by Celia Kyle
“It’s weird,” Max admitted, keeping his eyes focused on the crowd as well. “Tough to adjust from being your own master to the lowest in the pack hierarchy—if that.”
“Trina tells me you were the alpha of your pack.”
Max snorted. “Not really.”
“Oh?”
“I mean, I was, but only for a short time.”
“Do you think you’ll miss it?”
“Not in the slightest,” he said truthfully. “The more time I spend here, the clearer my thinking gets. I’m not fully myself again, but I think I know who that is—maybe for the first time in my life. And I can honestly say, I was not cut out to be an alpha.”
“Man, that’s a huge realization.”
“It’s a relief is what it is.” Max shot Warren a guarded look. “It’s lonely at the top.”
Warren nodded thoughtfully. “You got that right.”
With a sigh, the beta pushed off from the tree and waded back into the fray. “Hey, no tail pulling, Roy!” he called to a kid who was playing dirty.
The kids had no shortage of energy, despite having trained heavily the day before. A small group of boys in human form wrestled so ferociously, it looked as if they were out for blood. Another group played around a patch of trees, using what they’d learned about avoidance maneuvers to play tag. At any given time, a small group of small, fuzzy blurs chased each other around the grass, yipping and snarling playfully, and a certain orange fluffball ran after them as if she were a born wolf.
A group of younger pups, no older than six or so, were gathered to learn more advanced shifting techniques. And practicing right alongside them, towering above the rest, was Val. She’d just been transformed from human to wolf a few weeks earlier and was still new to shifting. The ferocity glowing in her eyes showed just how seriously she took her training—and probably everything else she tried in life. No wonder she’d moved up the ranks in the Army so quickly.
Zeke ran them through drills and demanded more from them than was typical. One by one, the students caught on to a trick Max had learned when he was ten—shifting mid-jump. It was tricky, but Val was among the first to figure it out. After a few times practicing, she joined Zeke in helping the others learn the trick. It was a handy one in close combat. Handy for throwing humans off your trail. Besides, it looked cool as shit.
What really struck Max as strange—in the best of ways—was how excited Zeke seemed to be training pups. He really seemed to appreciate his mate’s almost-alpha qualities, encouraging them even. Even though Max loved his father, the man had been fairly distant and traditional. He would not have approved of the alpha mate also being the pack’s enforcer. Max rather liked the new way of doing things.
Trina’s coconutty scent hit him just before she wrapped an arm around his waist. He loved her closeness but couldn’t help hissing when she bumped his injury.
“Oh, shoot, I’m sorry,” she said with a gasp. “You’d think I’d know where your stitches are since I sewed them. You okay?”
“Maybe I just like watching you fret over me.” Max smiled, moving her hand a few inches lower and smiling down at her. “Besides, I’m fine, really.”
Trina’s eyebrow arched suggestively. “How fine are we talking? Seventy-five percent fine, by any chance?”
Max narrowed his eyes, feigning intense internal debate. “Hmm, let me think about it. You know, when I woke up this morning, I thought to myself, “Hey, self. I think you’re about seventy-five-point-five percent fine.”
“Ooh, seventy-five-point-five. Big tough guy.”
“That extra half-percent really makes all the difference, you know?” Max said very seriously, stroking his chin. “It’s like I’m a new man.”
“A new man who thinks we might be able to sneak away for a few minutes…or hours?” she asked playfully, tilting her head to the side and batting her eyes at him, which naturally sent blood to all the wrong parts of his body—at least when they were surrounded by families.
Grabbing her hand, he pulled her around the other side of the gnarled tree and caged her against it. “God, you’re beautiful,” he breathed, one finger tracing the curve of her cheek like a feather. Her eyes dropped closed and her lips parted slightly, inviting him to kiss her—an invitation he was more than happy to accept. Grazing his lips across hers, he savored her hot breath on him. Claiming her against a tree in the middle of a children’s training session didn’t seem right, but a make-out session seemed just about perfect.
