Argus: Accepting the Challenge

by Jana Leigh

  He found Lacy, the July Chosen very intriguing. She was a Witch and the overseer of mates. Her mates were two bears, Sevi and Shawn ran the store in Milliken. His informants had found that they were very tight lipped about their mate. Argus had a few Witches in his Pride. They were mated to shifters of course, but they were still Witches. When they came to him to join his Pride, he had been hesitant. Argus had not known much about the covens in the area. But the women had proved to be very useful. They used their potions to help the Pride and now he was grateful they were here.

  Devon was the Beta of the Council, and one of the Chosen. Argus knew he had mated someone named Sid and Casey. Casey was also a member of the Council with her twin. Devon was a serious wolf, and was good at his job. As the Beta of the Pack, he was the leader of the Enforcers. Argus had heard of the training camp that was run in the mountains of Colorado. In fact, he had wanted to send some of his Warriors there for training, but had not had the chance. All he had heard about the camp was the shifters who joined came out disciplined and strong. They were also, happy and dedicated to their jobs. Being an Enforcer or Warrior could be a hard life. Sometimes it made it difficult to find a mate, because you were always defending the people. Argus was impressed that most of the Enforcers had found their mates.

  Cloe was the medical adviser of the Council born on the 1st of September. She had trained a few of the doctors in shifter anatomy, so she was not the only one in the area that could help. That had proven to be a good thing when the Council Compound had been bombed and all the New Council had been injured in some way. Argus had almost flown out then, but something held him back he had waited to see what happened. Before he put his Pride in the line of fire, Argus needed to know the Alphas were strong enough to survive this. They had been and in fact, they had proven to him that they were truly strong Alphas. Cloe's, mates Teagan and Darien, were both trained in triage too. Apparently, even though they were injured, the three of them had taken care of everyone who had been hurt that day while the compound was in lock-down.

  Trinity was the newest member of the Council; he did not know much about her yet, other than, she had found her mates, Blaze, and some man named Lagon. He was waiting on the report on them. Clearly it was going to be very interesting reading. His informant found it strange that Lagon was neither a human nor a shifter that he could tell, although he disappeared quite often and hung around the nursery a lot. Argus had laughed and thought that he must be the new diaper changer.

  Last was the child of November, who would be the Old Council liaison. He would take suggestions from the Old Council and bring them to the New Council. This Chosen would also be the one who took possession of all the Old Council’s paperwork, and Pack members who would follow the New Council.

  Of course, he was last. December, the one who was the liaison for all the magical community. No one knew he had a head start. He intended to keep it that way too.

  Argus closed the book with a snap, looked out the window, and waited for Jacob to come to his office. The man was late. He was supposed to be out getting some food. Argus needed a little time to himself, and wanted some good Tex Mex before they left.

  Quin had started the Denver Pack years ago when the Old Council decided the United States needed monitoring. There were too many Packs, Prides, and Dens popping up without any guidance or regulations. So Quin came to help set up a governing body. Argus knew the moment he arrived that things were going to change. Although he wanted to fulfill his destiny the Gods had given him, he still waited and watched while Quin set things in motion. He could have come forward at anytime. But he was a cautious man, and had chosen to make sure that things were right for himself and his Pride first. If Argus had come forward before, his Pride would have suffered. He was sure of it; they were made up of too many shifters and magical beings not to have had problems. Until they were sure about Quin's feelings on other species, they had needed to remain cautious.

  Chapter 1

  Cami and her mates sat in the large suite they were using in the bed and breakfast. Of course, their Pack house had been blown up and sustained heavy damage, and so they were rebuilding, and until then they were staying here. Not that it was bad, but having the whole New Council and their mates in the same dwelling for more than a week now had begun to become stressful. Quin thought they should remain together even though some of their houses were ready. The security would be easier until they sorted things out.

  They all wanted their space, but the security had to be strengthened first. So they were all stuck. Cami and her friends made the best out of it, having girl time, laughing, and getting to know each other better. So many new women had become part of the New Council that they had not had time to bond. Now they did, of course, that was the major headache that her mates and the other men were having. The girls were sharing too much and generally causing problems for the Enforcers.

  Quin ran his hand over his face for the hundredth time this morning and said calmly, “Cami, you, and the other female mates have done it this time. The Enforcers are refusing to guard you all when you are having a chick’s night. They’ve started drawing straws for who takes that duty. Steph and Morgan are going to be scarred for life they said. What the hell were you talking about anyway?”

  “None of your business. What we talk about together stays together. It is not my fault that you have Enforcers posted on the inside of the room. You made that call. Gosh they are so squeamish, Morgan is just pissed he did not know what a vaginal orgasm was compared to a clitoral orgasm. Then when we had to tell him he turned bright red and refused to look at us.” Cami said and shrugged.

  Jaden laughed and covered his mouth, while Quin struggled to keep a straight face. Cami was settling into her place as the female Alpha a little too much. “Cami, I already had to calm the male members of the New Council down when you and the rest got tattoos. Then when you and the rest kicked Jordan’s mates out of her hospital room so you could have girl time, I covered for you. But you have gone too far now. Jordan is still in a partial body cast for God’s sake.”

