I turned around and stomped into the house, slamming the door behind me before he could respond.
Dad and Charlie sat at the kitchen table, both staring at me in silence as I walked across the hardwood floor and opened a cupboard by the sink. It was obvious I'd interrupted something, and they were waiting for me to leave. I was just pissed off enough to put up some passive resistance and take my sweet time getting a glass of orange juice before I headed off to my room.
By the time the pack meeting rolled around that night, I was regretting the fact that I apparently had more guts than brains. Why had I agreed to this? Did I really think I had any chance of beating Charlie with the whole pack looking on?
Brandon was right, I thought as I stared across the clearing on my father's so-called "hunting club" property, assessing my opponent. He was a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier than me. Accepting Charlie's challenge is, quite possibly, the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life.
We had to wait for all the pack members to arrive before we could begin, and I didn't miss the fact that Brandon was the last to arrive, his reluctance and displeasure clear on his face.
Charlie stood with his hands at his sides, utterly relaxed and confident as he waited for my father to address the pack and inform them of what was happening.
"As many of you already know, Charlie has some concerns about Lucy's ability to step in as Alpha and lead this pack after I'm no longer able to do it. So, he's challenged her, and she has agreed to fight for her right as the next Alpha."
Murmurs shot through the edges of the clearing like wildfire, some curious, some disapproving, and a few that sounded amused. I couldn't make out any of what they were saying because all I could really hear was the rush of my own blood pounding in my ears.
Charlie moved to close the distance between us and adrenaline shot down my spine in a tingling rush that made my legs feel numb and my stomach queasy. The fear that I was going to get my ass kicked thrummed through every nerve ending in my body.
He was the first to swing, and I ducked as I had with Brandon, ramming my elbow into Charlie's ribs with a sort of viciousness my best friend could never have brought out in me.
The only indication the pack's Beta gave that he'd even felt my strike was a slight wince. Within seconds, he seemed to shake off the force of the blow. He was bigger than me, at least twice my size. And that made him a little slower than me.
I scrambled out of his reach and started circling, praying I'd spot a weakness. He rushed me again before I had the chance. I threw an arm up, rolling with the force of his punch to deflect the blow.
The action seemed to throw him off balance. As he reeled past me, I saw an opening and didn't hesitate to take it. I kicked the back of the knee closest to me, and he went down hard, his own weight and momentum sending him skidding through the scrubby grass and dirt. He spit out onto the ground as he pushed up on his hands and knees.
I gave a triumphant smirk, admiring my handiwork as I heard Brandon cheering for me in the background. If it had been a sparring match, I would have been declared the winner without question.
Unfortunately for me, this wasn't a sparring match—and Charlie wasn't about to call it done.
Instead, he rolled to his back and made a lightning-quick sweep with his leg that caught me in the side of the knee and sent me crashing to the ground. I hit hard, and all the air went out of my lungs in a forced whoosh that had me struggling to catch my breath. Before I could, Charlie was on top of me, pinning me to the ground with the weight of his body and an I-told-you-so grin on his face that made me want to head-butt him in the mouth.
I should have pressed my advantage when I’d had the chance, instead of celebrating my small victory. Stupid, Lucy, letting down your guard for even a second. And Charlie had seized the opening that I’d left for him.
With my elbows pinned to the ground, my hips trapped in the vice-like grip of his thighs, and his weight perched right on top of my center of gravity, I couldn't do anything but struggle to breathe and shoot empty threats of murder at him with my eyes as I thrashed my legs uselessly against the ground.
Although I tried to dig in my heels for purchase, it did no good. I was pinned like a helpless butterfly on a board. And we both knew it. I could see the knowledge in Charlie’s eyes.
He leaned down, his lips close to my ear. "You lose, Princess," he muttered, his breath stroking against my skin and sending tingles of sensation through me.
