That comment felt like sunshine on Ally’s skin. She smiled. “Thanks.” The warmth increased as everyone offered their congratulations. Her wolf was more than content with their acceptance.
Shaya grinned at Derren. “Now aren’t you glad I argued to have Ally come here?”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Yes, baby, he owes his happiness to you.”
“Damn right, he does,” Shaya stated smugly before taking a sip of her coffee. “Roni will be glad to hear the news. She and Marcus have gone to Phoenix Pack territory.”
“I didn’t want them to leave,” said Nick. “But Marcus hasn’t seen them for a while, and they’re family to him. It’s difficult for him and his wolf to be separated from them for too long.”
“It has to be hard to be caught between packs like that,” mused Stone, feeding Bruce a slice of bacon. “I’m surprised he didn’t insist that Roni remain here.”
“Oh, he tried.” Eli smiled. “In fact, he ranted at her to ‘stay inside the main lodge where she’ll be safe.’ Roni just stared at him until he started squirming and gave in.”
“She reminds me of Kye when she does that,” chuckled Shaya, referring to Taryn and Trey’s infant son, who was also her godson. “He never cries or shouts if you say no to him. He just stares at you until you give him what he wants.”
Kathy took a seat, grinning. “It even works on Nick.”
Affronted, Nick scowled. “No, it doesn’t.” But Shaya, Kathy, and Stone continued to tease him about it while they all ate, much to Ally’s amusement. He looked close to strangling all three of his tormentors when his cell phone rang. He left the room to take the call. When he returned, both surprise and suspiciousness were wafting from him . . . acting like pinpricks to her skin.
“That was Donovan,” Nick announced, garnering everyone’s attention. “The hit on us and the Phoenix Pack has been canceled.”
“Canceled?” echoed Bracken.
The Alpha male nodded. “Someone removed the bounty two days ago.”
“You don’t look relieved,” noted Stone.
“It just seems too . . . easy.”
“Well, I don’t find it so shocking.” Kathy stood and began collecting the empty plates. “Kerrie didn’t seem to be having any luck getting people to cash in on the hit.”
“I find it hard to believe she’d just give up.” Derren toyed with his mate’s hair, unable to stop touching her.
“Maybe she’s decided to cut her losses.” But Eli didn’t sound particularly convinced.
Shaya sighed. “Whatever the case, at least there’s no longer a bounty. That’s something.”
“We should still remain on guard,” advised Derren.
“I agree,” said Nick. “Now I’ll pass on the news to the Phoenix Pack.”
Once breakfast was over and she and Derren were strolling out of the kitchen, Ally said, “I guess we’d better get to work, huh.” At the blank incomprehension on his face, she rolled her eyes. “I’m Beta female now. That means I have responsibilities to the pack, just like you.” And she was hoping to ease Derren’s load a little.
Surprised by her statement, it took Derren a moment to respond. “You don’t need to help, baby. Not all Beta females take on responsibilities.” Many did, but not all, because it wasn’t an easy position to fill. “You already have a tough job.” There was no one else in the pack who possessed any healing skills, which meant that not only did they rely on Ally for warnings of danger but also for her ability to heal. As that effectively made her their healer, she basically needed to be on call at all times. “I’d rather you saved your energy in case someone needs your healing skills.”
Ally fisted her hands in his T-shirt. “You listen to me, Derren Hudson. I’m Beta female of this pack now, and I am going to take on the duties that come with that. Not just because I should, but because I want to.” She pressed a light kiss to his mouth. “You’re right that I can’t afford to be tired when I might be needed to heal someone. But I can still help in some ways.”
Pride filled Derren—his mate didn’t resent his status; she accepted it and embraced the fact that it was a status she now shared. It deeply satisfied his wolf, who needed that acceptance of who he was. Derren cupped her face. “You’ll make a good Beta female, you know.”
She smiled winningly. “Of course I will. I’m awesome.” He chuckled. Turning serious, she said, “I don’t mind doing paperwork and monitoring the pack web, but I won’t be able to work in an office without going stir crazy.”
