“I challenge Joel for Taylor, as is my right.” Cliff growled at Joel.
“If he does that, he has violated the charter,” Jerrold said. “He loses the position of Alpha.” He grinned at Cliff. “But you will, won’t you? Because you’re weak. Because you’d sacrifice everything for a woman. I’ll give you one chance. After you kill Joel, take Taylor and drive off the property and never return. If you agree to do that, then when I’m Alpha, I’ll spare Serafina’s life. Otherwise…she’ll die very, very slowly.”
“Wait, what?” Joel’s voice went up a notch, becoming high and shrill. His eyes widened in fear. “You set me up! You bastard!”
“Not so fast. I’m next in line for Alpha,” Grant said. Oswald started to argue, and Grant added, “The charter is very clear on that point. Jerrold and I were just about tied. I know the scoring system. Jerrold was a couple of points ahead, but because he forfeited to me, rather than Austin or Cliff, according to the point scoring system, I’m actually ahead. And if you choose to argue, I’ll call in a vote from the entire pack. You haven’t been making many friends here, Jerrold.”
Jerrold flicked a nervous glance at Oswald.
“He may be right,” Oswald allowed. “I’d have to consult the specific rules again…”
“Your bad luck that it was me you ended up matched against.” Grant’s eyes gleamed with triumph. “It puts me ahead. Never try to out-lawyer me, motherfucker.”
Cliff nodded at his brother. He could only pray that Grant would be ready to handle the enormous responsibility of being pack Alpha.
“Lead the pack well,” he said. “If you want me to leave, I will be gone by tomorrow morning.”
Joel tried to run to Jerrold, but Cliff shifted and pounced so fast that he never made it.
He clamped his jaws around his throat and shook him like a rat, so hard his neck snapped, then dropped his limp corpse to the ground. It was swift, savage and bloodless.
He shifted back and stood over Joel’s body. “Order the return of my mate. Now,” he spat at Oswald. “Or I will go on a killing spree the likes of which this pack has never seen.”
Oswald scowled, but he pulled out his cell phone. Jerrold started to object, but Oswald shook his head. “Now that Joel is dead, we have no legal right to hold Taylor.” He spoke into the phone. “Bring the women back to the field,” he said glumly.
This was followed by a quick consultation with the section of the pack charter that dealt with the Alpha trials. The Elders conferred, and glanced at Jerrold, and their expression said it all
“This is bullshit!” Jerrold wailed. “You want me as Alpha! I have majority vote!”
“We are bound by our laws,” Oscar said, his voice stiff and formal. He avoided Jerrold’s eyes.
“My first act as Alpha, now that the trials are over, is to demand that Jerrold be challenged as to who sabotaged the course,” Grant said.
Jerrold’s face went white, and he turned and tried to flee. Truman and Taurus pounced on him and held him in place while James walked over.
“Tell us who sabotaged the course, and who shot Austin.” James’ lip curled in a feral snarl as he sent his power out in a wave, pouring over Jerrold.
Jerrold turned white, and sweat poured down his face as he thrashed in the grip of the two men holding him. Finally, he broke, with a sob.
“I won’t…I won’t…”
“You will.” James’ eyes blazed with hatred.
“I sabotaged the first part of the course! I did it!” Jerrold screamed, face red with fury. “I didn’t shoot Austin, but I did sabotage the course!”
Jerrold’s own packmates looked at him in horror and disgust. He’d just disgraced their pack for life. They were all tarnished by what he’d done.
“Cheating in the trials? That’s a death-penalty offense,” Grant said calmly. “As you all know.”
Oswald nodded grimly.
Jerrold went mad, screaming and wailing and struggling as the Elders withdrew once again to confer among themselves. His packmates gathered together, murmuring and shooting hostile looks at him.
“Jerrold is sentenced to death,” Oswald said resignedly. “So say we all.”
Truman and Taurus glanced at Jerrold’s pack, who were now advancing on their Alpha with murder in their eyes.
“No! No!” Jerrold screamed as Truman and Taurus let go of him and ran for their lives. Jerrold’s pack shifted and swarmed over him in a wave of fur and fangs. Jerrold’s screams of agony went on for almost a minute before they changed to desperate gurgling, and then silence.
