by Lori King
“Thank you for explaining. It makes more sense now why he’s so overprotective. You’re his only sister, and he doesn’t want to lose you. We’ll do our best to be nice,” Cadence said.
“Thank you. My family is very important to me. I guess you could say I’m a little spoiled. I have three brothers and I was the youngest, so I was the princess of the family. I can’t remember Mom and Dad telling me ‘no’ too often when I wanted something. At least until I was older. The idea of hurting any of them tears my heart out.”
Mateo winked at her. “No worries. We’ll continue to spoil you I’m sure, amor. You’ll be our queen, not just our princess.”
She swallowed hard, trying to accept that she would be a true Alpha-bitch once they won the contest, but all she could think about was the what-ifs. Ignorant of the turbulent emotions inside of her, Cadence took her hand and led her to a table full of Diego wolves. They all seemed to be feeling very uncomfortable, so she smiled pleasantly, hoping to put them at ease.
To her right sat two older men who didn’t fit the stereotypical Alpha contender. “Whitney Gray, I’d like you to meet Alastair Cooper, and Rolando Asis, the two pack elders who will be validating the challenge results,” Cadence said.
The first man smiled at her warmly and accepted her handshake. Alastair’s dark-brown eyes held an offer of friendship that she would readily accept. However, the second man, Rolando, frowned at her snidely and barely nodded in greeting.
“You know if I had known the Gray pack had such beautiful women, I might have travelled down here sooner,” Alastair teased as he scooted over to make room for her to sit next to him.
“Hmm, I should probably warn you that most of them are mated, but then so are you, aren’t you, Mr. Cooper?” she joked, looking pointedly at the mating mark that adorned his neck.
He nodded with a sigh. “Alas, yes. I’m a mated man. But mated doesn’t mean I’m dead, so I’ll just have to appease myself with enjoying the beauty that surrounds me.”
“Just ignore him, mi amor. Alastair is a notorious flirt,” Mateo said, sliding his hand up over the nape of her neck from behind in a possessive way that made her pussy clench. She could smell her own desire, and clearly so could the others around her, as more than one of the Diego wolves turned their full attention her way.
“You smell lovely.” The young man who spoke had a reddish-brown tint to his dark hair and several days’ growth on his jaw. His eyes were a rich, honey-colored brown, and she could tell that he was a flirt. “I’m Chance Porter, and this is my second, August Chavez.”
Unlike Chance, August shared her men’s Hispanic coloring, with very dark black hair and thick black eyebrows over rich brown eyes. By far August’s best feature was his full lips that were drawn up in a warm smile. Whitney smiled back at both of them, wondering how old they were. They didn’t look like they were old enough to drink yet, but Chance was definitely looking back with a man’s desire.
“You are clearly not mated, Mr. Porter,” she said gently, reaching up and gripping Mateo’s thumb, pulling his hand down over her shoulder.
Chance laughed. “No, and I have no plans to be anytime soon, but that won’t stop me from playing with the pretty ladies either.”
“Are all of the Diego wolves such flirts?” Whitney asked, turning her attention to the four men she had yet to be introduced to.
“Not all of us, ma’am. Some of us are slightly older and wiser.” This man was probably ten to fifteen years older than Chance and August. She was guessing late thirties, and his green eyes were captivating. Unlike the other men at the table, this pair had blond hair, and didn’t seem as uncomfortable. “I’m Silas Beck.”
He held out a callused hand to her, and she leaned forward to accept it, blushing when his eyes skimmed down to the cleavage that was exposed by her open collar. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Beck.”
Silas gestured to the other men. “The quiet ones here are Martin Kroft, my second,”—he patted the other blond man on the shoulder—“and Reyes and Javier Asis.”
Martin’s hair was longer, and more of a golden-brown than blond, but like Silas, he was definitely lighter in coloring that the others. His strong jawline was edged with a precisely trimmed line of facial hair that just highlighted the tiny cleft in his chin and the reserved smile on his face.
