Leader of the Pack (45 page)

“Arnauk,” Cullen replied.

“Checking in, I assume.”

“You could say that. I was wondering what had happened to our friends that you picked up,” Cullen asked. He didn’t want to admit his fear of the government turning the weres into the next super soldier project, when they found out that they were all created recently. The belief, to date, that weres had to be born had kept the scientific experiments to a minimum. Cullen couldn’t help considering what would happen when the word got to the fools who ran the government that they could mix up a batch of whatever they wanted.

“For now, the weres you turned in are being held in protective custody, pending interrogation and relocation. That will also be dependent on the review of the report completed by your second. It may help if we received a report from you as well.”

Cullen nodded. He wasn’t going to get anything helpful. “I’ll see to that you get a detailed account as soon as possible.”

“We’d appreciate that. I’d also like to know if the conflict between the Arnauk and the Tairneach is still a threat to the human population on your territory.”

Cullen growled inwardly, but answered honestly. “That has yet to be determined. Jenna still seems to be planning something, though she’s yet to declare what.”

There was that tell--tale silence on the other end of the line that told Cullen Stevens didn’t like what he heard. “So can I take it, from the fact that you’re informing me of this, that the Pack Council is allowing government intervention on the matter?”

“No. I haven’t discussed it with them as of yet. You can take it that I’m being up front about the situation, and I don’t know if the human population is under threat from Jenna’s intentions or not,” Cullen answered. “I don’t think the Pack Council would see this as reason for government intervention. I would like a report on your part to give to the Pack Council covering what happens to the weres we handed over.”

“Understood. I’ll get that to you as soon as possible. Anything else?” Stevens answered.

“No.”

With that, both men hung up the phones. Cullen sat grousing for a moment. The only things that kept the government in line were the fact that the human population was clueless, and the were population was large enough to cause serious damage worldwide if they chose to attack. That didn’t stop the feds from poking their noses into pack business on a regular basis. At the same time, the pack wasn’t above using the government for their dirty work, if they didn’t feel like leaving their dens to take care of someone messing with the human population. Cullen didn’t know who the people that Aislinn saw in the Tairneach manor had been, but if they weren’t Arnauk and they weren’t weres, then Cullen figured that the human government was welcome to deal with Jenna if it came down to it.

Cullen finished his business by spending the rest of the afternoon writing up the reports he needed to send. One was for Stevens, to encourage that the weres be handed over to the Pack Council as soon as possible. After all, it was pack business. If there had been any other way of dealing with the weres after the battle, Keith wouldn’t have handed them over. But the reservation had no facilities to hold the weres, and there had been too many of them for the Arnauk to control with guards for long. When the feds showed up and Keith was given the opportunity to get rid of the problem, he did. Cullen couldn’t blame him for that. He may have done the same thing.

The second report was to the Pack Council, to explain what had happened over the past few weeks, why, and where the weres that had been taken prisoner ended up. He encouraged the Pack Council to seek out the proper government contact to get the weres turned over. He also suggested that the Pack Council look into the possibility of the existence of a large population of druids underground that could pose a threat to were society.

The last of his reports finished, Cullen pushed his chair back from his desk, stood up and went to find Aislinn. He grinned as he thought about her, wondering if there was time for another game of tag before they headed back to the reservation. He looked at the clock and sighed, realizing that it was late enough for dinner. He hoped that Sarah had all her business with the new omegas wrapped up so that they could just eat and get out of here. He wanted to be there for the last of the funeral arrangements.

Chapter 19

Neither seek nor shun the fight.
-Gaelic Proverb

Cullen drove back toward the reservation with a full belly and his wolf growling in his ear for not having spent some time alone with Aislinn before getting into the car. Her scent was driving him nuts. Everyone attending the funeral would be caravanning to the reservation that evening and the next morning.

