by Celia Kyle
He trembled and twitched, the last vestiges of pleasure slowing while the rapid beat of his heart eased and sluggish calm invaded. He slumped forward, and then carefully eased to her side, pulling her against him as he got comfortable.
Jane curled into him with a soft sigh, body relaxed and boneless.
Reese pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head and gave him a pleasure-tinged moan. “It was incredible. Better than anything I’ve ever felt.”
“Not true.” He grinned. “We’ve had sex before.”
She shook her head. “Not like this. The claiming… the connection. I feel you,” she pressed a hand to her heart. “Here. It’s…”
“Perfection.”
JANE’S soft rhythmic breathing had almost lulled Reese to sleep when an unfamiliar noise filtered through his slumber. Leaves crunching, murmuring voices, shuffling footsteps. He’d almost decided it was just the wind rustling through the trees when a loud voice boomed through the cabin.
“Where’s my daughter, you son of a bitch!”
Reese bolted to his feet in less than a heartbeat. Jane was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes as he yanked on his jeans and then sprinted for the door. Outside, Lance Coleman stood alone at the bottom of the wooden steps, legs spread and his fists propped on his hips. The man’s pungent scent nearly knocked Reese over—sweet and sickly at the same time with a hint of rot. Something was definitely wrong with him, but Reese couldn’t pinpoint the illness. He’d never smelled anything quite like it before.
“Daddy!”
Jane moved to brush past Reese, but he blocked her path. Her father didn’t look as if he was in the mood for a heartwarming family reunion. In fact, the flash of hate in his eyes when Jane came into view reinforced Reese’s decision to hold her back.
“You whore! How dare you leave Coleman lands to cavort with Warren scum!”
Behind Reese, Jane gasped and clutched at his arm. Fear, worry, and pain wafted off her in waves, and his wolf struggled to be set free. It wanted to avenge his mate. Now. Remembering his promise to save her parents, Reese took a deep breath to calm himself, but the elder Coleman wasn’t making it easy.
“And you!” the crazed alpha screamed, shifting his attention to Reese. “Do Warrens have such little respect for family that they would come between a father and his daughter?”
Reese fisted his hands, but Jane’s presence kept him grounded. “Would you come between an alpha and his mate?”
Lance stumbled backward, as if Reese had struck him. “Your…what?”
“My mate,” Reese replied quietly, hoping a soft, soothing tone would cool the man’s rage.
It didn’t.
Lance’s wild gaze finally fell on the fresh mark on Jane’s neck and his face turned an alarming shade of deep red. He sputtered for a moment before taking two aggressive steps forward.
Reese pushed her behind him and snarled loudly. “You hit her once in my presence, but you will never hurt her again. Do you understand? She no longer belongs to your pack. She’s a Warren.”
Lance faltered and confusion, or maybe it was regret, filled his haggard face. “I never meant to…”
Another figure stepped out from behind a tree. The Coleman beta—Jane had called him Ian—leaned toward his alpha, a conniving gleam evident in his eye, even at a distance.
“I can’t believe she betrayed you like that, sir,” he murmured softly, but it was loud enough for Reese to hear it.
“I can’t believe you betrayed me like that, Jane!” Lance echoed.
Jane cowered behind Reese. His blood boiled that the little weasel seemed to have so much power over her father. That stopped tonight, one way or another.
“A true alpha would challenge him. Don’t you think?” Ian continued.
Lance rolled his shoulders back, and after a moment’s pause, shouted. “I challenge you to a fight to the death!”
“No!” Jane cried, once again lurching to put herself between Reese and her father.
Reese spun around and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to meet his eyes. “Do you trust me?” he whispered.
Her terrified gaze flicked between him and her father before settling on him fully. Reese felt the bond between them tighten and then a reassuring calm smoothed the worry lines on Jane’s brow.
“I do,” she whispered.
The last thing Reese wanted to do was kill Lance Coleman. That shithead Ian, maybe, but not Lance. He was clearly ill, and killing him would bring no honor to the Warren pack. But Reese was the alpha of his pack, and the alpha of their enemy had just challenged him. He had no choice but to accept. Turning back to Lance, he took one step forward, his lips pressed into a grim line.
