He howled with pain and anger, and backhanded Dakota across the face. She tasted blood in her mouth, and spat in his face as he grabbed her by the throat again, staggering to his feet and pulling her up to her knees. She gasped for breath and scrabbled at his hands.
She was vaguely aware of a commotion on the other side of the room as the tow-headed kid went off like a rocket, sinking his teeth into the wrist of the man holding a knife to his throat. The man yelped and dropped the knife and the boy. He turned to make a grab for the child, but instead found himself facing off with Anthea. It would be difficult to say whether the curve to her muzzle was a snarl or a grin. Either way, it was very bad news for him.
Dakota was in trouble, though. Her mind was getting fuzzy and dark spots were swimming across her vision as her attacker choked her. She scratched his hands, trying feebly to pry his fingers away from her throat, but he was too strong. Everything started to go gray, and the noise of the fight was reduced to a strange underwater ringing in her ears.
Then she felt a blast of pure rage slicing through the room. Miles. His anger was like the crack of a whip. The shifter holding her released her, clapping his hands to his head and howling with pain. He fell to his knees, blood streaming from his eyes as Miles’s fury ruptured something inside him.
Dakota heaved in an enormous breath, coughing and gasping as Miles and his men stormed into the room. A metallic tinkle told her that the two kidnappers who were still standing had dropped their silver knives. As if that would save them. She tried to ignore the grisly crunching noise as Anthea made it clear what happened to anyone who threatened a cub in her school.
The fight was over in minutes. Apart from a nasty cut and a couple of bruises, the children were unharmed. The biggest casualty was Dakota’s dignity – she hadn’t thought the next times Miles saw her naked would be brawling with no pants on.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Miles asked Dakota for the fifth time as they stood outside in the parking lot.
She was bleeding from the mouth, but it had already slowed.
“I’m fine. I heal fast,” she assured him. “Go do what you need to do.”
Anders had put the call out to the local packs they were allied with, and they were pouring into the school parking lot. Worried parents had rushed there to pick up their cubs – and they were as mad as hell. The Clearwater Pack had made a fatal miscalculation when they’d chosen to betray Miles.
“Do you know why they turned on you?” Dakota asked Miles as she dabbed at her lip with a handkerchief.
“Yeah. Right before I separated Joey’s head from his body, he told me that they were planning on taking Sarah to Ludwik, and he was going to pay them a hefty fee. Something about her being a super-healer, which makes her bride price higher.”
“When will this end?” she said, stricken.
“Right now,” he said grimly. “We’re going to go take out the entire Clearwater Pack. And unfortunately, school’s going to have to be shut down until we can be sure it’s safe. Go to the meeting house and wait there. Someone from my pack will come get you.”
She walked to the town square, but instead of going to the meeting house, she went to the general store and used their phone to call Tina.
“Dakota, are you okay?” Tina spoke in low tones.
“I need to talk to Percy,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because he’s got to try to calm my father down. I need my father’s help,” she said.
“Dakota, I told you the situation here. Your father isn’t getting better, he’s getting worse. And Percy left; he couldn’t take it anymore.”
A wave of fear swept over Dakota. If her father had even driven his Omega away, the pack wouldn’t last much longer.
“I’m sorry,” Tina said. “I really wish I had better news. Like I said, if it’s that dangerous there, leave.”
“I’m still taking care of the kids,” Dakota protested.
“Then take them with you. Dakota, I’ve got to go before I get caught talking to you. Good luck.” And Tina hung up.
Chapter Fifteen
Dakota stood outside the general store, racking her brains.
Could she take the kids with her? Where would they go? Sarah’s grandfather would pursue her because he wanted to sell her. She couldn’t protect them on her own.
And what about all her new friends? What would happen to them if the territory descended into chaos? Naomi had just found happiness with Baldwin, and she would want to stay with him no matter what. And Naomi had been a loyal friend. And Anthea wouldn’t leave. And Macy wouldn’t leave.
