The man growled toward Hunter then dismissed him, his eyes going back to Garrett. “There is a whole line behind me just waiting to take your place as alpha, Foster. The pup there made it clear you cannot control your own pack, so someone needs to come and restore order.”
“I’ll show you a pup, bitch.” Sick and tired of this game, Hunter was ready to let his “pup” out.
“Since you’re still standing here, I believe you’ve made your choice.” Garrett’s body shook.
Hunter prepared to shift as he watched the asshole spread his arms wide in a dramatic bullshit move preparing to shift. What a fucking idiot. Too bad his brother had dibs on the bastard. The shift was fast and violent. There was nothing gentle about shifting into his wolf form. His wolf had been restless since riding into town and after seeing Emily, he knew why. Fuck, he had to get his mind off her before it got him killed. This pack shit was serious business. It was how they survived.
Packs with good alphas prospered; packs with bad alphas suffered terribly. Garrett was a great alpha, and that wasn’t because he was his brother. Brother or not, Hunter would follow Garrett to hell and back, as would the rest of the pack.
Finally in wolf form, there was a lot of growling and pawing at the ground. For a split second, his eyes roamed the witnesses who lined the street, but well out of the way of harm. His massive head swiveled, his eyes finding Emily standing next to Janna, staring directly at him from the front window of Garrett’s house.
Even though he had some control, his wolf was in command. The wolf’s urge to head toward Emily was strong, but he forced it back to the present danger. He looked away from her, but not before his head tilted back giving a chilling howl. His eyes focused on the threat and as one, the attack began.
******
Max whined and squirmed in her arms making Emily realize how tightly she was holding her, but she didn’t trust putting her down in someone else’s house because the puppy potty training was still a work in progress. She loosened up on her grip, but her eyes remained glued to what was happening on the street. Even Max finally seemed to take notice as they watched men shift into wolves.
Emily had to admit it was a sight to behold and actually made her legs feel like jelly. It was fascinating and terrifying all at the same time. She had only seen someone shift once before. Her eyes stayed glued on Hunter until the wolves collided in claws and teeth.
“Oh, my God!” Emily whispered as she watched the fight. Hearing Janna suck in her breath sharply, she turned to look at her. Janna held her stomach; her eyes fixed on what was happening outside. “Janna, maybe you shouldn’t be….”
Janna’s tear-filled eyes turned to her. “He has to be okay,” she said. Her voice demanded it, her eyes praying it.
“Hunter and Marcus won’t let anything happen to him,” Emily reassured her before glancing once more out the window. To her relief, the challenging wolves were on the run with Hunter and the pack chasing them. Soon only the town residents stood on the street talking, pointing, and some even running to try to catch up with them.
“Come on.” Janna turned, heading deeper into the house. “We need to get ready.”
Emily followed, trying her best to control a wriggling Max. “Ready for what?”
“Injuries.” Janna walked into the kitchen, opening a cabinet. Inside was all types of first-aid supplies.
What in the hell had she gotten herself into? Janna finally sat Max down, feeling that a little pee on the floor was nothing compared to what might walk through the door.
******
After running off the men who thought to take over their pack, Hunter and the others stopped at one of the places they stashed clothes, and dressed. Heading back to town, he watched Garrett closely. His brother had been quiet since the fight, and it worried Hunter. If Garrett stepped down, their pack would fall apart, and it would be his fault.
“You okay?” Hunter walked next to Garrett, who looked deep in thought.
Garrett didn’t answer at first; instead, he squinted at the sky before turning toward Hunter. “This is the life I chose,” Garrett finally said. “But it’s not the life my mate chose. I can face down any threat that comes our way, but Janna is my life now. Her and the baby. If this affects them, then I have decisions to make,” Garrett stated loudly, enough for them all to hear.
“Janna is a strong woman,” Marcus said. “She and the baby will be fine. She would not want to see you walk away.”
Hunter stopped, finally seeing what his actions had caused his pack, his brother. “I’m sorry.” The truth of his words rang clear. “I should have thought of my pack before….”
