by Lori Drake
Grave Origins
Grant Wolves Book 5
Lori Drake
Published by Clockwork Cactus Press
651 N US Highway 183 Ste 335 #107
Leander, TX 78641 USA
GRAVE ORIGINS (GRANT WOLVES BOOK 5)
Copyright © 2019 Lori Drake
ISBN-13: 978-0-9994333-8-6
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without express written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Please refer all pertinent questions to the publisher.
First Edition: April 2019
For Grandma Jean.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Want more?
1
Chris took a swig of his beer and studied the shaggy-haired stranger perched at the end of the bar. He didn’t look like much, dressed in torn jeans and a wrinkled tee shirt that hung loose on his spare frame. In fact, he blended in quite well in this little dive on the outskirts of Seattle. The way he hunched over his beer discouraged company. Even the bartender gave him a wide berth.
It wasn’t only his body language, either. His wolf was close to the surface and bristled whenever anyone got too close. Chris could sense it from across the room, a sort of feral aggression that radiated from the fellow in waves. It made his own wolf wary, pacing within the confines of his body.
“So, how does this work?” Chris said, turning his attention to the other Alpha at his table. “Do we just walk up and say, ‘Hi, this is our territory, piss off’?”
Sam snorted softly, rolling his beer bottle between his calloused fingers. “Maybe if you went to the Joey Grant school of diplomacy.”
Chris bit back the first retort that came to mind. He tipped his bottle for another drink and swished the hoppy liquid around, counting to five before replying. “Look, neither of us particularly wants to be here. Let’s get this over with so we can go our separate ways.”
Sam grunted and pushed back his chair, rising. Chris followed suit.
Things had been tense between them for months, ever since Sam had made his little power play and taken over Joey’s pack. Joey had let him, largely because she had a bigger fish to fry. She’d been laser-focused on training to kick Lucas’s ass ever since. Chris still blamed himself for her prematurely terminated stint as Alpha, but Sam’s actions had been out of line. It made their working relationship awkward, not to mention their familial one.
Technically, Chris had seniority as the longest tenured Alpha in Seattle, but he let Sam take the lead as they approached the interloper. Sam had spent more years as their mother’s right hand than Chris had been alive, after all. If anyone knew how to handle a lone wolf trolling pack territory, it was Sam. It wasn’t that they didn’t have their share of lone wolves in Seattle already. There were four, actually. The difference with this one? He’d been lying low, trying to remain under their radar rather than introducing himself and asking permission to stay.
Sam slid onto the empty stool beside him. The feral energy around the stranger surged as he slowly turned his head to look at Sam. The hairs on Chris’s forearms stood on end.
“Evening.” Sam nodded to the stranger. “I’m Sam. That’s Chris. We’d like to buy you a drink and have a little chat.”
The man’s eyes flicked from Sam to Chris and back again. They were a golden hue, ringed with brown. His wolf was definitely riding shotgun.
“Vince,” he said.
Sam caught the bartender’s eye and motioned to him to refill Vince’s glass. He waited for the human to move away again before continuing the conversation. “Haven’t seen you around here before. You new to town?”
He knew full well that Vince was new to town, but it was an interesting tactic. Chris made a note.
“Something like that,” Vince replied, then tipped his mug for a swallow.
“What brings you out this way?” Sam asked.
“None of your business.”
Sam leaned closer, somehow managing to loom on the horizontal plane. “Actually, it is our business. Everything involving wolves in Seattle is our business. Now, I don’t really care exactly what brought you into our territory. What I need to know is if you’re going to be a problem.”
Vince bared his teeth in a snarl, eyes locked with Sam’s. The air between them grew so charged that Chris half expected sparks to start flying.
Chris stepped in, laying a hand on Vince’s shoulder. “Hey, there’s no need for—”
“Well, well, what have we here?” came a familiar voice from behind him.
Chris stiffened and grimaced. Sam and Vince both turned to look in the direction of the new arrival, and Chris let his hand drop from Vince’s shoulder, since the intense eye contact was broken. Shifting aside, he turned to face the speaker.
Lucas, Seattle’s other other Alpha, smiled at them. “I didn’t expect to bump into the two of you here.”
“It’s a small world,” Chris muttered. His thoughts spun. How had Lucas known they’d be there, and why had he turned up? Was he following them? Had security at the house been compromised?
“I’ll say,” Lucas said. “I see you’ve already met Vince.”
Chris and Sam exchanged glances.
“Barely,” Sam replied. “Why don’t you introduce us?”
“Gladly. Vince, I’d like to introduce you to Sam Grant, Alpha of the other Grant pack, and Chris Martin, Alpha of the Granite Falls pack. Alphas, meet my packmate, Vince Wilson.”
Chris blinked, looking from Lucas to Vince and back again. “Packmate? Since when?”
