"I'm fine." Kat wasn't sure if that was true or not, but she had to believe that River's wounding was not intentional and from the looks of things, Charles had more desperate worries.
"But your boy's not. River's dying in there." Stephanie stuck the barrel of the gun into Kat's neck. "Ryker, she'll be dead before I hit the ground."
Ryker who'd been wending his way across the yard toward them, now moved away, far enough to be perceived as no threat.
"She's not lying, Alpha," Rawley called from the door. "Cubs are okay, but River's bad."
"I challenge for the Pack," a voice boomed.
Stephanie sighed and muttered, "I swear it's like living with the Beverly Hillbillies." Louder, she called to the man a few feet away, "Call him off, Leon. Don't waste a man. Let the Alpha attend to his boy. Please," she added belatedly and then she smiled and winked as if sharing a secret. "You won't be sorry."
Icy fingers crawled up Kat's spine at the shrewd look that passed over his face while he assessed Stephanie's request. "Withdraw, Bear. Let the man through."
"Thank you," Kat whispered, all too aware there was an ulterior motive behind Stephanie's request that had nothing to do with saving River.
When Bear withdrew, Kat understood what was going on. Stephanie had known Charles for a long time. She knew what kind of man he was and the choices he would make. This was part of the plan Jo had spoken of before; use up the Alpha's magic, wear him out with challenges and let the final victory go to the chosen replacement.
Beating River had been part of the woman's plan as had Kat's death. Shooting the boy hadn't been intentional but it was a practical replacement for Leon's refusal to kill the Mate. Hadn't Stephanie all but said that Leon as Alpha wasn't part of her plan?
"No," Stephanie laughed unkindly, "Thank you or thank River for giving me just what I wanted without sacrificing another pawn." The gun pressed more firmly into the soft flesh of Kat's neck.
Charles walked past the few wolvers who weren't his own. He glanced at Kat, no more than that. Just a glance and yet she could feel his confidence and hear him in her head telling her it would be all right.
"I know it will," she sent out to him and felt the link between them close behind her words.
She felt his power, though, as it rolled out from the bunker's door and the light that followed sent a ripple of comment through Leon's wolvers.
"What the fuck is that?"
"He's a healer, stupid."
"Ain't no such thing."
"Must have a lot of the mojo."
There were murmurs among the Wolf's Head, too.
"He should have left it 'till after the fight."
"The challenge should have come first."
"He knows how much magic he loses every time he heals. He won't have enough left." This last was said by Tanner whose own life was owed to Charles' magic.
Kat wanted to scream, "He's your Alpha! Have faith!" but their words were said and there was no calling them back.
Long minutes passed and the light never wavered. River's wounds must have been severe. Wonder grew into impatience as the crowd became restless. Finally the light faded and the power receded. Charles emerged. His shoulders were slumped and he stumbled as he walked through the surrounding wolvers to the center of the makeshift ring.
Ryker shook his head as if their cause was lost.
"Damn, that healing shit has taken a lot out of him," he said to no one in particular and his words hurt her more than the others. From Ryker she'd expected loyalty.
Kat tried to open her link to Charles to tell him that she, at least, still believed, but the connection was closed and she understood. He'd need all his magic for the fight to come.
"Poor Charles looks exhausted. How tragic," Stephanie said, though she sounded gleeful and not like it was a tragedy at all. "Save the boy and lose the pack. That's Charles' leadership for you."
"He hasn't lost yet," Kat said through gritted teeth.
"Aw, how sweet. Faithful to our Alpha to the bitter end."
"Not your Alpha. Mine"
"I challenge for Alpha," Leon shouted to the crowd and strode to the center of the circle.
"He'll be no one's Alpha when this is over," Stephanie said triumphantly "And it's all over but the final blow."
Kat felt the woman's body tense with anticipation and felt her own antipathy rise. She had never hated anyone as much as she did this woman right at that moment in time.
The two men squared off, facing each other about twenty feet apart. They raised their arms and the whole yard was filled with light as all men were sent over the moon to their wolves. They snarled and snapped and Kat surveyed them all, separating foe from friend, though friend was a term she was now hesitant to use.