They had made it to the house, but all stopped at Hunter’s words. Garrett walked up to him, blood streaming from a cut on his temple. His brother, who never looked tired, looked exhausted, lines of stress creasing his face.
“I have told you, Hunter, that any one of us would have made the choice you did.” Garrett’s eyes were hard as they glanced at everyone present. “And anyone who says otherwise is a liar. We protect. That’s what we do, and that does not always mean our own pack.”
Each man nodded, even Marcus.
“I know I gave you shit, but I do understand what you did. Being a small pack and under constant attack takes its toll. I shouldn’t have questioned your loyalty like I did. We need to stick together,” Marcus said, then went to grab Hunter. “Now give me a hug.”
Hunter dodged him. “Ah, dude.” Hunter dodged again. “We don’t hug so get the hell away from me.”
Marcus laughed, lunging once again. “Come here, you big hero, you.”
“Get the fuck away from me.” Hunter pushed his way past him toward the house. “You’re worse than a damn female. One minute you want to take my fucking head off and the next getting all emotional and shit.”
“And we thought the women were bad with him before.” Dell snorted, watching the two brothers. “After that display on television, we normal guys won’t have a shot.”
“Like you guys had a shot before.” Hunter snorted, barely getting out of the way of Dell’s punch before running into Garrett’s house, almost running Emily down.
“Hey!” Emily grabbed on to his arms to keep from falling, then pushed away from him. “Get off me.”
“And maybe I was wrong.” Dell grinned, watching Emily smacking Hunter’s hands away from her. “Seems there’s one woman around who isn’t falling for the hero.”
“You got that right,” Emily hissed. Her gaze traveled around the group before settling back on Hunter. “You’re bleeding.”
Hunter liked the worry in her voice and the way her beautiful gray eyes…. Wait a minute. “You aren’t wearing glasses,” Hunter blurted before frowning.
The worry totally left those odd-colored eyes, replaced by a hard glare. “Wow, really, Hunter?” Emily replied sarcastically. “That’s the only thing you can think to say to me?”
Thinking about that for a second, Hunter’s eyes narrowed. “No. Why aren’t you at school?” He flinched when she grabbed a rag that Janna handed her and dabbed none too gently at the gash on his forehead. “You at least have another two years or so left.”
Surprise overtook her features, but she closed back up. “I quit.”
Now he was the one surprised, his eyes opening wide. Out of anyone he had ever talked to, Emily had been persistent on the path her life was going to take. She had it all mapped out to the day she retired. That was one conversation he had always remembered having with her. “Why?” His voice turned hard. Something major had to have happened for her to quit school.
Before she could answer, the room erupted with women coming to help Janna with the men. Hunter watched as Roxy immediately went to Marcus, while Sadie and Linda came straight for him.
“Are you okay, Hunter?” Sadie Johnson hurried forward trying to block Linda out of the way. She pushed past Emily, actually going as far as grabbing the rag out of her hand to start dabbing at his cut.
“I did
n’t know you were back until I saw you on the street.” Linda Cadel nudged Emily further away taking the cloth from Sadie to wipe the dried blood from the corner of Hunter’s mouth.
Hunter watched different emotions play across Emily’s face before she rolled her eyes, gave him a glare and turned, grabbing the puppy biting at her ankles before walking out of the kitchen. The front door slammed, indicating she’d left the house. His eyes rose to see Dell staring at where Emily disappeared; then his gaze fell on him. The anger in Dell’s eyes confused him.
“Hunter!” Garrett yelled over the two women, who were trying everything in their power to get Hunter’s undivided attention.
“What?” Hunter gently pushed the women’s hands away from his face and hair. “Thanks, ladies, but I’m good.”
“I want a meeting with everyone at the church in the next hour. You guys make damn sure everyone is there,” Garrett ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Hunter replied, happy to get out of the kitchen and away from the women’s groping hands. Why in the hell that was the case was a mystery to him. He usually welcomed a fondle or two, but not today. Deep down he knew why and with the restlessness in his chest, so did his wolf.
