by Terry Spear
Bella squelched the urge to rush into the fray and bite the red who could have exposed their kind for what they were, to give back a little of what they’d done to the girls they’d murdered.
Devlyn watched Alfred, never taking his eyes off him, calculating his next move, conserving his energy for the next three in line. He was a crafty wolf, and she loved him dearly for his size, strength, and cunning.
Limping slightly to the side of the circle, Alfred paced again, only slower this time, not as steadily or as sure of himself. He never looked at her once, just at the ground, already exhibiting signs of defeat. The way he acted, he appeared to think he’d lost the fight before he’d even begun. He was probably right. The last two wolves might have a chance to take a bite out of Devlyn when he was tired and worn down. But not the first.
Bella hoped with all her heart that Devlyn wouldn’t be hurt, even a scratch, despite the fact that they healed quickly.
Attempting the same maneuver, Alfred whipped around and leapt through the air. Maybe it worked for him when he became the alpha leader for the reds, but with Devlyn, it didn’t.
Devlyn lunged this time and grabbed Alfred’s throat, instantly crushing his neck. He had to end the game quickly if he were to conserve enough strength to fight the other three.
For a minute, no more, the reds watched him when he released the dead body of their alpha leader. The deed was done. No one had time to reflect on the sudden shift in power.
Instantly, Ross attacked. His teeth snapped at Devlyn’s neck, but Bella’s gray mate lithely avoided Ross’s wicked canines.
Her heart pounded ferociously.
Grabbing Ross’s ear, Devlyn tore the leather. Ross whined in protest and dodged out of the way.
So much for the bad red wolf who’d killed his victim so brutally.
Sitting on her haunches, every nerve on edge, Bella tried to stretch her muscles to release the tension.
Devlyn faced Ross, but he got a glimpse of her. His tongue hung over his teeth as he panted, but his lips curved up slightly as if in a smile. He’d beaten Alfred, and he’d done it for her. He was one proud big gray wolf. Bowing her head slightly to him, her eyes gazed into his, showing him how much she loved him and how proud she was of him.
Ross attacked again.
Bella stiffened her back, but Devlyn was prepared. He immediately responded with a bite at the red’s right shoulder. Bleeding profusely, Ross yelped and bolted away.
Bella glanced at Nicol; his eyes were darkened, his body tensed. As soon as Devlyn finished Ross, Nicol wouldn’t wait either, but which one was the sneaky Simon?
Fear niggled at her that he was an emergent leader. The kind that waited until the battle ended before he rushed in to take over. Was it as Ross and Nicol had said? There wasn’t any reason to take over the pack until she came along?
She stood. Then realizing her anxiety might bother Devlyn, she lay down and rested her head on her paws as if the whole matter served simply as a pleasing walk in the woods.
Ross stood still at the edge of the circle, panting hard, his chest filling and emptying with intense breaths. No longer just a spectator, he battled for his life. Fresh blood matted his fur. The rest stood on end as he raised his tail behind him. His posture indicated that he wasn’t ready to give up the fight, not yet.
Neither was Devlyn. He stood ready, his body somewhat relaxed between sparring, to allow him time to rest.
A wolf howled in the distance. As unique to wolves as fingerprints were to humans, Bella immediately recognized the warning sound ... Volan.
Chapter Nineteen
THE SOUND OF VOLAN’S HOWL NEARLY MADE BELLA’S heart stop. Devlyn’s ears pulled back and he narrowed his eyes. His tail pointed straight out, parallel to the ground. Undoubtedly, he sensed the added danger when he caught the sound, too.
It just couldn’t be Volan. Not when Devlyn had so many reds to fight. Bella continued to recline on the ground, pretending not to be bothered, to show Devlyn that she believed in him with all of her heart. But she couldn’t smooth down the hair standing erect on the nape of her neck or tail. She couldn’t relax her tail, fixed straight as a spear, her body on full alert, ready to react if Volan made a sudden appearance.
Then she reminded herself that she had her gun and it could give him a lot of heartburn for a while.