  Cami smiled and looked at her mate. “We did not cut off the cast or anything. She wanted the tattoo right where she got it. Jordan is a big girl; she can make her own decisions.”

  Quin groaned and said, “Really, cause her mates are pissed. What if she gets an infection or something to hinder her healing? Then what?”

  “Please, it is not like we took her to a back alley or anything. The needles were sterilized and clean, as was the Enforcer who did it.” Cami said flicking her wrist at her mate in dismissal. What was the big deal? Everyone who was not pregnant, which admittedly was only a few of the New Council mates, had gotten a little drunk last night. Jordan wanted a tattoo and so they arranged it. It wasn’t like they killed someone.

  “No more, you and the rest of the women need to stop. We have serious business that needs to be taken care of.” Quin said.

  “I know, the Challenge. I know. We have decided the women should take out the weasel before the Challenge and solve all our problems. The nerve of that asshole to think he could beat you.” Cami said, and began to steam again about the subject.

  Jaden groaned and sat back to listen as their little mate stormed around the room and hit things. She had been doing this every time it was brought up. Michael had challenged Quin for the Alpha position a few days ago. Everyone knew the wolf had tried to take advantage of Quin’s weakened state, if Quin was a hundred percent there was no way Michael would have had the balls to challenge him.

  Quin looked around the room, the light was shining through the window and lighting up his mates profiles. It made them seem angelic. And they were his angels, the love shown from their eyes and he had to force himself to remain on the subject at hand.

  “Cami we have to play this out. Michael Challenged and I have two weeks to answer. I will push it as far as I can. But I will face him. There is something else going on here though. That is why we want you to be aware of what you are doing
.” Quin said patiently.

  Cami rolled her eyes and nodded. “Of course my big bad Alpha. I have been properly chastised. Now, the babies want some parenting time before we have to go back into meetings.”

  Jaden smiled and kissed his mate. “Wow, I almost believed that you were not going to continue to cause problems.”

  ***

  “Ladies, the gig is up.” Cami said as she walked into the room that they had taken over and called the ‘chicks nest’. It was a large conference room on the bottom floor of the Bed and Breakfast. For a short while, they had computers and other things set up in here, but the men had since claimed another room after having to listen to them for a few days. Devon had been pissed when one of his Enforcers claimed that he was scarred for life after listening to a conversation the women had. He claimed that they were messing with the Enforcers concentration. Casey, his mate had taken care of that nicely by telling him to ‘suck it up cupcake’. That had started to become their motto to their men.

  Jo looked up from what she was doing and frowned. “What? You too? I just got a lecture from Tey telling me that I was going to have to dial it back a little. We need to reassure people, using my gift is the easiest way. He is just pissed that I also told Shane that Emily was hot for him.”

  “Hey girls, we have a visitor.” Cloe called from the doorway and they turned. Cloe was pushing in Jordan who had been seriously injured in the bomb blast. Trinity was following behind.

  Jordan was the only human on the Council. She was unable to be changed into a shifter so she would always be vulnerable. Her mates were over protective because of this. They were surprised the men had let her out of their sight.

  “Did you break her out?” Cami asked smiling and coming to give Jordan a kiss on the cheek.

  “Nah, I just let a few tears fall, and cried about being lonely and they jumped to get Cloe.” Jordan laughed. “The doc here says that because of their claiming I am actually healing faster than a human but not as fast as a shifter. So hopefully soon, I will get to take off these stupid casts. They are driving me nuts.” Jordan complained and hit her legs and laughed. “I itch in some embarrassing places.”

  Trinity smiled at the women who had become her best friends in such a short period and said, “Yeah, she just wants to have a bottle of the wine we were drinking yesterday.”

  “Damn straight.” Jordan laughed. “Since Romy and Larkin can’t scratch my itch, I need to drown my sorrows.”

  “Okay ladies, the men are off planning their little strategies and all that important stuff that we females would not know anything about. So while they are busy I wanted to talk about what we are going to do about this fucked up situation.” Cami said and looked around the room at the women she had grown to think of as sisters. Jo, Casey, Ruby, Cloe, Lacy, Jordan, Trinity, and Kira looked at her and smiled.

  Ariel walked through the doors and announced, “Good morning ladies. I hear we are having a pow wow in here about what is going on?”

  Cami laughed and said, “Of course, you know we are the real brains of the Council.”

  Ariel smiled and nodded. She was the Queen of the Northern Pride’s King Ryan. They had come to help Jordan and her mates out when they needed to have support. And since then had decided to move their Pride to Milliken. Ryan and Ariel had been invaluable when the explosion took out the New Council house. They had taken over and gotten people organized. Quin and Jaden were talking about making them honorary advisors of the New Council. They were an asset they did not want to lose.

