by Anna Craig
The woman in question stepped into the room, and Cassie's mouth fell open yet again. It seemed to be a common occurrence for her around here. But damn, she just wasn't used to seeing such gorgeous people—wolf shifters—all the time. And Tamsin was exactly like Trevor, except obviously female. She possessed a slender, long-legged beauty that made Cassie feel about equivalent to being an uninteresting slug. While Tamsin had a friendly smile, an aura of power around her radiated almost as forcefully as Trevor's. If there were such a thing as alpha female wolves, she definitely was one.
At least her face was far more readable. When Trevor had yanked himself back from Cassie just moments ago, right after groaning into her mouth and softening against her in the way she'd noticed he didn't do when others were around, his face had stiffened into that expressionless mask he usually wore. Granite man, she might start to think of him.
Her mate. A Wicked Mountain wolf shifter mate. Bizarre.
Tamsin walked to the edge of the bed, more gliding than walking. She moved with the grace all the shifters did. The sort of grace a predator had right before it leaped up to flat out run and banzai onto its prey, claws and teeth ready to disembowel.
Hopefully none of that would be happening here.
“Cassandra is your name, yes?”
Tamsin's smile seemed genuine. Cassie relaxed a smidge. “I usually go by Cassie. Your brother seems insistent on calling me Cassandra, though.”
Tamsin laughed. “He's a little old-fashioned.”
“I noticed that,” Cassie said, and they shared a smile.
“So,” Tamsin went on, her look becoming an appraisal of Cassie. Her tone also became slightly more neutral. “You were the town surrender, but as it turns out, you also seem to be the alpha's mate.”
“Um...yes?” Cassie still wasn't entirely sure this was a good thing or not.
“This is an impossible thing, you know.” Tamsin stopped by the huge closet doors to the side of the bed—about ten feet to the side, since the darn room was probably thirty feet long—still looking carefully at Cassie. “Humans and shifters aren't mates. It's never happened before that I know of.”
Pulling the sheet a little more firmly around her chest, Cassie sat up in the bed. She'd already noticed the shifters didn't seem to have nearly the hangups about nudity humans did, but fact was, she was human. Female or no, she didn't really feel like flashing Trevor's sister. “I've never heard of it happening before, either,” she said. “Not that I really know much about wolf packs,” she admitted, her natural verbosity taking over under Tamsin's encouraging gaze.
Warming up to the subject, she went on, “Except that they're supposed to be full of sex-hungry, violent beasts of legend, or so we're always told. I've never seen a shifter attack, but I've seen the aftermath. It was pretty gross, which is why I was so scared at the ceremony yesterday. I mean... Uh....”
She faltered as she remembered she was talking to one of ancient ravaging beasts of real legend. Encouraging or not, there were probably some things left unsaid to a member of the pack. Who despite her kind smile could very well be quite violent in her wolf form.
Tamsin's interest, though, was piqued. One eyebrow lifted in elegant question, she said, “Really? Sex-hungry, violent beasts of legend? That's interesting.”
Cassie bit her lip. Shit. “Ah,” she wavered, feeling slightly trapped.
Tamsin smiled. “I won't bite you if I don't like the answer.” She flashed very white teeth at Cassie, who could have sworn at least one of them was pointed and sharp.
In answer to Cassie's suddenly dropped mouth and slight shrinking against the wall behind the bed, Tasmin's rich, beautiful laugh pealed out. “You should see your face! Sorry, I shouldn't play with you that way. I really have wanted a sister.” Her voice sounded a little wistful.
Something in Cassie relaxed as a fuzzy, sweet feeling of warmth surrounded her. She didn't have any siblings of her own. This was the craziest day of her life, and it wasn't even a full day yet, but this particular moment might be one of the nicer ones. “Really? Is that what I am now? I—wait a minute.” She stopped herself so fast she almost stumbled on her words as the memory of a very angry female wolf suddenly surfaced again. “Um, something was said yesterday? Something about me, um, needing to be killed?”