Reyes was glaring at her with black eyes and blacker hair. He seemed to hate her on sight, and she refused to even acknowledge him. Turning to Javier, she was even more weirded out by his obvious avoidance of her. While she had all of the other men focused on her right now, he was pointedly starting down at his nails as if he couldn’t be bothered to say hello. It was awkward and uncomfortable.
She turned back at Rolando on the other side of Alastair. “Asis? Are you three related?”
Rolando nodded. “They are my sons, yes.”
Whitney was taken aback by the ice in his tone. This was an angry man. A dangerous man. Something about him and his sons gave her the heebie-jeebies, and she promised herself that no matter what she wouldn’t be alone with any of them while they were here.
“Well it’s nice to meet all of you, albeit under unusual circumstances,” she said to the table, and she could feel pride rolling off of Cadence and Mateo at her back. “Have you all started the planning for the contest?”
“It’s a battle, not a contest, girl,” Rolando spat harshly, and she felt her men tense behind her.
Nodding to the nasty man, she glared back. “You’re right. At the moment it is a battle, but that doesn’t mean that it must be.”
“What do you mean?” Chance asked with a frown.
Whitney smiled at the younger man. “I just mean that you don’t have to battle to the death. If you fight until someone relinquishes—”
Arrogant male laughter filled the air, and Whitney shut her mouth as they laughed at her.
“I will not submit,” Reyes said in a deep, growly voice. “There is no need when I can best all three of them.”
“You wish, Reyes. I look forward to introducing you to death,” Chance spouted off cockily.
Alastair took pity on Whitney and explained. “My dear, submission in battle for an Alpha wolf is worse than death. There can be only one leader for the Diego pack. The four contenders will fight along with their seconds until only one pair of men is left standing. It’s just the way it must be.”
“But what if a second goes down before his Alpha?” she argued.
“Then the Alpha must continue alone. It is possible that a second would be the surviving one of the two, but only one Alpha will leave the battlefield.”
Her stomach clenched, and she rose abruptly to avoid embarrassing herself. “Thank you for explaining. Please excuse me. I believe I heard my friend calling for me.”
Without waiting for anyone to respond or try to stop her, she fled across the crowded clearing and into the woods. Stopping several feet into the thick trees, she braced herself on a tree and fought to keep from retching. They were serious. And if they were serious, that meant that the possibility of her two men getting hurt was high.
She had all the faith in the world that Cadence and Mateo were capable of beating the six men at that table, even without knowing their qualifications or fighting skills, but she didn’t want them to. These were their pack mates and friends. Why couldn’t they see that it was better to live than to die?
Tipping her head back, she stared at the canopy of leaves overhead and wished that she could get away from the terrible fear in her belly. She just knew something bad was going to happen, and she hated waiting for it.
* * * *
Mateo watched Whitney run for the woods with a mix of sympathy and dread. He stopped Cadence from following her because the more he knew about her, the more he understood that she needed to distance herself sometimes in order to handle her emotions.
When the Diego pack made plans for the Alpha battle, there was never a question in his mind that he would partner his cousin. They had worked fla
wlessly as a team for more than two decades, and they were the two who would have assumed the leadership roles if it weren’t for Barton’s actions. By no fault of his own, Cadence was stripped of his birthright, and Mateo would be damned if that was a permanent thing.
Even knowing now that they had a mate to protect, he still wouldn’t go back and change his mind. In fact, it made him even more determined to help Cadence win the battle. None of the other contenders had what the two of them had. A reason to survive and thrive. They were all six unmated men, and so their deaths wouldn’t physically harm anyone they left behind. Mateo knew what Whitney’s fate was if he and Cadence didn’t survive the battle, and it was unacceptable.
Turning his attention back to his pack mates, he listened as they discussed the Gray pack wolves and their accommodations. It seemed Reyes and Javier weren’t pleased to be bunking with the other four.
