by Jade White
The man smiled. Even his human teeth seemed canine. “I’m sure,” he said, looking her over, his grin fading into a frown.
Yes, Devan had ogled her some in the bar when they’d first met, but this man eyed her like he couldn’t tell if he wanted her or not. His gaze shifted behind her. Paula had followed her. Although they were twins, he seemed to like what he saw in Paula better than her. She stepped to the side, so her father could introduce Paula, but Father was glowering at her.
He can tell. Maybe they both can.
Another male she didn’t recognize also didn’t seem to want to meet her gaze.
“It’s time to eat,” Father announced abruptly.
While her siblings talked, rather loudly, Kyla held her tongue and hardly ate. Her stomach churned so much she feared she would get sick, but she managed to not give into morning sickness. She couldn’t meet her father’s gaze or anyone else’s. Paula kept trying to draw her into a conversation, and she tried to join in, she really did, once she realized Paula didn’t care for smiler-frowner either.
As soon as everyone else finished eating, Kyla jumped up to help clean, but her father barked at Maria to handle it instead and summoned Kyla into his study. Gulping, she followed him, feeling as if she had her tail between her legs. Head down, she stood before his desk as he stalked around it.
“Do you care to explain yourself?” he barked.
She blinked and risked looking up. He didn’t sound as angry as she thought he would be.
“Who is the father?” he asked, and he proceeded to rattle off the names of all of the numerous men he had introduced her to.
With each name, she shook her head, and her father’s face grew redder and redder. He slammed his fist onto his desk. Kyla forced herself not to jump, but she couldn’t help stepping back.
“If you won’t tell me…” Her father stalked toward her.
“If I don’t then what?” she dared to challenge. “You’ll beat me like mother used to?”
His eyes flashed from dark to his coyote yellow. “You will do as I command and—”
“Father.” Paula opened the door. “A moment if you will.”
Father glared at Kyla for a half minute before he marched out of the room. Paula sent her a pointed look and scurried away.
Kyla swallowed hard. She couldn’t dare tell him about Devan. Her hands flew to her belly. Deep inside, she had known her family would not side with her. She and Devan would be on their own.
The thought terrified her.
Before Father could return, she opened the window and climbed out. Right now, she needed some time and space away from everyone, including Devan, so she could try and figure out what might be the best course for her.
If there was a course that didn’t end in her death.
CHAPTER SIX
This time, when Kyla left him, Devan didn’t feel such a sense of loss. More than anything, he felt on fire. He knew what he had to do, and he didn’t waste any time. He called up Erik and told him to come straight over.
Twenty minutes later, his brother arrived. “What is it?” he asked as he locked the door behind him.
“It’s happened.”
“What has?” Erik collapsed onto the couch.
As much as he was ready for the next step in his life, he needed some courage. He turned away from his brother, shifted his nose, and inhaled deeply. Her scent lingered. Only with his wolf nose could he pick out the traces and particles in the air that distinguished her as a coyote. Although it made his mouth salivate—after all, wolves and coyotes were natural enemies—it also stirred a far different kind of hunger within him.
Embolden, he shifted back and faced his brother. “Come with me.”
“I just got here.” His brother grimaced.
“Late night?” Devan couldn’t help smirking. In addition to Kyla’s scent, he had also smelled traces of another female.
“Maybe.” Erik stifled a yawn.
“Too bad. We don’t have time for dalliances.”
He glowered at him, eyes flashing. “How can you say that when—”
“Come on.” Devan bolted out the door.
After a long moment, his brother followed. Devan drove a good two hours before stopping in front of a mountain. BlueBeard.
“Why are we—”
Devan climbed out of his car and motioned for his brother to tag along. Halfway up the mountain, Devan shifted.
“What in the world… During the day?”
He snarled and nipped at his brother’s still human legs.
“All right, all right, but you’re crazy and if we get shot… Ouch!”
So maybe that last bite had been a little too hard. Whoops.
Erik in wolf form was a lighter shade of gray than Devan’s, slightly smaller too. Pain in the ass. I don’t understand why he can’t—
Why I can’t what?” Devan challenged him, lifting his tail straight up, the position reserved for alpha.
His brother, who had started to circle around him halted, yellow eyes unblinking. Slowly, he lowered his front legs onto the ground and lowered his head.
I am the alpha, Devan announced, and now you will help me form the rest of my pack. He threw back his head and howled.
Erik’s answering call joined in, blending as one.
They spent the rest of the day and night traipsing over the mountain and the rest of those in the range, sniffing around for other werewolves. Near midnight, they finally encountered the scent of an entire pack. Not their old one. Another one.
It might be best to let them be, Erik suggested, but the call is yours.
Let’s keep searching. If we find no one else, then we’ll seek them out. He did not relish the idea of taking on an alpha, especially one he was not familiar with, but if that proved to be the only way to find enough wolves for his pack, then so be it. Single wolves without a pack weren’t common after all. He’d do anything for her. Kyla needed the protection, and he would provide it.
