A door downstairs banged—either open or closed, it didn’t matter—and Jasmine’s lesson was about to be put to the test.
Chapter Twelve
Matteo
There was a time I took running as a wolf with my brother for granted. Now it was a blessing. One day, we’d have a chance to sit down over beers and talk about everything that happened in our time apart. I knew the overview—he’d been treated as a slave and tortured until he claimed his mate and killed his captor—but there a lot of details that still needed to be filled in. He was much stronger now, surer of his moves. He’d always been smart and fast, that was how he got the attention of all the college football recruiters, but now he had the confidence to back it up.
Marcus was a wolf who’d stared death in the face and made it blink first.
“Got any idea what we’re looking for?” I waited to ask him until we left the ladies at the condo. Human and vulnerable. I had a feeling he might talk a little more freely when his mate wasn’t around. “Because something tells me you didn’t come all this way just to watch the game with me.”
“I was hoping to be in the stands and cheer you on as you played. A Shaw on the field during the Championship game would’ve been the ultimate fuck you to the Montana pack.” He shook his head, and then took a second to sniff the air. “I wish I could’ve killed them all that day on Bald Mountain. That way we could rule them out. But I’ve got to tell you, I don’t think it’s them. It wasn’t them who showed up at the shelter, either. After seven years, their scent is a stink that will burn my nose forever. I didn’t smell them then, and I don’t smell them now.”
I eyed him, as the fur rose on both our backs rose with another howl. “Who do you smell?”
He sniffed again. “It’s familiar, but I can’t place it. Could be an enemy of Montana. Someone who wants revenge against Coach Williams. Which would explain why the team thought it was too risky to bring you to the game, and why they’re targeting us now the twins are our mates.”
“Coach Williams denounced the Montana pack before the girls were born. He’s been high profile for his entire career. Whoever this is, wants you or me.” The scent was getting closer. Surrounding us like a wall, and if we didn’t fight, it would crush us. “They smell familiar to me too.”
We charged forward. Inaction wouldn’t do jack shit for us if these wolves meant to attack. I had to stay focused, but at the same time, I racked my brain to figure who the hell would be familiar the both of us. We hadn’t seen each other in seven years.
“Fuck,” I huffed, letting the growl slip out. “I know who it is.”
“You do?” Marcus skidded to a stop in the snow.
“You remember Carlos, Javier, and Rick from our old pack.” My heart was thundering. The guys had thought I was a fool to pursue football. Insane to walk onto the big stage and put myself out there when the Montana pack still wanted our blood. Truth be told, the Alaska Bloodhounds wasn’t the first team I tried to walk onto. They were the first ones who didn’t tell me to get the fuck off their property.
I refused to keep living my life in the shadows. The Montana pack had taken too much from me, and I planned to get it back.
“Of course I do... Yeah.” Marcus hugged out a breath. “That’s where I know that smell.”
I shook my head. “Proceed with caution. I haven’t seen them in a couple years. They wanted me to lay low and not draw attention to myself. They thought I’d never play at the professional level.”
And they were right.
“I hope the remaining guys in the Montana pack didn’t get to them when they came to Sawtooth,” Marcus said. “And are using them like they used me.”
I never considered that. After the attack, the guys spent all their time protecting themselves. Playing defense. But I knew that things could change in the blink of an eye. Even more than protection, the remaining members of my pack, the ones who’d gone rogue and swore they’d never follow another alpha, those wolves were interested in survival.
We all learned long ago that never didn’t mean forever.
The first flash of fur was visible between the trees. The shining reflection of another wolf eye. The challenge clear in his rumble.
I didn’t have time to ask questions. I charged. It had been a long time since I played offense. Marcus ran ahead, seasoned in fighting for his life.
“Matteo!” It had been too long since I’d heard Carlos’ voice. “Call your wolf off. It’s us. Carlos. Javier. Rick.”
