by Anna Craig
Trevor just readied himself to spring, muscles quivering from the effort of not tipping Thayne to the exact moment, when hurried steps in the hallway leading to the chambers alerted everyone to the presence of someone approaching.
“Alpha!” called out Tamsin's voice, purposeful yet somewhat nonchalant at the same time. “My deepest apologies for my tardiness. Your mate is still adjusting to her new home.”
Muttered oaths and more than a few gasps knocked into the still air at both Tamsin's unexpected presence as well as her reference to Cassandra as Trevor's mate. Trevor worked very hard to appear unsurprised as he simultaneously checked the leap that had quivered from his every inch into almost becoming a reality. He trusted Tamsin, and she always had his best interests in mind. Whatever she was doing, he would play along until he figured it out. He would also keep pinning Thayne with his snarling glare, not letting the fool challenger out of his sight.
But Tamsin's next words blew that decision right out of the water, along with his catching a scent that had his entire being shuddering. Enticing, even deliriously intoxicating, scented like wild berries and exotic flowers caught in a rainstorm, it wafted into the room. Despite his intentions, he swung his head around to see first his sister enter, properly deferential. And following her, carrying the rich promise of pleasure and safety and sanctuary and release, was Cassandra. At the sight of her, the blood seemed to swell in Trevor's head, making his ears bang. She was encased in a simple blue dress that accentuated every luscious curve, brought out the red of her lips, beautifully displayed the mass of blonde hair flowing loose over her back and shoulders.
Stunned, and struggling mightily to keep that feeling contained so it did not blunt the edge he still needed, Trevor snapped his head back around to fix Thayne again in his sights. But Thayne was as mesmerized by Cassandra as every other male in the room, though it seemed to be more from a calculated fascination than any misplaced desire. Here was the human surrender who thought to call herself mate of the alpha. Even knowing their interest was not precisely carnal in nature, Trevor kept the snarl decorating his lips.
What in the hell was Tamsin thinking, bringing Cassandra here?
Behind him, his sister spoke in formal terms, although her tone was still somewhat casual. “As instructed by you earlier, sir, I have brought Cassandra to chambers to be presented to the pack council.”
A single loud gasp punctured the otherwise still room, quickly shushed by a foot being stomped on, to judge by the immediately following yelp of pain. Trevor noted who it was out of the corner of his eyes, although he kept his baleful gaze on his brother. Internally, he smiled in grim satisfaction at Tamsin's usual quick thinking to make it seem whatever scheme she'd concocted was his idea. She knew far better than to ever usurp his power in front of the pack.
“She is ready, sir,” Tamsin continued in a calm, quiet voice, although Trevor knew her well enough to pick up on the slight strain in it. Whatever she was up to, it was a bit of a gamble.
Thayne, emboldened by the certain knowledge that Trevor would do nothing to him in front of their sister, voiced a suspicious question. “Ready? For what reason exactly is the human,” he emphasized the word just barely enough that Trevor could sense Tamsin's hackles raise almost as much as his, “surrender brought to chambers while we gather?”
Now, triumph encircled Tamsin's voice, obvious to all. “Why, to be presented to the council. As my alpha asked me to do for him while he came here first to attend to your own specious claims, Thayne. My alpha who is to be obeyed without question, and yours as well,” she added in a sharp tone. Tamsin loved Thayne and often ran private interference between the brothers, but even so, she would always be loyal to Trevor in his role as alpha. She went on in cool tones, “Presented prior to being claimed by the pack, naturally.”
A low rumble started to echo through the room from the gathered council members. A rumble of shock that even Trevor would not be able to contain entirely in the first moments. His own shock at what his sister was doing snapped through him, even as his very being longed to howl a resounding yes throughout the chamber.
Thayne sputtered, then barked out an incredulous, “Claimed? Claimed as what?” even though he knew precisely what Tamsin's answer would be.
Trevor knew his sister smiled her most devilish smile as she spoke. Though she loved Thayne despite his endless attempts at power grabs, she also loved to win. “Officially claimed as our alpha's mate.”