Tamsin stared at her, shock and a sudden flash of temper spreading over her face. “Somebody said you need to be killed? Who said that to you?”
The pure ice in her words sent shudders through Cassie. She stayed frozen, terrified she'd been supposed to keep her mouth shut about that.
“Tell me.”
The abruptly deadly tone left no room for argument.
Holy shit. Shifter time.
Swallowing past her suddenly dry throat, Cassie managed to whisper, “The one named Aliana? She said that last night. When everyone kind of burst in on us.”
A long silence held them both in thrall, Cassie in fear for what would happen next, Tamsin in some sort of enraged thought process that marched across her still beautiful but also utterly savage face, beat by beat in a kind of fascinating procession.
“What else,” she finally said after another few heart-stopping moments, her voice low with her anger yet firmly controlled, “did she say?” The particular way she emphasized the word she had Cassie fairly sure Tamsin was no fan of Aliana's.
“That was it. She said I had to be killed because of being Trevor's mate,” Cassie whispered, holding the fragile bedcover over her like it could protect her from werewolf wrath.
Tamsin's gaze, fixed on Cassie, was etched with not only the anger, but something else Cassie thought might be massive irritation. She knew the look wasn't meant for her, though. At least, she was pretty sure of that.
“I see,” the wolf shifter finally said. She then took a few breaths through her nose and exhaled through her mouth in an obvious attempt to expel her anger. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, when she opened them again, her expression was a bit more calm. “And how did her alpha respond to that?”
Cassie laughed a little nervously. “Um, he didn't really say much. He roared at everyone to leave—”
“That certainly sounds like him,” Tamsin murmured, her lips finally turning up in a faint etching of a smile.
“—then looked at me like I was some sort of science experiment and said he had no idea what to do next.” Thinking about Trevor's entirely confused tone of voice when he'd said that, Cassie couldn't help the soft wave of mild pity that rolled through her. Even though his confusion was caused by her, she wanted to soothe it away for him.
Yeah, this whole mate thing was very interesting.
Tamsin's elegant dark brows both rose. “Really? He admitted he did not know what step to take next?”
Puffing out a bit of a laugh, Cassie nodded. “I guess he usually knows exactly what to do?”
Tamsin leveled a glance at Cassie. “Always. He must. He is the pack alpha,” she finished simply, as if that were all the explanation needed.
Frowning a bit, Cassie said, “But what if he doesn't? What then?”
Another brief pause as the pack alpha's sister regarded his new mate. Maybe she should learn to keep her mouth shut, Cassie thought, pinned by the wolf shifter's gaze. Examination, calculation, some old regret, and the brewing of an idea all played across Tamsin's striking, mobile features.
But then Tamsin shrugged a bit and turned to the fancy closet doors. Opening them to reveal a neat row of men's clothing, she said, “He does know. Even if he doesn't yet realize he knows. Now,” she announced in a voice that signaled that particular conversation was over, “let's get you dressed. Time for you to see your new home while Trevor deals with the fun parts of being an alpha.”
“Dressed in his clothes?” Cassie asked, somewhat dubious.
“No, he keeps women's clothes in here.” Tamsin disappeared into the closet, which was larger than Cassie would have guessed a man's would be. It did fit the grandiosity of the house, she had to admit.
>
“Because...?” Cassie asked, suddenly unsure of her reaction to whatever it was Tamsin would say. She tried to see what Tamsin was pulling from the deep recesses, but she couldn't make out anything.
“Because he is a male wolf who sometimes keeps company with the human women, and they don't always get to come in here with their own clothing on,” Tamsin said in an absentminded tone, turning around and holding out a simple but very pretty sundress in a vivid blue. “This should look stunning on you,” she added with a smile, admiring it for another moment before looking up and catching Cassie's expression.
“Oh, that was careless of me,” Tamsin said, immediately shaking her head. “You're more than just a surrender now. I need to watch my words around you,” she ended on a rueful note. The skin around her clear eyes, almost the exact shade of Trevor's but with a touch of violet in them, crinkled a bit as she frowned. “This is just such a delicate time right now. You are our alpha's mate, but you are human. The council has summoned him from his pleasure with you”—Cassie couldn't help the flush that rose over her face, although Tamsin didn't even seem to notice—“and I'm certain I know which one of them put that little play into motion. But they will be questioning him, due to your human status. It won't be accepted.”