Marcus stopped dead in his tracks, and I approached the wolves, making sure they were who they said they were. The scent was right, but they could’ve been a decoy. The sacrificial front line for a bunch of shit we really weren’t prepared to deal with.
“It’s Marcus,” I said. “My brother.”
“Is it?” Javier stepped forward, sniffing the air around my brother. “He’s supposed to be dead.”
“You didn’t talk to the right people,” Marcus growled. “You didn’t talk to the Sawtooth pack.”
“We did,” Rick said. “There are a lot of wolves on the fringes of the forest that aren’t happy with the new pack leadership. They mingle with the humans too much. They have human mates. They’re planning an uprising—”
“No.” Marcus cut him off before they gave us the information we needed. “The pack welcomed me in. They’re working for the good of the pack, freeing the females from being sold to whoever can buy them.”
“Not everyone wants that,” Carlos said. “I know it’s the right thing, but wolves are creatures of habit. Even if those habits can kill them.”
Marcus was quiet, dragging his paw through the snow. “I’ll fight. I finally have a pack again, and I don’t plan on losing this one.”
I didn’t even have to think about it. “I’ll fight with you.” I looked at the three wolves who most likely saved my life, and now I was about to find out if they’d do it all over again. “You in?”
Carlos had emerged as the alpha since I’d been gone. At one time, before everything got ripped to shreds, it was assumed that title would go to my brother. I was older than him, but he was stronger, coyer. Now he knew a thing or two about justice too. Carlos looked at the other two wolves, sizing up their reactions. Then his gaze landed squarely on Marcus, like he wasn’t sure he believed it was really him. Spending seven years on the run was enough to make anyone paranoid.
“We’ll fight for you, Matteo.” Carlos huffed out a sigh. “As long as Marcus is who he says he is.”
Marcus rumbled. I hated our own guys questioning him as much as he did. But he was the only one who’d found a pack. One that might not be looking to welcome new members, until they found out they had yet another war on their hands.
“Come back to my condo,” I said, ignoring Marcus’ protest. “Once you see him in his human form, you won’t have any questions.”
“These wolves are the reason you’re watching the game on TV.” Marcus glared at Carlos.
“These wolves used to be our pack. Pack is forever. I would think you, of all animals, would appreciate that.”
I’m worried, Marcus said only to me. They’re here at the wrong time. Causing trouble for both of us. Are you sure we can trust these guys?
The problem was, I wasn’t sure. They’d come a long way from South Dakota, where they’d been happy to hide. What drew them out? Tempers were too high right now. I used to think I could read a wolf better than a man. But they had some information that made them doubt Marcus and his pack.
I knew what it felt like to lose everything. And if I could have my pack back, my brother back, that was worth fighting for.
These guys had my back for a long time. Had they come in warning, or would they take everything from me?
I’m willing to give them a chance.
Chapter Thirteen
Jessica
Growing up in a shifter family, naked people were no big deal. Shifters shed their clothes when they transformed into their animal. The sight of Matteo’s bare bo
dy always took my breath away, but the three men that followed him and Marcus into the condo were what really made me gasp.
Jasmine grabbed my arm. We were at the top of the stairs in the condo. “Who the hell are they?” she asked between clenched teeth.
I shook my head. My gaze was locked on Matteo, wishing we had mate telepathy.
“Can you throw some clothes down to us?” he asked, his normally silver eyes way too dark.
Jasmine followed me into the bedroom.
“Something’s wrong,” she said quietly. “I have a bad feeling about those guys.”
“No shit.” I didn’t have to ever be a wolf to feel the bad vibes. “Good thing we have the camera crew. It might not stop things from going down, but visual evidence is pretty powerful.”
She sat on the bed, grabbing the pile of T-shirts I’d taken out of Matteo’s drawer and hugging them against her, like she didn’t want to normalize these strange men by giving them access to clothes. Interesting how her instincts changed. She’d do whatever it took to get a homeless pet to their forever home, but when a wolf threatened, she was ready to fight.
