Ulric shook his head slowly. “It’s too late for that. Much too late, and I’m betting my brothers agree with me.”
Luke and Mason exchanged a look, but it was Mason who spoke. “We want the truth.”
“And that’s exactly why I’m here. To get the truth out. Mother came back to visit me some time later. The only time I ever saw her after she left me with Uncle. Time passed so slowly when I was a pup, but I think it was about six months later. She told me that I had another brother, a half-sibling. You, Mason. She seemed…ambivalent about that, but I don’t think I ever saw her face light up as much as it did when she told me her other news. She said she’d done it. She’d broken Grey. Mother and her lover had killed his mate.”
Luke let out a roar and shoved Grey roughly, hard enough to make Ulric smile. Only Mason restrained their father then, but the alpha didn’t struggle.
Ulric waited, patiently. He could not prove his claims, not without his mother and that disgusting vampire to back him up. He had thought Grey might try to deny it, but he’d gambled, and apparently he’d won.
Grey appeared lost. “I tried. But I couldn’t save her. We were coming back from a town called Sayersville. There were these stores…outlets, and Tarla liked to shop there. I took her on the first day of spring every year. It was after dark when started for home, and on the way back, the car stalled. I got out to see what was wrong, and that’s when they attacked. It wasn’t just his mother and one vampire. It was her and two or three of the blood suckers. I fought them as hard as I could. I managed to kill one, which enraged the others. They beat me, but they wouldn’t kill me. His mother screamed that I was to live. She wanted me to suffer. She said I had to live with what I’d caused. But you have to believe me Luke, Mason. You have to know I never meant for her to get hurt. I’m a man, and I gave into my urges, but I truly loved your mother.”
Ulric watched his little family. The veins stood out in Luke’s neck and his teeth were as tightly clenched as his fists. The woman, Nikki, said something to him, rubbing his arm, obviously trying to calm him. Ulric realized if he wasn’t careful, Luke just might beat him to killing Grey, and though Mason still held their father, he didn’t look as if he would try to stop either of them.
“What did you do? What the hell did you do?” Luke yelled at Grey.
Grey just shook his head, looking off into the distance as if seeing his sins rather than his sons. “They made me watch. You have to believe I fought with everything in me, but they made me watch as that bitch Delana tore your mother’s throat out. And no matter what he says, she was your mother. She loved you every bit as much as she loved Mason. I didn’t deserve her. I never deserved her, but she loved me anyway.”
“You should have died with her,” Luke said, his voice filled with just a fraction of the hatred Ulric had felt over the years.
“I wanted to. I shifted back and begged them to kill me. To take me, too, but they held me back, digging their claws into my flesh while his mother laughed and spit in my face. Then one of them hit me—hard, knocking me down the embankment, and when I came to, they were gone. I set the car on fire and shifted to head back to River’s Bend. I should have gone after them, tried to track them down, but I was the alpha. The Lycans looked up to me, you pups looked up to me, and I couldn’t let anyone know the truth.”
“So you lied to everyone and came back to drink yourself to death,” Mason said.
“I did. I’m ashamed of it now, but that was my intention. Still, when the clan was threatened, I came out of it. And then I met Carolyn, and when I mated her, I became a new man. I knew I had to live and build the clan into something great, for you pups and for your mother.”
Carolyn, Grey’s mate, cried noisily in the crowd. Ulric had thought of killing her before confronting Grey, just to rub salt in the man’s wounds. Jackie had told him not to bother. No one really believed Grey loved her, so what was the point?
Luke took a step toward Grey, shaking his mate’s hands off. “A real man, a true alpha, would have gone after those who killed his mate.”
Ulric’s sentiments exactly. “But he didn’t, and I will do what our father should have. I will kill the vampire who took hold of my mother. I will bring the war to wipe those bloodsuckers off the map. It will be me who avenges your mother, not our father. And if you two will join me, I’ll even kill the whore Delana. Mother abandoned me after she came back to deliver the news of Tarla’s death. She doesn’t deserve to live any more than Grey does.”
