“I’m sorry. I had no idea,” Dakota said miserably. She’d thought of her father as harsh but fair, for the most part. Had she failed her pack? She should have known. She would have spoken up if she’d known.
“Not your fault. I’m happy that you’re safe. Just stay there and lie low, and for God’s sake don’t let him know where you are.”
“If he doesn’t stop this, he’ll push people too far. He’ll end up getting death-challenged by somebody he can’t defeat,” Dakota said. Despite everything, the thought of her father losing a death match sent a sharp pain slicing through her very core.
“Who would challenge him? He’s the strongest in all of our region. Nobody out here’s got a death wish.”
That was true for the time being, Dakota reflected, but for how long? A bad Alpha Prime, over time, would lose the loyalty of the packs that were affiliated with him. Then, when somebody issued a challenge for a pack war, he’d risk being overrun by sheer numbers. An Alpha Prime could take on as many as half a dozen regular Alphas in a fight, and ten to fifteen non-Alphas, but eventually even an Alpha Prime could be overwhelmed.
A loud burst of shouting and the sound of breaking glass made her start, and she looked out of the booth to see two shifters rolling around on the floor, fighting.
She tore her gaze away from them. Not her problem.
“All right. New topic,” she said to Tina. “Have you spoken to Jamie Roberts in the last couple of days?”
“No, of course not. Her whole plan was for her and her boyfriend to disappear. Why do you ask?’
“Because when I got here, it turned out that her pack sent her up here to death-challenge the local Alpha Prime. He killed someone from their pack for stealing, and they felt like they had to send someone to avenge the pack’s honor. I’m lucky he was willing to discuss the issue with me, or I wouldn’t have survived my first day here.”
“Are you serious?” Tina gasped. “That bitch. I can’t believe she set you up like that. Did he hurt you?”
“No, we were able to come to a peaceful resolution. I don’t know where I’m going to end up staying, but for now I’m fine.”
“If it’s dangerous up there, then leave,” Tina said. “You don’t owe anything to those kids. Save yourself. You’ve got your fake ID. You can go anywhere in the country and find a new pack to join.”
“I can’t do that to them,” Dakota protested. “I need to find someone who’ll take care of the kids first.”
“Well, then stay there and make it work. You can never come home, Dakota. It’s not just your life that depends on it, it’s those cubs.”
You can never come home.
The finality of the words hit Dakota like a sledgehammer. She’d hoped that coming up here for a few months would give her father time to cool down, and instead she’d made things a million times worse.
“Thanks for warning me, Tina.” She choked out the words. “I should go.”
She hung up and leaned on the wall of the phone booth, feeling every beat of her heart hammering in her chest.
The Redwood Pack was all she’d known. She’d been born on pack lands, grown up there, run through the towering redwood forests with her parents back when she was a cub. She remembered her dad teaching her to swim in the icy waters of the river that ran near their house, and her mother waiting on the shore with a big fluffy towel to wrap her in when she scrambled out, chilled and exhilarated.
Now her mother was gone, her father had apparently turned into a savage, maddened stranger, and she could never set foot in her childhood home again.
She took a deep breath and wiped away the hot tears that spilled onto her cheeks. Somebody was waiting for the phone now, so she stepped out, avoiding his gaze, and walked into the store with her head held high.
Okay, she was hurting. She wouldn’t solve anything by wallowing in her sorrow. The past was the past. She couldn’t return to it. She had no control over yesterday, but she had control over today, and tomorrow, and the rest of her life. She had a group of cubs who needed a home, and by God she’d provide that for them until she found some decent family they could live with. Maybe when she started teaching on Monday, the head schoolteacher would have some idea of where to place them.
And after that? She had no idea. She couldn’t stay here forever; she was living a lie. Thinking about her future just made her want to cry, so she tried to make her mind a blank and not think at all.
When she walked outside, she saw that the fight had moved out into the middle of the street, and the two men had shifted now and were circling each other, snapping and snarling. Shifters lined the sidewalk to watch.
“What happened?” she asked a grizzled older coyote shifter.
He pointed at the larger wolf. “That’s Fargo. The other guy bumped into Fargo by accident, Fargo punched him in the face, and here we are, afternoon’s entertainment provided for free.” He grinned, showing stained teeth, and she shook her head in exasperation. Macho shifters. She’d had her fill of them.
Baldwin’s voice right behind her made her jump. “What are you doing here? Miles was worried.”
She turned around.
“I just had some errands to run,” she said. “Is Miles with you?”
“He’s right there.” Baldwin pointed. Miles was striding through the crowd towards the two shifters who were fighting. He was still in human form, but he was projecting his dominance and anger, to the point where people on the edge of the crowd fell back and instinctively bowed their heads.
Dakota found herself moving closer to see what was happening. She saw women in the crowd casting admiring glances at Miles, and her fur itched to burst through her skin.
Inside, she felt her wolf pacing. Mine. Don’t look at him, he’s mine.
Right, she scoffed to herself. He’s not mine, and he never will be. Why did his sexy macho pheromones have to mess with her head like this? The last thing she needed was for her already bruised heart to be stomped on by letting Miles use her as his flavor of the day.
