Should have Put a Leash On It (24 page)

Zeke crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. “Do you have any objections to inviting Jacko and his mates over?”

Micah winced. He didn’t enjoy the thought of the vampires laughing at him...but they’d bring Jacko so maybe he could put up with it. Jacko was becoming like another little brother to him.

“No problem. Everyone has to do a song before the night is out, though.” Rylan answered. Micah nodded at the suggestion. At least he wouldn’t be the only one caterwauling.

Remy chuckled and reached for the phone on the desk. “Agreed. Oh, I can’t wait to see how this turns out.”

An hour later, Micah stood on the makeshift stage Zeke had ever so helpfully built for this little performance. Rylan had made a deal with Remy that he could sing Micah’s songs with him as long as Micah did at least three songs, including Lady Gaga’s
Poker Face
and Shania Twain’s
Man I Feel Like a Woman.

Micah still wasn’t sure whether Rylan had improved the deal or made it worse.

Remy queued up the song.

Handing him the microphone, Skylar looked like he was barely keeping a straight face. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Micah narrowed his eyes and watched Skylar beat feet to the couch.

Rylan sang the first part to let him get used to how fast the words moved across the TV, the font and the way the words were capitalized. He could do this.

After years of struggling with reading, Micah knew nerves were a huge contributing factor. Reading aloud in the office earlier from Remy’s handwritten note had given him confidence.

And as Rylan pointed out, it was just a song and people were here to have a good time and unwind. A few mistakes wasn’t going to raise any eyebrows.

The next lines came across the screen as Beyoncé bopped in a leotard on the fifty-two inch gaming TV.

It didn’t take long for him to figure out why Remy and Skylar looked like a couple of naughty school kids. “If you liked it, then you should have put a leash on it.”

Micah sang it with a shake of his head, but when the chorus flashed up, Rylan doubled over laughing.

“I’m not singing that,” he complained. He wasn’t pouting. He wasn’t.

Instead of the tune of
oh-oh-oh
where the singer pranced across the screen of the music video with the iconic dance the words had been replaced with
woof-woof-woof.

“Booo.” The collective heckling was accompanied with a wave of popcorn.

Micah held up a hand to ward up off the buttery shrapnel. “I know that was you, Jacko!”

“Prove it,” the pup retorted cheekily, hiding behind Elder Van who was obviously trying not to laugh and look fierce at the same time. Jacko giggled and fed the elder some chocolate in reward.

Micah was in the middle of his third song, with Rylan belting out the chorus. “Man I feel like a woman. Awoh-oh-oh.”

The front door trembled as someone on the other side hammered on it. “Open the door, Alpha Remington.”

Liam jumped up from the couch, looking to Alex. “Why didn’t security at the gate warn us?”

“I don’t know,” the hawk shifter replied. Alex ran over to the laptop and tapped furiously on the keys. “Holy fuck. They’ve registered as an official challenge group. The council gave them an override hack. The guards would have been forbidden to send a warning under pain of council punishment.”

“What?” Micah didn’t even know they could do that.

Stepping away from where he’d been flicking through the song list, Asher moved to the window, peeking outside around the curtains. “Are they crazy? Remy can whoop anyone’s ass with his alpha form.”

“Umm, it’s not a challenge against Alpha Remy,” Alex said, typing something into the computer. “It’s against Rylan, under grounds that he is unfit to carry out duties as Second.”

Remy snarled in the direction of the door and started pacing.

“If it’s a legal challenge, then there isn’t anything we can do.” Sage sounded almost as angry as Remy looked.

“What?” That couldn’t be right. There was no way Rylan was fit to face a challenge yet. Micah knew a challenge had been coming, but hoped that he’d have time to...
convince
the challengers of the errors of their ways. Either that or train Rylan hard enough that he’d knock them out in the first punch.

“Lavi can eat them if that’s helpful at all?” Jacko’s not entirely joking suggestion lightened the mood a little. Zeke and Ashlock immediately closed ranks around the young wolf when the battering on the door began again.

Remy stopped pacing and started issuing orders. He turned first to the group surrounding Jacko. “You four better get out of here. Skylar knows the hidden exit on the left side, use that in case they have the place under surveillance. I’ll call you when it’s over.”

