Lone Wolf (shifters unbound)

by Jennifer Ashley

Deni sniffed, smelling Ellison fresh from the bar, and then snarled again, ears flattening on her head. The Collar around her neck emitted several sparks.

  Ellison carefully didn’t move. He was Deni’s alpha, leader of their tiny pack. Though it broke his heart to see her like this, at the moment he needed to be less worried brother and more alpha wolf.

  “Den.” He made his voice firm but not harsh.

  Deni growled right through the word, an arc of electricity running around her Collar. Ever since whatever foul bastard had run her down on her motorcycle and left her mangled and half-dead, Deni had been having episodes of forgetting who she was, who Ellison was, who her own cubs were.

  Each time this happened, she reverted into her wolf and stayed there—threatening like a cornered animal.

  Deni’s body had healed fairly quickly—Shifters had incredible metabolisms that closed wounds swiftly. Plus, they had Andrea—half Shifter, half Fae—who had Fae healing magic, made greater when she channeled it through her mate, Sean, the Shiftertown Guardian. They’d brought Deni back from death and thought all was well.

  Then had come the first episode of Deni’s brain more or less shutting off and making her forget everything she was. Human doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with her, and Andrea couldn’t help.

  What Deni needed was a Shifter healer—one stronger than Andrea, well versed in ailments from which Shifters could suffer. The trouble was, Shifter healers weren’t thick on the ground, if any even existed these days, and Deni was sick now.

  “Deni,” Ellison said again, making his voice hard with command. “It’s Ellison.”

  Deni snarled one last time, then attacked.

  Ellison blocked her leap with arms folded to protect his face. He took the brunt of her weight, sparks from her Collar dancing across his skin, and they went backward together.

  Ellison’s heightened Shifter senses scented his nephews in the hall, scared and unhappy. He smelled Deni, enraged and terrified, as her wolf untangled herself from him, whirled, and leapt at him again.

  Ellison caught her in his arms this time and swung around with her, using the momentum of her impact to toss her away across the room. Deni smashed into a wall, the thud of the contact lost in her growls. She came to her feet with terrible swiftness, her eyes red with rage, her gray coat dusted with plaster that had cracked off the wall.

  Deni went for Ellison again, fangs bared. The Collar was taking its toll on her—Deni was a little slower this time, the impact not as strong. Ellison saw pain in her eyes as she landed on him.

  This time she clung on with her claws, her jaws snapping at his neck. Ellison changed under her grip, his favorite black cowboy shirt ripping as his massive wolf shoulders burst through it.

  His own Collar sparked as he caught Deni’s muzzle with his mouth, now a wolf’s mouth, turning aside her deadly bite.

  Ellison tasted her blood, the blood of his pack, and his feral rage ignited. No wolf attacked the alpha and lived.

  The human part inside him knew that this was his sister, lashing out, scared. The wolf in him said it was one of the pack, hurt yes, but she needed to be subdued.

  Both entities wove together and knew what to do. Ellison released Deni’s muzzle and went for her throat, locking his teeth around loose fur. Deni howled, her Collar sparking wildly as she shook her head to try to tear free.

  Ellison held on tighter, carefully not letting his teeth break her skin. He put his large paw on her head and used his weight to bear her to the floor. He landed on top of her, his wolf big enough to cover her and keep her down.

  He heard the distinctive footsteps of Andrea and then Glory, Dylan’s mate, following his nephews—Andrea sure-footed and graceful, like her wolf; Glory with the click-click of impossibly high heels.

  Deni howled, still fighting, but Ellison’s hold was strong. Deni growled and snarled, terrified, not understanding.

  “I can tranq her,” Glory said.

  Ellison didn’t want Deni tranqed. She’d been given drugs and sedatives, poked and prodded. She didn’t need another round of tranquilizers that would leave her groggy and afraid.

  But they might not have a choice. Deni was still fighting, weakening, but fighting. She still didn’t know who Ellison was—she was lost and scared, afraid to yield to the wolf who pinned her. In the wild, Ellison would have had every right to kill her for the safety of the pack. Deni’s wolf, by the look in her eyes, somehow sensed this.

  “Mom,” Jackson said, voice thick with tears. “Mom, try. Please.”

