Ruled by the Pack: Wicked Wolf Shifters 5

by Anna Craig

  Damn it, what in the hell was wrong with him?

  Chapter Two

  Approximately seven thousand different emotions roiled around inside Tamsin Reginald as she headed straight for the most irritating wolf shifter in the room. Yet if someone had aimed a gun filled with silver bullets to her head and demanded she name a single one of those emotions, she would simply have to allow herself to be shot.

  Because beyond a vague, hot rage, she couldn't articulate anything else she was feeling.

  The fact that she even felt such wild sentiments so intensely as to have assaulted the man in public annoyed her to no end. She was Tamsin Reginald, after all. Sister to the most powerful alpha in the country. A very powerful alpha female in her own right. For years now, she had carefully, wisely advised her brother on pack wars, mergers, a multitude deadly situations that would break a lesser wolf. She was strong, smart, and more than capable of meeting any challenge that ever came her way.

  Then why on earth was it that when she saw Jackson for the first time in two weeks, her only instinct had been to slap him so hard that she could still see the faint red of the impact of her hand on his cheek? And at her own brother's wedding to boot. In front of the entire pack, one filled with always calculating wolves.

  Get it together, she snarled to herself. Outwardly, though, she maintained her cool and calm demeanor, except for possibly an irate sparkle glittering in her eyes.

  Clearly something was wrong with her. Tamsin was known for handling every situation with practicality. Of course she could have fun. She knew how to enjoy herself and her fellow pack mates. She knew how to relax, how to have a good time. She was kind and compassionate as necessary. But as the alpha's sister, and one of the fabled Reginalds, she could never truly let her guard down except around a very select few. She'd always handled her position slightly differently than her brother, although she knew just as well as he did the importance of maintaining face in front of a large pack rife with political intrigue and drama.

  Losing her cool like that in front of virtually the entire pack had been an egregious error in judgment. She never ruled by emotion. Emotion was something she perfectly well accepted and embraced—it definitely had its proper place and time. But an uncontrolled mood, explosively demonstrated in front of the entire pack as if she were a mannerless cub? Allowing herself to be guided by pure emotion? No. That was something she should not have allowed.

  Jackson was making her lose control, and she intended to find out why. Somehow, this was all his fault. Damn him and his molten, sexy smile. The smile that had never worked on her until mere weeks ago, and for who knew what ridiculous reason.

  Taking quick notice of Finn and Mac standing directly behind Jackson, both of them watching her approach as if they viewed a particularly entertaining movie, Tamsin dismissed them to focus her attention on the most charming, most infuriating wolf in the pack. Tall, dark-haired, and armed with that charismatic smile that had slayed what seemed like an endless army of women over the centuries, Jackson Rule was the epitome of a wolf shifter sex god. At least, that was what the shifter groupies in the human world seemed to think. Any woman within a hundred mile radius of the man always seemed to drop at his feet, her legs splayed wide open from just one of his sizzling looks.

  Tamsin wasn't one of those women. Never had been. Never would be. No, she had a brain. A brain she would damn well use. His ultra-charming bad boy ways were absolutely not going to work on her.

  Jackson raised his eyebrows and kept his gaze firmly on her as she made her way straight toward him. “Hello, Tamsin,” he said as she drew near. A light danced in his arresting green eyes. A very challenging, playful light.

  The rich baritone of his voice shivered along her skin, setting something inside her aflutter and irritating her even more. She awarded him a regal nod back, even though it made her roll her eyes internally at her own pompousness. “Jackson,” she replied, her own tones chilly. Assessing. Challenging right back.

  He never did drop his eyes in her presence, although every other wolf in the pack would do so in deference to her high ranking. Then again, she never dropped her eyes around Jackson, either. As her brother's right-hand man, Jackson commanded more power than any other wolf in the pack aside from the alpha. He easily could've forced his hand and made Tamsin grovel before him in even the most minute ways. But never once had he done that. Tamsin instinctively knew he never would. Despite being a bit of a rake, he was a gentleman where his alpha's sister was concerned.

  Of course, that was then. This was now. Whatever "now" was. And this now was different even than the now that had existed just before she had slapped Jackson.

