“No,” Randolf answered quickly, tipping his head to Steven who grabbed another chair and placed it next to the others. “You’d have tried it, too, if roles were reversed.”
“We stand by our word.” Watching the wolf Alpha with new understanding, Carran took a seat. Randolf was too quick to answer, as if he was worried they’d tell Ty. It was interesting that he was concerned when it came to the tigers. “You had us come out in the middle of the night, so why don’t we stop these games and get to the point of this meeting?”
“The point is you’ve killed two of my wolves.” Randolf glared at them.
“In order to protect an innocent female.” Carran’s jaw tightened. What they did wasn’t without reason. If the Alpha had better control over his wolves, Brooklynn wouldn’t have been in danger and they wouldn’t have had to go after the wolves. “She was in the wrong place and witnessed an uncontrolled shifter, but there were options other than torturing and killing her. Or haven’t you taught your wolves what to do with witnesses besides killing them?” Randolf snarled, but Carran didn’t back down. “Donovick was her partner. He could have told her, and they could have come to an understanding. When the lion didn’t do a thorough job, Donovick went after her.”
“I smell your so-called innocent female all over you. Maybe you’re twisting the story to fit your needs.” Randolf pulled the chair out from behind his desk and sat. “Maybe Donovick tried to protect Brooklynn from you and instead of going back to Alaska without issue, you killed him.”
“How does the fact that I’m the one who killed the second wolf play into that fantasy?” Red raised an eyebrow, clearly amused.
“He was the one at the wrong place. You killed him to eliminate witnesses.”
“You don’t believe any of that.” Taber sat between Carran and Red on the chair that Steven had added and watched the wolves. “If you did, you wouldn’t have agreed to this meeting. You’d have staged an attack.”
“Maybe I respect your Alpha enough to give you a chance to admit your wrongdoings.”
“That’s a lot of maybes, too many variables, and I’m not buying it.” Carran leaned forward. “You know your wolf was out of control and instead of accepting that, you want to transfer blame to us. You have a grieving mate and a fatherless child that you need to be concerned about.”
“You’re here to give her closure.” Steven slammed his hand on his Alpha’s desk. “You left my sister a widow.”
“That was Donovick,” a soft voice said from behind them, drawing their attention.
Carran turned to take the woman in. Her short black hair was wild, making it clear she’d been driving her hands through it anxiously, and her face was stained with tears. What was most alarming was the black eye and handprint around her neck. What had happened to her?
“Meghan, you shouldn’t be here.” Steven came around the desk and went to her.
“So you can accuse them? Donovick…” Her voice broke and Steven wrapped his arm around her. The touch was enough to make her stronger and her gaze traveled over them before landing on Carran. “I smell him on you…but I smell her, too. She’s…”
In that hesitation, the realization dawned on Carran that the woman before him knew Brooklynn was his mate. That was news he’d like to keep out of this meeting, if he could help it. He needed to do something or say something before she had the chance to announce it. “Donovick’s mate, I presume.”
“My Donnie…he was a good man.” Her hand went to her eye as if just speaking about him brought back the memory of how it happened.
It infuriated his tiger enough for him to ask, without thinking where he was. “He did that, didn’t he?”
“That’s pack business.” Randolf bellowed before she could answer.
“Dad, I think we’re past that.” She stepped away from Steven and walked farther into the room, her gaze never leaving Carran. “Thought you had the family dynamics laid out, didn’t you? Donovick’s pack, so obviously my Donnie was related to the Alpha. Except I’m not the one who mated into them, he was. He took our family name when we mated instead of the other way around. He claimed he didn’t want me to lose the respect that the name held, but later I realized it was because he craved the power that the Donovick name held.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Meghan, come sit.” Randolf stood and when she sat down, he laid his hand on her shoulder.
“Six weeks ago, Donnie told me he was going to challenge my father for the Alpha position. I forbade it, and I told him that it would mean his death. Claw is next in line for the title.”
“And then you, my niece, not him,” Claw said. “This has always been and always will be a family pack.”
Well, that was unexpected. Carran realized Claw was the Beta—second of the pack—but he had not expected them to be related. Another twist, and he was quickly losing his patience. He wanted to get to the point of this meeting so they could be done and he could get back to his mate.
“It was Claw who finally made Donnie realize the truth. That was his breaking point and another side of him came out.” Her father squeezed her shoulder and she glanced up at him. “I’m sorry, Dad.”
“None of this is your fault.”
“He was power hungry and I was no longer enough. He took his rage out on me, always apologizing afterward, but recently it got worse. I had kept it hidden from my family and the pack, but when Dad came to me tonight after Donnie was…” Her words trailed off as tears streamed down her cheeks.
“As you can see, my daughter couldn’t hide the bruises the bastard left on her.” Randolf’s voice held anger but as he looked down at Meghan there was guilt and sympathy in his eyes, as well.
“I’d have killed him myself if I had known.” Steven’s body tensed as anger coursed through him. “Shit, Meghan, you should have told me! You and Randy didn’t have to live like that.”
“I get it, you’re my brother and you want to protect me, but it’s not as simple as you make it sound.”
