Oli made the arrangements to get the neutral zone cottage fixed. It was more difficult than first thought. He needed to find tradesmen who would work for a Lycan and then assign a security team because of the neutral zone’s lawless reputation. It was all a pain in the butt. What if she was dead? Or they never found her? It was better to find a way to force the Jasper Sounds Alpha to hand over Trisha.
Oli was completing the work orders when an enforcer entered the study. “Aren’t you supposed to be on front gate duty, Joe?”
“I drew the short straw. This was delivered to the front gate a few minutes ago.” Joe held out an envelope and a dagger to Oli. “You can give it to Alpha Jonas.” The enforcer seemed eager not to be the deliverer of this news.
“What’s with the dagger?” Oli took the two items from the dark-haired enforcer with his confusion clearly clear on his features.
“We figured the mode of delivery might be important. A silver SUV stopped in front of the gate and threw the dagger at the gate. They then drove off.” Someone skewered the letter onto the dagger before they threw the dagger at the door. There was a puncture hole in the letter. This wasn’t unusual for shifter culture. It was a sign of someone drawing the line in the sand and starting a war.
“I will see that he gets it. Did anyone catch sight of the driver? Recognize them?”
“No one caught sight of the driver or the passenger that threw it. They never left their vehicle. I believe there is a licence plate number.”
“Good, get it to me. I have a feeling whatever is going on is about to get interesting.” Oli looked at the tortured envelope. They’d addressed it to Alpha Dean Jonas of the Fort Granger Pack. As the Beta of the pack, it tempted him to open it. After all, it came right after several unusual things had occurred. It could be about any of them or even something new.
No, there was enough friction between them to go poking around like that. Dean already thought he wanted his position already. That was something Oli didn’t want to think about. But it was his job to back up, support, and assist his alpha. He was making sure Dean stayed where he was by reminding him to cover his interests first.
The way Dean responded, though, that wasn’t right. He was acting like his fated mate was taken from him. Dean never mentioned or showed anything more than mild interest before this. They’d spent years in the same pack. They’d have been mated by now, if that were the case. Nothing was normal here, and Oli wasn’t sure if this was yet another incident to add to the growing collection.
The enforcer texted the guardhouse at the front gate and quickly scribbled the licence plate number on a sticky note with a couple of other notes. Oli read it. The plate number clearly belonged to a rental company, three to four people in the vehicle, silver SUV. “Great, if that’s everything, you can return to your post. If the alpha has any further questions or instructions, he’ll contact you.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.” Then the dark-haired Joe left the study.
Oli took this information with him back further into the large room. It wasn’t a traditional office study of a packhouse. It spanned two floors and looked more like an actual library within a rich human’s ancestral mansion would boast in the Victorian era.
Oli’s desk was by the main door that led to a grand entrance. Dean’s desk was on the second floor. Up there was a secreted door that led to the alpha’s apartments on the third floor. This gave them both easy access to each other and privacy to work.
The books were all for pack business and some dated all the way to the beginning of the pack’s origin. From maps to membership roles. History of events, births, deaths, and matings. There was even a section on oracle predictions about the pack and its members. Journals and books accounting the day-to-day dealings of the pack. Everything was here at their fingertips thanks to Dean’s ancestors.
“Dean, uh, I know you’re busy, but this is important. It just arrived at the front gate, and it’s addressed to you.” Oli put the envelope, sticky note, and dagger on the scarred wood of the old desk. Dean changed nothing when he took his uncle’s place as the alpha.
His uncle acted more than his father after his father’s betrayal. His father left his mother with a pup and never mated with her. He never was a father in any fashion. Dean’s uncle was present, and he too never mated. Produced no pups either. Dean was the closest alpha to step in when his uncle fell in battle defending the region from hunters.
“Now what? Can the day get any worse?”
“Don’t jinx it. Knock on wood.” Oli joked and then knocked on the surface of the desk for good measure. Dean glared at him. He was still annoyed with Oli, and it would take more time for this morning to blow over.
“A throwing dagger. It’s definitely a shifter communication. Humans don’t do this.” He studied the small dagger for any detail that would tell him who it belonged to. He frowned clearly. Like Oli, he came up with nothing as well.
“I already have someone tracing the licence plate number. It belongs to a local rental company out by the local airport.”
“Good. No one recognized the wolves in the vehicle?”
“No, no one got a good look at them.” Oli responded. “They lobbed the thing into the front gate and left as quickly as they came.”
