A Pack of Two

by Jacky Russell

  The door to my office shuddered as the hulking form of my father filled the doorway. He was taller than me and dark-haired, with piercing blue eyes. Now his eyes were completely silver and my wolf went on full alert.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” he demanded as he swiped the papers from my desk. My wolf surged and I held my ground, meeting the silver-eyed glare of my father.

  “Don’t,” I warned as he came around my desk toward me.

  The last thing I remembered was him grabbing my shirt.

  By the time I pushed my wolf down, I found myself in Clara’s office. She was huddled in the corner, her head turned away from me.

  “Clara?” I called softly.

  Slowly she looked at me, her eyes wide with fear.

  “What happened?” I asked. My head thumped.

  She didn’t say anything, just looked toward my office. Papers were scattered in the doorway and a broken chair lay in the middle of the floor. As I entered my office, my father leaned heavily against the wall near the window. Blood was freely flowing from his mouth and eye.

  “Father?” He didn’t answer and I stepped cautiously into the room. “Father?”

  “Stay away from me, Lucas.”

  I stopped in the doorway, the flow of my Alpha’s dominance washing over me. My wolf didn’t like it. He wanted to go toward the smell of blood. My father was injured and vulnerable, a perfect time to attack.

  I fought my wolf and backed into Clara’s office. I didn’t want this. I had attacked my father. What to do, what to say? How badly he was hurt? Exactly what had happened?

  The fear on Clara’s face was more than I could take. What had I done?

  My foot caught on the corner of the desk and I fell backward onto the floor. I leaped to my feet just as my father stumbled to the doorway of my office.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean–”

  “I’m fine.”

  He brushed past me without making eye contact. The smell of his blood excited my wolf.

  “Alpha?”

  He walked slowly down the hall with only a hint of a limp. For him to show any sign of weakness meant he was in excruciating pain. This was exactly what I hadn’t wanted to happen.

  The office looked like a disaster area. My desk splintered, all the chairs broken, papers strewn over the floor and two fist-sized holes in the wall. I pushed the heels of my hands into my eyeballs to displace a thundering headache.

  I had attacked my father. I had attacked my Alpha. The worst part was I didn’t remember it. My wolf had taken over and acted. Under werewolf law, I should be dead now. Wolves didn’t attack Alphas and live. They finished the job and took over the pack or the Alpha killed them. The fact the Alpha was my father made it worse. Scarier still was my wolf had taken over. Total loss of control was a death sentence.

  I sank into the corner and looked around at the disaster that used to be my office. I pulled my legs to my chest and laid my head on my knees. I felt like a child again, the child who had attacked a packmate and was awaiting the wrath of his father.

  My phone vibrated in my pocket and I ignored it. Two minutes later the text message alert beeped.

  Do u need me?

  Everything inside me was raw. I did need her, but I didn’t want her to see me like this. Besides, she was across the ocean and safe from the bullshit going on here in Italy. She was coming in eight days. I could hold on until then.

  I took a deep breath and called her. She answered within half a ring. I told her everything I remembered, which was, in truth, not much. Our conversation was short. Too short.

  “Mr. Benelli?” Clara called cautiously from the cracked doorframe.

  The sunlight pouring through the window made my head throb even more. “Yeah, Clara?” I answered without lifting my head. I didn’t want to see the disgusted look on her face.

  “Are you all right?”

  I swallowed hard. “I’m fine, thanks. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  “No, sir, I’m all right. I’ll clean up this mess.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” I answered, finally summoning the courage to look at her face.

  She looked around before answering. “I don’t mind and it would do you good to go for a run. You’ve had a rough day.”

  The purchase order I hadn’t finished was on the floor, splattered with blood. “I need to finish the paperwork for the Silverstein job.”

  She eased into the office, carefully staying against the far wall. “I can do that for you. Go on, I’ll look after the office.”

  “Thank you, Clara.” I did need to get out of the office and a run would clear my head. My wolf was still pushing for me to go after my father. I didn’t really understand why my wolf had always been so aggressive toward my father. It couldn’t be normal for a wolf to hate his creator so much.