My chest heaved with each gulp of air I sucked in as I tried to ignore the feel of his lower body pressed intimately to mine. Charlie’s mouth brushed fleetingly across my cheek when he pulled away from me, and I shuddered in reaction to the accidental touch.
No way would I call it anything else—the action definitely hadn’t been deliberate on his part. He’d sooner fight with me than kiss me.
I certainly didn’t expect he would be a gracious winner. And I was right.
He stared down into my eyes before speaking again. "You're unfit to lead. That’s why you can't be our Alpha."
I wanted to cry with every fiber of my being, and only my pride saved me as he sprang up and sauntered off, pleased with himself for having made his point so easily.
I pushed to my feet and looked around. Every one of the gathered pack members refused to meet my eyes. Some seemed happy with the outcome, others wore neutral expressions. Even Brandon stood silent, with his gaze downcast.
No one said a single word to me, as one by one they turned away, focusing on Dad and Charlie like I didn’t even exist.
Chapter 3
My face burned with abject humiliation as I gasped, trying to catch my breath. I shoved myself up into a sitting position, but I refused to let the defeat send me running to find somewhere to hide and lick my wounds. That would only prove Charlie right, prove that I wasn’t capable of being a strong Alpha. And no matter the ease with which he’d beat me tonight, that in no way meant I couldn’t do the job.
Unfortunately, Charlie had been right about one thing—I wasn’t ready yet.
I looked around, determined to meet the eyes of my pack members. To not hang my head as though I had done something to be ashamed of. Most of the others were kind enough to pretend that I hadn't just had my ass handed to me, but some were openly staring with disappointment. A few were muttering, shaking their heads and talking behind their hands. I didn’t think it was my imagination that I heard at least one snicker from among the gathering.
Of course, there would be those who supported Charlie’s claim as the next Alpha. I shouldn’t have expected anything different. He wasn’t the only one who had doubts about my abilities to lead the pack after my father stepped down as Alpha.
My age didn’t help matters any, either. I was younger than most or the other wolves in the pack. Eight years younger than Charlie, in particular. Not that age alone determined who would make the best Alpha, but many viewed it as a point against me.
I stood up and brushed myself off, making eye contact with Brandon. He looked as devastated as I felt, and I walked over to him without looking again at anyone else.
The scent of pine was heavy in the air, the sun sinking below the horizon.
And if I was being honest, my knee ached where Charlie had taken me down. I still burned with humiliation at how easy I had made it for him.
"That was an absolute disaster," I muttered, shaking my head.
I had no one to blame but myself. I’d practically handed the victory to Charlie.
"It still doesn't make sense to me that your dad let Charlie call you out like that." Brandon crossed his arms over his chest, a frown pulling down the corners of his mouth.
"I don't really get it, either, but I know his first responsibility is to the pack, and Charlie apparently thought he was doing the right thing." I grimaced, ready to wallow in some hardcore self-pity.
All the things I could have done different, should have done different, raced through my head. I’d let down my guard for a s
econd and paid the price. It could have meant my life—or the life of one of my pack members—if it had been a real fight. Putting the lives of my pack in danger was unacceptable. As much as I wanted to take over as Alpha, it couldn’t be at the cost of others.
"We'll work harder at your training," Brandon murmured. "I won't go easy on you from now on. We'll get you up to snuff, and you can challenge Charlie again when you're ready.”
I was about to open my mouth to reply when a stranger walked into the middle of our meeting. How did he get here without the pack being aware of his presence? We had security sensors placed around the perimeter of my father’s hunting club property. They should have alerted us when he entered our pack’s land, long before he made it this far.
We all stared at him. He was leaner and more compact than most of the wolves in our pack, but he smelled like a shifter. I was so startled by his appearance that I studied everything, from his pale ash-brown buzz cut to the scuffed toes of his wanna-be cowboy boots, cataloging every bit of information I might need for later use. I noted that he had light hazel eyes, more brownish-amber than green, and a long, narrow nose that perched above a slightly-too-wide mouth, which seemed to hold a perpetual smirk. His long, thin arms hung down by his sides, perfectly at ease, and I could see a set of knobby knees highlighted by the skinny hipster jeans he wore.
