Page 45 of Pack Ruin
“No. To be whole, she would need her true mate. And that’s the one thing she’ll never have.”
I wanted to say that she was better off without him, but now that I had mates of my own, I understood there was no getting rid of them. They became a part of you, a spiritual limb that couldn’t be amputated. But you could bleed out if they were dying, and they could take you with them.
I felt the pull on my own inner strength from what must have been Luke, but felt more significant. Luke and… Grigor? It made my head hurt to focus on them, and I shook the thought away.
“He’s still alive, then,” I said, knowing it had to be true. If he had died, Mama would have died, too. “Callaway, I mean.”
Sergeant winced, but Mama had already swiveled her head toward me.Her nostrils flared. “He’s here? No, he’s not. But I know you. You better stay away from him, you little witch. I won’t share my mate with you. I won’t share him with—” She launched herself at me, but the males at her sides grabbed her arms, gently but firmly, and kept her from crashing through the fire to reach me.
Before I knew what had happened, Glen was in front of me, his fingers sprouting wicked claws and sharp canines poking out over his lip. The males responded to that like he’d threatened to kill them all. More than one began to growl, a terrifying chorus,and an odd scent—musky and harsh, like tar, old blood, and smoke—wafted through the cavern.
My steak knife was in my hand as I crouched on the balls of my feet, ready to fight to the death. I’d smelled that scent before somewhere. It was sour and pungent, with a hint of dark smoke. This time, it was coming from the shifters nearby who were on the verge of losing control, but I’d had to breathe it in at Southern, more times than I wanted to admit.
It was the odor that clung to my father.
“Be ready to run, Flor. They’re going feral,” Glen whispered. I nodded wordlessly, but Sergeant stood, his back to Glen.
“At ease, shifters,” Sergeant barked, and a powerful wave of dominance rolled over us all. The males responded first, falling to their knees, the odor dissipating almost as quickly as it had appeared. Mama giggled like she’d been tickled, turning her attention back to the trinkets on the cave floor.
Glen and I stood firm, the thrum of strength that came from Brand making it as easy as balancing on one foot.
Sergeant’s bushy eyebrows rose, but an oddly satisfied gleam shone in his eyes as he took us in. “I think you two have some more stories I’d really like to hear. You have my apologies for my pack’s reaction. They’re very protective of their Alpha Mother.”
My heart ached as I watched Mama settle, the males around her distracting her with silly games and antics. I’d known that coming back to Southern would tear the scabs off old wounds.
I just hadn’t realized how badly it would hurt.
21
Sweet
GLEN
For the first time since I’d met her, my little mate seemed to be out of her depth. She’d dealt with everything life had thrown at her—fighting her way out of her abusive pack, leaving it and going to another, then repeating the process and finding her way at every turn—with a confidence that I’d assumed was unshakable.
She seemed composed on the outside, but standing a few short feet away from a mother who didn’t recognize her and a great-uncle who was a stranger, even if we both thought we’d known him, I could sense the wall of panic that was rising inside her.
Threatening to pull her under.
“Dream Girl,” I murmured in her ear. “We need to go, soon. Luke needs you.”
“Yes.” She gasped the word, like I’d thrown her a life preserver, and quickly squared her shoulders. “Stories later. We have to go. Sergeant, what can you tell us about the state of things inside the fence?”
The cavern went silent, except for a few smacking sounds from the two young boys from the forest, who were gnawing at pieces of dried rabbit with gusto.
“In the compound?” Sergeant asked at last. “We can help with the hunting grounds, but that’s all. We don’t go inside.”
“Can’t.” Flor’s mother raised her voice, surprising us all. “They’ve patched the fence.”
Flor swallowed hard, but didn’t look at her mom. I spoke for her. “Oh? Where did they patch it?”
“Where Del used to get through, to hunt. They found the hole and closed it.” She sounded lucid for the first time since I’d met her, and her voice was much like Flor’s. Her eyes met mine across the fire, and my wolf moved restlessly inside. Her dominance was incredible, more oppressive and wilder than Flor’s, but every bit as powerful.
But mine was a match for it, and more. Flor had given me that. I felt my wolf gently, inexorably, push Lily’s sharp-edged wall of power down.
She gasped. “Alpha?” When I shook my head, she blinked. “No, you’re not my Alpha.”
“No, ma’am,” I said softly as she crumpled to the cave floor, two of the males catching her before she hurt herself. I didn’t think I’d done anything to her to cause her weakness, and no one growled at me, so I assumed this sort of spell happened a lot.