“So that part's true?” Cassie nervously picked at the bed cover and wished Trevor's body against hers still warmed it. Just thinking about him made all her senses shiver in remembered delight. “Humans are second-class citizens here.”
The dark shifter woman shrugged again. “In a sense, yes. Our pack is very old-fashioned, and very isolated. Other parts of the world have more modern ways. But you are different, Cassie. Trevor has needed a mate. For many reasons.” She studied Cassie again, that look of calculation spreading over her features again. She nodded decisively. “I've changed my mind about our plans. Out of that bed,” she ordered in such crisp tones Cassie found herself obeying, despite the fact she was still totally starkers. “Let's get you dressed. Then, we must go to the council chambers.”
Chapter 4
Trevor entered the sumptuous council chambers on silent paws, throwing extra power behind his presence so it radiated his fury throughout the enormous room. The quiet buzz of conversation in there halted the second he stalked through the doorway, replaced by a shocked silence.
Coming into chambers in wolf form was forbidden due to the aggravated emotions and responses shifters had when they were in their wilder shape. It was a rule set hard and fast, never to be broken.
Trevor Reginald, however, was alpha of the Wicked Mountain pack, leader to over three hundred wolves kept under his tight control. He could do what he damn well wished, so long as it was a calculated move to ensure his position.
Judging by the stunned tableau of faces before him, he'd done his job well.
“Who dared summon me from my bed at this hour?” Despite coming out as a wolf's growl, he knew his words would be understood by the eleven other shifters in the room. Shifters could always understand one another regardless of the form they chose to be in at any given moment.
Silence fraught with anxious tension held the room in supreme unease. No one moved, blinked, or probably even dared breathe. A most excellent response to their alpha's rage, Trevor thought with grim satisfaction.
“I repeat,” he said again, slowly advancing on the council members. To a wolf, their gazes dropped to the floor before his crackling energy. “Who was foolish enough to dare summon me?”
Not a single one of them moved. Yet very subtly, they all somehow managed to tilt fractionally away from one, leaving him standing alone despite being in the middle of the group.
Remaining outwardly on alert, back ridged with fur standing on end, eyes glaring red, Trevor sighed to himself deep inside. It was a sigh of old, rather useless anger as well as some resignation. Of course it was the one wolf who would possibly dare challenge him. The one wolf who held the most bitterness over Trevor's position in the pack. The one wolf who very slowly picked at the alpha over the decades, carefully undermining him without overtly seeming to.
Thayne Reginald. His own brother.
Eyes still cast to the floor like all the others, dark head bowed in resistant submission, Thayne quietly smoldered with the checked resentment of years of unhealed wounds. Older than Trevor, he'd vied for pack alpha several times before and lost. He hadn't mounted a serious challenge in years, but Trevor never stopped watching his brother closely. He allowed him to stay in the pack for one reason: keep one's friends and family close, yes, but keep one's enemies right at one's bosom.
Thayne was a dangerous viper awaiting the right moment to strike. This moment, however, wasn't it. Not if Trevor had anything to do with it.
Stalking on his giant, silent paws right to within a mere foot of his brother, he growled out the traditional words. “And for what reason is this council thusly convened?”
There was the barest pause before Thayne replied in a tight voice. “The council wishes to discuss the matter of the town surrender immediately. Alpha,” he ground out in an insultingly slow measure of acknowledgement, his voice managing to display both respect and a skiff of disdain at once. “If there is an—issue with the surrender, the situation must be addressed at once. For the sanctity and safety of the pack.” With those last words, Thayne managed to drag his gaze up to meet Trevor's. There was no doubt of his strength, not to mention that their blood ties allowed him a razor's edge of ability to fight against the natural pull of his alpha.
