Tooth and Claw (Kootenai Pack Book 1)

by Lynn Katzenmeyer

  He sat across the large circle booth from me. I was glad he kept his distance. I needed Cain to get here soon.

  “You have until I’m finished with my meal to convince me not to kill you,” I growled at him. He was looking at the pictures on the wall completely unaware of the danger he’d wrought down on himself.

  His expression turned from casual to shocked at my tone, “Didn’t Kyla tell you I was coming?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. Now it was my turn to be confused. I’d spoken to Kyla exactly once since getting back to Easterville. I worked up the nerve to call and check in on her a few months back. She’d already given birth. I congratulated her and that was the end of the call.

  “I know you two are in contact,” he said, quickly adding, “She won’t tell me what you two talk about, no matter how much I beg. All I know is that you talk.”

  I relaxed a little bit. Kyla was a smart wolf. She probably used the one call I’d given her as a bargaining chip to get marginally better treatment from the Alpha wolf, I wasn’t going to take that away from her, “We do. We have two rules. We don’t talk about you, and we don’t talk about the pack.”

  “What do you talk about then?”

  I shook my head, “If Kyla isn’t telling, I’m not telling. So why are you here? How many wolves are outside waiting to kidnap me again?”

  “None,” he said, holding up his hands in innocence again, “It’s just me. Only Kyla and Marcus know I’m here. The rest all think I’m at a conclave in Boston. Had a plane ticket and everything.”

  My wolf didn’t trust him, she was edging the surface. She didn’t want him here either, his pack was bigger than ours, stronger than ours, he was risking their lives with this trip, “Why are you here?”

  “I..” his answer was cut off by Sarah bringing two glasses of dark beer. I gave her a reassuring smile hoping she had called Sheriff Lark before turning back to glare at Kendrick. As soon as the human left ear shot, he spoke, “I want to be your mate.”

  “I’m not going back to Montana,” I declared. There was no hesitation. This was not up for debate. I’d kill him and every last wolf in his pack before I went back there.

  Without hesitation Kendrick jumped in, “I’ve bought 100 acres of forest on the lake, for us.”

  “What?” More anger bubbled up in me. Cain and I had been saving for that land. Molly Vail had given us right of refusal, but we couldn't afford it immediately. He was the buyer who’d swooped in and bought it before we could get our loan in place.

  “I know it’s not much, but I have the right of refusal on all the neighboring land. There’s 250 acres to the North that I’ve been working on,” I continued, “Plenty of space for our wolves to run...together.”

  “You’re moving to Easterville?” this couldn’t be happening. My life had been going so well. Now he was bringing the pack to me? No, this was not ok. I glanced at the door willing Cain to magically materialize and fix it. He’d know what to do. I took a slow sip of beer, yes, Cain will know what to do. He’ll get us out of this. He’ll help.

  “I came to be your mate. You made it very clear that you have a life in Easterville,” Kendrick had been speaking I jolted back to attention, “I want to be in your life.”

  “Have I not made it clear enough? I. Don’t. Want. You,” I enunciated each word. Clearly, he had hearing problems or he wouldn’t have come here. I was shaking in anger, desperately holding back my wolf.

  “You’ve made it very clear,” Kendrick agreed, “And I want to respect that. But my wolf mourns you. Every time I shift, every time I sleep, he mourns his mate. And it’s my fault. I know it is my fault. I will spend the rest of my life paying penance if that’s what you require. I will never deserve you. But my wolf...”

  “I...my wolf mourned you,” I whispered. But she didn’t mourn any more. Hadn’t mourned him for the better part of a year. I shook my head of murderous thoughts, “Where are you staying?”

  “Bunk and Galley,” I told her, “I want to respect your space.”

  “Since when?” I couldn’t help but snort.

  He stared at me silently. His yellow eyes were flicking back and forth as he debated his answer. I watched him. My wolf was pacing inside of me. The wolf in front of us, who we were still inexplicably pulled toward was not our mate. We didn’t want him.

  Sarah interrupted our staring contest by setting plates of food on the table.

