by Michelle Fox
“When Tabitha Ross turned eighteen years old she approached my father and asked him to turn her. She said that her mother didn’t love her, and she wanted to be in a pack like the wolves were. My father felt sorry for the girl, but he couldn’t grant her wish. He tried talking to her, but she just started to cry and left. Nobody heard from her or saw her again until a week later, when her body was found hanging outside our house. She’d got on pack land somehow, using magic to mask her scent, then she tied a rope around her neck and jumped from the tree.
“She left a note saying that it was my father’s fault. That was all her mother needed, the name of someone to blame. Instead of realizing that her daughter had problems and she’d contributed to those problems, she focused on getting revenge. So in her sick mind she conjured up a spell, and sent it to my father—to make him kill his only son while in wolf form. She hated my father and wanted to punish him, and in her view it made sense to take away his only son.
“The day the spell took effect, his Beta—Bane’s father, Tex—was walking by the house and heard my mother screaming. My father had shifted and tried to attack me, but my mother could see something was wrong with his wolf and intervened. She protected me, but my father killed her while trying to get in the door. Tex called out to the other guards, and they subdued him until they could figure out what went wrong. The witch had to be on our land to cast the spell, so the guards tracked her down and locked her up. When they called the Council to tell them what had happened, the Council sent the Death Hunters. Since my father had killed my mother, he was put to death right along with the witch.”
“Why would the Death Hunters do that, knowing that your father was under a spell? It wasn’t his fault, he wasn’t in his right mind.” Quinn finally spoke, sounding shocked.
“It didn’t matter to them, because he’d killed my mother. My father was distraught. When they killed the witch it broke the spell, and my father was inconsolable. I lost both of my parents because of a witch, and the pack lost their leaders. They loved my mom and dad, and I had to grow up early. Tex ran the pack until I was old enough to take over. But I made a vow that no witches were allowed in our community, and we’ve never had one since, until you showed up.”
“You have to know that there are good witches and bad ones, just like with wolves and every other being on earth. You’re judging me for something I didn’t do and never would. How is that fair? I didn’t choose to be a wolf, and you just accepted me and Finley like it was nothing, but the fact that I’m a witch as well makes it different?” Quinn stopped rocking and stared at him.
“Did you not hear the story?” Arden asked.
“Yes, Arden. Did you not hear what I just said?” Quinn got up and stood in front of the chair. “What do you expect me to do? Pack up and leave because you’re scared?”
Arden jumped up. “I’m not scared, Quinn, but you need to understand how we all feel.”
“So I’ll ask again, what do you want me to do?” Arden could see her hands shaking as she waited for his answer.
“Quinn, you’re my mate, but you need to realize that the pack isn’t going to be so understanding. Some may try to challenge you, and you’re not ready for that. You’re strong, but not strong enough, and I don’t want to see you get hurt. Just lay off the magic around the pack, until—”
“Until what, Arden? Until they start to like me?”
“That’s not fair, Quinn. I’m trying here, and I don’t see you doing the same. Give me a little break.”
Quinn knew she was being a bitch, but he started all of this. She meant no harm to anyone, and would never send out a spell like that. There was a code in the Craft, rules to follow, and one of them was to never do spells against an innocent person.
“For now, Arden. We have rules too, but just like you and your kind we have those who don’t follow the rules and cause evil wherever they go. But I’m a witch just as much as a wolf, and sometimes my magic wants out just like my wolf. I do understand their fear, but you have to tell them that if they try me, they might find out I’m stronger then they thought.”
“Fair enough.” He wanted to kiss her, but she was still mad, and he didn’t want to get his face scratched off. “I’m going to fix your door, and you have a store downstairs that needs putting together.” Arden smiled, then went over to the door and opened it. Bane was standing right outside, with cigar in one hand and a toolbox in the other. “Did you hear all that?”