She wanted to stay here. She had friends here. People she cared about.
Well, she couldn’t just sit here and wait for things to get worse. The humans would keep sending up the worst of the worst, and eventually they’d outnumber the Fenris Pack and its allies.
She headed into the east side of the territory. The border started at the east end of the town square. She’d never been there before, and she had no idea where she was going, so she just followed the broad dirt road. She paused to strip off her clothing and shift, running with her clothing clenched in her jaws.
Unlike the roads in the western part of town, this road had branches scattered across it and patches of weeds poking through. With no single pack in charge, nobody bothered keeping it cleared. About half a mile down the road, she scented a group of shifters up ahead, so she shifted back and put her clothes back on.
A short distance later, she came upon what apparently served as the territory’s town center. There was a jaggedly uneven clearing, and in the center of it was a bar called the Rusty Nail, and a building with a hand-painted sign that said “The Trading Post.” Both of them were built from felled logs with the bark still peeling off them, and what looked like mud daubed in the chinks.
Several dozen male shifters and half a dozen females were gathered in the clearing, watching two shifters fight. Creel was sitting on a felled oak tree, drinking a beer and ignoring them.
Dakota took a deep breath and marched right up to him.
He flashed her a look of annoyance.
“You’re Miles’s woman. What are you doing in my territory?”
She glanced around to see that the shifters who’d been watching the fight were starting to drift her way.
She turned her attention to Creel again and gave him a pained smile. “I missed you too. I am my own woman, thank you very much. And I came to talk to you about the problem facing our territory.”
Creel took a long swig of the beer.. “Our territory? Miles might have a problem. I don’t.”
She gestured at the group of shifters who were now gathered around her in a circle. She spotted a few Alphas, but Creel was the only Alpha Prime in sight. “You’re losing people almost as fast as they’re arriving. The humans are deliberately setting you guys up to fight each other. Why would you fall for that kind of manipulation?’
“I’m not afraid of a fight,” Creel snarled.
“That isn’t the issue, and you know it. You’ve got this disorganized group who are fighting each other here, and fighting packs in the west, over nothing. The eastern territory isn’t building, you’re not progressing, you’re just existing day by day. You have this huge, gorgeous territory, this chance to start over and build something amazing, and you’re throwing it away.”
“She’s right,” one of the Alphas said.
Creel spun to glare at him.
“You want me to kill you right now?” he snapped.
The Alpha swallowed hard and bowed his head in submission. “If my death is what it takes to bring peace to this territory, then I am willing to make that sacrifice. I’m not as strong as you. I would die and leave my wife a widow and my cubs orphans. But that’s going to happen anyway if the humans keep setting us up to kill each other off.”
“Donal is right,” another shifter said. “Why are we doing the humans’ dirty work?”
Creel stood up and hurled h
is beer bottle against a tree, where it shattered.
“You bunch of pansies want to braid each other’s fur and sing Kumbaya, go ahead. I don’t give a damn about any of you anyway,” he snarled, and stalked off.
Dakota turned to face the assembled crowd.
“You can all refuse to fight each other!” she pleaded. “There are other ways to solve your disputes!”
“Screw that bitch!” an angry voice bellowed from the back of the crowd. “That’s Miles’s woman, and I’m going to claim her, right now!” It was Fargo, standing there naked and bleeding from the scalp. He’d been one of the wolves fighting when she’d arrived, but he’d shifted back into human form. He stalked towards her, fists clenched, lips contorted in a snarl…and several other males joined him.
Dakota felt a chill of fear wash over her. Had she made a fatal error?
The men muscled their way through the crowd, and she stood her ground, ready to shift and fight. She’d make them kill her before she let them take her prisoner.
Purcell was almost on her, and she could smell the foul odor reeking from his unwashed body. He grinned and bared yellow teeth, and she wanted to vomit.
