by Sarra Cannon
“You do not go anywhere without my permission, do you understand, woman?”
Rae held stock-still as the alpha waited for her to submit, her arms trembling at her sides.
“Not without my permission—or your mate’s,” Tyrone continued.
Zack saw Rae freeze and Ty go stiff as his wolf howled inside. A long, mournful howl that echoed through his soul.
“I don’t have a mate,” Rae half-shouted, beating each syllable for emphasis.
“You will tonight.” Tyrone jerked his thumb at Ty.
“No!” Zack growled at the same time that a choked cry popped out of Rae’s throat.
“But I don’t love him!”
“You’ll learn to love him,” old Tyrone retorted.
“But I don’t want him! I want…” Her eyes shifted to Zack and everyone else’s followed.
His lungs pinched as he faced her, straining to catch her next words.
I want you, he thought and waited for her to echo.
But her pupils went wide and she shrank away from him, uttering one word.
“You.”
It wasn’t the end of a sentence. It was the beginning of an accusation. She trailed off, disgust filling her eyes. Disgust and betrayal. “You knew. You told them.”
Knew the alpha’s plan? Hell, no! Told them her secret?
“Never!” His roar went right through the walls of the council house and out over the far corners of the ranch.
“You’ve done enough!” The old alpha cut him off with a stomp that made the floorboards shake. “And you!” he barked at Rae. “Should be grateful!”
She looked like she hadn’t even heard, her eyes still on Zack. Her cheeks were crimson, her lips trembling with unuttered words. Then she gave a vicious shake of her head and ran out the door.
“Ach,” the old alpha grunted. “She thinks she can run.”
Ty moved to follow her, and something in Zack snapped there and then. He stepped in front of the alpha’s son, blocking his way.
Ty blinked then made to weave around Zack, who sidestepped and put a hand against his friend’s chest. He’d had enough. Enough of the old alpha’s bullying. Enough of the easy way out. He’d never defied the alpha on anything, never asked for any favor. But it was time to take a stand. Rae was his, and his alone.
The look in Ty’s eyes changed; fire began to build in them as he took hold of Zack’s wrist. One flick and Ty would break it.
One shove and Zack could send Ty stumbling back.
An impasse.
“Don’t,” Zack growled, trying to keep emotion out of his voice.
Old Tyrone pushed forward. “Get the hell out of the way! My son has a mate to catch!”
This time, Zack couldn’t hide the emotion. “She’s mine!”
The air in the room trembled the way it would in the split second before the snap of a whip.
“You challenge my son?” the old alpha yelled, his face twisted in something between anger and glee.
Challenge Ty? The pack’s future leader? His friend? It was the last thing he wanted. But when he considered his choices, he came up empty. He couldn’t step aside and let Ty have Rae, and he’d never convince the old alpha that love should preside over an advantageous match. A huntress mated to the pack alpha would strengthen the old man’s bloodline with powerful offspring.
The thought made him sick.
The air shifted, carrying a whisper from far, far away. You are a powerful alpha, too. The pack would still benefit.
If Zack stood a little straighter at the thought, it did him little good. The old alpha had been waiting for an excuse to get rid of Zack for years; he’d never let this go.
Ty could be reasoned with, except he was a dutiful son who would never, ever cross his father. That was his sole weakness; it always had been.
“She’s mine,” Zack repeated, meeting the old man’s brutal gaze.
“She’s his!” Old Tyrone said, reaching out for his favorite spot on the back of Zack’s neck.
Zack smacked the hand away, and the room went deathly quiet. “Mine,” he said, even though he knew what would come next.
“A fight, then,” Tyrone announced, all but rubbing his hands together in glee. He might not have orchestrated this turn of events, but he certainly would capitalize on them. “To the death!”
Zack saw Ty’s eyes slide shut. He wanted a fight as little as Zack did. But what choice did he have?
“Uh…” Cody’s voice had all heads turning in his direction. “What about her?” He jabbed a thumb at the door that Rae had fled through.
