by R. E. Butler
“She’s right, Jas. I’ve never seen a wolf that color before. It was almost orange and he was big.” Cadence fidgeted while Jason finished dressing and then leaned back into him for comfort.
“Why is he here?” Jason asked Karly.
She tore her gaze away from Linus’. “I don’t know. He’s not supposed to be within 500 yards of me. I have a restraining order against him.”
Linus was completely shocked. “Karly, you said he couldn’t take a hint. You didn’t say he’d been bad enough to require a restraining order.”
Jason cleared his throat, “Hold that thought, Linus. Michael, you take a handful of our best trackers and see if you can pick up the trail. Cades will point out where she saw him.” Michael nodded and called out a few names and in just mere seconds, the sound of paws hitting the ground were heard.
Now, in the front room of his alphas’ home with only him, Cadence, Jason, Bo, Peter and Tina, Jason’s mother, Karly told him her story.
Phoenix Thompson was her playmate and protector. They grew up in the pack together. Several years older than her, he always believed that they were going to be mates when she reached of-age and her angel abilities kicked in. With a hair trigger temper, Phoenix had a tendency to fly off the handle at the slightest thing. He was Karly’s first sexual relationship when she was 15 and he was 19. They were together off and on for a few years, and the closer she got to 21, the more possessive he grew. When she turned 21 and spent more time with the pack than she had before, testing her powers against the unmated males, Phoenix tried to take out his competition by baiting them into rank fights. He would take the opportunity to maim his opponent instead of having a clean fight, and after a few weeks when Karly was ready to strike out on her own, Phoenix was furious. He promised her that she would belong to him, one way or the other. Under alpha orders to leave her alone, she thought she was safe from him and left.
The first few weeks of her travels, she was fine. She didn’t see him, and had even stopped thinking about him. And then she went home for the holidays and after that, she had a sneaking suspicion that she was being followed. When she called home, no one had seen him and she was encouraged to take care of herself.
Midway through spring, someone started leaving a white rose with her car. Sometimes it was on the windshield, sometimes on the seat. She went back to her home pack for help. Phoenix played innocent but the alpha ordered him under house arrest and had him punished. Karly once more thought she was safe.
Then, things started happening with her car, which at the time had been a white Camaro. When she went to the police over a slashed tire, he turned more violent and slashed all her tires, broke out her windows, and on one occasion, turned her car upside down in a fit of jealousy when she spent the night at an unmated male's home.
Her home pack sanctioned him and declared him under punishment, except that they didn’t know where he was. Her drive to find her mate made her keep pushing, and her father hired a bodyguard to keep an eye on her. He was human and although strong and a good fighter, after a few weeks of feeling safe for the first time, Phoenix put the man in the hospital, told her she was going to be his no matter what, and then disappeared again.
“I thought,” she sighed and took a deep breath, “I thought that the best thing I could do was find my mate, so I kept pushing forward in my search. My brother Bren sent one of his wolves to watch over me named Jude. He was older, retired military, and for a while I felt like Phoenix was gone. No one had seen or heard from him for weeks. Then Jude got called back home because his mother had died, and that’s when Phoenix started to get close again. He set my apartment on fire when I was out with a pack and if I hadn’t been too lazy to get my stuff from the car, I would have lost everything. I went home and stayed through the fall, terrified I was never going to be able to leave again. He showed up, though, accepted his punishment, apologized to the pack and promised he was better. I stayed for a week after his punishment was over. I thought he was getting over me, he even had a female with him that he said changed his life. But then, the night before I was ready to leave on my search again, I woke up in my bedroom and he was on top of me.”
She shuddered and Linus’ wolf growled. They waited for her to gather herself enough to continue her horrible story. After a few minutes, she did.
She struggled under him, terrified beyond words, and managed to kick him in the groin and when he was doubled over in pain, she screamed for help and got away from him. He snatched her back by her shirt and threw her into the wall, breaking her arm.
By the time she got out of the hospital, the bad news was that he’d managed to survive until dawn and was given his life. The only good news was that their trackers had trailed him up into Canada and believed him gone for good. She had nearly given up searching for her mate, but she was more determined then ever to find the right male for herself and put her past behind her. She stayed through Christmas with her family and started off again. She was weary. Frightened. Determined.
Linus had slipped his jeans on at one point during her story and he cuddled her against him on the couch. “I just don’t understand how he could have found me. Only my parents know where I am. The car is registered to my father. I haven’t ever changed my home address on my drivers’ license or mail or anything, and I always pay cash.”
He kissed the top of her head, “I’ll keep you safe, Karly, I swear.”
She didn’t answer. Whether it was because she already knew that, or because she was afraid to say she didn’t think he could, he didn't know. He squeezed her shoulder a little bit tighter and looked at Jason.
Unfortunately this was hitting Cadence a little close to home, and she was trying hard not to lose it. After the other alpha’s son had kidnapped her, his plans to rape her and pass her around to his new pack mates still haunted both her and Jason. Jason held her in his arms and met Linus’ eyes.
