by Lori King
“KJ has never even met her grandfather, why do you think she knows where the gold mine is?”
The question seemed to stop Nicolas in his tracks. “It’s a fortune in gold, and it’s been willed to her, why wouldn’t she know?”
“Like I said, she didn’t have a relationship with her grandfather, so until you mentioned it to her, she didn’t even know that there was a gold mine.”
“Hmm…well that does change things a bit, doesn’t it? I suppose I could just kill her and take whatever is hers based on her having no living heirs, or I could make you wake Tasha and drag her dying ass back to Alaska, hoping she would survive it—”
“Or I can slit your fucking throat you fucking asshole.” Bryson’s voice echoed viciously through the room, followed by a gurgle and the sound of air escaping lungs. Thomas wasn’t sure if the sound came from Tina who was suddenly released, or from Nicolas, whose throat now gaped open. He watched in astonishment, as Bryson slid his knife into the wound, and held it there, staring straight into his ex-Alpha’s eyes. “You can’t shift with a knife in your throat, which means we get to watch you die a slow, painful death. Better start praying you bleed out fast.”
Kaplan’s eyes rolled up in his head, and his face drained of blood just before he slumped over Bryson’s arm. Bryson jumped back letting the dead man fall to the ground, and cursed.
“Fuck, that was supposed to take longer. Tell me, Tom, why is it that they die so much slower in the movies?”
Thomas laughed, and gave Bryson a one-armed hug. “Because man, they need the dramatic moment to keep the viewers happy. Well done. How did you know he was here?”
Bryson tapped his nose and then his temple. “Intuition first. I grew up watching Evan and Nicolas. I know all of their tricks, and when I walked back through the hallway after everyone spread out I caught his scent. And then I heard you in my head, praying that I would keep KJ safe. Dude, really? Like you even have to ask something like that? Of course I would keep her safe.”
Thomas shook his head at the reminder that wolf mates seem to be able to form a unique ability to hear each other’s thoughts. What a weird weird world he had joined.
“Bryson, he said that his pack was here!” Caroline said from behind Thomas. He turned to the pregnant woman and took in her pale face.
“Take it easy, Caro. Stress isn’t good for the babies. Bryson, you’ll have to be our liaison, as we have a surgery to accomplish.”
“You got it, Tommy-boy. Be right back.” Bryson was gone before Thomas could say any more, and he turned back to Caroline and Tina.
“Are you two okay to do this?”
When they both nodded, Thomas had to force himself to push everything else out of his brain, and focus on the patient in front of him. “Okay, let’s re-sterilize everything, and get rid of the body. I’m not risking it when she’s so close to death as it is.”
The dead man lay on the floor behind him, his blood staining the once-pristine beige carpet, but not one of the three wolves felt remorse for him. What was done was done, and Nicolas Kaplan deserved what he got.
Tina and Thomas lifted Nicolas and drug him into the hallway, before returning to the bathroom to change their surgical gowns, and rescrub. By the time they returned, Caroline had sanitized as much as possible, and had the new surgical tools waiting.
Taking one last deep breath to steady himself, Thomas let his training take over, and he went to work.
Bryson made it as far as the front lawn before he heard the laughter in the woods. Shifting into his wolf, he bounded in the direction of the noise only to find about twenty of his former pack members surrounded by fifty or so Gray and Diego Pack wolves. His old pack mates looked terrified, and his new pack mates looked pleased as hell. A shiver went through him as he wondered if the Diego Pack wolves had been informed that he was on the good side now. If not, this could get messy fast. Shifting back into his skin he moved closer to the circle, and Devin turned around to greet him.
“Ah, Bryson there you are. See, these gentlemen tell me that they are here on Gray Pack land in search of a lost wolf. Did you realize you were lost?” Devin asked with a grin.
Bryson relaxed when he realized that his new pack mates weren’t going to turn on him, or allow his old pack mates access to him. “I’m not lost, but I appreciate the thought. I didn’t figure many of them even knew my name.”
“Traitor!” someone yelled from the middle of the circled up wolves.
“Traitor? Really? Just who exactly did I betray?” Bryson asked, forcing his face into a frown of curiosity. He still had Nicolas’s blood all over his hands, and he knew they could smell it in the air. “The way I see it, with Nico dead, there isn’t anyone left to give out commands, which means that I’ve betrayed no one.”
