by Claire Ryann
Lowell's body moved, his impossibly quick reflexes reacting to the sudden absence of her body huddled against his back, but she'd planned her move well and Lowell's arms missed their attempt to catch her before she stepped into the line of fire.
Intense regret and fear rushed through her, catching her breath and holding her heartbeat still in a vice-like grip at the sight of the long, brushed steel barrel of the handgun as it swung gracefully from its aim at Lowell's chest to hers.
Kara watched her right arm move in slow motion as it involuntarily reached toward Lowell. His hand was on its way to meet hers, the look in his eyes tearing at her soul. He looked so sad, but she also saw his pride. She never understood what he saw in her that made him proud even though he had a list a mile long. All she'd ever seen in herself were her failures. All the way she hadn't lived up to her own expectations of herself.
If this could save the pack, if this would save her Lowell, she was happy to make her mate proud of her one last time.
She heard the explosion just as her fingers brushed Lowell's.
20
Lowell had to work hard to keep his cool as this ass rattled on in his arrogant speech.
He couldn't blame Kara for having been swept away by the guy, Anthony was charismatic. Lowell had to give the guy that much. And rich. He'd be powerful if he were human, between old money and family connections, but the wolf gave him an extra edge and it was obvious he had been bred to use that to its full advantage when it came to manipulating humans.
It was so obvious that this wasn't about Kara at all. It was about territory. The primitive instinct to compete, to take, and to own that ran deep in the veins of his wolf.
Anthony came from a pack that had gone unchallenged for too long.
He was waving that gun around like it made him invincible, thinking that he had the high ground here.
The man was underestimating Lowell's pack. Assuming that their lack of presence in the modern world equated to a lack of power.
Lowell was fortunate, his focus on protecting his mate gave him something to concentrate on besides Anthony's unending barrage of insults to the pack. Ken was shoulder to shoulder with him, helping to form a protective barrier between Anthony and Kara.
From the edge of his vision he could see that Mingan and Rek were having a harder time not lunging for the bastard's throat.
Well, Rek anyway. Mingan appeared to be unnaturally calm, but Lowell know just how deceptive that was. The calmer Mingan looked, the more pissed off he was. Rek hid his feelings well, but not his wolf.
Lowell watched the Beta fight against the urge to let his wolf go as Anthony continued to insult their proud lineage.
The man did have a gun. They weren't immortal, but they were fast. They didn't have to speak to know what the others were thinking-- he would only be able to get off one shot.
So Lowell stood his ground and kept Kara safe behind him while he watched the faintest signs of communication between him and the men he'd been hunting with for over a hundred years.
By the time he heard Kara volunteering herself, it had been decided. He never expected her to anticipate his move to prevent her from putting herself in the line of fire.
Lowell couldn't help but swell with pride. Kara already had such loyalty to the pack. She was going to take the wolf well.
If he could save her.
Lowell reached out to grab Kara's hand, trusting Mingan and Rek to make their move on Anthony while Kenyon pushed forward to provide cover for him and Kara.
Rek's wolf was already beginning to burst through the man's skin as Mingan took his first step forward. Lowell's vision was filled with Kara's haunted eyes as his fingers grasped for hers.
Something exploded.
The hillside was suddenly filled with sound and Lowell reflexively shut his eyes as his fingers found their grip on Kara's hand. He couldn't bear to watch as the bullet hit her body. He yanked with all his strength in a desperate wish that he could pull her out of the speeding bullet's path before it reached her. He knew better, his reflexes were good but not that good.
Kara's body crashed against his chest and his arms tightened around her. His body spun with the inertia until he had his back turned to the fray, while he cradled his mate in his arms. He kissed the top of her head, and down the sides of her cheeks as her head lolled back in his arms. He couldn't bear to open his eyes. He wasn't ready to see the remains of her perfect white gown stained with her blood or watch the soft pink leave her pale skin as she faded before him.
He heard the skirmish behind him but he knew he was safe. Safe to spend these last minutes with his mate before he gave his wolf full reign to unleash hell on her killer.
Lowell held the back of Kara's head in one hand, the other wrapped tightly around her, holding her body against his chest. He lowered his face to hers and found her lips.
She kissed him back. Opening those full ruby lips for him so that he could share her breath one last time. His heart clenched, his breath going tight on a choked sob that would have to wait for later. Nothing was going to steal this last kiss between him and his mate.
"Low--" his name was stolen from her lips by his own breath. There was nothing that needed saying, he only wanted to--
"Lowell!" Kara managed to escape his desperate kisses. She gasped out his name for the second time and finally he stopped trying to devour her mouth.
Lowell's eyes snapped open in his surprise. Her voice was anything but the breathy whisper of a dying woman.
His fairy tale princess was looking up him with a little smirk and wide eyes. Her breathing was heavy but her scent suggested that had more to do with the hungry kisses than fear or injury. The soft black wisps of her hair fell around her face, contrasting with her pale skin and making her deep blue eyes shine in that vibrant purple hue he was so fascinated by. The color was high in her cheeks and her lips were the deep red that they always turned when they were swollen from kissing.
