by R. E. Butler
He strode through the door and paused. The dead wolf lay in a pool of blood. He was tempted to kick him for good measure, but he refrained. Barely.
“Ren, head up the interrogation. Find out where Rufus is and stake him out. When I’ve taken care of Brynn, I’ll meet up with you. You have an hour.”
Nodding, Ren snapped his fingers and several protectors joined him as he jogged up the stairs. Looking at Sam, he said, “Get the she-wolf and Barry and bring them to the altar. Make sure that the council and the rest of the males are in attendance, along with any females that are not with pup or have young. I’ll arrive with Rufus, and he and his followers will meet their end at dawn according to pack justice.”
There was a collective gasp, but no one said anything. Acksel knew that they were surprised he was going old-school, but he had to assert himself as alpha again in the eyes of the pack. Three banished wolves and one wayward female had gone against him in an attempt to take over the pack. He was fairly sure that they meant for him to either step down willingly to protect Brynn or they would kill them both. He was more pissed that Brynn — an innocent in all this — had been harmed in an attempt to get him to comply.
The altar was a place in the woods where the pack had once met for challenges. It hadn’t been used in generations, but it would be used tonight.
Dismissing his people to their duties, he motioned with his head for his father and the four protectors to follow him, and he carried Brynn up the stairs. He moved slowly so he didn’t jostle her and cause her any undue pain. He was thankful she was still unconscious.
After settling into the passenger seat with Brynn on his lap and as comfortable as he could make her, he said to his dad, “Take us to Gedding’s.”
Gedding was the pack doctor. Normally, wolves didn’t really use doctors. They didn’t get sick the way that humans did with colds. Often, if a wolf was ill it was related to something that he or she had eaten. But wolves did get injured, and even with their accelerated healing, sometimes a wound was serious enough to need medical help, which was where Gedding came in. The male was Acksel’s father’s age and had bandaged Acksel up after rank fights many times. Although he was the pack doctor, he did know human physiology as well and would be able to help Brynn.
The scent of her blood was almost overwhelming as his dad drove them to Gedding’s. Cuts marred her body, from long gashes to light scratches. Her face wasn’t cut, but she had several bruises and had either been slapped hard or punched. Along her legs she had what appeared to be bite marks.
“Acksel?” His dad asked as he put the truck into park.
Acksel blinked, not realizing they’d stopped at Gedding’s house. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. You’re just growling.”
Nodding, Acksel opened the door and carefully got out. Gedding stood on the front porch wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, his hair messy as if he’d just rolled out of bed.
“Bring her into the first spare bedroom, Acksel,” Gedding said, gesturing to the open door. Gedding’s mate had died in childbirth fifteen years earlier and he’d chosen not to mate again. The house was used as a medical clinic, the spare bedrooms turned into an office and two hospital rooms. Pack pups were born in these rooms, wounds were healed, families gathered to say goodbye to ailing loved ones. As Acksel stepped into the first spare room, the scent of disinfectant assaulted his nose.
He laid Brynn down on the hospital bed. His dad had not come into the room, but stood just outside in the hallway. Acksel kept his eyes on Brynn but said, “Stand watch outside with the protectors.”
He didn’t answer, but Acksel heard him walking away.
Gedding made a noise of distress and said, “Tell me what happened, Acksel.”
As quickly as he could, he shared what he knew about Brynn’s kidnapping. Brushing a lock of her dark hair away from her face, he stroked the swell of her cheek with his thumb. Gedding said, “Do I have your permission to touch your mate?”
“Yes. Whatever you need to do, help her.”
With care, Gedding removed the shirt that covered Brynn and Acksel took a very good look at her, biting back a curse. He’d had a glimpse of what was done to her, but seeing it again, up close, was enough to drive him over the edge of sanity. He took her hand in his and sat on a chair next to the bed. Gedding worked quickly to assess the wounds and Acksel watched the clock. He had to leave in forty minutes to meet Ren. He had no doubt that his beta would not let him down in finding Rufus.
