Page 44 of The Werewolf Cowboy
Chapter 12
Alpha of his pack. Last thing he wanted or needed. But Grayson understood the rules. The pack felt lost with Cedric gone, and needed continuity. Other rival packs, like the Belcher clan, could sniff them out, discover they were weak and vulnerable if he refused.
So he said yes, and when Chase insisted on a formal ceremony, Grayson took Katy’s hand.
“Later. Chase, I appoint you as my beta wolf. Take the pack, return to the ranch.” He lifted Katy’s hand to his mouth, gently kissing her soft, sweet skin. “I’ll be along later. If anyone gets unruly, kick ’em in the ass.”
Chase laughed, but it was an uncertain sound. Sienna scowled. “Are you abandoning us again, Grayson?” she demanded.
Dropping Katy’s hand, Grayson went to the outspoken redhead and stared her down until she flushed and looked away. “I have business here, and a woman who needs tending. Go with Chase.”
His best friend grabbed Sienna’s hand. “C’mon, Red, before you get your ass in trouble again.”
Sienna scowled. “You try to touch my ass and I’ll knock you flat, Chase.”
Chase winked. “Doubt it. The things I would do to that pretty lil bottom of yours, darling, you’d be too busy screaming in pleasure to use your fists.”
Grayson silently watched them leave his yard, and then he turned to Katy. Wide-eyed, pale, she stared at him.
“Your pack is very sexual. Is that what you intend for me, Grayson? What am I? What’s wrong with me that I was able to heal you when you almost died?”
What he intended for her sang through his blood and bones. More, so much more. But he looked at her face, the fear and worry in her beautiful green eyes. Katy didn’t need a wolf raging with hard lust. She needed to know what she was, and how he felt about her. The woman had risked all to save his ass.
He never imagined he’d feel this way about another living being. All his life, Grayson kept his feelings private, because sometimes in the Dark Kingdom, emotions could kill.
But Katy—ah, sweet, wonderful, brave Katy—stole his heart. He’d do anything to make her happy.
Anything except letting her return to the Mitchell Ranch. She belonged here, with him, in his bed and in his pack. This was her true home.
Taking a deep breath to quell the desire threatening to override all reason, he clasped her hand and tugged her inside the cottage. After sitting her on the sofa, he went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. A lot of cold water.
Then he returned to the sofa and took another deep breath. Damn, she was absolutely lovely, her eyes huge, her hair soft and silky, her mouth red and kissable. She stepped out with courage to interfere with the alpha, had used magick she did not yet understand to heal his wounds.
Perhaps what he’d tell her would frighten her, but Katy needed to know the truth about herself, before she used her powers and hurt herself.
“Katy, darling, there is nothing wrong with you. You’re not a normal Lupine like those in the Mitchell pack. You’re a dark wolf, born here in the Dark Kingdom.”
Blinking, she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Your folks were purebred dark Lupines, just as you are. Your father was alpha of our pack, and after you were born, your folks worried so much magick and darkness would influence you to turn evil before you could fully mature. They made the decision to take you into the Skin world, but they had to cross the Feral Forest.”
Katy stretched out her quivering hands. “My parents died in that forest. I sensed it. It’s a very evil place.”
He placed a palm over her shaking one. “If you let it get inside you.”
“I’m part of your pack, not Aiden Mitchell’s?”
If only it were so simple. “No. Mitchell’s pack raised you. When your folks died, whatever pack raised you after became your pack. Unless you choose differently.”
“How come my parents died in the forest and I didn’t?”
Grayson’s stomach churned as he studied the sorrow on her expression. “After we didn’t hear from them for four days, Cedric, your dad’s beta, sent out a search party. I found them. They had killed themselves after the madness got to them. We thought they were strong because they were alpha wolves, but their fear and worry for you and the life they were leaving behind here got to them. Wolves who let the fear rule them, they don’t survive long in the Feral Forest. But strong wolves, like you, do survive.”
“I don’t remember any of it.” She frowned, two deep lines indenting her forehead.
“Cedric put a powerful memory spell on you to make you forget. I found you weeping and starved, took you back to the pack, and Cedric decided to fulfill your folks’ last wishes. I gave you my amulet to protect you. You were just a mite, only eight, and the look in your eyes haunted me for the rest of my life.”
“How did you get me through the forest? All I remember is wandering down the dirt road and seeing a man on horseback.”
