by C. P. Rider
"Get out. Stand there, beta. Don't shift, and don't do anything stupid." Alpha Jessup pointed to a spot not far from the arroyo where he and Smith had caught the poachers yesterday. Was it yesterday? Felt like a week ago, so much had happened.
Earp went where she told him to and kept his mouth shut. Not because he thought it would help him, but because he was afraid that if he opened it, he'd end up biting the person closest to him. He was tired and irritated, and all he really wanted to do was shift and hole up in one of his caves for a while—after seeing his Dottie.
Alpha Jessup's boots crunched over dried mud, dead grass, and loose rocks as she made her way to Earp. Others milled around, but none held a candle to her when it came to raw power.
"You have a spiker in your group," she said. "Tell me about her."
Earp shrugged. "She's a spiker. What more is there to know?"
The alpha's boot slammed into Earp's thigh and he went down. Holy hotcakes, she was strong. "Answer my question with the respect it deserves."
Earp figured he'd better keep his smart-assing to a minimum if he didn't want to end up with a broken femur. If the alpha hadn't held back, he'd have one now.
"She's powerful," he gasped out the words as he rubbed his leg. "More powerful than most. And she's got range." Earp wasn't entirely sure about this part, but it sounded good. "She can spike from a mile away and through concrete and steel." He was really warming up to his story now. None of which he was sure about, but all of which sounded plausible.
"Can she read minds as well as spike them? Is she a telepath?"
"That I don't know." Earp figured he'd lie about that, since it seemed Neely's telepathy might be an advantage she'd rather not share with the alpha. "But she's sure powerful enough to be. I once saw her kill an alpha shifter without even looking at him." Earp had seen no such thing, but he was fully committed to his story now. "She just nodded in his direction and, boom, that guy hit the ground, dead as a doornail."
Some of the wolves looked at each other. None spoke a word to the alpha, though.
"I've never heard of a spiker that powerful," the alpha said. "Then again, I've only ever heard of a couple and only met one. What's her name?"
"Neely. Neely Blacke." Earp was really going out on a limb with this lie.
"Blacke? Is she mated to your alpha?"
"Yep." Sure, why not?
"Is the spiker already a crossbreed, then?" The alpha asked this as if it were a done deal, as if any alpha who was mated to Neely would automatically change her into a shifter-spiker killing machine.
"What's that?" Earp asked, giving Alpha Jessup his best dumb look.
"I've heard tales that a spiker can be turned into a weapon by a powerful-enough alpha. Nearly any paranormal can be changed, of course, but none of the others seem to gain the power a spiker does when changed. Or a telepath. Anything having to do with this." She pointed a red-painted fingernail at her head. "If she was a crossbreed, you'd know it. Makes them dangerous as hell and wildly unstable." She shrugged. "At least, that's what I've always been told."
"No, I don't believe she's one of those." Earp felt lying about Neely being a crossbreed might be crossing a line, though he couldn't rightly explain why. He just knew she wouldn't like it.
"Then all I need to do is kill her mate and she'll be mine. How fortuitous. I only came here for the kid. Didn't anticipate a bonus of this magnitude." Alpha Jessup flicked her straight blonde hair over her shoulder and smiled, her dark brown eyes gleaming with avarice.
Earp didn't like that smile.
Come to think of it, he wasn't too crazy about the eyes, either.
Chapter Fourteen
"I apologize, Alpha Smith," Carter Reid said.
"Call me Smith or Chandra. Save the alpha stuff for Alpha Blacke. What are you apologizing for?"
It was late morning and Chandra was in Alpha Blacke's office, examining the weapons she'd unloaded from her duffel and spread across the top of his desk. Alpha Blacke wouldn't allow her to bring the silver ammunition, but it didn't matter. She was nearly as deadly without it.
"For what's happened to Mr. Earp, for bringing our troubles here, for everything."
"Where were you two—three—supposed to bring your troubles?" Chandra eyed the Glock 17 she was thinking about bringing along. She wasn't sure she needed it, seeing as how she had the 19X. As usual, she'd overpacked. Two 9mm pistols was definitely overkill.