  Deni snarled again, trying to dislodge Ellison. Her Collar gave her a barrage of shocks, which shocked Ellison at the same time, hot bites of pain.

  Ellison growled, a long, low sound. Stop. I’m your brother. Those are your cubs. Come on, Den.

  Deni snarled again, then she blinked once, twice, and her eyes cleared. She drew a breath through her wolf muzzle, and her Collar went silent.

  Ellison snatched his teeth away from her throat as Deni shifted to human, lifting himself away from her before he could hurt her. Tears filled Deni’s eyes. “Jackson?”

  “Mom.”

  Jackson fell on his knees beside Deni as Ellison shifted back to his human form. Ellison’s arms went around his sister, and she relaxed into his strong embrace.

  Ellison kissed her hair, holding her, rocking her. Deni reached for Jackson, who came into the embrace with them, her son openly crying. Will knelt on Deni’s other side, sliding his arms around his mother’s waist.

  Ellison didn’t get up, knowing that Deni needed his comfort, his forgiveness, his understanding. Her cubs gave her love, and Ellison gave her strength.

  “So,” Glory said. Ellison heard the butt of the tranquilizer rifle click softly on the floor. “We won’t be needing the tranq, then.”

  “No,” Andrea said. “Just me.”

  She came to kneel beside Ellison, careful not to break the family huddle. Ellison couldn’t have let Deni go for anything right now, in any case. Andrea reached between them, laid her hand on Deni’s forearm, and let her healing magic trickle into Deni to soothe her better than any man-made tranquilizer ever could.

  Ellison felt the small pulse of magic flowing into him through Deni. Though Glory was the leader of the rival Lupine pack in this Shiftertown—Broderick’s pack—and Andrea her niece, Ellison had nothing but gratitude for them.

  * * *

  Maria finished her shift without any more asshats harassing her, or drinks spilling, or glasses breaking.

  Liam had cleaned up the mess by the time she emerged from his office, the floor pristinely clean. He said nothing to her about the incident, only winked at her as she walked back to the bar to fill her next order. The rest of the Shifters had gone back to drinking, laughing, and talking, the excitement over.

  Maria’s shift that night finished before the bar closed. She let Ronan walk her partway home, but he had to get back to help Liam close, and she told him to go. Shiftertown lay before her, with its small bungalows and neat yards, quiet under the cool of the night. Summer would hit soon, with sticky weather that only Austin and its river and creeks could bring.

  Ellison had gone before Maria emerged from the office, long gone, Spike told her. Jackson had called, and Ellison had raced home.

  Spike, a man of few words, of course hadn’t been that effusive. What he’d said was: “Ellison went. Jackson called. While ago.”

  Maria knew why. Poor Deni, and her poor sons. Jackson and Will were grown men in human terms but still considered cubs to Shifters.

  She hoped everything was all right. She’d have to visit Deni tomorrow if all was well, maybe cook her something. Buñuelos. Deni liked those, and they were fairly easy to put together. Sean always kept flour, sugar, and honey around for making his pancakes, and never minded when Maria used the ingredients. Maria helped pay for groceries with her tips from the bar, in any case.

  Her tips had been pretty good tonight. Maria’s pockets were full of coins and bills, more for h
er jar of savings.

  A shadow rose beside her, and a Shifter fell into step with her. “I liked how you stood up to that human,” the Lupine called Broderick said. “Took guts.”

  “Thank you.” Maria kept walking, though her calm had shattered again. Broderick liked to follow her home, to walk to close to her. Though he’d never done anything inappropriate in Shifter terms, he violated her personal space all the time, doing everything but rubbing against her.

  “No one would do that to you if you had a mate,” Broderick said.

  His constant argument. “I don’t want a mate,” Maria said quickly. She’d been mate-claimed by one of the Lupines in Miguel’s Shifter pack, and at first, she’d been stupidly enchanted with Luis, which was how she’d been stolen from home in the first place. She’d learned quickly about the things Miguel expected from females brought in by his feral males.

  At first, Maria had blamed herself for falling for tall, handsome Luis, but she knew now that if she hadn’t have run away with Luis willingly, he’d have kidnapped her. Miguel and his Shifters had dominated Maria’s little town, and there had been nothing her family or any of the other townspeople could do.

