Heart of the Pack

by Jenny Frame

  “Dante,” Caden said, “I didn’t think you were coming till later.”

  Dante raised a questioning eyebrow, clearly surprised her Second couldn’t sense her approach and that she was extremely flustered. “I finished up at the office early. I hoped we could talk while we rode out.”

  Caden grabbed her Stetson from the hook. “Of course. Lena—I’m going to be out for most of the afternoon. If you need anything, just ask one of my staff.”

  Lena smiled and nodded. “I will.”

  “Selena, I hope my second-in-command is looking after you,” Dante said.

  Lena found the dark and powerful CEO of Venator quite intimidating. Dante wasn’t in her suit today, but dressed in jeans, shirt, and boots. Even with this more casual look, Lena’s heart sped as she forced herself to croak an answer. “Yes, thank you, Ms. Wolfgang.”

  Dante gave her a smile. “We shall leave you to your work, then. Let’s go, Cade.”

  Lena watched them leave and held the moonstone tightly in her hand, trying to calm her heart.

  *

  Dante and Caden rode their horses over the large expanse of grazing land, inspecting the animals and how they were developing. The Black Angus steer herd didn’t flinch as they rode by, too concerned with grazing to be alert to potential predators.

  Caden knew this was the kind of work Dante most enjoyed. Before Dante’s pater had died, she and Dante, along with Flash, had spent a lot of time working with the animals. She should bring Lena out for a ride. She’d probably like to see the animals.

  “Cade? Caden,” Dante shouted.

  Caden looked up sharply. “Wha—? Did you say something, Alpha?”

  “Everything looks good, Second. The prey are healthy and the changes to the breeding program are excellent.”

  “I’m glad you approve, Alpha. The changes should increase our output tenfold in about five years,” Caden said in a monotone.

  Dante maneuvered her large black horse closer to her. “Cade, is there something troubling you? Something I can help you with?”

  Caden gave her a questioning look. “Troubling? No, nothing at all. Why do you ask?”

  “You seem distracted, as if something is weighing on your mind.”

  “No, I’m okay, Alpha.”

  “You appear to be very friendly with our new employee.”

  Caden shifted uncomfortably in her saddle. “Lena? She’s a nice girl.”

  “Hmm. Yes, she is nice. Beautiful too. A nice, beautiful human girl,” Dante corrected her.

  Caden pulled the reins and stopped her horse. “If there’s something you want to say to me, Alpha, please say it.”

  Dante’s horse whinnied, and she patted its neck. “No, I just wondered if there was anything you wanted to tell me. Eden told me she met you in the grocery store, shopping with Selena.”

  “Since when do you have a problem with humans?” Caden snapped.

  Dante gave a warning growl. “You know very well, Second, that my pater and I have always been in favor of allowing humans to be part of our business, and to live here. The very fact that I gave a human company the job of taking care of our accounts should tell you that. It’s you who have constantly counseled me against their integration into our world.”

  Caden lowered her eyes. “I know that, Alpha. I’m sorry. A human killed my parents, and I’ve always hated them, but my grandmother always tried to tell me they were not all the same. I never believed that, until now. It’s just that she’s such a nice girl and she…well…” Caden sighed. “She’s wounded somehow”—Caden thumped her chest—“inside here. Her pack does not treat her well, and I think she needs someone to be kind to her, to watch out for her. I would like to be her friend.”

  “Are you sure there’s nothing more? When I came in, she was holding a piece of moonstone. Did you give her that?”

  Caden started to feel very exposed. “It was just a friendly gift. I was out running and I found it sitting on my grandmother’s gravestone. Lena gets really anxious and stressed, and I thought it would help her.”

  Dante patted her friend on the shoulder. “I just don’t want to see you hurt, Cade. Being casual friends with a human is okay, but anything more presents problems that need to be carefully considered. We must keep the existence of our pack secret. You know what dangers would arise for us if the human world found out about us.”

  Caden flashed what she feared was an unconvincing smile. “Hey, don’t worry. I’m not going to fall in love or anything. I’m not destined to have a mate, remember?”

