by E A Price
“Where’s the Alpha right now?” said Simone, lowly.
“I don’t…”
Simone rubbed her wrists and glared at the pregnant female. “Where, Nita?”
She scowled unhappily. “One of the males said something about going to the clearing, they were doling out punishment to someone, I don’t know.”
Acksel, oh god. Her tiger urged her to go to him. She had to help him; she had to save him before the damn pride ripped him to shreds. But she couldn’t stop them all. She could barely fight off one male. Rushing out there half-cocked wasn’t going to do any good. She needed help. Maybe she could try and get hold of Acksel’s pack, but they wouldn’t make it in time. Maybe the SEA – no they probably wouldn’t, either. The local cops wouldn’t dare come onto pride land. It dawned on here – there was someone who wouldn’t be out there. Someone the other males would listen to. She just had to hope he was feeling generous.
Simone turned a hard look on Nita. “You, go to my mother’s house and make sure she’s okay.”
“But…”
“Do it!” she yelled in a commanding voice. Reluctantly, Nita nodded.
Simone tore out of the house, shifting to her beast as she went. She had to find Acksel in time; she just had to.
Chapter Sixteen
Acksel loped through the woods, silently and stealthily. He slowed to rub his fur over a tree and then padded over to another.
He was tired and drained from the silver. Every movement was painful, but he couldn’t stop, not even to catch his breath. He couldn’t move fast, but even in his normal state, he wasn’t sure if he could outrun male tigers. Usually, he was pretty speedy, but so were tigers, and there were a lot of them prowling these woods. If he tried just to run for it, he would never make it. If the Alpha had any sense, he already had tigers surrounding the border – and while the male seemed crazy, he didn’t strike Acksel as completely stupid.
Acksel would have to fight his way out, but he couldn’t fight that many tigers all at once. They were big, fucking cats. Two at a time would be a push. He had to be smart about this. He needed to get to the Alpha, if he took out the Alpha, hopefully, the rest of the tigers would give in – like cutting the head off the snake. Hopefully, but not necessarily. If he were another tiger, killing the Alpha would make him the new Alpha. But, he was a wolf. It’s possible they’d just murder him on sight. But, from the fear he saw in some of the pride members, he thought it would be enough to make most of them stop.
He ran in a zigzag pattern, pressing himself against trees to try and spread his scent. Maybe he wasn’t faster than them, but he was a good hunter. These creatures seemed to crash through the woods like drunken elephants; stealth was just something practised by other animals. Unlike real tigers, they were lazy hunters. Why bother hiding when you were the scariest thing in the woods? Unlike real wild tigers, they didn’t need to hunt to live, and besides, bunnies couldn’t run forever. Acksel surmised that these pride members relied on being big and beastly.
His muscles rippled, and he withheld a whine of pain as he shifted back to his human form. He panted for a few moments. Shifting took a lot of energy, and he didn’t have much to spare.
Acksel grabbed some sticks and partially shifted, so he had his fangs. He tried to sharpen the sticks as best he could with his teeth. He sensed at least one tiger closing in on him and wanted to plan a little surprise for him. He stuck the sticks into the ground and covered them with a smattering of leaves. He then rolled in the dirt spreading his scent, and for good measure, peed a little – that scent was sure to carry. With any luck, it would only attract one or two of them. These tigers were living together as a pride, but wild tigers lived alone – it was likely that when they were fully beast, they would hunt alone. At least he was relying on the fact that they would.
Acksel hauled himself up a tree and waited, trying not to pass out from the pain. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long. A large brute of a tiger ambled in his direction, sniffing and snarling. Another came along, and they started snapping at one another.
He watched as the first tiger sniffed at his scent and Acksel dropped out of the tree, shifting as he went. The wolf careened into the tiger, knocking him onto the sharpened sticks. In the struggle, the other tiger fell over, and Acksel was on him before he could get up.
The tiger tried to bite him, but Acksel kept him down, fury and fear propelling his tired body as he scratched, snarled and bit at the beast. He clamped his jaws around the tiger’s neck. The animal writhed and scratched at him, but he didn’t let go. With a sickening crunch, the beast’s neck snapped.