As his wolf, Trevor stood five feet at the shoulder and easily weighed five hundred pounds of sheer muscle and lightning-fast reflexes. He dominated all other wolves in the pack due to his status, although a few were physically larger. The only one who ever came close to pushing him down from his position was Thayne. Not that it was ever an extraordinarily close competition—but still, a competition and a threat it was.
Frankly, Trevor was tiring somewhat of the power plays and strategy games and the sheer ugliness of pack life. Especially now that he had a soft, sexy, unbelievably responsive, saucy mate to protect.
Only when Thayne's gaze snapped back down to the floor did Trevor realize he was snarling, one paw lifted off the ground in the classic position just prior to a leap.
It seemed thoughts of Cassandra incited his deepest protective instincts. Instincts he hadn't had to monitor since—
Trevor cut off that line of thought yet agin. He still refused to fully contemplate the past, or entertain any idea of what the future might once more bring. Right now, all he needed to focus on was quashing his brother's small but intentional chess move in this endless game of pack politics. The one thing his conniving brother feared was Trevor becoming so powerful he could not again be challenged.
Each of the most powerful alphas in the world had one significant thing in common: a strong, supportive, pack-sanctioned mate to help lead the pack and privately council the alpha. Cassandra Wakefield's existence was an enormous threat to Thayne's desire to be pack alpha. But her human status threw it all into question. Could she or could she not officially be Trevor's mate in the Wicked Mountain Wolf Pack?
The citrus-sweet scent of her rose up again in his memory, as did the softness of her skin, the flash of sass in her eyes, and the purely undeniable fact that yes, she was indeed his mate. The more important question here was, would she be sanctioned by the pack? Sensing the waves of desperation rising from his brother, not to mention the tendrils of fomenting dissension emanating from several of the other council members, Trevor was fairly certain she would not. Not in the traditional way.
His mind raced for a way to handle this ridiculous situation and buy him more time to think through all the moves.
“In fact,” Thayne's voice lowered as if sharing a confidence, although the stiffness of his shoulders told Trevor he was merely continuing his latest ploy of upheaval, “some are whispering about the old ways. The ancient wisdom of putting to death any surrender who thought to overstep her bounds.”
The silence encasing the lavishly appointed chambers at that statement was so deep it thumped in Trevor's ears. It was one thing for Aliana to have foolishly, bitterly flung those words for Cassandra to hear last night. Trevor had dallied with Aliana in the recent past, and although the two clearly were unsuited to one another, she deeply craved the power and status that came with being an alpha's mate. She'd been an annoying pester in his ear about it for years now, but he acknowledged from where her ire rose. She was female; she wanted a mate; worse, she was an alpha female herself and therefore instinctively sought to lasso the pack with her own strength in the only way she could. That, Trevor understood and could brush off as being what a female wolf in his pack might do if searching for her true place.
But for his own brother to speak the words aloud, to even entertain the notion of harming an alpha's mate—even if she wasn't officially recognized as such yet—was tantamount to treasonous betrayal.
Slowly, Trevor's ears pricked straight up as his rage pinpointed even more strongly on Thayne. He felt the fur ridged up so hard along his spine he knew it looked like spikes of black metal. His teeth showed to their full effect as his lips pulled back into a silent snarl, nose wrinkled so hard it almost hurt.
This was why no one was allowed into council chambers in wolf form. Ever. The entire council held so still they appeared to be terrified statues. Even Thayne paled somewhat as he realized he'd pushed Trevor too hard, although his jaw still set in the stubborn expression Trevor knew well.
Trevor felt reason slipping as all his thoughts narrowed to one concern: he must protect his mate, no matter the cost. He'd never countered one of his brother's challenges by serious injury or banishing. Blood was blood, and bloodlines were very important to shifters.
But mates were even more important.
Tensing into a crouch, Trevor snapped his tail once so it flattened out behind him. Ready to attack. He had to defend not only his mate—his damnably perplexing yet indisputably genuine mate—but his position as pack alpha. If Thayne finally had to pay with some real bloodshed, so be it.
