Wolf's Return (Black Hills Wolves Book 1) (5 page)

He stared into her eyes, so familiar and yet so distant from him. Drew needed to say something, but what continued to elude him. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” Her voice sounded hoarse, and he noticed her hands holding onto him shook. He took a step back. Too much adrenaline surged through his blood. He’d killed his father, and the beast in him wanted nothing more than to fuck.

His mate wasn’t available for anymore. He had to resist. Being this close to her then risked too much.

“Drew….” Her voice fell away, whatever she would have said fading into the distance when Gee interrupted.

“You have to finish it, Drew. It’s not over yet.” He could hear the anticipation in Gee’s voice, but the haze in his head made it hard to think.

He’d killed his father. What more could there be to do?

His gaze fell on the men his father had surrounded himself with. They were assholes, and they’d done terrible, dishonorable things before he’d left the pack. One of them had even shot him in the leg. But if they wanted to fight, to challenge him, they might just win. He couldn’t allow that. If they won, they would be Alpha, not him. The pack would be finished.

Hate radiated in their gazes. They hated him.
Fine
. The feeling was mutual.

Like a light turning on in his brain, he knew what he had to do. He raised his arm toward the sky and unfisted his hand. “I am your Alpha. You will follow me. From now and always, you will live in my care.”

Gee nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “Good. It is done.”

Cam, the wolf who had shot him, lunged forward. Drew gritted his teeth. He had to have one more fight inside of him somewhere….

Ryker stepped forward in Cam’s way. He spoke to Drew’s enemy in a hushed voice, in a whisper of invitation that tasted as strongly of steel as it promised blood. “Do it. Please.”

“He killed our Alpha. You would take this traitor’s side?” Cam snarled at Ryker.

The Enforcer waited, not uttering a word, and Drew couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face. This situation fell into the beyond-serious category, but he had to admit the fact some things never changed held some happiness for him. Ryker never spoke unless he absolutely had to.

“Cam. You and the others.” Drew walked forward, ignoring his limp. He wasn’t going to get any alone time with B until he got this all sorted out. Not that she’d spend any time with him. Hell, it was all too confusing. When he’d woken up this morning, he hadn’t meant to Alpha challenge. “Get off pack land and don’t come back. I think you’re familiar with this scenario since you helped do this to me. Go. You’re no longer pack. As Alpha, I banish you.” He waited a beat, looking pointedly at Ryker. “Or you could stay here and see what happens.”

Drew scanned the crowd. B had said most of the pack had left, and he could see that to be the case. There were some faces he expected to see that weren’t present. Older and younger wolves he’d known his whole life or been present when they’d come into the world. Some way he’d get them all back; some way he’d make it happen.

Cam howled. “We’ll leave, but this won’t be the last of us. You’ll be dead. Mark my words, you murderer, there will be blood. This doesn’t end here.”

Drew smiled at Cam. “Try it.”

Cam shifted and stormed off into the woods. The others followed suit. After a moment, Gee followed. “I’m going to make sure they get where they need to go, which is out of here. In the event they don’t do as they should, I may accidentally shoot them in the leg.”

He watched the were-Bear follow his father’s cronies into the trees. How could Gee be so calm? Weren’t there things to say?

“Ryker, I need to see you. If you’ll come with me for a second.” He took a step away. He needed to make a speech, but damn if he had any idea what it should be. Knowing they’d make no small talk, not even about the death of the Alpha, he spoke as soon as the other man joined him by the door. “I’d like you to be my Enforcer—but not in the same way you were for my father. I won’t have you collared. I won’t have you unable to act if I turn out to be the same kind of man as my father. I want your word you will end me if that happens. That’s how you can be my Enforcer as well as the pack’s’.”

This was important. The man he’d killed, he shared his blood. They were father and son. His sire couldn’t have started out as insane as he finished. The whys of his father’s transformation—if indeed he’d had one—were lost on Drew. His mother had never wanted to discuss Magnum for fear of what would happen to her, and in the way of pack, members didn’t go around discussing the Alpha, even out of earshot. Magnum had gotten worse after Drew’s mother’s death, but he hadn’t been a peach before then. Hell, Drew didn’t give a shit what had caused his dad’s issues. They were officially over.