The wolf dropped back onto his haunches. The blood lust slowly died, and Acksel was left panting. He allowed himself a few moments to regain his breath.
The first tiger was mewling like a kitten, still impaled on the sticks. Acksel doubted he was getting up in a hurry. The male would probably live, but at that moment Acksel didn’t care either way.
Two down only about another forty-eight to go. As he eased himself to his feet and ignored the throbbing pain emanating from every part of his body, he just prayed that Simone was okay.
*
“Carrick!”
Simone burst into the mating hut. Lauren squeaked in surprise at the sudden appearance of the naked tigress. She jumped up from the couch and hopelessly tried to cover her legs with a throw pillow. When Simone burst in, Carrick and Lauren had been sitting on the couch, Carrick wearing just a pair of jeans, and Lauren only a shirt.
Carrick snarled and lumbered to his feet, claws and fangs lengthening. The multitude of scars on his chest seemed to glow against the bright firelight.
He placed himself protectively in front of Lauren, towering over Simone. She didn’t exactly expect a warm welcome for interrupting the enormous male’s honeymoon, but she almost shrank away from the fierceness in his eyes.
“Simone! You’re bleeding!” exclaimed Lauren. In spite of Carrick’s simmering irritation, he allowed Lauren to push him aside. “What happened?” She took Simone’s hand and gently tried to lead her to a chair.
Simone’s tiger yowled. There was no time for this. She snatched her hand away and appealed to Carrick. “The Alpha, he’s trying to kill Acksel.”
“Who’s Acksel?” asked Lauren, confusion rising.
“The wolf?” rumbled Carrick.
Lauren looked between the two of them. “What wolf?”
Simone and her tiger snarled. They really didn’t have the fucking time for this! “Acksel came to town and the Alpha’s trying to kill him. Please, you have to stop him. All the males are out there doing god only knows what to him.” Well, except the Beta. Knowing that particular male was safely away from Acksel was a tiny sliver of comfort. But there were still fifty other males in the pride.
Carrick gave her a bland look; he wasn’t impressed. It was a ‘why should I give a fuck’ look. Carrick went out of his way to avoid other pride mates or pride business. He usually seemed to be on another planet to the rest of the pride.
Her tiger wailed – precious seconds could mean everything to Acksel. “Please, he’s… he’s important to me. Look at me.” She thrust her wrists at Carrick, showing him her bruised and bleeding skin. “The Alpha tied me up with silver, and he’s going to allow Patrick to hurt my mother. He threatened to rape me.”
Lauren looked horrified. “Oh my god!”
“Carrick, you know this isn’t right.”
“Carrick?” Lauren placed a hand on his arm. He inhaled and looked down at her, gazing at her with impenetrable, yellow eyes. She winced a little under his powerful stare, but it didn’t stop her. “I don’t know what’s happening, but Simone needs your help.”
He watched her for a few moments before looking back at Simone, who was struggling to hold back an impatient tiger. “You’re going against the Alpha.”
“I got Acksel into this mess; I won’t let him pay for it. The Alpha can’t kill him; he just can’t.”
Carrick looked
back at his mate again, and Lauren gave him a pleading look. He closed his eyes for a few moments and then sighed. “Lauren, lock the door, don’t answer it to anyone but me.” He nodded at Simone. “You should stay here, too.”
“No way, I’m coming with you!” Nothing would keep her tiger away from Acksel.
“So am I,” piped up Lauren.
Carrick’s enormous chest heaved, and fury stole through his eyes. Or maybe it was fear. The big guy rarely showed any emotions, and when he did, they were hard to identify. He shook his head. “No, unless you stay I won’t go.”
“But…”
He snarled at her before softening as her bottom lip trembled. “Just… please.”
“He’s right,” said Simone, quickly. She didn’t want Lauren to be hurt either and quickly realized this would be a deal breaker. “We don’t know how the rest of the males will react – you should stay here.”
