by M. L. Briers
‘Far be it from me to intervene…’ Connor put in and Chase rounded on him.
“Then don’t brother.” Chase snapped out and Cassidy felt that all hope might be lost. That Chase was set on a course that would end with the death of Akhlut here tonight.
“Is there no other way to satisfy your lust for his blood Chase?” Cassidy asked, causing Chase to bring his glare back towards her.
“You ask too much woman.” Chase rounded on her and she felt her annoyance at his dominance. But she held her tongue. She was fond of poking the bear within him, but just not now.
Chase was caught between his logic and what everyone seemed to be asking for here tonight. How could he let this wolf walk away from everything he had done, let alone the fact that Cassidy wanted him to bite her, it was unheard of.
“A wise Alpha once said…” Chase’s head snapped to the left as he glared at Nathaniel, who stopped in mid flow.
“Not now Nathaniel.”
‘Look, Chase, Cassidy is freezing to death. We need to get her home, whatever else happens here tonight.’ Connor cautioned. That slice of rationality cut through everything else that Chase was trying to deal with. His eyes took in his mate. She was surely turning blue in front of his eyes.
“Damn it to hell!” Chase growled out. He stalked across the divide between him and his mate. Reaching down he nudged his brother aside and wrapped his arms around his mate. Lifting her into his arms, he felt the shudders running through her body.
“Bring the Rogue. If he declines, he dies here. Now.” Chase’s words were growled into the night so that there was no mistaking the meaning behind them for anyone.
“I will come with you. My fate is yours to do with as you see fit Alpha.” Akhlut slowly got to his feet, so that no-one would mistake any fast movements for a sign he was either going to attack or shift.
Chase led the way from the clearing on fast legs. Cassidy in his arms. Right now the only thing that was of importance was her wellbeing.
If the rogue made a move against any of them, he would finish it no matter what anyone said.
“You’re frozen. Stop squirming.” Chase felt the annoyance bubble within him. Standing naked within the small confines of the shower with Cassidy pressed up against his naked body, he really didn’t need to listen to her constant chatter about the white wolf.
“But Chase…” She tried to get another foothold into the conversation of Akhlut. Chase on the other hand, just stared down at her with very little patience left. She no longer had a blue tinge to her skin like a little smurfette, but she was still thawing out.
The dark curse that ran through his mind was for the rouge. The egg sized lump on the side of her forehead, the cut that had caused her pain when he had first tended it, cleaning away the matted hair and the dry blood, before sealing the wound with his tongue to make it heal faster. The way her body was caught up in a shudder every now and again that came from being bone cold. He could kill him for all of those things, or maybe even just one of them.
“Be still woman and let me tend you.” There was an air of obstinate arrogance about him and she didn’t much care for it. Grinding her teeth in sheer annoyance, she tried again.
“But he did it all for his mate…” The long sigh her Alpha blew out of his lips. The gentle roll of his eyes, told her she had made headway, however slight.
“He attacked the pack. Now be quiet and let…” If she wasn’t holding onto him to stay upright on her weak, shaky, little human legs, she would have taken a step back from him and placed her hands on her hips.
“And what would you do for me?” Cassidy decided to use a different tactic. She needed a way to circumvent his stubborn side. When his eyes narrowed on her and he got that faraway look, she thought that she might just have found it.
“I would die for you, but that’s…” He gave her an honest and thoughtful answer. She couldn’t help that she cut him off right there. The point was made in her favour after all.
“Would you kill for me?”
“You know I would.” He saw her coming a mile off. He knew what she was doing with her gentle manipulation. Turning her in his arms, he pressed his chest to her back to better warm it.
“So if a Fae cursed you, would you search for the cure to come back to me?” She felt his chest rise and fall with another sigh. He knew she wasn’t going to give up. For some extraordinary reason she had sympathy for the white wolf, even after everything he had done. It must have been her Fae blood, or her female hormones, or maybe she was just blinded by the love story of it all. Whatever it was, it was clouding her judgement of the issues.
“Cassidy you’re transparent. Stop trying to manipulate me…” There was a slight amusement to his tone. She could hear it as his words rumbled through his chest and into her back.
“Then stop being an arse.” It wasn’t poking the bear. Not this time. It was just pointing out the truth of the matter as she saw it.
She heard the distinct rumble of laughter that came from him. The sound wrapped around her like a warming blanket. She scrambled to turn in his arms. She liked to look at him when he smiled, when his eyes shone with amusement, especially when that amusement was not aimed at her own misfortune.
“I’m an arse?” He tried for a growl, but came up with a rumble of laughter again.
“Big time. But I like that you would do anything for me…” She ran her palms up over the hard muscles of his chest, her fingers skimming over the wet skin and he huffed.
“Manipulating little minx.” There was pure amusement within him now. The anger, the annoyance having faded into the background as his desires backed up his other emotions.
“Just trying to get through that Teflon Alpha coating you have going on. To the man beneath, the lover, the mate, the one who would do anything for me.” He rolled his eyes on a sigh again. She certainly could lay it on thick. He needed to remember that, for the next time, and the time after that.