At the last mountain, they found a smelly trail that seemed to belong to only one werewolf. While it was possible the wolf had been sent here from the pack to scout or hunt, Devan decided they should find the werewolf and speak to him. Their noses led them to a small cottage near the base of the mountain.
Devan shifted first, but before he could take one step, Erik clamped a tight hand on his shoulder. “So that’s what this is all about,” he said flatly.
“What is?”
“That chick you saw. The human one. What she have a husband or something? Why do you feel the need to protect her?”
Wonderful. He had been alone for so long, and out of practice with his wolf form, that he had leaked thoughts. At least Erik didn’t discover the whole truth… No. He would not start his reign as alpha by keeping secrets and lying.
Devan moved away from the cottage and lowered his voice. “Kyla is pregnant.”
The moonlight shining down on them revealed Erik’s blank face. Slowly, realization came to him, and he gasped. “You knocked up a human?” he all but shouted.
“Shut up!” Devan knocked him upside the head like he used to do when they were younger. “Of course not. You know that’s impossible.”
“Then… She’s not a—”
“Nope.”
“Oh, no way, man. How could you have done such a thing?”
“An accident.” But not a mistake, he thought.
“Pretty big accident, bro.” Erik shook his head.
“I’ll understand if you’re out,” Devan said seriously. It was a lot to ask, probably too much to ask.
His brother sighed. “I’m not going anywhere. Warrick has to be on the prowl looking for us, and being alone right now just isn’t safe or smart.” He side-eyed his brother. “She that hot?”
“She’s that worth it,” Devan said stiffly.
Erik nodded. “All right then.”
“You do realize what we’re up against?”
“Warrick and everyone other were. Geez, Devan, wh
en you make enemies, you know what you’re doing.”
“Enemies?” an unfamiliar voice growled.
Devan stepped around Erik to face the newcomer. He lifted his chin. “We have no enemy here,” he said.
“You act like this land is yours, yet you have not been here before.”
“Not for a long time,” Devan admitted.
The newcomer bared his teeth, certainly a wolfish action. With short, cropped brown hair and wide shoulders, the man would make a considerable ally—if he was the werewolf they were looking for.
“I am Devan Kemper. This is my brother Erik.”
“And you two are not just passing through, are you?” The newcomer eyed them with obvious suspicion.
How best to play this? He’d hoped the man would provide his name, given that he had stated theirs, but already the man was challenging his authority.
“We’re just two men looking for another to join our band,” he said casually. A human would not pick up on the double meaning, but a werewolf would.
The newcomer stiffened. “I need a drink,” he muttered. He stalked back to the cottage.
Although uninvited, Devan followed, Erik close at his heels. The man had shut the door behind him, but when Devan tried the knob, it was unlocked. They entered to see a small table, the man sitting at it, a bottle of beer in his hand, two more beers across the table.
“Tell me about your band,” the man said, curling his lip back to flash his teeth again.
Devan gestured for Erik to sit first and then sat himself. “I thank you for the drink,” he said formally.
“Your band,” the man insisted.
“What you see.” Devan motioned to his brother. “Night Wings,” he said, naming his pack on the fly. If only they had wings, he and Kyla and the baby could leave the entire world behind and be safe forevermore.
“Night Wings.” The man snorted. “Never heard of it.”
Heart sinking, Devan opened his beer and jugged half of it. The man’s reaction was too inconclusive to be either human or werewolf.
“A flying wolf.” The man shook his head. “Just the two of you. Why so few? Why need more?”
So he was a werewolf! A mistrusting one but Devan had the feeling the man could prove to be a valuable ally, if he could be persuaded to join their side.
Once again, he opted toward honesty. “I need to expand the pack.”
“Why?”
Erik cast a strong glance Devan’s way before lowering his gaze. While his brother had no place to offer the alpha advice, Devan still knew what he thought. He thinks wrong.
“I have enemies,” Devan explained.
“Everyone does.” He slammed his beer onto the table. Fizz bubbled from the top and leaked around the sides.
“Warrick and all of his Evening Ellipse pack.”
“Ack.” Spittle flew from the man’s mouth. “I’ve had a few encounters with the likes of them.”
“And?” Devan prompted.
“I’m all that’s left of Spirit Fire. Extinguished all the others, he did, except for those two traitors who jumped over to join his pack of mangy, vicious beasts.”
Devan’s nostrils flared. That the man still lived proved him to be a coward. Loyal to some extent for not giving in, but that was the way of the wolf. If another alpha killed your alpha, you had two choices—to either attack in your dead alpha’s name for revenge or to pledge your loyalty to your new alpha. It did not say much for the man to have hidden away and fled. Perhaps he was not the best of choices after all. Then again, Devan himself had turned his back on his pack. Maybe he shouldn’t be so quick to judge.
“I know what you’re thinking.” The man stood, walked over to his small fridge, and removed another three beers. “Two wolves, even three, is nothing. Not against his pack.”
“Not enough,” Devan corrected. He accepted a second beer even though he still had half of his first one.
The man eyed him without comment.
Perhaps there were others like this man, lone wolves who had forsaken their packs because of Warrick. If they hadn’t moved on yet, if they could find them… But a pack made up of deserters… Once the Evening Ellipse pack had been dealt with, what would keep them loyal to him?