“I accept.”
Ian’s face lit up, but Lance simply turned and walked toward the middle of the clearing. Jane’s trembling fingers wiggled into his hand and he squeezed tightly as he led her down the steps. He stopped at a safe distance and asked again, “Do you trust me?”
She nodded, tears slipping down her cheeks. He longed to wipe them away, but he couldn’t quite yet. He had to fight her father first.
Fuck.
As he approached Lance, a movement caught his eye. Someone else was hiding behind a tree. How many Coleman men had Lance brought along?
“Show yourself!” Reese shouted.
He nearly lost his breath when he saw who stepped from the shadows, clearly in support of the Coleman alpha. Declan, the young sentry who’d questioned him about Jane.
“You!” he growled. “You betray your alpha this way?”
Declan snorted. “You’re no alpha. If you were, just looking at that bitch would make you sick.”
If Lance hadn’t been there waiting to rip his throat out, Reese would have done the same to Declan. The traitor must have sensed Reese’s idea because he turned and bolted into the woods. As desperately as he wanted to chase down Declan and do things that would make the traitor beg for death, it would have to wait.
Reese turned his attention to Lance, who was practically frothing at the mouth. With a heavy sigh, Reese nodded.
“Let’s do this.”
CHAPTER 10
“Daddy, please,” Jane pleaded, keeping a safe distance from him and the man who’d somehow turned her own father against her. “Don’t do this.”
Lance Coleman’s gaze didn’t even flick in her direction—something she should have been used to by now, though it cut her deeply anyway. He simply turned to Reese, his wolf so close to the surface, a fine dusting of golden hair sprouted all over his body.
“Look at you,” he sneered at Reese. “You thought you were such hot shit after your father died. Thought you could do whatever you wanted. Thought you could kill my beta and get away with it!”
A vein in Reese’s neck pulsed with anger, but his outside appearance remained calm. “For the last time, I didn’t kill—”
Lance rolled right over him with a derisive snort. “You can’t even get your own pack to remain loyal. What’s that say about you?”
Reese opened his mouth to answer, but Lance cut him off again.
“I’d say it’s because they don’t trust their new hot shit alpha.” His gaze moved from Reese to Jane, and the pure hate he leveled on her nearly made her retch. “After all, who’d follow an alpha that fucks an enemy bitch?”
Jane had suffered through her father’s disappointment in her before, but she’d always known in her heart that his lectures and rebukes came from a place of love. No matter their differences, regardless of how often they argued, she’d always felt secure that their bond would never break. But the moment his cold, crazed eyes landed on her, she realized the man standing before her mate was no longer her father. Somehow, he’d morphed into a shell that was now filled with hate and avarice. If any doubt remained, his next words clenched it.
“And when this piece of shit upstart is lying in the dirt, the veins from his neck still lodged in my teeth, you’ll be next. Y
ou and that demon spawn in your belly. I swear it.”
Shock and grief knocked Jane off balance, and she stumbled backward, though no distance was far enough away to erase the memory of his threat. Even her wolf, who wouldn’t hesitate for a second to defend the pup growing inside her, whimpered. A sob choked her for a moment and tears spilled freely down her face.
Then warmth swirled around her, embracing her, soothing her. Reese. Their mate bond meant they could sense each other’s emotions, even communicate silently. It only took a single beat of her heart before she calmed. Then she sent him a message only he could hear.
The time has come to end this. Defend yourself, no matter the outcome. My allegiance is to you, my mate, my love, my alpha.
She hoped Reese would be able to diffuse the situation peacefully, but if not, she didn’t want him to hesitate for her sake. Without taking his eyes off Lance, he gave her a small nod. He understood.
“Lance, it’s not too late to stop this,” he growled, stepping forward. His shoulders were braced and his head was held high, like the alpha he was. “But I won’t allow you to threaten my mate and our baby…your grandchild.”
Jane’s father blinked and glanced her way. For a moment, she thought she saw a flicker of…something other than hate in them. Then Ian whispered in his ear. Lance’s attention snapped back to Reese, burning as hot as ever.
