Page 65 of Pack Nightmare

“So how were both of them able to get here, then?”

“I invited Derrek the first time, so that waved his ban. When Peter Jean-Yves invited Azalea, that negated the ancient ban.”

“So if your invite allowed Derrek on the land, why did you need to help him on again?”

“You asked him to leave,” Roxanne answers. “As the alpha, you told him to leave and never come back. That essentially re-issued the ban.”

“Which, apparently anyone can break?”

“It’s complicated,” my uncle admits. “If you want to permanently ban someone in such a way that a member of the pack can’t invite them, you have to word it specifically. Otherwise, it’s pretty relaxed.”

“I see.” I think about for a long minute. My head is killing me, a feeling like static electricity pinging up my skull where Azalea had crushed my neck. “Well, I think we should get a list of the men who were with Peter Jean-Yves tonight, so I can issue them a permanent and complete ban. It was way too easy for them to smuggle Azalea onto the property. Oh, we need to ban her, too.”

“On it,” Roxanne nods, whipping out her phone and texting.

“I’d say it’s a bit late for that,” a deep voice announces, and as one, our pack turns to face the newcomer.

I don’t recognize him; he looks about my uncle’s age, with more silver than dark hair, and he’s burly—I finally understand the meaning of the word ‘barrel-chested’. He’s dressed in a wool coat with a button-down shirt and slacks, casual, nothing remarkable.

But his very presence sets my teeth on edge and sends my wolf snarling, clawing at my insides to be set free.

I’m immediately on my feet, striding forward to meet this new threat. He has two others with him, two others who, like him, don’t belong here.

My pack surges in behind me; we far outnumber them. They have no hope of overpowering us, and I don’t sense any of Azalea’s witch magic in the air.

I pull myself up to my full height—a good foot shorter than this beast, but I have my mates at my back for confidence. “You don’t belong here,” I state, my voice deep and threatening.

The older man stares down at me with little interest. “You’re correct, Harridan. I don’t.”

“You have no right to be on my lands.”

“I’m only here to claim what’s mine; we don’t want trouble, and we’ll leave peaceably. I promise you.”

I can feel phantom hackles rise on my neck. When I speak, my alpha timbre reverberates in my chest. “Nothing here is yours to claim.”

Around me, the pack rumbles their agreement.

“That, I’m afraid, is where you’re mistaken.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Avery Nielsen.” He says it like I should know what it means, but I’ve never heard that name.

“He’s the alpha of Pack Montrose,” Roxanne whispers from my right.

A snarl rumbles in my chest, echoed by the several hundred wolves in the room.

“And what is it you’re here to claim?”

“My son.”

Dom laughs. “If you’ve lost your kid, Nielsen, it’s no business of ours. No one here is harboring a Pack Montrose runaway, are you?”

A chorus of voices confirm my uncle’s assertion.

The other pack alpha just grins. “Oh, he’s here. He just doesn’t know where he belongs. But I’ll show you. Do I have your permission to claim my blood, and leave without violence, Harridan?”

I turn the query over in my mind, but I can’t see a downside. There’s no wolf here that’s from Pack Montrose, aside from the two he brought with him. If I word it correctly, I can give him permission and compel him to leave in one swift phrase.

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