Grey is furious. I picked up on the emotion even before peering closely enough to make out scratches and bruises representing Lupe’s ill-fated attempts at escape. Meanwhile, blood oozed from multiple bites marring Grey’s legs, proof positive that the whole pack had tried to rescue the teenager before backing off once their attacks failed to achieve the desired goal.
Yeah, the enforcer had every reason to be pissed. But that didn’t give him the right to damage defenseless kids in retaliation.
Hunter didn’t meet my eye as I eased forward, but I could feel his acknowledgment of my presence down our mate bond as he inched closer to the entangled pair of shifters. Meanwhile, twenty-one wolves with raised hackles ringed my mate as Glen, Lia, and Ginger continued to cluster around Stormwinder in two-legger form.
The female trouble twin had been speaking quietly and quickly into the older man’s ear ever since I entered the clearing, and now the breeze shifted to fling a wisp of words in my direction. “...call him off...” she demanded. But when I met Glen’s eyes, I only received a curt head shake by way of reply. No, the Tribunal member had no intention of preventing the catastrophe currently unfolding in our midst.
Well, at least they’re keeping the old coot busy, I thought, circling around in the opposite direction. While I’d been assessing the scene, Hunter had halted five feet away from the younger male, a decision that I couldn’t blame him for one bit. There was something about Grey’s eyes that suggested Stormwinder’s current protégé wasn’t entirely in his right mind, the expression on his face reminiscent of the recklessness Hunter had displayed when he first joined our newborn pack.
In Hunter’s case, that initial feral nature while finding his footing had mellowed into the aspect of a caring and attentive pack leader. But in Grey’s case, I had a sinking suspicion the bloodling’s rampant wolf would instead succumb to behavior all of us would soon come to regret.
So I clung to the tree line, counting on my mate to keep Grey’s attention fixated on the most obvious danger while I snuck up behind the two figures holding all of us in check. Before I’d traversed half the distance separating us, though, Grey spoke at last.
“You want to protect this pup?” he asked, the words gravelly and garbled as if his wolf was attempting to wield the man’s tongue without human assistance. Yep, the uber-alpha had dropped whatever pretense at humanity he might once have possessed. We’d need to use our instincts rather than our brains if we hoped to rescue Lupe from the jaws of the shifter who was quickly descending into the mind of a wild beast.
“She is a pup,” Hunter agreed, keeping his eyes averted in a submissive gesture that didn’t come at all naturally to the uber-alpha shifter. It hadn’t escaped my notice that my mate didn’t answer Grey’s actual question, but I hoped the enforcer wasn’t thinking rationally enough to make a similar connection. “She’s barely old enough to shift,” Hunter continued. “Young, stupid.”
“Young doesn’t mean stupid,” Grey retorted, his arm loosening slightly from around Lupe’s neck as if he’d developed a hint of empathy for his captive in response to Hunter’s words. My clever mate was apparently on the right track.
But the time wasn’t yet ripe for escape. So when Lupe tensed, sensing the opening she’d been waiting for, I didn’t stop to think. Instead, I broke the cardinal rule that had made our precarious relationship possible in the first place.
“I’ll hang with the pack,” Lupe had told me once soon after being reluctantly drawn into the fold. “But don’t think I’m one of you. Don’t you dare do that ‘Oh I’m your alpha let me speak in your head thing’ or I’m outta here!”
I’d shrugged and agreed. After all, it wasn’t as if I drew pleasure from insinuating myself into the minds of people who hated my guts, so bowing to the teenager’s wishes was no skin off my teeth.
Now, though, I couldn’t afford to play nice. Instead, I reached down the pack bond and slapped Lupe with a compulsion directly inside her own brain. “Stand still!” I demanded, feeling the rebound as a wave of shared agony pulsed through her young skull.
The girl flinched, proof that my words had at least made an impact. Whether the compulsion would manage to alter the actions of a stronger wolf was up for debate, though.