The old alpha huffed. “Let her run. We don’t need a tracker to catch her.”
“Catch her?” The mercury in Zack’s internal thermometer pushed at the limits of his self-restraint.
“She should have a choice!” Tina protested.
“She made her choice when she came here!” Tyrone bellowed, and the room went still.
Still but for the whisper in Zack’s head. She would have chosen you, if you hadn’t fucked this up.
He pulled his hand away from Ty’s chest. “A fight, then.”
Ty’s eyes locked on his. “A fight.”
The old alpha snickered behind them, as always, grabbing the final word. “To the death.”
Chapter 20
Images and words hammered in Rae’s mind as she ran for the hills. Somehow, some way, she had to make her escape.
Mate?
Ty?
Tonight?
Old Tyrone had been serious. Worse, he expected her to be grateful. If she hadn’t been running full tilt, she’d have kicked the ground.
Sabrina, the spoiled daughter of the Westend alpha, was the type to be grateful. Sabrina would do anything for power, just as her father Roric would do. She’d even agree to a strategic match, as long as it came with prestige.
Rae stumbled as realization set in. She hadn’t been careful enough in Nevada. Someone must have discovered what she was doing on her solitary nocturnal jaunts and deduced who she was, then sold the information to Roric. He, in turn, had sold her to Twin Moon pack.
Who knew her secret? The faces of possible culprits jumped through Rae’s mind and only one stuck. The alpha female at Westend was a distant relative of Rae’s father. Could she have known what line he had mated into?
More importantly, though, why? How did Westend pack stand to benefit?
Her mind spun through the possibilities. Maybe Roric was making a sick trade of some kind, offering her in exchange for some powerful male to come to Westend and mate with Sabrina. The alpha pair had no sons, so Westend pack would someday fall under a new alpha. A powerful Twin Moon male mated to Sabrina would keep Roric’s bloodline in power and the two packs united.
It made sense, in a warped, medieval way.
But what powerful male from Twin Moon would transfer to Nevada? She couldn’t understand who that might be. Ty was destined to lead his home pack, and Zack would be deemed unacceptable. No one else matched the power of those two. Cody might, if he ever stopped playing Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up.
Whoever it was, it was beside the point. Rae ran on, anger fueling her step. She hated alphas! Hated their power plays, the way they manipulated individuals like pawns in a game of chess. They were all the same.
And Zack was no better.
He’d tricked her. Betrayed her trust. He’d had his fun with her, and then delivered her straight to her doom.
She saw it all in slow motion: Zack naked and at her mound. God, she’d let him touch—taste!—her everywhere. She’d been thinking mate and forever, while he’d taken advantage of easy pickings for one hot night. Then he’d handed her over to his own friend as an arranged mate. God, maybe they even had some sick brothers-in-arms kind of deal, those two.
Tricked. Betrayed.
Any fool could have seen it coming. But no, she’d done it again—let her imagination take over and fill in one too many blanks. Zack didn’t love her. Zack didn’t understa
nd her.
And Ty was no better. She thought he was a decent man, but obviously she’d misjudged him. Because what kind of man would take an arranged mate who didn’t want him?
A power-hungry man. One who would force her to submit.
She ran faster, squinting in the dim evening light.
She didn’t have it in her to be a ruling alpha’s mate. Couldn’t they see that? She was born to hunt. And she could never love Ty. Not when her heart was already with Zack.
Her broken heart, she corrected herself. The one that would despise him forever. He’d even had the nerve to tell her, hand on heart, I will never be like him, meaning the manipulative old alpha. And she’d believed him.
She ran and ran and ran—in human form because her wolf refused to come out and aid her escape—and tried to form some kind of getaway plan. Maybe she could get to her car and get it running. Or hitchhike. Maybe she could head back East and find an enlightened pack to grant her shelter if the Twin Moon wolves came looking.
The East? What would we do there? her wolf protested. Hunt raccoons? There’s no space! Not like here.