Cullen listened to Aislinn and Sarah discussing the fact the new omegas had been overly friendly to her. Though Ranaild had avoided her like the plague, Elise had hugged her and then spent the rest of the afternoon following Aislinn around and trying to do all her work. Cullen smiled, figuring that his little comment about Aislinn changing his mind made her a few friends. Aislinn was so engrossed in her conversation with Sarah that she missed his thoughts about it. He noted that the next time he wanted to have his mind to himself he’d just get her involved in a conversation with one of the other women.

“I caught that one,” Aislinn said and shot him a look that made him chuckle as he drove. If not for the fact that they were headed to a funeral, they would have been in great spirits.

They arrived at the reservation in good time. Cullen decided, 10 minutes into the car ride, that as soon as they got there he was going straight to bed with Aislinn. For the last hour of the trip he kept sending her images of what he intended to do to her. Aislinn countered with her own ideas of what would be fun, and it was working them both up so much that Sarah commented on the rapidly rising pheromone level in the car.

When they finally arrived at the reservation, the hour was late. Even so, most of the lights in the cabin were still on. It was a sign of the pack’s upset that so many people were still up. Cullen looked up at the building, wondering if he would even be capable of making it to their room. He growled, knowing full well he didn’t want to wait to have her at this point. Cullen shot Aislinn a predatory grin and nodded back toward the woods. “There probably aren’t any glass doors for you to hide behind that way,” he suggested.

Aislinn grinned and her eyes shifted. “No, probably not. But, I don’t need to hide if you can’t catch me.” She started to back away from the car toward the woods.

When Cullen started to follow her Sarah growled at both of them. “This won’t go over well. You’re supposed to be more public. If this isn’t running and hiding, I don’t know what is. What the hell am I supposed to tell them when I walk in alone?”

Cullen pulled his shirt off and tossed it at Sarah. He had no intention of going inside yet. “I don’t care. Tell them to come out and join us if they like. I’m guessing that I’m not the only one who could use a run in the moonlight.”

Sarah watched Cullen take off the rest of his clothes, shift, and then take off in the direction Aislinn had gone. She yelled after him that he was acting like a teenage idiot, but the last thing she got from him was a howl crying at the moon, telling her that he’d found Aislinn’s scent and was on the hunt.

Sarah threw the clothes she was still holding on the ground. She couldn’t believe he left her to deal with the pack tonight. “Why exactly did I not want to give this job to Aislinn,” she grumbled. “I hope she manages to completely snow your ass,” Sarah added as she stomped toward the cabin.
It would be great if she managed to get away from the mighty hunter. Gods, he’d be frustrated if that happened.
Sarah snickered at the thought. If anyone could manage to get away from him it would be Aislinn.

When Sarah walked into the cabin, the atmosphere was frigid. Keith approached her, and the first thing out of his mouth was, “So where’s Cullen?”

“Playing hide and seek,” Sarah groused. “What’s wrong?”

“Hide and seek,” Keith asked incredulously.

“Yeah, hide and seek. They’re getting worse. He actually carried her out of the Taigh-O
è
sda on his shoulder when I told him to start controlling himself.” Sarah was watching the onlookers. The room was full of elders, and Terrick was glaring in her direction. “What exactly is going on here Keith,” Sarah said, growing increasingly more concerned.

Keith leaned in and spoke softly to Sarah. “Terrick’s instigating a pack split. He’s trying to convince everyone that Aislinn is currently running the pack, and we don’t know it. He doesn’t have many men on his side, but enough, and the others are listening. Cullen needs to get in here now.”

Sarah nodded. Her brain was scrambling for a way to diffuse the situation. “Leave it to Terrick to cause problems on the eve of funeral,” she growled angrily, eyeing Terrick.

He smiled at her. “Has the druid gotten to you as well then,” Terrick asked loudly.

