WILD WOLF: Werewolves of Montana Book 12

by Vanak, Bonnie

  Roy struggled to speak as Nolan squeezed tighter. “I, I, wanted…celebrate with my mate. They say… it enhances lovemaking and gives you a rush… had…only one glass. Left it open…forgot. I’m s-sorry! Charlene had nothing to do with it.”

  “That wine is reserved for the Fae. Do you know what could have happened to Kacey if she took more than a few sips? She could have died!” Disgusted he shoved hard, throwing Roy against the wall. The Lupine landed with another gasp.

  “You’ll spend the next two months in the vineyard. You’re demoted from working inside. Next time you pull a stunt like that, I’ll tear you apart. Understand?”

  Roy nodded, hanging his head. “I’m sorry, alpha.”

  “Go home, tend to your daughter.”

  He resumed his seat as Roy fled. Tomorrow Charlene and Roy would both work the vines for an hour with their daughter, to teach her the value of work and as discipline for failing to watch over the vintage Kacey had sipped.

  The ache in his chest increased. Once he’d imagined he and Jordan would have a passel of young of their own, children clustered around them like the grapes clinging to the vines.

  That dream was dead.

  He turned over his cell phone. Tomorrow he’d call Aiden and give his answer.

  Jordan would have to learn to like prison.

  Restlessness claimed him. An itching began between his shoulders, a bad omen that never failed to alert him to danger. Yet nothing was wrong. The Fae’s report last night of a disturbance turned out to be only local boys getting rowdy.

  But his guts warned otherwise this time.

  Something flickered on the distant ridge. Not a reflection of the dying sun, no, this was a wisp of smoke curling upward, tendrils of blackness inching skyward. All his instincts screamed to full alert. Fires here in this section of eastern Tennessee were taken seriously by both Others and Skins alike. Everyone remembered the devastating Gatlinburg fires that claimed lives and destroyed property. The drought was over, but still, unknown smoke struck fear into the hearts of wolf and man alike.

  He ran to the brass bell hanging on the railing and reached for the whistle held in a special container above it. Nolan blew hard and winced.

  No sound came forth. None heard by Skin ears. In the distance, a neighbor’s dog howled and trees rustled. Fairy lights blinked like firefly lights in the trees as dozens of sprites flew upward, and hovered near him.

  Nolan didn’t waste words. He pointed. Dozens of sprites raced toward the smoke, while others darted back into the trees to warn their more powerful queen.

  He could do nothing but watch and wait. That ridge was nearly impassable. Calling the local Skin fire department would waste time. The Fae could extinguish the blaze by the time dispatchers put out the call.

  A few minutes later, the smoke turned white, and then vanished, indicating the Fae had succeeded in extinguishing the blaze.

  Night began falling in earnest as two sprites flew back to him, their gold and blue lights faded. He sat on his rocker and waited for them to make the first move. They would not until the Fae leader arrived.

  She appeared as a shining silver light, faint as a moonbeam. Two attendants materialized before she did, bowing low before their Fae leader.

  Nolan’s heart raced as he stood and whistled. One of the younger pack members hurried outside with the silver cup of wine the Fae leader enjoyed.

  The silver light grew stronger and then shimmered into the form of a petite adult woman clad all in silver, her long hair burnished with silver, her eyes glowing blue.

  He gestured for her to sit and handed her the cup. She drank deeply, then handed it back to him.

  Nolan motioned for two additional cups for the attendants. Risa and Elaine were loyal to their queen and always refused to drink before she did.

  They politely thanked him for the offer and drank as they stood by Selene’s chair.

  “You are too kind to us, Nolan,” Risa told him, her green gaze filled with admiration.

  “And so handsome as well,” Elaine giggled.

  Uncomfortable, he nodded at them. The two Fae were Selene’s favored assistants, but they had a crush on him that made things… awkward.

  Selene frowned. “Ladies, I need a private word with the alpha. Go attend to your chores.”

  The pair sighed. “Yes, your Majesty.”

  They turned into glowing bubbles of light and vanished.