“Heard enough, Alpha. I think I’ll go for a run and then come back for the night shift.” Bane smiled unrepentantly and walked down the steps. Arden shook his head at his Beta. He was a character, to say the least, and Arden couldn’t wait for him to find his mate, because when he did Arden was going to rub it in every chance he got.
“Thanks for fixing the door.” Quinn tried to squeeze by him, but her touch was all it took for him to drop the toolbox, push her against the wall, and kiss her. Being this close to her was hard. He needed to touch and taste her before she left to go downstairs.
Quinn tried to pull away, but her body disobeyed her. Her lips were so soft as they swept across his. The kiss ended too quickly, and he pulled away.
“Thanks for listening,” Arden said, then allowed her to walk away.
******
Arden felt as if he’d won the lottery. He drove back to the pack house with a huge smile on his face. He could still feel their kiss as he touched his lips again. She tasted like he’d thought she would: sweet, like vanilla and chocolate. Her fiery red hair and her temper made who she was, and she was special. He parked and walked inside the pack house, planning to take a shower then do a little work in his office.
As he entered his bedroom, his thoughts were on his mate, and he didn’t notice Alice at first. When he looked up, she was standing beside his bed, naked. Damn, this isn’t what I wanted tonight. “Alice, what are you doing?”
“Waiting for you.” Alice purred as she stalked toward him. Before he could say anything, she’d already wrapped around him and started rubbing herself all over him.
“Alice, stop.”
“Come on, lover, I know you want it as much as I do.” Alice continued to rub all over him until he threw her on the bed.
“Get out, Alice. I’ve found my mate, and you know that. You know how this works. When we find our mate that’s all we can think about, and Quinn’s my mate. I don’t want to have this conversation with you again. Get your clothes on and get out.” Arden was finished being nice with her. Alice was a troublemaker, and he could kick himself in the teeth for even having sex with her in the first place.
“She’s a witch, from what I hear. Has she put a spell on you?” Alice was touching his face, and it was pissing him off now.
“Yes she is, but she’s a wolf too, and most importantly she’s my mate and soon to be your Alpha,” Arden growled. “Stop touching me and get out, Alice. She’s not like the last one. Maybe if you got to know her you might like her.”
Alice sat on the bed with her arms crossed. “I doubt it,” she muttered.
“You better get used to it,” Arden finished, and walked into his bathroom and locked the door. He waited until he heard his bedroom door open and close again before he turned the shower on. He needed to talk with Bane about Alice. If he knew her as well as he thought he did, she’d try to start trouble with Quinn, and Quinn wasn’t ready for a wolf like Alice. The woman had been fighting every girl who came of age for years, letting them know she was in charge. Unfortunately, that was the way it worked in the pack: everyone fought for position, and Alice made sure she won.
Eventually, Quinn would have to fight Alice, to show her that she was the Alpha. He only hoped that Quinn would be strong enough to beat her. If not, Alice would challenge her, and he didn’t know what he would do about that. Right now he had too many other things to worry about.
Quinn walked back in the store and saw that Jade, Rick, Paley, and Maddox were sitting around a small table, reading books. She smiled, b
ecause they were all quiet, concentrating intensely. She realized that Jade was right about putting a coffee space to the side of the store. It wouldn’t take away from the store; in fact, it would bring in more business if men had a place they could sit and drink coffee and read while their wives shopped. She could order some coffee machines and put in some bookshelves. Maybe start small and then add to it later.
“Hey, Jade.” Jade and her group looked up at Quinn. “Maybe you were right about putting in a coffee shop right here in the store, with some books and tables in it. Give the men a place to sit while their women shop.”
“Really? Oh, Quinn, we have it all planned out! In fact, we’ve researched a place to get the coffeemakers and an espresso machine to make different types of coffee. This is great... Oh, I almost forgot the books! Everyone around here reads, Quinn, and if you got some good books in, it would bring a lot more customers.” Jade’s hands were clasped together, and she had a huge smile on her face.