As Miles approached the brawling wolves, both shifters stopped fighting instantly. One of them immediately rolled over and exposed his belly and waved his paws in the air. Fargo hesitated, crouching low and glaring up at Miles.
Miles didn’t move a muscle, didn’t even bother to shift. He just scowled down at the remaining wolf, and suddenly a pool of urine dribbled underneath Fargo and he flopped to the ground, physically forced down by the strength of Miles’s fury. Fargo let out a howl of pain and fear, and Miles stood over him for what felt like an eternity before he kicked him in the side, hard. Dakota heard a crunch as Fargo’s ribs broke.
“Get out of here before I rip your throat out,” Miles growled down at the whimpering wolf. “Unless you want to challenge me right now. I’m sick of you idiots coming to town and starting shit for no reason. You are now banned from the western territory.”
Fargo scrambled to his feet, tucked his head low, and ran for it, limping and yelping with every pained step. His ribs would take a day or two to heal up, at least.
He was getting off easy, Dakota thought. Her father would have ripped his intestines out with his teeth, even back before he went crazy. It was surprising to see an Alpha Prime like Miles, who knew his own power but didn’t abuse it.
Baldwin shook his head. “One of those feral shifters from the east,” he said.
“How many are there over there?”
“About fifteen or twenty that are real trouble-makers, and then maybe another thirty that mind their own business.”
“Doesn’t Creel keep them in line?”
“Creel’s a loner. Doesn’t care about anyone but himself.” Baldwin glanced at her. “Don’t worry, the Fenris Pack has the upper hand.”
But for how long, if the human authorities kept sending the worst of the worst to the local territory?
Miles strode up to them, his eyes a dark, stormy color. His lips quirked up in a smile when he saw Dakota, though.
“Let�
�s go,” he said. “You can ride with us.”
They walked back to his pickup truck, and Dakota went to climb into the back, but Miles held open the front passenger side door for her. She hesitated for a moment as Anders scrambled into the back.
“Don’t worry, I bite.” Miles grinned fiercely.
She favored him with a bland, pleasant smile. “It’s not the biting I’m afraid of. It’s just that bad pickup lines make me break out in hives, and I’m fresh out of Benadryl,” she said sweetly, and slid into her seat. She heard Anders strangling on a laugh.
“I like you,” Anders said, as Miles climbed into his seat and started the truck.
“We caught the two men who tried to take Sarah a little while ago,” Miles said. “They’re actually from your pack. One of them is her husband. At least, that’s what he said right before we killed him.”
“Her husband?” Dakota said in disbelief. “She’s thirteen. And frankly, she’s so malnourished she looks like she’s nine. He’s lying, right?”
“Nope. We did a little checking, called and talked to Ludwik. He admitted that he just sold her to this Rory slimebag and told Rory to come up here and claim her.”
“He sold his own granddaughter? How could he?”
“He claimed he thought he was doing her a favor, since she didn’t have her uncle to look after her anymore. Also said that she always had a smart mouth and needed a husband to knock the sass out of her. In other words, he’s a slimebag.”
Dakota’s stomach lurched. “Don’t call that creep her husband. That’s gross. I’m glad he never got his filthy paws on her.” Then a thought occurred to her. The Montenegro pack were obviously horrifyingly mercenary and regarded their females as property. “Her grandfather won’t try to come up here and take her to, like, re-sell her, will he?”
Miles let out a low growl. “I told him that she’s now under Fenris protection, so if he wants to keep his heart inside his chest, he won’t.”
Then he glanced at her, puzzled. “You’re part of the Montenegro pack. Didn’t you know about that tradition?”
She winced. Who knew that living a lie would be so complicated? “You heard what Sarah said. Our packs don’t really speak to each other. I mean, you’ve seen what a slimebag Ludwik is.”
Miles seemed to accept that, and they drove in silence until he pulled up in front of her cabin.
She climbed out. “Thanks for the ride,” she said, and hurried off before he could turn that into some kind of sarcastic innuendo that would hurt her feelings because of how little he was really offering her. She paused on the doorstep.
You can never come home, Dakota.
Well, this was her home for now, so she’d have to make the best of it.
Chapter Nine
Macy and David arrived with pastries and coffee, and everybody joined them outside on a picnic table near the cabin.
“You can thank David for breakfast,” Macy said with a big smirk.
“You are a prince among men,” Dakota said to David as they sat down at the table. David sat between her and Macy, the children settled in, and Naomi plopped down across from them.
“How are things going?” Macy said. “Big bad wolf hasn’t eaten you yet?”
Naomi choked on her coffee and it sprayed on the table in front of her.
Dakota kicked her under the table. She stared at Macy with narrowed eyes. “I do not know of what you are speaking.”
“I bet if she’s using her fancy words, she’s lying,” Sailor piped up. “Grownups talk fancy talk when they’re lying.”
“She’s a smart one,” Naomi said admiringly, and Sailor favored her with a small smile.
“Would you all like extra chores? That includes you, Naomi.” Dakota shoved a piece of pastry into Sailor’s mouth when she tried to answer.
