by Celia Kyle
Running with an entire wolf pack had seemed so intimidating in the past. Terrifying, really. Yet Ally couldn’t remember a more pleasurable night since she’d been turned. She didn’t want it to end, but the stars in the moon hung low in the western sky. Dawn drew near, and they had all human things to do tomorrow. Things she could barely wait to experience.
Digging deep inside for an extra boost of speed, Ally gained on Kade, even though he was so much bigger. With a mighty lunge, she managed to get a mouthful of his tail fur and jerked her head for all she was worth. Kade barked, then tumbled while Ally took the lead once again.
All’s fair, she thought with a snicker. Even when he’s your mate.
The night had been amazing, but the time they’d spent on the rocks by the lake had been pure magic. They’d talked and watched the others frolicking, all the while Kade no doubt thinking she still wasn’t sure about their connection. That doubt had disappeared the moment she’d released her wolf, but she still needed time to process it all.
Kade’s paws tore through the twigs and leaves behind her, so Ally urged her wolf to get her ass in gear. While the beast was delighted with all the play time, it was out of shape and nearing its physical limit.
She used the last bit of energy she possessed and leapt forward, which drew a groan of frustration from Kade. She laughed inside, not only at how much fun the night had been, but also at her idiocy. How could she have ever doubted Kade was her mate? It was so obvious now. He was her one and only, her destiny. Just one more thing Brian had lied about. At least her heart and head finally knew the truth.
Barking with joy—and maybe to taunt Kade a little—she dug her claws into the ground harder with every frenzied step. The trees grew closer and closer, but through the latticework of branches she could just make out the blazing porch light in the distance. They were nearly to the pack house. If she could make it there before him, she could hold it over his head for the rest of their lives. The perfect way to start their life together!
Kade was hot on her heels when she broke through the tree line and into the clearing. Then a familiar scent caused her to falter. Kade whizzed past, but Ally barely noticed. All of her attention was on the smell of rotting garbage and wet dog.
Brian.
Locking her legs, she skidded to a stop and sniffed the air. He’d definitely been there recently. Pressing her nose to the ground, she caught his trail, pausing just long enough to bark a warning at Kade. He slowed, joy emanating off him in waves, and cocked his head. She barked again, this time more urgently, and returned her attention to following Brian’s trail.
She was halfway past the pack house when Kade caught up with her, snuffling the ground in her wake. He knew Brian’s scent and immediately sent up a shrill howl. A chill set the fur along her spine on end. It was a warning cry, a cry for help. She’d never heard it before, but she knew it immediately.
The world around them went silent—no yips of joy, no barks of pleasure, even the crickets quieted—then exploded. His cry was answered by dozens more and the forest erupted with the sounds of wolves crashing toward them.
Ally barely spared them any attention. She no longer needed to urge her wolf to move faster. Her wolf moved with a lithe agility she’d never known she possessed. Over stumps, beneath branches, through underbrush, nothing slowed her down. She couldn’t allow anything to delay her. Whatever Brian was up to, it wasn’t bound to be a sweet mating gift for her and Kade.
She soon sensed others join the search. Everyone had been warned about an intruder so they’d all responded to protect the pack. She would have fought Brian on her own, if necessary, but she’d been on the receiving end of his insanity in the past and she wouldn’t survive it again.
The longer they ran, the more concentrated the scent became. Bile rose in the back of her throat as the rotten fruit scent of him clung to the fine hairs inside her nose. Just as she was about to retch, she caught a new scent on the air and her blood went cold.
Sweet like chocolate, with a hint of cayenne. Little Charlie Tipton, bundle of energy, owner of Ghost Kitty, and her second favorite Blackwood wolf. His scent was strong, panic mixed in with his natural aroma.
Brian had Charlie.
Ally growled with a new wave of rage. She continued to follow Brian’s path. Pushing, pushing, pushing, she paid no attention to branches cutting through her fur and drawing blood. She had to find Charlie, had to!
The scents faded, so Ally veered to the right and caught them once more, stronger and fresher than ever. They remained mixed as the pack hunted the pair, dread weighing her down with every step. Crashing into a clearing, Ally skidded to a stop, followed by the rest of the Blackwood pack.