As his lips finally made solid contact, a rustling behind them broke the spell. A lone pup in wolf form ran out of the underbrush, heading for the clearing. Max’s blood ran cold. He and Trina exchanged a concerned look before she ran over and scooped the pup up with ease.
“Hey, let me down!” the kid yelped as he shifted back into the form of a six-year-old boy and wriggled to be set free.
“Jason, why were you in the woods alone?” Trina asked with her best mom-voice. “You’re supposed to have a buddy with you at all times when you’re on pack lands.”
The kid rolled his eyes and kicked his dangling legs a little. “I did, but he was sooooooo slow! He kept stopping to pick flowers.”
The color drain from Trina’s face as they both realized who Jason’s buddy was. Max stepped forward quickly to address the boy with a suddenness that spooked the kid.
“What were you two doing, Jason?”
“We were playing chase,” Jason whined defensively. “But he wasn’t fast enough to catch me.”
“Where?” Max snapped, and Jason recoiled, wincing a little.
Instead of answering, he curled up in Trina’s arms and pointed in the general direction of Wolf Woods. Before Max could so much as blink, Trina set down Jason—who immediately sprinted for the safety of the clearing—and shifted into her wolf form, leaving only scraps of her clothes dangling from her gorgeous yellow fur. Max was stunned into paralysis for a heartbeat and simply stared at his mate’s wolf for the first time. Her vibrant blue eyes didn’t even look in his direction. They focused like a laser on the direction Jason had come from. And then she was gone.
Ignoring his own clothes, Max shifted just as quickly, surprised that his stitches didn’t pop. Feeling almost invincible, he sprinted after Trina, following her scent. But he quickly realized he hadn’t been joking about being at seventy-five percent. Nothing could remind him of that quite like trying to catch up to a wolf who was most definitely running at full capacity. A fully-grown wolf running at top speed through a forest after a pup in danger was a force to be reckoned with.
His male pride was salved when he finally caught up to her, though he had no doubt she’d tease him later about how long it had taken him. Then he caught Little Hux’s scent and any fatigue he might have been feeling flitted away. The poor kid was lost in the woods, abandoned by his buddy. Max could smell the fear mixed with the pup’s scent.
Shoulder-to-shoulder, his tawny fur brushed against her golden fur as they both ran full throttle through the woods, leaping over well-known logs and dodging familiar low-hanging branches, as if they’d both lived in the woods for years. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, he would have enjoyed his first run with his mate, especially since they were working toward the common goal of rescuing a pack member. After so long—a lifetime, it seemed—Max felt as if he was in the place he was meant to be. And nothing would stop him, not even a bullet wound.
BANG!
Max and Trina skidded to a halt, the fur along their spines standing on end as the sound of a rifle shot echoed through the woods. Trina’s lupine eyes grew wide and panicked. Then came a sound that chilled his blood.
“Yike! Yike! Yike!” It was the unmistakable sound of a wolf pup in pain, and it was close.
Trina threw her head back and released a long, fierce, powerful howl that seemed to shake the trees to attention. Max didn’t need to be a member of the Soren pack to know a battle cry when he heard one. The pack had been attacked and it was Trina’s duty t
o raise the alarm.
Before her howl had trailed off, Trina bolted in the direction of the yelping with Max hot on her heels. Every instinct stood on high alert and any discomfort he’d been feeling from his injuries vanished. His sole purpose in life was saving Little Hux. The pack’s survival meant his own survival.
Plus, he felt the need to tear someone’s lungs out.
Human laughter reached them before they saw the bastards, but just barely. As Trina bolted out of the darkness of the forest, Max caught sight of Randy Leeper standing over a cowering, bleeding wolf pup hunkered at the base of a tree.
