re the alpha.” She jabbed him, spitting out the words like they were made of venom. “You don’t wait for an invite.”