Donal moved quickly and stood in front of her. “You’ll have to get through me first!” he yelled. “I don’t give a damn about her, or those assholes from the west, but if you take her, the Fenris pack is going to rain down hell on us. I’m not going to lose my pack and my family just because you’re still butt-hurt about Miles kicking your ass, Purcell.”
Well. That wasn’t exactly hugs and kisses, but it was a step in the right direction, she thought. At least somebody was thinking strategically.
She was relieved to see several other shifters move in front of her too.
Purcell and his men stood there growling for what felt like an eternity, fangs descending. Finally, after snapping at the air several times, Purcell snarled, “This isn’t over, Donal.” And he turned and stalked off.
“Thank you,” Dakota said quietly to Donal.
“We’re escorting you out of the territory right now,” Donal said. “And don’t thank us. Just don’t come back. If Purcell takes you, we’ll all suffer the consequences.”
“Just think about what I said,” Dakota said as they headed back towards the western territory.
* * * * *
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Dakota told Naomi for what felt like the hundredth time as they all sat at the kitchen table in the cabin. The cubs were tucking into their burgers with gusto, but Naomi and Dakota had barely touched their food. Most of the pack had headed out to take on the Clearwater traitors, with only a dozen or so pack members remaining to guard their property.
Sarah glanced out the window. “They don’t look fine,” she said.
Dakota and Naomi rushed over to the window. Miles was stomping towards the cabin, wearing jeans and no shirt. Baldwin and Anders were following on his heels. “Oh, thank God,” Naomi breathed. “But what’s Miles so mad about?”
“Hold on.” Dakota quickly walked outside and shut the door behind her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked Miles, who was standing there with his fists clenched, clearly trying to contain himself. “What happened with the Clearwater Pack?”
Miles’s face was thickly coated with fur, and his voice rolled out in a growl. His eyes blazed with anger. “We killed all the males and put the women and cubs on a bus out of town. And you went into the eastern territory today while I was out fighting.”
Dakota felt the anger rolling off him. Baldwin stood by him, panting hard, desperately struggling to absorb his fury. He was pale, and sweat rolled down his face.
“Yes, I did,” Dakota said steadily, meeting his gaze.
“Four new packs came over from Creel’s territory and wanted to form alliances with me.”
She stared at him in amazement. “And you’re angry about it?”
“Angry that you made me look weak? Angry that you don’t think I can run matters in my own territory?” Miles was shouting now.
Dakota had to struggle to remain calm. “That wasn’t your territory. I was in the east.”
“You had no business going there,” he growled at her.
Okay, that did it. “You actually think you can tell me where I’m allowed to go?” she yelled at him. “We’re not even mated, and you think you can control my every move?”
“We’re not mated because you don’t want to be mated!” he shouted. “You said you were leaving!”
“Well, maybe I would have thought about staying if someone gave me a reason to!” she shouted back. “And this is bigger than us! This is about the survival of this entire territory!”
“This territory is my business, and you will stay out of it!” he barked.
She went pale. “Yes, I certainly will.” And she walked back into the cabin and slammed the door shut in his face.
Outside, she heard a roar of rage, and when she looked out the window, she saw that Miles had shifted and was running straight into the forest. Baldwin was doubled over, retching onto the ground. Naomi rushed outside and kneeled next to him, stroking his back.
Dakota struggled not to cry in front of the cubs, who were all staring at her wide-eyed, except Sarah, who looked sullen and resigned.
“So you’re leaving us now?” she said to Dakota.
Dakota took a deep breath. “Of course I’m not leaving you. I’m leaving him. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
She saw the younger cubs glance at each other with relief. “She’s not leaving us,” Mary said out loud, as if to reassure herself.
“We’d be okay either way,” John said stubbornly. Then he glanced at Dakota. “But I’m glad she’s not,” he added.
“Are you crying?” Sailor asked Dakota. “Did he make you cry?”