  “Thanks Sarah,” I said with a big smile, and wide, call the fucking sheriff eyes, “Have you met Ricky? He’s the asshole who let my arm get ripped off in a trap on a hunting trip.”

  Sarah’s eyes widened in shock, “Oh my god,” she exclaimed before turning to look at me, “What is he doing here?”

  “He seems to think he’s going to live here,” I explained, “What do you think, Sarah? Will Easterville welcome him?”

  Sarah looked Kendrick up and down, “What are you doing here?”

  “Begging forgiveness,” Kendrick told her with a wide puppy dog eyes.

  Sarah turned back to me with a he seems harmless to me shrug, “I think it’ll depend on how you react to him, Lee,” she told me, before turning to Kendrick, “The whole town loves her, you know. You better be nice to her or you just might disappear.”

  “I’m glad she’s found a place that deserves her,” Kendrick said, he almost sounded sincere, “Lord knows where we grew up doesn’t.”

  “You grew up in the cult too?” Sarah asked with wide eyes. It was finally clicking to her that this man may have had something to do with my kidnapping.

  “Sarah, I think Duke’s table needs a refill,” I said quickly my tone was clear, stop talking, call the sheriff.

  “A cult?” Kendrick was calm again, amused even, casually taking a sip of the beer.

  Two could play at this game, “Try to tell me it’s an inaccurate description. What with the public flogging and all.”

  He stiffened good. I didn’t forget. I’d never forget.

  “What happened after I left?” I asked, if I could keep conversation flowing, maybe Lark would show up in time to arrest him before Kendrick could do his evil plan, “With the elder council, your parents, the Lordes? The...punishment?”

  “I’m your mate,” he growled, “I took your punishment, my father died, mom killed herself, the Lordes are huge pains in the ass, and the elder council want me to bring you back and ascend to alpha after the New Year.”

  “And there it is,” I said moving to stand with an exasperated sigh, “You’re just here to-”

  “I’m not here to drag you back to Montana,” he jumped up, “I told you I bought territory here. I told you I want to be-”

  “I’m sorry about your father,” I said sitting back down.

  Kendrick snorted, “I’m not.”

  Of course, he wasn’t. The sooner his dear old dad was out of the picture the sooner he got what he ultimately wanted, “I’d give anything to have my father back,” I said.

  “I’d give every day I had with mine for you to have yours back as well,” again, his voice was filled with sincerity.

  We ate in silence for several agonizing minutes, I was done with my food and he was nearly done with his. I needed a plan and fast. I also needed him out of my pub and away from my most vulnerable pack members, “I’ll meet you at your new territory for a run at midnight. Give me the address.”

  I passed him an order pad and a pen. He pulled out the address on his phone and wrote it down for me. I took it back from him, “Sarah will be back with your bill, tip her well.”

  He just nodded.

  I walked calmly back to the kitchen. Olly told me Ed and Noel were upstairs in Evan’s apartment. I snuck upstairs and was immediately wrapped in warm familiar arms. I sagged into Cain.

  “You’re here,” I relaxed into him, he was here. It was going to be ok.

  “It took four of them to keep me from running down there and killing him in front of the entire pub,” Cain told me fin
ally letting me see the team in the living room. His hands did not leave me as we walked up to them.

  Noel was typing on his computer; Ed was talking on the phone in the corner presumably to more pack members. Travis and Paul were pacing the floor cracking their knuckles.

  “It’s true,” Noel said looking up at me, “One Kendrick Biel purchased the land. This is actually good news for us.”

  “How is this good news?” Cain growled, “An alpha wolf of an established pack purchased territory adjacent to ours. And that’s ignoring his-” his words were cut off by his wolf growling deep in his throat. I rested my head on his shoulder, unable to say anything myself. My wolf was too worked up.

  Noel gave us a wry smile, “Lee will get it in the divorce.”

  “We can’t divorce,” I reminded Noel, “We’re moon blessed.” Cain’s wolf cried again. He was so close to shifting. He was struggling to keep any semblance of control over himself.

  Noel shook his head and turned the computer around, “Not legally. Here’s the official mating paperwork, you’re not moon blessed. I started the paperwork a few weeks ago, I was saving it for Cain’s birthday present. You and Kendrick have been separated for well over 180 days. By the human laws of Montana and Minnesota, you are eligible for divorce.”