The small group left the room, dragging a complaining Jacko with them. “I never get to see anything interesting.”

Skylar’s voice was the last thing that could be heard from the group. “I know the feeling.”

Next, Remy pointed at the hawk. “Fix that hack, Alex. I want no one—
no one—
getting onto my territory, especially the Alpha House grounds without me knowing.”

“It’ll be unhackable within the hour. I didn’t plan on the council giving anyone a skeleton key.” Alex disappeared with Liam and the laptop. Micah guessed they were heading up to the control room where most of the techie equipment was kept.

“Hunter, Asher, go let them in and look as scary as possible—but don’t touch them. Rylan—”

“Rylan can get ready to answer the challenge,” Rylan announced, jumping off the stage and striding into the middle of the room.

Groaning in frustration, Micah swallowed his immediate angry denial.

He should have known that there was no way Rylan was going to back down now. Rylan was a dominant wolf. Micah knew from experience how stubborn their wolf natures could be. After being forced into someone else’s control, Rylan’s wolf would be looking for a way to regain control.

From the way Rylan rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck out, his mate was gearing up for a fight. He wanted to coach him and give some rousing speech about how Rylan could do this, could wipe the floor with the challenger.

The only problem was that he wasn’t sure. Apart from training drill, he’d never seen Rylan fight. And as far as he was aware, his mate had never been challenged or issued one himself.

There was no time for Micah to do any of that as Asher and Hunter let the shifters who had been banging on the door inside. Three large male shifters entered, two he recognized from the little party that ambushed Remy—including the one that Micah hadn’t managed to identify—after Remy had won his alpha title. The other was new. New meant an unknown. Anything unknown when it came to a challenge was dangerous.

“We challenge Second Rylan for his position in the pack,” the three shifters said in unison.

A spike of excitement in the air didn’t surprise him. Eagerness was bleeding off the intruders like body heat.

However, that wasn’t the only scent he was picking up. Surprise followed by satisfaction came from Sage. Micah must have missed something.

“I don’t care—” Remy was clearly about to deny the challenge.

“Accepted.” Rylan’s declaration sent shivers down his spine.

Remy caught Rylan by the arm and pulled him aside. “Damn it, Ry, you have nothing to prove here.”

“Yes, I do. Since I’ve gotten my mind back, my wolf has been itching to get out and do some damage. I think it’s better that I take that anger and hate out on someone who isn’t my friend or my mate.”

Micah blocked the way when the largest shifter tried to approach Remy and Rylan.

The hostility and loathing he felt toward the three must have shown in his gaze, because none of them could hold his eyes for more than a few seconds.

“Alpha Remy, you must leave. The laws of inner circle challenge decrees that the alpha not be present lest he interfere with the fight,” the middle shifter recited. Clearly, the words hadn’t come from him originally.

“Fine.” The tone was calm on the surface, but to anyone that knew his brother, they would have realized that Remy was already thinking of a way around it.

On his way out of the room, Remy whispered something to Mars and Ryder. The two wolves gave a quick no then shifted, kicking off their clothes and taking up sentry positions at the door Remy exited from.

Micah caught on and motioned to Gabriel and Hunter, flicking his eyes over to the other shifted beta and enforcer. They got the idea and shifted, too, guarding the only other way out. The smallest challenger scrambled to get away when Gabriel lashed out with a large clawed paw.

“Fucking pussy,” the middle challenger cursed, pushing the one that had knocked into him.

Gabriel hissed angrily, tail swishing.

Feeling Rylan staring at him, Micah turned to his mate and realized Rylan was waiting for something. Probably for Micah to try and forbid him from doing this.

Thankfully, he wasn’t that stupid. Even he knew that would end in disaster.

“Beat them quickly,” he demanded.

A relived smile crossed Rylan’s lips before the game face fell back into place.

Micah couldn’t resist going to his mate. Asher took his place, stopping the challengers from moving further into the room with his body.

