Alpha Wolf

Chapter Thirteen

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.

What the hell happened? His wolf was not pleased to be denied the right to finish his enemy off.

Michael groaned and called his shift back on to him. The white light brought him back to his human form.

“Dad is such a coward. I had him. I had his throat in my mouth.”

He could still taste his blood. Michael pounded the ground with his fists as he roared.

It was intolerable.

When Tristan didn’t answer, Michael whirled around. Standing in a group were Barge, Tristan, Cullen,and Seamus. Where was Todd? Michael’s heart beat faster as he took two steps to reach the small group.

He looked down and knew instantly what the others must have already learned. Todd was dead.

Michael shut his eyes for a moment to collect himself. He was responsible for this.

He should have found another way to get to his father. It had been useless anyway.

Someone grabbed his arm and he opened his eyes. It was Tristan. Half of his brother’s face was covered in ash, he looked tired and blood ran fast from a gash on the side of his head. “This is not your fault. It’s mine.”

For a moment, Michael couldn’t speak. When he finally could, his voice sounded hoarse. “I brought them here; I should have done a better job of explaining just how bad it is.”

He heard Barge suck in his breath as he looked at them. “Don’t do that.” Barge shook his head. “You gave us everything. You came and rescued us. Todd—all of us—

we’d gladly trade our lives for the few days of learning we had with you and the night of feeling the wholeness that comes from being in a true pack.”

Tristan nodded. “Michael gives us what we need, even when we don’t know we need it.”

Why was Tristan always saying things like that? Michael shook his head. There weren’t words for the conflicting emotions Michael felt. Horror and utter sadness at Todd’s death, pride that his Alpha thought so highly of him. Michael did what he’d trained himself to do for years, he pushed it aside. He’d deal with it later. Cullen leaned over and picked up Todd’s lifeless body.

“I’ll take him back.” Cullen took two steps forward and looked at Tristan. “Come, my Alpha, it’s not safe yet. There are still miscreant wolves all over the place.”

Cullen was right. Michael could hear the pack fighting. Tristan had to leave and Michael needed to go help them.

“Tristan, they need to be trained. Tomorrow might be too late.” And so help him he wasn’t losing any more of them to his father because they didn’t know what they were doing.

“You’re right. We start tonight. Let’s round up what wolves we can and then Cullen—you take them out back and start the procedures.”

Cullen nodded. “Yes, my Alpha.”

Tristan staggered backward and Michael lunged forward. What was wrong?

“Tristan?”

“It’s the women, they’ve broken through the defenses to the women.”

Without another word, Michael shifted into his wolf form and took off running. He’d thought Scarlett safe. Opening up the telepathic link he’d closed off, he moved as fast as he could through the woods.

Blocking his path was one of his father’s wolves. Growling, he tore into it, ending its life in a matter of seconds as he continued to run.

“Scarlett?” He called through their telepathic link.

“Michael, oh gods. Michael, they’re here.”

Pushing himself even faster, he bounded out of the trees into the open path that would lead to their home.

“I’m coming. We’re all coming.”

Her voice laced with fear. “Faith and Summer are fighting them back. They keep coming for the children. Ashlee and I have them. We can’t let them get to the children.”

“Just hold on, I’m coming.”

She didn’t answer him and his heart fell to his stomach. Roaring, he tried to move even faster. His legs burned and his breath came out in gasps. His wolf had never moved this fast.

He tried to reassure himself that he would know if she was dead. He would know, because he would suddenly want to die too and would, in fact, follow her immediately.

Tristan would have to win this war without him. Scarlett held half of his soul. He loved her and he would go wherever she went.

Pushing away the morose thoughts, he plunged through the door of the main house.

He would know if she was dead, but hurt was another issue. Bounding down the entranceway to the stairs, he took them four at a time as he made his way to the safe room.

So much for thinking it could not be breached. It might be fireproof, but the rest of it was going to have to be reevaluated. Storming through the door, the room was in chaos.

The women fought alongside the men. Summer growled, taking down a wolf with two long slashes of a sword. Where was Scarlett? Too much noise assaulted his ears. He couldn’t hear her. It was time to follow his nose.

Pushing his nose to the floor, he ran in the direction of her scent. She was in the corner of the room. His niece, Virginia, hung onto her leg as she fought back a wolf still in her human form.

