by C. P. Rider
"Eight."
"Eight what?" He cocked his head to one side, listening. "The engines just cut out. Four vehicles, at least twenty shifters, including Jessup."
"You watched eight seasons of Little House with me. You skipped the last season in protest because Michael Landon wasn't in it."
"Holy shit, I watched eight seasons?" Lucas jabbed his index finger at her. "I am the best damn friend you will ever have, Chandra Smith. Don't you forget it."
"Yeah, I know." Now Chandra cocked her head to the side. "They're back in their cars. Engines starting. Ten bucks says they're going to try to ram the fence."
"No bet. They're definitely going to try." He swung open the front door, smiling gleefully. "Let's go. We don't want to miss this."
"Wait. Don't we need to ask the Reids to declare themselves refugees?" Chandra squinted as the truck's halogen headlights shone in her eyes. "They'll have to join the group."
"Done and done."
Now Chandra squinted at Lucas. "Just like that?"
"They didn't have much choice, did they?" He shifted from foot to foot as he stared out the door.
Chandra smiled. "Neely talked them into it."
He scowled. "Yeah, Neely talked them into it. When she gets that sincere act going, the woman could sell a leaky ink pen to a man in a white suit." He smiled, the joy sparking in his jeweled amber eyes.
Lucas Blacke was as handsome a man as Chandra had ever seen, but she'd never been interested in him sexually. From the start, she'd recognized they were kindred spirits, soul mirror images of the other. They were hardened and weary, and wary, shaped by circumstances beyond their control. So instead, he became her best friend and she his, and that's why she felt comfortable speaking candidly.
"Neely's sincerity is not an act. Being with her is not something you let yourself get duped into. It's real." She elbowed him as the truck outside the gate reversed into the open acreage across the street. "You know I'd tell you the truth."
Lucas nodded brusquely and walked through the door. He was insecure about his feelings for Neely, something Chandra was sure he revealed only to her—and even then, only indirectly. One didn't get over a lifetime of betrayal all at once. If it happened at all, it would be in increments.
"That truck can back all the way to Sacramento and it wouldn't be far enough," Lucas called out to the shifters behind the fence. The house sat about a hundred feet from the fence, but he didn't need to yell. Everyone present possessed shifter hearing. "I'm warning you. This is a U.S. Homeland Security-approved high security fence with a cable anti-ram barrier. It'll take the cab right off that truck."
"Alpha Blacke." A woman's voice cut through the engine sounds. It was the alpha. Chandra knew this because she was tempted to genuflect. "Release my people."
"Whoa," Lucas muttered out of the side of his mouth, "she's got some serious alpha mojo going, doesn't she? Better step up my game."
He strolled to the edge of the patio and flopped into a brown wicker chair with a tag hanging off the back and put his sneakered feet on the matching wicker ottoman. He wore faded jeans and a plain brown T-shirt, and his hair wasn't combed.
Anyone who saw him might underestimate him, even dismiss him. That would be a mistake they would not make twice—if they even got the chance to do it again.
"I'm not holding the Reids against their will. They're free to leave if they choose to." Lucas didn't use his alpha voice. He veered in the other direction and spoke calmly, nonchalantly—another alpha trick. "That said, they don't choose to."
A car door slammed, and someone kicked dust up all around the other side of the fence. Chandra sensed at least six wolves approaching—alphas, but none of them were Bryce Jessup.
"Surrender the wolves to me. I am their pack leader." Alpha Jessup invoked the alpha voice again. Chandra was ready for it this time, but it still made her teeth hurt.
Alpha went very still and completely silent. Stared out into the early morning twilight that shrouded the enemy wolf shifters. His chest barely lifted with each breath, yet his pulse beat a raucous tattoo in his neck and wrist.
Chandra recognized this state. She had lived it full-time since she was fifteen years old.
Lucas Blacke was ready for battle.
After a long minute he spoke, his voice drenched in alpha power, the force so heavy it crushed her chest when he opened his mouth and released it.
"No."
Chapter Nine
"It's all right, Jedidiah. I understand you have responsibilities as a member of the Blacke group. And, of course you must help protect that poor young couple."