  “This is the second fire this week. They are growing stronger.” The Fae leader studied him quietly.

  He nodded.

  “It took ten of us to extinguish the fire. Our magick is depleted.”

  Nolan whipped out his cell phone and made a call. “Ten cases to the forest drop point tonight.”

  The wine would, as always, refresh the Fae and help them rest to regain their stores of magick powers.

  The Fae glanced at him as he hung up. “You are a strong alpha, Nolan. They do as you bid. They always do. You could use a challenge.”

  Nolan retreated to his rocking chair. “I’m challenged enough by the Harlow pack and their threats and arson attempts.”

  “If you had more females in your pack, it would help.”

  He said nothing. Selene’s band of Fae were all female, and their strength came from the earth and the moon.

  “You need a good female. A mate.” Selene gestured to the full moon. “You’ve been alone too long, Nolan. A good mate can tend the grapes, help you with fighting those infiltrators. All we can do is put out the fires. Not end the blood feud with the Harlows.”

  Nolan remained silent. Words were wasted on the Fae leader when she got a notion into her mind. The blood feud, started more than sixty years ago as a boundary war, had flared up now like a dying fire. His father had poured gasoline on that fire during a fight with Brandon Harlow three decades ago. Brandon’s mate Trixie had tried to stop them from attacking each other and in the chaos, Brandon slashed her with his claws. Frail Trixie died in her mate’s arms.

  “My people grow tired of this. They say the vines need a female presence, a strong female.” Selene leaned forward, her silver hair curtaining her face. “You have none in your pack. You need an alpha female at your side to teach the females.”

  Frustrated, he clutched the arms of the rocker so hard the wood cracked. The Fae queen was right. What happened with Roy and Charlene was a good example of it. Had Charlene stood up to her mate, Roy would have thought twice before helping himself to the magick vintage.

  “What do you want from me? I don’t want a mate. A woman can’t help me run the pack.”

  The queen frowned. “Do not become like your father, Nolan. He was a just, but hard Lupine with little regard for the females in his pack.”

  Before he could voice a protest, the queen shapeshifted. Nolan’s heart raced as his father suddenly sat before him, with the same gray threaded through his brown hair, the same severe scowl. He’d forgotten about the Fae’s ability to glamour themselves as other beings.

  “You are not me, Nolan. You are the leader now, and I know you have regard for females,” the queen said in his father’s voice.

  “I do,” he snapped in a rough voice, spooked by the living vision of the man he’d admired and detested all at once. “Now change back.”

  She shifted back to her regular form and he rubbed his chest. “You have an odd sense of humor, Selene. I’ll forgive you that little trick because I like you and we need each other. But I don’t need a mate, no matter what you say.”

  “But you do.” Selene’s gaze softened. “Have not you yearned to fall in love and make a female Lupine your own?”

  He thought about Jordan, the only woman he ever did love.

  “No.”

  The terse answer made her frown. “No matter, Nolan. Love or not, you will have a mate. Take one by the next full moon or we shall no longer aid you in growing the vines and fighting your enemies.”

  Dread kicked him in the chest. He knew what she meant. Without the Fae to l
ovingly tend the vines and infuse them with magick, they would wither and die. Fires started by the rival pack who wanted his territory would burn fierce and harm all living things.

  He might end up dying in the very lodge he vowed to never let go, to protect with life and limb.

  The only answer was to find a mate worthy enough to kick ass when warranted. He only knew of one suitable female.

  Jordan, the one who had broken his heart six years ago…

  Unless she preferred prison over marriage to him.

  2

  “Oh hell no, I’m not marrying anyone.”

  Jordan folded her arms and gave her most defiant stare at Tristan, the Silver Wizard. Clad in all black, his shoulder-length black hair fringed with silver, he looked intimidating. The wizard, judge and guardian over all shifters, including Lupines like herself, could fry her with a flick of his finger.

  But Tristan didn’t look angry, only resigned.

  “Aiden found a suitable candidate willing to take you as his mate.” Tristan perched on the edge of the balcony, never mind that it was four stories in the air. “I suggest, strongly suggest, you take the offer. Shifter prison will break you, Jordan.”

