“How can a lion shifter be father to a werewolf?”
“He took him when he was first born. He found me and brought me as a playmate. I’m bound by the Lion shifter to serve my Alpha. The Lion shifter loved his mother and couldn’t bear to leave her so he took a part of her out of love and revenge.”
Listening to him he thought about Hunter. Could he be one of Hunter’s pups? He would know once he saw him. “Take me to your Alpha,” Tracker said.
“I can’t do that. I am sworn to protect him and the two females he will mate with during the full moon. He promised me one. We both are yearlings and it’s time. That’s how we found the one called Naja. We tracked her scent. There aren’t many werefemales for miles. The Lion shifter said near Samsaville we would find females to mate with.”
“I come from Samsaville. The Lion shifter is correct. In Samsaville you can find human females and all types of female shifters. You don’t have to settle for these. They belong to me and my brother.” The grey werewolf listened. He eased his stance and his fur smoothed on his back.
Tracker saw his chance to move away from the grey wolf. When he took one step to the side, the grey werewolf soared in Tracker’s direction, and with one paw and a full set of gleaming white deadly teeth, Tracker had torn through the grey werewolf’s body.
The grey wolf lay with his eyes open and his mouth closed. His once flared nostrils were resting when he took his last breath. Tracker glanced down at him. “I promised you if you did this you would die.” Tracker shook his head because he knew it was a useless and unnecessary death. He was beginning to like the grey wolf.
Now where was the Alpha? He wouldn’t hide. True Alphas don’t hide. Tracker walked to the door of the large log cabin and opened the door. It made a creaking sound as if the door was too heavy for the hardware that helped it swing open and close.
Chapter 26
When Tracker stepped into the dark dank cold mansion, the first thing he saw was the glow of two blue eyes. The eyes belonged to the Alpha. The two werewolves who ran and hid didn’t have blue eyes, but black eyes.
“What is it you want?” Another talker Tracker thought. Would he be like the other talker and then attack?
“I come for the two females you have inside here.”
Tracker strained to see in the dark. Not because of his vision but because it was unusually dark inside the room. The walls were painted black. And the way the room was built with no windows, the moon’s light couldn’t shine through.
“When I’m dead then you can have them, but it won’t be easy. This is my territory. My home.”
“You talk like a lion shifter not a werewolf. We werewolves believe everything belongs to the pack. A lion thinks everything is his including all the females in another’s territory,” Tracker said.
“Where is your pack?”
“The question is where is your pack?”
“It is as you said. I am the son of a Lion shifter.”
“You are confused. You are the son of a werewolf, and I know who your father is.” There wasn’t a sound, but the threat was all around Tracker and he knew it. Tracker didn’t say a word but he heard the faint breath of the Alpha closing in on him. He thought he heard him behind him but when he looked nothing was there.
He moved to a wall to brace himself against it so the Alpha wouldn’t come from behind where he couldn’t defend himself. He took a deep breath. “Where are you?” Tracker asked.
“Standing in front of you,” the Alpha said. He flew into Tracker gnashing at Tracker’s neck aiming his sharp teeth for his jugular. But Tracker would conceal his neck and kept him at a distance with his large paws as he lodged his teeth into the Alpha’s arms. The Alpha let out a whine and dove across the room. Tracker could have done more damage if he wanted, but he knew the Alpha if the Alpha didn’t know himself.
The Alpha belonged to the Samsa pack. He smelled him even if he couldn’t see him clearly.
Tracker lifted his nose. He smelled blood. The Alpha’s arm cut and bleeding. Tracker looked down and saw the trail of blood.
“You fight like a Lion but you don’t have the equipment to fight that way. Your claws aren’t sharp enough. They will never be. I kill young lion shifters like yourself. You’re not a lion and you aren’t a lion shifter. You don’t know who you are. But I do. You’re a werewolf,” Tracker shouted still in the corner. “But you fight like one of those young shifters who never learned to hunt.”
