Eveny sniffled and walked to her dad, hugging him tightly. “Thanks, Dad.”
Luke thought of his own father, who would have made a similar selfless decision. This was exactly the kind of father he wanted to be, too. One who would sacrifice anything for his kids.
Eveny came back to Luke’s arms and Dade looked at him. “If you’re wondering why I’m not surprised by you two getting together, it’s because I always knew that you were meant for each other.”
Eveny gasped. “You never said anything.”
Dade raised a brow. “It’s not my place to tell you who to be with, darlin’. You have to live with your choices and I didn’t want to interfere. I decided a while ago that if you chose to mate with Luke that I would go with you, so it’s not something I arrived at lightly. Acksel will still see us away from town, I’m sure of it. So I’m not really losing anything, but I am gaining a grandbaby and a son-in-law. When your heat came up, I thought you might actually choose your obligation to the pack over your heart’s desire. It’s why I suggested you could go through the heat alone in the cabin. I knew it would be hard on you, but you didn’t seem ready to talk to Luke and I wasn’t going to force you to deal with it. I’m glad you didn’t choose the pack over your heart.”
She looked up at Luke. “I’m glad I didn’t, too.”
“What now?” Luke asked.
Dade exhaled slowly and rested his hands on his hips. “I think the first thing we need to do is get you two packed up as quickly as possible. I’ll stay with Eveny and make sure that she’s safe and you can go pack up your place. You don’t have to pack up everything right now, just enough for a few weeks.” He glanced at his watch. “Don’t take any longer than an hour to pack, and we’ll meet up there at three-thirty.”
Eveny frowned. “Shouldn’t we stay together?”
Dade shook his head. “Luke’s not part of the pack and no one will think anything of him being around. You’re the one that will draw curiosity, which is why I’m going to stick by you and we’re going to get going as fast as possible.”
Luke walked Eveny to her apartment and kissed her soundly. “I’ll see you at three-thirty. Call me if you get into trouble.”
She leaned into him and hugged her arms around him tightly. “Don’t be late.”
Tipping her chin up, he brushed his lips across hers and said, “I won’t be, sweetheart.”
He darted down the steps, climbed into his truck and watched as Dade, carrying two suitcases, walked up the stairs to Eveny’s apartment and headed inside. He knew that Dade would keep her safe. It warred with him to leave her side, but the faster he got packed, the better.
It didn’t take him long to get back to his place, and he grabbed a duffel bag from the hall closet and began shoving clothes into it. When it was stuffed full, he dropped it at the front door and grabbed a backpack, which he filled with as many bathroom and kitchen items as he could find. It took longer to pack up then he thought, and before he knew it, almost an hour had passed.
Since he’d promised that he wouldn’t be late, he shouldered the backpack, grabbed his keys and the duffel, and opened the door.
A fist flew at his face so fast he barely registered the sight before pain bloomed in his head and everything went dark.
Chapter 9
Eveny paced on the small front porch of the cabin, chewing her thumbnail and glancing at the path where Luke’s truck would appear when he arrived. Which should have happened twenty minutes earlier.
Even though she had no signal, she kept checking her cell. Her dad leaned against the door jam and folded his arms. He inclined his head to the side and she knew he was listening for Luke’s truck. His brows furrowed.
She chewed on her bottom lip and clenched and unclenched her hands. “It’s not like Luke to be late.”
“We have no reception up here; he might have gotten held up at the bar. It could be totally innocent.”
“Could be, but what if it’s not?”
She turned to move off the step and her dad’s grip on her arm stopped her. “We’ll go together, Eveny. If there’s nothing wrong, then you can ride back up here when we find him. If something is wrong, then it’s best if we’re together.”
She nodded, finding it hard to speak past the lump in her throat. Within minutes, they were on their way back to town. The thirty-mile ride felt like it took hours as she kept her eyes peeled, hoping to see his truck along the way. Her dad pulled into the parking lot behind the bar, where Luke’s apartment was and everything in her world narrowed down to the scene before her. Luke’s truck was pulled up next to the stairs that led up to his apartment, and the door of his apartment was wide open. She leapt out of the truck and raced up the stairs. A backpack and bag were lying in the doorway; she scented Luke’s blood and found splashes of it in the small foyer and on the stairs.
She spun and looked down at her dad. His somber look made fear lodge in her chest.
“Depending on when they grabbed him, they could have had him for over an hour, darlin’.”
Tears filled her eyes and she blinked quickly, not wanting to break down. Luke had stood up for her against four males. He was still alive. She knew it. She could feel it.
Racing down the steps, she joined her dad and said, “He’s probably at Acksel’s. Are you with me?”
“You know I am,” he growled.
The town seemed almost empty as they drove to Acksel’s home. It was eerie. When her dad turned onto Acksel’s street, her heart nearly stopped at the sight of all the vehicles lining both sides of the street. The whole pack appeared to be there, and that didn’t bode well for Luke.
Her dad didn’t bother to find a place to park on the street; he pulled up onto Acksel’s lawn in a space between two cars and parked. She jumped out and raced towards the back of the house, but her dad restrained her.