She chuckled inwardly at her little joke.
"Well, not to your doorstep, that's for sure." He shoved his fists into the pockets of his jeans.
"Imogen has no family except you and ReAnne. Your dad is gone, you said yourself you don't have any family outside of your mother—who by all accounts is just a wonderful person," Chandra drawled. "So, I'm asking here, to whom were you supposed to go?"
"We were supposed to handle it ourselves."
"How in God's name did you think you were going to do that?" Lucas breezed into the office. "Your mother tracked you, tried to murder your mate. Frankly, I'm shocked she didn't pull it off with the kind of power she's got—and the pure cussedness. No, you did the right thing coming here. Besides, Chandra loves this kind of stuff and she never gets enough of it on her home turf."
"Loves this stuff?" Carter looked confused.
"Murdery things. Violent, shooty things. Professional assassin right here," he continued—if Chandra wasn't mistaken, rather proudly. "If she doesn't take out at least five rogue alphas a year, she has to turn in her assassin badge."
Without looking up from the guns spread out on the desk, Chandra added, "And my assassin decoder ring." She grinned and glanced up, only to find the wolf shifter watching her with wide, rounded eyes. "We're kidding."
"Oh." Carter looked relieved.
"He means ex-assassin. I'm retired."
Carter no longer looked relieved.
"Once an assassin, always an assassin, I always say." Lucas nudged her aside and dug around in the top drawer, likely looking for the cell phone he hated to carry and always forgot to charge.
Chandra cocked her eyebrow at him. "Is that what you always say?"
"Sure. It's one of my most common sayings. It's right up there with, 'Oh look, another alpha is trying to kill us,' and 'Lestat, a Kosta Boda glass bowl is not a litter box.'"
"What? I thought that cat was sleeping in the Kosta Boda bowl."
"He's nothing if not resourceful."
"So, uh, what you're saying is … you were paid to kill people?" Carter seemed hooked on that subject, so Chandra laid her guns aside and focused on him. It would be good to clear things up. Set his mind at ease.
"Yes." There. That should do it. And people said she didn't communicate well…
"Oh." Carter opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before continuing. "Um, why did you stop?"
Why had she stopped? Good question, really. The money had been obscenely good. She'd had freedom in her work—able to pick and choose the jobs she took, never hunting down anyone who didn't deserve it. She liked the weapons, the stalking, the "evening of the playing field" as Earp had referred to it. She had been an evener.
But it was lonely work. Jumping from country to country, state to state, city to town, never staying in any one place for long. People were grateful to her once the danger had passed, once the despotic politician was dead, once the drug dealers were gone, but it didn't take long for the gratitude in their eyes to fade into fear. She was an assassin, a danger. They wanted her help, but they didn't want her around once the job was done.
Even when she’d been was young and bloodthirsty, there had been a seedling of longing in her that had yearned to put down roots. That desire smoldered beneath the surface of her being until it had sprouted into a full-blown need. And when the need became more important than the job, she'd begun searching for a stopping place.
Sometimes she thought she would always be searching, would always be looking for the one place where she truly belonged.
; Chandra told Carter none of that, though. Instead, she simply said, "I decided to move into a new line of work."
Lucas tapped impatiently on his cell phone screen. "This thing is dead. Do you know where the charger is?"
"I keep a spare in here." Chandra set down her Glock, bumped Lucas aside, and reached into the bottom drawer. She stabbed the charging cord into the phone, plugged the other end into the wall, and picked up the Glock 17. "Now let's go get our Earp back."
Chapter Fifteen
"You want me to give them a call or something? It's been a couple of hours is all I'm saying."
"Lizard, if you so much as belch through your group bonds, I will know. And I will slit your throat," Alpha Jessup snarled. Twin trickles of sweat oozed down the sides of her face.
Earp scratched the back of his sweaty neck. It was nearly noon in September, which meant autumn was still hiding behind a couple more heatwaves.
When it was hot out, he liked to stay in Gila monster form, which was cooler than his human form, and camp out in his rock caves. He had one near here that was so hard to get to even Alpha Blacke had trouble with it. It was ten times tougher to get to than the one he and Alpha Smith had talked about last night.
