Legacy of the Wolf [The Gray Pack 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Lori King

  “What is she?” Shandi asked Ryley finally once the small woman had moved out of sight.

  Ryley chuckled. “More than one person has asked that after meeting her.” He took Shandi’s hand and began leading her back to the Alpha’s cabin. “She’s been here with the pack longer than anyone who is alive right now, but no one knows how old she is or where she comes from.”

  “She looks so young!” Shandi said in confusion.

  Nodding, Ryley continued, “There is no explanation for some things, baby girl. Delaky is one of them.”

  “Do you think she’s right? Am I letting Jett poison me?” Shandi whispered. It wasn’t until Ryley stopped their progress and turned her to face him that she even realized she had spoken out loud.

  “Shandi, I need to know something. Could you love me? Could you be happy with us?” he asked. His tone was hesitant, and it nearly broke her heart. This was a man who desperately wanted to be loved for himself, and didn’t even know it.

  “Ryley, I know I could love you very deeply, both you and Rafe, but that’s what scares me. If I let myself fall in love with you, it will just hurt that much more when I have to let you go. You want kids of your own. I can’t give you that. No matter what I hold in my heart for you, I can’t change what my body is,” she said sadly, cupping the side of his face as he stared into her eyes.

  “Would you believe me if I told you that I don’t care that you can’t have kids? Can you give me time to prove it to you?” he asked, and she hesitated.

  “I want to believe it,” she said, searching his face for the truth.

  “Baby girl, if you will let us, Rafe and I will gladly spend the rest of our lives proving it. Let us show you that you are enough for us. We will have a family someday, I know it in my heart, but even if we don’t, I’m okay with it. The only thing that I can’t ever be okay with is letting you go,” he said softly. A shimmer of tears and pure love glowed brightly in his blue-green eyes, and his blond hair fluttered in the breeze. It couldn’t have been clearer that he was being honest with her, and something in her heart eased.

  A smile slowly spread across her face, and she rose up onto her toes to kiss him instead of responding. He held himself in check for just another moment before he dominated the kiss. He devoured her mouth, giving her all of the passion he had inside of him, and melting her body in the process. Her clit throbbed, and her breasts grew tight as she relaxed into his hold.

  Cupping her ass in his hands, he lifted her straight up off of the ground, startling a gasp from her that he quickly swallowed. With no more than the physical strength in his huge arms, he held her against him so that her mouth was level with his own, and he plundered her. By God this Viking can kiss, she thought to herself as her pussy dripped juice into her panties and her whole body tingled.

  Breaking their kiss, he waited for her to tip her kiss-swollen face back up to meet his eyes, and then a wide grin broke over his face. “Thank you, baby girl. I promise you, you will never regret it. Now, we better get back to the big house before they send the troops out looking for us.”

  “Damn,” she muttered as he lowered her back to her now wobbly feet.

  He chuckled and ran a hand over her scalp and down the back of her long hair. His fingers tangled slightly, causing a small, stinging tug, and she sucked in a breath through her teeth.

  “If you want to make it back to the cabin without me molesting you, I would suggest you keep your hands to yourself, big guy,” she said, taking a step away from him just to put precious inches between them.

  Instead of taking her advice, he grabbed her by the elbow, and plastered her body against his side. “There will never be a time that I prefer anything to you molesting me, baby girl,” he said playfully, and he nuzzled her temple and pressed a butterfly-soft kiss to her forehead. “But, you’re right, we can’t do this now. We will revisit this conversation later.”

  “Count on it, big guy,” she teased back, and they walked silently back down the path to the massive cabin again.

  Chapter 15

  Ryley felt like he was walking on air. Shandi had finally given in, and he hoped soon she would accept the two of them as her mates. It was enough for now that she was willing to try. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and he resisted telling Rafe through their mental link. This was something that Shandi should share with him in person.

  The change in mood was obvious when Shandi and Ryley made it back to the Alpha’s cabin. There was a silent hum of tension running through the crowded building, and Ryley’s wolf started to whine in his head.