Sarah knew that he was setting her up to lose credibility. “Terrick, firstly Aislinn isn’t capable of what you’re suggesting. You don’t know enough about druids to be able to talk on it. Secondly, what kind of caoch goes and starts trouble the night before a funeral? I realize you’ve always been out to displace Cullen, but this is low even for you.” That comment had a soft murmur rumbling through the room. Everyone knew that Terrick had designs on being the alpha. Now they were wondering if Terrick’s talk while Cullen was out was really him being overly ambitious and trying to stir up discontent, since he saw an opening.

Terrick noticed the turn in his tide. It had taken him quite a bit of work to set this up. He wasn’t about to let it go this easily. “Then where is our alpha? If there truly isn’t anything to be concerned about with this woman, then why does he spend so much time keeping her to himself? Every time we’ve seen him lately, they act strangely.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Everyone acts strangely when they meet the one they want to mate with.” That sent another wave of murmuring around the room. “You just think it’s weird from Cullen because he’s been so long in the choosing. He’s keeping her to himself because she was raised as human and doesn’t really understand what’s going on most of the time. You’re turning it into more than it is. You want to see Cullen and Aislinn. They’re having a run.” She pointed out the window, chuckling to herself.
Well, he did say to invite them all to join him.
“I think that we could all use an outlet. There’s been too much upset of late. You want to see what Aislinn is up to with Cullen? I suggest you go hunt them down for yourself. I’m done playing babysitter. But I’ll warn you not to interrupt. He wants to mate with her and he’s getting more and more possessive the longer he’s being forced to wait.”

Terrick looked distraught as his audience started to filter out the door. Sarah smiled at him triumphantly. She knew that it wasn’t over, but she had won this battle. Keith looked at her. “Do you really think that was a good idea,” he asked nervously, as he watched the rest of the pack heading out after the alpha.

“Well, he did say to invite them out,” Sarah said with a vengeful look. “But you’re probably right. Come on. We’ll catch him first and warn him that he’s got an audience. That’s if he’s even managed to get his claws on her yet.” Sarah smiled at Drake as he approached her. He always had a look of pride on his face when he caught up with her after something like this. Sarah counted herself incredibly lucky that she had found a mate who could handle the fact that she acted as alpha in the pack. Drake was her support. He was always there when she needed him and never minded standing in the shadows of her spotlight.

Keith saw the looks on their faces and knew that he was no longer needed. Jaylyn was her way, but wouldn’t arrive until later that evening, and he knew that he wouldn’t be getting any from her. Maybe if she was there she’d let him take out some of his pent up aggression on an omega. He thought back to the one who had brought Cullen clothes for Aislinn the day before. She had an awfully nice ass.

Sarah, Drake, and Keith ran out into the night, shedding clothes as they went. Keith and Drake actually had the best chance of finding Cullen, considering they had hunted together for so long. They knew his tactics. They shifted into wolves and headed for the woods, howling into the night as they went and hoping that Cullen wasn’t too far gone to notice the noise the pack was making.

* * * *

Aislinn threw her clothes in various directions as she ran through the woods, hoping it might confuse her scent a little. She didn’t have enough of a head start to actually do anything clever, and she wasn’t exactly positive what she should do to throw him off. She wasn’t familiar with tracking or hunting. Right now she was just trying to stay ahead of him.

Her heart raced. She heard him howl, and she spared a look in that direction, her eyes searching the shadows for her lover. She stifled a laugh, knowing how good his hearing was and ran deeper into the woods. She didn’t know the territory or where she was going. Those were both disadvantages. She felt her cat trying to take control. When she heard Cullen howl again and could tell that he was still a ways off, she stopped and stood still. Closing her eyes, she tried to feel her beast like he had told her. She took some deep breaths and reached into herself, but there wasn’t anything that she could get a grip on. When she heard a rustle in the bushes she stopped trying and bolted.

Cullen knew he could find her easily enough. Her scent was a part of him, and he could feel her excitement. He was moving slowly, so that she could get a bit of head start. That would make it more fun. When he found her bra in a bush, he rumbled in his chest and pushed his nose into the clothing, taking in her scent on the fabric and howling again, before following the trail after her.