“First things first, let’s get Trick over here and make an official report. If he was at the tree line then he was closer than 500 yards.”
Peter made the call to get Patrick, police chief and human mate of one of their females, to the house. Even though it was very late, he came right away.
Karly told him everything she could about Phoenix. 6 foot even, lean and muscular, brown eyes, white-blonde hair normally kept short, a scar on the left side of his face down his jaw. Trick said he would head into the station and run the report, pull up the restraining order and follow any leads the pack could come up with. By the time he left, Michael and the trackers returned.
From the looks on their faces, it wasn't good. “He’s a damn crazy runner. He was all over the place, backtracking, climbing trees and leaping far distances. I’ve never seen anything like it. He clearly had a vehicle, though, because we lost him just outside town. The trail just stopped abruptly.”
Jason wanted some wolves to patrol the woods at Linus’ home. It warred with him that he couldn’t protect her. Jason clapped his hand on his shoulder, “Your home is about as far removed from the rest of us as possible. There’s no protection out there for you. If you want to stay with us, you’re welcome to. But as your alpha, I’m telling you that as long as this Phoenix character is out there and looking for her, until we figure out what’s going on, then you need to be smart. Don’t be like me. Don’t think you can protect her by yourself, don’t take her safety for granted.”
Scrubbing his face with his hands, he knew Jason was right. “We’ll go stay at my mom’s. A half dozen pack members live in her development and they have security cameras and patrols.”
Nodding his approval, Jason sent the patrol over to the development and Linus said goodnight to them and took Karly home to pack a bag. She seemed lost, shaken, not herself. He knelt in front of her on the bed and took her cold hands in his. “Sweet angel, I promise I will keep you safe. I didn’t wait my whole life to find you to have some fuck think he can scare me off. You’re mine. Forever.”
“I don’t want you to get hu
rt, Linus.” Her voice was trembling, a fine shiver of fear in her words.
He straightened and leaned over her, letting his wolf spill out into his eyes so they changed color and his fangs elongated. His voice came out edged with a growl, “You are mine, Karly. I will not let you be taken from me.”
Sniffling, she nodded and hugged him.
His mother was waiting for them, the wolves in the development were on alert, and Karly called her father and told him what happened. Linus’ first conversation with her father wasn’t about marriage and children like he’d wanted it to be.
“Don’t take anything for granted with Phoenix. He’s unstable,” her father Kamren said.
“I won’t, sir.” He glanced at Karly as she accepted a mug of hot chocolate from his mother. His grandparents had even driven over to the house to offer support.
“When he broke her arm, Linus, I want you to know that I was going to kill him. But the alpha is very traditional and he declared him deserving of pack justice and would forfeit his life if he was caught before dawn. I have never witnessed a wolf confuse an entire pack of males intent on his death, but he was like something possessed. I’m sorry that I let her down.”
“I’m going to do everything in my power to keep her safe.”
“I know you will. As a wolf with an angel mate of my own, I can tell you that there isn’t any more powerful mating between two creatures than what you now share with my daughter. I trust you to do your best for her. Perhaps the best thing to do is for you two to make your way up here sooner than March. Maybe getting married will send him packing for good, show that our pack supports you together.”
“I’ll talk to Karly.”
As he hung up, his heart lifted even as it deflated. He would love to marry her tomorrow. But not because of her nutcase ex.
Chapter 11
“Phoenix,” Karly rolled over under the covers with a yawn, “I have class tomorrow. You need to go.”
“Nah, come on.” He tweaked her butt cheek, “Make love to me once more. Please?”
“We’ve already done it twice and my dad gets up early, so no.” She peeked at him from under the covers and he scowled but he couldn’t keep it up long and he grinned.
“You know what the first thing we’re going to do when we’re mates is Lynnie?”
“Stop calling me by that nickname?” She said hopefully. He was the only one that had ever called her Lynnie and she didn’t care for it.
“I’ll never stop calling you that. No, we’re going to go for a nice, long honeymoon. Somewhere warm enough to have the windows open all night and a breeze to keep the room just the right temperature.”
She pulled the blanket down far enough to really look at him. Sometimes, he surprised her. He was jaded, hard. He fought his way up from the bottom of the pack and had the battle scars to prove it. He was a punch first, ask questions later sort of man. But there were times, when they were alone, that he showed her a softer side of himself and this was one of those times.
She stroked the scar on his jaw. It was still angry red and healing from a rank fight the day before. One of the unmated males a handful of years older than her had asked her to have dinner at his house and she had said yes, only to have him be challenged in a rank fight by Phoenix and then wind up in the hospital. She didn’t know why Phoenix was fighting so hard suddenly to move up in the pack, but it was like he was on a mission. “You’re a damn romantic when you want to be, Phoenix.”
“Just for you. I was thinking maybe we’d spread out in a couple years, make our own pack somewhere. Would you be interested in that?”
She hummed in her throat. “I don’t know. Ask me when I’m 21 and my angel nature has picked my mate, okay?”
His eyes darkened. “I’m certain we’re meant to be mates, Lynnie.”