In the dark he could smell the Alpha but it became impossible to tell where he was. He moved quietly around the room. Like he said, it was his territory.
“I didn’t come to kill you. I came for the females.”
“You will have to kill me first.” And he lunged at Tracker, pawing at him left and then right. Thrusting his paws but not landing a blow. Tracker moving quick from the wall as the Alpha gnashed at him. Tracker got behind the Alpha and reached and grabbing him around his neck. Holding him by his neck, Tracker’s long arm kept him at a distance.
“I can kill you now if I wanted, but I won’t do that because you’re more than likely my brother Hunter’s son.” The Alpha’s body became limp. The fight and air flowed out of him.
“What are you saying?” The Alpha questioned. At that moment Damon bounded through the door and into the room. Damon heard the Alpha breathing. He smelled his sharp scent of fear and he heard the Alpha’s flaring nostrils and gritting teeth.
Saadia had been right. He could no longer see out of one eye, but his hearing and smell had never been as sharp as it is now.
Damon soared to the Alpha from behind with one leap, going straight for his jugular when Tracker caught him in midair pulled him and pushing him off. “Don’t do it. He’s a member of our pack. He’s a Samsa,” Tracker said watching the spot where Damon landed.
“Is he?” Damon asked as he stood upright.
“He’s one of Hunter’s sons.” Now everyone was confused. Damon moved closer and looked at the Alpha. “How do you know?”
“Look at him.”
“I can’t see that well. I have one eye remember, and he’s the one responsible,” Damon said. “Where is Naja and Saadia?” Damon turned to question the Alpha.
“I locked them in the room. I wasn’t sure if you were renegade werewolves looking to harm them.”
“Yeah. He’s one of Hunter’s sons. I don’t have to see him to know. I’ll get the two girls.” Damon turned in a circle, “Where are the lights?”
“The only light comes from the moon and the fireplace.”
“Then build a fire,” Damon said walking close to the Alpha then turning and heading into the middle of the house searching for the room. “I hope I don’t have to kill those wolves that took my eye. But I would love to.”
Damon tried one door and it was open. This room had windows and the moon gave light so he could see there was no one there. The last room to his right in the back of the house he tried opening the door and it was locked. It must be where the girls were held, he thought.
Pounding on the door and finally breaking through, the door gave way and the splintered door opened. He glanced around and didn’t see anyone. Walking into the room he was met by Saadia. She jumped on his back and Naja hit him in the face. As Saadia tried to bite his neck, Damon shouted.
“It’s me. Stop it Saadia and Naja. Damon’s eyes wide with surprise on his face. “I thought you were helpless. Next time I won’t come for you because you can take care of yourself.”
“Damon?” Saadia said. “I didn’t know it was you.”
“A little closer and you would have taken out the other eye.” Naja jumped on Damon and placed her legs around his waist. She kissed him.
“You’re alive and you came for me, Damon. I’m yours forever.”
“I know Naja. I’ve always known that you and I should be together,” Damon said as he brushed his tongue over her lips and she opened her mouth to give him access. He backed her against the wall and she held him around his neck.
“I guess I should see what Tracker is up to,” Saadia said. And she eased out of the room not that Naja and Damon would miss her.
When she walked into the dark great room, the light from the fire gave way to laughter
coming from the Alpha and Tracker. “You’re sitting down and laughing with this shifter who planned on killing me.”
“That wasn’t my plan,” the Alpha said.
“Well forgive me if I used the wrong word. You planned on fucking me without my
consent? To me that’s like killing me. I belong to Tracker.” She trotted over to Tracker sitting on the floor across from the Alpha. Saadia dropped near him and placed her head against his shoulder.
“You have a special female there,” the Alpha said.
“Yes, I know.”
“If you plan on getting rid of her, I’ll take her.”
“She wouldn’t go if I sent her to you. This one has a mind of her own. She’s not a beta female.”