  She had slapped Jackson. The thought still mortified her, even as it gave her a strange sense of satisfaction. She not stopped for a moment to think about her actions even as her hand had raised and whipped out to smack him across his cheek, the sound ringing out along the crowded riverbanks where Trevor and Cassie's mating ceremony had taken place. Although she wasn't quite as deliberately calculating as her brother, Tamsin still almost never did anything without thinking it through first. For that alone, a cold shock had shivered through her entire body as her hand had connected with Jackson's face. It wasn't at all like her. She was bound and determined to get back to the person she was: someone who was not out of control.

  As the alpha's sister, she could not afford to be out of control. Ever.

  “Here to slap me again?” Jackson's tone was still mild, but the provocation remained in his eyes.

  He was taunting her. Against her own stern command, Tamsin felt angry wolf hackles starting to raise on her back. Why did she suddenly struggle with self-discipline around this most exasperating man?

  “Of course not, Jackson.” She forced herself to stay calm, despite the fact that every female thing in her body seemed to be suddenly alive in his presence. That was a recent development. And most definitely unwanted. “That was simply a warning about your crass behavior at your alpha's mating ceremony. It won't happen again. Unless you need another warning?”

  Finn and Mac, still watching in open fascination, both widened their eyes a bit. Finn smiled, nodding his head at Tamsin in clear encouragement. He always did like to needle Jackson just the tiniest bit. She ignored him and kept her gaze instead on the tall, broad-chested, gorgeous—

  Wait one minute. Gorgeous? Since when did she ever allow herself to look at Jackson Rule that way? Jackson freaking Rule, pack bad boy? Heartbreaker and panty-melter rolled into one? The one who would never grow up, who would never move out from under the shadow of the alpha?

  She had to admit Jackson looked utterly dashing in his tuxedo. She hadn't even realized he owned a tuxedo. Cassie, Trevor's wife and now blushing bride, had expressed her desire to Tamsin that her wedding have some human traditions to it along with the more typical wolf shifter meeting ceremony. Although Cassie hadn't been specific about anything in particular, Tamsin had made a point of thinking back over the few human ceremonies she had attended in her lifetime, and doing a ton of Internet research to make sure it would be the wedding of Cassie's dreams. Cassie was her new sister, the alpha's mate, and the woman who had saved Trevor's life in ways the rest of the pack would never know, if Tamsin had anything to do with it. Tamsin had made sure every wolf in the pack understood the alpha's new mate was to be obeyed in all her whims, which included dressing up for the ceremony whether or not they wanted to.

  Very, very privately, Tamsin had to admit that Jackson looked more than dashing in his tux. He looked purely edible.

  She narrowed her eyes as that idiotic thought wafted through her head. Edible? Whatever. She wasn't a shifter groupie. She'd never once fallen for Jackson's charms, or even really thought he had any charms. But the night before he left for his vacation—

  Tamsin bit the inside of her lip to stop that train of thought. The past was the past.

  Instead, she tipped her head very slightly to the side while she tried to force her traitorous eyes to
not drink in Jackson's every inch. “Well?”

  He did it again. He smiled. That molten, melting, sexy smile she'd seen him do a million times, although never once had it been aimed at her. The smile that had slayed thousands of women.

  The smile that was making her insides somersault and squeeze and feel really fucking good.

  Damn the charming bastard.

  “My deepest apologies, of course, for interrupting the ceremony of our esteemed alpha.” Jackson bent his head, making a dark slide of hair dip over one of his eyes. Between that and his smile, not to mention the skin-shivering tickle of his deep voice, Tamsin thought she might possibly explode on the spot.

  This was absolutely ridiculous. Jackson Rule was a playboy, not pack leader material. Tamsin had her sights set higher. Her position meant she had no choice but to do so.

  Not to mention Trevor would have them both thrashed, or worse, if she and Jackson ever did more than talk pack politics together.

  She kept looking at him for a beat longer before she answered. "Your well-said toast was much appreciated. It covered up quite well for the extraordinary gaffe you made earlier."

