A second howl sounded, her alpha again, this one even more urgent.
Ruby started to run, moving faster. This wasn’t like when he’d called them back for the meeting. This was a command, an instruction to them all to return now. Something was going down, back home, and by the fact it was the middle of the night, and their alpha was howling for them, she didn’t think it was good.
As she got closer to the compound, other wolves began to run alongside her, all having heard the call. She recognized each of them, as they’d all grown up together at Dark Ridge. The two wolves flanking her were an older wolf, Henry, and another female wolf in her twenties, called Sara. They both whined their concerns at her, perhaps thinking she would know more, considering her connections, but there was nothing she could tell them.
Ruby made it back to where she’d left her bundle of clothing, shifted to human, and quickly dressed. She joined the others, all in human form now, as they entered the compound. They moved at a trickle, people running back to the meeting house, where their alpha still howled them in.
Ruby kept her eyes open for Holton and Joel. Joel had left before them, so should have made it back sooner. Holton had been behind Ruby, but he was bigger and faster and could have easily overtaken her on the way here. The forest was thick enough for her not to have noticed him.
She reached the meeting house and spotted Florence standing alone. She hurried over, hoping her friend was still talking to her.
“Hey,” she said in a hiss, nudging an elbow into Florence’s slender waist. “Are you still speaking to me?”
Flo turned to face her. “Course I am, silly. I get that this whole thing is stressing you out.”
“So I’m forgiven?”
“Yeah, you’re forgiven.”
The two young women quickly embraced, and then stepped apart again.
Ruby’s uncle had stopped howling, but she couldn’t see him. He must have gone back inside. Others were already gathered, everyone nervous, and speaking in low tones to one another.
“Do you know what’s going on?” Flo asked her.
She shook her head. “Your guess is as good as mine, but it doesn’t feel good.”
It didn’t feel good at all.
Gregory finally emerged in human form from the meeting house, Holton right behind him. Gregory was a bald-headed, bull-like man, with a thick neck and shoulders twice as wide as his hips. His mate, Valerie, a skinny, blonde woman who was known for her sharpness of tongue, slipped out of the meeting house and stood at his left shoulder. Ruby had no love for the older woman. Sometimes, she felt like it was only because Gregory was her uncle and alpha that she had any affection for him. He may have raised her, but he was cold and emotionless, and didn’t always make choices that were best for the pack. It had sickened Ruby when he’d gone after Holton and Joel’s sister, Alyssa, especially as Alyssa was two years younger than she was herself. She tried not to question her alpha’s decisions, but on that occasion she’d hoped it had all been a big mistake. It appeared Gregory was trying to make things right again by mating her and Holton, and mending the crack his actions had created.
A sudden thought occurred to her. Perhaps whatever was happening now was linked back to Alyssa running away. Could this be retribution?
She caught sight of Joel, standing to one side, and deliberately not looking at her. She couldn’t hold it against him. After telling him what she had, she wouldn’t blame him if he never spoke to her again.
On the platform outside of the meeting house, Gregory lifted his hands, and the small crowd grew quiet. “I apologize for interrupting your night as wolf for a second time, but I couldn’t risk you all being out there, possibly alone. Tonight, one of our own, Chance Nickoli,” he mentioned a young, male wolf in his mid-twenties, “was attacked by a couple of outsider wolves.”
Movement came from behind their alpha, and the attacked man, Chance, was brought forward, helped to stand by a couple of other male shifters—Gavin Toller and Henry Fields.
With curly light brown hair and hazel eyes, Chance was an attractive male shifter, someone who’d caught Ruby’s eye on the odd occasion, though at twenty-five, he was several years older than her. However, it was impossible to notice his good looks with the mask of blood the dripped down his face from a massive gash in his cheek. Other wounds—all of which looked like claw marks—had been ton across his chest and legs. The clothing he wore had been shredded.
Cries of shock and horror rose up among the pack.
Ruby’s heart rate thundered, but while she experienced the same dismay as her packmates, confusion also filled her. Why was her uncle parading Chance on stage like this? Shouldn’t the poor guy be getting some medical treatment?
As though her uncle had read her thoughts, he nodded to Sara Weber, one of the female pack members who acted as their doctor in the compound. “Please, help him,” his uncle said to her, and she darted forward to assist the two men with the hurt shifter. Together, they retreated into the meeting house, where Ruby knew they’d leave by the back in order to take Chance to Sara’s house. Sara had given up her front room to be used as her treatment room, and any sick or injured shifters were taken there for her to work on.
Shifters healed faster than regular humans, but the healing wasn’t instantaneous. Injuries as bad as the one’s Chance had suffered may take a week or more to completely heal, and he’d probably be left with scars for months.
Gregory’s attention had returned to his audience. “I’m sorry to have shown you the mess Chance is in, but I wanted you all to understand how serious this is. A couple of our pack members managed to chase the outsiders off, but if they hadn’t been around, I don’t like to imagine what might have happened. The problem is, this isn’t an isolated situation. We’ve also had reports of strange wolves spotted in a completely different area as well. This means we possibly have the situation that wolves from another pack are scouting this area for a new territory. I want to put a couple of teams of our strongest wolves together to go and warn them off.”