Gedding laid soft white towels across Brynn’s breasts and hips and then cleaned the blood from her skin. Some of the wounds, especially on her legs, were still bleeding, but most of them had stopped.
Gedding went to a cabinet in the corner and came back with a small vial. Suspicion at the contents made Acksel’s hackles rise. “What’s that?” He held out his hand and Gedding hesitated only a moment before handing it to him.
“It will help the wounds to heal quickly and will prevent scars from forming.”
Arching a brow, Acksel peered at the clear blue liquid. It clung to the sides of the glass vial as he tipped it back and forth.
“What is it?” He asked again.
Gedding’s blue eyes darted all around the room, avoiding Acksel. He finally said, “It’s essential oils and other things.”
The way he said other things made Acksel even more suspicious. After a short warning growl from Acksel, Gedding sighed loudly. “My mate’s adopted brother is a natural healer.”
Acksel didn’t care for how he said the phrase natural healer, as if there was more to it. “Look, you’re not using anything on my mate without telling me what exactly it is.”
Gedding suddenly leveled his gaze at Acksel. He seemed to have found his backbone. “Noah was gifted from his birth-family with the ability to heal. He can make poultices, oils, and other remedies that work to accelerate the healing in humans and supernatural beings. He would never harm anyone, especially not an innocent.” As if sensing Acksel’s apprehension, Gedding swiped the vial, pulled the cork stopper out, and poured a drop onto his own skin. He rubbed the liquid into his flesh with his finger and said, “It’s perfectly safe for your mate and her pup, Acksel, I swear on my life.”
Gedding applied the oil to Brynn’s wounds. As Acksel watched, the smallest scratches began to heal before his eyes as if someone were dragging an eraser across her skin. Brynn began to make a whimpering sound in her throat and thrash her limbs. Gedding corked the vial and cracked a small wooden tube underneath her nose. Within seconds she relaxed and breathed deeply in sleep.
Gedding smiled. “Another of Noah’s gifts. It’s a sleep aide. The healing oil can cause some strange sensations, like itching and burning, as the skin knits more quickly than normal. She’s not in pain, just uncomfortable. The sleep aide will keep her resting for about eight hours. Is that long enough?”
“For what?” Acksel asked, stroking his thumb over the top of her hand.
“For you to kill whoever did this to your mate.”
“Yes. I will have justice for Brynn and no one will dare hurt her again.”
* * * * *
Acksel didn’t like being away from Brynn. Leaving her in the bedroom of Gedding’s home with four protectors watching over her was more than enough security considering that the people who had wanted to harm her to get to him were dead or in custody. But it still warred with him.
After leaving the house, his dad drove him to a tiny trailer where Ren was waiting with several other males to apprehend Rufus. The male had been unaware that his plan had failed so spectacularly, and had been waiting for Barry to call when Acksel showed up at the Boat House.
He’d seemed to know that there was no escape and had gone quietly. Maybe he thought Acksel would show mercy on him. Not fucking likely.
The male was forced to strip to his underwear at the edge of the woods, and then his wrists were bound with chains and a non-shifting collar strapped to his neck. The special collar was bound tightly to hi
s neck. If he started to shift, metal spikes within the collar would release and kill him.
The woods were eerily silent as they marched. It was nearly one a.m. All around them, the humans were sleeping safely in their homes, unaware of what had transpired over the last few hours. He preferred it that way. Humans complicated things, because they tended to think of things as either right or wrong.
It was wrong to kill under any circumstances.
It was wrong to take deadly justice for broken laws without a proper trial.
His thoughts flitted back to Brynn, who lay sleeping in Gedding’s home. Would she be afraid of Acksel once she learned what he’d done to avenge the wrong to her?
He’d just add it to the list of things she most likely hated about him already.
Fuck.
With the way things were going, he’d be begging for forgiveness for the next forty years.
