by Olivia Arran
I was having to reassess my earlier judgment, which didn’t sit well with me.
Jogging on so I left the forest just before them, I watched as Macey and Jason exited the main house, a piece of paper fluttering in their hand.
Showtime.
“Is that the contract?” I called out in a loud enough voice to carry, but low enough that it wouldn’t raise suspicion.
Jason strolled toward me, a self-satisfied grin on his face. The guy played the evil backstabbing coyote a little too well for my liking sometimes. Good thing it was all an act.
Reaching him, I grabbed the contract out of his hand, pretending to scan the words. We were attracting quite a crowd, people milling around, pretending that they weren’t really listening, when in fact they were all ears.
“The pack will be as rich as sin,” I commented, turning the paper over and scanning the back.
“Motherfucker.” Mark stood just behind me, and his clear curse reached my ears, as did his breathless mutter of, “And homeless.”
Not if I could help it. “What did you just say to your beta?” I snapped out, drawing myself up to my full height. I towered over him, something I took childish pleasure in. Whatever. He’s a jerk.
“You shouldn’t be beta,” Mark snarled, as he squared up to me, puffing out his chest.
“Why? What would you have done differently?”
“Everything.”
Smith pushed between us, giving us both a shove back. “Easy, guys, it might not happen. The alpha might not sign the contract.” He sounded hopeful.
I hated having to crush him. “The alpha has signed me as his proxy. I can sign in his place.”
At my declaration, the crowd fell silent. Nobody was pretending anymore. Everyone was giving this conversation their full attention.
But nobody made a move. Dammit, it looked like I needed to give it a little more of a push. “Has anyone got a pen?” Nobody moved, and then Jason pulled one out of his back pocket with a flourish and offered it to me.
A shrill scream split the air, turning my heart to ice. I whirled around.
Smith had Maisie in his arms. I tracked his erratic movements as he broke away from the crowd, noting the panic in his eyes as my brain struggled to comprehend what was happening.
Maisie screamed again, her cries nearly muffling Smith low words. “I’ll break her neck.”
I took a step toward him, keeping my movements slow and easy.
He jerked back, holding a hand up. “I don’t want to do it, but you’re making me. I love Maisie and I don’t want to hurt her, but for fuck’s sake, you just couldn’t stop. All the alpha had to do was sign over the land, and everything could have just stopped!”
“Smith?” Chloe’s shocked voice had my head snapping around. She was advancing toward Smith, murder in her eyes.
“Stay back, Chloe, I mean it!” Smith growled.
I didn’t doubt him for a second. He was a man on the edge, conviction written in the lines of his body and the frantic edge to his eyes.
Chloe paused, her arms reaching out toward our child, her fingers shaking. “Give me my baby,” she pleaded. “You can have the land, I don’t care, just don’t hurt my child.”
“I didn’t want to, you’ve got to believe me. I just got into them for so much money and they’re threatening to kill me,” Smith babbled, backing up even more.
“Just let her go,” I ordered, holding his gaze. “You should have come to the pack with your problems. We would’ve fixed it for you, taken care of the threats. That’s what a pack does.”
Smith snarled at me, raking his eyes over the crowd in front of him. “You need to rip the papers up and leave. And don’t come back. This doesn’t concern you.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Chloe
Maisie was begging me with her eyes, her small hands reaching for me, pleading for her momma to help her.
And I was useless, unable to move, too scared that if I didn’t reach her in time, Smith would snap her neck and take her from me.
So I stood there, staring at her. Useless.
“Why do you think you have any leverage?”
Angel’s question obviously threw Smith for a loop, because he looked down at Maisie then back at Angel. “You’ve been screwing Chloe?” He phrased it as a question, as if suddenly unsure. “You’re serious about her.” This time it was a statement.
“I’m not. I don’t give two shits about the woman, or the child. I came here for this.” Angel wafted the piece of paper in the wind, a self-satisfied smirk spreading over his face.
He wasn’t looking at Maisie or me. All of his attention was focused on Smith.
And then he turned and walked away.
I saw the shock register on Smith’s face when he realized that Angel wasn’t going to back down. He dug his claws into Maisie’s neck, dragging a startled scream from her.
Angel didn’t even pause. He just continued to walk away.
He didn’t care. Or did he? Was it all an act? Suddenly I didn’t know. Did I really know him? He’d told me that my dad had brought him here, but those were his words. And my dad had been injured shortly after he’d arrived.
My stomach churned as waves of doubt washed over me, boiling through my blood and chasing away the ice. With a scream I threw myself at Smith. His uncertainty might be the only opening I would get.
Hands grabbed at me, trying to pull me back, and then the next thing I knew I was lying on the ground, my head ringing from Smith’s punch. I leaped back to my feet and was about to throw myself at Smith again when his head snapped around, his gaze lasering in on Angel.
Angel’s violent curse floated on the wind, giving him away.
“You called my bluff, pretending you don’t care about her,” Smith sneered. He reached a hand behind him and the next thing I knew he was holding the barrel of a gun to Maisie’s head.
“You,” he snapped, looking at me. “Get down on your knees and put your hands behind your head or I’ll put a bullet in your sniveling child’s brain.”
