Behind me, I heard the squeak of rusty hinges and the jangle of bells as the door opened, ushering in multiple footsteps. I turned to see Vicki Richter along with her usual entourage of cronies join the line. The tall brunette and I weren’t friends, but we’d never been enemies either. When my wolf came, though, I somehow became her mortal enemy overnight.
Of all the women Jackson slept with, she’d taken their fling the most seriously. She’d been harassing me every chance she got and I doubted today would be any different.
Within seconds, the whispering started, quickly filling the cramped quarters of the post office. The building dated back to the thirties and felt tight with three people. At the moment, almost a dozen of us were squeezed inside, the gossip filling what little space there was between us. It was impossible not to overhear.
I kept my eyes forward, but I knew the voices badmouthing me well. My heart pounded in my chest as I realized I was trapped.
“She was a null,” said Alan, a gangly beta wolf with an overbite. He’d been mooning after Vicki for years. Did he not realize he was the means to an end named Jackson? Vicki would never take up with him, not in a million years.
“Somehow he got her to change,” Tony said, the low bass tenor of his voice was unmistakable. I didn’t know him well, but he liked to wear leather with metal spikes and hang around Vicki, which pretty much told me everything I needed to know.
“She looks like a null. Are you sure she’s shifted?” came a high, sweet voice I didn’t recognize. I peeked over my shoulder to see a young girl--no doubt, newly changed--standing with them, her narrow face full of disgust. Great, Vicki was spreading her hate of me, infecting everyone she could find. Including small children who’d barely sprouted their first fur.
“And now she’s mated to Jackson, can you believe it?” This was Vicki, her disapproval emanating from her in waves of sour scent. She smelled like bad meat, like something you would never put in your mouth. It was hard to believe she was a gorgeous dark haired blue-eyed beauty. Maybe if Jackson had let his nose lead, he would’ve steered clear of her in the first place. As my mom always used to say, ‘you’re only as pretty as you smell.’
“She don’t look like much.” John’s voice carried so much disgust, I winced.
The scent of werewolf now mixed with a foulness that accompanied negative emotions. Anger surged through me, thundering in my ears like a war drum. I whirled around and met Vicki’s stormy blue eyes, staring her down. When she boldly held my gaze, refusing to look away, my wolf’s power bristled over my skin. She remained unimpressed and looked just as pissed as I was. Her lips curled, baring her very sharp canines outlined with red lipstick.
“You have a problem with me?” My voice came out in a snarl as it entered the vocal range of a wolf.
She crossed her arms and tossed her head, flinging her dark hair out of her face. “Well, duh.”
I stepped closer to her until we almost touched. “Watch yourself.” My tolerance snapped and my temper flared hotter than lighter fluid on coals. I was so done with Vicki and her digs. It was time to lay down the law.
“Or what?” She lifted her chin in a haughty gesture.
Without thinking, I wrapped a hand around her neck. We were about the same size and my hand shouldn’t have been able to span her throat, but it did. With shock, I realized my bones had lengthened, until my hand was big enough. I wasn’t shifting; my wolf form matched my human size, putting me more on the petite end of the spectrum. This was something else, something new. Jackson told me I would come into my full wolf powers gradually and here was proof.
I surprised Vicki too. She tried not to show it, but her pupils dilated. Her scent changed subtly as well, emitting the tart scent of fear. I squeezed and the fear stink grew strong as a skunk. Alan, Tony and John covered their noses and backed away, refusing to meet my eyes or Vicki’s.
Someone behind me said, “Is she going to kill her?”
The question brought me back to my senses. At least a little. Enough that I peeled my hand away from her throat and let her go.
“No, I’m not going to kill her,” I said more to reassure myself than anyone else. Rage still ran hot in me and screamed for an outlet, preferably one that included ramming Vicki’s head into the nearest wall.
Vicki coughed and rubbed her throat. “She couldn’t kill me even if she wanted to.”
Vicki’s persistence made me blink. I’d almost popped her head like a pimple and yet she continued to provoke me. Amazing.
