Page 6 of Golden Valley
Chapter 2
“Aren’t you tired of this?” asked Morgan Peters as he reached his hand toward the wolf panting on the ground.
Refusing to shift into his human form and answer with words, the Alpha pinned his ears back, narrowed his eyes, and growled.
So ‘no,’ then. Morgan sighed and turned his head to the side where the mandatory three witnesses stood chatting with another. “We’re done. You can take off.” He doubted they’d even paid attention to the fight, and he didn’t blame them. The whole thing was a waste of time.
At least twice a year and sometimes up to a half dozen times, Keith Iredell came to Golden Valley to challenge Morgan for leadership of his pack. The first time, they’d had a lot in common, both suffering from devastating losses from the same incident. When an enraged and unbalanced male Omega blew up the Golden Valley Alpha house and everyone in it, Morgan had lost his parents, his brother, his sister, and his opportunity to live the life he had planned. In that same moment, Iredell had lost the man he believed to be his fated mate. But where Morgan had focused his energy on keeping his pack together, Keith had become obsessed with exacting revenge. And to him, revenge meant challenging Morgan for leadership of Golden Valley. Over and over again.
“You don’t want us to wait and escort him off pack lands, Alpha?” asked one of his pack members.
Shaking his head, Morgan looked down at his clearly pained challenger. “He knows his way home.” Morgan had been through this drill often enough that he was able to keep his shoulders back and his face neutral, but that didn’t mean the bites, bruises, and scrapes didn’t hurt. The sooner Keith left Golden Valley, the sooner Morgan could take a hot shower and focus on the next thing on his never-ending to-do list. “Let’s go, Keith.” He squatted and held his arm out again. “Challenge is over. Time to go.”
Finally shifting into his human form, the bleeding Alpha pointedly ignored Morgan’s outstretched hand and snarled, “This isn’t over.”
“It could be over.” Rubbing his hand over his closely shorn hair, Morgan stood. From what he had heard, Keith had been a smart, responsible, caring young Alpha before he had met Timothy Tillers. While Morgan wasn’t privy to the details of their relationship, rumor was that it hadn’t been loving, and Morgan knew for a fact it had been brief—Timothy hadn’t been at the Green Field pack for long before he had returned to Golden Valley armed with explosives. Seven years later, Keith still hadn’t shaken the hold the male Omega had on him, leaving him a shell of an Alpha. “Any time you’re ready to move on, these fights can be over.”
“Move on? Move on?” Glaring at Morgan, Keith slowly climbed to his feet. When he swayed, looking as if his scraped legs would crumble, Morgan reached for him again, but in typical form, Keith slapped his hand away. “He was my mate! I won’t let him down again.” Finally upright and somewhat steady on his feet, he stepped toward Morgan, teeth bared. “I’ll beat you. Eventually, I’ll beat you.”
Becoming Alpha of a prosperous, healthy pack at age sixteen had made Morgan a target for greedy shifters who thought they could take Golden Valley as their own by challenging and easily defeating a kid. They had been wrong, and over the years, as Morgan’s age, strength, and wolf form grew along with his reputation, the challenges had waned. All except for the one Alpha who was driven by something other than greed.
Early on, Morgan had tried to reason with Keith. He had explained that he had known Timothy only in passing and that he had nothing to do with Timothy’s actions that fateful night. He had pointed out how his entire pack and he personally had been harmed by the explosion and subsequent fire. He had asked how Keith’s mission to unseat him as the Golden Valley Alpha would help anyone, let alone a deceased shifter. But Keith wouldn’t or couldn't give a logical answer, and he refused to be dissuaded from his self-imposed mission.
Eventually realizing that no explanation could stop a goal that wasn’t driven by logic, Morgan accepted that facing Keith’s challenges was part of his role as Golden Valley Alpha. He stayed involved in pack businesses to ensure they ran smoothly and profitably. He made himself available and approachable to all pack members so he could remedy small problems before they turned into large ones. And he kept his body in top physical condition so he could defend his position, and therefore his pack, from Alphas, whether driven by greed or suffering because of a male Omega, years after that Omega’s death. Timothy’s power had no boundary, not even a grave.
“Do you need a healer to look at you before you go home?” Morgan offered, already knowing how Keith would answer.
“I don’t need your help,” Keith barked.
Yes. That was exactly what he expected as an answer. “Suit yourself.” Morgan raised both arms and stepped away.
As Keith limped off between the trees, Morgan looked at his retreating back and frowned. He couldn’t help a man who didn’t want to heal, but how long could a wolf survive carrying that much rage?
“Alpha?”
Shaking off the distraction, Morgan turned around and refocused on his actual responsibility—his pack. Two of the witnesses were gone, but Ray Lopez remained. “What can I help you with, Ray?”
“Lil sent me a text during the challenge.” He held up his phone. “She said the visitors from Purple Sky arrived early. They’re at your house, and she needs to talk to you before you meet them.”
“Thanks. I’ll go to the Alpha house now,” Morgan said, frowning. Why would Lillian be involved with the visitors? His second-in-command was too busy to worry about hospitality, and she wouldn’t add to his already busy schedule without a good reason.
The moment Morgan stepped into the Alpha house, his skin prickled and his heart rate increased. Logically, he should have realized that whatever raised alarms in his body was related to Lillian’s message, but his mental faculties had been waylaid by an overwhelming urge to find…something. Raising his nose high, he inhaled deeply and jerked his head from side to side in an effort to identify whatever was calling to him. The house was oddly quiet and still. No children ran through the wide halls. No adults clustered in the many seating areas, chatting, working, or playing cards.
Morgan would have preferred to live in a small cabin rather than a sprawling estate, but witnessing the Alpha house being rebuilt after the fire was physical proof that something could be fixed, which had been an important step in his pack’s healing. The night his family died, meeting the pack’s needs had become Morgan’s responsibility, so he had set aside the wishes he’d had for his own life. The first step was designing a spacious Alpha house that would be the pride of any pack and then moving into it and instituting an open-door policy. In his fondest fantasies, Morgan heard the sounds of his own children’s joy mingled with the laughter of the other pups as they ran through the sprawling gardens and he danced with his own mate in the ballroom where he hosted quarterly galas for the pack. In reality, however, he had no children, no mate, no family.
Trying to rid himself of the morose thoughts, Morgan shook his head and walked through the entryway. Challenge days were always difficult. Not so much because of the toll on his body, Morgan was used to battle wounds, but because of the toll on his soul. It was impossible to face the grieving, rage-filled Alpha who wanted revenge for the actions taken by his Omega without thinking about that awful night seven years earlier. And it was impossible to think about that night without remembering the hopes and dreams that had burned along with his family in the inferno. Morgan wasn’t the Alpha who should have been leading the pack, but he was the only Alpha left so the pack’s future depended on him. Year after year, the Golden Valley pack grew, and the Alpha’s responsibilities grew with it.
“Alpha?” Lillian said, sounding strained. “Is that you?” Normally, the pack’s Beta did everything with calm precision, but her footsteps tapped across the floor more quickly and loudly than usual.
“It’s me.” Other than Lillian’s shoes and the pounding in Morgan’s head, the house was utterly silent. “Where is everyone?”
“I told them to leave.”
Brow furrowed, Morgan said, “You what?” The Alpha house was always teeming with pack. Even when it had been under construction, pack members came by to see the progress and assure themselves that they had a future. “Why?”
She stepped closer, leaned up, and whispered, “Remember that pack Alpha who’s visiting today?”
Morgan scrolled through his mental calendar. “Purple Sky’s new Alpha, right? Ryan Berger?”