As soon as he reached Rylan, he pulled the wolf into a hug, putting his mouth to Rylan’s ear to whisper without anyone else hearing. “The big one is unknown, but from the way his head tilted ever so slightly to the left, I’d say he’s partially deaf, you can use that, disorient him. The middle one scowls when the bigger one takes charge, he wants to move up in the hierarchy so you can probably trick him into making a risky move, but the smallest one seems like he was dragged or goaded into this so he’d be my best bet for submitting fast if you make him hurt enough. Give them hell.”

Micah withdrew and planted a solid kiss on Rylan’s mouth.

His wolf quietened and began pacing like a wild animal in a cage waiting for its time to escape. He growled low and dangerously and the newcomers glanced his way nervously. Good, they should be wary of him. He’d gladly kill them the first chance he got.

“I’ll begin the challenge and the other two will follow me,” the smallest challenger declared after a pointed glance from his friends.

“Actually only one of you can fight Rylan,” Sage pointed out smugly.

Everyone’s attention swung around to Sage.

“What are you talking about? You shouldn’t even be here, you’re not part of the inner circle,” the large shifter snarled.

Sage grinned, unaffected by the barb. “You three issued the challenge at the same time, which means you only get one shot at it. If you all wanted to fight him you should have issued the challenges individually. Didn’t your council friend tell you that?”

The three shifters looked at each other, clearly confused. From Sage’s scent, they must know he was telling the truth.

Was this why Sage had been excited earlier? Sage was the sneakiest sibling and it didn’t surprise him that Sage spotted a loophole this quickly. He certainly wasn’t going to argue about it.

The fact that none of the challengers spoke up against the charge of having a council informant helping them pull this little coup spoke volumes.

Sage held up a finger as the middle shifter opened his mouth to talk. “I’m not finished. As you were the ones to issue the challenge, it falls to Rylan’s alpha to pick which of you he will face. However, since he is no longer here, that falls to the next highest ranked member.”

Huh? The next highest ranking pack member under Remy was Skylar but the vampire hadn’t returned from showing Jacko and the others to the hidden exit.

Elder Van was almost as protective of Skylar as Remy was and wasn’t likely to let Skylar out of his sight until the danger had passed. It was strange to think the elder viewed Skylar as a son while Jacko was only a fraction of Skylar’s age.

“Who is that then?”

One by one, the other betas and enforcers turned to him.

Micah covered his surprise at being chosen by snapping his teeth at the challengers as they looked at him.

He eyed the three challengers. The easiest target was the smallest, the male was already sweating and smelling like fear.

“You.” Micah singled out the largest shifter. It was a risky play, but if it worked, it would make Rylan safer in the long run. All he had to do was hold his nerve and trust that Rylan could win.

“You sure?” Sage asked quietly.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rylan grin and nod. Rylan’s smile wasn’t as reassuring as his mate probably thought it was. He took a deep breath and hoped he was doing the right thing. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

Shrugging, Sage motioned the chosen shifter forward and patted him down in a check for weapons. “Just making sure you’ve been informed that official
legal
challenges don’t allow guns, knives or the like.”

Ordinarily that was standard procedure for challenges, but Micah knew from looking at the shifter that the male was the type to cheat if the opportunity presented itself.

“I am Oscar. I do not need knives or guns to defeat such a weak second.” Oscar displayed his teeth in a show of aggression against Sage and shrugged him off.

What the moron didn’t see was that Sage lifted his wallet and phone from the leather jacket the man wore. Micah hid his smile and shot a narrow look at Mars when the wolf snorted. He didn’t want to give the deception away.

“Then the challenge begins,” Sage announced with a flinch when Oscar faked a lunge at him.

The goons chuckled, laughing it up as Sage ran to hide behind Asher.

What the hell?

If Oscar and the other two shifters had bothered to scent the air, they’d know there was no fear coming from Sage. He wasn’t sure what Sage’s play was until he noticed Sage slipping the stolen wallet and phone into his jeans pocket.

Smart, Sage must be using Asher for cover. And Micah would bet a box of Skylar’s obscenely expensive bitter chocolates that Sage was going through the wallet and logging the phone onto the Wi-Fi so Alex could do his magic. In under two minutes the hawk could find out what someone ate for breakfast from just their phone number. With a whole phone and an ID, Micah had no doubt Alex could pull a damn rabbit out of his ass.