Absently, Earp wondered if Dottie could magic herself into the cave with him sometime. He'd made it real cozy, with a thick sleeping bag and an old transistor radio. There was even a carved-out spot for a fire. The cave had good ventilation and it was damp enough to be cool without being humid. Plenty cool enough to keep a couple of wine bottles chilled.
"This sucks." The alpha took a swig from a can of soda and wiped her face with the back of her arm. "How fricking hot does it get in this godforsaken place?"
Earp wasn't sure the wolf alpha wanted a response, but he gave her one anyway. "Oh, it shoots up to near one-twenty in the dead of summer, but I reckon it won't be any higher than one-ten today."
"It's one hundred and ten degrees out here?"
"No, ma'am, not yet. We haven't hit peak temperature. About mid-afternoon you'll be feeling it. I don't imagine it's more than a few degrees over a hundred right now."
"Why, in God's name, would anyone live in a place like this?" She waved an arm around as if to encompass the totality of the surrounding desert and mountains.
"It's real peaceful—most of the time. Home to a strong alpha who cares about his people. There are several draws, but Alpha Blacke is likely the main one. At least, he was for me."
"Think you'll stick around after I kill him?"
Earp didn't believe there was any good response to that, and he didn't feel like getting kicked again, so he lifted a shoulder in a sort of half-shrug and hoped that would suffice. There was no way this alpha would best Alpha Blacke.
One of the Jessup pack alphas, a Mexican-American male with sun-bronzed skin, a cleft chin, and a whole lot of muscles, jogged up. He looked like some sort of ancient Aztec god, standing there with his hands on his hips, sunlight outlining his head like a golden corona.
"Alpha, the Blacke group is on the move."
"It's about time. Get into position. And Miguel—" The Alpha glared at the male wolf. "—don't screw up this time."
Earp thought that was rather uncharitable, considering she was the one who'd given Miguel the order to ram the fence and he was out a work truck, not to mention the close call on his life. Apparently Miguel felt the same, because the moment her back was turned, he looked at Earp and shook his head, as if to say, Alpha leaders. What can you do?
A young female weaved around the half-dead bushes as she made her way up to Jessup. She was built sturdy, with winter-white skin and mousy brown hair that hung in her small brown eyes.
"Alpha. They were moving this way, but they've changed direction. Now they're moving toward the mountains back there." She pointed in the direction of the arroyo.
Earp jerked his head up as alpha power surrounded him, seeking entrance. This wasn't the usual boost from Smith, and this wasn't from Alpha Blacke, either. This was an outside command backed by moon magic from a very strong alpha straight to Earp's animal. Shift, it said.
He looked around, trying to find the source. It sure as heck wasn't Jessup, but he didn't see anyone else around with that sort of power.
His gaze swept over the shifters, finally landing on Miguel. The wolf stared straight back at him. Gave him a slow grin.
He was going against his own alpha leader to help Earp. Was it payback for the wrecked truck, or was the wolf simply tired of following an alpha who clearly didn't value him? Perhaps it was Earp's natural charm that had convinced the wolf to help.
Right. More likely he was meant to be some sort of distraction. An expendable distraction.
Not that it mattered. Better for him to die fighting for his life than to sit on his rump and wait for it here. Earp accepted the wolf's help, opened up and allowed the alpha to lend him strength.
"Useless." With a roar of frustration, Alpha Jessup shoved the young female wolf to the ground. The woman didn't move. Simply lay there, as if dead. The alpha snarled as she leaned through the open window of the Mustang to grab something Earp hoped was not the shotgun he'd seen on the way over. The one likely loaded with shells containing silver-dipped pellets.
Time to get moving.
Earp shifted—not without pain, but faster than normal. His jeans nearly tripped him up, but luckily no one noticed, and he was able to wriggle out of his clothing and head for the arroyo and the cave. If he made it there, they'd never be able to grab him.
The commotion behind him told Earp that his absence had been detected. Very detected. Angrily detected.
He sped up, racing for the gully. There was little chance he'd beat her there—she was faster, more powerful, younger—but he had to try.
