Royalty? She’d not given much thought to that aspect of Michael’s persona. He was a Royal member of the pack—not just an Alpha but one of the top members. Life was going to be a little different from being all but ignored except when someone wanted you to wait on them or beat on you.
“Tristan doesn’t mind that I missed it?”
She’d only met the Alpha briefly and she hadn’t been able to hold his eye contact the whole time they’d been together. She assumed, or hoped rather, that would lessen as time went on. Or maybe she’d really never know what he looked like.
“If he did, he didn’t mention it to me.” Michael kissed her hair. “Wanna go run?”
“I didn’t pack any sneakers.”
She was going to need a lot of clothes if she was going to make it in Maine. It was warm right now, well, warmish. Compared to Louisiana it was downright cool.
He pinched her lightly and she yelped, laughing. “What was that for?”
“I didn’t mean run on our two legs. I meant run in our wolf bodies.”
She started at the thought. Wow, she really could do that. Gulping, she remembered the last time she’d shifted and how much that hurt.
She decided to ask her wolf. Do you want to run?
Yes. Her wolf sounded tentative. As long as Michael stays with us. I don’t know these woods yet.
“She wants to as long as you stay with us the whole time.”
Michael laughed. “Just try to get rid of me.”
He bounded off the bed like a little boy. “I’ll show you all my favorite spots.”
She moved a little more slowly. The idea of shifting for fun was brand new to her. She’d never even gotten to go with the pack when they ran wherever they went. What did shifters do when they ran together? Look at the scenery?
“Where do we shift?”
“Here.” As if to demonstrate, Michael shifted as the warm white light she’d witnessed so many times in shifts surrounded his body. In his place, was Michael’s tall black wolf with the white lines around his eyes.
“You make it look so easy.”
It is. Try it yourself now.
He’d told her it wouldn’t hurt and it wasn’t that she didn’t believe him, she did. It was hard, however, to imagine it could be pain free when it had been so agonizing the first time.
“Okay.”
Closing her eyes, she called the white light to herself and felt the shift begin.
“Breathe.”
Listening to Michael she took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth. Her muscles shifted, her bones altered, and through all of it there was no pain. She blinked as she realized she was a wolf.
Taking two steps, she got used to the feeling of moving on four feet instead of two.
“Now what?”
Michael sniffed the air. “Give her control.”
“How do I do that?”
Even as she asked the question she could feel the wolf prowling on the edge of her mind pushing forward. Before Michael could answer, she opened up her senses and the wolf moved in.
Now things were clear. She could see the world through her eyes and wow, things looked different . Michael’s room was awash in color and smells, all of which she’d known as a human but now she could really feel it. Colors had taste. Why hadn’t she known this before? Red was hot, it burned her tongue just to look at it. Yellow…
“Come with me.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. Michael was her mate and he was Alpha to her, to boot. If he said come, she came. Scarlett blinked. Wow, her thoughts had been given over to the wolf too. It wasn’t that she didn’t think these things as a human just not quite like that…
They moved together through the house. It was mostly quiet. She could hear low voiced conversations behind closed doors as they walked on four feet.
“It’s quiet.”
“It’s still early.”
Scarlett hadn’t heard the others last night, which she now knew she should be able to do. That meant that something about the construction of the building kept sound to a minimum. Probably a must-have for a wolf house…
Michael growled, low and nonthreatening. Clearly, he wanted her attention. “You’re thinking too hard. Be the animal. You need to learn to do this. Someday you might need to live like this for a while.”
“Why?”
“We never know what’s going to happen. Theo did for a while. Who knows when we may need to hide from my father.”
“Okay.” She swallowed. That was a horrible thought. She needed to be the wolf. Finally, she exhaled and let the wolf in completely.
As they approached the doorway to the outside, Michael took off running and Scarlett followed. At this speed, it was easy to be her wolf.
There was nothing but the call of the woods. The wind felt glorious and the grass soft beneath her feet. It took her twice as many steps to keep up with Michael thanks to his larger size but she didn’t care.
They entered the woods side by side. That was when she scented it. Having never hunted one, she still knew exactly what it was: deer. It was there and she wanted one.
Michael crouched low and she followed suit. “Get it.”
He wanted her to get it? It turned out to be no problem. Her wolf might have been terrified in the human world, but in these circumstances, she felt right at home. As long as Michael watched, she’d do anything he wanted.
Pouncing in the air, she gave into the instinct to take down the deer. It ran, but she was faster. Michael moved in front of the deer, distracting it, keeping it from getting through the bushes. Growling, Scarlett took it down by ripping out the tendon in the back of its left leg. The animal screeched as it went down. Then it was easy. She was hungry, it was meat.
Michael came up behind her, helping her with the final moments and together they enjoyed their breakfast. When it was over, she was full and tired. Moving forward, she banged her head into Michael’s side. He smelled so…right.
He knocked his head into hers making a low sound in his throat. Yes, this was contentment. She lay down as Michael stood protectively at her side. The breeze off the Atlantic cooled her down.
A scent hit her nostrils and she jumped up. There was no question as to who it belonged to: Tristan.