Grey’s entire stance changed. “You won’t drag my sons into this with you. Luke is destined to be a great alpha. I’ll see you dead before I allow you to bring war with the vampires to this clan.”
“It’s too late, Grey. Once some things are set in motion, no one can stop them. You started all of this when you decided to steal my mother away from the alpha who should have been my father.” Ulric shrugged. “But don’t worry, I can promise you, you won’t live to see Luke and I finish what you started.”
With a furious growl, Grey broke free of Mason, ripping his clothes to shreds. “He’s mine. No one interferes.” He shifted into the huge black wolf Ulric had come to fight.
Ulric was ready for him. He quickly pushed the detonator he’d kept firmly in his grip, hearing the explosion rock the earth to his far right as he shifted to face the wolf who’d abandoned him but made him into the wolf he was today. This had been a long time coming.
* * * *
Mikayla didn’t know what the hell was going on. She’d come back to River’s Bend expecting to be punished. She’d even expected to have trouble convincing her mates to stay. But this? These wild revelations about one of the alphas? She’d never expected that. Her men had tried to usher her away from the scene, just as she’d noticed Levi quietly do with Hope. But the chances of her leaving were slim to none. She had to know what would happen, how Grey would make this right, not only with his sons but also with the entire clan. If her mates wanted her to leave, they’d have to carry her away. Mikayla hadn’t ever liked Grey. It had been clear to her that something evil lurked inside him, but she’d never expected anything like this.
She wasn’t really shocked when Grey shifted and lunged for Ulric, and part of her hoped they managed to destroy each other. What did shock her was the sound that shook the ground under her just before Ulric shifted. It sounded like hell unleashed, provoking howls of surprise and terror. An explosion? In River’s Bend?
* * * *
That other alpha and the wolf named Adam had run off toward the explosion Ulric had set off at one of the clan’s borders. Many of the other wolves followed suit, leaving not so many witnesses behind. Witnesses who didn’t seem too interested in joining in. Ulric considered that wise. With the exception of his brothers, Ulric would kill anyone who stood between him and Grey. Hell, maybe them, too.
Jackie was one of several still watching. She’d been prepared for the explosion, had even helped plan it, so he doubted she’d even jumped at detonation. She did look rather pissed off, though. He’d promised to kill Zion first, which of course had been a necessary lie. He would make it up to her later.
For an older alpha, Grey was quick and agile. He’d lunged and been swatted away, and then took to circling Ulric, clearly waiting for the right opening. Each time, Ulric lunged at Grey the older man managed to skitter out of the way, then lunge forward himself. So Ulric waited, realizing he’d have to let the old man come to him. When Grey finally went on the offensive again, Ulric didn’t back up like the alpha probably expected him to. Instead, he lunged at the same time. Meeting his father in a clash of fur, teeth, and claws, he recognized the strength in the older man. If his father had been younger, they might have been evenly matched. But Grey was aging and Ulric had rage on his side.
Ulric used his claws and teeth on Grey’s most vulnerable parts. Not wanting the fight to end too quickly, he savored every growl of pain Grey gave, wanting to drag it out, wanting to make him not just growl but whimper and perhaps
even beg. But Grey didn’t give in easily. He clawed and fought, rolling with Ulric on the ground, snapping at his face and throat.
He was still just toying with his father when he was knocked to the ground, the wind pulled out of him. He looked up into his father’s eyes, the hatred in them palpable. Ulric fought to hold him off, pushing and twisting, using his teeth and his claws to ward off the teeth meant to tear his throat out as surely as his mother had torn out Grey’s Mate’s. For moment, he feared for his life, knowing the man who’d shown him no mercy as an unborn child, wouldn’t be moved to do so now.
Ulric heard the snarls and growls of those watching, their noises part of the background. Grey’s strong limbs pinned him in place, and he could see victory in the man’s eyes. His father thought he had him beat, but he was wrong. The sharp touch of Grey’s teeth to his throat was enough to get Ulric up off the ground, throwing Grey off with a roar of rage. Then, it was he who had the upper hand as he bit harder and deeper than before, weakening the strong limbs that had just moments ago held him down.