The sacred stone came into view. The ground around it would not support life. No grass, flowers, trees, or even weeds would grow where the large stone had been set. It reminded him of an unfinished statue, as if someone had brought a big slab of marble to the woods to carve it and left it untouched. The white marble was stained in places from its use in the past, but otherwise looked the same as it had when Acksel had seen it as a youngster while exploring in the woods with his friends. Depending on who you asked, the altar was either blessed or cursed, which is why it remained the same year after year and nothing grew near it. Acksel wasn’t really sure which it was, but he believed that it had never served as a more important reminder to his people that laws were meant to be kept and not broken, and innocents were never to be harmed.
Sam came to stand next to Acksel, just outside of the bare circle around the altar. “The female was dead when we went to get her from the basement,” Sam said in a low voice. “She bled out.”
There was a part of Acksel, a miniscule sliver of emotion, that thought it was best she’d died in that way...never waking up and just slipping away into the beyond. Talia had done the most physical damage as she cut away Brynn’s clothes. His wolf wanted justice, but he was satisfied that the misguided female had met her end at his hands and would never harm another person.
Sam said, “Barry told us that Rufus planned to carry on Vince’s intentions to see you away from the alpha position. Barry was going to bring you Brynn’s clothing. If you wanted to see her alive again, you would have agreed to rescind their banishment from Wilde Creek and the pack and then allowed Rufus to challenge you for alpha. You were supposed to willingly lose so he could lawfully take his place as alpha. If you refused to step down, they were going to kill Brynn and then you, taking over the position as alpha in a coup. Any people who spoke up against them or were seen as being on ‘your side,’ like your sister and dad, would have been killed immediately as well.”
Acksel gave himself only a moment to dwell on the fact that his entire family, including his mate and unborn pup, could have been wiped out. But this very situation was why they had laws. Pushing aside his emotions, he looked at where the council members stood near the altar and nodded at Renfrow, who held a leather-bound book in his hands.
He cleared his throat and spoke loudly. “An alpha’s mate and pups are sacred, to be cherished and protected against all harm. Any creatures, be they supernatural or natural, that raise a hand to the mate or pups is considered an enemy of the pack and will suffer the rite of halshar-run until he or she be dead.”
Barry, who had gone quiet during the reading, began wailing.
“Shut up,” Rufus snarled.
“You promised he would step down to keep the female safe!”
The pack murmured angrily and several males cracked their knuckles in anticipation of the halshar-run, which was, in essence, a hunt to the death. The pack males would shift and chase the offender, who was wearing a non-shifting collar. When he was caught — and he would be eventually — he would die a gruesome death as the pack took his life in exchange for the breaking of pack laws.
Acksel nodded to Renfrow. What Rufus had done with his plans was challenge Acksel’s position as alpha. It was Acksel’s right to kill him or have him killed in any fashion. But he wanted to prove to the pack that he was rightfully alpha and that he would stand firm against any who would harm the members of the pack, even the littlest, most vulnerable pups still in the womb.
Renfrow lifted his voice and read more from the book, about challengers and the right of the alpha to kill them where they stood. Acksel watched Rufus, whose eyes widened as he heard that Acksel was going to fight him personally. Acksel knew that in a heartbeat any pack member would gladly fight Rufus for him, but Acksel was going to see this threat to his people and his woman to a fitting, final end himself.
Jerking his shirt over his head, Acksel tossed it over his shoulder and rolled his neck. The non-shifting collar was left on Rufus’ neck to prevent him from shifting and giving himself an advantage. The pack stepped back to make more room around the altar for the fight.
Acksel lifted his voice. “I accept your challenge, Rufus. Fight me tonight for your life. If you win and I die, the pack is yours. But when I kill you, you will forever be remembered as a coward and an enemy who harms innocents and breaks pack law.”
Rufus rubbed at his wrists as he was released, snarling. “When I win, I’ll enjoy your woman in your bed before I kill her.”
Rage blinded Acksel and he growled as he prepared to fight for everything: Brynn, their pup, and his pack.
Chapter 11
Mia stood between her cousins and watched as Acksel and Rufus circled each other. She shivered. She didn’t believe that Acksel would lose, but she’d never witnessed a fight to the death before.