Ross ran toward Devlyn with his teeth bared. Fire burned in the depths of his brown eyes. Devlyn responded, his leg and back muscles moving like a waterfall, fluid and powerful. Grabbing Ross by the throat, he snapped his neck in two.
Ross fell limply to the ground; Bella stopped panting. For now, Devlyn had proved himself once again the winner. Taking a deep breath of pride, she admired her mate for his skill and ingeniousness. She thought of how Ross and the other wolves had killed those helpless women and how, if they’d had a chance, they would have killed Devlyn. For those reasons, she had no regret. It was the way of the wolf, the only reason they had survived as long as they had.
Still, her anxiety heightened, worrying that Devlyn’s energy would dwindle.
Nicol lunged at him. No rest in between, calculated to wear the gray down.
Most of the wolves still stood. A couple of the older ones, their red fur now graying, lay down, but all kept their eyes fixed on the fighters.
Nicol got a lucky strike—because she couldn’t concede it was anything else—and grazed Devlyn’s neck with his wicked canines. Devlyn snapped and growled with his teeth bared, the sound deep and base-like, extremely menacing. Nicol quickly retreated from Devlyn’s killer canines.
Bella squelched the urge to dash into the battle and bite the red back. She sat up instantly, unable to pretend any further to be so relaxed about the fight.
Nicol pounced on him again, but Devlyn snapped his jaw at him, nearly catching the red’s leg. Hearing the sound of Devlyn’s powerful jaws clamping together so close to his body, Nicol yelped.
Bella searched the crowd again, looking for a male wolf about the right age that might be Simon. Her eye caught that of a red who was watching her, not the fight. He stood taller than Alfred had, but certainly not as big as a gray. But he looked as if he could have put Alfred down. Her stomach tightened.
She faced Devlyn, who sprung at Nicol and pinned him down by the throat.
Nicol whined and squirmed. Devlyn had the best of him. Why didn’t he finish him off? Not to do so was cowardly, and it was not the wolf way ... not the lupus garou way. Not when the red had murdered a human woman and risked exposing all of the lupus garous.
Devlyn’s chest heaved with exhaustion. Worn out, he rested before the kill, knowing that Simon would attack as soon as he let go of Nicol. Bella settled back down, glad she’d figured out his reluctance to finish Nicol off.
The wolves grew restless as he continued to wait. Several wolves held their tails straight out behind them, indicating their apprehension. Then, with resolve, Devlyn clamped his jaws down on Nicol’s throat, crushing the neck bone with a powerful snap, ending the fourth-generation big game hunter’s life instantly.
The one who’d been watching Bella immediately leapt for Devlyn, nearly sixteen feet through the air, the longest distance a wolf could leap. This time, Devlyn didn’t react quickly enough. Simon knocked him on his hip.
Bella lunged forward, but two of the other males blocked her from interceding. Females fought females, never males—the unwritten rule passed down from generation to generation.
She growled at them. They bowed their heads to her, showing that they had no intention of fighting her but wouldn’t move out of her path.
Again she growled, baring her teeth at one and then the other, preparing herself to attack. She couldn’t watch Simon hurt her mate. The strain of the fighting and the tension that had built up in her system keyed her higher than an active volcano built up steam, ready to explode.
When neither of the reds would move out of her path, she snarled and snapped at the one to her right, intent on having her way. Im
mediately, the one to her left pounced on her. He pinned her to her side against the pine needle floor. She wriggled with frustration but couldn’t free herself because of his heavier weight and bigger size.
Devlyn caught her eye and snarled. Angered that another male would force her down if he hadn’t had to fight Simon, she knew he would have taken care of the male that now dominated her. Devlyn whipped around and battled with the red, his teeth connecting with Simon’s right front leg.
Simon yelped and dodged backward.
The two tore into each other again, snarling and biting with wicked intent.
Bella squirmed to get free again and then growled low. More enraged than she’d ever been, if she could have freed herself, she would have torn to shreds the red who pinned her down.