“You seem to have it all under control, so that can be your job then. Find me the stuff and let me see how much it’s going to cost. Then we can order it. Maybe we can get at least some of it here by tomorrow.” Quinn could see that Jade and her friends were happy, and that made her happy too. Rick pulled out his laptop, and they completely ignored her while they started getting quotes up and researching.
She decided she had a lot of other things to do and left them to complete that project. Finley was putting up some shelves, and she had some more boxes to unpack. There was so much more to do, and they were short on time.
She heard the bell go off at the front of store and watched a blonde-haired woman walk in, a group of girls with her. The way they acted when they spotted Jade at her jewelry counter made Quinn tense. She knew these were the girls who’d made Jade’s life hell, and she wasn’t going to put up with it. Especially here in her store.
She walked slowly over to Jade, listening to find out what they were doing there. “Well look at old Scarface and her ugly purses and jewelry. Really Jade, do you honestly believe anyone will buy this crap?” Alice and her group of friends giggled.
Quinn walked over with a huge smile on her face. “Jade, I just got some great news for you. The lady who sells a lot of my stuff in New York said she wanted more of your purses, and she wants to see the jewelry line. I sent her some pictures and she loves what she is seeing, so we have to get more to send her. You’re going to be a success, my friend. I’m so happy for you!” Quinn hugged Jade, then glanced over at Alice. She could see the other girls frown, then look at the purses hanging on the walls and back at Jade.
“Oh sorry, hello. I couldn’t wait to tell Jade the great news. She’s going to be selling her products like crazy.” Quinn smiled big for the whopper of a lie she just told. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Quinn, and welcome to Southern Treasures. You must be part of the pack.”
“You’re the witch.” Alice’s voice was snarky, and she smirked after saying it.
Quinn giggled. “Well I’m a wolf now, too, but yes, I’m a witch.” Apparently, nobody ever stood up to Alice, because she looked completely taken aback that Quinn wasn’t backing down.
“You may have the Alpha fooled, but we all know what you’ll do. You’re not his mate, because if you were he wouldn’t be fucking me.”
The frown left her face, and Quinn didn’t like where this was going. She’d believed Arden when he said she was his mate, but now one of his exes was saying she was still sleeping with him?
“He is? Oh well, I hope you’re having a great time then.” Quinn acted like it didn’t bother her, and waited to see what Alice would say now. Except it did bother her, and right now she wanted to punch this bitch in the face.
Alice walked over toward her and got real close. “Seeing that you’re half wolf now, I bet you can smell Arden on me. We just had sex before I came here. Come on, take a big whiff.”
Quinn wanted to knock her into next week, but she was trying to stay in control here, even though her wolf was clawing to get out. She inhaled deeply to try and calm down, but what she smelled almost knocked her down. Alice was right; she could smell Arden on her.
“Alice, the Alpha is going to be mad,” Jade was trying to help, but it was true. Arden’s scent was all over Alice.
“Can it, Scarface. Miss Witch here needs to realize that she has competition. I will challenge you everywhere you go.” Alice was jerked back when Bane grabbed hold of her from behind.
“Alice, I don’t know what kind of games you’re playing, but the Alpha has declared no challenges until we find and handle the rogues. Get out of the store. You have no business here.” Bane growled the last part, and Alice and her friends all walked out.
When the doors closed, Bane shook his head. “I hope you know how to fight because that one is going to need to be taken down or she’ll continue to be this way forever.”
“Why do I have to know how to fight? I haven’t done anything to her,” Quinn protested.
“Listen, Quinn, things are different for wolves. When we want a spot in the hierarchy, we fight for it. Like me being Beta. Just because my father was Beta didn’t mean that I would inherit the position. The moment Arden announced that I was his choice to be Beta, I got challenged. I won, of course, but after about the tenth time, I told them the next one would be to the death and nobody challenged me again. Arden was different, because all of his were to the death.