  “Yeah, you keep going on that you don’t want anything to do with Shifters,” Broderick said. “But you live here, honey. You can’t be wriggling your ass at us and then telling us we can’t have any. Not when male Shifters are dying to mate.”

  Maria shivered, and not from the breeze. She was too alone out here, the first houses of Shiftertown half a block away. If she tried to run, Broderick would be on her before she took two steps.

  “Maybe someday,” Maria said. But not if she could help it. She had her plan, and she would be free.

  “Maybe now.” Broderick grabbed her arm and leaned close, breathing into her face. Maria cringed back from the scent of stale beer. “Maria Ortega, I mate-claim you under the light of the mother goddess.”

  Maria tried to break free, but his hand was strong. “There’s no moon tonight, and you have to do it in front of witnesses.” She knew that much.

  Broderick’s grip bore down. “Then let’s go find us some witnesses.”

  “Here’s one,” came a male growl.

  Ellison appeared out of nowhere, a mass in the dark, reaching for Broderick. Ellison’s face was bruised, as though he’d been fighting, his hair a mess. He clamped one hand around Broderick’s neck and yanked him away from Maria.

  “You heard me,” Broderick managed to say, even with Ellison’s fingers digging into his throat. “I claim this female in front of a witness.”

  Ellison snarled, his eyes tinged with red. “Then I Challenge.”

  Chapter Three

  Ellison smelled Maria’s fear, a scent that spiraled his protectiveness—already high—skyward. He shook Broderick, hand still around the wolf’s throat.

  Broderick wrenched himself free but kept to his feet, his Collar sparking as he came back at Ellison.

  “Stop!” Maria shouted.

  Broderick surprisingly obeyed, his eyes bloodshot with drink and anger. He was fairly high up in the other Shiftertown pack, the one Glory led, and he always behaved as though he had the weight of his pack behind him.

  “You can’t touch her until the Challenge plays out,” Broderick said, rubbing his throat. “Off-limits.”

  “Then I’ll play it out right now.”

  “I name the time and place, as the Challenged.”

  Ellison waited. Broderick looked Ellison up and down, keeping his sneer but with assessment in his eyes. Ellison’s pack might be small, but that didn’t mean Ellison had lesser power.

  Maria stepped between them. Ellison sensed her panic, a primal fear that had been seared into her by the ferals who’d captured her. She was afraid of Shifters in general, but she bravely stood her ground now and held her hand out in a stopping motion to Broderick. “I can refuse the mate-claim. I know the rules.”

  “You’re fair game, darling,” Broderick said. “You need a mate to protect you.”

  “What I need is for both of you to leave me the hell alone!”

  Broderick took a step toward her, but Ellison was around Maria with Shifter speed, blocking his path. “She refused. That’s the end.”

  Broderick glared at Ellison, fists closing. “I’m taking this to Liam. He decides.”

  “He knows Shifter law.”

  “I know. He knows pack law too. When Andrea came here, the pack wouldn’t accept her until she had a mate. We didn’t need her running around making every male fight over her. The same thing applies now.”

  “Not with a human. She’s not part of any pack.”

  “Then what’s she doing here? She either follows Shifter law, or she leaves.”

  Maria already had left. Not being stupid, she was walking swiftly across the vacant lot, heading for the street that would lead to where she lived with Sean and Andrea, Dylan and Glory.

  Ellison turned his back on Broderick and strode after her. He heard Broderick mutter something behind him, but Broderick didn’t follow. Likely he was going back to the bar to either drown his troubles or whine at Liam.

  Ellison quickened his footsteps to reach Maria. Broderick wasn’t wrong about male Shifters wanting to fight each other over her. Females were few and far between. Unmated, unprotected females, fewer still. Most of the males were more polite than Broderick, but just barely.

  Ellison, who’d watched her across his street every day as she’d lived, first with Liam and family, then with Sean and family, had left her alone. Having heard the story of her rescue from the feral pack by Dylan, Ellison knew Maria was still hurting.