“So take our cabin,” Cadence snapped back at one particular petty jibe from Reyes. “We’re mated men now, and Whitney has her own place. We’ll stay there with her.”
“Fine. We will. However, it doesn’t explain why you and Mateo received preferential treatment in the first place. You aren’t the Alpha, and after the battle, you won’t be more than a memory, so why did Gray set you up with your own cabin?” Reyes asked. His glare was hard, and in that moment he looked so like his father Rolando that Mateo wanted to punch him.
Rolando Asis was a nasty man, and his oldest son was following closely in his footsteps. As Barton’s Beta wolf, Rolando had been as involved in the horrific treatment of Diego wolves as Barton himself, and Mateo hated him for it. Among the other atrocities that Mateo had witnessed, he himself had been a victim of a handful of violent punishments doled out at the hands of his uncle Barton and Rolando Asis.
One particular time was still vivid in his mind. Mateo had only been fifteen at the time, but he was always bigger than the other kids his age. Reyes, on the other hand, was small for his age, and at only three years older than Mateo, they were well matched in size when they clashed.
It was late summer and the pack’s youth had been running through the woods of their den, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air before school was to start the following week. A female wolf named Serena stopped near the river for a drink of water, and Reyes stopped with her. By the time Mateo heard her screams, Reyes had already forced her shift and he was spread out over her bloody back raping her in the dirt. The image was burned into his brain as though it was yesterday.
Mateo had lost his mind as he threw Reyes off of Serena into a tree, and the two males fought with bitter violence. When other wolves finally burst onto the scene it was to find Serena dead and Reyes’ throat in Mateo’s jaws. Had they been another moment longer, there would have been two funerals that week.
Reyes argued that it was Mateo who raped and killed Serena, and when his younger brother Javier said that they had been together until they heard Serena scream, his story was believed. No amount of begging and arguing seemed to help his circumstance, and even though every pack member knew the truth, none were willing to speak out against Rolando Asis’s sons.
Even worse was what the accusation did to Mateo’s mother, Deidra. It was in those few hours after the attack that she shared with him her own history of being raped by Rolando when she was young. Instead of fighting for one victim, Mateo had been fighting for two and hadn’t even known it.
For his assumed participation in Serena’s death, Mateo was tied to a tree and whipped bloody before being locked in the basement of the Alpha cabin for two weeks with only bread and water. Somehow Cadence snuck his mother in to treat his wounds so that he would heal without infection, and his best friend and sister took turns sneaking him meat. During that time, Mateo swore that he would get his revenge on Reyes, but until the announcement of the Alpha battle, he’d had no opportunity. Now he would be able to kill him legally. He really had no interest in Javier one way or another. Although the man wasn’t as heinous as his older brother and father, he had lied for Reyes, and he had helped hide their various crimes too many times to count. This Alpha battle would be Mateo’s opportunity to mete out justice for Serena, his mother, and for himself.
Jerking out of his memories, Mateo fought to hold his temper in check. As much as he wanted to break Reyes’s neck, he also wanted the chance to best him in a fair fight so that the whole pack would feel the vengeance.
“I set up a private cabin for Cadence out of respect for him and his birthright, Mr. Asis. You of all people must understand that.” Devin Gray spoke with the authority of an Alpha wolf as he approached their table, and Mateo was pleased to see Reyes flinch under his icy glare.
“I appreciate the gesture, Devin, but as circumstances have changed, Mateo and I will gladly move in with our mate and allow the Asis brothers to use the private cabin,” Cadence said with a similar air of power. It took everything in him not to cheer when Reyes dropped his eyes away from Cadence’s.
“Whatever you men work out among yourselves it perfectly fine with me. I wanted to make a request that we hold the Alpha battle the day after tomorrow. I’m aware that this is significantly faster than we first talked about, but at the time I agreed to hosting the challenge, I had no idea that twenty more wolves would be joining my pack later this week or next,” Devin continued, his eyes moving from one man to the next slowly and deliberately.