“Her beast wouldn’t let her turn on him, even after what he did. Turning him over to the pack’s Elders wasn’t an option. She had to do it.” Red’s voice drew everyone’s attention and he shifted uneasily in his seat. “Sorry.”
“What the hell do you know?” Steven took a step closer to him before his Alpha cleared his throat, stopping him in his tracks.
“He’s right.” She ran her hand down the arm of the chair, her attention anywhere but on the rest of them in the room. “If anyone was going to kill him, it had to be me.”
“Family—”
“Please, Steven, don’t. I can’t right now.” Meghan looked up at him, her face so full of emotions, but more than anything her eyes held sadness and a plea for him to stop. “How did you know?” she asked Red.
“My sister. Except she wasn’t lucky enough to live through what she felt was her duty.” Red got out of the chair and stood there. He seemed lost, as if he wanted to pace, but didn’t want to make the wolves uneasy. Or maybe he wanted out of there. “That’s when I left the clan we were raised in and for two years I traveled aimlessly.”
Unsure what to say to ease the tension that had built within the office, Carran sat there silently. He heard the rumors that Red’s sister was killed by her mate, but details were hazy. If Red wanted people to know the details, he’d have told them, so Carran hadn’t questioned it.
Shifters had a different type of relationship than humans, and the situations of mate turning on mate was unusual, but it did happen. Just as evil humans could be found in the world, there were shifters who were evil, as well. An Alpha’s control could only do so much.
“You went back to them.” Meghan watched Red closely. “Your clan, I mean. You realized she wouldn’t have wanted you wandering aimlessly because of what happened.”
“His father was the Alpha and he knew what was happening, so no, I didn’t go back. I’d have killed him if I did.” He grabbed hold of the back of the chair, squeezing unt
il his knuckles turned white. “The clan is gone now…the Elders dead, and the ones who survived scattered. They tried to take over the territory of black bears…they got what they deserved.”
“Don’t fuck with bears.” Taber grinned. “I thought everyone knew that.”
Carran smirked, knowing firsthand the truth to that statement. The Alaskan Tigers guards were better for working out and training with the Brown brothers. They were a team of furious beasts and they didn’t let up on anyone. They pushed knowing that their lives depended on being at their best. Not only their lives, but their species depended on them. If they couldn’t keep Tabitha safe until she could accomplish what she needed to and continue her line, they’d be dead. Screw that. We’ve got this shit.
Chapter Twelve
Unable to lay in bed tossing and turning any longer, Brooklynn stepped out into the hallway and paused, listening for any sign of Carran’s team. The thought of being surrounded by people she didn’t know only served to make her uneasy, but she couldn’t spend another minute in that room. Being surrounded by the scent of Carran’s cologne put her on edge. Was he okay? What was going on? Did anyone even know where they were?
As quietly as she could, she made her way down the hall, past the rooms where she hoped the others were sleeping. She suspected they’d been in the living room when Carran had come to her, but she hoped they had all retired to sleep. Would she be intruding if she found them still up?
At the end of the hall, she found the living room dark and the only light in the kitchen was the light above the sink. Breathing out a deep sigh, she crossed over to the back door in the kitchen and pushed back the curtain that hung over the window. Only one SUV sat parked in the driveway. If the others were gone, that meant they’d run into trouble.
“Shit!” A chill spread along her back and fear sped her heartbeat.
“We never go somewhere without backup.”
The curtain slipped out from between her fingers and she spun around to find Tad standing near the kitchen table. “What?”
“When I heard you come this way, I suspected you’d look out to see if they were back, and I wanted to let you know that everything is fine.”
“How do you know?”
Tad pulled a chair out from the table and sat down on the hard wooden chair. “It’s hard to explain the connection that’s shared within a clan, but we’d know if he was in trouble. Backup is close and they’d have alerted us.”
“You’re a tiger, too?” She leaned against the kitchen counter and watched him. “There’s something different about you, but…never mind, I don’t know what I’m trying to say.”
“You’re picking up on my beast—my bear,” he explained. “You’re Carran’s mate and the connection gave you an insight you didn’t have before. You’re recognizing it without understanding it because he hasn’t claimed you. A door has been open to you because of that connection, but right now it’s like you’re wearing a veil. In time it will become clear to you.”
“What if I don’t want it to be clear? What if I want to forget this whole mess?”
“That’s your choice. You’ll be missing out on something truly amazing, but everyone has to make their own choices.” His gaze locked onto hers, silently studying her, before giving a quick nod. “You’re human so you have the option to walk away from all of this without any consequences. Shifters can’t. Everything within us wants our mate. There’s nothing else like the bond between mates.”
She ran her hand along her bicep, rubbing the chill away. The thought of walking away from Carran made her stomach tighten. “You’re mated, then? What does she think of you being here, guarding another woman?”
“Courtney is supportive and while this was an adjustment to her, she’s taken to this lifestyle better than the three of us anticipated.”
“Three?”