Her scent told of dissipating fear, total confusion, and a hint of arousal but there was no trace of blood.
Lowell let her small hands succeed in their attempt to push him back from her as she excitedly tried to see around him
"What happened?" She asked as he turned to see what she was gesturing at.
The mountain had erupted in wolves. It was hard to count them or tell where one began and another left off, but it was easy to see that the unfamiliar wolf was outnumbered.
It snarled and snapped as it whipped side to side in an attempt to hold its ground. Lowell counted two white wolves at the front of the battle with Ken's gray wolf, Rek's dark wolf and Mingan's tawny monster lunging ferociously for their turns to snap at the intruder's haunches.
Then the new wolf made its last mistake. Knowing he was outnumbered, Anthony's wolf ran. Triggering the hunting response in his enemies. There would be no chance of handling this like men now. No meetings between packs, no decisions between Alphas. Anthony sealed his fate as his tan wolf made a desperate get away.
Lowell's wolf was on their heels, hungry for vengeance. This time he wouldn't be satisfied until he saw Anthony's cold still heart for himself. Preferably as his wolf ripped it from the asshole's ribcage and crushed it in its own jaws.
The wolves gave chase, Lowell easily over taking the rest of his pack. He barely acknowledged his Alpha as Daelan's white wolf intentionally gave him the lead position.
Day knew what it felt like, to have his mate threatened and attacked. Daelan had put aside his need for revenge for the sake of his mate, but he wouldn't deny Lowell's.
Lowell caught Anthony's hind leg in his teeth and viciously snapped his head back as his paws braced against the weight.
A loud yipe echoed through the canyon. Lowell's jaws clamped down tighter on the other wolf's haunch as he dragged his prize into the fray.
Anthony made one last attempt to secure his life. As the wolves surrounding him bore down with teeth bared, Anthony surrendered. His wolf rolling and exposing i
ts belly in surrender.
The team waited for their command.
Lowell's wolf had its head lowered between its shoulders, its legs bracing its stance wide over the cowering dog on the ground before it. Lowell wanted nothing more than the taste of Anthony's blood on his maw but the final call wasn't his. Anthony had threatened the pack, not just Lowell's mate.
The entire body of Lowell's gray wolf rose and fell with his heaving pants, saliva pooled on his tongue and dripped onto the soft fur of their captive's vulnerable underside. His eyes glowed brightly with the light that betrayed him as not entirely wolf as he forced his gaze off his target and up to his Alpha.
Daelan had the last say in this. If they tore Anthony apart or if they dragged him back for a trial. It took everything Lowell had in him to acknowledge that, to remain dutiful to his place in the pack, but he trusted his Alpha.
The white wolf moved a paw, taking a step away from their prey with a bow of its head.
Lowell's jaws clamped onto the throat of the cringing wolf beneath him. A savage growl built in intensity as he ripped and shook, feeling his teeth sink through the wolf's hide till it gave way. Blood flowed freely, covering Lowell's muzzle as he made the kill.
21
"So the kid just explodes out of the trees and tackles the guy," Kenny was telling Haley what happened.
Haley laughed but her eyes rolled up to Day in a silent plea for help.
"OK, OK, I think Haley's heard the story enough times, why don't you guys go do something useful and let the new mom get some sleep?"
Lowell noticed that Daelan had a new dad voice that suited him well. The waving hands shooing them out of the Alpha's quarters was all proud dad and doting mate at the moment so the guys took their time about getting out. Lots of brotherly kisses and light touches landed on both Haley and the twins with a round of feigned protests about getting kicked out.
"That damn kid, I tell you what," Kenny was laughing as he and Ming shared their memories of that day.
"I know but it worked out for us," Ming responded.
Lowell hovered at the door before joining the guys in the hallway.
Day's hands went up and he cut in before Lowell could speak, "I know, man, I know."
Lowell was glad he didn't have to open his mouth. It was bad enough that he teared up every time he thought about how bad that day could have turned out but if he started bawling in front of his Alpha he was never going to live it down.
"Sorry we couldn't do better today, but at least we got it done, right?" Daelan laughed.
They had been in the middle of the ceremony when the twins decided to make an early appearance. Kara had refused to let Day budge till he said they were married so their second attempt at getting hitched had been a little rushed but at least this time it was final.
"So you guys still planning on camping?" Daelan wiggled his eyebrows and Lowell could hear the quotation marks around the word.
"Yeah, she really wants the wolf. I'm just bummed we have to wait 3 weeks for her first shift now" Lowell said.
"She's going to take the wolf well," Daelan said with his new dad voice.
Lowell smiled. It made him proud to know that his Alpha approved of his mate too. He nodded, "She is. She loves the pack, the wolf's instincts are going to feel natural to her."
"So what happened to the video feed anyway? Is there any chance we stop it from getting any more attention than it already has?" Lowell asked.
Day just shook his head, "It's online. You know that's like trying to take pee out of a pool. At least it doesn't give away a location."
The kid had found the cameras up in the trees and disabled them before they caught anything too incriminating but it had been uploading directly via a satellite link and there wasn't much the pack could do about that.