Grey tried to dodge, he tried to fight, but it seemed he’d given the battle everything he had. Ulric took advantage of his fatigue, biting his hind legs again and again until Grey could no longer keep to his feet. The big wolf went down, falling heavily on his side and Ulric quickly dragged his claws deeply up his belly, opening him from cock to collar bone, then reaching in to squeeze his heart. He’d thought to savor the moment, take his time and let his father die slowly. But the moment felt too good, too right, and Ulric always went with his feeling. He pinned his father to the ground, opening his jaws and moving in to fasten them on his neck. His victory was so close, he could taste it.
But then the unthinkable happened. Ulric sustained a heavy blow that knocked him off his target and snatched his reward from his grasp. Luke had disobeyed his own alpha’s orders, and broken a strict lycan law, by interfering with a fair fight. His brother snarled and snapped at him to stay down as Mason shifted back to his human form and checked their father over. He quickly weighed his options. He was tired from the fight and could probably only take one of them out. And he couldn’t ignore the possibility that one of them would overcome him instead.
Looking over at Grey, Ulric realized he didn’t need to fight anymore. He’d already won. He could relinquish the beauty of killing his father in the way he’d planned in exchange for the certainty that he would continue to draw breath. If he wasn’t mistaken, the alpha was already on his way to hell, where he belonged.
He’d thought his fight was over, but with a roar of anger, Luke jumped at him, teeth and claws ripping and tearing. Then Mason was on him, too, and Ulric found himself in a fight for his life. They were strong, his brothers, and they might be evenly matched if he’d fought just one of them at a time. Instead, they both piled on and Ulric feared he would lose this one.
Finally, the second explosion sounded and Ulric took advantage of it. He didn’t want to kill his brothers and they would one day come to see that he’d only done what was necessary, what Grey so richly deserved. But beyond that, Ulric had no intention of dying, so he ran like hell toward the rendezvous point. Jackie had picked the right time to set off the second explosion, and he would reward her for that. But first, he had to make it out of River’s Bend alive. Things hadn’t gone exactly as planned. He hadn’t killed Zion as promised, but there was time for that another day, and she would forgive him. And if not? Well, Ulric never had a shortage of pretty little pussies on hand.
* * * *
“Come on,” Jack lifted her off her feet, running with her away from the fight. “We’ll get you back to the cabins, then go help.”
Yet another explosion stopped him in his tracks, cutting off any protests she might have made. It had come from the opposite direction as the first. For a moment there was nothing but silence as everyone in sight seemed to freeze, then growls and snarls hit her ears, followed by a series of howls coming from the direction of the northern border.
Mason shouted after them, something about Nikki, and the next thing she knew Jack was running again and Hunter half dragged Nikki behind him.
“Let me down!” Mikayla knew carrying her would only slow them down, and she needed to get back to the cabin, back to her weapons. “We’ll be faster with me on foot.”
They reached her cabin in record speed, and Jack and Hunter prowled the dwelling as if they thought an enemy was already inside. Mikayla wasted no time in running for her closet to grab her weapons. She grabbed a handful and would let Nikki have her pick. Racing back out of the bedroom into the main room, she stopped just short of running into a wall of man.
“Stay here,” Jack ordered.
“But we can help. We’ve trained for this.”
Hunter shook his head. “We don’t know what we’re facing yet. Promise you’ll stay here where it’s safe.”
Mikayla and Nikki exchanged a look. Getting a male wolf to agree to let his woman run toward danger was like asking a tornado to play nice with the homes in its path. Wasn’t going to happen. She sighed, resigning. “Go. You’re wasting time.”
Jack grabbed her roughly and kissed her hard on the mouth. Hunter followed suit.