  “As Eden said, your grandmother prophesied you wouldn’t have a wolf mate. That’s an entirely different thing.”

  “I guess.” Caden’s mind whirled, imagining Lena as a mate. I couldn’t love a human.

  Dante changed the subject, perhaps sensing Caden’s discomfort. “So, Flash will present his evidence to us this evening. I’ve called a meeting of my elite wolves at seven o’clock.”

  “Of course. I’ll be there, Alpha.”

  “Why don’t you take me to the slaughterhouse now, Second?”

  “Sure. Production is…” Caden’s words trailed off as her heart begin to beat rapidly, and she felt a deep feeling of doom. Lena was in pain.

  “What’s wrong?” Dante asked.

  “Lena! Ya!” Caden shouted and galloped off at top speed, without a backward glance to her Alpha.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Caden’s heart beat out of her chest and her hair stood on end. The only time she had felt a sensation like this was when her parents had been killed. As she got closer to the farm buildings, she saw a group of her farmworkers gathered around a figure lying in the dirt just outside the field perimeter. She could feel it was Lena.

  She jumped off her horse and, as she approached, roared for the other wolves to move. Fear and aggression surged in her body. “Move.”

  The crowd parted and Caden dropped to her knees beside an unconscious Lena. She scanned her body for obvious injuries and found her arm badly misshapen. There didn’t seem to be any cuts or bangs to her head, so Caden couldn’t work out why Lena was unconscious.

  She looked up at the surrounding workers and said with a growl, “What happened?”

  They all looked at one wolf, who all of a sudden became very anxious at being under scrutiny from the pack Second.

  “I was walking back with the horse across the field. I saw her walking toward the fence, smiling at me—I think she wanted to come and talk to the horse. Then I saw her go down and hit her arm on the stone wall there, and I ran to help her.”

  “Did she hit her head and lose consciousness? It’s really important—she’s already had a head injury since coming to the county.”

  “No, Second. When I got to her, she was crying in pain, but conscious and asking for help. I think she just landed awkwardly on her arm, and the pain got too much so she lost consciousness.”

  Caden lifted Lena’s head into her lap and began to stroke her hair. “Has someone called for an ambulance?”

  “Yes, Second,” he replied.

  What has happened to you, beautiful one?

  One of the farmworkers reached out to touch Lena’s cheek. Caden lifted her head, showed her teeth, and roared, “Don’t touch.”

  The wolves around them gasped and took a step back in shock, and some submissive wolves clung to the dominants beside them. Through the red mist of her fear and anger, Caden couldn’t tell at first who was touching Lena, but when the wolf reared up on her hands and knees to snarl and bare her teeth in response, she realized it was the Alpha.

  “Stand down, Wolf. Stand down now,” Dante ordered.

  No wolf in the pack had ever challenged the Alpha before, and for the second most dominant to do it was unthinkable.

  An instinctive defense of the woman Caden considered to be hers slowly faded, and when she realized who she had challenged, she immediately lowered herself and turned her head to the side in submission. “Alpha, forgive me. I didn’t know it was you. I don’
t know what—”

  “We will address this issue later, Second. First we have to help Selena. So get your wolf under control before she wakes up and sees you.”

  Below them Lena began to moan as she fought to wake up.

  “Yes, Alpha.”

  Lena opened her eyes just as the sirens came down the farm road. “Cade…it hurts…”

  Caden tenderly stroked her brow and said, “Shh, I know. There’s help coming. I’ll take care of you, okay?”

  “Selena, we think you may have broken your arm. Just stay still, help is on its way,” Dante told her.

  “Thank you, Ms. Wolfgang. I’m sorry for being so clumsy. I slipped on some horse muck.”

  “Not at all. Just try to relax.” The EMTs made their way over, and Dante turned to Caden. “You’ll have to let the EMTs do their work. Do you understand me?”

  She understood that the Alpha was trying to warn her in a subtle way. After her earlier aggressive response, she must be prepared to let Lena be cared for and touched. “Yes, Dante.” She looked down to Lena and said, “I’m just going to move out of the way, so the EMTs can do their work, but I’ll just be right over there.”