She shoved the beast away. She’d go where freedom beckoned, and if that meant the East Coast, so be it. She ran on, begging her wolf to come out and let her make twice the speed. Her knowledge of Twin Moon territory was enough to know there were plenty of twists and curves on the northeast edge for her to step off ranch property soon enough.
Just another couple of miles. She gritted her teeth and ran on along a rough track. Just a little farther…
She pounded up a punishing slope and paused, panting, at the tabletop crest. The ranch lay behind her, aglow with soft tungsten light. There was a brighter smudge where the dining hall would be, and dots surrounding it where the common buildings gave way to a scattering of private homes. It always looked so welcoming at night. Even now, the deceiving effect tried to sway her resolve. But she knew better now. One of those lights came from the council house, where the old alpha had so casually announced her fate. Where was he now? Where were the others? She watched the headlights of a single truck speed out the ranch gate, kicking up a plume of dust. It was only a question of time before they caught up with her. There’d be trucks, wolves—hell, even Zack on his motorcycle, leading the chase.
She took off downslope in great leaping strides, making for the line of lights on the highway, a few miles distant. Everything hinged on her getting there. Everything.
She’d just readjusted her stride to the flatter valley floor when she heard the sharp pant of wolves in pursuit.
Come out and help, you stupid wolf! Why did it refuse?
A shadow flickered to her left. The wolves were closing in. She could have screamed at the irony. She should be the hunter, not the hunted. And these wolves were not out chasing her just to let Mother Earth whisper in her ear. Her lungs and legs burned with effort, every muscle straining in her sprint.
An excited yip sounded from her right, answered by another immediately behind. The wolves were closing in.
She leaped over a rock and made a clean landing, but her next step found a rut, and her ankle twisted. She tumbled then bottomed out so hard, her vision came alive with a hundred points of light. By the time she scrambled to her knees, the wolves had her surrounded.
Five of them, big and dark and very pleased with themselves, judging by the way their tongues swished over their fangs. Rae did her best to look menacing as she pulled herself to her feet—and promptly lurched as sparks of pain shot through her ankle.
“I am not going back!” she shouted, wondering which wolf was which. None had the smoky scent of the old alpha, but she doubted he’d be out on the hunt himself. None had the brown-black hair of Ty, nor the blond pelt of his brother, Cody.
And none was Zack. She’d have spotted her lover from a mile away.
A wolf stepped forward, but a bigger one grunted, sending the first scuttling back to the ranks. Which meant that the big one with the dull brown coat was the highest ranking of the lot.
“I am not going back to Twin Moon Ranch!” she shouted at him, pulling herself tall.
The wolf’s lips curled up before he stepped forward and shifted to human form. She let out a gasp of recognition even before he spoke.
“I don’t want you back on Twin Moon, Sunshine. I want you to come with me.”
Chapter 21
The sun was setting, and everything in Zack ached to follow Rae—north, where his inner compass was pointing most vehemently. But he walked west instead, taking jerky, mechanical steps.
He was off to fight: a fight to the death with his closest friend, for a woman only one of them truly wanted.
He wanted to shake Ty, not that that would do any good. Ty’s father’s word was his command, and Ty had long since shut down the feeling part of his heart, anyway. Zack could practically hear him thinking it: Might as well make a match that profits the pack.
It was wrong, so wrong, even if he knew Ty would do his best to treat Rae right.
We’ll fight to the death before giving her up, his coyote and wolf snarled as one.
He could have shaken his head and said, Yes, it will be death. Because the outcome of this fight was a foregone conclusion. He was going to die.
Oh, he could take on Ty, all right. That would be a close fight between two evenly matched wolves. Where Ty had the upper hand in sheer intensity, Zack’s agility put him a nose ahead. He might even be able to work around Ty’s ultimate weapon: that powerful glare that had melted many a potential opponent. Having play-wrestled Ty since he was a cub, Zack knew how to avoid those eyes.
On a good day, he’d give himself a fair chance of holding his own with Ty. Hell, he might even beat the alpha’s son. But he knew that no matter how well he fought, he’d never come out on top, because Ty had a secret weapon that Zack would always lack.