I fell to my knees, the impact shuddering up my spine, and laced my fingers behind my head.
I glanced over at Angel. He still wasn’t looking at us, but he wasn’t walking away either. Do something! I screamed at him silently, begging him to help us. I’d admit it: I needed him to be exactly who he was—the big, bad alpha.
“Why?” I asked Smith, my voice breaking.
“Why what? Why the money? Why pick Maisie?” he sneered, leveling me a look that made my skin crawl. “Let me tell you something. You never once looked at me, even after everything I did for you. Why did you have to go and get yourself knocked up and have a bastard child by someone who didn’t even want you? Why, when this guy arrived, did you act like a bitch in heat, putting out for him within seconds of meeting him and lowering yourself even more? Did you really think he’d want you? After some guy used and discarded you, that anybody would want you but me?”
“But he’s her—” Mark started, but Angel silenced him with a glare.
The pack was silent, shock on everyone’s faces as they watched a man they had loved turn against them.
Angel slowly turned around. “There is no gambling debt, is there? Are you really going to cling to that excuse?” He took a menacing step forward, his muscles bunching and seeming to grow before my eyes. “Let’s be truthful here, Smith, shall we? Nobody gives two shits why you did it. You killed a man, and put a bullet in another—your alpha. And now you’re threatening a child. Do you really think anyone here is going to forgive you?”
“It was worth a shot. I never cared about the money anyway. For me it was always about her.” Smith shrugged with the air of someone who didn’t give a fuck. He pressed the barrel tighter against Maisie’s forehead. “That’s close enough,” he murmured. “You should have just left. You’re not really a part of this pack. There’s no reason for you to have to pay for something you didn’t do.”
“You’re wrong.”
Those two words had hope bursting through me.
“Excuse me?”
“This has everything to do with me. The woman you struck is my mate. The child you are hurting is my pup. And I,” he paused, a ferocious growl erupting from his chest, “I am your beta.” On the last word he unleashed his power, letting his true potential ripple out over the pack, the air pulsating with his fury.
I had never felt anything like it, and from the looks of it, neither had Smith.
Behind me, I heard Mark suck in a breath. “Fuck!”
He was glorious, furious and feral and pissed off. And he was mine. I glanced at Maisie, trying to tell her with my eyes it was going to be okay.
He was ours. He would protect us.
Angel
Everything was a white noise, static filling my ears as my vision tunneled and all I could see was Smith. The rotten, slimy bastard. Threatening my child, hitting my mate.
I could pinpoint the exact second Smith realized his mistake... the exact moment my power caressed his skin and he knew. His life was over.
The other man swallowed, his throat working as he choked on his own saliva. His hand shook, the barrel of the gun wavering between Maisie’s eyes.
“Put the gun down.” I threw everything I had behind the words, willing him to obey. I might have been given the role of pack beta as a cover, but the gesture had meant something. Today I was a part of this pack, his dominant, and he was going to obey.
His hand twitched and my heart leaped into my throat. He was fighting it.
Dammit!
My eyes flicked to Chloe, to where she knelt in the dirt. She didn’t belong there. She was strong. She needed to fight for her child. Our child. An idea hit, something I’d seen Jason do with Macey. As an alpha pair they shared their power.
I willed her to stand up, reaching down with the bond and shoving as much strength as I could into her.
She jerked, her knees locking and eyes widening. Slowly her fingers curled, hardening into fists. She closed her eyes briefly, and when they flashed back open they were glowing with her wolf.
I sent another bolt screaming into her until I staggered back. I had sent too much, given it all.
Smith cocked his head, my hold on him failing. “What the—?”
Chloe lashed out in a blur faster than the naked eye could track. Her claws raked down his face, her other hand snatching the gun away and tossing it into the dirt. On a heart-stopping growl she grabbed Maisie away, then fell on the man she had once called friend. She was lost in the moment, her wolf calling for the blood of her enemy. She slashed and punched, Smith not getting a chance to defend himself against the onslaught.
He curled up into a ball, trying to defend his neck and heart. But it wasn’t enough.
She rolled him over, her claws digging into his hair and yanking his head back to expose the long line of his neck.
“Mercy!” He gasped out, his hands scrabbling at hers. His eyes locked onto the crowd, his mouth opening and closing in a silent plea for help. “You can’t let them do this to me!” he eventually croaked out.
Praying to God? It was too late for that.
“Would you have shown mercy to my child?” she snarled, and I had never seen anything so majestic as her, so strong and wild and gloriously protective of her pup.
We were in perfect accord. He had threatened our family. He had to die.
“Chloe. Stop!” The alpha’s voice rang out. The crowd parted like a wave, bringing him forward.
“Dad? You’re healed?” Her eyes flashed from her father, to me, then back again.
Shit!
“I’m sorry. We didn’t want to lie to you, but you couldn’t know. We had to flush the traitor out.”
Oh, fuck!
This time when she looked at me it was with betrayal in her eyes. “You could have told me.”
David looked between us, understanding dawning in his eyes as he noted Maisie clinging to my legs. “You!”
The weight of his anger hit me, crushing me in my weakened state. I fell to my knees, my head bowing.