There couldn't be more than a dozen of the rogues, but every one of them, no matter their size, looked like they fought for a living and fought hard. If it came to a battle, there would be bloodshed.
Charles and Leon raised their arms again and in another burst of light their wolf forms appeared. Charles rose on unsteady legs. His tail was up and curled over his back a sign of his dominance but his head hung a little lower than normal, not quite so proud.
His opponent stood tall, broader of chest and heavier in body. He was massive compared to the sleekness of Charles. Leon knew it too. He almost pranced as he walked.
The two wolvers snarled and shook their heads, mouths open to display their teeth, one's white and sharp, the other's yellowed and deadly. Warily they took each other's measure, the golden and the brown. If the outcome was based on beauty Charles' wolf would win hands down, but in this clash of tooth and claw and strength, Leon looked the better formed.
They circled, snarled again and then with a roar leapt at each other. The course of their surge took them higher than a man's head and had they collided chest to chest as the rogue wolf intended, sheer weight and size would have brought Charles down.
But as their fur touched, Charles' body turned, seemingly unable to keep up his momentum and make the height of the great brown wolf. Seeking to right his ungainly fall Charles scrambled with his legs and raked the larger wolf's underbelly with the claws of his flailing hind legs. Somehow his body completed its midair roll and Charles landed on his feet. His legs collapsed like springs and he remained upright, though clearly shaken.
Without Charles' body to absorb the impact and slow him down, Leon sailed past his intended target and landed heavily. He tumbled, righted himself, and skid to a stop. Blood dripped from his underside.
Both sides roared their support, short howls of approval and yips of canine applause, but Leon's angry snarl soared out over the rest. He whirled to face Charles who stood panting with his head hanging down. Leon gave him no time to recoup his strength or power. He leapt, covering half the ground between them, snarled triumphantly and charged across the remaining yards. He meant to broadside Charles to drive him to the ground. Without his feet beneath him, Charles would lose his maneuverability and thus his ability to avoid Leon's razor sharp teeth.
The broadside only partially worked. Fangs grazed Charles' back. He was hit, but once again shifted his position and his hip took the blow rather than his more vulnerable ribs. It spun him counter clockwise which brought his jaws in direct contact with Leon's flank. In an immediate response, Charles tore a chunk of flesh from the back of Leon's leg.
Leon howled, whirled back, his body twisting into impossible angles and snapped at air. Charles was no longer there.
He'd spun away and stood head down and panting, awaiting Leon's next move. Kat began to suspect that all was not what it seemed. She held her breath.
Twice more the two wolves clashed and each time the brown wolf was out maneuvered and was left with another bleeding laceration. Charles had not completely escaped the punishing blows of the rogue and one hind leg was bleeding badly.
The wounded Leon was limping now, but his anger fueled his strength and he charged again. There was a surge of power in the air t
hat raised the hair on the back of Kat's neck. Charles head snapped up, his green eyes glowed in the reflection of the surrounding lights and his body seemed to expand.
He leapt to meet Leon's charge and the fight was on. The two joined with a clash of tooth and claw. They tumbled together, a twining of gold and brown. They rolled, snarling and snapping, across the open area scattering the wolves who formed the ring around them. Blood joined the swirl of gold and brown, spattering across the dirt along with the saliva of never closing jaws.
The two broke apart, came together and broke apart again. Both wolver's muzzles were smeared with blood. They circled, but now it was Leon whose step faltered. His breathing was labored. One eye was filled with blood.
Kat held her breath and forced herself to watch. She was the Mate and owed it to her Alpha. She wanted to look away, to refuse to witness the slaughter that was about to occur. She no longer feared for Charles' survival only the scars this might leave on his soul. He was the Alpha, but not a killer and she knew in her heart he would avoid this if he could and his next few moments proved it.
Leon lunged one last time. Charles dove beneath the brown body and rose with a powerful thrust that sent his opponent sailing behind him to land on his back. With lightning speed, Charles turned and pinned the massive wolf's neck to the ground in a lethal hold.