Family.
Everyone gathered there to witness the fight knew that the minute Zack gained the upper hand, the old alpha would jump in and straighten things out.
Zack could take the old man on, easy. Would even enjoy it. He could take Ty on, though he didn’t want to. But take them both on? Maybe even three, what with Ty’s brother Cody waiting in the eaves? Never.
The crazy thing was, Ty and Cody were good, honest men. But blood called to blood, and their father would do whatever it took to keep his offspring on top.
Zack ducked between the second and third poles of a fence and headed for the hollow between the old machine shop and a toolshed that was already flooded with artificial light. The place had seen its share of deadly fights back when Tyrone was coming in to power but hadn’t hosted that kind of action for decades now. Zack squinted against the lights, swallowing his bitterness. It hadn’t taken the old coot more than five minutes to turn this fight into an event. And Zack, of course, was being ushered to the less favorable side of the ring, where the lights blazed right into his eyes.
He tried drowning out the noise of the gathering crowd. Old Tyrone was there, front and center, hammering him with a blazing glare. Ty’s siblings were there, too: his raven-haired sister, Tina, and couldn’t-be-more-opposite brother, Cody. They stood a conspicuously long step away from their father, eyes cast down as if trying to avoid an ugly truth. The nervous knot of Tina’s fingers told him that their futures were as closely tied to this fight as Ty’s. Today, Ty’s mate would be forced on him; tomorrow, it might be Tina. And as for Cody, well, even the swinging bachelor couldn’t be far behind.
Family. Ty had his back to a mountain; Zack had his to an abyss.
“Get him!” Tyrone barked at his son.
Zack saw Ty’s eyes pull tight in a wince. Family had its pluses and minuses.
Making no move to start, he waited for Ty. This fight wasn’t about winning; it was about buying Rae time to get away, hopefully to some pack where the alpha let her choose her own mate.
He swallowed the thought like the bitter pill that it was. Rae with another man? She was his. He was hers.
They were destined for each other.
Except destiny had its hiccups, just like life. He took in the scene around him—Ty’s clenched fists, the old alpha’s narrowed eyes, the spectators behind him—and knew it was not to be. He and Rae. They’d had all the time fate had allotted them. God, it hurt to consider that. And the way she’d looked at him with accusing eyes—that was even worse. Even if he won this impossible fight, she would never take him back.
Ty stepped forward, looking darker and more haunted than ever. Zack circled right, trying for a better angle against the glare—and not much else. He had to drag this out, which meant fighting long and hard, and possibly wounding Ty enough to keep him from pursuing her right away. The thought sickened him. Why was he even fighting his friend?
For Rae, his wolf snarled as Ty unleashed his first blow.
Half the crowd went into a frenzy; the other half hushed as Zack ducked and swung back, landing a glancing blow off Ty’s shoulder.
“Come on, Ty!” a shrill voice cried. Audrey, no doubt. The ranch playgirl knew how to side with the winning team.
They shuffled around each other, knuckles raised, chins low, looking for an opening. Ty came in with a bolo punch then followed up with a series of lackluster jabs Zack could parry with ease. The vocal part of the crowd cheered in excitement. Old Tyrone, of course, was barking for blood.
“Get him!”
“Why don’t they shift?” someone in the crowd cried.
Zack knew as well as Ty why not. Fighting with their fists kept the damage to a minimum; neither man had his heart in this fight. Anyone could see it in the way they traded blows any quick-witted kid could have avoided.
Ty came forward with a quick combination that Zack had perfectly under control until his footwork brought him in a direct line with old Tyrone’s sights. The man’s laser-like glare distracted him long enough to let Ty land a punch on his chin. Zack stumbled back, barely keeping his feet as a gasp went out from the crowd.
“Follow up, follow up!” Old Tyrone yelled.
Ty lumbered slowly forward, giving Zack ample time to get his bearings before he came in with an easy uppercut. Zack smacked it away and followed with a very wide hook.