To her horror, Devlyn tucked his tail, bowed his head, flattened his ears, and lay down on his belly. Her heart nearly quit when she saw his defeated posture. His neck and mouth bled, but he didn’t seem to have any serious injuries. If he didn’t fight and kill the red, a known murderer ...
A male, maybe in his late fifties, moved forward cautiously, baring his canines at Simon. The younger wolf turned to face the new threat.
Devlyn remained in his subservient position, watching the reds fight, avoiding looking at Bella.
It finally dawned on Bella. Devlyn couldn’t kill the last renegade red. He had to force one of the reds of the pack to do it. The one who did would become the new leader. They couldn’t have a gray best the last red and take over the pack.
Just like the gray devil wolf that had infiltrated Alfred’s red pack so long ago. The leadership had become stagnant and corrupt just as Alfred’s was. She’d never considered that Devlyn’s great-grandfather had forced change—not by taking over as he could have easily done, but by helping them rid themselves of the cancer in their pack—and then left. That another red wolf had taken over. But she bet his great-grandfather hadn’t had to fight four reds, one after another, either.
The older male charged and tackled Simon. The younger wolf seemed surprised the older one would challenge him. They bit each other, snarled, and snapped their mighty jaws. They dodged and charged and bloodied each other’s pelts. Then Simon made the fatal move. He turned the wrong way, exposing his throat at the inappropriate instant, leaving himself open to the kill.
The older wolf took him by surprise. Without hesitation, he ripped out Simon’s throat, and the younger wolf was instantly killed.
Then something drew their attention toward the woods, and everyone turned to look. Standing in the mist of the forest, a red male wolf considered Bella with unspoken longing, but his neck and leg were bleeding, his tongue hanging from his bloodied mouth, as though he’d tangled with a much bigger beast and lost. Had he come to fight for the leadership but been thwarted? And now was he too torn up to fight well?
He glanced at Devlyn and bared his bloodied teeth. The new leader bowed his head to the loner. The two stared at each for a moment and then the wolf turned and dove back into the forest, disappearing in a heartbeat.
“It’s him, Leidolf,” one of the older women said, already having turned back into her human form. “He’ll be back.” She smiled with admiration. “He has the look of leadership in his eyes, his stance. And he would’ve taken on the others if he hadn’t been injured and that delayed him. He’ll be back.”
There was no time for jubilation, or for the wolves to show their allegiance to their new pack leader. Sirens sounded from a distance, creating a panic. The wolf that pinned Bella down jumped off her. She snapped at him, missing biting his leg by inches.
Devlyn rushed to join her as the other wolves scattered, quickly changing into their human forms. Some dove into the vehicles and donned their clothes. Some grabbed the lifeless, bloodied bodies of the reds, once again turned into human form, and deposited them in the trunks of their vehicles.
Only the new red alpha male leader remained for a moment, staring at Devlyn, not challenging him, but instead giving him thanks.
Devlyn bowed his head and then raised it in acknowledgement.
The wolf dashed for one of the vehicles, but before Bella and Devlyn could return to the SUV that had brought them there, the driver tore off. She realized then they’d never have taken the gray and her back with them to the city. Only if the gray had died would they have taken her into the pack.
She touched her nose to Devlyn’s, and he licked her face. They pressed their muzzles against each other. They had only one option available to them, now—run like the wind and seek shelter in her cabin.
At short spurts, they could run as fast as twenty-eight miles per hour, but because of Devlyn’s fight, they ran at a trot. Her cabin was located only a couple of miles away. They’d make it. As long as zoo man Thompson didn’t find Rosa running with the injured gray male, or they didn’t cross paths with Volan. Involuntarily, a shiver ran through her.
With the cool breeze in her face and the two of them trotting nearly shoulder to shoulder, she suddenly realized that the gun she’d so carefully hidden in her clothes still rested under the seat in the black SUV. Her security blanket was ripped away from her. Now they had nothing but to fight Volan the way the wolf would. Even wounding Volan temporarily would have been to her advantage—until she could find another old-time smithy who could fashion silver bullets.
Then she recalled the gun in her cabin. Different smithy, and maybe real silver bullets. If they could just reach it in time.