  The feral Shifters, led by a Shifter called Miguel—had kept Maria like an animal. What they’d done to her exactly, Ellison wasn’t certain, and he’d never asked. She’d never talked about it, just as she’d never spoken about her time with her brother in El Paso. From what Liam had said, though, her brother had treated her as though she had some contagious disease.

  Maria had never said a word in complaint. Ellison had watched her square her shoulders, learn English as well as she could, and work hard at any job she could get. She squared her shoulders now, in the white T-shirt she wore for her job at the bar, her black braid hanging down her back.

  Ellison caught up to her as she walked down the middle of the quiet street. He knew Maria heard him coming—his boots clicked loudly on the asphalt—but she didn’t turn to greet him.

  Other Shifters were out, sitting on dark porches or running as their animals in the common yards behind the houses, or doing other things in the shadows that made him growl. Shifters were calm on their home territories, but still dangerous.

  “Don’t walk home alone,” Ellison said harshly. He was too raw with emotion to keep his voice gentle.

  “I do as I please,” Maria said in a hard tone. Then her voice softened. “I’m sorry. I heard you were called home. Is Deni all right?”

  “Yes.” The word jerked out. Ellison was still wound up from Deni’s relapse, and Broderick being an asshole hadn’t helped calm him down.

  “I’m really sorry.” Her mouth turned down, lovely plump red lips. “Thank you for stopping Broderick.”

  “You refused him. Too bad. I was ready to kick his ass.”

  “I’m allowed to turn down mate-claims. Liam said so.”

  “Liam’s right.” Ellison moved closer to her. “But you’re going to piss off every horny Shifter male by doing it. Fair warning.”

  “Doesn’t matter. I won’t live in Shiftertown forever.”

  Ellison didn’t like that. “You can’t be planning to move back in with your brother.”

  Maria stopped, her braid swinging. She turned warm brown eyes up to him, but they held a hint of steel. “Of course not. This is America. I don’t have to live with my brother, or with Liam, or Sean. I can live in a place on my own.”

  “Alone?” Ellison blinked. “Why would you want to?” He couldn’t imagine living by himself, without sister, nephews, cubs,
parents, pack—family.

  He was almost alone here, head of a pack of four. No mate of his own, no cubs. Lone Wolf, the other Shifters sometimes called him.

  “It’s different for me,” Maria said. “The idea of being alone is . . . splendid.”

  “Lonely.”

  “Peaceful.”

  “Boring.” Ellison shook his head.

  “I wouldn’t sit at home and do nothing. I would . . .” Maria bit the corner of her lip then drew a breath. “If I tell you this, will you keep it to yourself? Andrea knows, and Glory. And Connor. No one else.”

  “Connor?” She named Liam’s nephew, younger than Ellison’s nephews, all of twenty-one.

  “Yes, Connor. He’s good at keeping secrets. I want to go to school. I’ve been saving up for it, and I’m already working on my application and looking for scholarships. Connor’s been helping me study for the tests called SATs. I’ll be taking them this Saturday.”

  “Community college, eh? Maybe a good thing. You could drive Connor—the kid’s a maniac behind the wheel.”

  “No, not community college. University. UT Austin.”

  Ellison whistled. “They don’t take everyone—they don’t take Shifters at all. Maybe you should start with something smaller, work your way up to it.”

  Her indignant look could have lit a fire. “There is no reason to start small. If you want something, you go for it. You never know in this life when it will all be taken away.”

  So true. Maria spoke from her own experience, and look what had happened to Deni.

  Maria’s anger made her shake. She needed reassurance, cried out for it, though Ellison knew she’d never admit it.

  Ellison put a hand on her shoulder. Quietly, like he would for a cub who was upset.

  But Maria wasn’t a cub. She was a beautiful young woman, alone, unprotected, yet gutsy and strong for what had happened to her.

  Ellison’s touch of reassurance turned to a caress, the backs of his fingers brushing her skin. “You go for it, Maria. Aim as high as you want.” And if you fall, I’ll be here to catch you.

  Maria’s expression softened. She had a round face, pretty, ringlets of black hair trickling loose from its binding. Ellison’s need to kiss her rose like a newly kindled fire, to press his lips against the soft red ones, to taste the moisture inside her mouth.