Chapter 5
A huge uproar erupted through the massive room—really, could this place have more huge, gorgeous rooms filled with priceless art and statues and furniture, and wolf shifters all so ridiculously beautiful it almost hurt her eyes after a while to look at them?—and stabbed Cassie with its rough, frightening undertones.
If Tamsin hadn't been gently-but-actually-firmly holding her upper arm, she would have turned and bolted back down the hallway to the relative safety of Trevor's bedroom. First of all, she was poured into a little blue dress that was adorable, but it showed an awful lot of her. Well, of course yesterday she'd been paraded naked down the hallway, but she hadn't been in front of an entire pack of wolves at the time. There'd been no one else present then except Trevor, and the also very handsome but really, the more she thought about it, quite nice but not earthshakingly amazing Finn and Mac. Glancing quickly through all the men here, she felt just the slightest touch of disappointment not to see them. Even though things had almost gone in a crazy direction with the three of them and just her yesterday—or was it a century ago?—she felt like they might be allies. She had zero further interest in them on a female level...but at least neither one of them had seemed to want her dead.
Then again, seeing the aggression and dominance being flung around the room now, she wondered if there really were any allies in this pack. She didn't know an awful lot about politics in general, let alone shifter politics—for crying out loud, she'd been a geology major in college, who cared about politics when one could study the fascination of volcanos like the long-dormant one Wicked Mountain itself was—but she grasped enough to understand that Tamsin was sticking her neck out for her brother, and that there was some undercurrent of nastiness winging its way around the room. The feel in here was so different than the purely sexual one of yesterday it was almost funny. The men in here now definitely did not seem interested in enjoying the female pleasures of her company. One in particular looked at her like she harbored the plague or something equally atrocious. If he wasn't standing practically right under Trevor's enormous paws, it seemed as if he might leap at her and attack with his bare hands.
But Trevor—oh, Trevor. Her mate. Her skin still shivered lightly at that thought, despite every warning bell in her body going off what with a room full of angry wolf shifters shouting and gesturing and generally giving off really scary vibes. Trevor was downright gigantic as his wolf, and just as stunning in that form as he was in his human one. His stance right now, facing down all the others, keeping the one in particular right in his line of sight, was filled with guarded protectiveness.
Something about it also struck Cassie as so vulnerable, so lonely, she felt her feet moving before her brain caught up to her plan. Tamsin's hold on her arm tightened, but as soon as she realized Cassie wasn't heading for the door, she let go and simply watched.
As if guided by a dreamlike instinct, by something ancient and perfect and totally understandable, Cassie knew exactly what to do, even though she had no idea why she was doing it. She walked up to the magnificent wolf standing solitary in the center of the room, his paws braced against the thick, beautiful Oriental rug that covered some of the room's huge silvery-gray flagstones, and didn't stop until she was next to his hip. Which was level with her shoulder, holy shit he was huge. Beside but not in front of him, where she might distract attention from his commanding, if solitary, presence. Tentatively placing her hand onto the black fur curving over his back, she took one tiny second to revel in its unexpected softness. A rumbl
ing sensation beneath her hand first startled her, until she realized low growls vibrated throughout his massive, solid frame. But it wasn't her he growled at.
The entire room again fell quieter than a graveyard as every eyeball in the place except Trevor's swiveled to Cassie. She was about to open her mouth, to say whatever it was that would come out. Damn. Should she stop and think about it first? She usually wasn't very good at that. Keeping her mouth shut probably was the best course around here. She'd been figuring that out in the past half a day with these shifters. But right now, speaking was what had to happen. And somehow, she knew exactly what needed to be said despite not really knowing what the hell was going on.
“Sir.” Her voice came out scratchy and high-pitched, and she paused to indelicately clear her throat. Awesome. Trying again, she said more firmly, “Sir. I have come as you requested, in order to be—ah, claimed by the pack.” Whatever the hell that meant. Her voice wavered the slightest bit, and she felt her breathing speed up in her nervousness, but she kept plowing on despite the expressions of varying degrees of disbelief, anger, shock, and, thank god, one or two that didn't seem like they might volunteer to rip out her throat after all.