Pack webs were social networks and, just as a person’s Facebook page might be exclusive to their friends—permitting only said friends to post on their “wall”—a pack’s web page was exclusive to pack members. Packs were allowed to check out the profiles of other packs through the webs just like people could look at others’ Facebook profiles.
“Can I work from our lodge?”
Derren licked over his claiming mark. “If that’s what you want.”
“If anyone from the pack has any problems, send them to me.” Her voice turned embarrassingly husky and breathy as he sucked on the mark. “I’ll deal with that.”
She’d probably be a lot better at that than he would, he thought. He bit her lip and then licked over it to soothe the sting. “All right.” He smacked her ass. “Let’s get started.”
Despite knowing how capable his mate was, Derren had wondered if she’d cope well with the duties she’d decided to take on, wondered if she’d still feel so strongly about them once she realized how mind-numbingly boring they could be. But each time he went to the lodge to check on her, she offered him a bright smile. She finished the paperwork in record time, updated and spruced up their pack web, and helped Caleb deal with a few minor issues he’d been too nervous to bring up to Nick.
When Derren finally returned to her at the end of a long day, they ate an evening meal together before going on a run in their wolf forms. For hours, the black wolf and the white wolf played, tussled, and lunged. On arriving back at the lodge, they returned to their human forms.
Later, lounging side by side in the hammock, Ally said, “I have a question. Since I’m part of the pack now, will I have to give up this place to move into your lodge?”
Although there was no reluctance in her voice, Derren knew that it would hurt Ally to give up this lodge that she’d made her home. She was relaxed here, considered it her haven. Although he’d miss his own lodge, he couldn’t bring himself to ask her to give this place up. Besides, the only thing he needed was his mate—he’d go wherever she was happiest. “I was thinking I could move in here permanently, and we could make this our home.”
Shocked, she asked, “Really?”
“I know how attached you are to it. Well, to the porch and hammock.”
She laughed. “Thank you.”
He took her mouth softly but still as possessively as always. “I have an ulterior motive.”
His playful tone made Ally smile, since he wasn’t a particularly playful person. She liked that he let his guard down for her. “Oh? What’s that?”
“As much as your prickly nature amuses me, I like it better when you’re happy, because then you’re much easier to seduce.”
She snorted softly. “You don’t seduce, you take.”
“I take what belongs to me.” When she rolled her eyes, he chuckled and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Sleep.”
Exhausted after a hectic day, she cuddled into him, closed her eyes, and drifted off.
Derren was in the middle of a dream about Ally covered in whipped cream when he woke up with a jerk as the hammock began to bounce. That was when he saw Ally darting inside the lodge like the hounds of hell were on her heels. Following her, he found her in the living area dialing a number on her cell phone. “Baby, what is it?”
She held up one finger as she put the phone to her ear. Knowing that something was very, very wrong, it took everything he had not to prod her for answers. Right now, she was in her “let me do this” zone. His
wolf was on high alert, sensing her fear and wanting to protect her from whatever was causing it.
“Come on, Roni, answer,” she groused as she paced. But Roni didn’t. Ally dialed another number. Within moments, a voice greeted her on the other end of the line. “Jaime, has a red Chevy appeared at your gate?” asked Ally, frantic.
Derren could easily hear Jaime’s response: “Yeah, it’s an old contact of Trey’s. He’s on his way to the caves now. He says he’s got information on Kerrie’s whereabouts.”
“Stop the car before it reaches you, Jaime! It’s got a fucking bomb in it!”
Derren advanced on Ally, alarmed. “A bomb?” His wolf froze before releasing a low growl.
“I had a vision,” Ally told a rapidly talking Jaime. “I’ll explain all of it to you, I promise, but first you need to stop that car.” She ended the call to allow Jaime to do just that.
“Ally, what the fuck is going on?” demanded Derren.
Sensing that her mate was going to explode if she didn’t quickly explain, Ally told him, “I had a vision in my sleep. I saw Roni, Marcus, and some of the Phoenix wolves in an underground parking lot. Roni and Marcus are on Phoenix Pack territory, so my immediate guess was that that is where it will happen. The wolves were all watching as a red Chevy pulled up. Instead of getting out of the car, the driver mouthed, ‘I’m sorry.’ Then he lifted a remote, pressed a button, and boom.”