“I knew you were going to be a handful, but your true colours have truly been on display tonight.” He brushed his fingertips down her cheek. She was the most complex woman he had ever met. One minute full of fire and brimstone, the next moment so soft and invitingly feminine. Damn, he liked that about her. Satin and steel all wrapped up in the body of a nymph.
“Would you have me any other way Alpha?”
“I’ll take you anyway I can get you my little Fae.”And he would. His lips brushed against hers. If she was in any condition to be made love to right now, he would certainly show her just how much he wanted her right at that moment in time. But showing her with his body wasn’t enough. He needed to show her what she meant to him on every level of their relationship.
“I will call a pack meeting. We will discuss the rogue’s actions and in this matter I will defer to a pack decision on your white wolf’s fate. Call it a bonding gift to you. Good enough?” It was an Alpha’s place to make the best decision as he saw it for the pack as whole. But this was an exceptional case, and when those arose it was in his scope to allow for debate. Not that he had to abide by the pack consensus. The final decision was always his.
“I can live with that.”
“Let’s see if your rogue can.” It was a warning to her to not pin her hopes to highly on the pack not voting for retribution.
“Now about that blood that he needs…” She tested the waters and her Alpha groaned. He quickly turned her away from him again. He locked her back against his chest with the steel of his arms around her.
“Debate closed. No-one bites my mate.” There was a hard growl to his tone that had her wrinkling her nose as she screwed up her face. She was going to have to work harder on that issue.
Chase didn’t need to call a pack meeting. They were already gathered. Word had spread fast in the community that the white wolf was Akhlut, the stuff of legends in the Lycan community, and everyone wanted to see the Alpha of Alpha’s in person.
Connor had decided that keeping Akhlut and Chase as far awa
y from each other was probably the best idea for the time being, and had taken him to the small community hall that the pack used for social events.
By the time Chase had ordered him to call a pack meeting everyone was there. Akhlut sat proudly on the floor at the top of the room. Crossed legged and with his back ramrod straight. His eyes took in the curiosity of the other’s without a word.
He knew what they were thinking. The same thing other’s had for his whole life. He was supposed to be the stuff of legends. The man who walked as a wolf, fierce, ferocious and deadly, and he could be. He had been. But that seemed like an age ago, when he was a much younger man. Now he was just a wolf without a mate, searching for a cure that had eluded him for too long.
How he wished he could have defied the inbred honour within him and taken the Witches blood. Just to know if his search was finally over. If she was the one, the cure, the way back home to his mate.
Now that search was futile. The law called for retribution for his actions. This pack was no different from he’s own pack and blood had been spilt, a mate had been taken, and he would pay for his crimes. He would have done no less as Alpha… Would he?
How many packs had he visited over the years? Always he watched on the outskirts of their communities. Searched for a witch. It was too many too many to count. Too many years spent without his mate.
When he had scented her Fae blood the day she had come to the mountain. Half dead after being exposed to the elements, and he had watched her mate carry her to safety, he was reminded of his own mate and how they had met. The heart that was beating within his chest ached for her wrapped in his arms just one more time. That day would never be.
The love for his mate had kept him sane for all of those years. His faith that he would be with her again had powered his search for the cure. He would have turned rogue a thousand times over if it was not for that hope, that desire, the pure need that burned within him to be with her.
Akhlut heard the silence descend over the room and guessed that the Alpha had arrived. Why this Alpha had not finished him within the woods troubled him. It was obvious that his mate’s will was strong, and yet it didn’t feel like a weakness on this Alpha. There had been times when he would seek his own mates counsel, but the law was the law.
He scented the blood of those that he had tasted between his jaws in the air. His eyes searched for them in their human form. Instinctively he had known that a Beta was among them. His eyes found and held the gaze of that Beta now. Blindsiding him had been a tactical necessity, and he found himself wondering how this man’s beast would have squared up to him in a fair fight.
The other was a young wolf. Barely on the man side of his maturity, his wolf had been fast, but not yet strong enough, or tactically sound in his fighting abilities.
The scent of the witch compelled his eyes to move towards her. He had her scent imprinted on his psyche from the wound he had inflicted on her to render her unconscious. Perhaps he should not have been so eager to carry her away. Perhaps he should have tasted her blood right there on the kitchen floor. At least he would have his answer.
“As I am sure many, if not all of you, already know. I have a situation to bring to the pack as a whole…” Chase moved front and centre, bringing everyone’s attention with him. “There has been blood spilt, although those that have suffered at the claws of this Alpha have asked for leniency…”
A rumble went through the assembled pack. Akhlut’s gaze shifted to the three he had injured, standing together as one now. He couldn’t quite comprehend why they would do that. Why they would ask for leniency, when he had showed them no such kindness in the way he had treated them.
He had been ready to kill. Even though the outcome he desired had been served without having to deal a death blow to any of them. But as he looked to them, to see what lay in their eyes, so they looked to their Alpha and he felt none the wiser for their request.
“Our laws tell us that blood spilled must be avenged. But this Lycan is Akhlut and he is cursed by the Fae. Destined only to shift to human form for the three days around the full moon. He searches for a cure. A witches blood, possibly the blood of my mate. Now you know as much as I do.” Chase looked at the faces of the pack gathered around him. Each member considered what they had heard.