Trina slid to a stop between Leeper and Little Hux, kicking up a spray of dirt and fury. Max pushed himself to his limit and threw himself in front of Trina. Startled by the unexpected entrance of not one, but two very angry wolves, the hunters stumbled back a step or so.
Except one.
As the dust settled around them, Dick McNish’s hateful face peered at him with intense curiosity. He sported camo as well as one of those ugly orange hunting vests that hung on him like an oversized sack. When their gazes locked, Max sensed all the way down to his soul the man knew exactly who the snarling light brown wolf was. His lips twitched, almost into a smile. Then he nodded at Leeper, who raised his gun again.
In the space between thundering heartbeats, Max’s rage winked out like a light being turned off. The pain he’d carried as a constant companion for seven very long days evaporated. Even Trina’s guttural growls of warning stopped and Little Hux quit whimpering. Max had no idea what was happening, but the result was a pure and gentle bliss, wrapping around them like a snuggly blanket on a cold night. He’d never felt such peace in his life.
A shadow stepping out of the forest caught his eye. Cassandra. Her long, lean frame was draped in a flowing silk gown that perfectly matched her white hair. It trailed along the forest floor without a speck of dirt on it. Even her bare feet looked as if she’d just stepped out of the shower.
Cassandra approached the hunting group slowly, her hands stretched out in front of her as she stared at them with a soft expression. The humans must have been taken by surprise that such a startlingly beautiful woman would be walking around out in the woods in such a flimsy dress and no shoes. By the time they started to get their bearings, it was too late.
One by one, each hunter’s face fell slack and then went completely blank, as if in that tense moment, they had no thoughts in their heads at all. Randy Leeper was the first to move, and Max couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.
Leeper slowly lowered the tip of his rifle to the ground, and then he stooped and laid it down. He looked around, barely interested in the wolves he’d been about to kill and then wandered away in the general direction of Wolf Woods. Dick McNish blinked several times before stretching his arms over his head and yawning as if he’d just woken up from a good nap. The other hunters followed Leeper into the woods, all of them wearing placid smiles. If Max hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he might have wondered if they’d all suffered a sudden and collective fit of narcolepsy, and the result was them sleepwalking.
The moment the humans disappeared from sight, all of Max’s senses flooded back to him. He turned shocked eyes on Cassandra, though her eyes remained locked on the spot in the woods the men had walked into. His pack’s omega had been powerful, but Cassandra made her look like an amateur. To affect humans like that…
He shook his head to clear the last of the cobwebs and spun around to find Trina in her human form huddled over a still-furry Little Hux.
“How is he?”
She turned her ashen face up to him, primal fear crackling in her eyes. “We need to get him to my clinic. Now!”
Chapter Eighteen
“Motherfuckers!” Zeke snarled, slamming his palm onto the table.
The mood was dark and somber in the war room, where the alpha held all of his Ruling Council meetings. The day had started out with such hope and optimism, even laughter and joy. Then it had taken such a violent turn everybody seemed to be reeling from emotional whiplash. Max gripped Trina’s hand under the table as if she might float away if he let go.
“Where did you say you found him?” Warren asked.
“About halfway between Wolf Woods and where we were training all of the pack’s pups,” she answered quietly.
“Shit,” Warren hissed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, it’s pretty clear we have a major security issue here. Telling the kids to steer clear of Wolf Woods isn’t enough. The bastards were at least a half-mile into pack territory when they… you know.”
“Just say it, Warren,” Val snapped, the vein running up the middle of her forehead pulsing with anger. “No use beating around the bush. They shot one of our own. They shot a child. The smallest and most vulnerable among us. That’s just…”
“Twisted,” Max offered.
“I was gonna say fucking evil, but we can go with twisted.”
“What’s the prognosis?” Zeke asked, turning his gaze on Trina.
Sniffing back the tears that had been threatening for hours, Trina fell back on her professional training. “He’s stable. Little Hux is one lucky pup. The bullet only grazed him. He’ll have an impressive scar when he grows up, but he should be fine. Physically. Emotionally, I think it will take a long time for his nightmares to subside.”