“Alice has fought her way up, and she’s the head bitch in charge in the pack, literally. No other female out-ranks her, and she does like being in power. Maybe too much. I’ve been watching her, and she definitely needs to be challenged and taken down. All Alice wants to do is belittle the females and tell them what to do. She’s not a real leader.”
“I know how to do some fighting, but not in wolf form. I don’t get it,” Quinn said with a sigh.
“I know there are a lot of things you’ll have to get used to, Quinn, but Alice isn’t a wolf you’d want to meet in a dark alley. From what I saw when you were first turned, you’re a natural-born fighter, and if you’re interested I can help you out with this.” Bane shrugged. “But it’s up to you.”
Judging by the way Bane spoke about Alice, and from what she’d seen already, the woman was going to be a problem. The issue at hand, though, was why she smelled of Arden. She must have misread him when he kissed her, and all this crap about being mates wasn’t true. She needed to ask about this mate thing from someone other than Arden. Apparently he couldn’t stop screwing the women in his pack.
“I have some time once I unload this box. You got a minute for some questions?” Quinn asked.
“Sure.”
“Good, but let’s go over here so we can talk in private.” Quinn walked over to where her office was going to be, and allowed Bane to go in first. She closed the door, then sat down behind her desk. “I have some questions about mates, and the pack in general.”
“What kind of questions?” Bane waited. She could tell he was eager to talk about pack life with her, which was good because she wanted some personal answers, too.
“I haven’t gotten a chance to meet anyone much, but how many are in the pack?” Quinn asked.
“Before you and Finley we had one hundred and nineteen. That includes the Elders and the young pups.”
“Elders?”
“We have older wolves who act as Elders for the pack. They know and keep all the history of the pack. Some of the younger pack members are away at college—we’re not just country bumpkins—but most come back here and bring back the knowledge they got from college, or they meet their mate and join another pack. We have a festival here during Christmas, and so far two packs are joining us. We have all kinds of events and just some fun times. It gives the wolves a chance to meet others and maybe meet their mates. So far ten pack members have met their mates that way. Some stay here, and some go to the other packs.”
“You said something about Alice being head bitch. What does that mean?”
Quinn asked.
“Well, we have a hierarchy here in the pack. You have the Alpha, of course, and then the Beta, which is me. Then we have Lieutenants or Guards. There’s a similar hierarchy for the females, and since we didn’t have an Alpha’s mate—which is you, by the way—Alice challenged everyone who was even a contender. She keeps things running pretty smoothly, and no one’s complained about her.”
“Hell, Bane, they’re scared to. Do you know what she calls your sister?” Quinn asked, and the smile fell off Bane’s face. “She calls her Scarface. That bitch has made your sister’s life miserable, and all the other kids her age, too. She’s threatened by them. So what if they’re different; hell, I’m different. I don’t like her, and when I get the chance she won’t have to worry about challenging me because I’m going to knock her down all on my own.”
Quinn stopped and took a deep breath. “Let’s talk about something else. So, I take it that since you haven’t found your mate yet, you go out like normal people and date and have sex a lot?”
Bane laughed. “Of course we have sex. Look, here it is in the simplest of terms: we can date, or have sex with, as many women as we want, but once we find our mate things are different. Our mate is our lifeline, our soul mate. Once we find our mate, we’ll never want another female like we will our mate. All we think about is our mate: we think about sex with our mates, but we also dwell on their safety, who they’re with, or even who is touching them. That’s why Arden gets crazy around you.”
“You’re wrong about me and Arden being mates. You see, you just answered a lot of questions for me.” Quinn knew something was going on, and Arden was wrong, or lying, about them being mates.
“No you’re wrong, you’re the Alpha’s mate.” Bane narrowed his eyes at her in confusion.
“No, because if Arden was my mate then he wouldn’t still be sleeping with Alice. I know what Arden smells like, and she was drenched in him. She even told me that she just left his bed. He must do the old ‘mate’ thing with all the new wolves so he can get them in bed. Make no mistake; this is one wolf that he won’t have. Now let’s go practice.”