“You have to be smart, darlin’. He’s being the alpha now, and it’s possible that he’s reacting to lies told by the males that came for you. Whatever happens, stick with the truth.”
She swallowed hard and nodded. Her dad kissed her forehead, and they moved together around the side of the moderate-sized brick home towards the backyard. She could hear people speaking and occasional cheers, and as she and her dad cleared the house, the sight before her made her stomach drop into her feet.
The pack was gathered in Acksel’s backyard in a wide semi-circle. In the center of the circle, Luke was chained to what had once been a metal post for a laundry line. His arms were stretched over his head and shackled to the top of the post. He was gagged and his shirt was missing. His upper body and arms were cut and bleeding, and his head was hanging down.
“This is what we do to humans who kill our males,” Acksel shouted.
The pack cheered as Rufus moved from behind Acksel and punched Luke in the side. She saw Luke’s body absorb the hit and heard his faint grunt of pain.
Clearing her head of her worried thoughts so she could handle things right, she strode forward into the circle and said in a loud voice, “I petition the alpha for the right to speak on behalf of the human, Luke Elrich.”
The crowd quieted.
Acksel turned to her and she met his gaze. Rage filled his eyes as he snarled. His body was covered with sweat, his dark hair plastered to his forehead. His eyes were the golden color of his wolf, and his claws and fangs were elongated.
“There is no mercy here for the human who struck our male, Vince, with his truck and killed him,” Acksel’s voice was dark, his words sharp like blades.
“I came to tell you the truth, alpha,” she clutched her hands into fists at her side, keeping her eyes on her brother.
“I have the truth!” Acksel shouted, gesturing towards Rufus, Barry, and Taylor, who were nearby.
She felt her dad step closer to her. “An alpha is wise enough to hear both sides of the story before he does something irreparable like sentence a human to death.”
Acksel snarled and gnashed his teeth.
&nbs
p; Eveny wanted to go to Luke so badly that her legs trembled, but she didn’t dare. Showing any sign of affection for Luke at the moment would only make Acksel even more furious.
“Four males showed up at the cabin yesterday with the intention of taking me against my will.”
Acksel’s mouth dropped open.
She pointed to Luke. “That human overheard Vince invite Barry, Rufus, and Taylor to join him at the cabin where I went to endure my heat-cycle alone, and to take me against my will. Vince spoke in a way that led him to believe I would not survive what he and his friends planned to do to me, and they were planning to use your grief against you and challenge you for the alpha position. The human came to protect me, and he succeeded.”
Acksel snapped his teeth together and a muscle twitched under his eye. “A human could not stand up against one wolf, let alone four.”
“I watched him with my own eyes. He fought bravely and honorably, and killed Vince only after he shifted into his wolf form and attacked him. The wounds on Luke’s arms aren’t from running over a wolf, but from defending himself and me.”
She closed the distance between herself and her brother. Looking up into his eyes, she saw the war in their gray depths. Taking his hand, she placed it on her stomach. “He’s my mate, Acksel. His seed grows in my belly. I know that I have to leave the pack in shame, but I’m not ashamed of taking Luke as my mate. He protected me when it could have cost him his life. Will you take my mate from me now, Acksel? Alpha? Brother?”
She stopped fighting the tears that had threatened since she’d seen Luke’s blood on the steps of his apartment. Acksel’s fingers flexed on her stomach and he dropped his hand and looked at their dad.
“If you look at Luke’s truck, you’ll see it hasn’t been damaged at all,” their dad said. “You were lied to and your sister could have died.”
Acksel swallowed hard and stepped back. Eveny felt like she was looking at a stranger. Would Acksel kill Luke? Would he believe her? She laid her hands on her stomach and looked at Luke. His head was lifted and he was looking at her. One eye was purple and swollen shut, but the other eye was staring right at her. She could feel how much he loved her.
Acksel spun and howled. Rufus, Barry, and Taylor backed away, but just a snap of Acksel’s fingers brought his second in command, Auro, to the group and he and several other wolves stopped them from leaving.
“Take the human down,” Acksel said loudly. “I find no fault with him.”
The pack murmured unhappily; Acksel froze and then lifted his head and howled again. Deeper. Angrier. The sound tore through the pack and everyone fell to their knees, including her and her father, as Acksel reminded them that he was alpha.
Eveny watched as Acksel moved to the group that was holding the three men who had come with Vince, and she heard them say she was lying and that they had told him the truth. Her dad touched her shoulder and they rose together and moved to Luke.
Pack members watched her as she untied the gag and tossed it aside. “Oh, Luke, I’m so sorry,” she touched his jaw with her fingertips.
His head lolled to the side and the corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile. “Love you.”
Tears spilled over her cheeks. “I love you, too.”
He groaned through clenched teeth as her dad loosened the chain and pulled the pins that held the shackles closed. Luke fell to his knees and she supported his upper body as much as she could, unable to see clearly through the tears.
“Are you safe?” he whispered.
“Yeah, Luke. We both are,” she promised.
He sighed in relief and then went limp. She almost went down with the sudden weight, but her dad lifted him up in his arms. “Come on, darlin’.”