Alpha Jessup leapt over his head and landed in the dirt between him and the dry riverbed. She had changed fast—the torn remnants of her clothing hung from her shoulders and ankles. Her animal was a gray wolf the size of two human men, with fur the color of quicksilver shot through with ebony. She was easily one of the largest wolves Earp had ever met, and she'd caught up with him. He was done. She'd surely kill him now.
A blur of orange and black fur flew past him and knocked Alpha Jessup to the ground in a roll that took her twenty feet from Earp. Alpha Blacke had arrived—in Bengal tiger form, as he'd expected. No need for the alpha to break out his prehistoric animal for this bunch. The wolf shifter might be larger and stronger than Earp, but his alpha could take down Jessup with one paw tied behind his back.
Earp scuttled the rest of the way to the gully and headed for his cave. This was for the alphas to work out. He was a beta and would only be a distraction—and a danger to the shifters who cared about him if he hung around.
Chandra Smith, in hyena hybrid form, stood on the bank above Earp and cackled. Most people thought that when hyenas made the distinctive laughing sound, they were happy. That was wrong. Hyenas generally cackled when they were anxious about something, and although a hyena shapeshifter might not always assume the characteristics of their wild counterparts, in this instance, Earp was sure it was accurate.
Smith had been worried about him.
She cackled once more and then called out, "You okay?"
If Earp wasn't in animal form, he'd probably have offered a flippant retort, but sarcasm didn't translate well through group bonds. So, instead, he sent the alpha warm feelings, safe feelings, to let her know he was all right, and give her a non-verbal message about the wolf who had helped him. While neither of them was telepathic, they had their own way of getting their thoughts across to each other.
"It's the wolf who rammed the fence, isn't it? That's the shifter you're sending me good vibes about." When Earp lifted and lowered his bluntly angled head in an awkward nod, she cackled again. "Well, isn't that interesting?"
Chapter Sixteen
Once Earp was gone, Chandra approached the two alphas scrapping in the California sagebrush that grew along the arroyo bank. So far it wa
s less an alpha challenge than a slap fight—at least, on Lucas's side—so it was going to do one of two things pretty quickly. Escalate, or end.
"Is this a formal challenge?" Chandra infused her voice with the power of her animal and her own innate energy. The words were soaked in implied violence, dripping with it. "Do you, Alpha Bryce Jessup of the Jessup pack, formally challenge Alpha Lucas Blacke of the Blacke group to the death?"
"No." A nude Carter Reid stepped out from behind a bunch of tumbleweed, having shifted from wolf to hybrid human-wolf shifter. "With respect, Alpha Blacke—my alpha—I should be the one to challenge Alpha Jessup. She is my problem."
Lucas nodded his large, furred head and took a step to the side, making clear his intention to allow Reid to take the challenge.
Bryce Jessup's eyes had narrowed at the "my alpha" remark, then widened when he said, "She is my problem." The furious alpha broke away from Alpha Blacke with a wild howl and lunged at Carter.
That was when another shifter—a male Chandra recognized as Earp's helper, the one who had rammed Lucas's fence with his truck—stepped forward and changed everything.
"Miguel?" Carter blinked as the other man stepped in front of him.
"A son should not have to challenge his mother, no matter how terrible the mother happens to be," he said.
This had the effect of stopping Alpha Jessup in her tracks. She circled the two men, elongated jaws slavering as she growled at them.
"You are not my alpha. I no longer obey you." Miguel's jaw muscle pulsed, attaining a fluid look as his forms merged, flesh to fur, teeth to fangs, in hybrid form. It was a beautifully smooth transition. This wolf had power.
"Miguel." Carter's expression softened. "My friend. You've done so much already. Imogen and I would never have gotten away without your help."
"It was my honor," he replied.
Alpha Jessup let out a vicious growl, gnashing her teeth and digging her claws into the ground.
"I, Miguel Vega, issue a formal challenge to Alpha Bryce Jessup. For the leadership of the West Jordan territory pack." His voice was clear, loud, and powered by barely throttled rage. "To the death."
