The Panther's Rival

by Emilia Hartley

  Dan shook his head in mock disappointment. “Even you, Nick?”

  Nick shrugged with a brief grin. “You give us so much material, it’s almost too easy. If you provide a feast, even I can’t help but eat a little.” He looked out over everyone else. “But all of that can wait until afterwards.”

  “Alright, bro, you can tell them the news now,” Tom replied, wiping away a bit of his smile. “It’s about our reinforcements, so it really is important, guys.”

  Dan’s ears perked at the words. Last he knew, Nick was still having trouble securing reliable back up in the event that Mountain Haven and the Northern Wind went to war. Had something changed?

  Nick nodded. “Yeah, specifically about our lack of any reliable reinforcements.” He looked over at Dan. “To your knowledge, how many battle ready bears do you think Lucas had before you left?”

  “Not many,” Dan replied immediately. “Lucas wasn’t exactly lenient with his training. At best, it bred bears like me. At worst, he broke them. Very few made the cut. If I had to guess, I’d say… maybe a couple dozen?”

  “More now, given the strange bears from the battle,” Savannah added. Dan nodded.

  “And that’s not counting my brother and whatever kind of trouble he may have brought with him,” Lucy chimed in. “We didn’t make too many connections on our travels, but we can’t be too sure about anything now that he has the support of a pack. He’s never been a bigger danger than he is right now.” Dan saw the worry churning on her face as she turned to Nick. “For both your—our—pack, and the humans of Woodhaven.”

  “The humans?” Tom parroted. “Is there something we should know?”

  Lucy began to shake her head, but stopped. Steeling her gaze, she answered, “Dom hates humans. He sees them as a sub species. I don’t know how Lucas operates when it comes to the people of this town, but I’m afraid that with the backing of a pack as large as you say the Northern Wind is, my brother might just stop caring about lying low.”

  “Are you saying that he might try out his shifting ability on humans?” Nick asked.

  Lucy shook her head. “I’m saying that he has the potential to kill as many humans as possible and he’s not afraid to prove it.” Lucy shuddered and Dan wrapped a comforting arm around her.

  Jo blanched at the declaration. “Kill us?”

  Dan could see the apology on Lucy’s face as she turned to Jo. “In a heartbeat. It… it wouldn’t be the first time.” She shook her head. “I’ll explain all that later, but the point is that humans seeing him or any one of us shift is such a small means to his end that you need to think bigger. It’s not about ousting shifters to the masses. It’s about starting his revolution. He wants a world were bears rule, humans serve, and he’s above it all on a throne wielding the ultimate power over all of us.”

  She sighed, and Dan saw a bit of her old guilt creep back into her gaze. “With Dom here, no one is safe.”

  “Do you think Dom stands a chance against us?” Nick asked, eyes firm.

  Lucy looked from Nick to Tom, then at Dan before turning back to the alpha. “Maybe not back when he was alone, but now he has the backing of a pack. Even with our two alphas, I honestly think it’s anyone’s game.”

  “What about four alphas?” Tom proposed.

  “Four?” Dan repeated aloud. “What do you mean?”

  “It means that this meeting is about reinforcements, and I think I finally found a few,” Nick answered with a brief satisfied smile before rubbing the back of his head a bit ruefully.

  “I’ll admit, I was getting a bit nervous when pack after pack of our distant acquaintances kept turning down the plea for help. I guess I knew it was a long shot, given how personal the request was; packs don’t really operate that way. Even still, I’d thought our father’s old ties would have found us a few helping hands ages ago.”

  “Apparently the honor of old ally bonds don’t mean much after you’re dead,” Tom spat, heat in his eyes.

  “Nothing worth worrying about now, brother, “Nick continued. “All that matters is that we finally found some people willing to help. A pack of four—even smaller than ours—but they have two alphas and are willing to lend a hand however they can.” He shrugged. “Better late than never, I say.”

  “That would make our numbers ten, while like Dan said, they have at least dozens on their side,” Savannah retorted. “Do you honestly think we could handle their worst with such miniscule reinforcements?”