  Something had everyone worked up. It suddenly dawned on Ryley that no one was making eye contact with him as he moved through the building. Struck by how unusual that was in the first place, his heart froze in his chest when he heard Devin’s voice from the top of the stairs.

  “Find Rafe and Ryley. Liam and Tina just got here, and Heath went to get Dad and Whitney. I think they all need to hear her out before we make any decisions.” Devin was moving down the stairs with Noah and Luke Gray hot on his heels when he made eye contact with Ryley.

  “What’s wrong, Devin?” Ryley asked. Even he could hear the tension in his own voice.

  Shandi’s soft curves were suddenly pressed against his back and right side as she moved close to comfort him. Her small hand crept around to press against the side of his abs, and outside of the ripple of arousal at their close touch, he only felt a sense of relaxed support from her. It was a heady feeling to know that she calmed him as much as he did her, and he soaked it in in silence.

  “The new wolf…well…look, I want to get everyone up there to hear what she has to say,” Devin said, rubbing at the bridge of his nose like he had all of the tension of the world built into that small indentation.

  “What do Rafe and I have to do with her?” Ryley asked, but Devin’s sharp gaze stopped him from questioning his Alpha any further. “Okay, Rafe should be around here any minute. He went looking for Heath, Tate—”

  Rafe’s rumbling voice interrupted Ryley. “I’m right here, and so is Dad.”

  “Good. Come upstairs, guys. Shandi, you had better come, too. I think your men will need you for this,” Devin said.

  Ryley’s heart sank to the bottom of his stomach at the sad tone Devin’s words took on. What the hell could this new wolf have to say that would rattle them so much? A cold chill went through his body, and he would have sworn that the only warmth in his entire soul resided at his side with her fingers still laced through his big hand.

  No one else spoke a word until they were all settled into the dimly lit bedroom. Several chairs had been brought in, but most of the men remained standing. Ryley led Shandi to a seat and tried to get her to sit down. She stared at him pointedly until he took a seat near the bed, and she immediately climbed into his lap, further calming his wolf.

  Here was a woman that had been resisting him with every ounce of her breath. But now that he needed her she was willing to give him every ounce back. It validated his wolf’s need for her, and his gaze met Rafe’s over her head. Rafe looked just as pleased with her choice of seats, and he immediately took up residence in the chair next to them, with his hand clutched in Shandi’s resting in her lap.

  Turning his focus back to the small female in the bed, Ryley let his eyes take her in. She was small and blonde, but not as pale as Delaky, more of a golden sunshine shade. Her bright-blue eyes glowed with the energy that her recovery was taking, but she held a silent strength in her gaze that he had trouble looking away from. She seemed to stare at the two Whetstone brothers for a long time before she spoke.

  “I didn’t realize I was throwing a party,” she said softly, and there were snickers around the room.

  Ryley glanced around to find the room was indeed pretty full. Devin and Damon sat next to Rafe, with Caroline perched on the edge of the bed. Delaky was on her other side, holding a cup of tea in her hands and offering it to the new she-wolf. The two elder Gray brothers Henley and Jim
stood back a few feet from the bed closer to the windows.

  Also in attendance were all of the Beta wolves of the pack. No one had been excluded. Even more surprising, all of Ryley’s family was there. Smiling in question at Liam, Ryley made a mental note to ask him how he had managed to get here when he was supposed to be working. Whitney winked at him, but he could see worry in her pretty gray eyes, and his mom, Victoria, was wringing her hands as she paced the floor near where Henley stood.

  Devin cleared his throat, and then spoke. “Katie Jo, let me make some introductions—”

  “I beg your pardon, Devin, but there’s no need. I know who the important ones are,” she said, staring at Devin and Damon directly. “You two are the pack Alphas, although I was directed to find Jim and Henley Gray. I’m not surprised to find a change in the leadership after all of these years. Mom and Dad haven’t exactly been able to keep in close contact.”

  Ryley’s confusion was now at its limit, and he nearly growled when the woman named Katie Jo took another moment before turning to the two Whetstone brothers. “You two are my brothers, Rafe and Ryley Whetstone. I would know Mom’s smile anywhere, even if I haven’t seen it in months.”