  “I know, I know, the men think they are so smart. It’s sad really how they’ve fooled themselves. Anyway, here is the scoop. I talked to the wolf that was dating Michael for a while. She said that he was normal until a few months ago. When he was on patrol in Denver with his partner, they were jumped and attacked by the Rogues. His partner disappeared and Michael came back changed. She said he was short tempered and volatile. She finally broke it off when she got tired of his disappearing mysteriously, and taking strange calls at all hours of the day and night.” Ariel said.

  Cami looked around the room and smiled. “This is what we are going to do. Cell phones aren’t secure, can they hack his cell? Once they get the number he’s calling, they can back trace to see what other numbers that number calls. Aha! ”

  Chapter 2

  Skye blew the hair out of her face and then hefted the tray of food she was supposed to be delivering. As she made her way across the kitchen, she thought of that old country song. If she didn’t have bad luck, she wouldn’t have any luck at all. First, last week when she decided she was gonna leave her good for nothing boyfriend who took all of her paychecks for his beer and buddies. Since she snuck out while he was passed out, she could only take what she could carry. That had not been much. She only took a small bag full of jeans and sweats, plus some personal items and his beater of a car. The damn thing had made it as far as the city limits of Dallas and had broken down. The small suburb she had broken down in was not the best neighborhoods. But it had a cheap motel and a restaurant across the street she got hired to work in to make the money she needed to fix her ex-asshole’s car. She finally had that, now she just wanted a little extra for traveling money. She figured, to be safe she should work for another week, maybe two.

  Her boss was an asshole and the customers were rude. Still, she made some good tips, and right now, that is what she was holding on to. Skye was short and round, she did not think she was fat, that is, until her boyfriend told her so every damn day. He said that she could make a hard on limp by looking at her naked body. It had embarrassed her and pissed her off all at once, because he said it in front of his drunken buddies.’

  She wasn’t blind. She knew she was a little on the short side and could probably lose a few pounds. But she was not ugly. Skye had long brown naturally curly hair, which was currently pulled back into a pony tail to keep it out of her face. Her eyes were a funny green. They turned colors when she was sad to a yellow, and when she was happy a bright almost grass green. Her mother called them cat eyes, she called them weird, but she liked them. The rest of her was plain. Not that she cared, as of a week ago, she was officially off men. She did not care if the hottest man she had ever seen came to her and told her he loved her and couldn’t live without her. She was officially and permanently single until she got her shit together. Maybe she would be the local cat woman, live alone and talk to the forty or fifty cats that she horded. Well, there’s a scary thought for ya. She laughed to herself.

  Sighing heavily she pushed the swinging door with her hip and bounced out into the main dining room. Putting a small smile on her face, she delivered the food to the table full of cowboys who seemed to enjoy playing grab ass.

  “Here you go. Will there be anything else?” She asked sweetly and then felt like sticking her finger down her own throat. She hated being nice to shitheads.

  One of the larger men patted his lap and said, “Only if you want to sit here and join us.” He said smoothly and winked at her.

  Skye shook her head and then shook her finger at him. “Sorry, not on the menu.” She said and turned away rolling her eyes.

  The door to the restaurant opened and a tall sleek man walked in. She felt an instant attraction, and had she been alone she would have probably pulled out her vibrator and fantasized about him making love to her. STOP IT. She thought and shook off the tingling feeling she was having all over. Single, NO MEN. She gave herself a mental slap. Then walked over to the man who was looking around.

  “Table for one?” She said softly and then stepped back when she heard a growl and the man stepped closer to her and bent over and sniffed. Great, hot and a freak. Just her luck. Well that took care of that fantasy. She pasted a smile on her face and looked him in the eyes, cleared her throat and said. “Sir?”

  “What?” He said and then smiled down at her. She felt her pussy get wet at the sexy smile and hot eyes. Forget Tom Cruise, this guy was gorgeous. She did not think she had ever seen anyo
ne as handsome. Long bushy dark blonde hair, brown eyes with golden flecks, and a body made for sin, he was every woman’s wet dream she thought, and took another step back. Unfortunately, he followed until he had her backed up against the counter. She hated the feeling of being trapped. It reminded her of a few times her ex had decided that he wanted to take his bad day out on her.

  “Table?” She whispered and cringed.

  The man must have read her body language cause he stepped back and smiled gently at her. “Sorry, honey. I had a to-go order.” He said and his voice rolled over her like a soft caress. Shit, too bad, he was weird; she would have loved fantasizing about him later.

  Her vibrator had seen her through some long nights. Skye had bought it on the internet and hidden it in the kitchen, because goodness knows her lazy ex never went in there except to get his next beer.

  It was the first thing she had grabbed when he hit her for the last time and passed out. She was not going to be anyone’s punching bag again. Skye never thought she would even put up with it once, but she had been stupid and lonely. That is why she stuck it out for so long, that and because the lazy asshole took all of her paychecks and gave her so little to live on. The last encounter with her ex had been particularly ugly. It scared her to think that he was so violent, and thought she belonged to him.