Shadow Wars (The Stoneridge Pack Book 2)

by CJ Cooke

  So that was his game—implant his own spy in the pack. This was bad. We couldn’t hide the kids from Maverick if he was coming to the pack. We could maybe keep Cassia out of his way for a short while, but it was inevitable they would cross paths at some point living in the same house. This was going to be a problem.

  “He is unfortunately right,” Wells interjected with a frown. “You cannot keep them apart, and he has a right to be with his mate.”

  “Then he will need to formally join the pack,” I sneered. This could work.

  “What!” Maverick snapped, that smirk finally slipping from his face. “Father, you cannot expect…”

  “Of course, that would be the proper etiquette,” Wells cut him off.

  I could see Stone simmering in his anger. He hadn’t considered this. If Maverick was going to come onto our packlands to claim Calli as his mate, he would have to become a member of our pack. Once he was in our pack bond, Stone would have no control over him. I would be his alpha, and if he betrayed the pack, I would be within my rights to kill him without question. And that would include if he started slipping information to Stone.

  But the best part was that Maverick would only be able to join the pack bond if his wolf agreed to be bound to me. If he did that, his wolf’s allegiance would be mine, and if Stone wanted Maverick to keep being his spy, he was going to have to fight against his wolf every step of the way. This was the only way I could try and protect the pups, for now at least.

  “We will initiate you into the pack tonight then. If you don’t wish to accept the bond, you will have to leave the pack grounds,” I told Maverick smugly.

  “You can’t keep me from my mate,” he seethed.

  “No, but Calli can reject you as a mate,” I reminded him.

  “She can’t do that,” he scoffed, leaning back confidently in his chair.

  “Actually, she can.” Wells grinned when he saw the shock on Stone and Mavericks' faces at his revelation. “I took the liberty of checking the pack laws when we last met with this pack, and did you know that when the laws were originally transcribed, it said a wolf was within their rights to reject a mate, and it doesn’t specify if that wolf has to be a male or female. She is therefore fully within her rights to decide not to take Maverick as her mate.”

  I watched Mavericks face, curious as to what his reaction to that would be. He frowned in confusion, but I couldn’t decide if the panic that seemed to flash through his eyes was at the thought of losing Calli or disappointing his father. Unfortunately, I suspected it was the latter, but I was praying I was wrong. Calli didn’t need to add this to all of her problems right now.

  The room fell silent, then Stone slammed his fist on the table and stormed out of the room. Someone didn’t know how to play nice with others.

  Calli sagged against Tanner on the back seat. That butcher of a doctor had taken too much again.

  Maverick was following behind us in some stupid tiny sports car, and I grinned at the thought of what the driveway would do to his suspension. I was never so glad to have forgotten to get the drive repaved as I was right now.

  “Hunter, I’m going to ask Aidan to help you and Cassia move into the empty cabin until we can get a read on Maverick. I don’t trust him, and I don’t want to put Cassia at any risk with having him in the packhouse,” I told Hunter as I locked eyes with him in the rearview mirror.

  “We could put Maverick in the cabin,” Tanner said moodily.

  “I did think of that, but even if we do that, he’s still going to come into the packhouse all the time, and Cassia deserves to have a place where she can relax and not be constantly looking over her shoulder.”

  Tanner flushed in embarrassment. I should’ve spoken to him first. I didn’t think about how he would take having Maverick move into the packhouse with us.

  Calli snorted loudly in her sleep, and we all chuckled at her timely interruption.

  It was nearing lunchtime, and we should be back in time to eat. Then Calli could rest while we got her stuff packed up and moved.

  “Someone is going to need to watch over Calli while she sleeps so we can get her stuff packed up,” I told Hunter and Tanner. Thank god Calli was asleep because I knew she wouldn’t be impressed by the implication she needed someone to watch over her.

  “What are we going to do about Abby?” Tanner asked quietly.

  “Maverick won’t be able to tell that she’s not a wolf or that she’s different for now. Calli can speak with her friend about getting a shielding amulet for her so that her scent doesn’t change when she comes into her magic. Hopefully, we can get it done before Maverick realises she’s different.”

  “But hasn’t she already come into her magic?” Hunter asked in confusion. “She helped Calli back at the witch stronghold.”

  He was right, she had. But how was that possible? She smelt like a shifter. Her scent didn’t have that extra spice to it that Calli’s had.

  “Could she already have the tattoo like Jabob does?” Tanner queried.

  “I suppose, but that would mean her parents must’ve had some kind of contact with the same witch Calli’s mother knew.”

  “Maybe Sean can give us some more information,” Tanner suggested.

  “Hmmm, I need to speak with him anyway. I want to bounce some ideas off him about better security for the pack. And I want to know if he can put us in contact with some stateside allies.”

  “It’s not a terrible idea,” Tanner muttered, looking down at Calli, fast asleep against his chest. “But what makes you think the underground will step up and help us this time when they refused before.”

  “They have to.” It was all I had to say. We needed this, and if they didn’t step up, a small part of me thought my pack might not make it through this. There was too much for us to deal with alone.