  Behind Jackson, Finn's and Mac's grins both widened. Tamsin squashed the urge to roll her eyes at them. She knew they were friends of Jackson's, and she didn't mind if they watch this exchange. She liked the both of them herself. Her constantly alert political mind even rapidly assessed the situation as being a conducive one for her position in the pack, as well as a simple shot of continued security for its alpha. What Finn and Mac saw here would slowly trickle into the rest of the shifters. Tamsin was no fool. Finn and Mac were exceedingly loyal to both the pack and their alpha, but they were also exceedingly willing to share sly tales about a fellow male wolf's dressing down by a female wolf. They would gain a lot of cred by sharing such information.

  Public face was everything in a wolf pack. If Tamsin's appearance as being in control was strengthened by playing up this little exchange right now, so much the better.

  Jackson still inclined his dark head at Tamsin, the corners of his mouth curving up in the barest hint of a sardonic grin. Always so cocky, so certain of his effect on women. She'd never before succumbed to his charms, and she certainly wasn't about to start right now. Steeling her voice, she went on. "You do understand my implication, don't you?"

  Just the slightest tightening of one of Jackson's beguiling eyes tipped the fact that he'd caught her barb.

  "I most certainly do understand, my most gentle and persuasive lady." Now, he executed a bow with an elaborate flourish. Tamsin's cheeks flamed and she silently stewed, though the cool smile never left her face. He was playing with her, in such a courtly way that she could not take him to task for it. But she could keep playing the game right alongside him without even batting an eye. She'd lived in the glaring spotlight of pack politics her entire life. It was all she knew, and she knew it very damn well by now.

  "Really, Jackson? I'm not a surrender to be entranced into senselessness by your pretty gestures. I know you better than to fall for that." Deliberately, she arched a single brow at him, planted one hand on her hip, cocked it out in a deliberately insouciant manner.

  This time, she snared him.

  His gaze shot straight to the swell of her hip before it leisurely made its way up her body back to her face. This time, any hint of a smile was completely wiped from his expression. Instead, a look of naked hunger that she never seen before when he looked at her made her body clench all the right places even as flustered turmoil roared into her brain.