  Caden wanted to lean down and kiss Lena. It felt like the most natural thing in the world, but she knew it would be wrong in so many ways.

  She got up and walked toward Dante, to let the EMTs do their job. “Alpha, I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

  Dante placed a hand on Caden’s neck and pulled her in close. “I forgive you, Caden, but we need to talk. Come by my den tonight. Are you going to the hospital with Selena?”

  “Yes, I’d like to go with her.”

  Dante nodded in agreement. “Very well. I’ll drive your truck to the emergency room.”

  Lena was wheeled past them and Caden said, “Thank you, Alpha. I’d better go.”

  *

  When they reached the county hospital, Lena was quickly x-rayed, and it was found that she had a compound forearm fracture that would need to be pinned.

  Caden sat with Lena in the ER cubicle as they waited for her to be taken to surgery. She wasn’t feeling any pain after the pre-op medicines had been administered, and Caden found her giggles and odd comments adorable.

  “Caden?”

  “Yes, Lena?” She moved her chair closer to the bed and took her hand.

  “I left my pens all by themselves at the ranch. Will they be okay?”

  Caden smiled indulgently. “Of course they will be. The office is locked up tight. They’ll be quite safe.”

  Lena looked as though she was thinking seriously. “But they’re just lying there on my desk, and I never leave them out. It makes me feel panicked.”

  Caden had observed firsthand how obsessive Lena was over her pens and other belongings, and the drugs that were now coursing through her body were giving her an uninhibited view into Lena’s anxious mind.

  “Well, I’ll tell you what. Why don’t I go by the office later and put them away in your pen case, where they’ll be safe. I have to go and pick up your purse anyway, remember?”

  Lena had asked Caden to pick up her spare pair of glasses from her apartment, to replace the ones broken in the fall. So she had to get her purse with Lena’s apartment keys from the office.

  “That would be nice. You’re so good to me, Caden,” Lena said in a voice thick with emotion.

  Looking at Lena now reminded Caden of the fragile creature she’d found on the forest floor. She felt guilty at the way she had talked to her about her eating habits. You talked to her like she was a wolf, and she’s not.

  “I haven’t. I’ve been too hard on you. It’s none of my business what you do with your body.”

  Lena shook her head from side to side. “No, you’re the only person who has ever looked at me and not found anything wrong with me. I’m sorry I was a clumsy idiot. This was my fault.”

  Caden rubbed her thumb over the back of Lena’s hand. She was trying so hard to be calm, but seeing Lena in distress and pain made her wolf claw at her insides. “Don’t be silly, it was an accident. It’s no one’s fault.”

  “No, you don’t understand. These things always happen to me. I’m clumsy. Mother calls me a baby elephant.”

  Caden couldn’t stop a growl coming from deep in her throat. Once again, she had the overwhelming desire to lash out at Lena’s mother. “You are nothing like a baby elephant. I think you’re the most beautiful female I’ve ever met. You’re warmhearted and extremely elegant in what you wear and how you behave.” She suspected Lena wouldn’t remember a word of this conversation, so she felt free to be totally honest.

  “But I know I was stupid. I left my moonstone on the desk and went out for a breath of air, and when I saw the man with the horse, I wanted to stroke its coat. It was so cute, but you told me my moonstone would protect me, and I left it inside. That’s why this happened.”

  Caden stood up and leaned over Lena. “I want you to stop that kind of talk. The moonstone will protect you here”—she pointed to Lena’s head, then to her heart—“and here. Accidents can still happen. How about I bring it here, for when you wake up?”

  Lena smiled and giggled. “Yes, I’d like that. You gave it to me, so it makes me feel safe, because you make me feel safe.”

  Even though Caden realized Lena wouldn’t be saying these things without the drugs lowering her inhibitions, it made her feel wonderful that Lena could feel safe, just from her presence.

  “Oh, I wanted to check before they take you to surgery—do you want me to contact your parents and let them know what’s happened?”