Brian had left her a gift after all—one so horrible he was the only person disgusting enough to dream it into reality.
Charlie, in human form, sat chained by the neck to a massive tree, frothing at the mouth and snarling like a rabid dog. As more and more wolves entered the small area, Charlie went into an absolute frenzy, shifting from human to wolf and back again. The young boy gnashed his teeth and snared at them. Blood trickled down his little chest from the cruel iron collar clamped around his neck. His brown eyes rolled into the back of his head, leaving only the whites.
Ally froze, recalling a similar scene years earlier. Only she’d been the one shackled to a tree.
Overcome by the power of the memory she’d suppressed for eight long years, Ally shifted to her human form as she crumpled to the ground, a quivering mess. She couldn’t tear her gaze away, knowing exactly how the boy was feeling as he clawed at his own neck to free himself—or to escape the agony of his own skin. The sting of the metal was nothing compared to the confusion, desperation and all-consuming rage that flooded him. She’d tried to forget about that night but seeing Charlie’s suffering brought it all back on a tsunami of emotion.
Through a veil of tears, Ally crawled toward the boy, heedless of Kade’s human presence by her side. She needed to reach Charlie, help him. But her path was blocked by the largest wolf she’d ever seen. The smell of his fury filled the clearing. He bounded into the clearing and headed straight for Charlie, shifting mid-stride. Before Ally could crawl more than a couple of feet, Mason had reached the boy and was reaching for the collar.
“No!” she choked out, but it was too late.
The moment Charlie, now in a rabid wolf form, was set free from his bonds, he lunged for Mason’s throat. The man’s lightning-fast reflexes saved his life as he brought up his arm just in time for Charlie’s fangs to bury deep in his flesh. The pup shook his head, as any canine did when trying to kill its prey, tearing chunks of Mason’s arm free.
Mason remained silent, but Ally knew that wouldn’t last. Bracing herself for the inevitable retribution, Ally clamped her eyes shut. If she knew anything about wolf packs, it was that no Alpha would tolerate being attacked by one of his subordinates, even a pup. Punishment would be swift and merciless. She couldn’t bear to watch poor Charlie be beaten—or worse—when none of this was his own doing. She’d learned that reasoning with Alphas rarely worked. The best she could do was help pick up the pieces later.
She waited for Charlie’s yelp of pain, but it never came. She dared to open one eye and found that instead of beating the pup into submission, Mason and other pack members worked together to gently subdue the boy.
Lucy called out for Drew, the pack healer, as well a woman named Mathilda, the pack’s Omega, if Ally remembered right. The clearing became a bustle of activity, with several people holding Charlie as he frothed and fumed. Kade’s brother Gavin organized search teams to track down the intruder and set up a perimeter to keep the women and children safe in the pack house.
A whirl of movement. A rapid response for the benefit of all.
Ally watched in wonder as the Blackwood pack not only worked hard to save the smallest among them, even after he viciously attacked the Alpha, but also worked as a team to protect the entire pack and its land. Kade hadn’t be
en lying to her. This really was what a healthy pack looked like.
Once Drew arrived to examine Charlie, Mason leveled a murderous glare at Kade. “Find the motherfucker who did this,” he growled.
All the fine hairs on Ally’s body stood on end, and she knew the time for remaining silent about her past was over. She was part of this pack now—or would be as soon as she and Kade finally mated—and she couldn’t allow anyone to suffer the way she had, no matter how painful or difficult the telling might be.
“Mason,” she barely whispered, but she had the alpha’s attention in an instant. “I know who did this. And I know what kind of poison he used.”
Chapter Eighteen
Ally stared into her cup of chamomile tea until her head swam. She wasn’t thirsty, and the hot mug burned her palms, but it gave her something to do. Something to focus on while they waited for word on Charlie. Plus, staring into the pale yellow liquid gave her a reason to not meet anyone’s gaze.
“I feel just terrible,” Tessa moaned and buried her face in her hands.