Now was not the time for a pang of jealousy, but here it was. I would’ve much rathered an appearance from my wolf.
“They’re human, so the playing field is even. Our guys are outnumbered—”
“Wow. You’re like taking off your earrings and cracking your knuckles, ready to fight.”
“Those are the men who came into the shelter, asking strange questions. Now they’re in Alaska. If they meant well, there are literally a thousand ways they could’ve gotten in touch with Matteo that didn’t involve getting him removed from the Championship game or drawing him into the forest for a fight on Championship night.”
“What do you think the game has to do with it?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Maybe it was their only chance to get the brothers alone.”
That suggestion made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “We better get these clothes downstairs before it just gets weird.”
“Jessica.” She stopped me before I left the room. “No matter what happens, I consider you part of the pack.”
I nodded. My twin had just given me a get out of jail free card for being a human liability. Thank you didn’t exactly seem like the appropriate response.
Steeling myself as I descended the stairs, I handed the pile of clothes to Matteo, but took a decadent moment to lean over the athletic pants and T-shirts to give him a kiss. It wasn’t just a peck on the lips, lingering a moment longer than these strangers were probably comfortable with, it was a message. I had no idea who these wolves were, but if they thought they could take everything away from Matteo, they were wrong.
I wasn’t going anywhere. I might never shift, but it didn’t change what I felt for this man. Pure instinct, protection, those weren’t just wolf instincts. Humans called it love, and it was the thing we all strived for.
“We’ll give you boys a moment to get dressed,” I said like my voice wasn’t shaking. “I’ll reheat the food and we can start the game.”
“Sounds good.” Matteo’s voice was still husky, like his shift wasn’t complete yet. He looked like a man, but he was thinking like a wolf. “But before we do that, we need to talk. And I need to introduce you to my packmates.”
Jasmine raised a skeptical eyebrow sky high, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Packmates?”
Marcus nodded, and her eyebrow drew away from her hairline. “This is Carlos, Javier, and Rick. We were all pack before the night we got attacked. These guys escaped with Matteo.”
Okay. Not what I was expecting at all. “I’d shake your hand, but you’re naked, and we’re not that close.”
One of the men nodded, the relief plain on his face.
“If they’re your pack, why did they leave you for dead?” Jasmine asked.
“Because we thought Marcus was dead. I checked in our house, and there was so much blood. No sign of his body. If these guys left without me, I risked the same fate,” Matteo said. “But the problem is, they still think he’s dead.”
Marcus’s face reappeared after he’d pulled on his sweatshirt. His suitcase had been left in the living room. Jasmine pointed to him. “Definitely not dead.”
“Right.” Marcus put his arm around Jasmine. “They don’t believe I am who I say I am.”
A chill went down my spine. The night Jasmine shifted and was captured, Marcus had emerged as a savior. Had he not claimed my sister, she’d be dead. And probably not the easy, quick kind of dead. He claimed he’d been enslaved by the Montana pack, but they didn’t put up that much of a fight for him. And when Marcus killed their leader, they ran.
I looked at Matteo. “Who do they think he is?”
“You don’t have to talk about him like he’s not in the room, Jessica,” Jasmine rumbled. The guys might be human, but she was about to go full-on wolf any second.
“That’s what we came here to find out.” He sat on the couch and motioned for me to sit beside him.
I hated that I hesitated.
My mind was going a million miles a minute. Matteo had sought out Marcus after seeing a video Jasmine made for the animal shelter she worked at. It was the two of them and a pair of cockatiels—Harry and Lola, who we’d met in Granger Falls—who had to be adopted together because they were a bonded pair. Cute bird clips were interspersed with even cuter clips of Jasmine and Marcus on a date. Didn’t exactly seem like the type of thing my big bad wolf watched in his free time, but I hadn’t questioned it. The video had gone viral, and the shelter was bringing in animals from kill shelters in other states to keep up with the adoption demands. Basically, there was no way Matteo hadn’t seen the video.