“Well, in all honesty, it does seem like there’s something between you and Miles,” Naomi said, dabbing at her face with a napkin.
“Is honesty really the best policy?” Dakota wondered. “I’m thinking not always. And there is nothing between us.”
Macy stifled a smile. “I’ve been hearing through the grapevine that he won’t stop talking about you.”
“He won’t? What does he say?” Dakota blurted out before she could stop herself.
“He mostly complains about you and says that you’re stubborn and infuriating and impossible,” Macy said. “But the point is, he’s talking about you. He’s apparently never done that with any other woman. He usually has trouble even remembering their names. Or he pretends to, at least. That’s what I’ve heard. Isn’t that right, David? David, are you okay?”
David suddenly started squirming in his seat, and his face flushed. He pressed his hand against his temple. “My head hurts,” he moaned.
“Look, there’s the guy who doesn’t like you,” Naomi said, pointing. Miles was walking across the clearing towards them, and he was staring straight at David. Was he actually jealous of David, just because she was sitting next to him? He couldn’t possibly be jealous.
But he was obviously projecting anger and dominance at David, making the poor guy horribly uncomfortable, so Dakota jumped to her feet. “I’ll just go see what he wants. And Naomi, you shut up,” she said.
“What? I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking it!” Dakota called over her shoulder, and hurried over to him.
He smelled of male musk and a woodsy cologne. As usual, he was wearing jeans, and a T-shirt that molded to the curves of his biceps. He stood there with his hands shoved in his pockets and favored her with an aw-shucks grin that wasn’t fooling her in the slightest.
“Looks like you’ve got the kids under control. They haven’t tried to steal anything since you’ve been here. I’m impressed,” Miles said, nodding with admiration. “You seem kind of soft and pampered. Didn’t think you had it in you.”
Dakota snorted. “Looks like you haven’t killed anyone yet today. You seem kind of feral and crazy. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“The day is still young. Also, you thought that was an insult, but it wasn’t. Anyway, I came to formally show you around the pack property. Don’t get all swell-headed or anything – it’s just standard protocol from the Alpha Prime.” But he winked as he said it.
He didn’t offer to show Naomi or Macy or David, Dakota thought to herself as she followed him.
The property was sprawling, gorgeous and largely untamed. On its outskirts, forested slopes swelled into the foothills of the mountains, which rose into an impossibly blue sky. Wisps of cloud clung to their peaks. Trails pushed into the undergrowth, disappearing into the foliage-dense darkness.
Cabins were tucked away here and there, some half built. It didn’t surprise Dakota that many of the shifters chose to live away from the town. New packs and new territories tended to attract oddities and loners and those who didn’t play well with others. Miles would have to be strong to pull them all together.
Erratic boulders had been dropped among the hollows of the hills by retreating glaciers tens of thousands of years ago. Miles and Dakota skirted a head-high rock furred with emerald green moss, then strolled along the gravel track that turned into the main road into town. This was where the couples and families and the more sociable shifters were clustered together for companionship and community.
A lot of the pack members were in town, working construction. They were putting up houses that would be occupied by new arrivals, or clearing roads. There was a garden towards the back of the property, and a chicken coop with a few dozen chickens. Those were both tended by the pack’s cook, Kace, and his life mate, Hazel, who bore a fresh-looking claiming mark on her neck. So they’d met up here, apparently.
Hazel’s stomach was gently swollen, and she broke into a smile when she saw Dakota glance at it. “It’s going to be the first Granite Flats baby,” she said.
“May your cub be healthy and fierce,” Dakota said, reciting the typical wolf shifter congratulations.
/> After they were done touring the garden, Miles led her down to a clear, running stream towards the back of pack property. Downstream from them, a couple of pack members were splashing naked with two women who’d been on the shuttle bus.
Miles gestured at a fallen tree trunk, furred with thick green moss.
“Have a seat,” he said, and they settled in. He was so close to her that she could feel the energy flowing from him. There was a tightness, a tension that lay underneath his joking exterior. Why could she sense that? She was way too attuned to this man’s presence…like a life mate would be.
Alpha Primes tended to keep their emotions to themselves unless they were using them in a fight…or for seduction. But when an Alpha Prime formed a bond with his mate, he shared his feelings with her freely. It was an instinctive thing – the Alpha Prime’s mate was the one he trusted completely..
But maybe they did things differently up here, she thought uneasily.
Miles was staring off into the distance, not really saying anything. She found herself opening up to him, reaching out and letting calming energy flow into him. It intermingled with his tension and absorbed it. Bit by bit, as they sat there in silence, she felt some of the stress leave his body, and the frown lines creasing his forehead smoothed a bit.
It felt too good, too right. It couldn’t last. Even with him relaxing a little bit, she could still feel the walls that he’d built up around his emotions, hard and stony and impenetrable.
She shifted on her seat and cleared her throat.
“So. What’s on your mind these days?” she said.
“I’ve been wondering. Why did you agree to come here?” Miles asked her. “I mean, I know you literally drew the short straw, but you could have just run away. Gone underground.”
Shiftily Ever After: A BBW Paranormal Romance (Alpha Prime) Page 7