“Fuck.” Derren had visited Phoenix Pack territory many times, knew the parking lot was at the base of the caves and full of vehicles. If a bomb went off there, it could make the foundations of the caves crumble. One thing was for sure: it would have killed the wolves in the parking lot, which included Roni and Marcus.
Noticing that his mate was shaking, and feeling her distress, Derren cupped the back of her head and pulled her close. She locked her arms so tightly around him, it almost hurt. “It’s okay, baby.” He used his free hand to soothingly rub circles on her lower back. “It’s okay.”
“It felt so real.” She buried her face in his chest, unable to spit the sickening death-filled images from her head. “I watched them fucking explode. Heard Roni scream. The fire . . .”
Derren rubbed his cheek against hers, sharing his wolf’s need to calm and soothe her. “You saved them.” Pulling back, he said, “Look at me, Ally.” Her emerald-green eyes were clouded with the anxiety flooding her veins. “They’re going to be fine.”
She nodded, taking a calming breath, knowing she needed to pull herself together. “We should go tell Nick.”
After washing and dressing in record time, they headed for the main lodge. Inside the kitchen, Ally had barely finished retelling her vision to the pack and Stone when Nick’s cell phone rang.
“It’s Trey,” Nick told them after a glance at the screen. Putting the Phoenix Alpha on speakerphone, Nick immediately said, “Tell me my sister’s unharmed.”
“She’s fine.” Trey’s voice contained a simmering anger that they all knew was directed at the bomber. “We stopped the Chevy before it got even halfway to the caves. To our surprise, the driver got out with his hands held up in surrender. He said his family’s been kidnapped, that he received a call to say that if he didn’t do as instructed, they would be killed.”
There was no sympathy in Trey’s tone. Clearly the Alpha was too enraged at the thought of his mate, son, and pack being blown to fucking pieces to feel anything but contempt for the male who had not only crossed into his territory under false pretenses but would have caused the deaths of so many.
Nick’s brows drew together. “Wait, you’re telling me the guy was a suicide bomber?”
“Shockingly, yes.”
“That’s some fucked-up shit,” muttered Bracken.
“Was Kerrie behind this?” asked Derren, suspecting that she had decided to take matters into her own hands since her previous plan hadn’t worked.
“He doesn’t recognize her name,” replied Trey. “He says that the voice on the phone was distorted but sounded male. Even if Kerrie hadn’t made the call, she could be the mastermind behind it; she could have hired people to help her. We’ve no way of tracking his family before anything can happen to them.”
Stone sighed. “I doubt they would have been allowed to live in any case—they’re witnesses who could identify their kidnappers.”
Derren was thinking the same thing.
“On one hand, I feel sorry for him,” began Shaya, cuddling Willow close. “On another, I want to rip him apart for putting so many lives in danger.”
Taryn’s voice came on the phone next. “Hey, sweetie. I’m feeling the same. A part of me wants to force him to choke on his own testicles. But I know I’d do whatever I had to do to keep my family safe, no matter what it was. And it’s hard not to feel a little sorry for him; he’s so petrified of what will happen to his family that he’s shaking.”
“Thank your Seer for us,” said Trey. “We owe her big-time. That bomb could have killed us all.”
Derren blinked. “Wow, that ‘thanks’ didn’t even sound begrudging.” The Mercury wolves and Taryn chuckled.
Trey snorted. “Don’t be an asshole all your life, Derren.”
“He’s just defending his mate,” Nick told the other Alpha male with a smile.
There was a short silence. “They’ve imprinted?” asked Taryn.
It was Shaya who answered, her voice excited. “No, it turns out they’re true mates.”
“Really?” Taryn’s smile was in her voice. “But I thought Cain—”
“Yeah, it’s best if we don’t talk about him right now,” Nick interrupted on hearing Derren’s growl.
Trey chuckled. “Congratulations, Derren, to you and your Seer.”