  Nick shrugged. “We won’t know until we try. Four alphas are nothing to sniff at, and I’m sure you guys remaining can back up our plays well enough that anything is possible.”

  Lucy nodded. “Nick has a point. Even Dom takes a second to think things through when alphas are involved. If he has a weakness, it lies somewhere in there.”

  Nick nodded, and Dan saw something tense loosen in his shoulders. He could only imagine how stressed his pack leader must be feeling right now. “Okay, that’s good to hear. Thank you, Lucy.”

  He gazed over the rest of his pack. “I know it doesn’t sound ideal; trust me, it’s far from it. But it’s the hand we’ve been dealt. We’ve faced worse odds and came out on top. I have faith we’ll do that again.” A small hopeful smile tugged on his lips. “We’re stronger than we look, otherwise Lucas would have won a long time ago. Don’t forget that.”

  He stood, stretching high as he wrapped things up. “So with that said, they’ll be packing up and heading our way before we know it. It’s our responsibility to keep them properly accommodated.” He turned to Lucy. “There’s an old dusty house in town that isn’t seeing much use these days. I was wondering if our official Interior Decorator would be willing to head a renovation attempt in preparation for our future guests?”

  “You mean Lucas’s old place that I stayed in back then?” Savannah asked, nose wrinkling. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  Tom shrugged. “It’s not like he’s going to call the constable and have us evicted. We’ll change the locks, reinforce the doors and windows, and add the house to our patrol route.” He grinned. “Call it a spoil of war.”

  Lucy nodded. “If that’s what you need me to do to help out, I can do it. The office is pretty much finished up and I’ve been wondering about how to take on a new project anyway.”

  Nick smiled. “Good to hear. You’ve only got about two weeks.”

  “Dan, that means no more early morning anti-clumsy practice for you,” Tom quipped.

  Dan groaned, but hearing Lucy’s chuckle, he couldn’t help but think that everything was going to be okay.

  I hope you enjoyed books 1, 2 & 3 of my Alpha Bear series! Book 4 will be out soon! Turn the page to read the first 3 books of my Mountain Wolves Series!

  Protected by the Mountain Wolf

  Emilia Hartley

  Chapter 1

  Amara loved to walk at night, beneath the light of the full moon. Not that she was allowed to. She couldn’t count how many times her grandfather had forbade her to be out at night. Wolves, he said. Wolves were everywhere. And they were dangerous. Once, that might have been true. In fact, she knew it was, since just three years before, one had killed her father. But that had only spurred the hunters in town to action, killing off every wolf they could get their hands on in retaliation. Since then, the sleepy town of Strathford was nothing more than a boring mountain town just trying to survive until tourist season.

  Still, it seemed like Grandfather hadn’t gotten the memo. She was still expected to be home before dark, still expected to listen to every little warning he had. It was like he thought the wolves could think like humans or something. She loved him more than she could say, but sometimes, she thought the old man was crazy.

  What harm could it do to be out at night beneath the stars? He couldn’t hold her captive forever. As she gazed out at the surrounding houses, she thought she caught movement across the street. Was there someone up there? She blinked a couple of times and rubbed her eyes, before looking again. No
, no one was there. She must have been imagining things.

  “Amara, what do you think?” her friend Zoe asked, jarring her from her reverie. She and Becca were staring at her, their hands shoved into the pockets of their coats against the cold.

  Amara stared at them, hastily pushing her thick, dark hair from her eyes and straightening her red wool coat. She had no idea what they’d been saying. “What do I think about what?”

  Zoe gaped at her. “What do you mean about what?” she exclaimed, exasperated. “About Brad! Don’t you think he was into Becca? I mean, honestly, he couldn’t stop staring at her tonight.”

  “Oh, right.” Amara forced a smile, trying to ignore her friends’ incredulous stares. “I’m sure Zoe’s right, Becs. Brad’s totally into you. I mean, the diner is pretty small, so I doubt he was staring at anyone else, right?” Truthfully, she hadn’t been paying attention to Brad at all. She’s just happy she had managed to sneak out and enjoy her freedom tonight. Whether Brad was into Becca or not just didn’t matter all the much to her at the moment.