I dragged my head up. I wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Grandpa! No!” Maisie screamed, throwing herself in front of me, as though her little body could shield me. “We’re going to be a family!”
Suddenly I could breathe again.
David turned his attention back to Smith. “You murdered your beta and threatened my grandchild. You will go before the Shifter Council and answer for your crimes.” He turned to Mark and Neil. “Take him back to the house and secure him.”
Mark nodded, and grabbing the former lieutenant from Chloe, started to frog march him away from the crowd. Smith kicked and lashed out, his movements more and more desperate the farther he was dragged away, his eyes searching the crowd with mounting desperation.
Neil circled around them and dropped back, a grim set to his mouth.
I tracked their movements, a niggling suspicion forming in the back of my mind. Smith’s confession echoed in my head, something not sitting right.
David turned his attention back to me. “Now, what do you—”
Clarity hit me, klaxon sirens going off in my head. Everything around me faded as things finally slotted into place. Smith hadn’t done it for the money. And he hadn’t been talking to God, he’d been talking to his accomplice.
The man who had done it for the money.
My eyes flicked to where the gun had been. It was gone.
Time slowed. Smith twisted away from Mark, his claws slashing through the larger man’s chest. Mark howled, tackling Smith to the ground.
Metal glinted, unnoticed in the heat of the skirmish.
Drawing on my rapidly returning strength, I called the shift to me, my wolf bursting from my body and shredding my clothes in a twisting of snapping bones and swelling muscles. Before the shift had finished, I was flying through the air, my powerful hind legs driving me forward.
The gun fired, the crack deafening as a bullet tore into my shoulder, rending flesh and bone.
My jaws clamped around Neil’s neck. I bit down, blood flooding my mouth and staining my tongue. His hand twitched on the trigger as his body spasmed beneath mine, the life leaving him and fading from his stunned eyes.
Then it was over.
Crouched over the fallen man, I lifted my head and eyed Smith, a low snarl trickling from my lips.
Blank eyes stared back at me.
Mark tilted his head, a grim set to his jaw. He had taken care of business and protected our pack. But in doing so he had killed a friend.
I rose from my crouch, shaking out my fur. Pain radiated though my shoulder, a dull throbbing ache. My leg threatened to buckle beneath me and I shifted my weight, locking my knees before I disgraced myself by falling face-first. Now that the adrenaline had faded, weakness threatened to overwhelm me, but I couldn’t allow it. Not in front of the whole pack. Not in front of Maisie.
No sooner had I thought of my daughter than she was rushing toward me, hurling herself at my side and burrowing her face in my fur, her little fingers digging in as great sobs tore from her chest.
Turning my head, I nuzzled at her, blowing chuffs of air in an effort to comfort. I wanted to shift and take her in my arms, but I’d torn my clothes and I was pretty sure my human body would be painted in blood and dirt. I didn’t want her to see me like this.
Chloe approached us. Reaching out, she gently peeled Maisie from my side, her hands smoothing over blonde curls. “Shhh, he’s okay. Everything’s okay,” she murmured, her words setting off another round of heaving sobs.
“Okay. Show’s over, everyone,” David called out, the sorrow genuine in his eyes and softening his harsh tone. “I don’t want anyone to be alone at a time like this. We need to lean on each other and offer comfort and support. I am available to anyone who wants me. We will get through this and be stronger for it. Because we’re pack.” He thumped his chest, the gesture encompassing everyone, his eyes bright with unshed
tears.
The bond of the pack swelled within me, a pulsing link to the alpha, connecting every member together and sharing strength. Only Macey and Jason stood alone, separate, their own little pack.
Indicating that everyone should head into the house, David walked over to me. “Son, you need to make this right.” Not waiting for my acknowledgement, he scooped Maisie up out of Chloe’s arms, wrapped her in a big bear hug, and headed back to the house.
He didn’t need to explain.
One by one everyone left, the other lieutenants discreetly removing the bodies and spiriting them away. Macey shot me a go-get-‘em smile before tugging Jason away.
Then we were alone.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chloe
Angel in wolf form came to my shoulders, his furry shape huge and black and wickedly handsome. We stood silent as we waited for the stragglers to clear the courtyard, the tension in the air palpable.
Bumping my side, he trotted off into the meadow, away from spying eyes.
I followed, my mind spinning. He had lied to me. After everything we’d been through… A part of me understood why he’d chosen to go along with my father’s ruse, but a large part of me wanted to dig my heels in and stubbornly refuse to forgive.
The air rustled, heat spilling over me in a warm wave, and then he was human again.
Gloriously human and completely naked.
“It’s not fair,” I muttered, studiously staring at the ground.
“What isn’t?”
I saw his feet move forward, heading toward me. Dammit, even his feet were gorgeous. Shapely and golden and not the least bit hairy.
“You.”
“Sorry, you’ll have to be a little more specific.” His tone was teasing, but underneath I could hear a tremor of uncertainty, a flicker of worry.
My head whipped up, skimming past acres of golden skin and firm muscles to land on his face. Though the journey was burned into my mind, teasing glimpses begged for a thorough perusal. “You make it so hard for me to hate you.”