But what if these wolves weren’t who they claimed they were? Matteo had no football history, but players with no history simply did not get as good as him. I’d watched a lot of football in my life. Sat in the room while my dad broke down film. Listened to my mom talk about the nuances of why certain players became stars and others never played more than a season. Matteo Shaw was a once in a generation player that football fans would wax poetic about for years.
He couldn’t explain his past, and these strange wolves, who I had no reason to trust, claimed Marcus was a liar.
Never more thankful for twin telepathy than I was at that moment, I gave Jasmine the stare. The one that would make her hear my thoughts. She was already settled in next to Marcus, and the only response she gave me was a shudder.
I don’t think she cared who he was. She was too infatuated to possibly see a way out.
But moments before, I’d laid claim to Matteo with that kiss. Who did I trust, the man who was very slowly opening his heart to me, or those who called him a liar?
By settling next to him, I chose a side.
“Why is it a problem if Marcus isn’t who he says he is?”
“You can never trust the Montana pack,” Carlos, the lead wolf said. “If he’s not Marcus, then their wolf claimed Coach Williams’ daughter.”
Jasmine bristled, shaking her head. I could practically taste her shift. I was just numb.
“We killed the alpha of the Montana pack. We could rule that pack,” she said.
“But you chose to follow another alpha,” Carlos said. “Why? Are you looking to do to the Sawtooth pack what was done to my pack?” His gaze landed squarely on Marcus.
“I wanted revenge.”
“You could’ve taken it,” one of the other wolves said. “So why did you let them run?”
“Because I’d never rule out of fear and hatred. And I can tell you, I hate the Montana pack.”
Carlos nodded.
“You could’ve dealt with this in Sawtooth forest,” Matteo said. “But you’re here, in Alaska, and so am I, when I’m supposed to be playing in the Championship. So maybe you can tell me why I’m not.”
“They’ve tightened security at the front door after you walked onto the practice field.” Carlos had the nerve to ch
uckle. “We came to warn you. When they wouldn’t give us any information, we said that we had reason to believe Coach Williams’ daughter could be in danger from the Montana pack.”
Oh. “My parents would’ve never left me behind with Matteo if they thought he’d hurt me.”
Carlos shook his head. “We meant Jasmine.”
I looked at my sister. “Did you tell anyone you were coming here?”
She shook her head.
Shit. “Something tells me we better turn on the TV.”
Chapter Fourteen
Matteo
It was like one of those nightmares I couldn’t wake up from. The Bloodhounds were playing, and I wasn’t there. But it wasn’t just the game. It was the scroll at the bottom of the screen.
Jasmine Shaw, daughter of Bloodhounds assistant coach Cole Williams and The Real Werewives of Alaska producer Tessa Williams, has been reported missing when she and her husband Marcus failed to show up for the Championship game. Marcus is the brother of embattled linebacker Matteo Shaw.
“I just texted Mom,” Jasmine said, and turned to the camera crew. “Can you do the same?”
“We’ve already sent her video of all of you here together,” the camerawoman said, emphasis on all of you, but her gaze landed on the wolves who had caused all the trouble.
Jasmine shook her head. “I’d planned on sending Mom and Dad a picture of the four of us together before all hell broke loose, and then I forgot.”
Marcus pressed a kiss to her temple. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not fucking okay,” Jessica jumped off the couch. “Matteo should be playing in that game. Not sitting here watching his team get their asses kicked. Do you know how hard everyone worked to get here?”
My brother tensed. “Of course I do.”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Jessica.” The word came out as a growl as I rose to stand behind her. “He’s my brother, just as sure as you’re my mate. We fight together. Now, what I want to know is why these wolves, who I’ve considered pack since the day I was born, insist on starting shit.”
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