  Her friends, on the other hand, didn’t appear to approve. Zoe put her hands on her hips and glared at Amara, as if accusing her of not being a good friend. Becca looked more hurt than anything else.

  Amara scuffed the ground with her shoe, feeling slightly ashamed. She knew Becca had been crushing on Brad Hendricks since like, eighth grade. And if he really did like her back, then this was huge, and she was a horrible friend not to notice.

  “I’m sorry, Becs,” Amara murmured, reaching out to rub Becca’s arm in apology. “I wasn’t really paying attention, but I did notice him watching you all through dance practice yesterday. Besides,” she threaded her arm through the other girl’s and the three of them began to walk again, “you’re awesome. He’d be stupid not to like you.”

  Becca’s face lit up with hope. “You really think so?”

  “Of course I do.” Amara caught Zoe’s gaze. From the look in her eyes, all was forgiven. “Although, he is a guy. It may take him a lot longer to get over himself and figure it out, but once he does, he’ll realize he should have started talking to you years ago.” All three girls began to laugh.

  From somewhere in the dark, Amara thought she heard a growl. Fear gripped her, and suddenly, Grandfather’s voice was in her head again, warning her about the danger of wolves. She shook herself. She was being silly. There were no wolves in Strathford anymore. But a howl in the distance made her freeze. “Did you guys hear that?” she whispered, but her friends took no notice. It must’ve been a coyote or something, she reassured herself. Nothing more. Still, she caught herself glancing over her shoulder, almost as if she were expecting to see a wolf standing in the street.

  “Are you okay, Amara?” Becca asked, concern written all over her face. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  Amara took a deep breath and shook her head. She was being ridiculous. Yet, she couldn’t help but feel as if she were being watched.

  Chapter 2

  Up on the roof of a nearby house, Nova crouched by the chimney and watched the girls as they walked down the street. Two of them were cute enough, but it was the dark haired one in the red coat that really caught his eye. There was something in the way she moved, the way she smiled, that intrigued him. And out of the three, she was the only one that had heard the wolf’s howl. He wondered what she looked like up close, what she smelled like. How soft her skin was, and what it would feel like to hold her hand.

  Stupid, Nova thought, cursing himself under his breath. He shouldn’t even be thinking about a human girl, much less fantasizing about her. His job was to protect his clan’s territory. Strathford and all its humans were included in that protection, as they had been for the last sixty-five years.

  He had only been allowed on watch the last couple of months. Nova grinned to himself. He had finally been allowed to join the Protectors of the Mountain Wolf Clan, the elite group within his pack. He wasn’t about to let some stupid infatuation with a human girl mess it up.

  Keep your distance, his brother, Nemoy, had always said. Don’t get too close—just close enough to keep them safe—and definitely don’t get to know them. You can’t protect the humans if you can’t stay objective. Besides, it was forbidden to get involved with a human. And he’d be damned if he was going to break one of his pack’s rules.

  Turning at the sound of footsteps on the roof, Nova watched Nemoy’s nearly silent approach. Although the two brothers were two years apart in age, they looked almost identical. They both had long, jet-black hair, tanned skin, dark almond-shaped eyes, and a lanky, muscular build. Nemoy, at nineteen, was starting to fill out and his frame had stopped looking so boyish, and more like a man; something Nova, at seventeen, secretly envied.

  Nemoy crouched beside him, gazing stoically down at the girls walking across the street. “Seems pretty quiet tonight, doesn’t it?” Nemoy asked, his deep voice a harsh whisper.

  Nova nodded. “Not a lot going on. There was a howl a little while ago.” He tried not to let the worry show in his voice. “Think we should check it out?”

  Considering, Nemoy shook his head. “Nah. Probably just one of the younger pups, out running around.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Still, Nova found himself probing the darkness for danger. “Any word on the Valley Clan recently? Have they come into our territory again?”