  I couldn’t breathe. I had to press my hand to my heart to make sure it was still beating. I wanted this. I’d wanted it so much since Cain came into my life, but I didn’t think it was possible. I looked over at Cain who was staring at his brother in disbelief.

  “And now that he’s purchased property in Minnesota, we can file here instead of Montana which will be so much easier for me. I have all the paperwork drawn up. Lottie’s coming over to notarize it,” Noel continued, “I hope you’re ok with just asking for the land. I figured we could take him to the cleaners, but you probably want this to go away quietly.”

  “She...she can be free?” Cain was the first one able to speak. His usual smooth baritone was quaking the strain of retaining his human form evident.

  “She could even be yours,” Noel told him with a wink.

  I squeezed Cain’s arms to me. Tears flowing down my face. I wanted that so bad.

  “Do the paperwork,” I said my own voice cracking, “Please.”

  “You got a printer?” Noel asked.

  I nodded for Travis our resident IT genius to show Noel where to print. With the couch vacated Cain and I dropped onto it.

  Ed hung up the phone, “Lottie’s on her way, I left ten messages on Evan’s phone. Nothing. Sarah called the Sheriff; he’ll be up soon. Charlie and Ginger are patrolling the borders of the house remarking the territory to mask your scent as best they can.”

  I nodded gratefully, “Thank you Ed. Thank you so much.”

  “I’ll help Sarah close up the bar, should I send up whoever the human cops send?”

  I nodded. Paul was still pacing in the corner, “I don’t like this, Lee,” Paul said. As our only classically trained enforcer, I learned to trust Paul’s instincts, “Why now. Why come now?”

  “He can’t ascend to alpha unmated. The anniversary of his father’s death must be coming up soon,” Paul nodded. Other than Noel, Paul was probably the only member of the pack who’d paid attention to shifter law lessons as much as I had.

  “You can get a divorce,” Cain was staring ahead his voice a stunned whisper. I squeezed his knee and he looked over at me, his green eyes soft, “You’d be free.”

  I nodded with a small smile.

  “Hey,” Paul said thoughts tumbling out of his mouth before his brain could tell him to think better of it, “If you two got mated we could petition to be an official pack.”

  Cain and I both turned to look at Paul, who immediately retracted his statement, “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry. I just. It’s weird, I think of us as one of them, you know. A pack with no low born wolves. It’s nice.”

  “We call what we have a pack because we don’t have a better word for it,” Cain said. We’d talked at length about it as our family grew. We didn’t want to be treated different than our wolves. No one ate first, no one ate last in our puppy pile, “We’d have to have an official pack structure to petition to be official. My wolf doesn’t want to obey another wolf, but we don’t want to be alpha.”

  “You’re already alpha, Cain,” Paul said with a laugh, “You and Lee are just nicer than what any of us have seen before. If you mated, it could be official.”

  “I’m not mating Lee to become Alpha,” Cain snarled, “If I mate Lee it’s because I love her and my wolf loves her, and I want everyone we know to know she and her wolf love me too.”

  I felt my face flush again. Cain and I, mated. It was just a dream I’d had. I’d had it for longer than I’d cared to admit. But it’d only ever been a dream. It hadn’t been possible before tonight. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

  “We have to focus on getting her unmated first,” Paul said cracking his knuckles again, “I need to know everything about him, Lee. How does he fight?”

  “I hardly know him,” I told Paul honestly, “I’ve never seen him fight. I fought his mother once, but I have no idea if he trained with her.”

  Paul paced more, mumbling to himself about how useless that information was. Cain and I watched him pace. Noel and Travis came upstairs with stacks of paper and envelopes.

  “Alright, here is the filing for official dissolution of mating agreement,” Noel said setting down one pile of paperwork, “Here’s the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage and Summons for the human divorce filing,” he dropped a third stack, “And here is our divorce proposal outlining division of property and assets. If he contests the divorce, which I suspect he might, we’ll do mediation with a shifter lawyer first I’m confident he’ll agree to settle out of court after seeing what we have on him.”