“Grandma, stop beating yourself up.” Lucy continued to gently rub the old woman’s back. “You were asleep when Charlie left the pack house.”
“That’s my point!” Tessa cried, and her voice trembled with emotion. “He was in my care. I should have watched him more closely.”
Gavin sat on the coffee table in front of Tessa and patted her knee. “No one expected you to keep an eye on the pups every minute. Pups play outside at night all the time, Tessa, and you needed your sleep. You couldn’t have known about the intruder. Hell, we didn’t know, and we’re werewolves.”
Lucy wrapped a comforting arm around Tessa’s shoulders. “He’s right, Grandma.”
“I just hope he’ll be okay,” Tessa said, her voice sounding frailer than Ally had ever heard.
“He should be,” said a deep, booming voice from behind them.
Mason strode into the great room, his expression tense and grim, but not grieving. Ally’s heart fluttered with hope that poor, little Charlie might have been spared the worst of the poison.
“Drew and Mathilda are with him now. Drew is our healer, Grandmother Tessa, and Mathilda is our Omega. She’s something of an empath, and she’ll help control his heart rate and mood, while Drew tends to his wounds. They’re both optimistic Charlie will make a full recovery, thanks to Ally telling us what kind of poison he’d been dosed with.”
Ally felt five pairs of eyes bore into her, but she kept her attention fixed on the swirling remnants of chamomile at the bottom of her cup. She knew it wasn’t her fault Brian had kidnapped Charlie—it was Brian’s—but that didn’t stop her conscience from telling her otherwise.
“What was it?” Gavin asked.
“It was formulated in the ’60s and was meant to break down prisoners—make them docile. The National Ruling Circle banned it, but apparently some vials weren’t destroyed. I spoke with Roman—he’s the Alpha of the NRC, Grandmother Tessa—and it appears the same stuff was used on the Alpha of another pack here in Georgia. He also gave us the recipe for the antidote.”
“Oh, thank God!” Tessa flopped back in her chair and smiled up at Lucy.
Ally felt Mason’s gaze settle on her as he sat directly across from her. She couldn’t resist looking up at him. He was her Alpha now, after all.
“Speak.”
She’d promised them the truth and it was time to deliver, no matter how difficult it would be. Her heart rate ratcheted up higher and higher with every second she delayed. Best to simply begin. Before she could, Kade’s fingers laced with hers, giving her the strength she desperately needed.
“I’m—” her voice shook, and she cleared her throat before starting again. “I’m from a small town just outside Brookfield, Alabama. I have two parents who, as far as I know, are still madly in love, and a twin sister.”
Lucy’s eyes widened, but she remained silent, allowing Ally to continue her story.
“I left home at eighteen and came to Georgia to go to college. My sister had a high school sweetheart who’d gone to trade school, so she stayed home to be with him.” Ally swallowed, remembering the pain of being separated from her twin for the first time. It seemed like a lifetime ago now. “It was a hard time, being separated from my best friend like that. Amy and I were inseparable our entire lives, and then she was just gone. Or rather, I was gone. Without her, I had no idea what to do with myself. Not only was I alone, I was lonely.”
“You had me,” Lucy said, sitting on Ally’s other side and clasping her free hand. “You always will.”
She smiled at her friend, although it probably looked more like a grimace. “I know. But you had your own life and friends. At best, we were acquaintances back then. It wasn’t until we bumped into each other in Pepper that we finally grew close.”
With the foundation laid, now came the hard part. Building the story, one brick at a time. “One day, I was in the library cramming for a test. I needed a caffeine boost, so I popped over to the campus coffee shop. The place was crowded, and there were often local kids who’d come and visit their friends. I’d never met the guy in line behind me, but he bought my coffee and asked me out on a date. He was handsome, a little older than me, and the first guy at school who’d shown any interest in me. I agreed before I’d even realized what I’d done.”
Even now, after all that had happened, the memory gave her warm fuzzies. She’d never actually been hit on before, and it had made her feel… pretty. “We dated for a few months and grew more and more serious. One night he took me out to a fancy dinner, gave me roses, the whole shebang. For a minute I thought he might propose, which I can’t deny excited me a little. It also freaked me out a little because we’d only been dating a short time.”