He gasped as he watched her pick up a chair over her head and smash it down on top of the wolf that attacked them. Pride filled his veins. That was his woman and she was doing a hell of a job improvising. Leaping forward, he took down her attacker quickly and efficiently. Turning back to view the room, he saw the miscreant wolves were all being subdued. Most were dead and Azriel was rounding up the survivors for testing.

Michael looked at Scarlett. In her tiny arms, she held his three-year-old niece.

Murmuring reassuring words to the child, she looked down at him and smiled.

“Thank you for getting here so fast.”

“I’m not sure you needed me.” He called the shift onto himself, returning to his human form. “That was a great move with the chair.”

“I had to make do.”

She seemed calm as she held the still crying Virginia, but he could tell from her eyes as they darted back and forth that she hung on to her demeanor by a tiny thread.

“Let me take her.” Michael held out his arms and let Scarlett hand him Virginia. The child was a perfect combination of Tristan and Ashlee with her red hair and Tristan’s former brown eye color. But then again he thought all of the babies born to the pack were perfect. The child sniffled as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Uncle Mike’s got you.”

With his free hand, he pulled Scarlett up against his side. “I bet you never thought you could fight back.”

“When they came at the children, all of a sudden I was capable.”

He nodded. “Even the Beta wolves step up when the little ones are threatened. You did well. You should be proud of yourself.”

“When I stop shaking, I will be. Thanks.”

For his part, he might never sleep again thinking of how close he had come to losing her to one of his father’s creations, but he wasn’t going to mention that to her.

Across the room, Faith shifted back, having finished off the last wolf. Jumping from foot to foot, she hollered with delight. “I got it. Did you see that, Theo? Did you see how quickly I took it down?”

Theo raised an eye at Faith. “I saw it, dearest. Now if you could have managed to do it without giving me three different kinds of heart attacks, I might have preferred it.”

Faith laughed, which made Michael snicker. “Sheesh, you’re getting old.”

Doing a quick headcount, he was relieved to see everyone was there. Everyone but one, actually. Walking toward Ashlee, he handed her Virginia as he smiled at Elizabeth and Braden. They were shaken up but, he hated to admit it, the children had actually gotten used to the attacks.

With each incident, they bounced back faster to their usual jovial moods.

His wolf spoke to him. They’ll get their wolves early. Already, their canines want to protect them.

Michael nodded. He’d never been entirely sure how the magic that gave them the wolves worked and if he asked his wolf, he got strange answers he couldn’t follow.

Maybe that was part of it, maybe he’d never know. Still, he needed to ask one more question on the subject.

When Todd died, did his wolf go with him? Or did he go to someone else?

His wolf snorted and lay down to go to sleep. Apparently, he wasn’t going to be informed on that subject today.

Kissing the top of Scarlett’s head, he knew he was a very lucky man. He still had to tell her what had happened and he couldn’t promise her it would never happen again.

“Todd died in the woods helping us get Tristan back.”

She gasped as her eyes filled up with tears. “Not when he’d finally learned what being a wolf shifter truly meant.”

“It’s awful.” There weren’t words for his level of sadness. Still, there was something he had to do. “Come with me.” Squeezing her hand, he pulled her from the room. Tristan was going to want to have a meeting to go over what happened and the conversation he needed to have with Scarlett would determine if he went.

Finally, finding a quiet spot, he stopped walking and leaned down to kiss her. She was soft and smelled so much like home to him some of the tension he’d been holding lessened in his shoulders. He couldn’t relax completely, not yet. Not until they talked.

“What just happened happens a lot these days. Dad has raged a full-on assault against us. Probably because we took the fight to him a few too many times.”

She nodded, her eyebrows slanting downwards as if she was confused by what he spoke about.

He continued. “This will be our life here until it isn’t anymore.” He swallowed.

“Unless you want to leave. For you I will go anywhere. Run for the rest of my life to keep you safe, if that’s what you need.”

Scarlett’s eyes widened. “Michael, what I need is you and what you need is here.

There’s no pack here without you. This is my home too. We’ll defend it together.

Kendrick’s not going to win. Not now. He can’t.”

Leaning down he kissed her again. “I may need you to remind me of that a few thousand times.”

She laughed. “No you won’t.”

For a Beta wolf, she sounded decidedly sure of herself, which he loved. In fact, as he thought of it, he loved everything about his mate, Scarlett Kane. He might be the Alpha in their relationship, but he was happy to let her be in charge of their lives.

Forever.

In this life and the next one.

The End