Chapter 4
Emily debated whether to go to the town meeting. She was curious to see what it was about, but she didn’t know if she was curious enough to watch Sadie Johnson slobbering all over Hunter. Max clambered onto her lap; her large paws plastered on Emily’s chest.
“What do you think, Max?” Emily asked, getting a big whiff of puppy breath. “Should I go and watch Sadie Johnson, who by the way slobbers more than you, drool all over Hunter Foster, or should I stay here and just wonder what the meeting is about?”
Max tilted her fuzzy head as if really listening to her, her eyes intent and focused. Suddenly, she lunged and licked Emily on the nose.
Emily laughed, happy it was a lick and not a bite. Standing with Max, she secured her in a large dog cage. When Max whined unhappily, before ambling to the back of the cage and settling down, the puppy stared at her with the saddest eyes Emily had ever seen. Emily grinned. “As soon as you quit acting like the Tasmanian Devil and learn to pee outside, you can stay out of the cage when I’m gone.” Emily spoke as if Max understood her and in truth, Max probably understood her better than most people did. That was one of the main reasons she was going to… or had been going to school to be a vet, but things changed, and so had she.
Walking to the bathroom, she brushed her teeth catching a glance at herself in the mirror. “You aren’t wearing glasses.” She snorted at herself. You’d think after all this time, Hunter would have something else to say, especially after confronting him about Mable and his damn dick.
Spitting with more gusto than necessary, she grabbed a hairbrush raising it to her hair, but stopped. What the hell was she doing? She wasn’t trying to impress anyone. Her hair looked fine. Her face was fine. Dammit, she was fine. Slamming the brush down, she stepped out of the bathroom and into her small bedroom slash living room slash kitchen and headed for the attic ladder. Yeah, she was living the dream above the feed store.
Emily was always creeped out walking through the store alone at night. This place was at least a hundred years old, and she knew without a doubt, the place was haunted. Plus, there were so many places someone could hide and jump out at her, which was her worst fear. Just the thought of it had her edging toward a panic attack. She practically ran to the door.
Taking a deep breath, relieved that she hadn’t been attacked or seen a ghost, she glanced toward the church. The lights were on, cars were pulling in, and people were walking inside. Well, crap. Her curiosity far outweighed her common sense of staying away from Hunter Foster. She went down the steps and headed to the church. Nodding and saying hello to anyone she ran into, Emily kept the fake smile plastered on her face. Beattyville was a small town. No one was a stranger, and if a stranger happened to come into town, they weren’t a stranger long because everyone, and she meant everyone, knew everything there was to know about the stranger in less than a half an hour.
Once inside she looked around. The place was packed. Spotting Hunter staring at her, she averted her eyes seeing Mable. With an evil thought that spread to her lips, she headed toward the old woman. Many said she was a witch and in this day and age of vampires and shifters, maybe she was, but that didn’t bother her. Mable was an interesting character who had always been super sweet to her.
Nodding her thanks when Blaine Conner scooted to make room for her, she sat next to Mable, who immediately took her hand.
“Why, I heard you were back in town.” Mable’s gravelly voice rose over the noise. “You give up on that college nonsense?”
Emily laughed. Mable never understood college being from the backwoods of Kentucky. She always said everything anyone ever needed was right there in their backyard, even an education. Yeah, Mable was old school, very old school.
“For now.” Emily patted her hand, not really wanting to get into the details of why she came running home.
“Well, that’s good for the feed mill.” Mable snorted. “That sister of yours has not a lick of sense in that blonde head of hers. Why, your granddad would be spitting fire if he knew how she was running that place.”
“Now, Mable, she’s doing her best.” Emily stopped herself from rolling her eyes at her own lie, but Deb was her sister and sisters stuck up for one another, or at least she did the sticking up. Deb, not so much. She’d throw Emily under the bus in a heartbeat, and Emily knew it.
“Ah, horse shi—” Mable started, but was interrupted when someone asked if they could scoot down.