Dottie Fairfield, Earp's breakfast date and the prettiest witch he'd ever met, was being sincere. Some people might have said the words and not meant them, but not Dottie. When she spoke, she told the truth, but if the answer wasn't kind, she'd usually just avoid saying it.
Not so much her sister.
"Is that tiger getting our Neely into more trouble?" the sister in question yelled through the phone. Earp had borrowed Neely's cell phone, as his own was charging in his trailer. He always let the fool thing drain out. If the Second didn't demand it, he wouldn't carry one at all.
"More like she's getting him into trouble, Dolores. Or they're getting each other into trouble. Same difference," Earp replied.
He liked Dolores—not the way he liked his sweet Dottie, but he appreciated many things about her. Her frankness, her sarcasm, and the way she cared about her sister and Neely. Dolores was a born protector. Earp was one too, though he sure hated that about himself sometimes. He'd much rather bite someone than care for them. It was easier.
"Should we come out there and help?" It sounded as though Dottie was flipping pages in one of those old witchery books in the background. "Is it a difficult birth? I've got a lovely tranquility spell for that. Dolores made a charm for me when I was delivering my Dena, and Dena wore it when she delivered her Delilah. Works like a … well, like a charm, of course." She tittered at her own joke, that high-pitched little laugh yet another thing about her that Earp liked.
In all honesty, he liked most things about Dottie, some of them a heck of a lot, which was why he was so disappointed he was missing their breakfast date. He'd intended to pick her up early and have breakfast with her late.
Real late.
"Ordinarily, I'd say yes to the help, but with a wolf pack standing just outside the gate, it'd probably be best if you stayed home. Alpha was just barely able to get Mrs. Cortez inside before they showed up."
"That's good. She'll know what to do."
"Yeah. And Neely said something about a charm you gave her?"
"Dolores and I put a mild tranquility spell on a piece of pink quartz Alpha Blacke gave her. That should help a little."
"She thought it might." He sighed. "They're calling me. Guess I should go."
"You sound sad, Jedidiah," Dottie said.
"I am. I was hoping to spend a little time with you before you left town."
Her voice softened into a sexy whisper. "Oh, don't worry. We'll get our time, Jedidiah Earp. You can bank on that."
A warm little shiver went through Earp. Yes indeed, he sure did like Dottie Fairfield.
Reluctantly, he ended the call. He'd have liked to listen to Dottie say some more sexy things in that voice, but it would have been a distraction, and Lord knew he didn't need any of those right now. He had bookend distractions with the wolf giving birth and the alpha outside yelling about fences and trucks.
Neely stuck her head out of the guest room. "Are you finished with your call yet? Because we could use you in here. Imogen's water broke and Carson nearly passed out. We need someone to talk to him. Calm him down."
"And you think I'm the best person for that job?" Earp widened his eyes.
"Any port in a storm, as they say. Come on."
Earp trundled into the room in hybrid form, pearly-fleshed tail dragging behind him. He'd grabbed a pair of sweatpants from the front closet, the waistband pushed down
low to accommodate his tail.
"Hi, Mr. Earp," Imogen puffed out as she exhaled through her mouth and inhaled through her nose.
Lamaze breathing. He recalled that from his Melody's birthing time. It had been such a time of joy and hope. And then it was all over, and there was no joy; only hopelessness and tears.
A stab of pain hit him square in the chest. Melody.
Earp tried not to think too hard about the pain. Tried not to remember at all. But that was impossible. Melody, and what she'd done, was part of him. Part of his past, yes, but still there.
Carter Reid was on his knees on the floor beside Imogen. While his wife's complexion was flushed and shiny with perspiration, Carter's was fish-belly white and sickly damp.
Earp helped Carter to his feet. "Come on now, young man. It'll be okay."
"Everything is going well, Mr. Reid. Your wife is healthy, and your pup is active. Very good signs." Maria Cortez emerged from the adjoining bath, her graying black hair pulled into a severe bun. Her green scrubs had tiny dogs printed on them. "It won't be long now."