Grant raised his voice, shouting so that everyone gathered around them could hear. “My second act as Alpha is to declare that Cliff is Alpha.”
“You can’t be serious,” Phineas said, staring at him.
“I’m dead serious. Cliff was in first place.” Grant looked as if he wanted to spit nails. “I won’t take a pity win. I’ll be the one who’s leaving.”
“No! If Grant declines his position, Austin is Alpha!” Minnie argued.
Austin threw his head back and brayed with laughter. “Fuck that. I shot myself with the silver bullet so I could get out of the trials,” he said. “I don’t want to be Alpha. I don’t want to share oxygen with you people, much less lead you.”
There were exclamations of fury and disbelief from the Elders and the pack members who were thronging around them now.
“You dumb bastard!” Grant snapped at him. Then he sighed heavily.
“But since he didn’t disqualify himself in order to win, it’s not a death penalty.”
“He’s banished, then,” Minnie said.
“I wasn’t planning on coming back anyway.” Austin shrugged. “And frankly, if I want to see my niece and nephews, I will. You can’t stop me.” He turned and walked away, extending a middle finger and holding it up high as he did so. “Ciao, losers.” He yelled that last bit over his shoulder.
A car drove past him in the parking lot, pulling right up to the bleachers, and Anita and Taylor climbed out.
Taylor’s hair was ruffled, her lip was bleeding, and she looked furious.
“Can people be done with kidnapping me, just for one damn day, even?” she snapped as Cliff rushed to her side.
Epilogue
One year later…
Chester and Carol sat on the enormous front porch of Cliff and Taylor’s mansion. Taylor held her new son Brandon in her arms, swinging gently on the porch swing. Serafina and Dax and Roger were crowded around her. Cliff sat near them, smiling hugely. He reached out and stroked Brandon’s tiny little fist, and Brandon’s hand closed around Cliff’s finger.
Carol, who was never at a loss for words…was speechless. She reached over to Chantelle, who was sitting next to Rusty on a white-painted wooden rocker. Chantelle was due in three months. Her stomach was like a little beachball resting on her lap.
“Can I hold him again?” Serafina asked eagerly. “I’ll be really, really careful.” Taylor let Serafina take Brandon in her arms.
“I’m his godfather,” Dax bragged to Cliff.
“We’re both his godfather,” Roger corrected him. “Hey, you wanna see me turn again? I can do it really fast.”
“Werewolves,” Chester said, in astonishment, shaking his head. “My grandchildren are going to be…werecubs?”
He looked at Chantelle for confirmation.
Cliff had agreed to let Chantelle tell her parents, because it was going to be impossible to hide. They would demand to see their grandchild, and werewolf children were known to shift spontaneously. They couldn’t control it.
There were select humans who were permitted to know the truth about werewolves. They had to have at least one werewolf family member, and they had to be vetted by both the Alpha and the Elders.
“Are you…are you okay with that?” Chantelle asked her parents tentatively.
“Are we okay with it?” Carol said, her voice rising. “Are we okay with it? Are you kidding?”
Chantelle look
ed at her nervously, and Rusty squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Mom, you’re freaking me out a little.”
“Chantelle, for years I thought I’d lose you. I was terrified that you wouldn’t live long enough to give me grandchildren. And now you’re not only cured, forever, but you’re going to present me with a magical fairytale grandbaby that I can spoil to death? You bet your butt I’m okay with it!” Carol burst into tears and hugged Chantelle, drawing bemused stares from Roger and Dax.
“Grownups are weird,” Dax whispered to his brother.
“But they’re how we get chocolate,” Roger pointed out. Dax nodded in agreement.
The growl of a lawnmower started up, and Cliff looked over at Fergus and waved at him. Fergus had just finished up high school, and now was working for a lawn maintenance company on their property.
Leota opened the front door. “Lunch is almost ready!” she called out. It turned out that Leota loved to cook. She’d filled out nicely, her once emaciated frame now pleasingly plump. She worked for Cliff in the kitchen, whipping up irresistible concoctions every day. And recently, after spending months and months shying away from any male attention, she’d started dating Taurus. She said he made her feel safe and loved. There was talk of a mating ceremony in the near future.
Taylor leaned in to Cliff with a sigh of contentment as Serafina let Carol pick up Brandon.