Alastair was the one to respond. “I don’t see why we can’t accommodate that. Have you determined where we will hold it?”
Devin gestured. “Here in the clearing is the best place I believe. It’s in the very center of pack land, and we can set a perimeter of Gray pack wolves around the boundaries of the den to keep anyone from accidentally happening upon it. Will you require any witnesses beyond myself and my brother?”
Rolando piped up. “Any who would like to watch are welcome. We have no intention of this being kept private. Invite the whole pack. It will just makes my son’s victory that much sweeter.”
Devin’s head cocked to the side and he gave Rolando a cold stare. “I don’t believe that a death match is the right place for women and children to see a show, if that’s what you’re suggesting.”
Firmly put in his place, Rolando glared back and shrugged. “Fine. Just saying, there is no reason to limit the number of witnesses.”
“Then it’s settled. At dawn the day after tomorrow. I will allow any of the adults in the pack who choose to attend, and both myself and my brother will be in attendance,” Devin answered as Caroline walked up behind him.
“And what about your pretty wife?” Reyes asked, giving the pregnant woman a once-over that disgusted Mateo and clearly pissed Devin off.
“His pretty wife has better things to do with her time than watch eight grown men beat on each other and their chests to prove who has the bigger penis. But I thank you for your concern,” Caroline said sweetly.
Mateo couldn’t stop the laugh that burst from his throat, and before long everyone except Rolando and Reyes was laughing. The two of them looked irritated and Reyes kicked Javier who pretended to cough over his laugh. It served them right. Perhaps in Chicago they were firmly in the winners’ circle, but here in Kansas City they didn’t even place in the semi-finals. That was good for Cadence and himself, because it meant that the field was wide open and they were ripe for the win.
“Well, now that business is over, please make yourselves at home here. Eat, drink, dance, and enjoy your time with us,” Devin said cordially before waving and leading Caroline out to the small space where couples were dancing.
Cadence turned to Mateo and spoke softly. “Where is she?”
“Still in the woods I believe.”
With a nod, he began walking. “Let’s go find her and reassure her.”
“Cadence, before we do I need to say something.” Mateo grabbed his cousin’s arm and turned him until they were facing each other. “Cousin, this will be hardest on her. She had no plans to be mated, and she certainly had no intent
ion of mating two men who could bring about her death in two days’ time. Please, try to be understanding and not your normal pretentious self.”
“I’m not pretentious. I’m practical. It won’t do her any good if we coddle her with reassurances. She either has faith in us or she doesn’t, but she can’t expect us to change our plans.”
Mateo shook his head. “I don’t think she wants that, but I do think that tomorrow needs to be all about her, just in case. All I’m asking is that you try to be gentle with her.”
“I’m not a child, Mateo. I know how to handle my own mate,” Cadence snapped.
“You’re not listening to me. I’m not questioning your relationship or your manhood, dammit. I’m saying that on the slim chance that we only get the next thirty-six hours or so with the woman of our dreams, could you please stop being a prick and try being a nice guy?”
Cadence stared at him for several breaths, his eyes searching for something in Mateo’s gaze. When he finally nodded, Mateo slapped his shoulder. “Thank you. You won’t regret it. Now, let’s go find our woman and ask her to dance.”
* * * *
Whitney was already walking back to the party with her camera firmly in her hands when the cousins found her, and she forced a smile to her face. “Hey, guys, sorry about that. I just needed to check on some things, and I wanted to grab my camera.”
Cadence wrapped her in a hug and frowned down at her. “I don’t like it very much when you lie, Whitney.”
She flinched and stared at the center of his chest, willing him to let the subject drop. Maybe it would have been better if she wished for the earth to open and swallow her whole, but both were highly unlikely. Mateo stood to the side while Cadence held her and waited silently. When she glanced over at him, he was frowning, too.