  I headed out to the pack grounds and found my favorite boulder. I liked to come here and sit. The wind in the trees helped me think.

  Chapter 27

  Breanna

  “Damn cargo planes,” I muttered as I readjusted the pile of parachutes acting as my makeshift bunk. This was the first transport to Europe I could find.

  When Lucas had called earlier this morning, I had been on my way to the base. I felt his rage and his fear and later so much sadness I had to slip into the forest and take a few minutes to gather my wits. I couldn’t see or feel what had happened to upset him, but he was in danger and I was on my way.

  I probably should have told him I was coming, at least given him a heads-up, but he would have insisted he was fine and told me not to come. Yeah, well, that wasn’t happening. He was my mate and I would not let anything happen to him.

  Galen was standing at my office door when I finally got to work. His face was ashen as I told him I was heading to Italy. He agreed with my decision and gave me three hundred dollars in Italian currency he had picked up on his way to see me.

  Being on the same wavelength as an Alpha werewolf was scary. I’d asked how he knew Lucas was in trouble and Galen gave me the patented “Alphas know all” look and disappeared out the door without a word. Damn werewolves.

  I e-filed a request for emergency leave. The request was denied. I called Simon and he re-filed the request. Denied again. I submitted my resignation. Simon went nuts and started calling everyone he knew. My resignation wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. As of ten-fifteen this morning, I was AWOL.

  Absent Without Leave. Criminal. Fugitive.

  Now I was somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean on a cargo plane bound for Germany. From there I could catch a plane or a train or a bus or something to Italy. I’d steal a Jeep if that was what it took. Simon wouldn’t have reported me yet.

  He won’t report me. He’ll do some paperwork and make some phone calls to make all this legal ’cause that’s what Simon does.

  The mate bond thing was messing with my head. I wondered if Lucas could feel it as strongly as I did or if being a witch magnified the emotions. I hoped so because if that rush of sadness I felt earlier was real, my poor wolf was in bad trouble.

  I couldn’t sleep on the cold lumpy parachutes so I looked over the intel report on the Italian supernatural population. There were almost two hundred werewolves in Italy led by Josef Benelli. There were sixty-four known vampires, a handful of fae, a couple of trolls, three dark witches who hadn’t been seen in thirty years, a white witch, seventeen shapeshifters, and three miscellaneous.

  What the hell is a miscellaneous?

  The intel had been gathered almost ten years ago so the numbers probably weren’t accurate. It was, however, a clear picture of who ruled Italy. Two hundred werewolves was one hell of a pack and Josef Benelli must have been one hell of a strong Alpha to handle that many wolves. Galen’s Wisconsin pack only had thirty-three members and that was counting the newly indoctrinated Levi.

  And the Europeans so love witches. Not.

  A little deeper into the intel I found a few old–as in seventeen-hundreds–repo
rts of Malandanti activity. Simon had added the notations for my sightings along with the attack on Lucas, though he had left it as “suspected Malandanti attack on lone werewolf.” Yep, almost three hundred years since the word Malandanti had even been uttered. No wonder nobody believed me.

  Finally the plane descended and landed at Ramstein. I harassed the cargo guys until they found me a flight to Ederle. I’d be in Italy by tonight. I’d call Simon when I landed and then I’d go find Lucas. I hadn’t felt any more big surges of emotions from him in the past twenty-four hours, but he hadn’t responded to any of my texts either. It was eight in the evening so maybe he could have been out running. I didn’t feel he was in danger so it was okay to wait a couple hours for the transport to arrive rather than illegally commandeering some other mode of transportation.

  I headed off to the mess hall and scrounged something that resembled a broccoli casserole.

  I checked my phone again. No Lucas. Celeste called and asked about my trip. She said Simon had placed Bravo on alert and he had somehow managed to get paperwork filed making my “trip” legal. Simon was awesome like that.