  They sat outside Aiden Mitchell’s lodge in Montana, her temporary quarters after Tristan had snatched her away from the crime scene in Wyoming. For three days she’d lived on the Mitchell Ranch under close supervision while Tristan decided upon her punishment.

  Shifter prison was bad. But marriage? Worse.

  From the time she ran from her pack at age 17, Jordan had vowed to never bind herself to a male. Not even prison would break that vow. “Can’t be worse than mating with a male, having him order me around.”

  Tristan snapped his fingers and a translucent ball floated in the air, showing a scene of a Lupine trudging around a dirt yard, chains dragging on his feet. “One hour of fresh air and sunshine permitted.”

  She shrugged. “A day? I can take it.”

  “Per week for crimes such as yours. Per month for those who have committed worse crimes.” Tristan closed his fist and the image vanished.

  Her stomach somersaulted. Without her beloved outdoors and the chance to release her wolf, she might as well be dead. She tried to keep the horror from her face, and the fear from her eyes. “So? I’ve had worse.”

  “Which is why I’ve gone to the enormous trouble of trying to find a mate for you instead of sending you to prison.” Tristan narrowed his eyes. “You’re only 23, Jordan. Much too young to rot away in darkness. But your transgression warrants it.”

  Guilt flickered through her. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

  “You set fire to the wood pillars of that Skin house and showed your wolf form running away. The boy saw you, Jordan. If I hadn’t been watching you closely, the fire would have burned the house down and the Skins would have known your secret.”

  Never let humans, or Skins as Others called them, know of the existence of shifters and Others. But the humans who lived in the house were cruel.

  “I had good reason. It was only to smoke them out, so I could snatch the boy and take him to the Skin authorities.”

  “Regardless, you will suffer punishment.” Tristan’s voice softened. “I know you meant well, but arson is a serious crime and there were alternatives to saving him. You should have called me.”

  And there was the problem. For six years she’d been self-sufficient, surviving on her own, refusing help from anyone. Always on the road, never settling. When she’d passed by in the woods and glimpsed through the window the Skins beating the young boy with a leather belt as he screamed and begged for mercy, her entire soul cried out for justice.

  She walked over to the hummingbird feeder suspended from a bracket on a railing. “What happened to the boy?”

  Jordan had been magically transported away by Tristan directly after her crime, held here at the Mitchell Ranch.

  “The boy is with the police, awaiting arrival of his real parents. He had been kidnapped a year ago. If not for you finding him, he would have remained with his abusers.” Tristan sighed. “I erased any memory of you shifting into a wolf. The Skins who abducted him are now in prison.”

  That made her feel better. At least the child had been saved. “Who’s the lucky male who wants me?”

  “Nolan Mitchell, Aiden’s cousin.”

  Now she actually felt nauseated, her stomach curling in dread. “You’re joking. Nolan would never agree to that.”

  Tristan glanced at the door. “He just did. The wedding will be tonight, if you give your consent.”

  Her heart fluttered. “Nolan hates me.”

  After leaving his pack, she’d made certain of it.

  She’d needed to vanish into the shadows, never seen by anyone who knew her.

  The Silver Wizard traced a symbol into the air, and the symbol sparked, a sign of powerful, pure magick. “He needs a strong female for a mate, one who knows about the vineyard and wine, and he has verbally agreed.”

  Nolan. Six years ago, she had told him to go to hell and laughed when he confessed he loved her. Oh, she had her reasons. Good ones. Drive him far enough away so he’d never look for her, never would want to see her again, never guess the real reason she’d left his father’s pack…

  The door opened and Aiden Mitchell strode outside. Tall and muscled, with a short black beard and inky hair to match, the pack alpha looked as intimidating as Tristan. Yet last night she’d seen him coo to his baby girl as he rocked her to sleep.

  The scene had turned her heart over, though she’d been careful not to show it. Never show your soft side.

  That’s when assholes seized the advantage.

  Aiden nodded at Tristan, and braced his hands on the porch railing. He resembled his cousin Nolan with the strong chin and well-defined cheekbones, but Nolan had caramel-colored eyes where Aiden’s were onyx.