Her wolf knew her Alpha. Whimpering, she lay flat on the ground as Nero had taught them to do in his presence. It was the only way she knew how to show respect.
“She does it too?”
Tristan’s voice filled her head as long as well as Michael’s laughter.
“Tristan saw that behavior over and over last night at the swearing in. We’ve asked everyone not to do that.”
“I never really got to greet my new sister-in-law and then I smelled you guys out here. Thought maybe I could help with the deer, but you’ve done just fine without my slow interference.”
“You’re not slow.” Michael scoffed. “You never could be.”
“I will be if everyone keeps me out of every challenge.”
“Ah.” Michael’s laughter again. “I heard you were upset about that. You can’t expect the pack to lose you. You’re too important.”
“So I’m supposed to let everyone I care about go down over and over again while I watch?”
“You’re supposed to lead us.”
“That’s why I should be first through the door in danger.”
“No,” Michael growled. “Your magic sustains us. We will keep you safe and you will keep us whole.”
Scarlett watched the exchange in awe. Michael challenged Tristan’s desire and Tristan took it and even seemed to listen to him.
“I need to ask you something.”
“Anything, my Alpha.”
“I ask you as my oldest brother, not as your Alpha.”
Michael howled at the sky and Scarlett knew that meant yes. It was amazing how many things she understood that she never had before.
“If something were to happen to me—.”
It won’
t.”
Tristan spoke over Michael’s interruption. “If something were, I want you to hold the pack as you did before. Hold it for Braden until he comes of age. You did it for me. Do it again.”
Michael lowered himself beneath Tristan, looking down.
Scarlett swallowed both in her human and wolf form. Michael had agreed. She knew what that cost him. He never wanted to be supreme Alpha wolf again and yet for his brother, his Alpha, he would. This time she howled at the sky, in tribute to her mate who was everything, who filled her life.
Some moments were meant to be had as wolves.
Chapter 13
MICHAEL watched Scarlett dress herself. Lounging on the bed, he wondered if with forty-five new wolves to train, if it would be appropriate to spend the whole day making love to his mate and running in the woods. He was about to suggest it when the first crash sounded.
Scarlett gasped as Michael ran to the window. Fire.
“Oh damn it.”
The woods where they’d been earlier, Tristan possibly still was, were ablaze.
“What is it?”
“Fire bomb. We’re under attack and Tristan is out there alone.”
She visibly paled. He pushed away the panic he felt. Tristan alone, Scarlett so untrained. There was no time for nerves. He was an Alpha wolf. He would handle this. “Go down to the basement. Most of the women and children will gather there. Stay there. Hurry.”
He ran for the door opening up his telepathic senses to pick up information. Things were chaotic, lots of people talking at once. None of them knew where Tristan was and so far the Alpha wasn’t answering.
Damn.
Must protect our Alpha. His wolf was right.
“Michael.” A sob wretched through Scarlett’s voice and he whirled around.
She rushed to him, kissing him hard on the lips. “Be safe.”
“You too.”
He kissed her again trying to keep his veneer of nonchalance.
It wasn’t “goodbye”. It was “see you later”. He rounded the corner at a run.
Sending out the message to the group, he ran for the outdoors, staying in his human form. He needed to assess the situation before he decided if he should shift.
“Tristan’s in the woods.”
He heard Cullen curse and Theo slam something. They all knew what that meant, especially with Gabriel and Rex off-island, fewer hands to help in a crisis.
“I’m almost into the trees. Cullen, get the new wolves somewhere away from most of the fighting. I don’t want them involved unless it’s a crisis—they’re totally ill prepared. Then get yourself into the woods. I don’t know how many are out there.”
He heard the newest members’ objections and tuned them out. There was too much to do. Where there was fire, there were almost always miscreant wolves. He’d been told Azriel had found a way to keep them alive and turn them back, but not how to stop them from being created. Kendrick Kane had an endless army.
“Theo, you and Malcolm and some of the Alphas get into the woods and get these flames out. I don’t want them hiding from us in the smoke.”
Gods knew they were hard enough to handle when you could smell them.
“Az?”
“I’m here, Michael.”
Up until yesterday, Az had been on medical leave.
“Are you up for this?”
“Always. You’ve got to get Tristan.”
“I will. There will be wolves to test your product on. Maybe you’ll save some.”
Michael would save Tristan.
His heart beat fast as ran on silent feet. Sniffing the air, he scented his brother Tristan a distance away. Locating his scent didn’t make Michael feel better as there was still nothing from their supreme Alpha over their general link. That meant bad news, one way or another.
Theo spoke in his head. “Michael, I’ve sent Faith down to guard the women and children. Ashlee is frantic, she can’t reach Tristan.”
“Tell her I’ve spotted him and I’m going for him now.”
He wasn’t going to open himself up to Ashlee’s pain or her communication. It would be too distracting right now. It might too easily bring on thoughts of Scarlett.
Finally, he sent his location to Cullen. If something went wrong, the other man would come and get Tristan. That was the most important thing. Scarlett’s face appeared before his eyes and he pushed it away. For the pack, Tristan was key; for Michael, there was no question it was Scarlett.