However, no way would he ever have become the pack leader. If Ryker could have stopped Magnum without having to Alpha challenge him, things could have gotten much better much faster. But the Enforcer’s oath had always prevented that. The Enforcer was bound to protect the Alpha in all things by blood. Or at least that was how it had always been. He rubbed at his eyes. This would be a pack with more transparency. Drew wouldn’t limit his Enforcer. Not if he could help it. “Can I have your blood oath to do so?”

With a smooth move Drew envied, Ryker changed one of his hands into a claw. Not everyone could shift just one body part. It didn’t surprise him the silent Enforcer could. Drew managed the task as well but not nearly as easily. His hand shook while his body protested having to use those skills so soon after the fight.

Ryker sliced his hand, and Drew did the same. He offered him his bloodied hand, and the two of them shook, letting their blood tie them in a way others in the pack would never have. Promises could be broken, oaths never.

When Ryker spoke, it was with eternity behind his words. “Until death…or you grow stupid.”

Drew nodded. He might not have chosen those words himself but that worked. Ryker let go and stepped back. He trusted Ryker to know what to do. Ryker would always work for pack, and as such, he would also handle whatever had to happen with Magnum’s body.

Drew would never have to look upon the former Alpha again. How could he feel so little about his father’s death? As if he’d simply completed a task he’d delayed in doing? Drew shook his head. Was Drew some kind of heartless monster, too?

Relief surged through his bones. Magnum would never hurt anyone again, and the pack could, hopefully, find peace for a change.

Walking back toward the group, he only had eyes for B. She was beautiful in the moonlight. She stared at her feet, and he’d do anything, give any amount, to know her thoughts. To not be lost in her presence, to someday know the kind of peace they’d once shared together.

Right then, he had to finish what he started. “I’ve won the Alpha Challenge. If any of you don’t like that, you can leave.” He stared at the crowd. “This is your chance, to get off my land and to never look back. This pack will be again what it once was. No, this pack will be better. We will recover. I swear it. And if you would all consider staying to help me make it that way, I’d be grateful. It won’t be easy, but it will happen.” He had to say something to make them understand, to make them hear him. Making speeches had never been his strongest suit. Public speaking fell into the he-didn’t-want-to-do-it category. But that would clearly be something he had to from now on.

He continued, “I thought of all of you every day. I left to protect my mate, to protect all of you. I believed my father’s temper would lessen if he didn’t have the threat of me around. I was wrong. I can’t get back the years we’ve lost. But today, I eliminated the obstacle toward fixing things. If you’ll join me, I’ll do my best to undo what was done.”

He waited. How many would stay? One? Two wolves? None of them knew him anymore, none of them had any reason to believe he was anything more than the kid they believed had fled for no good reason ten years earlier.

No one moved. “Did you hear me? If you want to leave, now is your chance.”

Still, no one left. B moved to his left side. “I think they’re staying.”

The slightest sound of laughter sounded in the group. He turned to B. “Is something funny?”

“I guess they’re amused you don’t realize they’re staying.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Oh.” Damn it. Why did the woman make him so flummoxed?

“Right. Oh.” She glared at him for a second before she turned back to the group. “Well, come and greet our new Alpha. Let’s hope he can actually do what he says he will.”

One by one, they approached him. He noticed the ones who weren’t there as much as those who came to greet him. Wolves that had been children when he’d left were grown. Women who had been young mothers brought forward nearly adolescent sons and daughters. Most of the other fully-grown Alpha males were gone. B hadn’t exaggerated when she’d said she’d been holding the pack together with only Ryker for help.

When his hand was sore from all the shaking and hugging, he turned around to regard his mate. She stared at him from distant eyes. It should have been hard to see her, but it wasn’t. The moon’s rays shown down on her as if they were sunlight. Or maybe everything on the night he killed his father would always feel heightened, even the nighttime itself. As if it had made that way so he should always remember it.