“Don’t make me regret letting you go,” I said with dangerous calm. My wolf growled in my mind’s eye and pawed at the ground, desperate to leap out and finish what I’d almost started. It took everything I had to maintain control.
“You’re weak, bitch. Too weak to be an alpha’s mate. Right?” She looked to the guys who nodded, tentative at first, but then with increasing confidence.
“Yeah. She’s an Omega,” Alan said. “She shouldn’t be mated with Jackson.”
The word Omega gave me pause. They were weak wolves and most packs refused to let them mate, not wanting their weakness to taint pack bloodlines. Back when everyone thought I was a null, I’d been something lower than even an Omega. It was the equivalent of being born blind, deaf and dumb in the human world. At least Omega wolves could still change, even if they were scrawny and sickly. Sometimes packs killed them outright, preferring to exterminate weak genetics altogether. It wouldn’t surprise me if Vicki’s sentiments on the issue ran toward the more extreme end of the spectrum.
“Vicki?” I said.
“Yeah,” she looked at me, her confidence back at full throttle. All of her earlier fear had vanished, and, in its place, I smelled a cloying self-satisfaction.
“I’m not an Omega.” I advanced on her again, forcing her to step back and give ground to my dominance.
“Yeah, you are.” She looked up and down, her upper lip curled in disgust. “You’ve always been nothing, Chloe. Just because you can shift now doesn’t change that and I’m not the only one who’s noticed.”
I wanted to roll my eyes, but kept them narrowed on Vicki. “Don’t you get it?” I shook my head, deciding to speak plainly. No doubt the unvarnished truth would hurt, but maybe it would get her to move on. “Jackson couldn’t choose you even if he wanted to. You’re not his mate, Vicki. Not now, not ever. I’m not your competition because there isn’t one. You were a mistake, one that Jackson won’t repeat.”
She lunged for me, hands flailing and nails morphing into claws as she did so. I stepped to the side and then caught her by the throat again. The speed with which I moved startled me. I was getting faster. I lifted her up by the throat, unsure if I could do it until I actually did it.
I smiled in triumph. I was stronger, too. Giving her a little shake, I said. “Let it go, Vicki. Move on before you really get hurt. Live to find your true mate.” I dropped her then and she fell to the floor with a growl.
Jumping to her feet with a light footed grace, she said, “I’m not letting this go, bitch. You’re an Omega. You don’t even deserve to live.” Vicki stabbed the air with a sharp nailed finger.
I sighed. “Mark my words, next time I get a hand around your neck, I won’t stop squeezing.” If she ignored that warning, I wouldn’t hold back next time. She’d been following me around since I’d mated with Jackson, calling me names and generally being nasty. I was done with it. If she wanted to escalate things, I wouldn’t turn her away. Not anymore.
She gave a harsh laugh. “Next time I see you, bitch, you’ll be in the pack clearing failing the test of blood. We’ll tear you limb from limb and howl with glee as we do it.”
Tossing her head, she turned on her heel and left the post office, her groupies trailing behind like eager puppies. A tense silence hung in the air at their departure. No one looked at anyone, which was how wolves avoided conflict. We all cast our gazes upward as if the ceiling held a mural painted by Michelangelo as opposed to its more mundane flat white paint tur
ned gray with age. At the same time, you could bet everyone’s ears were perked, waiting to hear my reaction.
Behind the counter, Jana heaved a sigh and said, “Next, please.”
With that, an uneasy normalcy resumed in the post office. We shuffled forward in line, picking up and dropping off packages. Jana beckoned me forward with a kind smile when my turn came.
I handed her the card the mailman had left in our mailbox. “I have a package.”
She nodded. “Yes, all the way from Ireland too.”
Jana bent over, rummaging around under the counter and when she straightened back up, she held a small box in her hand. White and red ‘fragile’ stickers adorned its side.
“Sign here.” She set the box aside and pointed to a signature line on the package notification.
I grabbed the pen chained to the counter and quickly scrawled my signature.
Looking at the card, she said, “That was good, Chloe.”