  “She decide yet?” he asked the wizard.

  Annoyed, Jordan waved a hand. “Hello? I’m over here. Unlike the Silver Wizard, I can’t turn invisible.”

  Aiden didn’t look at her. “Wasn’t addressing you, Miss Baxter. I did Tristan a courtesy because we’re blood now. He’s my brother-in-law and asked this favor. But if it were up to me, I’d toss you in prison in a heartbeat rather than sending you to my cousin.”

  “Prison might be better. Your cousin Nolan isn’t a prize.”

  Even though he was, and deep in her heart, she knew he deserved better than her.

  Now he did look at her, scowling like a thundercloud. She raised her chin and glared right back.

  “Nolan is good people and if you hurt him, know this. We may not be close, but he’s blood and I will come after you. Myself and my whole pack if you even say ‘boo’ to him.”

  Her own blood chilled at the thought. She laughed to hide her fear. “Why? He’s not male enough to defend himself against a lil ole female like me?”

  Aiden looked over her head. “Nolan’s too good for the likes of her. She’s undisciplined, a rogue and not a pack wolf.”

  And there was the real reason Aiden disliked her. Alphas distrusted and regarded her with wariness because she owed no loyalty.

  Tristan didn’t answer, only watched the door. It opened and Nia Blakemore Mitchell walked outside, juggling baby Peyton in her arms. Despite her resolve to appear fierce, Jordan couldn’t help a smile. The baby was adorable and Nia was a good mother, and a strong, independent female who hadn’t let marriage to the overwhelming Aiden shadow her.

  Jordan softened at the sight of mother and child, sighing with a flash of envy. I wish I could have the same.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tristan give a satisfied smile. Damn. She’d forgotten the Silver Wizard’s ability to read her emotions. He knew what she secretly longed for. Jordan scowled to hide her feelings, but it was too late.

  Aiden narrowed his eyes. “I let you stay here, Jordan, out of courtesy to Tristan. Otherwise, I’d never tolerate a Lupine who doesn’t follow rules. Around here,
we respect pack order. And everyone answers to the alpha, just as they do in my cousin’s pack. Nolan won’t put up with any lone wolf antics.”

  “I’m so scared,” she told him, rolling her eyes.

  “You should be.”

  Aiden growled and in an eye blink, shifted. A huge, muscled wolf stared her down.

  Fine. Two can play this game. Jordan shifted into a wolf. She growled right back at Aiden, her hackles raised. Aiden was far larger and outweighed her, but she’d sharpened her teeth on a few wood fence posts, and one or two despicable males who’d gotten in her way.

  “Stop it, you two. You’re scaring the baby,” Nia scolded.

  The baby chortled and waved her hands, obviously unafraid. But Jordan shifted back, waved a hand and clothed herself by magick. She didn’t want to upset Nia, whom she truly liked.

  Her mate, on the other hand… She looked at Aiden, who stood once more in Skin form, wearing jeans, a checked shirt and a wide scowl.

  “You sure this is a good idea, Tristan? She’ll never follow orders,” Aiden said.

  “I’m sure,” Tristan said quietly. He walked over to Nia, removed the baby from her arms and cooed to her.

  Then he tossed her into the air and Peyton floated there, laughing. Nia laughed as well. Aiden scowled again.

  “I wish you wouldn’t do that,” he muttered.

  Tristan gestured and the baby floated down into his arms again. He handed her to Aiden, not Nia. The big alpha cradled his daughter, who grasped at his beard.

  “I have to get back to my family.” Tristan turned to Jordan. “Your final answer? Will you mate with Nolan?”

  Lupine matings were for life. She thought about what she had escaped, and dread filled her. “His father won’t agree to it. And his brother…”

  “Both are dead,” Aiden cut in. “Craig died two years ago, leaving control of the pack to Nolan. He’s the new alpha. Bryce was killed in a bar fight shortly after.”

  Relief filled her. Craig had been strict, and up until that night, somewhat fair. Bryce, however…