He’d pick her. He knew that and what’s more, Tristan knew it because supreme Alpha or no he would pick Ashlee hands down. That’s what Gabriel had been talking about on the dock.
It was different now. Michael couldn’t go kidnapping people. He had to stay here, he always would.
Pushing away those thoughts, he ducked down. Tristan was unconscious. Black smoke filled the air as five miscreant wolves circled his body. Michael swallowed. They weren’t alone. Standing in the circle watching Tristan’s silent body was Michael’s father.
The smoke that made it hard for him to smell and detect the man who’d helped make him did the same for Michael’s benefit. Kendrick had yet to detect his presence. Tristan’s chest moved up and down. For now, he breathed.
Michael let his gaze fall on his dad. Other than a brief glance at the man during Cullen’s rescue three years earlier, he hadn’t seen his father since the older man had stood on a boat calmly floating away from the chaos of the massacre occurring on Westervelt. Minutes after murdering his own wife, Michael’s mother.
If others had been surprised, Michael had not. He’d known—for as long as he could remember—there was something wrong with Kendrick Kane.
We’ve done this number before.
He had. Just recently when he’d fought Zack. But he hadn’t been alone. That’s why he’d lived. Hearing a sound, he whirled around. Todd, Barge and Seamus stood behind him in their wolf forms. Michael placed a hand to his lip to quiet them. For his part, he wanted to ring their necks.
They were Pack now. They could be spoken to telepathically. “Can you three not follow orders?”
Todd snorted. “You’re not our Alpha and besides, last night when Tristan swore us in he told us that the one thing he would ask was that we protect Pack first and foremost. Our pack needs our help, not our bodies hidden away where they can’t get hurt.”
He wanted to argue, might have, if he didn’t also see Cullen approaching in the distance.
“The boy makes a good point.”
Damn it, Cullen wasn’t going to support him.
“They wanted to be Pack, Michael. They swore an oath. Their Alpha needs them.”
“Fine. There are five miscreant wolves there…and my father.”
“I’ll take your father,” Cullen growled in his head.
Michael shook his head. No, I will.
He wasn’t being macho. Out of the whole pack, Michael had been the only one to best him and walk away unscathed. He knew it and what’s more Kendrick knew it.
“Cullen, as Royal member here, I order you to get these three bozos away when the fighting is done and to get Tristan to help.”
He could hear Cullen mutter before he spoke. “I am Tristan’s top Enforcer.”
“You are but just an hour ago, he named me Keeper of the Pack until Braden comes of age. I don’t want to be the Alpha. If you value Westervelt, get Tristan out of here.”
Michael was done arguing. He moved forward in the direction of the black smoke. It burned his eyes and made his wolf want to vomit. They hadn’t been able to replicate the stuff yet. Clearly, it had a sulfuric component. Not that knowing that particularly helped at the moment. He had to make it. He had to endure until he knew he was covered in it. The smoke hid him, hid his scent. The only way he could win was with an element of surprise.
Silently, he moved into position behind Kendrick. Once he was hidden he spoke. “Hello, Dad.”
Kendrick jumped and whirled around. “Michael?”
“Glad
to see you still recognize my voice. Maybe you’ll recall some other things too.”
Shifting, he leapt out of the dark smoke and onto his father’s back. He made contact, biting down on his father’s still human back for a moment before Kendrick called the shift onto himself and changed into his large wolf form. Still, he’d had the enormous pleasure of hearing the man scream before the fight started.
Around him, he heard the miscreant wolves begin to growl. They would pounce on him any second. As he knew they would, Cullen, Todd, Barge and Seamus attacked. Cullen could handle two of the “made” shifters himself. That meant Todd, Barge and Seamus would each be matched up one to one.
He hoped they could handle it. The magically created wolves were stronger than they should be thanks to their mystical enhancements.
That was his last thought as he ripped and tore at his father. Kendrick swiped at him, catching him in the eye and the blood that ran into his vision made it hard for him to see.
I want to kill him. His wolf growled, reaching for Kendrick’s throat.
Behind him, he heard a yelp and a howl of pain. Using his back legs, he rolled fast and kicked his father in his underbelly. Kendrick bit back at him, catching Michael on the leg.
If this was a fight to the death, he wasn’t going to be the one losing.
Michael wasn’t sure how long the battle went on. He gained ground only to lose it. His father would press forward and he would manage to push him back. As a young wolf, Michael had beaten him. Now, however, it seemed that whatever supplemental magic Kendrick ingested on a regular basis made him harder to hit.
Still, Michael held on. He couldn’t let Tristan down and he would walk through fire completely unprotected before he allowed anyone to harm his mate.
Behind him, Tristan groaned. “…off of me, Cullen, I’m not leaving this fight.”
“You will, my Alpha. You have no choice.” Cullen must have shifted back. Michael didn’t care. His father had been momentarily distracted. Michael went for his neck. Making contact, he tore until he could taste Kendrick’s blood.
Tristan growled. “By all that is holy, I have a choice.”
As Michael went for a final rip at his father, sure that this would be the one to kill their former Alpha, Kendrick vanished beneath his grip. Michael fell forward hitting the ground with a thump.