“It was?” I asked confused. In school, my teachers had always taken off points for penmanship. I didn’t think my signature was good enough to warrant compliments.
“I meant with Vicki. The alpha’s mate has to be strong. Don’t let bullies like her push you around. If she’s dumb enough to call the test of blood, she’ll be the one torn apart, not you.”
“Oh, thanks,” I mumbled. I appreciated Jana’s support, especially since I really didn’t know what I was doing. I’d gone on instinct in the post office, trying to keep my anger in check so I didn’t do anything really stupid. I didn’t even actually know what the test of blood was, but I wasn’t about to admit that in public. I would ask Jackson about it later.
She waved me forward, leaning over the counter to quietly say, “I remember when Cal took his mate. It wasn’t much easier for her, but she got through it in the end.”
“Really?” I couldn’t keep the surprise from my voice. I would always remember Cal’s wife as a woman no one ignored. Everyone had listened to Betty without question.
Jana nodded. “Give it time. The pack has to know they can trust you and they’ll test you until they’re sure.”
I blinked as her words sank in. I hadn’t thought of it like that. Maybe all this friction was normal, part and parcel of being the alpha’s mate. If so, I needed to toughen up and fast. “Thanks, Jana.” I smiled at her, grateful for her kindness.
She smiled back. “Any time.”
Taking my package, I hustled out of the post office, keenly aware of all the eyes watching me go. Now that the tension of my confrontation with Vicki had dissipated, they, apparently, felt free to openly stare at me. The gossip I’d provided that morning would fuel them like caffeine, their jaws flapping non-stop as they recounted the latest exploits of the alpha’s ill-chosen mate. It made me want to crawl into a deep, dark hole and never come out again.
I silently cursed companies that required a signature for their deliveries. Yes, the crystal champagne flutes I’d ordered were very expensive and fragile, but they’d left the much more expensive wedding band for Jackson on my porch no problem. From here on out, I vowed to only work with companies that wouldn’t force me into town to pick up their goods.
Outside, I blinked as the sun’s brilliance hit my eyes. The day was cloudless and cold. The generously late Indian summer had faded over a week ago, and it now appeared the weather was fixing to grace us with the first snow of the season. I dropped the package off in my truck and then headed to the bar, wanting to order something to eat before I undertook the drive to Nashville.
I was just about to open the door and step inside when the loud squeal of tires made me pause. Looking over my shoulder, I saw a red corvette roaring down the street. Frowning, I let the door to the bar go and stepped back onto the side walk.
No one in Huntsville drove a sports car. We were pick-up truck people. Fancy cars were beyond our pay grade. We weren’t poor by any means, but our economics were limited to working in town or helping to administer the pack land.
We owned over five hundred acres, most of which was reserved for us to run. The edge of our property housed cabins that we rented out to the public. We also leased the mineral rights to a big mining company. They operated a coal mine in a gulley that was too steep for us to access in wolf form. The pack split the profits, which made for a comfortable existence, but not an extravagant one.
As I watched, the corvette zoomed through the town square and then jackknifed into a parking spot right in front of me. I held my breath, expecting the car to jump the curb and hit me, but the driver exercised the precision of a professional and the vehicle shrieked to a stop just before hitting the curb.
The noise attracted notice. Anyone outside stopped same as I had, riveted by the corvette’s progression. The car purred, the sound anything but content, and then the driver turned it off. The sudden silence rang in the air like an alarm bell.
I waited, curious to see who the driver was and ready to direct the stranger to Hudson, the nearest human city about twenty miles down the road. We weren’t so barbaric as to run humans out of town, but, if they insisted on eating at the bar, the service would be terrible and the food either undercooked or burnt. No one came back twice if they could help it. Not unless they belonged.
To my surprise, the driver who emerged from the corvette’s interior, was a woman. Given the crazy driving, I’d expected a young, cocky guy. Instead, a striking redhead stepped out of the car, sharp stilettos clacking on the concrete.
She stood tall as a super model and svelte as one, too. Her red wrap dress and designer stilettos spoke of money and her scent identified her as a wolf, just not one from Huntsville. Checking out the front plate, I noted she was from Louisiana.