Don’t strike out at Grey just to spite me, I begged silently. I didn’t send the words down the pack bond, though, since a second invasion seemed likely to make matters worse rather than better. And, to my relief, Lupe’s eyes flashed with anger...but she obeyed.
Meanwhile, seemingly oblivious to what was going on behind the scenes, Hunter inched another step closer to the off-the-rails enforcer even as he continued to play with Grey’s mind. “You’re right. Young doesn’t mean stupid. Sometimes young means in need of a second chance or in need of a shoulder to lean on.”
I’d stopped walking when I decided to jump into Lupe’s brain, not sure I could perform the two tasks simultaneously without stumbling over my own feet. So I was only halfway around the clearing by that point, abreast of Grey and able to catch the expression on the younger male’s face when he cocked his head to one side in response to Hunter’s statement.
To my relief, stark lupine rage slowly faded away from our enemy’s countenance as human calculation filtered in to take its place. The enforcer was being drawn back from the brink by my mate’s carefully chosen words, and I couldn’t resist releasing a long, drawn-out sigh. Maybe we’d be able to rescue Lupe after all.
“You didn’t answer my question,” the younger uber-alpha said more clearly after a long moment of deliberation. “Do you want to protect this pup?”
Grey was less tense than he’d been a moment earlier, but the hairs on the back of my neck abruptly stood on end. Yes, the enforcer’s human brain was in the lead...but was that really any better for us than facing down a wild wolf? Because while a shifter’s animal half could be unpredictable, the human brain was significantly more clever. Wheels were now turning in the young male’s head, driving us all toward a destination I wasn’t so sure we wanted to visit.
Hunter’s nostrils flared as he received the same visual cues I had and followed up by scenting the air in search of the emotional undertones. “I want you to release her, if that’s what you’re asking,” he said after a moment. “Lupe’s not worth bloodying your hands over. She’s mine to reprimand. I’ll ensure that she does no more harm to man or beast.”
Once again, Hunter was creeping forward, although I didn’t think Grey had noticed his opponent’s advance. By this point, in fact, my mate was nearly within arm’s reach of Lupe—the moment we were waiting for was fast approaching.
“Be ready to run,” I broadcast into Lupe’s mind, knowing as I did so that I was harming the tentative bond of trust that had allowed us to communicate telepathically in the first place. Immediately, I sensed confusion and anger at the repeated intrusion, but the girl managed to tamp down her emotions long enough to visualize a reply.
“I’m ready,” she promised.
“You’re not answering my question,” Grey countered, turning his body so Lupe was pointed away from Hunter and closer to me. “I want to know if this pup means something to you. Is it duty making you stick your neck out for her, or do you care about this bloodling who has been nothing but trouble for your pack?”
So this was the issue Hunter had been adroitly sidestepping for the last few minutes. Around us, the entire clearing seemed to hold its breath. Stormwinder’s lips curled into a predatory grin and Lia’s eyes squinted shut as if she was afraid to see the events about to unfold. Meanwhile, the Pied Piper pack of bloodlings encircling my mate’s legs peered up at their alpha while Ginger stopped muttering long enough to take in his reply.
Lupe, though, was the one who cared the most. The girl liked to act as if she wasn’t one of us, but when it came right down to it she was every bit a wolf. And a wolf craves the protection and affection of her alpha above all else.
So I wasn’t surprised when the tether stretching between us went
entirely still as the girl prepared herself for Hunter’s answer. This, I realized, was the moment when my mate would accept Lupe into his good graces, allowing the teenager to finally relinquish the chip she’d been balancing atop her slender shoulders.
And then Hunter squashed all of our hopes and dreams. “Duty,” he said shortly. “Lupe has been a thorn in my heel ever since she first entered this pack. I don’t give a fig about one unruly bloodling girl.”
Chapter 8
Grey’s arms slipped down to his sides even as Lupe released a shriek more agonizing than the one that had brought us running to this spot in the first place. “You,” she began, a tear brimming on each lower eyelid. Angrily, she dashed the moisture away before hunching her shoulders up around her ears as if to prevent further ill tidings from sneaking inside.