He approached her like he was a man who knew what he wanted. Truth was, Drew had been that man before it had all fallen apart. With Magnum gone, maybe it could be that way again. And he had to note his mate hadn’t taken her chance to scurry off unbothered to other places.

“Thanks for your help back there, B.” He kept using the name even though he knew she hated it. Why bother trying to stop? It would be like asking him not to breathe. She was B. He’d never be able to refer to her as anything else, ever.

“It’s always my pleasure to assist my Alpha in any way possible.”

Ouch
. “I don’t remember you always going for the throat the way you do now. Is that just for my benefit, or have you changed completely? Because the B I left found strength from deep inside of her and didn’t have to resort to causing other people pain to feel better.”

She gasped, but he didn’t stick around to hear how she would respond. There were things to do, and dealing with his mate’s distaste for him could wait until morning. Or next week. Or the rest of his life. It would always be a constant ache for him. He’d left to save her family he’d come home to a woman who resembled the love of his life but was instead a woman who couldn’t stand him.

Drew rounded the corner. Magnum had been living in the barn, and Drew’s childhood home was in shambles. He’d start with that. Saving the house his mother had loved so dearly. Or knocking it down if he couldn’t.

If it had three walls, it would be good enough, and so help him if it didn’t, he’d sleep on the floor of Gee’s bar. Anything to get away from the woman whose disdain hurt more than the reality of having just killed his father.

“Drew.” B’s voice sounded behind him, and he stopped walking. How long had she been calling for him?

He turned around. “For the love of all things holy, B, leave me alone. I don’t want to keep fighting with you. I’ve just taken Alpha. My head is pounding, and it’s clear you don’t want my company. So. go bother someone else.”

Her eyes flared before she spoke. “How dare you? You haven’t even been back hours and you expect me to simply be fine with your presence?”

“I would think, given you have new information about what did and did not happen, you might take the time to reevaluate your thinking and change some of your hostility toward me, or redirect it where it belongs.”

“Spirits, Drew, you’ve spent too much time with the humans.” The growl in her voice moved through him like an icicle being plunged into his gut. The woman defined the phrase pissed off. She was a walking, talking, ball of anger. His own ire rose, and he fisted his hands at his sides to stop from reaching out to grab her.

Who knew B could be so completely hot when she got furious?

She continued her tirade. “We don’t redirect anger, Alpha.” She sneered as she used the last word. “We’re part animal. If we’re pissed, we stay that way until something comes along to help us work out our difficulties.”

“I’m not going to fight you, B. If you’re looking for a pounding, go find someone else. I killed a man tonight. My quota for the day is complete.”

She snarled. “Don’t act like you give a shit about ending Magnum. I can’t smell even a little bit of distress on you, and I’d be even more upset if I did. The man doesn’t deserve one minute of remorse from you.”

“Then why are you screaming at me?”

“Oh.” She followed her exclamation with a yowl to the moon that had him raising his eyebrows. That was a new one.

“What—”

She launched herself at him. He caught her before her mouth came down on his. For a second, he wondered if she meant to bite his face, but the soft warmness of her mouth against his own made him grip her tighter.

Drew could taste her fury in her kiss. The sheer splendid glory of it. She still tasted the same—cinnamon—but he could taste her anger in the dark scents, the way she smelled like cloves. It invaded his system as if he could swallow it down.

Whatever
. As long as she kissed him he didn’t care if she did it mad.

B was correct. Wolves didn’t work out their problems by discussing them to death. They took care of what needed doing with their fangs or with their tongues. He’d had it one way his body craved this kind of release with the only woman who could give it to him: his mate. The woman who had haunted his dreams for a decade. He’d failed her in so many ways. Tonight, he’d make sure she got what they both needed.

Betty knew she’d hate herself in the morning, but right then. she couldn’t bring herself to care. All that mattered was getting closer to Drew. She wanted his hands all over her body and his hard cock plunging inside of her. She craved it more than anything.

Sure, adrenaline and wolf instincts played a role, but some of this fell into the she just plain missed having sex with him category. The rest could be sorted out later.