Emily took that moment to look up at Hunter, who stood next to his brothers, Dell, and Jonah McCall. As if knowing she was staring, his eyes met hers.
“You still itchin’ for that young Foster boy?” Mable said, not even trying to lower her voice.
Emily gasped, looking away from Hunter to Mable. “No, I’m not… itchin’, whatever that means… for him or any man.”
Blaine Conner, one of the townspeople who looked after Mable, chuckled. “It means—”
“Hush, Blaine.” Emily elbowed him. “I know what it means and I’m done with men.”
“Does he know that?” Mable turned away from Hunter to look at her.
Emily stared into her odd but wise eyes. “Why would he care?” she asked, confused. Mable had a way of looking into your soul; it was quite unsettling. This little “God only knew how old” wrinkled woman with long gray hair pulled up into a nice snug bun, who never wore anything but black, had the ability to put someone at such ease or tremendous unease. It was always an adventure whenever Mable was around, and Emily respected her.
Before Mable could say anything else, Garrett Foster began to speak. Looking forward, her eyes once again landed on Hunter, who was frowning at Mable, then at her. Still confused, that didn’t stop her from giving Hunter a smirk as if she and Mable had a secret about him. The scary part was, Mable seemed to have a secret about them both.
******
Hunter was uncomfortable as hell. It had nothing to do with being in front of a church full of people. Hell, even being in the church wasn’t uncomfortable. No, the difficulty was seeing Emily and crazy-eyed Mable sitting next to each other obviously talking about him.
After hearing Hunter say some not so nice things about Emily in town many years earlier, Mable gave him a threat that he took serious as hell. Many people believed her to be a witch. Damn, he knew she was a witch. She had this crazy eye that you never knew if it was looking at you or not. Instead, it stared off in one direction one minute and the next, it looked straight at you. It was creepy as fuck. Not that her crazy eye made her a witch, but he wasn’t pushing his luck.
The old woman had demanded he take Emily Snodgrass to her prom and if he didn’t, his… and her exact words were, “little wiener would shrivel up, turn black and fall off.” Even thinking about that moment had Hunter wanting to check his crotch, but he sto
pped himself. It wouldn’t look good for him to be adjusting his junk on the front stage of the church, plus people were already giving him the stink eye as it was. So yeah, when crazy-eyed Mable threatened his manhood, he took Emily Snodgrass to prom. What sane man wouldn’t have done the same?
He watched Emily laugh at something and his wolf stirred, making him wonder if Mable had known exactly what his true feelings were for Emily when she made that threat. It was a shame Emily found out about Mable’s threat, but maybe that was a good thing. When his wolf clawed around restlessly, he knew it disagreed.
Emily looked different without her glasses. Her light gray eyes had always stood out to him. He had never seen eyes that color of gray before. Natural blonde streaked her brown hair. How did he know it wasn’t from a bottle? He knew women, and Emily was as natural as they came. No makeup, no fancy clothes, and no fake anything. What you saw with Emily Snodgrass was what you got, and as much as he had tried to fight it, he liked what he saw… a lot and so did his wolf.
“Thank you all for coming,” Garrett began, pulling Hunter’s eyes away from a smirking Emily.
Giving her a smirk of his own, he cocked his eyebrow. She wasn’t the only one who could play. He wasn’t about to let her know her sitting with crazy-eyed Mable was affecting him whatsoever.
“I have addressed most of you, but not all. I will not apologize for my brother’s actions on the steps of Cincinnati City Hall. Shifting in front of humans is against our laws, but his instinct to protect is in us all. I do not expect him to apologize, and I’m sure knowing Hunter as we do, that is not going to happen anyway.”
Hunter didn’t say a word, but his expression said it all as he stood stoic, staring at the faces that gazed back at him.
“He did what he felt was right, but in turn, it outed the shifter community in a way that has opened up our pack. We need to be stronger than ever. Hunter is going nowhere. He will still be a high-ranking member of this pack, and I need to know tonight of anyone in this pack who disagrees with this decision.”
Forbidden Seduction (Lee County Wolves Series) Book #2 Page 3