I glanced over at Hunter, half expecting him to mitigate his words. But he simply stood solid and uncaring, a hint of a smile hovering on his lips.
And it worked. The enforcer took a step away from his former hostage then turned toward Stormwinder, allowing Lupe to slip the rest of the way out of his grasp. “We should let them deal with their own pup,” Grey decided with a shrug. “It’s only one dead sheep, after all.”
Immediately, the emotional temperature of the clearing warmed...a welcome reprieve since every two-legger save me was standing around naked, shivering in the winter chill. Lupe, though, remained frozen in place, glancing back and forth between the enforcer who had hurt her physically and the pack leader who had chosen instead to strike directly at her heart.
Is this a test? A joke? she seemed to be asking. I half expected Hunter to grace the teenager with a wink or other evidence of the affection I knew he harbored for our orneriest pack member. But the danger was still too close at hand and my mate couldn’t risk Grey’s mercurial mood turning murderous. So he stood firm and silent in the face of Lupe’s despair. And, after a moment, the young woman turned on her heel and sped away.
Which should have been fine. After all, her cabin refuge lay only a few short yards away and she’d retreated there many times before. The tearful, dramatic exit would be complemented by a slammed door to shut out the pack she didn’t want any part of, then Lupe would dive into her tablet or cell phone and pretend none of us existed. Finally, after an hour or an afternoon, her growling stomach would remind her that packs weren’t so terrible after all, and she’d wind up back in the community house as if nothing untoward had ever happened.
Except this time around Hunter had apparently gone too far. Rather than circling around to the nearby building’s only door, Lupe arrowed directly into the trees. Her trajectory wouldn’t take her to the community house either. No, she appeared to be intent upon striking out cross-country in search of the human domicile that she considered her one true home.
Shit. Just what we needed with Stormwinder on the premises—an insecure bloodling gone rogue. I turned to follow in her footsteps, only to pause as the Tribunal member’s cool words began rewriting the past.
“Being a pack leader isn’t what you’d expected, is it, son?” asked the older shifter, taking a step closer to my mate as he swooped in for the kill. “Such a hassle dealing with all of those volatile bloodlings. You pour your heart and soul into them, then they treat you like dirt.”
Hunter stiffened beneath Stormwinder’s innuendo, the motivation for which should have been as transparent as spring water. My mate’s ex-mentor wasn’t quite ready to let his attack dog go, so he had chosen instead to feel around in the dark, searching for the right button to push to bring Hunter back to heel.
Meanwhile, Stormwinder’s current protégé wasn’t taking well to being pushed onto the back burner. Grey’s growl was nearly inaudible, but I could feel the deep rumble in my bones without hearing it in my ears.
In response, pack mate after pack mate prostrated himself against the ground in an attempt to escape the uber-alpha’s wordless compulsion. Only Hunter, Stormwinder, and I remained unaffected by the enforcer’s overt anger.
“I’ve given you copious time to think it over,” the silver-haired shifter continued, speaking a little louder as if to drown out his underling’s complaints. “I wanted you to be sure you weren’t making a mistake before tossing away the place you’d built for yourself through years of hard work.”
The Tribunal member took a step closer to my mate then, one hand raised as if in benediction. “But now it’s time to make some hard decisions,” he went on, his words seductively soft and clear. “Do you want to take Grey under your wing and train him to be a loyal partner and friend? Or do you want to allow an argumentative, thankless pack to drag you away from everything you’ve worked so hard to create?”
Around us, I could hear the rasping breaths of pack mates struck down by Stormwinder’s dominance. Only my drowsy wolf prevented me from following their lead, clutching at the leaf mold and begging for relief from the alpha aggressions currently bouncing around the clearing. Still, Stormwinder’s words insinuated themselves into my mind like carbon monoxide—invisible yet deadly.
His argument that Hunter would be better off without our found family was pure bunk, of course. But was I really the one to lead our pack into the future? And was it really worth continuing to beat our heads against the wall that was Lupe’s eternal stubbornness?