Lauren frowned but nodded. Simone turned away as Lauren gave a surprised Carrick a kiss and told him to stay safe. He blinked a few times and followed Simone out the door, stumbling slightly.
Chapter Seventeen
Acksel withheld the snarl. He had the Alpha within his sights.
The bastard wasn’t even shifted, but he had surrounded himself with some tough looking tigers. Humph, coward wouldn’t risk being on his own. He didn’t even care who killed Acksel as long as one of the tigers did; he was just waiting around for it to happen.
The Alpha wasn’t exactly on his guard; he hadn’t detected Acksel’s close presence. But then Acksel had, much to his distaste, rubbed himself against all the tigers he felled – some of their natural scents was on him now. His own scent was muffled, so they really would have to try to pick it out of the rest. It wouldn’t stand up to good and practised hunters, but these tigers didn’t strike him as shifters who really tried to get in touch with their beasts.
The amount of tigers hanging around him suggested that the Alpha wasn’t ruling out Acksel trying to catch up with him. Maybe he thought they would stop Acksel from going after him. Well, he was in for a disappointment.
Acksel had managed to take out a few more tigers, but he was exhausted, and his body was weak, he couldn’t manage much more. While searching for the Alpha he had come across some tigers who had simply turned and walked away in the other direction. They looked embarrassed to have actually encountered him. They hadn’t run; they had simply walked. They weren’t exactly afraid of him, but they weren’t interested in killing him. Expecting your pride or your pack to kill another shifter was a lot. Loyal packs and prides would, but clearly this Alpha didn’t have absolute loyalty. Acksel doubted he wouldn’t do the same, but then his own Alpha would never expect his pack to kill anyone for having sex with a pack mate.
Of course, the last tiger he encountered was a different matter. Parker. He figured the Alpha’s son owed him a favour. Acksel had shifted and compelled Parker to shift, too and then given him his instructions.
Parker should be starting any time now. Acksel waited for it. He breathed out in relief as he heard the cries. At least Parker hadn’t chickened out. But then it was a toss-up as to whether he was more afraid of his father or the bloodied, half-demented wolf shifter at that moment in time.
Acksel watched as the Alpha looked in the direction of the cries. Yes, he recognized the cries of his son thought Acksel with satisfaction. He saw the distasteful and angry look on the Alpha’s face. The large male spoke to a few tigers and sent them to find Parker.
That left three males and the Alpha. Only one was already shifted. Well, his odds weren’t going to get any better than this.
Acksel sprinted forward. The tigers were surprised and slow to react. The shifted male gathered his wits first, clumsily lunging at the charging wolf. Acksel dodged, and the tiger barrelled right on into a tree, the other two were still struggling to get their pants off and shift.
The first, pants pooling around his ankles, fell to the ground as Acksel leaped, he covered his face and screamed as Acksel dug his claws into his chest. Acksel jumped at the other male, who by now was fully shifted. He swiped his claws at Acksel, who snarled in agony as they caught his back leg. The two of them tussled, and Acksel swiped the male’s belly over and over until he whined and submitted.
Acksel staggered away from him and tried to make his way to the Alpha. The male hadn’t shifted, but he had taken his clothes off. Apparently he wanted to talk.
“You’re wasting your time, wolf. You’re weak; you won’t be able to beat me.”
Acksel circled him, waiting to pounce. The Alpha was trying to sound confident, but there was doubt in his voice, and his wary eyes never left the prowling wolf. Even weakened, a full-grown wolf, twenty years his junior was not to be taken lightly.
“I have to give you credit,” he continued. “I didn’t think you’d survive this long. If you go now, you might even make it past our borders.” He hesitated. “You can survive this, and I’ll let you go like I promised. No comeback.”
Acksel doubted that. If he did make it past the borders, there was no way the Alpha would just let him go. In spite of the Alpha's claims about pride law, what he was doing was illegal, and there was no way Acksel would be allowed to live to tell the tale. Besides, he wouldn’t want Acksel to head to the borders if there wasn’t something nasty waiting for him.
But then the Alpha said something that cemented his fate. “Simone will be taken care of; I’ll see to that.”
