“Jack, I understand you and Bianca have determined you are compatible mates. You feel the blessing of the Goddess?”
Monica wasted no time.
Jack cleared his throat.
“Our wolves accept each other as such, yes,” he said, nodding to Bianca.
“I understand your Alpha has forbidden you to claim her.”
“That’s true.” He winced, knowing this next part would be hard for him to say and harder for Bianca to hear. “He believes albino genetics are inferior.”
Bianca clasped his hand. “It’s okay, Jack. You are not your brother,” she reassured him.
“Jack, Amazon Pack is not officially recognized, as you know. At the next full moon, we’ll be over eighty-five hundred wolves strong.” Monica sat down and gestured to a pair of chairs, indicating that he and Bianca do the same. “We don’t wish to compete for resources with other packs. We’re content here on our compound, and we are self-sufficient.”
“So you’ve said, but you must understand a pack of this size and strength appears as a threat,” Jack returned.
“Indeed.” She nodded. “It would be foolish for you to think otherwise, and clearly, you are not a foolish wolf. Amazon serves the Ushers. How much do you know of the mythology surrounding Bianca?”
“Not much, to be honest. I’m not a particularly religious man.” He ducked his head.
“The Mother, who we call the moon spirit or the Goddess, created wolves and gave us the blessing of the mate bond. She also created three other Were species, but they were incomplete at the time that she was trapped, so she tied them to us as Guides.” Monica nodded to the raven. “The Mother became trapped in between the spirit world and our own corporeal world. The only way she could bring us into the spirit world after death was through the metaphysical energy of the mate bond. That’s why we lose two wolves when one of a mated pair dies. That’s how ghosts came to be among us.
“Jack, I’m offering you a place in Amazon Pack. You’ll be free to claim your mate if you join us. Your rank with us would be the same as Bianca’s. As a mated pair, you could both be my Second, and you would be welcome, if Bianca agrees, of course, to serve at her side as Guardian.”
His jaw dropped. He was being offered a position of Second in a pack far larger than his own, and the freedom to seize the mate his wolf was howling to claim. It was a bold gesture of trust.
“Jack, in serving as my Second, your first job would be to convince your brother Patrick to convene a Wolves Council and petition for our acceptance. You understand that if this isn’t done, we will not have legitimacy as a pack. But legitimacy as a pack is of paramount importance to the Ushers, and Bianca’s task is somehow involved. I promised Sara we wouldn’t move forward until Bianca was mated. Now that you’re here, we need to move.”
“What exactly, is Bianca’s task, and why is a mate important?” he asked. He looked at Bianca, who held Sara on her lap, looking into the bird’s eyes. She frowned, nodded, and then set Sara on the floor. Before his eyes, the bird shifted into the beautiful woman he knew as his mate’s Guide, her skin a rich golden color and her waist-length black hair shining around her shoulders.
“Bianca’s task is to Usher in the first change,” Sara said, reaching for the robe that Kathy handed her.
“The first change?” Jack asked, looking to Bianca.
“I’m to make a sacrifice,” she recited. “And when the sacrifice is made, widowed wolves will no longer need to guide their mates to the spirit world. There will be no more ghost-wolves.”
“How?” he demanded. “This is the way of our people. It is part of the mate bond. Monica just explained how it’s the only way the Mother can guide us to the spirit world.” His mind reeled at the implications. All the packs would grow stronger—not just the one that took in every stray wolf that came to town.
“Hardly fair, brother,” he heard Kathy chastise him.
“Amazon’s acceptance will not come easily. I’m the sacrifice, Jack. Rather than living as a Guide to one wolf, I will Guide all wolves to rest.” Sara’s quiet voice wrapped around them all.
Shocked, Jack looked to Bianca. Her head was bowed, and tears were flowing freely from her eyes, but she didn’t look surprised. She knew this already. His wolf paced and howled. He hated seeing Bianca in pain. And if she was going to…
“No, you can’t!” he exploded. He dropped to his knees in front of her, caressing her face. “You love her. I can’t let you do this.”
“Jack. Bianca’s task is to gain legitimacy for Amazon.” Sara’s voice was gentle. “The majority of Amazon’s wolves are still considered ghosts by their former packs. This is a rift that needs to end, and that is her task. Hers will not be fulfilled until mine is. I’m not wolf, but my fate has been tied to the fate of wolves for a long time.”