When we’d first drawn the youngster into the fold, the action had been essential to protect her from humans and shifters alike. She was a recently shifted outpack female with no understanding of the dangers she walked through with her eyes half closed. Given a choice between helping a grumpy but kind-hearted innocent or letting her drown under her own volition, the decision had been clear.
Now, though, the situation was a little different. Lupe had soaked up enough shifter know-how over the last four months to be safe on her own within the one-body world. Meanwhile, I trusted her foster mother to do everything in her power to give the girl a better life.
Letting Lupe do her own thing would be so easy, especially when our territorial request was likely to send more alphas sniffing around our as-yet-unofficial boundaries. Paring down our responsibilities to the bare minimum in advance of those expected invasions would make good sense.
Still, I snapped out of the daydream as quickly as it had begun. Whether Lupe wanted me to come after her or not, she needed an alpha in her life.
And whether I thought I was suited to the task or not, I was that alpha. What would Wolfie do? The answer was obvious—my former alpha wouldn’t have even hesitated before following a wounded pack mate and salving her battered ego.
So, glancing at Hunter, I raised one eyebrow questioningly. Can you handle this on your own?
Go, he answered silently.
Then, turning away from the battle of wills, I ran straight down the trail toward the community building. Because Lupe needed at least an hour to reach Mrs. Sawyer’s dwelling while traveling overland on four paws. My battered station wagon, in contrast, would make the trip in half the time.
***
I caught up with Lupe in a small wooded glade ten miles away from Wolf Landing, and to my surprise it was the pack bond that alerted me to her proximity. I’d figured she’d sever the connection as quickly as possible, but perhaps the teenager wasn’t quite as fed up with our pack as I’d initially assumed. Or maybe she just wasn’t experienced enough to break the invisible tether without undue hassle. I was willing to consider even ignorance a boon after the freaky twenty-four hours we’d all been through.
“I brought your clothes,” I whispered as I tiptoed toward the naked teenager, glancing around to make sure neither she nor I had been sighted. There weren’t any suburban cops currently breathing down our necks, so apparently my charge had acted with good sense and shifted far away from prying eyes.
Lupe’s current obliviousness to her surroundings, though, made it clear that Hunter’s words had struck much harder than he’d intended. She sat bare-bummed on a rotting log, her furless spine bent in on itself as if
to hide the sobs that wracked her slender body. And even though her strong inner wolf must have sensed me long since, the girl appeared to be entirely unaware of my presence.
Well, I could wait. Settling down beside my charge, I draped a parka over her young shoulders. Bloodling or not, she had to be cold. The sun was already nipping at the horizon and my frozen fingers begged to be stuffed beneath my armpits to warm up.
Instead of obeying my body’s mandate, though, I gently reached around to offer a one-armed hug, pulling Lupe loosely up against my side. Unfortunately, the object of my affection remained as rigid as a slab of firewood. Time to see what words can do.
“You have to know Hunter didn’t mean what he said,” I began. “He cares about every member of our pack, including you. He...”
I paused, still having a little trouble spitting out the word that had given me such fits the summer before. But dire circumstances called for the big guns, so I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried again. “He loves you.”
Lupe didn’t answer, but her body seemed to soften a bit beneath my arm and her sobs lessened in intensity. I was clearly on the right track.
So I settled in for the long haul. I told Lupe the things I wished Celia had been able to say to me when I was a lonely tween feeling abandoned by the people who should have cared about me the most. I told her how important she was to our pack, how the younger bloodlings looked up to her and turned into excited bundles of fur every time she deigned to visit our clan home.
I told the girl how her strength buoyed me up on days when being pack leader seemed like too tough of a row to hoe. And I told her how proud I was of her ability to learn about both the shifter and one-body worlds so quickly and seamlessly when she’d spent the first fourteen years of her life as a guard dog without anyone to emulate beyond a hyped-up meth-lab owner.
Wolf Landing (Alpha Underground Book 3) Page 5