“Why are you talking to that Alpha about me as if I’m not here, when he just tried to kill all of us and his betas took your brother’s eye?”
“Saadia, let me introduce you to one of Hunter’s sons. I know it’s a long story. I’ll tell you on our way back to Samsaville.”
“Will my betas be allowed to come with me?” The Alpha asked.
“As long as they obey our laws, they can live in Samsaville. Do you have a name?”
“My adopted father didn’t give me a name.”
“Let your father name you, then.”
“Are you ready to go home?” Damon said standing in the doorway with Naja, a smile on both their faces as he held her hand and she looking up at him like a lovesick werefemale.
“It’s too far to go on foot and I don’t know about you, but this has been an exhausting evening. I have an SUV in the garage,” the Alpha said. Damon and Tracker looked to each other and then to the Alpha.
“We can be in Samsaville by tonight. Don’t worry it can seat eight. The Alpha glanced around seeing his two betas come from out of hiding to discover they were a part of a pack and their Alpha was still alive no thanks to them.
They piled into the Range Rover and headed south. “It will take between two to four hours,” Tracker said entering the car and sitting up front, and behind them sat Naja and Damon then Saadia. The two betas sat in the rear of the SUV.
Both females lay their heads on Damon’s shoulder and fell asleep. The werewolves didn’t sleep. They didn’t need it as much as the werefemales.
The Alpha drove until he saw the sign SAMSAVILLE. Then Tracker pointed to the right and he took the exit.
“Just keep driving through town and pass the hospital. Then take the new highway and we’ll come to a large white fence. That’s our home.” The Alpha glanced at him. “Your home too.” He touched him on the shoulder.
Tracker had remained awake the entire trip to Samsaville. He knew the Alpha was a bit apprehensive and didn’t know what to expect.
The clubs where the doctors and nurses hung out closed early, but the shifter club, The Rusty Nail was still open at six am. As they cruised by that club, there were a few female panther shifters standing on the outside braced up against two humans looking for something exciting before they called it a night, and no doubt they would find it with werepanthers.
This environment appeared to be strange to the Alpha. “How long have you been in that secluded area,” Tracker asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t know how old I am. For the longest I thought the Lion shifter was my father until his mate told me different. She was the one who sent me to that cabin with one of the werewolves brought to play with me and be a companion,” the Alpha said.
No one taught me to hunt. My father, I mean the Lion shifter doesn’t know I’m gone. He’s somewhere in Europe.”
“What about the young pups, how did they come to be a part of your pack? Not a very good one.”
“They were roaming the woods ready to die when I discovered them and fed them. They were the ones who gave their lives for me. I hope you have a pack as loyal as that?” The Alpha said turning a quick glance to Tracker as they neared the Samsa ranch.
Following the directions Tracker had given the Alpha, he turned and came to a gate. Stopping the SUV he glanced at Tracker. Tracker jumped out and opened the gate and climbed back in the car. When the car began moving again the passengers woke.
The SUV continued up the road and then the ranch came into view. “We’re home,” Damon said waking Naja and Saadia. The two young frightful pups sat in the back shivering. They didn’t know what to expect and probably wanted to go home. But there was no going home.
When the SUV came to a stop, it was seven am. The sounds of young pups crying caught everyone’s attention. “Well I guess Wilder is happy and father is upset,” Damon said helping Naja out. She stepped out of the SUV and looked around. It felt like home, but she was afraid that Lycell and the other head of their pack wouldn’t see it that way.
Naja hesitated and Damon felt her hand and it shook in his. “I said I would protect you and not send you away. I’m going to marry you.”
“Like my mother and father?” She asked.
“Yes. And we’re having pups.” He placed his hand to her stomach. He smiled looking into her bright eyes. “I know about those things.” She gave a closed smile as if she didn’t believe him. “We Samsas know when a female is fertile and we know when she’s pregnant, and you’re pregnant with my pups.” With a protective hand he brought her to him. “There’s no way father or Wilder will send you away. It means more pups for the pack.” And Damon broke into a proud wide smile.