He turned to face her. Suddenly, he felt the weight of her age. She was far older than any of them had imagined. She opened herself to him just the tiniest bit. He couldn’t see into her mind the way Bianca could, but he saw enough. Knowing the presence of the Mother. Her sadness when the Mother was trapped. Many lifetimes of loneliness. Waiting.
Watching over each generation of wolves, waiting for the Albina to arrive.
Waiting for Monica.
Waiting to establish a refuge for ghost-wolves.
As each lonely generation stretched forth, he felt her hope and despair. Her joy when Bianca was born. He felt her gratitude to Monica, her love for Bianca, and even for him. And he saw just the tiniest bit of her future, still a Guide. Waiting and watching over wolves, joined one by one by the guides of the other Ushers as they finished their tasks. He saw her kneeling at the feet of a great white wolf, one who wasn’t Bianca. “The Mother, as she should be, home in the Spirit world.” Sara’s voice confirmed his wonder.
He saw her guiding wolves into the spirit world, wolves who in the past would have taken their mates along with them by the strength of their mate-bond, or at the very least, taken the wolf-half. He saw the strength of each pack growing and the unification of all packs into one. His mind kept returning to the image of the Mother, the creator, the moon spirit. He felt Sara’s yearning to be reunited with her.
“I am tied to Bianca. When our mutual destiny is fulfilled, I will go and take my true place. It’s convoluted, and we don’t know how exactly it will play out. We know a part of me will die, but all creatures die, and I have lived a long, long time. This has to happen, Jack.” Sara’s voice was firm, and when he looked into her eyes, he saw only joy.
“I need to speak with my brother,” he said, his wolf pacing angrily in his chest.
“Go.” Monica smiled at him. “My office is through there. You won’t be disturbed.” She gestured to another set of double doors.
Once out of the room, Jack exhaled in a rush. So much had happened in that small amount of time, he didn’t quite know how to accept it. Seeing Sara’s thoughts had made him understand just how important he would be to Bianca. One way or another, she’d have to set her Guide free. With him or without him. He couldn’t let her do that alone. And the only way for him to claim her would be to leave his pack. The pack he’d been born into. The pack where all of his brothers belonged. He pulled his phone from his pocket and started dialing.
“Ted Murphy.”
He heard his younger brother’s voice on the line, and warmth filled him.
“Teddy, it’s me.”
“Jackie, what’s up, man? Paddy is being Alpha Dickhead and won’t tell us what’s going on up there.”
“I met my mate.” He felt all the yearning he had for Bianca rush into his voice. “And Paddy has forbidden me to claim her.”
“Hey, that’s fantastic about the mate thing. Congratulations. Screw Paddy and his power trip. Claim her, and be done.”
“He would take it as a challenge. Teddy, I don’t want to kill him. And I don’t want to lead Mid-Atlantic.”
“But she’s your mate. You’d never be happy screwing around with
human women the way Fionn does, one after the other in some shallow imitation of love.”
“I know. I have an alternative, and it’s looking mighty fucking sweet.”
“Okay, tell me.”
Ted had always been a good listener. Once again, Jack wished his younger brother was Alpha instead of the older brother.
“I can leave Mid-Atlantic. I can take Bianca’s—that’s her name—rank here. We’ll be Second together.”
“Second of what, a band of rogues?” Ted scoffed.
Here, Jack’s mind rebelled. More than anything, he wanted to tell his brother, his best friend, the truth.
He heard Kathy’s voice. “Tell him.”
“Butt out, sis,” he growled through their connection.
“Tell him,” he heard her voice say one more time before she bubbled away.
“Ted, she’s not just the Guardian. She’s the Albina. And the pack is eighty-five hundred strong.” He tried to keep the words calm, fearing how his brother’s wolf would hear them.
“Holy hell, dude.” Ted’s voice came across amazed, but not angry. Jack waited for the explosion.
“That’s it?” Jack was a little surprised and perplexed by his brother’s easy-going attitude.
“Yeah, that’s it. What the hell are you waiting for? Paddy’s acceptance? ’Cause you are never—ever—going to have that. Paddy has been jealous of you since the day you first changed and everyone saw you were the big bad. And back then, you deferred to him. And everyone followed him because if you, the big bad, saw something in him worth bowing down to, everyone else wanted to see that, too.