“It’s not his fault. Sometimes grownups argue. He’s still a good person.” Dakota quickly wiped at the tears on her cheeks.
“Silver knife to the femoral artery is pretty fatal, even for an Alpha Prime,” Sarah mused. At the look on Dakota’s face, she added hastily, “So I’ve heard.”
“Jeez, child. Remind me not to make you mad.”
“You’d know if you made me mad. So far you’ve only succeeded in mildly annoying me a whole bunch of times.”
“So where are we going, if you’re not staying with him?” Sarah asked.
Dakota frowned. “There’s only one other place that I can think of where we’d be safe. We could stay with the bears. I think Anthea would take us in.”
“Are you sure about that?” Sarah mused. “I can never tell if she wants to kill us or not.”
Dakota heaved a sigh. “Only one way to find out.”
Chapter Sixteen
Dakota walked up to the bar at the Watering Hole, her heart aching and her stomach tying itself in knots. She looked around at the crowd of happy, drunken shifters, laughing and flirting and shooting pool and having a gay old time, and then she walked over to the bar where Macy was working and plopped down in one of the few empty seats.
Macy had a fresh claiming mark on the right side of her neck, still red, but healing. David was with her behind the bar, and he had a matching claiming mark. He waved cheerfully at Dakota, grinning wide enough to split his face open.
Dakota tried to smile back at him, but she had a feeling that all she’d come up with was a hideous grimace. She gave up and pulled out her wallet. “Give me a double,” she said to Macy. “No, give me a triple.”
Macy raised an eyebrow. “A double or triple what?”
“Er…a double…” Dakota hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Cosmopolitan?”
Macy snorted out a laugh. “What kind of frou-frou pack did you come from? You start out with ‘give me a double’, which sounds all badass, and then you puss out and say cosmopolitan. Real wolves don’t drink cosmos. Also, you strike me as a lightweight, and I don’t want you puking on my floor. Here, let’s start with a single shot of tequila and take it from there.”
She
quickly poured Dakota a shot. Dakota picked it up and waited.
Macy looked at her with a puzzled expression. “You’re not actually waiting for a lime and salt, are you, like you’re in some fancy New York bar? Tell me you’re not.”
“Of course not,” Dakota said. She totally had been. But since obviously none was coming, she held up the shot glass and said, “To the newly mated couple. Congrats!” She slammed back the drink.
“Thanks. The lucky SOB actually made an honest fox out of me.” Macy winked at David as he rushed past them, and he blew her a kiss.
“May your cubs be healthy and fierce.”
“And you had to go and ruin it.” Macy crossed her eyes at her. “We’re in our honeymoon period, where we’re screwing like bunnies. Hard to do when you’re taking care of a bunch of brats. You can have all the cubs, thanks.”
Then she glanced at a bunch of shifters at the end of the bar, who were banging their beer mugs on the bartop.
“Keep your fur on!” she yelled at them. “And if you break those glasses, I’ll bite your asses!” She hurried over, served them their beer, and trotted back.
“So what’s going on with Miles? Word is, he took out the whole Clearwater Pack today, and that should put the fear of dog into anyone else who wants to start trouble. So why the long face and sudden desire to kill your liver?”
“We’re done,” Dakota said, and blinked very hard so she wouldn’t cry right there in the bar. “I don’t want to talk about why.”
Macy set another shot of tequila in front of her. “Good. I don’t want to hear about why. I’m not the touchy-feely type. So does this mean you moved out and dumped all the little hairballs?”
“No, they’re at Anthea’s cave right now. We’re all staying there. Naomi’s still at the Fenris Pack grounds – she’s moving in with Baldwin.” Naomi had cried when Dakota and the cubs left, although she’d said she understood why they were leaving. Dakota had assured her that she’d stay in town and they’d see each other all the time.
Shiftily Ever After: A BBW Paranormal Romance (Alpha Prime) Page 11