Damon had achieved something Tracker had yet to accomplish. If you don’t count Thorn’s soon to be born pups.
“It could also mean war,” Tracker said climbing out of the car and slamming the door. He watched at Damon. Damon raised an eyebrow to him.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? There’s no pleasing you is there?” Damon said stepping away with Naja.
Saadia waited for Tracker, but he ignored her and walked along with the Alpha.
“Don’t get upset if you aren’t immediately welcomed into the family,” Tracker said with a smile slapping him on the back.
Looking at Damon and hearing Tracker’s sour talk, Saddia turned away from Tracker and caught up with Damon and Naja.
“I’m taking Damon to the hospital. I see my father’s car is out back. He can check his eye and you should get checked out by his nurse,”Saadia said to Naja.
“I’m better now since I’m home, and I want to tell my mother about Naja. She can’t go to the Alaskan pack. I’m going to marry her,” Damon said. He took Naja’s hand and limped with Saadia and Naja to the hospital.
It was then Saadia took a second look at Damon and realized she had missed an opportunity but now gone forever.
As Saadia, Naja, and Damon plodded down the shoveled path free of snow, passing the kennels and stables, they reached the hospital. The Alpha and Tracker were walking the opposite direction and in through the kitchen. “Are you hungry?” he asked the Alpha. He shook his head at the thought.
“Yes. But I can’t eat cooked meat.”
“I was hoping you said that because no one eats cooked meat here but my mother. She’s the only human living in here that eats that stuff. Well the staff cooks their food but in their cottages on the grounds.”
Glancing at the Alpha and looking around, Tracker said, “Sit down. You’re a guest now, that is, until I introduce you to the family, and then you will be subjected to the rules of our fathers.” Tracker walked to the fridge and opened it dragging out todays kill. It was still warm, and bloody.
“My father must have been up early running around killing something. You know he’s still angry about Wilder, you know you’re Wilder’s offspring which will piss my father off royally. The Alpha raised a right eyebrow in the same fashion as all the Samsas.
I forgot to tell you Hunter’s fat
her is Wilder, and his mother is my mother, too.” The Alpha slanted his head but didn’t ask a question. He needed to hear all of this. He needed to know about his family so he didn’t interrupt Tracker who appeared to be full of information.
Taking two large platters out of the cabinet, Tracker sat one in front of his chair on the counter, and one for the Alpha. He dropped a large piece of deer meat with the blood oozing from the thigh and a duck that had been dressed earlier by the kitchen staff.
The door to the kitchen opened and a young blond woman about eighteen stepped in holding a tray. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone was up this early.”
“Who are you?” Tracker asked. His eyes caught sight of the Alpha’s reaction to the pretty young girl dressed in a black and white uniform. She was a natural blond with bright blue eyes and a round face. Her eyebrows light. Her skin pale. Her lips a natural color of pink. And the Alpha couldn’t take his eyes off of her, and she was equally enamored with him.
“My mother couldn’t make it today and I’m helping out. My name is Rebecca. I’m going off to college in January and your mother needed help so my mother sent me. The pay is great and I like this place,” Rebecca said rambling on because she was nervous around such handsome men.
Tracker wonder if she knew what they were. But then she had to have been told and signed a nondisclosure agreement.
“I’ll be out of your way in a few minutes,” she said lowering her eyes nervously, and bumping into the granite counter as she moved around Tracker to put the tray on the counter, and reach inside the fridge. “You’re one of the young Samsas?” She spoke to the Alpha, but Tracker answered.
Tracker glanced at the Alpha and then Rebecca. “How did you know?” Tracker questioned.
“I’ve seen you before in school,” she said to Tracker. I was in middle school when you were a senior. You Samsas all look alike except some of you had different hair and eyes and some were taller than the others, but you were all jocks, and we girls rarely knew you apart. There was no way we could miss any of you. I think one of your brother’s wore glasses.”
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