Ruby’s gaze moved from her uncle to the man standing right behind him. Holton wore faded, soft jeans, and a close-fitted, black t-shirt. His long, dark hair was loose around his shoulders, and a serious expression caused his thick brows to draw together. He appeared strong and in control.
How had I ever thought he was brutish?
She had no doubt that one of the wolves included in the group would be Holton. What if he got hurt? They knew nothing about the wolves who were scouting their territory. They might have been turfed out of their own packs, for all they knew, homeless and hungry, and willing to fight for what they wanted. Perhaps that would be a better situation than if they were scouts for an entire pack. The Dark Ridge wolves could fight off a couple of rogue wolves, but if it came down to pack against pack—men, women and even children—it would mean war.
Her uncle continued. “I need everyone else to stay inside the compound borders until we can assess the threat.” A combined groan rose up from the crowd. They only got a couple of nights a month where they could shift comfortably and spend time in wolf-form in the forest. To lose even part of one of those nights was disappointing.
“I know, I know,” Gregory said. “I feel the same way, but it would be on my head if someone else was attacked. Sacrificing one night of running in order to keep our home, and each other, safe is nothing in the grand scheme of things. So please, unless I call on you now, go home and stay safe.”
More murmurs rose among the crowd.
“Those to stay behind: Gavin and Lee Toller, Stephen Janson, Ronny Halt, Joel Golding, Henry Fields, and Jax Pritchard. Everyone else, go home and stay alert, but try not to worry.”
Ruby glanced to Holton. His name hadn’t been called, but she assumed he already knew he would be part of the crew going out to find and warn off the strange wolves.
“Come on,” said Flo from beside her. “We need to go home.”
Ruby shook her head. “I’m not going anywher
e. I’m going to be the beta-female soon, remember, and I’m not going to just hide away while everyone else goes out to fight.”
“It’s not everyone. It’s just a select few.”
“Yeah, and they’re all men, as if us women aren’t as capable of fighting as they are.”
Flo rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to fight everything, Ruby. Sometimes it’s okay to let others step up. You saw what those rogue wolves did to Chance.”
“I did, which is even more reason that they should have more of our pack out there finding the wolves responsible.”
“Well, I’m going home. There’s no way I want to get caught in the middle of this.”
“Fine, but don’t you dare tell anyone I didn’t go home, too.”
Her friend shook her head at her in dismay. “What am I going to do with you, Ruby?”
“Nothing. You don’t have to do anything. Just stay quiet, okay?”
“Okay, okay, but stay safe.”
“I will. I’ll have Holton protecting me, remember?”
Flo rolled her eyes again, Ruby assumed at her ever-changing mind, and then turned away to hurry home.
Ruby knew she wouldn’t be the only female member of the pack feeling this way. Just because she was a woman didn’t mean she wasn’t perfectly capable of fighting.
As she’d suspected, a couple of the other young women stayed behind, while everyone else drifted off, heading home. They would argue their cases, but Gregory wouldn’t listen. He was still in the dark ages when it came to male and female equality. He saw women as being the weaker of the species, there to be protected, and to raise children and keep a home. He was more than happy to have the female members of the pack run chores for him, but when it came to giving them jobs of any importance, he’d rather they stayed at home.
Ruby knew she’d never win the fight with Gregory.
Instead, she sneaked around the back of the meeting house. Holton was in conversation with a couple of the other men, Joel included.
“Psst,” she hissed at him.
He looked toward her and she jerked her chin to call him over. Joel had also spotted her, but the younger brother had glanced away, perhaps finally realizing she had become none of his concern.
“Ruby,” Holton said, his voice low, as he approached. “What are you doing here?”
“I want to come with you.”
He shook his head. “Not happening.”
“I can fight just as well as you.”
He cocked an eyebrow.
“Well, I can fight as well as Joel, at least,” she corrected. “If he gets to go, why can’t I?”
“This isn’t some fun outing, Ruby. A man has been hurt.”
“Exactly why it’s better to have more wolves on board. You have no idea how many strange wolves are out there. Having an extra set of eyes might be helpful. I’m a shifter, Holton, not some helpless little girl.”
“Gregory doesn’t think so.”
She snorted. “Since when do you take everything Gregory says as gospel?” She stared at him. “Take me with you, or I’ll put up a real fight against our mating tomorrow night.”
He scowled. “You’re a royal pain in the ass, did you know that?”
“Yep, and don’t expect that to change when we’re mated. You’ll just be stuck with me then.”
He gave a frustrated sigh. “Fine, but don’t let your uncle see you. Meet me on the north-east point of the compound, and we’ll go into the forest from there.”
“What about the other wolves in your group?” She worried about someone reporting back to her uncle.
“They know better than to go behind my back about anything.”
“Holton?” A male voice called from the meeting house.
Holton glanced toward the call and then back at her. “I’ll meet you there in ten,” he said, and then disappeared back into the building.