“Did he?” Lucy’s voice was soft.
“No, but he did tell me he was in love with me. I was so relieved he wasn’t proposing that I told him I loved him too. Looking back, I was so young I don’t think I really knew what love was at the time.”
She turned to Kade, who gathered her in his arms and held on tight for the rest of the story. “To celebrate, he invited me to go on a romantic weekend camping trip on his family’s land. Just the two of us hiking under the full moon across the Riverson’s beautiful property.”
The sharp scent of tension filled the room. Everyone’s eyes, except Tessa’s, grew wide, but Ally had no idea what she’d said to trigger the mood change.
“What?”
Mason leaned forward, his eyes blazing. “Did you say Riverson? Your boyfriend was…”
“Brian Riverson. Do you know him?” Ally tilted her head to the side with the question. The werewolf community was small enough that it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, yet it still did.
“He used to be my best friend,” Gavin spoke just as softly, his face pale with obvious shock. He rose from the coffee table and moved to a seat on the couch. “Haven’t seen him since…”
No one spoke. Ally looked between them, but each looked as dumbfounded as the last. “Since when? Someone please tell me what’s going on.”
“Brian’s father, Frank, was the Alpha of the Riverson pack,” Mason explained quietly. “Frank’s mate went feral. As the Alpha, it was his duty to… for lack of a better term, put her down before innocents were hurt. He didn’t.”
A flicker of a memory tried to push forward into Ally’s brain, but she wanted to give every ounce of her attention to what they were saying about Brian. Mason glanced at Tessa, then at Lucy, as if asking her a silent question. Lucy’s pretty face pinched up, then she gave a curt nod and took over.
“It seems that a number of Riverson pack mates knew what was happening to Kathy, but no one stopped her. They let her roam around until she stumbled across some campers.”
Tessa gasped and clamped her hands over her mouth, and Ally’s skin pebbled as understanding dawned. Lucy lunged across the space to hold her trembling grandmother in her arms as Mason finished the grim tale.
�
�Frank watched from the shadows as his mate murdered Lucy’s parents and mauled her.”
“Oh, Lucy, Tessa, I’m so sorry,” Ally whispered, and reached out a hand to her friend.
They clasped hands for a moment, then Lucy went back to comforting her grandmother. Ally couldn’t imagine Tessa’s shock at discovering exactly how her son and daughter-in-law had died.
“Frank was imprisoned by the NRC for a decade and his pack was forced to disband. Most of the pack chose to integrate into others, including ours. Those who did have thrived.”
Ally’s voice shook when she spoke. “Wait, he only went away for ten years?”
Mason heaved a frustrated sigh. “Psychopaths are pretty good at fooling even the most astute Omegas. He was released from prison shortly before Lucy and I found each other. When he came back seeking vengeance for his mate, Lucy…”
He glanced over at Lucy again. She gave him a soft look filled with love, then turned to Ally.
“I killed him. With a hoe. To protect Mason.”
“Good!” Tessa spit, tears tracing the tracks of her wrinkled cheeks. “I hope he rots in hell with his bitch wife!”
Lucy hugged Tessa tighter, and a fresh wave of anger hit Ally. Brian’s family had been responsible for shattering Lucy and Tessa’s hearts, forever changing their lives for the worse. And now he wanted to do the same to Ally.
“I guess insanity runs in the family,” she snapped, then gasped as the memory that had been floating around came into full view. “Oh my God!”
“What?” Mason demanded.
“I think I know why Brian’s mother went feral. Let me finish my story and maybe it will all make sense.”
Kade squeezed her hand, a silent reminder that he was still by her side and always would be. It gave her the strength to carry on.
“The moonlight hike was romantic, and we had a nice evening before setting up our tents. I’d brought my own because Brian and I hadn’t… Anyway, I woke up in the middle of the night and Brian was lying on his side next to me, unzipping my sleeping bag. In my sleepy daze, I thought he just wanted to make out a little, so I didn’t put up much of a fuss, but then…”