Funnily enough, so was Jackson.
Lifting her sunglasses to the top of her head, she quickly scanned the area with bright green eyes. Zeroing in on me, she sniffed and said, “Are you the bitch who thinks she can have my mate?”
Her voice carried in the quiet pre-winter air to the point where people inside the bar came out to better hear her. Wolves can smell anything, especially good gossip fodder.
Chapter Three
“Excuse me?” I asked, utterly confused.
She stalked toward me and leaned down until we were eye-to-eye, the gesture making me feel very short and very fat in comparison. She narrowed her eyes into emerald slits and repeated her question. “I said, are you the bitch who thinks she can have my mate?”
“Your mate being?” I asked, although I had a sinking feeling who it was.
“Jackson Swift,” she said with a tight smile that showed off her sharp, pointy canine teeth.
“Kelsey,” came Jackson’s voice before I could respond. We both turned to see him coming down the sidewalk, a wide-eyed look of surprise on his face.
He greeted her with a warm hug. “What are you doing here?”
Kelsey laughed and the trilling sound made my hackles rise. “Just checking up on you.” She looped her arm through Jackson’s and looked at me. “Making sure this town is doing right by my best friend.”
Seeing the confusion on my face, she smiled at me. “Sorry, um, Chloe is it? I was just having some fun with you. Jackson’s mom showed me a picture, and, when I saw you, I just couldn’t resist the temptation to pull your leg.”
I pushed out a fake chuckle while giving Jackson a ‘WTF’ look. Seriously. What. The. Fuck? “You didn’t tell me she was coming.”
He shrugged and gave me an equally ‘WTF’ look. “I had no idea.”
“I swore your mom to secrecy. You know she can’t tell me no.” She snuggled up to Jackson, which made me want to rip her face off.
My hands curled into fists, the nails breaking the skin of my palms. “What are you doing here?” I cleared my throat several times as I spoke to keep my voice from coming out in a hostile growl. My wolf was practically frothing with anger. Vicki had already put her on edge and now Kelsey threatened to push us both over. If I wasn’t careful, I would change right here,
right now and it would be a blood bath. The arch look Kelsey gave me suggested she knew exactly what effect her appearance had on me.
“I’m an event planner on the side and when I heard Jackson was hitched, I thought I’d come help out with the wedding.” She scanned the town, taking in the few paint worn buildings lining the street and wrinkled her nose. “You know, help you make it an event to remember. The Swift pack likes to celebrate with class.”
Jackson smiled at me weakly. “How about we grab a bite to eat, ladies?”
So we all traipsed into the bar, Kelsey laughing lightly as if she didn’t have a care in the world and constantly touching Jackson. For his part, Jackson looked happy to see her although from the concerned looks he shot my way, he seemed to have picked up on the fact that I wasn’t as thrilled. I trailed behind them glowering, fighting the urge to start a bar brawl. The entire bar fell silent, acutely aware of our entrance and straining to hear every word.
Great.
We all ordered beer and burgers, the waitress staring at us with open curiosity. While we waited for our food, Kelsey smiled at me brightly. “How ever did you two meet?”
Jackson put a protective arm around me and pulled me close. He’d been sure to sit with me, and I found that small gesture reassuring. Under the table, I gripped his thigh with one hand, staking my claim. Even though she couldn’t see it, the contact made me feel better and less likely to leap across the table at her.
“I knew she was the one the first time I laid eyes on her,” Jackson said. “She took a little convincing though.” He smiled at me.
I returned his smile, remembering the night he’d shown up on my doorstep with the promise to ‘make me howl.’ I’d doubted him, but he’d been right. Jackson had brought my wolf.
“I heard you were a null, Chloe.” Kelsey unwrapped her silverware and smoothed her napkin into her lap.
I shrugged. “Not anymore.”
“They say nulls are weak and infertile.” Her lips smiled, but her eyes shone with malice.
The Alpha's Mate (Werewolf Romance) Page 2