The surrounding wolves hushed as they waited for the jaws to close over the bloodied throat and end the challenge, but the jaws didn't close. His point of victory made, Charles pulled his head back and stared at the brown wolf. Leon turned his head to the side with a submissive whine, admitting his defeat.
"Coward," Stephanie whispered behind her and Kat knew the comment was for Charles and not for the defeated wolf.
Charles turned and walked away. It was Kat's scream and the roar of the surrounding wolves that made him turn as Leon rolled to his feet and sprang for Charles' back sinking his fangs into the golden ruff that surrounded Charles' neck.
This time there was no mercy. Charles leapt with wolf on his back, twisted in midair and landed on his back with Leon crushed beneath him. Jarred free of the larger wolf's grasp he plunged his muzzle into Leon's throat. His jaws clamped shut. The rogue wolf thrashed once and lay still.
The yard erupted as, having no regard for Pack Law, Leon's wolvers attacked. Kat saw Ryker charge at the giant called Bear. Hyatt and Rawley leapt from the porch in tandem and cornered a wolf that was trying to slink of into the woods. For a few minutes pandemonium reigned. The rogues were fierce, but outnumbered and the battle was short lived though as Kat had predicted, bloody. Her heart swelled with pride for her Wolf's Head Pack.
The battle however, wasn't over. There was one more wolver to be dealt with.
Charles ignored the chaos around him and stalked toward Stephanie who had not released her hold on his Mate.
"Challenge him, Alex! Challenge him now!" she screamed at the grey wolf watching from a few feet away. "You should be the Alpha. You want it! You know you do! Fight for it! Challenge him!"
Alex lowered his head, flattened his ears and tensed the muscles of his impressive wolf's body. He snarled, showing a row of razor sharp teeth, not at Charles but at Stephanie and braced his body to attack.
Stephanie's game was over.
Charles flashed to human and Kat cried out at the wounds that were revealed by his human flesh. A deep gash ran across his abdomen and blood ran down over his shoulder from the wound in his neck. His jeans were torn at the thigh and a dark stain spread over the denim.
Stephanie released her arm from Kat's throat and Kat thinking the drama was finally over, took a step forward.
"Oh Charles," she breathed and felt Stephanie's arm rise beside her.
Charles shouted and raised his hand.
Kat grabbed for the gun now pointed at Charles.
Light flashed as Alex leapt, knocking Kat away as he bore down on Stephanie, now transformed to her wolf. Her gun lay useless at Kat's feet.
The sleek black she-wolf screamed and scrambled from beneath Alex's gray one and tore off for the trees. With a nod from Charles, the gray took off after her.
Charles wavered. His knee buckled as he took another step toward Kat, but she was there to catch him and he righted himself and looked around at his pack.
"I stand for those who stand for me," he shouted to them all and he raised his hands above his head to bring them home.
A scream echoed through the trees and Charles paused and waited with his arms raised and his Mate supporting his unsteady frame.
Alex, his muzzle showing flecks of blood, trotted to his Alpha and bowed low, his allegiance proven and clear.
The yard was suddenly engulfed in light as Charles brought his Wolf's Head Pack home.
"We stand with those who stand with us," his wolvers shouted.
"I stand for my Alpha and the Wolf's Head Pack," Alex, ever formal, declared.
Charles nodded his acknowledgement. "I never doubted it, Second."
"If you had lost…" Alex continued but Charles cut him off. Some things were best left unspoken.
"I know. It's why I chose you as Second. You stand for the good of the pack."
Chapter 42
"Ow! How's a man supposed to eat when you're stabbing him with that thing."
"From now on, it's Big Baby instead of Big Bad. I've never seen such a whiner. This isn't easy for me either, you know." Kat clipped off another knot of white thread and pulled the remaining stitch out of his thigh. It wasn't true. It was much harder putting them in than taking them out.
Meadow giggled from her perch on an end table where she sat cross-legged with a plateful of rare steak on her lap. She stabbed another chunk with her fork and offered it to Charles.