“I will work with him on that for as long as he needs,” Cassandra said in her breathy voice that seemed so comforting for no reason at all.
“Cassandra, how did you manage to subdue humans?” Zeke asked, his tone incredulous. “I had no idea omegas could even do that.”
Her soft laughter sounded like the prettiest wind chimes ever. “Honestly, neither did I. I happened to be close by, communing with the woods, when Trina sent up her war cry. When I saw what was happening—and what was about to happen—I realized I had nothing to lose by trying to control the humans.”
“But how did you do it?” Valerie prompted, cocking her head.
“That’s like asking a bird why it sings, Val,” Zeke said.
“No, the answer is perfectly simple,” Cassandra interjected. “I simply summoned all of the ancestral powers deeply rooted in these woods and focused that energy into calming the humans, especially the one about to shoot my pack mates.”
“Yeah, sounds simple,” Val muttered.
Cassandra didn’t seem to get the joke. “Simple, yes, but still difficult. It drained me terribly, and quite honestly, I was as surprised as anyone it actually worked. Hopefully the other thing worked too.”
“What other thing,” Zeke asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
“Well, that was not so simple. Once I saw the effect my calming energy was having on the humans, I wanted to see how far I could go. Pushing through the minds of each hunter, I reached across the void and stepped into Dick McNish’s psyche.”
“What! She can do that?” Warren sputtered, looking at Zeke with wide eyes.
“Let her speak, big brother,” Trina said gently. Her brother opened his mouth to protest again but then promptly shut it and sighed.
“I planted a seed, you see. An idea that hopefully will sprout and blossom into a decision of his own to leave Wolf Woods alone and stop trying to push us out.”
Having seen the omega’s power over the humans firsthand, Trina felt more hopeful than she had since all of the McNish nonsense had started. “You think it will work?”
Cassandra shrugged with a mellowness Trina envied. “Maybe, maybe not. Only time will tell.”
“Well, we can’t bank on maybe,” Max said, leaning forward on the table. “No offense, Cassandra.”
She beamed at him as if he’d just complimented her. “Why would I be offended by your common sense, my friend? It is the Ruling Council’s duty to protect the pack. Please continue as if my little seed was dead upon planting.”
Max turned to Zeke. “Something needs to be done to stop McNish now. It’s my firm opinion that the only way to fight a dirty pl
ayer like him is to get a little dirty ourselves.”
Zeke gave him a stern look. “I already told you, no more bombs.”
“Not bombs,” Max said, holding up his right hand to promise. “I don’t know what, exactly, but I made a promise and I won’t break it.”
Zeke nodded with satisfaction, and everyone fell silent. Too silent. For too long. The air in the room shifted, everyone’s attention moving from Cassandra to the obvious outlier in the group.
Max.
“So, Max,” Val started, watching him carefully, “where the hell did you go the other day?”
And it was finally out in the open. The question everyone—most of all Trina—wanted an answer to laid on the table. As much as she also wanted to know, she still bristled, her wolf itching to defend their mate.
“He has his reasons, and since he’s not a member of the pack yet, he has no obligation to explain—”
Max squeezed her hand. “No, it’s okay, Trina. It’s time.”
He sounded so world-weary, so exhausted, that her heart ached. Everyone waited as he thought about how to start. Looking up at Zeke, then Val, then Warren, he gave them grim looks.
“Since what I’d hoped would happen hasn’t happened yet, it probably never will. But I’ll need to go back a bit.”
After explaining his life up to and surrounding the death of his father, the fracturing of his pack, and his eventual striking out on his own, Max paused.
Warren shook his head and hissed, “Shit, dude. That sucks.”
“Fucking asshole,” Val snapped. Zeke grasped her hand and nodded for Max to continue his story. Max drew another deep breath.