Mrs. Cortez, a registered nurse in the human world, was excited to act as midwife for the couple. She had assured Alpha Blacke that she'd done this several times before in her old pack. It was, in fact, her favorite part of medical care. She adored babies, she'd said.
"How long?" Carter asked.
"A few minutes at most." Maria glanced at Neely, who was gently mopping Imogen's brow with a damp washcloth. "Do you have the charm?"
"Yes." Neely took off her necklace. It was one of Dottie and Dolores's starred silver witch charms.
"What does that do?" Carter frowned at the small silver globe with the pink stone inside, dangling from the long silver chain.
"It brings peace," Neely replied, then faced Imogen. "I don't have one that will ease your pain, I'm afraid, but this will help with any anxiety you might be feeling, and should help you relax."
"I think that's fine. C-Carter?"
Carter nodded. He gazed into Imogen's eyes and nodded again, though she hadn't asked him anything else. Her responding smile was tired, but bright.
"I told you it would all be all right," Imogen gasped, and Neely quickly put the necklace over her head. She visibly relaxed. "Everything is how it was meant to be."
As soon as the words left the pregnant wolf's lips, there was a crash outside.
To Earp, it sounded as if something in motion had hit something stationary, and the stationary object had won the battle.
"What was that?" Carter's entire demeanor changed. He lost the pallor and fear and straightened. His shoulders seemed to widen, his chest to expand. Earp hadn't been sure before, but he knew now. This young man was a capital-A alpha. "It sounded close."
"It sounded like someone without a lick of sense, driving into a fence with a cable anti-ram barrier after being warned not to," Earp replied.
Carter's eyes widened. He leaned over Imogen and kissed her, then sped out the door, closely followed by Earp.
Chapter Ten
Chandra figured the truck was doing about fifty miles per hour when it hit the fence.
She estimated this because she had seen videos of semi-trucks hitting cable anti-ram barriers at fifty mph, and the end result looked very similar. The cab of the half-ton truck, as Lucas had warned, was crushed. In fact, the front lower half of the vehicle resembled a flatbed trailer, while the front upper half looked more like a crumpled-up piece of paper.
"Who in the gold-plated goddamn was stupid enough to ram the fence?" Earp yelled as he and Carter Reid sped through the front door. "And why didn't anyone call me? I helped put that fence up. I wanted to see what she could do."
Alpha Blacke pursed his lips as he surveyed the demolished truck on the other side of his fence. "The security cameras picked it up, I'm sure. I'll throw it up on the projection TV in the living room later and we'll pop popcorn." He stared through the improbably intact fence at Alpha Jessup. "Good thing your wolf jumped out before the truck hit the fence or we'd be recovering his body with an eyedropper."
"Exactly what the hell is that fence made of?" Jessup demanded.
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," Alpha replied. Then he chuckled. "Not really. It's made from a shitload of steel. Different kinds. Some that aren't readily available to the mainstream marketplace. Also, and this is really the secret sauce, I had a wizard spell the materials before construction. Every component. From the fibers in the cable to the aluminum in the rail covers. Pricey, but as you can see, totally worth it."
"I'll say." Chandra picked up a section of crumpled metal that had flown over the fence to land in the yard. She tapped the fence post with it. "Look at that. Zero damage."
"That's Miguel's truck," Carter Reid stomped off the porch and up to the fence, to where Alpha Jessup stood on the other side. "He needs it for work. Why would you make him do that?"
"I didn't do it. You did, selfish boy."
"I am neither guilty, nor am I a boy. Leave. Imogen and I have declared ourselves refugees and have requested sanctuary with the Blacke group. Alpha Blacke has agreed. As per statute six of the—"
"That fucking treaty," Alpha Jessup snapped. She booted a rock into the street, kicking up a cloud of dirt. "No one gives a shit about it and you know it, Carter."
"I care." Lucas squinted, lifted his shoulders. "Sometimes. Most of the time, I mean. Like fifty percent—"
"Alpha Blacke, you will hand over my shifters or I will destroy this nowhere town."
Lucas's eyes flashed gold. He was a reasonable person, but one thing you did not do was ride into his town and threaten his people. "Will you?" The two words sounded as if they were chipped out of ice.