Now his jealous side reared up. “I know you feel that way, Phoenix, and I care about you a great deal, too, but it’s not up to me. My nature will choose my perfect mate for me. It’s my destiny.”
His anger seeped away suddenly and she recognized the gesture as him trying to control himself for her benefit. “We're perfect together. I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“Well, if either of us are going to have a life in the future, then you need to scoot before my dad wakes up.” She never told him she loved him, because it wasn’t right to say that to him, knowing it was possible he might not be her mate in truth.
“Fine.” He groused and then flashed her a winning smile. He pulled on his clothes and leaned over to kiss her. “I’ll see you later Lynnie. Sweet dreams.” He swung his legs over the window and dropped down two stories to the ground, landing with a bare thud and then the sound of footsteps and then quiet.
* * * *
She woke up and stared at the ceiling. She hadn’t given Phoenix much thought since she found Linus. True, she had mentioned that she had a crazy ex but she hadn’t been specific at all because she didn’t really think it was anything to mention. Her father’s pack had friends at the Canadian border. If he crossed back into the states, they would have been notified. So the questions at the forefront of her brain now were: how had he gotten back, how long had he been back, and just how the hell had he found her? After leaving her parent's home after Christmas, she had gone south immediately because of the weather and stopped for New Year's at a pack in southern Ohio. She hadn’t even bothered signing a lease. The pack was entirely mated. After one night, she’d moved on to the pack in Allen and had been in her apartment almost 2 weeks before Linus found her in the snow.
“Are you thinking about him?” She didn't know how long Linus was up before he spoke.
“Kind of.” She looked at him as he went up on one elbow and looked down at her. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you everything. I would have told you eventually, but I thought he was done with me. I thought I was safe now.”
He growled unhappily and she realized her slip. “No, Linus, no. I’m sorry. I know I’m safe with you, I just mean I thought that, oh hell, I don’t know what I thought.”
He let out a slow breath. “It’s not as if you could have predicted this would happen. Even if I had known the extent of his insanity, I would have believed the same as you, that he was still up in Canada since your dad’s pack wasn’t notified he tried to cross over. I just…baby I don’t want you to be afraid. You are more precious to me than anything else I’ve ever known, and I will do my damnedest to keep you safe.”
Sincerity poured off him in waves. “I know you will, Linus. I love you.”
He pressed a soft kiss to her mouth and whispered against her lips, “I love you, too, angel mine.”
Unable to sleep, they lay together for a long, quiet while and eventually just got up. If they were home, she probably would have suggested a nice round of sex to distract them, but aside from not really being in the mood, she just couldn’t imagine having sex in his childhood bedroom with his mother and grandparents in the house.
With coffee in their hands, they cuddled on the worn couch in the front room and watched the sun rise over the trees that lined the small street that was part of a gated community for the older generation of wolves. What was most interesting about the Tressel pack was that when the young wolf alpha Jason took over, the older pack members – his father’s generation – stepped down.
“Why is that weird? Isn’t it normal for the best ones to be the top ranked?”
“Well, sure, but you said they just stepped down. They were barely middle age and they just walked away from leading. The second in command didn't take over leadership or fight Michael for his position, right?”
“No.” He looked at her in silence for a moment. “I never gave it any thought. The pack has always been lead by a Garrett. Are there any wolves your age ranked high in your dad’s pack?”
“Hell no,” She laughed. “The alpha is a vicious fighter and so are all his highly ranked men. And anyway, if someone wanted to take over, he’d have to fight his way u
p and besides my father’s passionate study of martial arts giving him an edge, the third ranked is a pro boxer in the were-circuit and the fourth ranked is a retired Navy Seal. When my father was fighting his way up the ranks back when he was young, he said that the only reason that he made it to second is because the alpha arranged them himself after a fight between the three of them that showed them to be evenly matched in strength and determination. It’s been that way for decades and it works for them.”
“Wow, I’d probably be low man on the totem pole with your dad’s pack.”
“It wouldn’t matter to me anyway. The pack is very traditional and many of the younger generation my age leave after a few years to find less constrictive packs. The alpha’s son is hopeful that by the time his dad is ready to step down that the entire old guard will be ready to also step down so he can take over, but unless my dad is too old to lead, then he doesn’t have a prayer.”
“I never really thought about it, but I guess the way things happened in our pack isn’t normal at all. When Peter got injured and Jason took over in interim, none of the older wolves questioned him, and when he stood up to take over full time, there were no challenges and then when rank fights were initiated, they all stepped back. The former second, Peter’s right hand Henry told me once that he had 15 years as second and thought that was plenty long enough to keep young wolves in line and he wanted to enjoy his grandkids without having to deal with pack responsibility." He sighed and went quiet for a moment.
“Karly, there’s something your dad said that I wanted to run by you.” He put their mugs down on the coffee table and turned to face her. Taking her hand in his, he twisted the ring on her finger. “Your father suggested we come up to see them and get married. He said that perhaps showing the pack’s support of our marriage would show Phoenix that its time for him to move on.”