  The second transport plane was a smaller one and the ride was rough. The pilots were a couple of Minnesota boys so we talked about hockey the whole ten-hour trip to Ederle. When we landed, my bloodstream was all caffeine and sugar. Twenty-four hours with no sleep was not good for me.

  I was three steps onto the tarmac when a searing pain in my right side sent me to my knees. It felt like a red-hot poker stuffed against my rib cage. I jerked up my shirt to find what the hell was wrong.

  My skin was its usual color with no indication of a bite. A wave of rage roared through me, followed by tingling of fear and sorrow.

  Lucas.

  Chapter 28

  Lucas

  The silver blade slipped between my ribs before I could knock it from Stephano’s hand. Ten wolves had surrounded me as I left the pack meeting. I’d yielded to Ernesto, just as I’d promised, and headed home. Stephano’s group came out of nowhere and blocked my path. We were two miles from my father’s house and another ten miles from mine. I’d taken the opportunity to run to the pack meeting, hoping the exertion would make my wolf stay calm. That had worked. I managed to make it through the meeting and the challenge. Things had gone well until now.

  The silver was wreaking havoc with my senses and my ability to fight. My wolf struggled, the silver a deadly toxin to us both. I’d killed three of the wolves and seriously injured two more, but I hadn’t seen Stephano until it was too late.

  One of the wolves caught me and pinned my hands behind my back. I roared and snapped my foot into his stomach before jerking the knife from my side. The silver burned my hands. It felt as though my insides were cooking and something was hot against my chest.

  Breanna’s stone. What had she said? It would get hot in the presence of black magic?

  Stephano charged and I braced for his impact. I punched him in the face and caught him in the stomach with a good kick. Another of his cronies slammed a fist into my injured side. I couldn’t breathe.

  I tried to cover my head as the group kicked me across the rocky path. Rolling into the stream and struggling to my feet, I grabbed the wolf closest to me and snapped his neck. The next wolf jumped on my back and I crashed into a boulder before pulling him over my head and bashing his face into the giant rock.

  Five wolves were dead and Stephano was circling me. I could ignore the pain from the stab wound, but with the silver was in my bloodstream, I saw three of him.

  “Silver hurts, don’t it, boy?” Stephano taunted. “I remember it well, thanks to you.”

  I didn’t say anything, refusing to waste energy by engaging in dialog with the one wolf I hated more than anyone else on the planet.

  He held open his jacket and showed off two more silver daggers. “Like them? Had those special made for you. I hoped we could relive a few happier times before I killed you, but I guess not.”

  Images of a fifteen-year-old Stephano sneaking into my room clouded my mind. My wolf finally surged and I lunged for Stephano’s throat. He laughed and kicked me in the side. I fell and he jumped on my back and pinned me to the ground. With his free hand he snatched my hair and bared my throat.

  “I should have done this years ago,” he snarled.

  I was going to die. The blurry glint of the silver blade flashed before my eyes.

  Stephano’s blood-curdling laugh echoed in my ears just as it had when I was a child. I didn’t want to leave Breanna like this.

  “What the fuck?” Stephano yelled, flinging me to the side.

  All I saw was bright lights and then heard the roar of a motor. I choked on blood and the world was very out of focus.

  “I’ll kill you,” Breanna said in a voice so cold it was acidic. “Nobody hurts my mate.”

  “Your mate?” Stephano laughed.

  Her eyes blazed. My cousin stepped toward her. I crawled to my knees.

  “I had him first,” Stephano sneered. “And he begged for more.”

  I died inside when she cocked her head at his words. “What?”

  Stephano bared his teeth, his eyes flashing silver. “His ass belonged to me many, many times.”

  Breanna appeared totally disinterested in the secret that ripped my world apart. My wolf tried desperately to surge, but the silver prevented any change.

  “Lucas is mine now and I’d appreciate you moving so I don’t spatter your blood all over him.”

  Stephano laughed again. However, this time there was a hint of nervousness. “You’re a fucking witch.”

  “Yep. And you are fucking dead.”