Alpha Jessup stomped around on her side of the fence. "I'm here to pick up my people. I am within my rights to challenge you for them."
Chandra rolled her head around to loosen her neck and shoulders. If the other alpha threatened violence again, they were going to have a fight on their hands. "Oh, please do. We haven't killed a megalomaniacal alpha leader in what, two days? Three?" Chandra looked at Lucas. "If we let any more time than that pass, we start to get rusty."
Alpha Jessup stopped kicking up dirt. "Who was the last one?"
"Xavier Malcolm." Chandra smiled.
She didn't have a mirror handy, but she knew what her smile looked like. It was mean and dangerous, a wordless expression of Schadenfreude. Someone was about to get hurt, and Chandra was looking forward to it.
"That can't be true," she said.
"It is. We were just there." Carter folded his arms over his chest. He was bigger than Chandra had first thought, with wide shoulders and muscled arms. The man looked like he could handle himself.
So why was he running? Why not challenge Jessup and be done with it?
"I'm not returning to Salt Lake, and I won't allow you to harm Imogen either. She is my mate and my home. Wherever she goes, I follow, because she holds my heart in her hands."
The words were sweet, a little corny, and one hundred percent sincere. Chandra might be jaded, but even she could tell that.
"Fine. Stay with her. I'll take the pup."
"You'll take your ass right on out of here is what you'll do," Chandra growled.
Carter sighed. "Go home, Mother. Leave me in peace."
Mother? Chandra mouthed the word to Lucas, who looked as surprised as she felt.
"You have an obligation to the pack. You are an alpha. An alpha leader. Despite marrying a woman far below you, she is an alpha. I have every reason to believe your child will also be an alpha. Give up the child and I'll release you from your duty to the pack."
"Do you know what's sad?" Carter shook his head as if to clear it. "If you had only been kind to my mate, I would have stayed. I would have eventually taken over as alpha leader as you wished—probably would have done whatever you asked me to. But you tried to kill Imogen." His voice shook until he could hardly force the words out. "My mate. Even knowing what that would do to me, you still
tried. If it weren't for Mig—for the grace of the universe—you would have succeeded. And for that, I will never forgive you."
"It was my right as your mother. She was unfit." Alpha Jessup stuck her chin up. "She is unfit."
"You are unfit to be a mother or grandmother." The venom in Carter’s words startled Chandra, and if the look on her face was any indication, Bryce Jessup was taken aback too.
"How dare you speak to—"
"Carter, hurry," Neely yelled as she stumbled through the front door. "It's happening." She grinned at Lucas, dark brown eyes wide and glittery with excitement. "Oh my gosh, this is amazing. I've never seen a birth before. In real life, I mean. I've seen documentaries, of course I—holy shitwheel, which dumbass was foolish enough to try to ram your magic fence?"
"The mouth on this one," Lucas said.
"Don't even. You know you like my mouth." Neely pursed her lips at him. "So, who did it?"
"Imogen." Carter spun on his heel and raced back into the house.
Neely waved her hands. "Never mind. We can watch the security footage later. I don't want to miss the birth." She dashed back into the house.
Lucas stood, stared hard at Alpha Jessup. "Carter was right, you know. It is sad."
The other alpha glared at him.
"If you had only been a decent person, you'd be watching your grandchild be born right now. You'd be welcomed as a grandmother, loved." He shook his head in disgust. "Instead, here you are, impotent and alone. Hated by your own child. It's not only sad, it's pathetic."
"I have no wish to watch the birth. The mother means nothing to me."
"The feeling is mutual, I'm sure."
"Alpha Blacke, I will have the pup."
"I'm thinking you won't," he replied.
"If you won't hand—"
"There's no if. I won't." Lucas's eyes went white-gold as he snarled, "Now get out of my town before you make me angry. Because I have had enough of alpha leaders coming into my territory and threatening my people. If you do it again, I will challenge you. If I challenge you, Alpha Jessup, it will be to the death." He paused, looked out at the shifters scattered around the outside of the fence, then set his gaze back on her.