“But dude, Paddy has nothing on you. You’re stronger, smarter, faster. You’re more alpha than our Alpha. And maybe someone should have said this to you before now, but everyone thought you saw something in him that we missed. I don’t think they were right. You could be our Alpha. You could come here, kill him, claim your woman, and be Alpha. Or you could stay there, claim your woman, and be Second of what could be the most powerful pack in the world, with your brother still in power here. What the fuck are you waiting for?”
“When did you get so damned smart, Teddy?”
“I was born this way. Claim your mate. Take your place in her pack. I’ll handle Paddy.”
“I love you, bro,” Jack said, feeling the words burst out of him.
“Hey, no need to get mushy. We’re wolves and all. Just howl at me sometime.” Jack heard his younger brother’s laugh, and he ached to run with him.
“Teddy, thank you.”
“Yeah, whatever. I’ll add it to your tab. You’d better call Paddy. And Jackie. Congrats. I’m really happy for you and your mate. It’s a blessing.”
He hung up the phone. His hands buried themselves in his hair. Bianca. He wished they were already mated so that he could share the rush of feelings he felt. Fear at the prospect of severing from his pack, anticipation of belonging to her, always. Almost there, darling. He picked up his phone again for what would be one of the most difficult conversations of his life.
“Murphy.”
“Paddy, we need to talk.”
“Jack, have you found out anything new?”
His brother’s voice rushed through the telephone connection, and he felt himself bristle.
“Paddy, I am severing myself from Mid-Atlantic. I need to claim my mate.”
“You’re leaving the pack for a girl?” Paddy’s voice was incredulous.
“Patrick, you’re my big brother, and I love you. I’ve been your biggest supporter since we were kids. But you will not disrespect my mate. She is everything, and I will protect her,” he snarled.
“Damn it all, Jack, settle down,” his brother snarled back.
“Patrick Murphy, I am severing myself and my wolf from Mid-Atlantic. I will join Amazon Pack at the next full moon,” he intoned formally, knowing that as the words were said, he was losing his connection to all the other wolves who had been a part of him his whole life.
“Not all of us, big boy. You’re joining a new pack now,” Kathy reminded him.
“Thanks, little sister,” his wolf responded to her. “You going to keep me company for a week and a half?”
“You won’t need me…” He felt her slide away.
“Jack, this isn’t fucking over. But you are severed from Mid-Atlantic Pack. You are hereby stripped of rank and are considered a rogue wolf.”
Patrick’s voice carried the weight of Alpha, and Jack shuddered as he felt his connection to the pack cut. He threw his head back and howled his loss. Over the line, he heard his brother do the same. He ended the call without saying goodbye and returned to the room where the women waited for him.
“Jack.” Bianca’s face was calm, her eyes red. Sara sat next to her, holding her hand. Ellen and Kathy stood flanking Monica, who reached out to him, taking both of his hands in hers. She rubbed her cheek along his in a comforting manner.
“I will join Amazon Pack at the next full moon,” Jack said, still flinching from the loss of his pack. He met Monica’s eyes as he continued. “I believe, wholeheartedly, in what you mean to do. I severed from Mid-Atlantic Pack for you. Don’t fuck this up.”
“Thank you, Jack,” Monica said, cupping his face in her palm. “You’ll be a strong addition to our pack. Go with your mate. Spend some time together, complete the claiming, and create your bond. We’ll be here for you.”
Bianca stood and took his hand. He held to her like a life-raft. She wrapped an arm around his waist and tugged him toward the elevator. As they stumbled inside, he let his head fall to his chest, his breath tearing from him in a ragged sob against the pain. Bianca let the doors close and pushed the stop button.
“Jack.” She stroked his hair, hands feathering over the scruff of his second-day beard. “It’s going to be okay.”
His despair was palpable, a living thing that crowded them together in the elevator. Severing from a pack was agony, and most wolves would never do it willingly.
“I know, but it fucking hurts.” He gasped as if he’d just been running for his life, and she held him tightly. “I only have Kathy now.”
He felt weightless in a stomach-clenching, horrifying way, without the feel of Pack running through him. He realized this was what ghosts felt when their wolves had gone.