Acksel roared and leaped at the Alpha, who shifted just as Acksel clamped his jaws on his neck.
*
Simone shifted to her tiger and pounded after Carrick. She caught whiffs of Acksel’s scent throughout the woods. She tried running after each one, hoping to find Acksel, but Carrick snarled every time she veered from his path. After the first few times, she gave up and just started following Carrick.
The huge male seemed to be able to track Acksel based on the whiff he had of him back in Rose. She couldn’t even imagine trying to do that.
Carrick growled and sped away; Simone hastened to follow in his wake. She could hear the howls of the pride tigers and forced herself to hurry. Fear propelled her on, and she almost beat Carrick to the furious males.
Acksel in his wolf form stood over the lifeless body of the Alpha. The other males snapped and snarled at him.
The tigress howled in relief and ran to Acksel, nuzzling him and mewling at the blood and claw marks covering his shaking frame. She whimpered as she saw the flash of recognition in his tired eyes, and he rubbed his muzzle against her neck.
Dominic, a belligerent and brawny male shifted. “Get away from him, female,” he roared. “He was running, and now we have him. It is our right to kill him. Our laws say so.”
Asher, the Alpha’s eldest son, shifted and faced Dominic. “The wolf killed the Alpha. The run is at the end, by rights he is the new Alpha.”
Yowls rose into the air. “He’s a wolf,” spat Dominic. “He can’t be our Alpha.”
“There’s no law to say the Alpha has to be a tiger.”
Dominic bared his fangs. “Well maybe I’ll kill him, and I’ll be the Alpha.”
Carrick snarled softly and prowled in front of the males, he placed himself in front of Acksel and Simone and eyed the other males with interest.
The males quieted as the largest, strongest and frankly the most unhinged male of the pride stared at them with apparent nonchalance. He was making it clear that he was going to protect Acksel and Simone, but he didn’t even look like he cared whether the other males attacked him.
One by one, the males hung their heads, dropping their defensive poses. They started shifting and stepped back. Each one came to the conclusion that they didn’t want to kill Acksel enough to go through Carrick. Even Dominic eventually caved.
Simone shifted and stroked her wolf. “Come on, honey, shift.”
Acksel did and gratefully fell into her arms.
Chapter Eighteen
“So how do
es it feel, being the Alpha of a tiger pride?”
Acksel smiled at Simone. “Pretty damn weird, I gotta say.”
He took her hand and pressed it to his lips, only wincing slightly at the movement.
“You should be in bed,” she said with only a little disapproval.
He waggled his eyebrow as his wolf chuffed in happiness. “You offering?”
Simone tried to pout, but her lips couldn’t help but twitch with mirth. “You really have the energy for that?”
“Well, the spirit is willing…”
She giggled and prodded his shoulder. He tried not to react, but a small sigh of pain escaped him. “The flesh appears to be a little spongy and bruised at the moment,” she teased.
“You wound me.” He gave her a look of mock hurt, and she rubbed her thigh against his.
They were sitting on Simone’s porch, watching as SEA agents flapped around, trying to take charge. Technically Acksel was the Alpha, but there were a large number of tigers that weren’t willing to listen to him. Acksel considered he could work on the tigers, force them to accept him as their Alpha, but ultimately, he knew he didn’t want that. When the SEA learned of Locke’s death, they used the pride’s lack of a leader as an excuse to step in.
Prides and packs were given a certain amount of leeway when it came to their own laws, but there were times when the SEA felt compelled to intervene. Things like death challenges, which might seem cruel by human standards, were permitted and couldn’t be considered murder - they were like sanctioned hits. But Alphas weren’t allowed to decide to kill people who pissed them off from outside their own prides.
The SEA had apparently been concerned about the pride for a while, but the Alpha was an old friend of an agent high up in the agency and had been protected until then. The agent was currently under investigation for a number of things, and had fled the country. The SEA had become concerned about members of the pride going missing, and also about the earnings of the pride going missing. They were trying to find out which pride mates had any idea what the Alpha was up to. So far no one had volunteered any helpful information.