“I am here to offer myself as something more than town surrender. The pack will claim me”—oh god, she really hoped that wasn't as terrible a thing as it was starting to sound, the more she thought about it—“and then I shall be your mate. Sir.”
Cassie let her words sink into the quiet, tense air. Trembling in spite of her best efforts, she took comfort in the enormous beast standing beside her. Which was pretty funny, really. Before yesterday, every time she'd ever seen a wolf shifter in wild form, she'd been so scared she practically peed herself. They didn't come into town much, as either humans or wolves, but when they did, bad things generally happened. She'd been raised knowing for a fact they could be ravening beasts.
Yet at this moment, strength rolled into her as she stood beside her mate. It had to be the mate thing, because instead of losing her wits and wanting to run away like a panicked, peeing little rabbit, she felt sturdy and safe. Well, sort of. But something did seem a little steadier in her. As if she was anchored firmly to the giant wolf standing beside her.
Mate. Hmm.
After another long moment, during which Trevor's tension didn't relax a single bit beneath her hand, he snarled loudly. Cassie startled a bit, but did her best to keep standing still. She also tried to keep herself from looking any of the shifters in the eye, although she didn't keep her gaze aimed at the floor, either. She knew that much, at least. Looking them in the eye during moments like these could be seen as a challenge, or an invitation to do something she'd really prefer not happen. And she somehow sensed that looking utterly submissive wasn't the right thing in this situation, either. Shit, this was kind of hard.
“Affirmed,” one of the shifters abruptly said in a carrying voice, his glance washing over Cassie. He took one step forward and nodded his head at Trevor in what was clearly a submissive gesture. Cassie side-eyed Trevor but got no message about how to interpret this, so she stayed still and kept her mouth shut. From this point, she was back to being utterly in the dark about how this would all play out.
“Affirmed,” said another one, this one female, which surprised Cassie a bit, also stepping forward and nodding at Trevor. She shot a quick look at Cassie, but nothing in her expression screamed, You should be killed, you little alpha-stealing bitch.
Perhaps this wouldn't go so badly after all.
A ripple of assents followed. Some sounded very grudging, a few clearly angry. The man standing rooted to to the spot immediately before Trevor said nothing, his brilliant green eyes fixed on the alpha's in some sort of staring match. Which Cassie also didn't remotely understand. She realized there was a hell of a lot to learn about wolf shifter politics.
Finally, the lone shifter to reply was that one. His dark, faintly stubbled jaw clenched hard, an expression of muted fury rippling over his attractive, vaguely somewhat familiar features. Cassie got the feeling he might be the most powerful shifter in the room after Trevor. Clearly, he wasn't at all happy with whatever was going on, and he planned to hold out as long as he could.
But power crackled around the pack's alpha like an aura even Cassie could sense. As soon as she'd stood beside him, she'd sensed it get bigger and stronger. He was an invincible force, and no way would this wolf be able to stand up to it.
To her surprise, the staring abruptly ended when the other wolf uttered a short, sharp laugh. He slid his gaze to Cassie. His expression still cast extreme displeasure, but the glance itself was brief. Finally flicking his gaze to the ground, he nodded once. “I see the hand of fate at play here.” His voice was rough, hard, but an elegant note shot through it as well. “Who am I to question its whims? You are alpha, Trevor, and you apparently have met your mate. She is to be claimed by the pack. Affirmed,” he said, the word slightly drawled out in the only bit of insubordination Cassie could hear.
The room went still again, all waiting for their alpha's response. Cassie's nerves twanged and her left shoulder ferociously itched, but she didn't dare move a muscle. Everything was in Trevor's court, and she wasn't about to lose this advantage for him by drawing attention to herself yet again.
Hmm. Maybe she was finally learning something.