Analyzing the rustle of the wind through the trees, birds’ sweet whistling tunes, and the sound of Devlyn’s and her pads tromping on the needled floor, she listened for Volan. Tilting her nose up, she breathed in the air, smelling a deer nearby, the scent of a raccoon, the fragrance of pine ... no Volan.
Devlyn acted as wary, his ears twitching back and forth, channeling in on the sounds, sniffing the air.
When the cabin came into view, she filled her lungs with air and wanted to shout for joy. Instead, she whimpered in her most happy wolf way. Devlyn rubbed her face with his, sharing her tentative liberation.
As soon as they reached the front steps, they changed into their human form. Standing on the porch, Devlyn pulled Bella into his arms and kissed her thoroughly.
The tension drained from her body. Devlyn had won. He’d shown his cleverness, superiority, and prowess as a born leader by allowing the older male to take down the final rogue wolf. She wondered if the mystery red wolf would give up his loner ways and take over the pack. But then she speculated again about whether she could convince Devlyn to start a new pack.
A lone wolf could do so, with his mate, and then he wouldn’t have to fight Volan. How she wished he’d agree with her, but his heart was set on returning to the family that had taken him in. She had to admit that the notion of being with the pack again filled her with longing.
Taking an exasperated breath, she asked, “Did you hear Volan’s howl?”
“Yeah.” Devlyn rubbed her arms. “Telling us he knows where we are and that we have no choice but to return home to the pack.”
“We don’t have to, you know. We could start our own.” Devlyn’s eyes hardened, and she knew then that she’d never be able to convince him to stay away from Volan.
“I told you years ago, Bella. He would come after you and our children. I can’t risk it.” He glanced down at her clothes still lying on the chair on the porch.
“I took a run and ended up in the zoo.” And, once she was back in Portland, she’d take a run again, away from the wolf she loved most in the world, like before, to protect him.
“I remember it well, although it seems like eons ago.” Grabbing her clothes, she headed inside the two room cabin.
Devlyn dashed around her. “Let me take a look around first.”
She smelled it then. The slight odor that was Volan. Her skin chilled, but it had nothing to do with the cold cabin.
Devlyn quickly inspected the bedroom and bath and rejoined Bella in the living area. “He’s not
here.”
“But he’s been here.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think he’ll come back?”
“No. He’ll want to prove to the pack you’re his. Trying to kill me here and then returning you to the pack wouldn’t be enough.”
She dumped her clothes on a tweed-covered couch and took Devlyn’s hand. “Let’s get you washed up then. I’ll take care of those bites and ...”
He leaned over and licked her neck. “I need something else. I’m a bit ... tense.”
Glancing down at his full-blown erection, she lifted a brow. “After all you’ve been through?”
He wiggled his brows.
She laughed. “I know just how to handle it.” He growled softly. “How well I know.”
They made it halfway across the living area when the front door slammed open, banging against the wall.
Volan stood in the entryway, his mouth red with blood, and she wondered if Leidolf, the loner red, had tangled with the demon. He was dressed in denims and a sweatshirt that were as black as his mood. His black hair hung loosely at his shoulders, and he looked as if he’d fallen out of bed in a hurry and hadn’t had his first cup of coffee yet. But the demonic look in Volan’s black eyes had nothing to do with missing a mug of caffeine. His unfulfilled lust for Bella showed in every angry line creasing his stern face.
Volan took in Bella’s nakedness, inhaled a deep breath, smelling the air, or rather, her—trying to tell if Devlyn had mated with her already. His look couldn’t get any harder; then he shifted his attention to Devlyn. “I gather you were straightening out a matter with a pack of red wolves in the area, which delayed your bringing Bella home to me.”
“She’s mine, Volan,” Devlyn said, moving Bella behind him. “You can’t have her.”
Volan tsked. “You can’t have her. Pack laws. She’s my choice.”
“Those aren’t wolf laws. She chose me. You’re out of luck.”
“My rules then. Come on, Bella.” Volan stretched his meaty hand out to her. “I’ll let him live if you come with me now.”