“Yes, congrats!” added Taryn. “I know this is totally selfish, but could you wait until after all this shit is over before you have your mating ceremony? I really, really want to go.”
Ally smiled. “We’ll wait.”
After thanking Ally and Derren profusely for being willing to hold off the ceremony, Taryn ended the call.
Eli turned to Nick. “It’s doubtful that Kerrie could have kidnapped an entire shifter family on her own. My guess is she either hired people to help her or the kidnappers are friends of hers. Either way, it means there are people who know where she is.”
“If no one’s willing to give up her location for the reward, the person hiding her has to be someone she’s close to,” said Caleb. “A family member or boyfriend.”
“Marcus said that, according to her family and pack mates, she doesn’t have a boyfriend,” Kent reminded him. “And both Donovan and Rhett confirmed that through their research.”
“All I’m saying is that someone has to know something,” said Caleb.
“But if it’s someone who owes her, they might be willing to keep hiding her.” Derren knew from his experience with Cain that owing someone could mean agreeing to a favor you might not agree with. “As a Seer, she’ll have had visions that saved lives. They might feel indebted to her.”
Hearing her cell phone ring, Ally retrieved it from her pocket. It was Roni, which brought a smile to her face. “Hey.”
“Why am I hearing from Taryn that you and Derren mated?” demanded Roni, sounding a little hurt.
Ally winced. “I didn’t mean for you to find out from someone else. I wanted to tell you in person.”
When Ally left the room as she continued to attempt to placate Roni, Derren looked at Nick. “We need to find Kerrie fast. If she’s behind that bomb, she’ll send someone after us next.”
Nick’s jaw hardened. “But we’ll be ready when they come. And we’ll destroy them.”
Shaya nodded. “And then we’ll find and destroy her—and we’ll enjoy it.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Five days later, after unpacking the rest of his things in what was now his and Ally’s lodge, Derren followed the smell of coffee downstairs and into the kitchen . . . just in time to watch his mate do a very feline stretch that
made him want to slam her against the wall and thrust deep inside her.
His mate.
The shock of finding her still hadn’t left him. He hadn’t had many good things in his life, and he hadn’t expected that to change. And he definitely hadn’t expected the gift of finding his mate, particularly since he could be a broody, aggressive son of a bitch. He couldn’t be prouder or more satisfied to discover that his mate was Ally—the female who’d showed him how to live when he’d forgotten what that was like. She made him play with her, swim with her, chase her, argue with her. It all invigorated him.
She accepted the dark places inside him, accepted his scars and his past. Moreover, she forced him to accept it all too. She had faith in him, saw a goodness in him that he wasn’t sure was truly there. Despite the dark stories he’d told her about juvie, about the things he’d done to survive that place, she’d never once pulled away from him. Hadn’t condemned him for going after Neil, for killing him, or for the fact that he’d never regret it.
There was never any judgment or horror with Ally. Never anything except total acceptance—so much so that she’d not only accepted him as he was but the position of Beta female as well. She’d fully embraced it, happily took on the responsibilities, and even trained with him, Eli, and the other enforcers every day to keep fit and sharp.
He wasn’t sure he deserved the acceptance she offered, but he selfishly wanted it anyway.
The truth was that, even if she had tried to pull away from him, Derren wouldn’t have let it happen. Even though he’d have understood it, he wouldn’t have let her go. He couldn’t—not now, not ever. She was too much a part of him, too vital to him; an anchor he hadn’t known he needed but now knew that he couldn’t exist without.
His wolf too was a total goner—he adored Ally. She was theirs, and God help anyone who ever attempted to cause her harm. Derren would slaughter them without blinking, and he wouldn’t miss a second of sleep over it.
He understood now what his Alpha had meant when he once said that every emotion was magnified when it came to mates. Adoration, protectiveness, respect, tenderness, hunger, jealousy, possessiveness—they were all tied up in what he felt for Ally and were so unbelievably intense, because the mating bond amplified everything. And Derren knew there wasn’t a damn thing he wouldn’t do to protect that bond, to keep this person who was and always would be more important to him than anything else.