“Then there’s one thing left to do. Open the message.” Dean opened a desk drawer and took out several things. A pair of tweezers, and a box of latex gloves.
The scents on the envelope were a bust. Too many people touched it. But the letter itself, that’s where a foolish wolf would leave their scent. Dean wanted the scent unpolluted by his or anyone else’s scent.
With one hand in a latex glove, he used a claw to slice open the envelope carefully. He left the letter in the envelope and set it down. The second glove went on his other hand, and he took the envelope in his have and removed the letter.
He unfolded the paper and read the message aloud. “The first alpha to bring the deed to the Elderwoods will get the Lycan.”
“What, who sent that? Are we supposed to assume it’s for the back forty?”
“The co-ordinates are here, I believe it is. As for who sent the note, there’s no signature or anything.”
“I don’t get it. Is it James trying to get two for the price of one?”
“I don’t think so, but I think we need to look into this more. It’s break though. We know she’s alive.”
“A lot that does us. Thinking about the wording in the note, whoever wrote it must have lived around here years ago, and is back again. No one calls it Elderwoods anymore. That’s Jordan’s Run, and it’s been Jordan’s Run for at least twenty years.”
“True.” Oli’s phone rang, surprising the two males. “It’s Keith. I don’t know why. Should I answer it?”
“Yeah, go for it. Put it on speaker.” Dean leaned back in his chair. With the late night he had, and the morning wasn’t any better. He needed to go for a run and let everything evaporate for a few hours. But it looked like that wouldn’t happen anytime soon.
“Hey, Keith, what’s up?”
“Well, James is throwing a fit after your alpha sent over an extortion letter to him.”
“What are you talking about? We didn’t send any communication to you. What did it say? When did you get it?”
“We got it less than an hour ago. It’s demanding the deed of the land in question for the Lycan, Kiera Samuels. Or that’s what James here is ranting about.” They could hear yelling in the background. Clearly, the voice belonged to James, and he must be in another room of the building Keith was calling from.
“Keith, we didn’t send that. We’re here with the same note in our hands, it seems. They must have posted it on our front gates just before you must have received yours.”
“I don’t think that’s going to help this. I think it’s gone too far. He’s ready for war, Oli.”
Kiera came back to consciousness slowly. Her headache ached like it rarely had in a long time. Alcohol didn’t hurt like this. When she touched the back of her head, she winced and frowned. There was a weight around her wrists, which could only mean one thing. Handcuffs. Sure enough, she was chained to a wall in a room with a small, barred window near the ceiling. Other than the light coming in through it’s grimy panes the room she lay on the cold hard floor. Then she remembered vaguely the open back door, and the broken glass on the floor. She might have shot at something, but she didn’t know if she hit anything. Then a sharp pain in the back of her head… Someone knocked her out. How? She would have had to pass them if for them to hit her from behind and there wasn’t any place within her small cottage to hide like that. Who did this? Dean? James? She wouldn’t put it past either of them. Well, stuck to the wall as she was and sensitive to the dull light
Dean and Oli looked at each other over the phone in horror. “Keith, you have to get him calmed down. We didn’t send that message. In fact, we have one here right now. It says we have to take our copy of the deed to, and get this it’s weird, Elderswoods. We wouldn’t have called it that. It’s Jordan’s Run these days, not Elderswoods. I think we have a third-party trying to force a war between us.” “Oli, I’m his Beta and I can’t get near him. Look, it’s chaos over here. I have to go. I don’t know what’s going on, but Trisha is down here. I need to go intervene. If I can, I’ll call you later to tell you what happened.” Keith hung up there, leaving Oli and Dean in a state. Go find out who sent the note? Or rush in to save Trisha? * * * Keith dropped his phone on his desk, and it bounced before it landed on the floor. He didn’t care. He could hear the woman’s voice as James, and she yelled at each o
“James, you don’t want to do this. You’d be forcing yourself on me. That’s not what you want, is it?” Trisha found herself backed up against the back of a love seat by James. His gaze now showed his hunger. Trisha couldn’t hide that fact that in this enclosed space with her secret desire for him. His scent was the tipping point for her. Clearly, he’d hit his tipping point a while back. His growling revealed his need to fuck, and he stalked her, hunting for a willing partner. Trisha couldn’t deny she’d secretly dreamed of passing her time making out with him. Heck, not just making out with him. She’d woken several times as her body orgasmed at the thought of fucking him. “By the time I fuck you, you’ll be begging me to finish.” She had to think of something to bring him to his senses before she lost hers. He was right, he probably could get her to a state she’d beg him to fuck her. “Well, do a good enough job and I’ll think about keeping you. Never m