  “What?” Rafe gasped, jumping to his feet.

  “Rafe Whetstone, sit your ass down and let the woman talk,” Shandi said quietly and calmly, surprising everyone when Rafe did as she bid.

  “Thank you. I assume you are my brother’s mate?” Katie Jo asked Shandi, who didn’t even hesitate when she nodded at the new wolf.

  Elation filled Ryley’s chest at Shandi’s acceptance. She had just agreed to be his mate in front of his family. Shifting his attention back to the woman claiming to be his sister, he let the shock sink in. She had to be talking about his biological parents, because Henley and Victoria didn’t know her.

  “Katie Jo, please start at the beginning for everyone. It’s a lot to take in all at once, and I want to make sure they hear it all,” Caroline intervened, trying to redirect the young woman.

  Nodding and pushing herself up into a higher seated position against the pillows, the young woman took a deep breath and stared down at her hands while she spoke in a shaky voice. “Okay, my name is Katie Jo Whetstone. I go by KJ. My parents are Tasha and Graham Whetstone.”

  A sharp intake of breath was the only indication that Rafe was as affected by KJ’s words as Ryley was. He felt like someone had just slammed his chest with a sledgehammer. There was no possible way this girl was who she said she was. It would mean that their parents had been alive this whole time.

  Caroline reached out and took KJ’s hand in support. The young woman smiled at her personal cheerleader, and continued in a slightly steadier voice.

  “I don’t know a lot of the details about what happened years ago. I’m here because my parents sent me to find the Gray Pack, or specifically Jim and Henley Gray. They speak very highly of this pack, and considering the only other pack I know much about is the Kaplan Pack, I would say you guys win hands down.”

  “Why did they want you to find us?” Henley asked quietly. His face was pale, but completely impassive, and Ryley felt a wave of pride in his adopted father’s control of his emotions. Right at the moment, he had to be sharing Ryley’s feeling of absolute shock. No one had worked harder than Henley Gray to locate Tasha and Graham. He had spent months searching for any sign of them, before giving them up for dead.

  “To help them. Mom and Dad have been hiding from Nicolas Kaplan for decades, and now with Mom getting hurt…well, they are both getting too weak to keep hiding all of the others.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about? Are you telling me that my parents, the ones that left me and my brother behind without a backward glance, sent you here to ask for our help?” Rafe snarled, and KJ’s face drained of blood. Ryley could smell the fear rolling off of her, and apparently so could everyone else in the room. Shandi reached out and took Rafe’s hand back into hers, and Ryley had to wonder if it was to comfort him or her. He could visibly see Rafe’s muscles relax slightly with her touch.

  “Unfortunately, yes that’s what I’m telling you. Look, I don’t understand all of their reasons for what they did, but let me tell you the story I know, okay?” KJ said, sighing with relief when Rafe inclined his head for her to continue.

  “Mom and Dad were part of the Kaplan pack originally. They grew up together, and they knew that they were mates from a fairly young age. Nicolas Kaplan is the pack Beta wolf. Evan Kaplan, the pack Alpha, is his cousin. Apparently, Nicolas took a liking to Mom when she hit her first female phase and pursued her. For years he pestered her about leaving Dad, even after Mom and Dad mated. He made it very clear that he wanted her even though she was a mated woman. He even pressured her after she had two children. One night he lost it, and snuck up on her as she was getting home from work. He pinned her against the side of her parent’s home, and he nearly raped her. According to Dad, her father, our grandfather, did the only thing he could do. He sent them away. He told Dad to take Mom, to take Rafe and Ryley, and go to another pack. They would have to appeal to the Alpha for admittance.”

  “Why wouldn’t he just go to Evan Kaplan and explain?” Cash asked from behind Ryley.

  “The only thing I know is that when Evan was told about it, he basically shrugged it off and blamed Mom for teasing Nicolas. According to Dad, Evan’s not a bad guy, but he doesn’t have a whole lot of a backbone when it comes to standing up to his own family. Odd for an Alpha in my book, but I didn’t get to pick him.”