Lucas tapped a finger against his chin, expression turning thoughtful. Then he grinned. “Oh, I guess a couple of days ago.”
Chris didn’t know what to say to that. On one hand, it wasn’t like there was any expectation that Lucas would inform them if he recruited someone into his pack. On the other, what would Lucas want with a surly loner? Had he approached the other unaffiliated wolves in Seattle?
“Then I suppose congratulations are in order,” Sam said.
Vince grunted and went back to hunching over his beer.
“Thanks,” Lucas said, then looked at Chris. “Where’s the ol’ ball and chain? She let you off the leash for the night?”
Chris met his gaze evenly. “Well, it is Wednesday.”
Lucas laughed and smacked Vince’s back. “You’ll get to meet her soon enough. She’s a hoot, my cousin.”
Chris’s wolf bristled at the idea of the undisciplined loner anywhere near his mate. He clenched a fist and ground his teeth.
“What?” Lucas said, looking him over. “I mean, I’m
sure she’s going to show up at the house any day now to challenge me. Don’t worry. I’ll try not to be too rough with her. I don’t really like to fight women to start with. No sport in it.”
“Lucas.” Sam’s tone held a warning, for all that he appeared perfectly at ease on his stool. “Back off.”
“Oh, come on. We both know how that challenge is going to end. She’s just too stubborn to roll over and take it.” Lucas’s eyes slid to Chris again, his lips twitching into a smarmy grin. “Or maybe she would, for the right man.”
Chris’s fist flew practically of its own accord. Lucas didn’t even try to dodge. He took the hit, staggering backward a step before catching himself. Vince turned on his stool, menace rolling off him in waves as he looked between Chris and his Alpha.
Sam grabbed Chris’s other arm, holding him back. “Come on, let’s go. He’s not worth it.”
Lucas licked his freshly split lip and spat blood on the floor. “Yeah, run away, little boy. Kicking your ass once was enough for me.”
Chris surged forward, breaking free from Sam’s grip to charge Lucas. Vince grabbed for Chris, but he twisted aside and drove his shoulder into Lucas’s chest, shoving him back against the bar.
“Hey! Take it outside!” the bartender yelled.
Chris pummeled Lucas’s stomach again and again as chaos erupted around them. Chris was barely aware of it. His world shrank as rage flowed through his veins. His wolf surged to the fore, only clouding things further.
Lucas fought back now. Stars exploded in Chris’s vision as a fist impacted his face. They traded a few more blows before someone grabbed Chris from behind and dragged him away.
“No! Let me go!” Chris struggled against what felt like tree limbs wrapped around his arms.
Lucas watched him go with a smirk, then pushed off the bar in unhurried pursuit. He had to step over Vince, slumped on the floor, on the way.
The fog of rage thinned as Sam hauled Chris out the door, allowing him to take in the scene more fully. A good old-fashioned bar brawl had broken out, and the bartender was doing his best to break it up by spraying water from the soda fountain on the crowd.
They burst out into the cool night air, and the noise from inside faded as Sam dragged Chris over to his truck and flung him against it. The air whooshed out of Chris’s lungs on impact, and he glared at his brother as he gasped in a breath.
“You know he just played you, right?” Sam put a hand on his shoulder. “He was trying to get under your skin, and it worked.”
The fresh air did wonders for clearing Chris’s head, but his brother’s chiding tone did little to pacify him. He shrugged off Sam’s hand and met his eyes. “I couldn’t stand there and let him talk about Joey like that.”
“You think that’s what she’d want?” Sam held his gaze, his wolf rising behind his eyes. “You think she wants or needs you to fight her battles?”
Chris struggled against the rising tide of dominance, letting his own wolf rise in answer. Sam rarely got in his face. It wasn’t his style. But he knew how to rise to the occasion. Chris held his own, if barely.
The bar door slammed open behind Sam, forestalling Chris’s answer. He broke eye contact, looking past Sam to Lucas as he exited the bar. The anger was still there, boiling in Chris’s gut, but he was more in control of it now.
“Nice to see you, as always!” Lucas called out. “See you on Friday!”
Chris scowled. “Let’s get out of here before I punch him again.”
By the time Sam dropped Chris off at the house, Chris’s left eye had swollen shut. He’d contemplated suggesting a detour on the way home, but it’d take hours for the swelling to go down, and, unless he stayed out all night and most of the next day, there was no way he’d be able to sneak the black eye past Joey.
“See you tomorrow. Seven?” Sam said as the truck idled in the driveway.
Chris was still somewhat annoyed with his brother, but as tempting as it was to cancel their regularly scheduled target practice, it wouldn’t help anything. So he nodded before climbing out of the truck and heading inside.