Devan gnashed his teeth.
“You mentioned enemies.” The man guzzled down some beer. “Who else?”
Erik beside him stiffened.
“It’s more of a matter of protection,” Devan said slowly.
“Protecting who?” the man asked.
“My…” How to describe Kyla? “The woman carrying my child.”
“She isn’t your mate? Why not?”
“She will be.” He hoped. Something he and Kyla had to talk about. They had so much to talk about.
“What is it?” The man pushed his bottles away even though the second still had some. He clasped his hands together. “There’s something else.”
Erik downed the last of his first beer and immediately started on his second one.
Devan took a deep breath and cast a glance at his brother. “She’s not a werewolf.”
The man’s blank facial expression didn’t change.
“She’s a…” No point in hiding it. If they were going to protect Kyla, they would learn eventually anyhow. “She’s a werecoyote.”
Erik spat out some of his beer. He gaped at Devan then slowly shook his head. He muttered something along the lines of, “That explains a lot,” but didn’t react more than that, a true beta.
The man did the strangest of things. He started to laugh. “A coyote, huh? Well, isn’t that something.”
“Something all right,” Devan agreed.
“I’m Greg Miller.” The man stood and held out his hand. “And I’ll be willing to join your pack if you’ll have me.”
Devan couldn’t speak, too shocked to respond.
“I happen to know some things that might be beneficial for you.” Greg grinned. “Are we first going after Warrick?”
“Without a doubt.”
“Then yes, I know who you should talk to next.” Greg’s smile turned decidedly wolfish.
Maybe, just maybe, things weren’t quite as helpless as Devan feared.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“No.” Kyla stared at Devan. She was living in an apartment outside the city, careful to only use cash so that there wasn’t a paper trail. Her father was looking for her. Paula was texting her updates. Good old Paula. Looking out for her twin even though her own hide could be the next in the line of fire. At least Father wasn’t searching for her anywhere close to where she was, not that she could feel safe. Sleeping at night wasn’t easy. Every little sound made her jump.
And to hear this?
“They’ve been fighting amongst themselves and don’t have an alpha yet. If I can help them settle their differences and get them to be loyal to me—”
“That is a huge if, Devan. We’re talking about asking them to lay down their lives—”
“That’s what wolves in a pack do, Kyla.”
Wild anger flared within her. She tried to temper it down. Pregnancy hormones made her mood swings violent and unpredictable. Deep inside, she knew they needed help and that Devan was doing all he could, but this just could wrong on so many levels.
Closing her eyes, she counted to ten. Not enough. Once she neared one hundred, she could think about something other than snapping at his neck with her fangs.
“Coyotes have packs too, Devan,” she said dryly.
He blinked a few times then slid toward her on the rug and held out his hand. She had few clothes in the closet and even fewer furniture pieces, since she had just upped and left. In fact, all she had was a mattress for a bed. No table, no chairs. She didn’t miss her items, her old life, but she wished she could miss, or even forget, this feeling of helplessness and fear.
“We’re more alike than our species would care to admit.” He gave her a wolfish grin, still holding out his hand.
“Which is why we can’t ask f
or others to help us. Not wolves or coyotes.” Although she tried to smile back at him, she just stared at his hand but didn’t accept it.
His hand never dropped. “You’ll stop accepting your sister’s help?”
She pursed her lips. “I know you want revenge for your sister—”
“Yes but—”
“And you should have it.” The baby kicked hard, and she winced. “I think you deserve to have your chance to have it. From what you’ve told me, Warrick is a horrible beast of a man who needs to be put down.”
“Yes,” he said slowly, as if he sensed the trap she was setting.
“If you want to try and get the other wolves to be in your pack and fight Warrick, go for it.” She stood and looked down at him. “But I can’t be around for it.”
“Kyla.” Devan jumped to his feet. Before she could react, he enveloped her in a strong embrace. “Warrick is on the move, prowling around. I’ve sent Erik to keep an eye on them, and he managed to get close enough to overhear that he is planning on hunting both of us down no matter how long it takes him. A few of my other siblings might have been grumbling, I’m not sure, but he feels threatened for some reason, that’s obvious. Running away from him won’t solve anything and fighting him will.”
His spicy scent engulfed her, and she breathed in deeply, snuggling her head into his chest. Most days they spent together now, more at her place than his, but nights he devoted to trying to find protection. His newest pack member, Greg, had been the one to tell Devan about this group of alpha-less wolves. He didn’t know how they came to be stranded, but the why didn’t really matter.
“Fighting him,” she repeated. “Only winning will. But it won’t be enough.” Tears burned her eyes, and she forced them aside. She was too strong to cry. “Is that going to be our lives from now on? Either being on the run, trying to cover our tracks so we can’t be hunted and prey upon, or fighting battle after battle with werewolves and werecoyotes and any other weres who learn about the baby?”
He stiffened slightly and pulled back. His firm hand cupped and lifted her chin so she could see him. “It’s not going to be easy. We both know that. But…” His hand slid down and touched her protruding belly.