“That abomination is nothing to me. She chose her side when she mated with you, and now she’ll suffer the consequences of betraying me.”
Reese restrained himself, and Jane sensed how difficult it was for him to control his instincts. Their brief window to bring this to a peaceful conclusion was closing fast.
“Lance, stop listening to that sniveling, conniving runt,” Reese said through gritted teeth. “You’re not right in the head, my friend.”
Ian glared at Reese and then shot a glance over his shoulder toward the tree line. Jane scanned the area, but saw nothing. Still a heavy sense of unease—more unease—set her nerves jangling. But her father saw none of it. He simply barked out a harsh laugh.
“Friend! That’s a joke. Don’t pretend you give two shits about me, my pack or my family!”
“But I do, Daddy,” Jane said quietly. “You need to see a healer. All of this—” She waved her hands around them. “—it’s not you.”
Nostrils flaring, Lance turned to his daughter. “How would you know? You abandoned us, not once but twice! If anyone’s changed, it’s you. I can’t even look at you. I’m ashamed my daughter is such a wh—”
Before anyone could register the movement, Reese lunged at Lance and slapped him across the face. Hard. The sound of skin meeting skin rang through the small clearing, followed by Lance’s sharp grunt of pain and surprise.
The grunt turned into a growl of outrage as Lance released his sandy-haired wolf. Jane had always marveled at her father’s speed in shifting, but before all four paws hit the dirt, Reese’s black wolf waited, ready for a fight. The fur running down his spine lifted in warning, as if his dripping fangs weren’t enough of one.
The two alphas circled each other like a vicious yin and yang—one light, one dark. Only once they started moving did Jane notice how frail her father’s wolf had grown. Unless her mind was playing tricks on her, his shoulders and hindquarters—once beefy and bulging—appeared shrunken and stringy. Her breaking heart sank into the pit of her stomach and beat double-time as she waited for one to make the first move.
Ian stood across from her, his face glowing with zeal. The bloodlust gleaming in his eyes turned to impatience after the alphas continued circling rather than fighting. He flicked his hand toward the tree line and then six of her father’s biggest enforcers emerged from the dense vegetation. They crept up on the pacing wolves until Ian flashed another hand signal, and they stopped in their tracks, their keen eyes never moving from their leader.
Of course!
Ian had never planned on waiting for the outcome of the fight because he knew what it would be. Reese would prevail, presumably by tearing Jane’s ill father to shreds. At that point, Ian and his goons—most likely just the goons—would jump into the fray and murder Reese.
Ian would no doubt claim they were justified because Reese killed their alpha, but Jane understood the truth immediately. Somehow, in a way she couldn’t yet comprehend, Ian had orchestrated this entire thing so he could seize control of the Coleman pack.
Before she could warn Reese, Ian hissed at Lance. “Do it! Now!”
That was all her father’s wolf needed to lunge for Reese’s throat. Reese deftly avoided the gnashing fangs, leaping sideways and spinning around to brace himself for another attack. Lance stumbled at the near-miss, but quickly regained his feet and planted himself in an aggressive stance.
Reese remained motionless, waiting. He waited for her. He could take out her father in a single swipe of his massive paw, yet he didn’t. He held himself—and his wolf—in check, hoping for some resolution other than death. She couldn’t have picked a better mate if she’d tried.
Lance darted forward, much faster than before, and managed to catch a mouthful of fur along Reese’s neck. Jane screamed at the same moment Reese shook off the other wolf. Again, Reese held firm, allowing Lance to bring himself to his feet. But instead of looking at his opponent, her father’s feral gaze fell on Jane. His teeth pulled back in a sinister snarl, and before she could blink, he leapt at her.
This proved to be Reese’s breaking point. Without hesitation, he tackled the older wolf. They rolled in the dirt, jaws snapping, until Reese came out on top, a single paw planted squarely on Lance’s throat. Saliva from Reese’s exposed fangs dripped down on Lance’s fur.
This was it. The end. Reese’s superior strength had subdued Lance. His only choice was to submit to the superior alpha. Relief brought tears to Jane’s eyes. Her father would live, and they would force him to get the help he needed.