A thrill of excitement ran through her. Not only had she convinced Holton to see things her way, she was also about to go on a hunt for strange wolves. There was only one other time when she’d come across wolves not in her pack, and that was shortly before her parents had been killed. Perhaps the thought of doing so again should send her scurrying away with fear, but life was too mundane as it was, living their lives in this one place, only having contact with people they’d known their whole lives. Ruby loved her pack more than anything—they were the family unit she’d never really had—but, sometimes, a little excitement wasn’t a bad thing.
Chapter Eight
Holton had no intention of meeting Ruby.
As soon as he didn’t show up, she’d have to go back home where she would be safe. Gregory would have been furious if he discovered Holton had taken his niece out into a dangerous situation. It wasn’t that Holton didn’t think Ruby was more than capable of handling herself, but he didn’t want to upset things right now. If Gregory decided he didn’t want Holton to mate Ruby, Holton would lose an advantage that would help him in succeeding Gregory as alpha. Plus, he had to admit the thought of mating Ruby drove him crazy. It had taken all of his self control not to have fucked her already, especially when she’d been all wild and naked in the forest. His animal instinct had been to jump her, there and then, but his human part had held back, thank God.
“Are you ready?” Joel asked, his eyes narrowed.
Holton wished Gregory had put Joel with a different group. Was his alpha so completely unaware of what had been going on between Joel and Ruby over the last few months—hell, years even? It may have been just a little flirtation in Ruby’s mind, but it was all so much more serious for Joel. Holton felt bad that he’d helped to break his brother’s heart, but better that than they mated the wrong people and be forced to live with that for the rest of their lives. Badly paired matings only ever ended in misery.
“Yes, I’m ready. Let’s go get the fucker who hurt Chance.”
Two other shifters joined them, Stephen and Ronny. They were both tough guys, a little older than Holton. They both had their own families, and were settled in their ways, but they were willing to fight for the pack.
The other group of the same size meant eight shifters in total.
Gregory approached. “What are you waiting for? Those sons-of-bitches might have gotten away by now.”
Holton narrowed his eyes. “Which group are you joining?”
“I’m not. Someone needs to be here to co-ordinate things if an attack happens here in the compound.”
“No one is going to get through us. We’ll scent them long before they do.”
Gregory glowered at him for questioning his authority, staring at Holton, daring him to do so again.
Holton knew he didn’t need to. He’d already said enough to plant the seed of doubt in everyone else’s minds. Gregory was getting older, fearful, weak. His encounter with the shifter who’d stolen Alyssa away had already highlighted this. Gregory had been unable to bring Alyssa home, had been beaten by a rogue shifter. It was just the start of Gregory’s downfall. Gregory might have been a strong alpha once upon a time, but he was getting old and selfish.
“Even so,” Gregory continued, holding his stare, “the compound needs a leader, a captain at the ship’s helm. Unless you think you’re unable to manage without me, of course.”
Touché, thought Holton.
“We’ll be fine,” he said instead. “If—when—we find the rogue wolves, do you want them brought here?”
“No. I don’t want them learning any more about our compound than they already know. If you can, just teach them a lesson and send them on their way.”
Holton nodded to show he understood. He wasn’t worried for a second about their ability to send any strange wolves running. He jerked his head at Joel, Stephen, and Ronny, and they all left without another word.
Rather than heading to the part of the compound where he’d told Ruby to meet him, they headed west. As soon as they hit the perimeter, the men quickly removed their clothing, dropping the items into pil
es where they stood. Naked, focusing only on the task ahead, they started forward at a run, shifting as they went.
Holton felt his joints and limbs change as he moved from man to beast. It was such a fluid process at this time of the month, but he could think of no other time where he had shifted so often during the course of one night. Normally, he would take on the shape of his wolf for the night, and run and hunt until morning, but this night, it seemed, wouldn’t be the same as previous ones.
As they ran, his brother at his side, he remained alert for any sound or scent of a strange wolf. They were headed back to the spot where Chance had been found, planning on tracing any trail from there.
Holton did his best to focus on the task at hand, and yet he found his thoughts constantly turning to Ruby. Would she have realized he wasn’t going to show up yet? She’d be furious when she did, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. By the time he returned to the compound, he’d have taken care of the threat, and she could bitch and moan at him all she liked. She would be safe, then, and they could get on with their lives and their mating tomorrow night.
No, he realized. It won’t be tomorrow night, now. They were already into the early hours of the morning, so he and Ruby would be mated tonight. Assuming, of course, everything went well now, and she wasn’t so mad at him that she refused to be mated. She couldn’t exactly use this as an excuse with her alpha, however. Gregory would never listen to her complaints, and would tell him he’d done the right thing by not allowing her to come along.
The scent of blood suddenly assaulted his sensitive nose, making his nostrils flare. He recognized the special tang of shifter blood. They must be near the spot where Chance had been attacked.
He put his hackles up and growled a warning to the others. They’d all scented it, too. The attackers may well have run off but, depending on how desperate they were, they might also be nearby, keeping watch.
If the reek hadn’t been so strong, he’d have been able to focus on trying to pick up the smell of any strange wolves. He needed to be able to track them, but the rich aroma of blood had taken over his senses.
Wolf Torn: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Dark Ridge Wolves Book 2) Page 4