The living room was uncharacteristically empty for nine o’clock, but Chris accepted that for the blessing it was and hung his keys on the rack by the door. The heady scent of garlic and tomato sauce hung in the air, and Chris’s stomach rumbled as he shed his jacket and hung it up. Deciding it’d be easier to face Joey with a full belly, he headed for the kitchen to heat up some leftovers. The sound of voices drifted out of the kitchen, which was hardly surprising. Between the long table with its bench seating and easy access to snacks and beverages, it had become a favored gathering spot since the renovations on the house had been completed.
Chris paused outside the door and listened, wincing when he heard Joey’s familiar laughter. At least she was in a good mood. He rounded the corner and found her, Maria, Jenny, and Lucy gathered around a board game on the table. They didn’t notice him right away, so he leaned a shoulder against the doorframe and observed from afar.
“What to do with all this cash?” Lucy said, fanning the colorful paper money in her hands. “I think I’ll buy another round of hotels!”
They all groaned.
“Can you even do that?” Maria asked, lips pursed. “Put multiple hotels on one property?”
“Jenny?” Lucy said.
Jenny nodded solemnly.
“You’re not even going to look it up?” Maria asked.
Joey snickered. “You’re just upset because Lucy took you to the cleaners the last time you landed on Boardwalk.”
“There wasn’t even a complimentary breakfast at that hotel!” Maria protested, and they all laughed.
Chris smiled. It’d been about two and a half months since they’d taken Maria in, and she seemed to be assimilating well. She’d been withdrawn at first, but the girls had whittled down her defenses and wormed their way in. He didn’t doubt she still had a long way to go when it came to accepting her wolf nature as something natural rather than demonic, but progress was progress.
“Not interrupting girls’ night, am I?” Chris asked.
“Nope, just a little… Whoa, what happened to you?” Joey slid off the end of the bench and padded toward him.
“Eh, it’s not a big deal. You should see the other guy.”
Joey snorted. “Uh-huh. So, did you have to run that lone wolf out of town?”
“Not ex—” Chris sucked in a breath through his teeth when she probed around his eye with her fingertips. “Ow! Hey, careful with the merchandise.”
“Bought and paid for, I promise,” Joey murmured, forehead wrinkling. “Come sit down. We’ll get you something for that eye, and you can tell us what happened.”
Chris let her guide him to a stool at the breakfast bar and sat there while she fussed over him, holding a bag of frozen peas against his eye.
“You were saying…?” Joey said.
“Uh, right. Well, the tip panned out and we found the guy right where we expected. But it turns out he wasn’t unaffiliated after all.”
“Oh? What pack does he belong to?”
“Well, it’s not yours and it’s not mine…”
It didn’t take Joey long to connect the dots. She growled and pressed the makeshift compress harder against Chris’s face. He winced and leaned back instinctively, then took the peas from her to hold against his own face.
“Wow, he’s recruiting?” Lucy said.
“Who?” Maria asked.
“Lucas,” Joey growled.
“Oh.” Maria blew her bangs out of her eyes. “I don’t know why you won’t just let me kill him.”
Joey frowned at Maria. “First, you’re on wolf probation, remember? No wolf-on-wolf violence allowed. Second, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times: dibs.” She turned back to Chris, and her eyes narrowed. “Did he do this to you?”
Chris grimaced. “Technically, I threw the first punch. Ladies, would you give us the room, please?”
They cleared out
without protest, though Lucy paused on the way out to grab a few wine coolers from the fridge. Once they were alone, Chris fixed his good eye on Joey again. She stood there looking up at him expectantly, her lips pressed into a thin line.
“First off, I’m fine. The eye is the worst of it. He showed up while we were talking to the new guy and ran his mouth off. I lost my cool. We scuffled. No big deal.”
She folded her arms. “Was it about me?”
He sighed, having been willing to leave it vague, but now that she’d asked him directly… he couldn’t lie to her about it. “Yeah. But this new guy… he’s bad news. His wolf is barely under control, and there’s something, I dunno, feral about him.”
“Whatever. I’ll deal with him after I deal with Lucas. Ben says I’m just about ready.”
Chris’s chest tightened, but he nodded. As much as he wanted Lucas to be dealt with, the notion of Joey going toe to toe with him filled him with anxiety. It wasn’t that he doubted her abilities—she’d been training hard—but having fought Lucas himself, he knew exactly what she was getting into. If she lost… it might break her.
Rather than speak those thoughts aloud, he wrapped an arm around her and reeled her in, burying his nose in her hair.
“If he starts talking shit about me again, tell him to say it to my face,” she murmured against his neck.
“I guess that sounds less emasculating than ‘my girlfriend is gonna kick your ass.’”
“Fiancée. Your fiancée is going to kick his ass.”
He laughed, which made his eye throb, but it was worth it. She was worth it.