“Yes—Courtney and Milo, my mates. Like you, my Courtney is human, and Milo is a tiger shifter. Fates decided that she needed us in her life, and demanded that we accept it if we were going to save her from Jeffery Park. She almost died because she was in the wrong place, witnessing something she shouldn’t have.”
“I remember that case.” She stepped away from the counter and walked closer to the table. “I was still an officer in California. We were on alert when we thought he might be traveling through the area after blowing up the witness’s house and killing a federal agent.”
“That was Courtney’s house. She only lived because she stepped out to grab something from the shelves in the garage. Knowing she had to leave town if she was going to live, she made it to Alaska, and that’s where she found us.”
“You killed him.” She gripped the back of the chair and watched as his eyes grew darker.
“I suspect you already know what happened and if you don’t, I’m sure you’ll read over the official reports the moment you have a chance.” He adjusted in his seat without taking his gaze from hers.
“Official reports can leave a lot out and they can be…” She tugged the chair out and sat down heavily, as if the carpet had been pulled out from under her.
“Faked?”
“Yes.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“Milo and I shot and killed him in order to save Sheriff Lutz’s life. Jeffery had already shot my father before I arrived and had the gun to the sheriff’s head. Hesitation could have meant another life lost.”
She wanted to be upset, or at least question him further, but she didn’t care. She might very well be surrounded by criminals, but what if that was the right side to be on? Tad killed a murderer to protect his mate and the sheriff. Carran and Red had done the same earlier to save her. How many others had been saved by their actions?
The law had always been black or white to her. There was no middle ground between criminal and law-abiding citizen. Now, that once solid black line seemed hazy. There had been numerous times in her career when the legal system had failed. People had taken the system into their own hands, but that only made more criminals. Now she looked at the situation differently and she couldn’t fault Tad, Carran, or anyone else for what they did to save their loved ones. I’d have done it, too, if I could have saved him…
“Daddy!” Her voice broke as she ran to him. “Where have you been? I’ve missed you so much.” Tears ran down her cheeks and in the back of her mind she knew this was a dream. Dad was dead, but as he wrapped his arms around her it felt so real.
“Bumblebee.” He squeezed her tightly to him and she could feel his badge pressed against her chest. “I’ve been here, always. I never left you.”
She clung to him, screaming inside her head that they needed to run, but the scene around them changed. One moment they were standing in front of her childhood home and the next the city lights of Pittsburgh were around them. The splash of water from the fountain echoed through the stillness of the night and she knew what it meant. She had been there before, but never had the contact with Dad. She had witnessed the scene in her dreams, over and over. “Please, no!”
“It’s my time, Bumblebee, but I’ll always be with you. Never doubt it.”
“Gun!” she screamed, but it was too late. The first bullet cut through her father. Without a thought, she reached down to where she normally wore her own gun. This time it was there and she pulled it from the holster. “Put the gun down!”
It was too late. The fourth bullet had already found its home within her father’s body. “Why couldn’t I be faster? I could have saved him.” She watched her father struggle, his fingers caressing his necklace, the same one she now wore around her neck.
Movement caught her attention and her father’s killer turned toward her, his gun still raised, and without hesitation she fired. “You killed him! You bastard…you killed him.” Repeatedly, she pulled the trigger, bullet after bullet, until she emptied her magazine into his chest.
“I’ve got you. You’re safe.” Carran’s voice called to her.
The gun now felt like a cement weight
holding her down and she let it slip through her fingers. She didn’t want to be there. She wanted Carran, and with that thought she reached out to his voice, allowing the dream to pop like a bubble around her. With a tightness in her chest, she fought through the murkiness of the dream toward Carran’s voice. Daddy! I’m sorry I failed you.
“Never, Bumblebee.” Her father’s smiling face filled her vision before he started to fade again. “And, Bumblebee…trust him.”
“I’ve got you. Open your eyes, Brooklynn. You’re safe.”
She opened her eyes and found him staring down at her. His eyebrows knitted together and his eyes filled with concern. “Carran…” Happy to see him, she wrapped her arms around his neck. At the moment, seeing him was the best she could hope for. He was alive and safe. “You’re back…you’re okay.”
“Shh, everything is okay.” With one hand, he pushed the hair away from her face, while he rubbed small circles down her back with his other hand.
“You’re here.” She knew she’d said it before, but it wasn’t sinking in. She leaned away and realized he was nude except for a towel loosely secured around his waist. “You’re naked.”
“You were screaming.” He kept his arm around her, pulling her tighter against him when she tried to move back. “Don’t, baby, don’t.”
“Huh?”
“Damn, beautiful, I’ve missed you.” He leaned forward, his breath warm as it brushed against her face a second before he pressed his lips to hers.
A soft moan escaped her throat as she met his advances with an eagerness of her own. Without breaking the kiss, she untangled her legs from the sheets and climbed on top of him, straddling his waist. With each move he made, she made one of her own, urging them forward. She dragged her fingers through his hair, enjoying the silkiness of the strands. She’d never dated a man with long hair before, but it suited Carran even if the highlights within the black were unusual.
He pulled back enough that their lips came apart. “Brooklynn—”
Alaskan Tigers Box Set 3 Page 9