They were out the door before Mikayla realized what it meant that her men were on their way to fight. In any battle, some won and some lost. They’d brought her back home to keep her safe, and now all she really wanted was for them to stay by her side. She couldn’t imagine losing her mates, and though she wasn’t big on prayer, she silently prayed she’d get to see them alive, and whole, once more.
* * * *
Ulric wondered what his brothers would do if he simply stopped and turned to face them. Did they have the guts, the balls to make him pay for killing their father? Did they have the strength to kill him? He hoped so. They would need that inner steel for what lay ahead. Ulric believed he’d started a war, and when the vampires finally made it to River’s Bend, his brothers would have to be ruthless to fight them off. And Ulric intended to be right there when it happened.
From the sounds of the growls and snaps mere feet behind him, they were in a full-on killing rage. But they would come around. River’s Bend would need him and his men to help fight the vampires. They would have no choice but to stand by his side as he cut down the one who had stolen his childhood from him and then every other vampire who crossed his path. He’d help them avenge their mother, too. As for his mother, he’d save that bitch for last. Let her think he’d forgiven her. Let her cozy up to Luke as he knew she would. Then, he’d make her pay.
He cursed himself as he leapt a fallen log and failed to clear it, landing on the icy ground on top of a tangle of branches. Luke and Mason jumped after him, teeth bared and pure menace in their eyes. Mason lunged straight for his throat.
A long, loud howl of pain distracted Mason for a split second, and Ulric took advantage of it to spring back to his feet and take off. He was close. So close to the rendezvous point now and he hoped his men were there waiting. His brothers were closing in on him again and he needed everything to go exactly as planned. One fuck up, and he might actually join their father in hell after all.
One more line of trees and brush, and he was there. All was at the ready. His men, the cars, all waited for his command. Jackie was there, too, like the obedient little bitch she was. Good. He could use her.
Ulric barked at his men in warning. They were not to attack his brothers. Thinking fast, he lunged straight for Jackie who waited for him in her human form. She screamed as he knocked her to the ground, immediately fastening his jaws around her neck. Would it be enough? Did they care enough for this female to back off rather than provoke him to kill her?
Luke and Mason slid to a stop, then immediately started pacing, growling and spitting in obvious anger. Ulric had to act quickly before one or both of them decided the gorgeous blonde wasn’t reason enough to stop. This would be another thing to make up to her later. He sunk his canines deeper into her neck, just enough to make her wh
imper and her eyes widen. She’d played along up to this point, but now he could smell her fear. She probably wondered, just as he did, really, if he would actually kill her to gain the advantage. Then, taking as much care as he could to avoid doing just that, he lifted her, shook her back and forth for effect and tossed her in a high arc so that she landed near his brothers’ feet.
Again Luke and Mason hesitated, and that would be their downfall. He dove into the car closest to him, shifting as he landed. “Go, motherfucker! Drive!” His man peeled away in a loud screech of tires, the others following suit.
It wasn’t the getaway he had envisioned, with him sitting naked in the passenger seat, dirty, sweaty and without Jackie to fuck in celebration. But he would celebrate. His brothers now knew of their connection, and he’d brought one big bad down. Life was good, and everything else would fall into place.
Chapter 9
A knock sounded on the cabin door not long after her men ran off, and Mikayla peeked out the window, sighing with relief to see that it was Robyn. She happily let her friend in and shut the door behind her.
Mikayla spoke first. “We’ve trained for this.”
Nikki nodded. “But to use it now? It’s a risk.”
Mikayla walked back to the window. They’d trained in case of a war on River’s Bend territory, but mostly they’d intended to be ready in case of a war with the vampires. “If we go out there now, and we’re seen, we might not ever get to fight against the blood suckers. Zion will have us flayed alive, even without Grey’s input.”
“Damned straight,” Robyn said. “But if this is a full-on attack, I don’t want to sit here cooling my heels while our clan members die.”
“Neither do I,” Mikayla said. “But we’ll do best against an enemy on two legs. I told you about the attack in the woods. Even after all of our training, I’m still no match for a fully shifted wolf.”
Fated for Mikayla Page 18