A strong arm slid over her shoulder and she looked up, startled to see it wasn’t one of her cousins who held her close but her brother.
“Malachi?” she whispered in surprise.
He looked down at her and the corner of his mouth turned up in a half-smile. “Hey kiddo.”
“What are you doing here?”
He jerked his head towards the two circling males. “Sam called me earlier and told me what was going on and I thought it was time I came back.”
Her brother had left Wilde Creek with their parents, but she knew that he’d never really been happy in the new pack.
“For good?” she asked hopefully.
“Yeah. I’ll challenge during the November full moon and join Sam and the protectors. Can I bunk in the spare bedroom until I get my own place?”
Happiness flooded through her. “Of course.”
His smiled widened and she hugged him hard for a moment and then turned her attention back to the fight.
Rufus and Acksel circled each other. Rufus’ eyes were filled with anger and desperation. Acksel looked calm, but his amber eyes betrayed his outward appearance and showed the furious wolf simmering inside. Rufus lunged forward with a shout and Acksel grappled with him. Their hands gripped each other’s shoulders as they fought for dominance, muscles bulging.
“Why doesn’t Acksel shift?” Mia asked.
Malachi whispered, “It’s more honorable to fight this way. Acksel is proving that he can protect his mate, his pup, and the pack in either form.”
Acksel twisted sharply and tossed Rufus to the ground. The male rolled twice, righting himself only to be slammed in the stomach by Acksel’s shoulder. Acksel shoved him hard into the altar and a cracking sound echoed in the air as Rufus howled in pain.
“There goes a rib,” Caleb chuckled.
Mia shivered.
Rufus kicked out at Acksel, who dodged effortlessly, dancing just out of reach with a taunting smile on his face. Rufus swung his fists, missing Acksel entirely. Acksel punched him three times in the face, in what looked like very coordinated strikes. Cheek. Cheek. Temple. His fists moved so quickly they were a blur; Rufus’ head kicked back and he stumbled a few steps.
Acksel kicked and swept Rufus’ legs out from under him and the male l
anded hard on the ground, his breath gusting out loudly. Acksel leaned over the male, one knee firmly planted in his groin, one hand curved around his throat and holding him prone to the ground. He lifted a hand and Mia saw that his fingers were transformed, dark fur covering the lengths and black, lethal claws curving out of the tips.
She pressed her lips together, her brows knitting in surprise. Malachi said that Acksel wasn’t going to shift because of honor. But he was shifting, wasn’t he?
Then Acksel began to slash at Rufus’ body with his clawed hand. Cuts streaked Rufus’ arms, legs, and torso.
Acksel’s snarled words filtered through the air and Mia finally understood what he was saying. With each slash through Rufus’ flesh, Acksel snarled, “For Brynn. For Brynn.”
Rufus struggled under Acksel as he held him on the ground, cutting him again and again until his skin was shining red with his blood and the scent filled the air. Acksel stood suddenly, bringing Rufus upright with him, shoving him away so he crashed into the altar and sprawled on the ground.
“You touched what is mine. You threatened my family.” Acksel’s body tensed as he stalked closer.
“Fuck. You.”
Acksel leapt over Rufus with a furious growl, landing on his knees on the altar and grabbing Rufus’ head between both hands. The male didn’t struggle, closing his eyes in what appeared to be resignation.
Acksel twisted and there was a sharp cracking sound as Rufus’ neck broke. Acksel released him, and he fell, limp, to the ground. A part of her was terrified at what she’d seen. She’d only ever witnessed non-shifting animals killed during hunts, like rabbits and deer. To see a person — one that she’d known for most of her life — die at the hands of another was terrifying. But the larger part of her, the wolf inside, knew that justice had to be served, and there was no justice like pack justice.
Acksel lifted his head and howled. The sound was triumphant and mournful at the same time, and Mia understood the feeling as she added her own howl to the chorus of wolves that joined their alpha. The night rang with the sound. She howled for Brynn and the justice that had been had for her. She howled for Acksel and his continued reign over the pack. And she howled in happiness for her brother, who was coming home.