It had been a few days before the footage went viral. Well "viral" was a stretch of the imagination maybe but it was being circulated pretty aggressively in the monster hunter community. It was hard to find the entire, unedited version which pretty much looked like a bad horror movie made by teenagers but the 43 second edit that was getting the most attention showed Kara tied to the cross surrounded by naked masked men and an out of focus Kenyon as his tall blonde frame suddenly melted into a blurry wolf in the lower right corner of the frame.
Most credible sources had dismissed it as a hoax out of hand but a handful of sites continued to tout it as proof that there was a cult of sex-crazed wolf-worshipers living in the mountains, sacrificing virgins. Ken's blurry shift was largely believed to be the appearance of their demon wolf deity showing up to get his share of the action.
Ken thought it was hilarious. He was only concerned that the camera hadn't gotten his "good side."
It did seem largely benign and the guys had relaxed and laughed about it ever since the Feds hadn't shown up.
The Loupohme pack was proving to be another matter. Anthony's grandfather had contacted Daelan just days after the incident on what the Pack now referred to as "Sacrifice Mountain." The old man had accepted that these were the risks associated with "skirmishes" among packs but he had explained to Day that their pack had customs to adhere to and that Daelan's pack should be prepared that the Loupohmes would not be their allies.
"Weird dude," Day had shrugged when he filled in the guys, "Doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about losing his grandson. Just wants to uphold some old code their pack has. He did want me to let you know that he always liked Kara and he was glad to that she'd been taken as a shifter's mate. Said she deserved a wolf." Daelan had passed along the Loupohme Alpha's message with a shrug, "Not sure what to expect from them but I don't think we're friends with the first modern pack we've come in contact with."
Now that all the dust appeared to have settled, they could get back to the task at hand: rebuilding the pack.
The split over Haley had taken their numbers down to about 50. The main house felt empty and the courtyard was quiet.
Business was going well though, the pack's microbrew beer had been winning awards across the country and was currently being poured in 27 different establishments in the Pacific Northwest. That was bringing in the money that they would need if they hoped to gain a foothold in the modern world.
Daelan had ideas about holding some sort of annual brewfest music festival thing up at the den. Inviting people-- humans-- into their home and letting them camp out in the big swath of raw forest that had been left standing in the middle of the village.
Ming and Rek weren't quite on board with that idea but Kenny was all about "letting the ladies come to me for a change."
"Enjoy your honeymoon, man," Daelan gave Lowell a quick embrace and ended with a slap to his shoulder, "you deserve it."
Lowell clasped his friend's hand and returned the slap against his shoulder, "Take care of those boys, Day, this pack need more wolves."
22
"Lowell," Kara was impressed. He'd made her hike for 6 hours to get to this spot but it was worth it, "This is beautiful."
Lowell turned around from where he had dropped the pack and looked back at her. She was beautiful. Standing on the edge of the meadow dressed in her shorts and a t-shirt that stretched tightly across her chest. Her black hair was braided into short pigtails that brushed her shoulders and she was just staring at the mountains with wide eyes like it was the first time she'd seen them.
His heart was thumping double time. Looking at his mate always did that to him. He'd known he had to have her the first time he saw her, but nothing could have prepared him for the first time he'd been able to scent the delicate spice in her fragrance. That intangible quality that simply didn't exist in anything else.
The broken nose had healed quickly and his wolf had already formed its pair bond to its mate without the advantage of the instant recognition that his kind reported when they first met their mates. Daelan had tried to describe it, the way he'd known Haley was his the moment he held her in his arms and Lowell had nodded like he understood.
He felt the same way as soon as he'd seen Kara so he thought he understood.
That first whiff of her though.
Lowell's cock stiffened at the memory.
It had been like waking up and seeing color for the first time. Like nothing he had ever smelled before, something sweet like fresh summer fruit and spicy like raw ginger. Earthy, like cut grass and rich soil after a rain. And yet not at all like any of those things. If sunshine had a scent, Kara was it.
He might not be able to describe it, but he knew what it was and it was all his.
No matter how much of that scent he got it never failed to affect him. And now here she was, as lawfully wedded as wolves got in their pack, and eager to take a wolf of her own.
Lowell couldn't wait to get started. He knew it didn't have to a sexual thing. It didn't matter who Turned you, that wouldn't change who you were or who your mate was. He could just as easily have slid his incisors into her wrist at the ceremony but that's not the way he wanted to do it. He wanted it to be a special moment just between the two of them. He didn't want his Kara to be traumatized by her last memory as a human.
He had to admit, he was looking forward to feeling Kara's tight pussy clenched down on his cock when his teeth slid through her flesh. He wanted to be inside her when the new wolf was born in her veins, feel its warmth spreading through her while that wild new power came to life.
They had waited for their wedding night to bring their wolves together and even though her wolf was a week late and she wouldn't get her first shift till the next full moon, they were both eager to put the wolf inside her.
Right now Lowell was eager to put more than just a wolf inside his mate. He reached out and pulled her down on the thick bedroll he had laid out.
"Is this camp?" Kara smiled up at him as he arranged a pillow under her head.
"Uh huh," Lowell acknowledged as he unlaced her boots and rolled off her socks.