"Open, Papa, eat."
"Use sentences Meadow. You're a big girl." Since the battle, Meadow had begun to speak, mostly to Charles, and Kat insisted she learn to do it properly.
"Big Bad, Big Girl, Big Meanie," Charles laughed, pointing to each in turn.
Meadow giggled and Kat tried to frown, but she only made her face look funny and Meadow giggled all the more.
"You're spoiling her, Charles," she said as she removed the last stitch and patted his thigh.
There would be a scar on his neck and stomach as well as his leg, in spite of her best efforts to sew a fine seam. The healer could not heal himself, but when it was suggested they call his brother to do the job, Charles refused. He said he wanted a reminder of what he could have lost. Kat needed no reminder. It was all around her. Every day.
"We spoil each other and now that these damned stitches are out I can spoil you, too." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"I'm looking forward to it."
And she was. In the days since the battle they had little time to themselves and what intimate time they had, needed to be carefully choreographed. If Charles split more stitches while they were in bed, they'd never hear the end of it. It was little enough, but Kat was grateful for every moment of it.
River needed care and not just for his wounds though they were serious enough. The bruising and swelling over his abdomen and side were the result of his damaged liver and spleen.
Charles had taken care of the worst of it and stopped the bleeding from the gunshot wound, but knowing what he had to face, he had reluctantly agreed with Rawley and left the rest to nature. As it was, the necessary healing had depleted his magic, though his total exhaustion had been a ruse to fool an overconfident Leon, something Charles' wolvers recognized and played along with.
River still felt responsible for endangering them all, even though he'd been assured by everyone that the plot would have come about eventually. Stephanie would have seen to that. She'd already attempted the kidnapping once before when Rhonda had inadvertently told her the women and children were alone at the house. He seemed to come around a bit when Ryker pointed out that if it hadn't been River, who could take it like a man, it might have been Kat or one of the cubs who wouldn't have survived t
hat kind of beating.
The Alpha needed caution. He tried to do too much too soon and split his amateur stitching twice. Kat pled and Mrs. Martin scolded and Ryker finally threatened to tie him down if he didn't take up a post on the sofa and stay there.
Forest was the hero of the hour. She'd run back to the house alone in the darkness of the tunnel and awakened Mrs. Martin. Together they'd gone out and found some of the others.
It was Rhonda, the one they all thought was not so bright, who placed Stephanie at the center of the trouble. Stephanie had bragged a little too much, though Rhonda never suspected it was anything more than talk until Kat and the cubs were taken.
Jo, along with Hyatt and Tanner, followed the tunnel and the trail left by Kat and the boys. The two men made short work of the guard at the back of the bunker and Jo led the cubs home.
"The hardest part about it was keeping Dakota and Ranger quiet. They wanted to go back and join in the fight." Jo laughed when she told Kat about it later. "Those wolvers hurt River and made their sister cry. Those two boys were hell bent on revenge. It would have served the bastards right if I'd sent the little demons back. I hope they're around to give my kid a little bit of the beastie someday."
"Your kid? Someday?" Kat asked with a laugh of her own. "I thought pups were a sticky fingered pain in the ass."
"Oh, they are and they still start out too tiny, but Ryker and I talked and, well, if I don't like them, Ryker says I can just turn them over to you and Mrs. Martin."
Jo's mating to Ryker was only a week away and Tanner and Rhonda would be mated the following month and Kat had a feeling there would be more to come. Their pack would be growing, not only through the recruitment of families, but through families born of the newly mated pairs.
The indomitable Mrs. Martin was in her element with her scolding and cosseting and feeding of the revolving residents of Hell Hall. Buddy now ran with the pack and Kat loved him as the brother she never had. She was his Kitty Kat.
Alex would never see her as his Kitty Kat nor would she see him as her bosom buddy, but they had learned to respect each other's position and Kat would forever be grateful to him for doing what must be done and relieving Charles of the burden of doing it. She couldn't love Alex, but she would never again question his loyalty to the Wolf's Head Pack.
The Alpha's Choice Page 31