She brushed the grass from her knees as she stood, and looked at Acksel as he gestured angrily. The three that had come to the cabin were forced to their knees. She shuddered as she and her dad left the clearing with Luke. She liked to tease Acksel about being alpha, but she knew what a hard job he had. She and her brother had grown up in this town and knew everyone, human and wolf. Acksel was facing off against men that he had known his whole life.
Maybe leaving the pack for love was the safest thing she could do. Not only for herself and Luke, but for their future kids. She didn’t want their kids to be held to outdated beliefs. Punished for loving someone who was different.
She wanted better for her family, and she wasn’t going to find it in Wilde Creek.
Chapter 10
Acksel had never felt such fury as he stared at the three males. He had known Barry, Rufus, and Taylor his whole life. Considered them friends. And they’d tried to get him to kill Luke.
He glanced over his shoulder to where his father was carrying Luke while Eveny walked beside them. Eveny’s face was pale, her eyes filled with worry. He knew that he’d crossed a line somewhere in the last hour. If another human in town had hit and killed a wolf, he would have turned them over to the local police. But he’d smelled Eveny on Luke, seen her mark on his neck, and that had enraged him. He hadn’t stopped to question his pack members about the wild tale they’d spun of the human purposely hitting Vince and killing him. He had ignored the burns and singed fur that spoke of something other than getting hit by a truck. He’d wanted to have a reason to rough the human up.
Luke hadn’t even really defended himself. Only once had he said that he did kill Vince, but it hadn’t been with his truck. Acksel hadn’t given him a chance to explain. He’d called for a pack meeting, inviting males and females to watch as he held the human accountable for Vince’s death. They’d wanted blood. And he’d allowed it. Encouraged it. Turned a deaf ear to the part of him that knew it wasn’t right to make a person helpless and beat them within an inch of their lives.
Dread pooled in his stomach. He’d done a lot of shitty things to become alpha, but he’d never outright abused his power. Where had his calm head gone?
“You have one opportunity to tell me the truth,” Acksel said.
All three males refused to raise their heads to meet his gaze. That alone spoke volumes. Rufus finally cleared his throat. “It was as your sister said, alpha. Vince invited us to join him for her heat-cycle. He did not care whether she lived or not, and knew that you would be vulnerable in your grief whether she was hurt or dead.”
He felt the betrayal like a crushing weight on his shoulders. His pack members – males he’d considered friends – were willing to attack his sister when she was at her most vulnerable. The best possible scenario was that she would have been pregnant and mated to one of them, a male that thought nothing of sharing her with his friends. The worst was that they could have killed her in a sexual frenzy. Regardless of the outcome of her life, they had planned to challenge him and use her against him as he’d always feared would happen.
But he was no better than they were. He’d broken a promise to his dad. He’d betrayed his sister.
He would deal with the males and then he would deal with his sister.
“Chain them up,” he ordered and strode purposefully to the pole that was streaked with Luke’s blood. The pack watched with curiosity, remaining where they were until he dismissed them.
He spoke in a loud, clear voice as the three males were chained to the pole. “I will not tolerate lies within this pack, or those that betray any pack members. These males attempted to attack a female during her most vulnerable time, and were beaten by a human. Then they attempted to frame the human for the death of one of our pack members. For these crimes, I sentence them to the same beating that they administered against the human, and then to banishment from the pack and Wilde Creek for the remainder of their days.”
There were unhappy murmurings from the pack, but he growled loudly and threateningly and no one spoke up on their behalf.
He stalked forward and punched Rufus in the face. His head struck the pole and he grunted as blood welled from his nose and his upper lip split. He punched Barry and Taylor as well, and then stepped aside and d
irected Auro and the handful of males that had helped restrain them, to finish the job.
Blow after blow, the males begged for mercy, but Acksel tuned them out. Luke hadn’t begged. Hadn’t shed a tear. He wondered now if he’d been thinking of Eveny. It was true that Acksel didn’t particularly like humans, but Luke had always been good to Eveny. And she clearly loved him enough to walk away from everything.
For an hour, he watched the males being struck again and again, and then he called a halt to the proceedings. The three were hanging limply from their chains, bleeding profusely. He let loose his beast enough for his eyes to change and his hands to partially shift into paws, and he lifted his voice. “I separate you from the Wilde Creek Pack from this day forward, Rufus Eddinger. For the span of your life, there is a mark upon your head. If you should step foot or paw inside this town, you will forfeit your life, according to our laws.”
Acksel slashed his claws across Rufus’s bicep and the male moaned pitifully and hung his head. Acksel performed the marking for the other two males and stepped away.
“Remove them and take them out of town,” he spoke to Auro. “They can make arrangements for someone to pack up their things.”
“Right away, alpha,” Auro said and turned around and took action.
Acksel dismissed the pack, reminding them that he was alpha and what had transpired that day was dictated by their traditions. He waited until the yard was empty and then he went into the house and shut the door.
Picking up his cell from the kitchen counter, he called his father.
“I’ll want to speak with you, Eveny, and Luke in five days. Until that time, I’m making no rulings on their relationship or membership within the pack.”
Mate of Her Heart Page 8