  Nemoy’s features turned grave and serious. “The was a breach on the East border last night. They think it was teenagers, maybe not even of age. We sent an envoy to their Alpha, hoping he would re-enforce the territory restrictions, but it doesn’t look promising. The Valley Alpha only took over six months ago, and from what we can tell, he has a thirst for violence. His son seems to be just as bad, unfortunately. Personally, I think we need to do something about them.”

  “What’s Father say?” Nova asked. Their father was the Alpha of the Mountain Clan, and a known pacifist. Yes, there had been peace between the clans for some time now, but lately, conflicts were heating up all along the borders, most of which from the Valley Clan, and still, his father hadn’t done anything more than increase border patrols.

  Nemoy just rolled his eyes. “You know Father. Always the peace keeper. He thinks if we just keep them clear of our borders, it will all settle down.”

  Nova glanced sideways at him. “You don’t agree?”

  “I think this new Alpha is looking to make a name for himself.” Nemoy shook his head angrily. “You know how the Valley Clan has always wanted to acquire our territory. The treaty Father struck with their old Alpha kept things quiet enough, but now…I just don’t believe the new Alpha is adhering to the guidelines.”

  Nova pursed his lips, taking it all in. His entire life, the most exciting thing that had happened within the territory was a few border skirmishes from some rogue wolves setting out on their own. Now, however, things were finally starting to get exciting.

  From the corner of his eye, he caught something moving in the darkness. “Nemoy, did you see that?”

  “See what?”

  Nova narrowed his eyes, trying to spot what had moved. There. A flick of a tail around the corner. “Nemoy,” he said sharply, starting to stand, “there’s a wolf down there.”

  Suddenly, his brother was on high alert. “A wolf? Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.” Nova nodded, glancing up at the girls to make sure they were still okay. They’d made it a few blocks down the street, but he could still see them. “It disappeared right around that corner.”

  “And you’re sure it wasn’t one of ours?”

  Frowning, Nova kept watching the darkness. The girls had turned a corner and slipped out of sight. “Well, no, I’m not sure. I really only saw its tail.”

  Nemoy’s shoulders relaxed, and he slipped back into a crouch, pulling Nova down with him. “Relax, little bro. Like I said, it’s probably just one of the pups.”

  “I don’t know, Nemoy,” Nova replied skeptically. Something told him it was more than that. “No
one’s scheduled to watch this end of Strathford tonight, right?”

  “Just us.”

  “Then why would they be skulking around when they know we’re on patrol?”

  Despite calm outer demeanor, Nemoy frowned, and a vein at his temple began to pulse. It was a sure sign that his adrenaline was pumping, and he was preparing for battle, Nova knew.

  Suddenly, an earsplitting scream split the darkness, followed by the unmistakable growl of a wolf. Nova glared at his brother. “That was not a pup, Nemoy.”

  “No, it wasn’t. Come on.” Getting to his feet, Nemoy hastily loped along the roof until he got to the edge, where he dropped lithely to the ground. Nova followed, his movements just as agile.

  Once he hit the ground, Nova began to change. His bones creaked and groaned as they grew and shrunk, turning him from boy to wolf. The pain of the transformation was sharp and familiar, and after all these years, he was almost numb to it. He felt his legs crack and snap as they elongated and morphed to form the hind legs of a canine. He fell to all fours, his hands scraping at the dirt as his fingers fused to form paws, his nails growing thicker and elongating to become claws. Fur sprouted all over his skin, thick black and silver, replacing the clothes that shredded and fell to the dirt. His face thinned and his nose grew outward, forming his snout. The tingling sensation along his gums told him that his teeth were growing into the sharp weapon of the wolf.

  All around him, the night came to life as his senses sharpened. He could smell everything from the grass to the rotting food permeating the dumpster of the restaurant three blocks over. He could smell the enemy wolves that had invaded their town, and they were definitely not part of the Mountain Clan. Running his long tongue over his jowls, he could taste, rather than smell, the scent of blood on the air. They needed to move. Now.