Apparently, Ian realized the same thing, but he wasn’t nearly as happy as Jane. A heavy sweat broke out on his brow and he looked back at his goons. They seemed just as unsure of themselves, which only seemed to fuel Ian’s worry.
“Fight, you idiot!” he shouted frantically at Lance. “Roll! Do something!”
Reese glanced back at Ian, most likely to make sure the sneaky bastard wasn’t trying to sneak up on him. It was just the distraction Lance needed to reach up and chomp down on Reese’s ear.
Howling in surprise, Reese faltered, which allowed Lance to knock him off-balance. Jane’s mate flailed backward as her father scrambled to stay on top of him. Reese fended off Lance’s gnashing teeth until they sank deep into his forearm.
“No!” Jane screeched. As much as she wanted her father to live, she wasn’t about to stand by and watch him kill her mate. If she died in the process…well, at least she’d go down fighting rather than waiting to be torn apart by her father or Ian.
Calling her wolf forward, she’d just started her shift when Reese managed to get his hind feet under Lance and kick him off. Darting forward, he clamped onto Lance’s exposed throat and pinned him down.
Now a different voice screamed, “No!” Ian rushed toward the wolves, but he was knocked to the ground by a blur of white and red. Jane had to blink three times before she believed what her eyes told her. Ginger Coleman kneeled before Reese, hands clasped together, pleading with him.
“Please allow him to live,” she begged. “Please!”
The world went still as everyone waited for his decision. As the victor, it was his choice whether to dole out vengeance or mercy. He chose mercy. Lance crumpled into Ginger’s waiting arms, and she held his battered and bleeding head in her lap.
“Shh,” she cooed as she stroked his fur.
Ian exploded in rage. “No! Attack him, you pathetic old man! Kill!!”
Lance raised his head, trying to locate Reese. A growl rumbled out of him as he set his sights and then tried to get back on his feet, but Ginger held his weak body tightly.
“Lanc
e, I’m here now.” Her voice was consoling, but firm. “Listen to my voice. I know you’re in there, Lance. Please come back to me.”
Lance growled again, but no longer tried to pull away from her. The fire in his eyes flickered, but didn’t go out completely. Ginger glanced over her shoulder at her daughter, and Jane gasped when she saw the vibrant purple bruise on her mother’s cheek. Her father had been erratic and cruel lately, but never in a million years would he willingly hurt his mate. It wasn’t in their nature as werewolves. Mates protected each other against all enemies and against all odds.
“Lance,” her mother continued, “do you remember the day Jane was born? It was the happiest day of your life. Remember that? Remember the way she squalled? Remember how her tiny little fingers wrapped around your thumb for the first time?”
“Shut up, you bitch!” Ian screamed. “You’re ruining everything!”
When he moved toward the couple, Reese put himself between Ian and Jane’s parents. The hackles on his neck raised to their full height and his deep, warning snarl sent shivers up her spine. Wimpy Ian must have wet himself! Even the Coleman enforcers backed away from the massive alpha protecting his family—as sick and twisted as they may have been.
“Lance, my love, my very life, hear my voice and come back to me. You’re sick and you need to see a healer. We can fix this. We can cure you, but you need to stop listening to others and listen to me.”
Lance’s growls grew quieter, but he never stopped, and his eyes remained locked on Reese. Ginger had finally had enough.
“Lance Coleman, stop that right now!”
Everyone in the clearing jumped a little at her sharp command, including Lance, who whimpered in response. Sighing deeply, he laid his weary head in his mate’s lap and changed back to his human form.
“Oh Lance,” Ginger cried, bending over him and cradling his body.
“I’m sorry,” Lance whispered into Ginger’s shoulder. “Please…help me.”
He reached up to hold her, and together they reconnected on a level Jane had never understood before. Now that she’d found her mate, though, she cried for how painful this chasm must have been for her mother. The crazy urge to laugh and cry at the same time overwhelmed Jane. She was about to go to them, to make her family whole once more, when Ian shouted, “This is bullshit!”