The entire pack shot confused looks at my father, who leaned against a tree for support, while managing to look casual and hide his cane behind one of his legs.
Did Dad invite this man here? For what purpose? It made no sense. Other shifters weren’t welcome at pack meetings. At least, they never had been before now.
The stranger ignored all of us, except for my father, walking up to him with a disturbing air of confidence. He reeked of a cat-that-ate-the-canary attitude. "I come to the Alpha of the Blackburn wolf pack bearing a message and no ill will."
The phrase sounded practiced, like he'd gone over it in his mind at least a hundred times before saying it aloud.
And clearly, he had not come at my father’s invitation. So how did he know my father was our Alpha? How did he know so much about our pack, that he could get past the security sensors without tripping them?
The cocky stranger held up his hands to show he wasn’t a threat, his expression bland, as though he hadn’t the slightest worry about being surrounded by an entire pack of shapeshifters.
I didn’t trust his casual demeanor. Something about him seemed off, though I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, and I couldn’t shake a feeling of foreboding.
Charlie waved one of the other wolves forward. Dalton was a cop, and he gave the stranger an expert pat-down.
"He's unarmed." Dalton nodded before melting back into the crowd of wolves gathered closest to my father.
There was silence in the clearing for a second, as everyone waited to see what would happen next. Someone coughed and shuffled their feet with distinct unease. My muscles knotted as tension filled me, my body ready to spring into the fray at the smallest sign that this stranger’s sudden appearance might turn into trouble. And I wasn’t the only one who was on heightened alert. A thread of restlessness seemed to stretch taut between all the members of my pack.
"Who sent you?" My father's tone was light, curious, and almost friendly. Almost, but not quite.
There was still a hard, stony edge of authority to his voice that commanded respect, even from the stranger.
He backed a half-step away from my father and bowed his head deferentially. "I come from the Sterling coyote pack. My Alpha sent me to request an audience with you at your dinner table tonight."
Something about his tone made the back of my neck prickle, and I tapped Brandon on the arm before sidling a little closer to my father. He and Charlie both spotted me moving at the same time and frowned in unison. Charlie gave the barest shake of his head, and I would have ignored it if not for the subtle twitch of my father's fingers at his side, which was a clear sign to stand down.
Instinctively, I knew he didn't want me to come any closer, so I went still and nudged Brandon so he'd stop, too. Instead, we watched from where we stood, though it was hard to hold myself motionless when I felt a strong need to act against this threat. I wasn’t even sure why I was so certain that bad things were coming, but I couldn’t shake the premonition.
Maybe it was because the coyotes had refused to sign the peace treaties between the shifter packs a century ago to protect our secrets from humans. Or maybe it was just a coyote’s inherently sneaky nature that I couldn’t trust. And now this one had come waltzing into our pack meeting with an ease that was extremely unsettling, and demanded an audience with my father, never mind that he’d termed it a “request.”
My father gave a barely perceptible nod of his head. "Of course, messenger. Let your Alpha know that any shifter who respects the sacred laws of the pack treaties is welcome at my table. How many of you will be dining with us tonight?"
Any shifter who respects the sacred laws is welcome? What was my father saying? Clearly, the coyotes didn’t respect any law but their own. The past one hundred years had proved that.
The coyote’s eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at my father. "We are only seventeen members to your thirty. Our Alpha hoped we might all dine and speak with you tonight."
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up at the knowledge this coyote seemed to possess. How did he know the size of our pack? More importantly, why? Had the coyotes been spying on the Blackburn pack, with none of us aware? For what purpose? It couldn’t be good, whatever it was. I felt certain of that much, and nothing else. I had a jumble of questions running through my mind—and very few answers. I could only guess, and that just led to more questions.