  I didn’t see her move, but the next second Stephano was on the ground, grasping his throat.

  “Hurts, don’t it, asshole? Yeah, collapsed tracheas are a bitch, but that won’t kill you.”

  Stephano rolled away, trying to get to his feet. Two more wolves emerged from the darkness. I clawed at the rocks, desperate to get to my feet. A wave of strength hit me and my body responded to the renewed energy. Had that been from my father?

  Fire flared from Breanna’s fingertips and suddenly the trees went up in flames. The other wolves ran, leaving only Stephano behind to deal with one very pissed-off witch. I’d seen Breanna use some of her magic in Wisconsin, but this was amazing. I’d heard stories about the power of witches, but nothing could have prepared me for the intensity in her eyes. Lightning strikes shook the ground and the wind howled as her chants grew louder.

  Stephano was on his back, cowering in fear. “I am a pack wolf,” he whimpered. “My Alpha will protect me.”

  A tree toppled beside Stephano. The ground shook.

  “Your Alpha ain’t got shit on me, asshole. You’d better be begging Lucas to save your worthless life, ’cause he’s the only hope you got.”

  I had no doubt Breanna would kill Stephano if I gave her the word. I wanted him dead a hundred times over, but if Breanna killed him, my father would come after her with a vengeance.

  “Lucas, what do you want me to do with him?”

  “We should leave that to the Alpha to decide,” I said, stepping closer to her.

  “Are you sure?”

  I took her hand. It was like grabbing a live electrical wire. “Yes. Because he is a pack wolf, Stephano’s life belongs to the Alpha. We do not have the right to take it without permission.”

  She narrowed her eyes and a lightning bolt struck within inches of Stephano’s groin. He screamed like a child and curled into a fetal position. When she looked at me, her eyes were still glowing. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded and she sighed.

  “Fine. I won’t kill him this time.”

  “Lucas!” My father burst from the woods with two dozen wolves at his side.

  Breanna threw a line of flames to stop their progress. My father ranted and Breanna increased the intensity of the flames so the crackling drowned out his words. She didn’t bat an eye at his anger.

  “I’m guessing
that’s the Alpha over there about to have a coronary.”

  “That would be him.”

  She bit her lip. “Not exactly the way I’d planned to meet your father.”

  She doused the flames and stood tall as Josef stormed toward us. My wolf tried to surge again and I pulled her to my side.

  “Don’t touch her.”

  Much to my relief, my father stopped in his tracks. “What is this?” he demanded. “Why did this witch attack my wolves?”

  “She didn’t attack them. They attacked me.”

  The silver was starting to burn again as my father bellowed, “Why did they attack you?”

  “It’s Stephano and some of his friends. They surrounded me here. Stephano was going to kill me until Breanna showed up.”

  She was meeting my father’s livid glare square on. “That asshole has fae silver daggers in his coat and he had one at Lucas’s throat when I got here,” she said, nodding toward the cowering Stephano.

  “Merda di toro!” my father retorted.

  “It’s not bullshit,” Breanna muttered as she marched toward Stephano.

  Stephano’s eyes widened as Breanna reached inside his coat and pulled out the two silver daggers. “You want to hold these?” she asked Josef.

  My father looked disbelievingly at the daggers. “You planted those.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “Oh for shit’s sake, will you get your head out of your ass? Either kill this piece of shit or I will.”

  “No one kills my pack wolves.”

  “Yeah, well, you should tell that to him, because he tried to kill your son. Why don’t you grow a pair and do something to help Lucas?”

  Josef stood with his mouth hanging open. Nobody ever talked to him like that. Breanna didn’t care.

  “Wolves, leave us,” Josef demanded.

  “What about dickless over there?” Breanna asked, inclining her head toward Stephano.

  “Dominic, see that Stephano is placed in the holding cell,” Josef ordered one of the wolves by his side.

  The pack separated, leaving Josef intently watching Breanna. She turned to me the moment the pack disappeared and began checking the stab wound in my side.