  18

  Calli

  Something tickled across my cheek, and my eyes fluttered open. Urgh, my head was pounding. One day I was going to walk into that clinic and turn that needle against the doctor. In fact, I was pretty sure he wasn’t a doctor. If he was, then he was a shit one. It was obvious to everyone he was taking too much. Hunter even questioned him on it, but he just shrugged and carried on anyway. Wanker.

  He pulled two bags of blood from me and placed them in a cooler he already had prepped for transport. Interestingly, he then filled four more vials and put them in a refrigerator in the clinic. He looked around shiftily as he did. I had a feeling this wasn’t part of the plan, and he was pulling extra for either himself or someone else.

  Hunter looked at me in question as we both watched him label the samples and store them away. I shook my head telling him not to say anything. This could be something that worked in our favour later down the line.

  As my eyes opened, I saw Tanner’s smiling face in front of me. Looking around, I realised not only were we in the car, but we were also back at the packhouse already.

  “You passed out at the clinic, and Hunter carried you out to the car,” Tanner explained. “We decided to let you sleep so you could get some rest.”

  “Where’s everyone else?” I asked, looking around and seeing the rest of the car was empty.

  “Hunter has gone to pack Cassia up. We’re going to move them into the empty cabin, so she doesn’t have to worry as much about Maverick. Grey is inside, probably giving Maverick some shit.”

  Maverick. I couldn’t even wrap my head around that situation at the moment.

  “How are you doing?” I asked Tanner, examining his face in concern.

  With a sigh, he sagged back into the seat. His arm was wrapped around me from when I’d been asleep, so he pulled me back with him, and I happily snuggled against his chest.

  “I can’t believe he would do this. My father is the worst type of person, but this… it’s just cruel to a whole new level.” He sounded so lost as he spoke, and my heart broke for him. “He was never an easy man to live with when I was little, but I had my mother there to protect me. Maverick di
dn’t have that. He probably didn’t have anyone. I can’t imagine what growing up in that house alone with him must've been like.”

  “He’s…” and then I trailed off. I had a few choice words to describe Maverick right now, but maybe it wasn’t the right time to voice them. Tanner had just found out he had a brother. Calling him a misogynistic dick might not be what he needed to hear right now.

  Tanner just laughed, “Yeah, sweetheart, I know exactly how you feel. That punch, by the way… epic!”

  I laughed with him because he was right. Feeling my fist connecting with his throat had been glorious. Life would definitely be interesting over the next couple of weeks with him around. At first, I’d been about to say he wasn’t going to come with us. I doubted I would ever want to complete the mating bond with him. My wolf had instantly hated him, even if she did recognise him as one of her mates. But then I realised this was probably the only chance Tanner would have to get to know his brother.

  “I can put up with him for now, but I swear if he even starts with the kids, I’m gonna stab the fucker,” I huffed and then winced at how Tanner must feel about that.

  He chuckled and squeezed me tighter against him. “I’d expect nothing less.”

  “Abby!” I suddenly realised.

  She was inside with Maverick. We couldn’t let him figure out what she was, not until we knew if we could trust him, and right now, I was 99% sure we couldn’t.

  “She’ll still be with Blake, but we should probably head in now anyway.”

  I reluctantly nodded. There was something nice about being in this little bubble of solitude with Tanner.

  “Can we go for a run later?” I suddenly asked.

  “Sure,” Tanner shrugged. “We can go for a run when we bring Hunter and Maverick into the pack bond tonight.”

  “What the actual fuck?” I blurted out, shocked at the casual way he added that into the conversation. “Maverick is joining the pack bond?”

  “Oh, shit, yeah, you weren’t there for that bit.” Tanner at least had the decency to look bad about it.

  I knew Grey was the alpha, and ultimately who joined the pack was his decision, but I was a little hurt they hadn’t even spoken with me first.

  “It’s not like that, Calli,” Tanner said softly. “If we bring Maverick into the pack bond, he’s going to find it harder to betray us, and Grey has the added backup that, if he does, he will be within his rights to kill him and not even my father will be able to stop him.”

  I nodded sullenly. It made sense. It still stung a bit that they’d all decided this without me, though. I tried to tell myself I was being stupid. It wasn’t even my decision, and I’d only just joined the pack myself. It just didn’t feel right.

  “Come on, let’s get inside,” I suggested pulling away from Tanner and opening the truck door.

  “Don’t be angry with us, Calli,” Tanner whispered, following me out of the truck.

  “I’m not angry,” I assured him, snuggling back against his side as we walked towards the front door so he’d know I was telling the truth. “I’m just a bit disappointed you decided without me, even though I know that’s ridiculous because it’s not like it’s my decision to weigh in on.”

  Tanner nodded in understanding. “I get that, and I understand. I don’t think any of us really got a say in it. It’s just something that needs to be done.”