“I would agree with that,” Damon hollered back from across the group. “So boys, now that the worm has been removed from your apple, are you going to get the fuck off of our land, or are we going to have to force you out.”
“How do we know Nico is really dead?” The wolf speaking was a good wolf that had been loyal to his leader, and wouldn’t be happy without proof. Bryson held his hands out for inspection.
“I know you smell it. That’s the scent of death, and it’s all over my hands because I cut his throat myself. No one will threaten my mate and live to tell about it,” Bryson said calmly. More than one of the Kaplan wolves shuddered at his threat, and they began to grumble to each other.
The pseudoleader turned and faced Bryson down for several moments before he nodded. “We’ll go, but let us take his body back home. If we don’t his Alpha will never believe he’s dead.”
“Done,” Devin said before Bryson could respond. “Cash, Noah, Liam get the body and give it to them. If you’re not at least ten miles from my land by sunset, we’ll finish this the hard way.”
With that, Devin turned and walked to Bryson’s side, clapping him on the back. “So you killed him?”
Bryson grinned. “Slit his throat before he could even blink.”
“What kind of moron thinks he can sneak into a pack den?” The man who spoke was taller than Bryson, and broad as a barn. His dark hair, darker eyes, and golden skin coloring bespoke a Hispanic heritage. His accent confirmed it. Before Bryson could respond, a second man just barely shorter than the first stepped to his side.
“Is your pack always so dramatic, Gray?”
Devin laughed and shook his head. “Sure has been lately.”
“See what happens when you add women into the mix,” Owen said with a shrug of his shoulders. All of the men laughed, and the shorter of the new men pointed at him.
“Don’t say that, you’ll jinx yourself.” He turned to Bryson and held out his hand. “Hello to you, Bryson Samuels, I’m Cadence Diego.”
Bryson shook his hand and they all headed back to the Alpha cabin. The men chatted for a while on the front lawn, swapping stories of what had occurred both in Quiver Creek, and back at the Gray Pack den.
More than an hour later, Bryson suddenly caught KJ’s scent and looked up to find Thomas and KJ on the porch wrapped in each other’s arms.
“Looks like the surgery must have been a success,” Damon said and everyone laughed. Bryson shot forward with a low growl, reaching his mates in record time.
“Well? How did it go?”
KJ turned teary eyes up to him, but her face was covered in a beautiful smile. “She made it through surgery!” Bryson swung her around in his arms with a laugh, and hugged her tight.
“That’s fantastic, peaches!”
“She’s not out of the woods yet, but I was able to get the bullet and all of the necrotic tissue that I could find. There was a lot of infection, but she shifted just a few minutes ago, so now we wait and hope her body heals itself.” Thomas filled in everyone as they reached the porch.
“That’s the second best news I’ve heard all day,” Devin said. “Nicolas Kaplan is dead. The Diego Pack challenge is completed, and Tasha made it thr
ough surgery. Shit, it’s been a long week.”
KJ looked up at Bryson and winked. “Yes, it has, and I’m thinking we should go to bed…to rest.”
She took off into the woods, shifting into her beautiful, golden-colored wolf, and Thomas was only a second behind her, shifting into his large black wolf as he ran. Bryson watched them disappear in awe at the beauty of their pairing.
“Hey, man, I’m not one to give advice, but I would suggest you join them. Otherwise Doc is going to be getting all the good stuff,” Noah said from behind Bryson, sending all of the other men into roars of laughter.
Bryson hit the ground running to meet his mate and his partner. This life was a dream come true compared to the life he had before, and he intended to enjoy every moment of it.
THE END
WWW.LORIKINGBOOKS.WORDPRESS.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lori King is an everyday woman, born and raised right smack in the middle of the country in the ever-conservative state of Kansas. She juggles three sons, a husband, a dog, a turtle, and way too many extra-curricular activities to mention. Writing is a way of stepping outside of the real world, and embracing something new and different for her. A hopeless romantic, she spends her days dreaming up Alpha men, and her nights telling their stories while always looking for the happily ever after. Find out more about her current projects at www.LoriKingBooks.wordpress.com.
For all titles by Lori King, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/lori-king
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