Sure enough, the old man came back. However, he was upset to see that Kiera hadn’t eaten any of the food. She wasn’t a fool. Kiera was experienced in this situation. It wasn’t her first rodeo, and she wouldn’t risk being drugged, either. Henry was so furious he kicked the tray aside against the stone and grout wall. The plate shattered, where the shards and food scattered over the grimy floor. “I gave you peace and quiet to eat. This is how you thank me? Ungrateful wretch. I am the father of many alphas, and they will not defy me. You want to go hungry, then fine. No more food for you.” He was livid, his over reaction was to an extreme Kiera hadn’t expected. Though it was very revealing to her. He was obsessed with his sons being alphas and he claimed at least two as his blood. He wasn’t an alpha himself, so he lived his rank through his sons. He was a sad creature, and she expected the more she learned, the more disgusting she would find it. The man was deluded an
Dean and Oli called in all their enforcers, and he had everyone getting ready to beef up their territory’s protections. That’s when Oli’s phone rang. “It’s Keith.” “Answer it.” Dean needed to know what was happening to his sister. Actually, she was his half-sister. They shared a mother, but he knew they had different fathers. She never spoke of either males. Dean didn’t know either males’ names, and she’d not left the information with anyone or written anywhere. “Keith, what’s going on? It sounds like the yelling has stopped.” “It’s only just stopped and one of them barricaded the door. We still can’t get in and they won’t respond. But you won’t like this. I still don’t know if he’ll go through with any attacks, so I don’t know if he’s accepting the threat of war. But I can’t say whether they’re mated either. It was brutal listening to whatever happened in there.” “Well, that was the last thing I expected to hear from you. Will we be seeing you at Jordan’s
Dean was torn between his sister and Kiera. How was he supposed to choose? How could he not choose? His sister was clearly pack, Kiera was once pack as he’d been told several times now. Dean reminded each person who dared to remind of this, that he never gave her permission to leave the pack. He’d at least admit that he didn’t just say it, but growled at them, annoyed in a way he didn’t remember ever being before. His mood wasn’t improving, either. Dean struggled to keep his head on the more pressing issues. Trisha was under the thumb of James, but her life wasn’t threatened in any way. This had never happened before in all the years they’d known each other. He must get and keep his head in the game. His territory was at stake and his people were in danger of attack from the Jasper Sound Pack. It was his job to lead these people, and he was the one who’d protect them from anything and everything. Kiera needed him just as much as the rest of the pack. The differenc
Kiera sat there silently and glared at the old man. “You realize if I was one of their mates, I would be mated for a long time. Listen, this is crazy. Nothing you’re saying is true. You can’t even make your beliefs fit together. Just unlock the handcuff and I’ll leave. You won’t need to worry about me talking to anyone or interfering with it. I’ll disappear completely.”Kiera didn’t have any reason to stay. She’d just had no pressing reason to leave. Kiera wasn’t expecting the old man’s reaction. “How dare you seal one of my sons’ fate to be a horrible nightmare. You are a monster.” He spit his words out in her face before he returned to pacing. “You’re so selfish. I believe you were better than that.” Kiera snorted and shook her head. “You clearly don’t know either of those alphas. I’m nothing but a pawn in their competition to one-up each other. Heck, Dean waved goodbye to me when I left, and James… James made sure I knew his pack wasn’t an option. I just
Kiera couldn’t believe this. Everything in her world turned upside-down without warning. Now she understood what Kiera was talking about when she returned from wherever they’d taken her. If this was even a little bit of what she experienced, the Moon Goddess had a lot of explaining to do. No one should have to deal with this. James couldn’t seem to leave her alone for a minute. She got it they were mated, but it was like he felt he needed to make up for lost time. It was just plan odd. This wasn’t anything like the wolf she was familiar with. How could he be so different? Why hide this side of him? Well, the entitled asshole part was still there, but this room. Video games? Who would have guessed? The sexual aggression too. Wow, that was a perk for Trisha. They still needed to clear the air with Dean and stop this foolishness about a war. Then focus on finding Kiera. Trisha hoped Oli hadn’t convinced Dean not to search for her.After last night, she wasn’t s