  It made me feel a bit better when he put it that way. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Maverick becoming part of our pack bond. The pack bond should be a sacred thing. It was for me, at least. I’d been denied one for so long that it was precious to me. It didn’t seem right to include someone we didn’t know if we could trust. My wolf pushed the word ‘mate’ into my mind, and I knew what she was trying to remind me, even if she disliked him just as much as I did. At least I wasn’t the only one feeling confused. Life was never simple. Maverick may have been fated to be mine, but I didn’t want someone who had the opinions he had to share my life, let alone my bed.

  The house was eerily quiet when we entered. I didn’t know why but I’d kind of been expecting either Maverick to be having a mantrum or Grey to be putting him in his place.

  Sticking my head through the living room door, I found Blake sitting on the couch with Abby curled up on his lap. They were both eating popcorn while watching Tangled and I could already imagine Tanner’s disappointed face when he realised he’d missed out. Blake was snuggled up with Abby but had the most heartbreaking look on his face. This was no doubt reminding him of what he was missing out on while Jean and his baby were still lying in a stasis in bed.

  “Why you sad?” Abby whispered loud enough for us to all hear her. Neither of them had seen Tanner and I standing in the doorway yet.

  “Because the lady that’s asleep upstairs is my wife, and I love her and our baby very much, but I can’t be with them,” Blake told her honestly. I got it. There was something about kids that somehow just made it easier to tell them things. I think it was because they saw everything in black and white. It was only when you got older that, for some reason, you started to make all the shades of grey.

  “So… we wake her up?” Abby asked, confused.

  “We can’t, the witches did something to hurt them both, and we need to find a way to heal them before we can,” Blake explained.

  Abby nodded her little head with a deadly serious look on her face. “I help you,” she told him, and he clung to her even tighter. She was the most precious thing in the world.

  I was just about to say something when Tanner gently pulled me away from the door, shaking his head. Once we’d moved far enough away, he said, “Let Blake have this for a while. He needs it.”

  I nodded because he was right. In fact, I think we all needed that little girl just as much as she needed us.

  We found Nash and Grey in the kitchen murmuring at the table, but Maverick was nowhere to be seen.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, looking around in confusion.

  “He’s taking his bags up to the guest room and unpacking,” Grey growled, and I could see his frustration simmering under the surface. “Come on, I want to show you something,” Grey said, shaking his head clear of whatever thoughts were running through it about Maverick.

  Reaching out his hand, I took it without question. This was Grey. Of course, I was going to. He pulled me tight against him, the soft growl vibrating through his chest, reminding me of last night, sending a hot flash of lust through me.

  Grey led me through the downstairs, past the living room, and down a corridor I hadn’t been down before. I hadn’t taken any time to explore this place, and I probably should. This was obviously a part of the house they didn’t use very often. It was dimly lit as most of the doors were either closed, or the curtains were drawn. There wasn’t any dust, so at least someone came through and kept it clean.

  I suppose this was the downside of moving into such a big house. Yes, the pack would one day grow into it, but right now, it was kind of depressingly empty down this end.

  Grey led me to a set of double doors at the end of the corridor, and with a grin, he opened them with a flourish. The dust cloud that billowed out, setting us both off coughing, kind of ruined the effect.

  “Okay, that wasn’t quite what I had planned,” Grey grinned, waving his hands around trying to dispel the dust.

  “I was just thinking you guys did a good job cleaning this place. I take that thought back,” I laughed and then coughed a bit more.

  Grey strode into the room, yanking the curtains open and opening the window. I wasn’t entirely sure what he thought it was going to achieve, but I was grateful for the thought, at least. Moving the curtains had sent out another cloud of dust, and the breeze from the window was blowing it further into the room.

  Looking around, I tried to ignore the dust I was pretty sure now coated my lungs, and took in what Grey had wanted to show me. It was… a completely empty room.

  “It’s lovely?”

  Grey barked
out a laugh and then turned me around to show me the door.

  “It’s the only room downstairs that has a proper lock on the door,” he told me, pointing at the handle. “I thought we could move the library in here.”

  Nodding in agreement, I looked around with fresh eyes. There was an open fireplace and only one window, but the rest of the walls were blank and we would have more wall space than the attic library at my house.

  “We can get some bookcases installed on the walls, bring the chairs and the tables across and maybe set up a desk over by the window.”

  I could see Grey had obviously been thinking this through as he excitedly started waving his hands about, showing me where everything was going to go. If I had any doubts about moving into this place, they would have been dispelled at this moment. I was wanted here. Jacob and I were both wanted here. This would be our home, and the people here were more than just pack; they were our family.

  19

  River

  Being at the school while Calli got called before the Council again was unbearable. I needed to leave and make sure she came home to me, to all of us. But Jacob and Coby were at school, and there was no way I would leave them unprotected. Instead, I was pacing my office like a wolf in a zoo.

  “We don’t have the budget to replace the carpet in here,” Holly snarked, leaning against the doorframe for my office.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m wearing a hole,” I said, dismissing her with a wave of my hand as I continued to pace.

  “No, no, blood stains are just so hard to get out, and you’re driving me crazy enough to stab you,” she smiled, cocking her head to the side.

  My steps stuttered to a stop as I realised I didn’t think she was actually joking.

  “Talk to me,” she ordered, dropping down into the chair in front of my desk.