Pack life had returned to normal after Cliff had finally been declared Alpha. Grant had agreed to stay on as head of marketing for the company. Austin was secretly still talking to Serafina and her brothers, even though he was banished, and Cliff pretended he didn’t know about it.
Mandy called and texted from time to time. She wasn’t dating anyone. Taylor felt like there was something that Mandy wasn’t telling her, but she also had a feeling that she’d be better off not knowing whatever secrets Mandy was keeping.
“You forgot to tell me something today,” Cliff whispered into Taylor’s ear.
“I love you,” she whispered back. “You big lug. Don’t you get tired of hearing it?”
He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips, and the gleam in his eyes promised that later tonight, they would get started on baby number two. “Never,” he said. “Never ever.”
Thanks so much for reading! Be sure to keep an eye out for Grant and Austin’s stories!
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About the Author
Hello, I am Georgette St. Clair, writer of hot, sexy romances which star all Alpha heroes, all the time. The road to love may be rocky and fraught with peril, (and humor and scorchtastic sex and healthy heapings of snark) but my shifters will stop at nothing to claim their fated mate.
A little about me: I live in Florida. My checkered career involved stints as a newspaper reporter, EMT, internet marketer, cocktail waitress, temp, nurse’s aide (but not all at the same time...)
Now I’m living my perfect life, spending my days in a fantasy universe where I nudge my smart-mouthed, take-no-guff heroines onto the path that will set them on a collision course with true love.
Check out my website for a complete list of titles and what’s coming soon. Or connect with me on Facebook.
Also by Georgette St. Clair
Starcrossed Dating Agency series:
The Vulfan’s True Mate (Starcrossed Dating Agency Book 1)
The Dragon Claims His Treasure (Starcrossed Dating Agency Book 2)
The Vulfan’s Dark Desires (Starcrossed Dating Agency Book 3)
The Mating Game Series:
The Mating Game: Big Bad Wolf (The Mating Game Book 1)
Dating a Dragon (The Mating Game Book 2)
A Grizzly Kind of Love (The Mating Game Book 3)
Tri-Valley Dragon series
Bride of the Dragon
Love Burns
Alpha Prime series:
Shiftily Ever After (Alpha Prime Book 1)
His Curvy Mate (Alpha Prime Book 2)
Shifters of Silver Peak series:
Mate Marked: Shifters of Silver Peak
Shifters of Silver Peak: Mate for a Month
Shifters of Silver Peak: A Very Shifty Christmas
Bridenapped series:
Bridenapped: The Alpha Chronicles
Bridenapped: The Alpha’s Choice
Twin Alphas series:
Twin Alphas: Claimed
Twin Alphas: Desired
Shifters, Inc series:
The Alpha Meets His Match (A paranormal romance) (Shifters, Inc. Book 1)
His Purrfect Mate (A Shifter Romance) (Shifters, Inc. Book 2)
Pixie the Lion Tamer (Shifters, Inc. Book 3)
Shifters, Inc. The Bear Who Loved Me (A BBW Paranormal Romance)
Spotting His Leopard (Shifters, Inc.)
Blue Moon Junction series:
Blue Moon Shifters: The Alpha Claims a Mate (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (Blue Moon Junction Book 1)
Blue Moon Shifters: The Bobcat’s Tale (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (Blue Moon Junction Book 2)
Blue Moon Shifters: Hard to Bear (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (Blue Moon Junction Book 3)
Blue Moon Shifters: My Heart Laid Bear (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (Blue Moon Junction Book 4)
Timber Valley Pack series:
Bride of the Alpha (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (Timber Valley Pack Book 1)
Purr for the Alpha (A Paranormal Romance) (Timber Valley Pack Book 2)
Hard as Steele (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (Timber Valley Pack Book 3)
Timber Valley Pack: Lynx on the Loose (A Paranormal Romance with Shifters)
Taken by the Alpha (Timber Valley Pack Book 5)
The Alpha Won’t Be Denied (Timber Valley Pack Book 6)
Standalone titles:
Grayslake: More than Mated: Grayslake: Furrever Yours (Kindle Worlds Novella)
Badlands: The Lion’s Den
The Dragon’s Christmas Wish
THE END
The Billion-were Needs A Mate (The Alpha Billion-weres Book 1) Page 18