  Lena’s eyes went wide with panic. “No. Don’t tell them, please. I’m going to be fine.”

  Caden saw the look of horror on Lena’s face, and it made her angry. No one should ever feel distressed about what their family would think about an accident.

  “Okay, okay. I won’t. I promise.”

  At that moment the orderlies came into the cubicle and nodded their heads to Caden. “Second, may we take her up now? The OR is ready.”

  “Of course, just one minute.” Caden leaned down and kissed Lena on the forehead. “May the Great Mother protect you. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

  Lena looked intently into Caden’s eyes and said, “I remember you had yellow eyes. They were so beautiful.”

  The two orderlies looked uncomfortably at the Second, clearly worried that the human had indeed noticed they were not who they appeared to be.

  Caden didn’t confirm or deny it. She just smiled and assured Lena that she would see her when she woke.

  Then Lena was wheeled away, and it was so hard to let her go.

  *

  The nurses at the county hospital assured Caden that she would have at least a couple of hours before Lena woke up from the anesthetic. It wasn’t her place, but she felt in her gut that she should be there when Lena awoke. There was just enough time for her to pick up Lena’s purse—and her precious pens—from the office and head to Lena’s apartment to pick up some things before heading back to the hospital.

  Caden walked up to the apartment door and hesitated as she put the key in the lock. Today had turned her world upside down. She could never have imagined a circumstance that would cause her to challenge her Alpha, and her closest friend, but a human woman, whom she barely knew, had done just that.

  Dante had assured her at the hospital that they would talk about what happened when Caden came to her den later, but she felt she had let down the Alpha badly.

  Why was she doing this? Lena had a family. Let them take care of her. She tried to tell herself this, but when she’d found Lena lying helpless and in pain, her wolf had one thought, and one thought alone: Protect your mate.

  Caden shook the thought away and said out loud, “Just go in there, get what you came for, and get out.”

  She entered the apartment and was hit with the same intoxicating scent that she had experienced the first time there.

  The scent made her burn inside, and her mo
uth began to water. Get in, get out, Caden reminded herself. Lena had given Caden a list of items to bring, and where to find them. So she quickly retrieved the list and headed, with the gym bag she had brought along, into the bedroom.

  On a bookcase just outside the bedroom door, Caden saw what looked like a family picture. She picked it up and studied it. “So, this is your pack, Lena?”

  The picture clearly revealed the Millers’ pack dynamics. The tall, imposing father was in the middle, with his wife and two sons on both sides, and Lena a pace to the side on her own, looking as if she didn’t belong in the group. She deserved so much more, Caden thought sadly.

  Caden moved into the bedroom and groaned. Lena’s scent was so much stronger here. Her gaze went immediately to the bed, and a growl escaped when she saw a collection of four stuffed toys set atop the pillows. She imagined Lena hugging them close to her at night as she sought comfort from them.

  Caden’s wolf wanted to leap on the bed and taste those toys that scented of her.

  She gulped hard and forced herself over to the closet. She needed to get this over with. She pulled open the doors and in almost frenzied fashion stuffed a couple of wool sweaters and pairs of jeans that she saw there into her bag.

  After that she pulled a few items of underwear from the drawers without looking too closely, but the feel of the silk on her fingers made her imagine the way they would look and feel on Lena’s curvaceous body.

  This was torture.

  Her breathing heavy, she looked over to the mirror on top of the dresser and observed her wolf features. Caden ran her tongue along the length of her fangs, which she had been unable to hold back.

  She took a long breath, trying to control her shift, and then looked down at what remained on Lena’s list.

  “Last thing. Spare glasses, in the bedside cabinet. Okay.”

  She knelt down to open the drawer and grabbed the glasses in their case and threw them in the bag. Her close proximity to Lena’s heavily scented bed made the call of her wolf all the more hard to resist.

  Caden’s vision had gone fully wolf, and saliva dripped from her fangs. In her mind, she saw Lena lying on her side, under the covers, snuggled into her pillow with one of the soft toys, the cover riding up, and showing a naked leg and curvy buttock that she just ached to bite.