“No. You have me. Claim me, Jack. Mark me, and take me as yours.” She smiled, taking his hand and placing it at the back of her neck where he’d told her he’d bite her during the claiming. “When you mark me, we’ll be connected as deeply as two wolves can be, and I can anchor you until you join our pack.”
“Ahh, Bianca, I want you so much,” he said, pulling her pelvis in line with his.
“Then claim me, Jack. I have a room here, in one of the dormitories. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s mine, and we can be private there.” She tugged his face to hers, pressing her lips to his in a kiss, allowing all her passion to flow into him through that tenuous physical connection. All her reluctant yearning for a deeper connection touched him. Reaching out and releasing the stop button, she pushed the button for the ground floor as she sank into their kiss. This time, their kiss was lush and full of promise and acceptance. His sadness at leaving his pack transformed into a hunger to connect with her wolf on the deepest, most primitive level their kind knew. His teeth shifted in anticipation of the bite. He felt her run her tongue across them, and his heart swelled with tenderness.
He didn’t know how they made it out of the elevator and across the street to the dormitories without tearing each other’s clothes. It seemed to him that they barely took their hands off each other, but the next thing he knew, they were in another elevator, with a pair of giggling females watching them with bemused eyes. Bianca blushed and smiled at him. When the doors opened and she dragged him down a hall, he threw his head back and laughed a sound of tortured desperation. Agony and bliss so close together, he felt like he must be on the verge of losing his sanity. She fumbled in her pocket, producing a key ring triumphantly and man
aging to get the key in the door and turn it while he pulled her close and nipped at her ear. She groaned, forcing the door open and pulling him behind her. He pushed the door shut with his foot, and she locked it behind him.
“No more waiting, Bianca,” he said firmly, pulling her hard against him. “You’re mine.”
“You’re mine,” she replied with a smile, lavender eyes meeting his brown ones, darkened to near black with passion.
He growled, showing her his elongated fangs. The sight sent a rush of desire through her, and she clenched her legs together with a moan.
“Take off your clothes, and lay on your back on the bed,” he ordered, pointing.
Her eyes widened. She had fantasized about him as a dominant lover, and he was giving her that fantasy. With shaking fingers, she stripped off her clothes and lay down. She watched as he removed his shoes and then his shirt. He unbuttoned his jeans, and she saw his arousal. Her eyes closed, and her tongue darted out to moisten her bottom lip. His gaze, sweeping like fire across her body, made her drip with want. She tossed her head back, feeling her teeth lengthen, and a tight tingling pleasure bloomed in her.
His fingertip feathered a touch over her knee, sending another wave of heat through her. “Open your eyes, Bianca.” His voice was as rough as her breathing.
She opened them, and her breath caught. He stood naked before her, a lupine Adonis, his hard body chiseled perfection. A current of need rushed through her. Had she thought him beautiful clothed only in moonlight, in the harsh reality of a single fluorescent fixture, rather than exposing flaws, his perfection was confirmed. Rather than looking weary and wan in the shadow of severance, he looked fierce—voracious.
“Jack, you’re beautiful,” she said, meaning it with every fiber of her soul.
“I have nothing on you, Bianca. You’re my home now.” His voice was a caress, achingly sweet and sensual.
He lay down beside her on the bed, tracing her face with one finger. As he passed it over her lush bottom lip, she nipped at it. He felt a surge of heat and tenderness as he felt the sharpened tips of her teeth. His mate. His wolf was at the very edge, pushing his need forward, and he could see hers shimmering about her eyes. Slowly, he began caressing her beautiful body, running one hard hand down her belly and then up her side and over one perfect breast. She arched into his hand, and he teased at the nipple with his thumb, a light caress, feeling the little nub stiffen under his hand. He didn’t take his eyes from hers as he treated the other nipple to the same light touch. Impatient, she grabbed his hands, knocking him off balance as she pressed them hard onto her breasts, holding them to her as she worked them in tight circles. He smiled into her eyes, and she let go of his hands as he continued the caresses. She reached for his chest, running her fingers over it, flicking his own nipples with her fingers and feeling them harden. Her eyes rolled back a bit as she groaned. He could feel how turned on she was, heat radiating off her in waves. The scent of her arousal wrapped around them, the smell of musky feminine fantasy.
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