  KJ smiled, and Ryley saw himself in her easy grin. Even if he wanted to deny her words, there was no way he could deny that she was related to him. He saw those same blue-green eyes in the mirror every morning, and she had that eyebrow quirk that Rafe liked to do down pat.

  “Anyways, Nicolas was pissed when he realized that they were gone, and he set his Omegas after them. They hid from him for a year or so before they settled in with the Gray Pack and thought they were finally safe. When they realized that he was closing in on them again, they decided that taking you two with them wasn’t fair to you. So they left you with people they trusted and went on the run again.”

  “So you’re saying they’ve been running all this time?” Ryley asked. His voice sounded hollow in his ears, and his heart was pounding. Only the weight of Shandi in his lap kept him from jumping to his feet and pacing the floor.

  “Yep. I came along the summer after they split from here. I’m twenty-four now. We’ve managed to stay under the radar for almost fifteen years, but about two months ago we started having troubles around the den. Things going missing, crops set on fire, our well got tainted by gasoline…Nicolas was back and he was taunting us. I’m not sure he really wants Mom for himself anymore, but I think that it’s more of a game to him. He just can’t stand that someone took something he wanted away from him.”

  Ryley regarded the anger on KJ’s face. She looked furiously protective of her mother, and it softened his heart a little. If he had had the chance to know his mother maybe he would feel the same way. Squashing the sadness that lit in his belly, he turned his attention back to KJ,

  “There are too many refugees for Mom and Dad to run with them, and a couple of weeks before I left someone took a potshot at Mom. She took a bullet to her shoulder, and it won’t heal. Dad thinks it may have been spiked with silver, but we don’t have any way to help her. So they sent me to go get help.”

  Ryley’s eyes darted over to meet his adopted dad’s before skipping over to his Alpha. “Refugees?”

  KJ nodded. “There are a couple dozen outcasts and rogues that have joined up to form a minipack. We call ourselves the Quiver Creek Pack, because we live right next to Quiver Creek in Wyoming. Some of them have left their packs on purpose, and others are just trying to find their right place. Look, it’s not that they don’t want to be part of a pack, but finding one isn’t always easy.”

  “Because you’ve done it so often?” Rafe snarled.

  “No, but I’ve
spent a lot more time with outcasts than you have I’m sure.” KJ growled right back. Ryley had to hand it to her that she wasn’t letting herself be intimidated by their big brother’s gruffness. Many a larger man had been sent packing after experiencing Rafe’s anger.

  “Why wouldn’t they send some of the males of the pack to get help? Or why wouldn’t they just challenge Nicolas for dominance to end it?” Devin asked calmly, squashing the brewing argument between Rafe and KJ.

  “Dad said no one here would believe my story unless they could see for themselves that I was the spitting image of my brothers. And as for Nicolas, if Dad challenged him it would be suicide. There is no way it would remain a fair fight. His Omegas would rip out Dad’s throat before he even said go.”

  “So what exactly do they want us to do?” Damon asked the question that everyone in the room had to be thinking.

  “Take us in,” KJ said softly.

  “As part of the Gray Pack?”

  “Yes, I know that you guys aren’t necessarily open to new pack members, or at least you didn’t used to be, but we have nowhere else to go. Nicolas is not going to stop until he kills Mom and Dad, and everyone that doesn’t agree to swear allegiance to him and Evan.”

  Silence filled the room for several moments as everyone digested KJ’s words. If what she was saying was true, then they had an obligation to the other wolves to help them, but it could mean stirring up bad blood with yet another pack. Right now they had a hell of a lot on their proverbial plate with the Diego Pack.

  “Who bit you?” Shandi asked, breaking the silence and drawing KJ’s attention. “You were attacked by someone on Gray Pack land, so who bit you?”

  “I have been followed since the moment I left my parents’ place. I knew that there were at least three of them on my tail at all times, and I just had to stay ahead of them and out of sight. Unfortunately, the hours of travel and lack of sleep dulled my senses, and one of them finally got the jump on me. Literally. He jumped out of the bushes and before I could get away from him he had a bite of me. I don’t really remember much after that. I think the pain knocked me out.”