Another low, drawn-out growl emanated from the huge black wolf at her side. This time, it didn't sound nearly as terrifying as the first one, although it still scraped over Cassie's skin in its menacing snarl of sound, doing nothing to help the state of her nerves. He swung his enormous head to scan the room, pausing over each shifter as if to take his or her measure. As they all were looking at the ground, she knew they couldn't see when he caught each particular one in his sights, but they each seemed to sense it anyway, to judge by their tensed muscles as his gaze glittered over each one.
Finally, Trevor relaxed the tiniest little bit beneath her hand. Turning to face her, his gorgeous icy blue-green eyes capturing her, he bared just the slightest bit of his lip over his teeth at her. A cold bucket of dread slipped down her spine and over her entire body, making her feel almost faint.
What exactly did “claimed” mean, again?
Follow me. She heard the words spoken distinctly right in her head. Trevor's voice. Echoing in her head. Human, very understandable words. Even so, her brain gibbered for a moment as she stared at him. He was talking to her in her mind. Holy shit.
His eyes narrowed a tiny bit in his dark face, and he swung his body around to advance on her. Nudging her very gently but clearly with his shoulder, he jerked his head toward the doorway. Follow me, my lovely Cassandra. Now, if it please you. That last sentence had a marked sharpness to it that told her he was being more than a little sardonic.
Right. Follow him. Of course she would. Sir.
Trevor walked out of the room on his huge paws, completely silent despite the colossal bulk of his wolf. Cassie dutifully followed, looking at Tamsin as she passed. The alpha's sister didn't smile, but she nodded her head just the tiniest bit to indicate Cassie was doing the right thing. Then, to Cassie's surprise, Tamsin fell in behind them. When she heard more movement, she couldn't help but turn and look over her shoulder.
The entire council was following them. And this time, the eyes of each one was trained on her.
Oh god. Claimed by the pack. What the hell was she in for now?
Chapter 6
Lingering anger, startlement, confusion, and other randomly mixed emotions he did his best to knock aside all battled within Trevor as he led the procession out of council chambers and toward the back part of the house. Tamsin's ploy had worked brilliantly, but the gamble she'd taken had been immense. Why Thayne so suddenly acquiesced had Trevor's suspicious mind running at full throttle, but for the moment he couldn't decipher what his brother might be up to now.
And then there was Cassandra. Lusciously beautiful in that dress, her golden tresses literally flowing around her, the firmness of
her moves and voice when she so unexpectedly went to his side and spoke the exact words that needed to be spoken—ah, yes. The actions of a true mate. The others could sense it, too, he thought in grim satisfaction. His scent was all over her, thoroughly etched into her pores for them all to know she was marked as his and his alone. That, and she had a backbone. Saucy, but strong.
This stunning woman was no mere surrender, and the council had just seen ample evidence of that. It was the only reason they'd agreed to the claim.
His display of unprecedented power hadn't hurt, either. He would not have hesitated to make an example out of any one of the council members while in his wolf form, and they each were keenly aware of that fact. Their alpha now had a mate, no matter that she was human, and they had accepted the fact that they would be required to acknowledge it as such in official capacity.
Aware of the bewitching woman following him, scenting her determination as well as an almost constant miasma of trepidation, Trevor briefly wondered how she would accept the next step in this wild succession of events.
Too bad the lovely Cassandra would have no choice. He was her alpha as well, now. Obeying him was part of the mate construct.
Obeying him for her own safety. The thought drifted in unpleasant reminder through his head. He shook himself hard to throw it off, never slowing his pace.
The long hallway opened up into the pack's well-appointed library. Trevor heard Cassandra's muffled gasp as they advanced through it, and he took a moment to consider it with fresh eyes. Walls of bookshelves filled with expensively-bound leather tomes, opulent furniture that invited one to relax in the house of an exceedingly affluent pack, ceiling-to-to-floor windows that framed the verdant, sprawling mountains and the large river flowing far below, luxurious draperies that alone had cost more than Trevor paid the cleaning staff in an entire year. He realized it must seem overwhelming to Cassandra, particularly if she was considering the fact she would soon be mistress of this place.