My father nodded once in assent. "We'll have to eat at the big meeting table in my barn to accommodate everyone. I trust that won't offend your Alpha's sensibilities?"
A feral smile stretched the coyote’s lips wide, revealing a set of sharp teeth. "How could we possibly be offended by a mere location when you're so graciously allowing us the audience we crave?"
A chill shot down my spine at the way the coyote shifter lingered over the word "crave," and I shuddered. If I were in my father's position, I would have said no. I would have demanded a one-on-one audience with the Alpha before I allowed an entire pack over to eat with us, regardless of the fact that we outnumbered them by thirteen shifters.
Assuming the coyote was telling the truth about that. We only had his word for it.
My father's eyes flicked to me and his lips pursed with disapproval, making me wonder if he could sense my thoughts on the matter. He only held eye contact with me for a moment longer before turning his attention back to the messenger.
"We will, of course, welcome you all to our table tonight."
The messenger gave a slight, and ridiculously formal bow before backing out of the clearing. We could all hear the crunch of bones and the uniquely fluid sound of flesh re-forming itself as he shape-shifted into his animal form once he was out of our line of sight. I'd been a shapeshifter all my life, but that sound never got any less gross. I fought the urge to gag or make a face—not a great reaction for a future Alpha. The noises of the change faded into the sound of retreating paws as the coyote raced away through the underbrush.
I edged my way over to my Dad. He didn’t meet my gaze as he reached out and used my arm to balance. Retrieving his cane, he pushed away from the pine tree he'd been leaning against.
“Why would you agree to that?” I demanded, unable to stay silent any longer.
Chapter 4
Deep in my gut, I felt that something was off, but I didn't feel I had the right to say so after Dad chewed me out during the drive home from the pack meeting. I showered and changed, trying to shake off my apprehension. But without much success. Finally, I made my way down to the barn to help set places for everyone. Several members of our pack had worked overtime to provide enough food for our ‘guests.’
My
nerves still hadn't settled down when the Sterling pack arrived to have dinner with us. Thirteen strange shifters entered the barn, and my muscles tensed in response, even though I knew I couldn’t act on my impulse to attack first and ask questions later.
My father, being a consummate diplomat and experienced Alpha, welcomed them with open arms. While I was stiff and formal, he was a natural at making these strangers who had suddenly invaded our turf feel welcome.
I was surprised by how well they appeared to abide by the sacred shifter laws, considering that they had trespassed on our land and didn't care that we knew it. Brandon seemed stiff, and even Charlie was visibly uneasy with the situation as we all seated ourselves at the barn's long meeting table. I shrugged my shoulders in an attempt to loosen the tight muscles in my neck, but I couldn’t relax. Not when I didn’t know what might happen next. And didn’t expect that it would be anything to our benefit.
What did these coyotes want from us? I could do nothing more than guess, but every scenario that flitted through my mind had our pack suffering in some way. I wanted answers, and playing nice with these shifters didn’t seem like the best method to achieve that. Too bad it wasn’t my call.
How long would it take for the coyotes to show their hand? I hated being forced to play this wait-and-see game. It wasn’t in my nature to just sit back and allow things to happen. But right now, I didn’t have any other choice.
I found that I couldn't help holding my breath as the messenger from earlier introduced his Alpha to Dad. "Alan Blackburn of the Blackburn Wolves, meet Maddox Hale of the Sterling Coyotes."
Dad extended his hand with an easy smile. "Welcome, Maddox. Let's eat and enjoy each other's company before we get down to business. That sound good to you?"
"I find that perfectly acceptable," Maddox agreed.
We all crowded around the table and started filling our plates with steak, mashed potatoes, and fried okra. Somehow, I found myself sandwiched between Brandon and Charlie when I sat down, and directly across from Maddox.
Possessing the Alpha: A Wolf Shifter Romance (Southern Shifters Saga Book 1) Page 2