“The law is the law. Blood must be spilt.” One of the men called from the back. Ethan turned to see who had offered his opinion.
“Agreed brother. But the question is how much blood will satisfy the pack?” Ethan watched the man consider his words. Another spoke beside him.
“That is for Chase to decide. He has suffered the greatest injury it was his mate that was taken, harmed.”
Cassidy felt the nerves rise within her. Never one to stand on the sidelines and bite her fingernails, she found the need to do that now. She didn’t know pack law. She had no clue as to her place here, and the last thing she wanted to do was step all over Chase’s Alpha-ness.
Chase’s eyes fell on her and she all but jumped in place, caught between her desire to speak and her respect for Chase’s position. She saw the underlying amusement within his eyes and rolled her eyes at him.
“You have something to say Cassidy?” He asked, all the while teasing her with his eyes.
“No…” She gave a long slow shake of her head. She really was trying to bow to Chase’s authority; it was harder than she thought it would be. It was like having an itch beneath her skin that she just couldn’t scratch.
“Sure?” There couldn’t have been anyone in the room that didn’t pick up on the amusement in Chase’s voice this time. She wrinkled her nose and moaned to herself, although with wolf ears everywhere, she was sure they all heard that as well.
“Yes…” He crossed his arms and waited. He knew she wouldn’t be able to hold her tongue for much longer. The sound of a ripple of laughter going through the crowd made her skin itch even worse.
Damn it, she had to scratch.
“Ok. So I do. And while I don’t know your laws…” She rolled her eyes then and mumbled to herself. “Don’t know much of anything Lycan. What I do know is that anyone of us here who is mated, has been mated, can understand how Akhlut’s desire to be with his mate, to find a cure, would have driven him to do what he did.” She took a step forwards towards Akhlut and saw Chase do the same. His posture told her that he was ready to put himself in between the two of them if she stepped any closer, or if the white wolf made any move towards her, and she motioned towards him.
“There, the need to protect your mate, the desire to put yourself in harm’s way. What you wouldn’t do for me Chase? He did that. While I would like to think he would not have killed me to taste my blood, I can understand why he might have. And I am not Lycan. This mating thing is new to me. But I get it. I get him. I mourn the loss for his mate. I forgive his actions. But you have to do what you see fit.” Every word she spoke, she spoke to Chase. Her eyes never left his for one moment.
While the crowd muttered around her. Chase held her gaze for the longest time. She spoke to him of the love she had for him with her eyes. She wanted him to find a way to do her bidding, but she understood his position if the pack decided against it.
Nathaniel took a step forward. As much as Chase wanted to groan from just his presence here, he released Cassidy from his gaze and turned his attention towards the old man.
“Elder?” Chase was surprised that Nathaniel had waited that long to be recognised. Normally he would just have blustered over everyone.
“We all know who Akhlut is and we all respect his place in Lycan legend. I believe Cassidy has a point. I would give anything; do anything, to have my mate with me again. Pack law says blood must be spilt, but it doesn’t say how much. A token or death? That’s what we must decide.” Nathaniel had a glimmer in his eye. The old man had known this day was coming. He might not have known the exact steps that it would take to get here. But it was foreseen, Chase knew that much.
When the room went suddenly quiet C
hase looked about the pack to try to judge the mood of his people. He found only quiet contemplation.
“Anyone else have anything to say before we put it to a vote?” There wasn’t as much as a hum about the room. Personally, he was still in two minds. How he would love to tear the man limb from limb for what he had done to his mate, and yet Cassidy’s words were still ringing bells within his head. What would he do in Akhlut’s place? Probably the same damn thing.
“All those in favour of a token bloodletting…” The sentence wasn’t even out of his mind when hands started to go up. Cassidy of course led the charge as her hand shot up in the air. One by one each member of his pack raised their hand. He shot a look at Cassidy who was grinning wildly in front of him and he cleared his throat against the chuckle that threatened him.
Connor wasn’t so shy about his amusement. Grinning from ear to ear, he chuckled away at his new sister’s enthusiasm.
Chase turned towards Akhlut, his mind made up by his pack. He had given them the vote on this and he wouldn’t go against the decision. Some were in awe of the white wolf’s legend, some had heard Cassidy’s words and could understand his situation, but for whatever reason, all of them were unanimous in the decision.
“Do you accept the punishment handed down by my pack for your actions?” Chase watched the man turn his head slowly towards Chase. Slowly he gathered himself to his feet. He stood just as tall and as wide as Chase, both men eyed each other. Chase couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if they had met in battle. It was in his veins to want to know just how he would have fared against the Alpha of Alpha’s. If the man didn’t accept Chase’s offer, maybe he would find out.
“I accept with humility. I am humbled by the decision of your pack Alpha.” Akhlut bowed first towards the pack as a whole and then to Chase.
Cassidy’s heart was in her throat a moment later when Chase flicked his arm out to the side. The razor sharp claws of his beast that had replaced his human nails grabbed her attention as her eyes widened in shock. How had she not known he could do that?