  Wait. No. No, no, no. Their little public game was backfiring on her, and she didn't like it. Not one bit.

  ~~~

  Something in Jackson sat up and took serious notice as Tamsin flaunted her untouchable wares before him. He sensed surprise and the faintest whiff of interest from behind him. Before he could stop himself, he whipped around to glare first at Mac, then at Finn. Both of them were suddenly regarding Tamsin as if she were a delicacy to be sampled.

  Well, she wasn't. She was no one else's delicacy. Nobody's delicacy but Jackson's.

  He snarled at the male wolves, even showing a hint of teeth before he caught himself.

  Hang on a damned minute there. Tamsin wasn't a delicacy. She wasn't even on the menu. Never had been, never would be. And she definitely wasn't his.

  Instantly cursing the direction of his thoughts, Jackson reined himself in. With careful precision and calculated nonchalance, very definitely ignoring the suddenly startled looks on his friends' faces, he turned to look again at Tamsin.

  "Perhaps," he said in light tones, "we should make this a more private conversation. It seems our audience is spoiling for a fight. I don't want to ruin my alpha's treasured day any more than I already have. My lady," he added. He just had to see that saucy flash in her eyes once again. Just once. He'd never before realized how fun it was to tease Tamsin. Never, that is, until a mere month or two ago.

  She did not disappoint. Expressive violet-blue eyes snapping at him in another uncharacteristic show of temper, she said in a sweet voice, "By all means, pack beta. Let us find a more private space.”

  Despite the accuracy of his title, it took him aback to hear her call him that, which she almost never did. It was a subtle dressing down of his status. A reminder that he was not alpha, and never would be. She was angry with him, for sure.

  It also stung a little. Even more than her slap earlier. Fine. It kind of really hurt. Keeping his frown internal, Jackson instead put his trademark lazy, promising smile back on his face. Pack beta? Pack playboy? Fine. That role, he could play without even thinking.

  “What I have to say to you are not appropriate words to be overheard by our peanut gallery here." She jerked her chin at Finn and Mack, the gesture a surprising combination of strength and delicateness.

  “Then let us repair to a balcony, my dearest Tamsin.” Jackson sketched her a half bow again.

  By this point, both Finn and Mac were staring at them with far more than just casual interest. Curiosity and sheer mental wheel-turning were clear on each of their faces.

  Tamsin must have noticed it as well. Her tone still smooth, although Jackson knew her well enough to catch the pointed irritation beneath it, she added, “Now that your flagrant interruption of our alpha's wedding has been dealt with, you and I can discuss some essential pack business you have missed in your absence.”

  Without another glance at him, she turned and gracefully stalked off toward a door leading out to the balconies that encircled the building. Jackson paused before following her. Giving a quelling glance to Finn and Mac, he warned, “Shut it. Not a word from either one of you.”

  Setting his sights on Tamsin, he headed after her lithe form as she easily passed through the unobtrusively yet clearly deferential clumps of merry revelers on her way outside.

  Despite being focused on her, he caught Finn's low, still amused voice behind him. “Wouldn't dream of speaking, pack beta. Do have fun with her.”

  Jackson managed to ignore it and kept his sights focused instead on the most alluring sway of hips ahead of him as Tamsin exited the ballroom.

  Leading him to what suspiciously felt like might be his doom.

  A doom that his entire body felt inexplicably thrilled to experience.

  Chapter Three

  Tamsin strode through the room in a quiet maelstrom of undefined rage. Outwardly, she knew she still appeared composed and cool. Glancing over at her brother and Cassie, she spared a quick, genuine smile for their obvious happiness. Even Trevor, her brooding, controlled, fierce alpha of her brother, wore a jubilant expression Tamsin had barely seen for decades. Cassie's face, open and expressive as always, shouted her own bliss about the day and the ceremony. Their pairing was one meant to be. Tamsin couldn't be more thrilled for both of them. Unlike some wolves in this place, she wasn't about to rain on their happy parade.

  No, Tamsin understood what the situation demanded and provided exactly that. This day was one about c
elebration, joy, and of course appearances. Jackson should understand that quite perfectly as well. However, it seemed all of his wanton fucking during his vacation had turned his brain to mush, making his memory as holey as Swiss cheese.

  Despite the thoughts whirling around inside her, Tamsin was damnably aware of Jackson's presence as he followed her to the balcony. Every sense she had seem to be attuned to the tall, über-male wolf who prowled behind her. Just that realization pissed her off even more, and she felt her steps quicken in response. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, she stepped outside onto the balcony and headed several yards down it so they would not be within sight of the cheerful crowd inside. The impressive amount of land surrounding the estate created a distracting, beautiful scenery of wooded mountain, landscaped lawns, and the beckoning depths of the forest that lay beyond. Jackson's scent surrounded her as well. It was every bit as wild, mysterious, and inviting as the deep forest that lay beyond.

  Damn it.

  "Does my presence offend you, my lady? You seem a touch agitated on what should be a most jubilant occasion instead.”

  Jackson's voice was more than a little mocking. Even so, it managed to send another little shiver over Tamsin's skin. The knowledge of the fact that Jackson—Jackson, of all people!—was arousing her in this way sharpened her voice as she answered him. She kept her gaze firmly on the view off the balcony as she spoke. "You have got to be kidding me, Jackson Rule." Tamsin gripped the railing of the balcony, throttling the smooth metal beneath her hands. "How dare you interrupt it the way you did, striding down the damned aisle as if you were part of the ceremony yourself. What on earth were you think—"

  "Now, now," he interjected. Dark laughter rippled beneath his words. "Methinks the lady doth protesteth too much, my dear Tamsin."

  Oh, that did it. Tamsin's control snapped. Utterly enraged, she let go of the balcony railing and whirled to look at the jokester. The playboy. The pack's bad boy and best friend of the alpha, who thought he could get away with absolutely anything. "Cut the crap, Jackson," she snarled in a low, shaking voice. Her blood pressure slammed through her veins, causing her brain to misfire as she looked straight at Jackson and his taunting jade eyes. "We're not in front of anyone else right now. You can talk like a normal person.” She flung her words at him like tiny darts, masking the absurd flutter she felt in her pulse. “You know perfectly well you skirted the line because Trevor will let you get away with it. Just like he always does.” The bitterness in her own voice surprised her so much, she paused to take a breath before going on. “Besides, he is so rightfully besotted with joy today that he would let just about anything slide. So it's up to me to make sure that both our alpha and our pack is protected. And if that means protecting it even against you, Jackson, I will do just that."