  “What do we have on him?” Paul asked.

  “Kidnapping is the primary one,” Noel said, “That event brought a whole host of issues with human law enforcement that no shifter judge is going to want to deal with.”

  “And if he brings up the moon blessing?” Cain asked.

  Noel smiled, “I hope he does. Lee said he first shifted at thirteen, right?” I nodded, “Which means he had five years to claim her before she left the pack. After that he had a whole decade of no contact. There are no elders in the pack that believe they are moon blessed, I’ve checked. If he tries to claim moon blessing, he’ll end up with an even tougher fight than if he didn’t.”

  “I’d like to serve him with human paperwork as soon as possible.”

  “I said I’d meet him for a run at his new territory at midnight,” I suddenly remembered pulling the order pad from my pocket, “Here’s the address he gave me. I wasn’t going to go, I just wanted him out of the pub and thought it would be the easiest way.”

  Noel smiled again, and looked at Paul, “Want to give an officer of the court a lift?”

  Paul looked from me to Noel to Travis and back to Cain, “What?”

  “He’s going to serve Kendrick with the divorce papers when he’s expecting Lee to come for a run,” Cain filled in for him, “Are you sure that’s safe, Noel?”

  Noel nodded, “If Paul’s with me, I doubt he’ll do much.”

  Sheriff Lark came upstairs shortly after Noel and Paul left.

  “Sarah called and said you had a visitor?” he asked looking from Travis to Cain and back to me.

  I nodded.

  “She seems to think it might be related to your kidnapping last December,” Lark continued.

  I nodded again. Cain squeezed my thigh, letting me know he was there, and I’d be ok, “His name is Kendrick Biel. I am worried that he is going to try again,” I closed my eyes not quite believing I was telling this story.

  “Why is that Miss Fields,” Lark asked.

  Tears pricked on my face, “He’s my husband and he wants me back.”

  Lark’s posture immediately shifted, I could see his perception of me changing radically. His t
one shifted now too, I wasn’t Lee, his father’s favorite waitress, I was a runaway wife, like his mother, “How long have you been married?”

  “Since two days before I returned to Easterville last year,” I said. Lark’s aggressive posture shifted, and his cheeks flushed with shame. He flipped his book shut.

  “Your kidnapping case is still open,” he told me, “If you’d like to provide a positive identification, we can-”

  I shook my head quickly, “I just want him to leave.”

  “My brother is serving him with divorce papers right now,” Cain said wrapping a protective arm over my shoulder, “I-we all just want to know that the sheriff’s department is aware that he’s after Lee.”

  “I’ll have extra patrols,” Sheriff Lark told me, “Does he know about your home with Mr. Harris?”

  “It’s all in Cain’s name,” I said, “Kendrick didn’t give any indication that he knew about it.”

  Lark nodded, “I’d say stay there for now. Lie low. We’ll keep an eye out for him. Unless you want to make a statement about the kidnapping, there’s nothing we can really do.”

  I nodded, understanding.

  “Thank you, sheriff,” Cain said, “We’ll call you if anything changes.”

  “Do you want a ride home?” the sheriff asked, “I haven’t seen you this shaken up since... well you know.”

  I started to shake my head but thought better of it, Kendrick might know my car, “Actually, that’s a good idea, I should keep my car here in case he doesn’t know about the property. Let him think I’m still here.”

  “Alright,” Lark said, “My car’s downstairs when you’re ready.”

  Cain and I hardly slept that night. The entire pack was on edge from the second we walked through the door. Noel didn’t come right back after his midnight meeting. Paul wanted to be sure they weren’t being followed. He also switched cars before coming back in the morning.

  Every member of our pack of strays had heard about Kendrick’s return and took the day off from their day jobs to protect me. I sent Charlie and Olly to cover the Tooth and Claw. They hadn’t been happy about it until Cain told them they were the only ones qualified to open and defend themselves against an alpha wolf. It wasn’t a total lie. It seemed every few weeks we had to size up their shirts. They grew six inches in as many months and at least thirty pounds of muscle a piece.