Page 16 of Pack to the Wall

The two of them were perfect for each other. Tyson had always dreaded the thought of finding a mate. It was why he was in his mid-thirties and still without one. Harley had tried for a long time to get Tyson to mate with Sonny’s daughter Winnie.

She’d been twelve when Harley had first suggested it. She’d had her first period and that was all Harley had needed. In private, Tyson had been disgusted. Publicly, he’d told Harley he wanted a woman, not a girl, and said he’d wait until she was twenty. He’d hoped he’d find his true mate in that time. But Tyson’s time had been running out. Winnie was almost twentynow, but she was still a girl in too many ways. Whereas Tyson had had to grow up far too fast.

Groomed to be the next alpha, he was mature and hard, ready to rule. He needed a strong woman who could match him.

Jane was certainly all woman, mature and beautiful. And from the lack of a guy around, I guessed she was a single mother who’d raised two kids. She seemed the perfect mix of hard and soft, discipline and dedication. If so, she’d be a good match for Tyson.

The trouble was, her lips had tasted so perfectly sweet, and the press of her body to mine had thrilled me in a way I hadn’t felt…

… since Tasha.

Everything about Jane sung to my soul. Breaking down the walls I’d built after Tasha’s death.

And she may be fated for Tyson, but something in her kiss had opened a door and allowed me to hope thatmaybeshe’d be open to being with other men in addition to her fated.

But I had to curb my fantasies about fulfilling this woman’s every desire and focus on my pack at the moment.

I turned to see them piling into Jane’s living room. Brick and Tank wore heavy, frustrated expressions, having been forced to remove their riding boots. I’d heard the shouting match as Brick and Kira had locked horns.

Brick would have won if Kira hadn’t been acting on behalf of the alpha. He had to obey or risk punishment. We’d won a tiny victory, but there was still a lot of the war left to fight.

The others didn’t seem to mind or care that they’d had to remove their boots. With everyone inside, the open concept front area of the house was suddenly crowded.

There were seventeen of us left in the pack. I could remember when we’d been twice that number. Some had been killed by rival gangs. Some had fled from Harley’s brutality: a few hadbeen found and executed, others managed to get away. Some had been killed by Harley himself, who’d taken out anyone who might challenge him, all while grooming Tyson to be his perfect heir. I found it just a little funny that Harley had been killed by some unknown suburban woman. He’d never seen that coming. None of us had.

Another point for Jane.

Brick claimed a loveseat, spreading out to take up the entire space. Sonny took one of the chairs. Tank, my brute of a father, threw himself down on one of the couches, probably trying to break it with his bulk. The furniture survived his assault, this time. Petra — my father’s current lover and only three years older than me — squealed as Tank grabbed her arm and pulled her down on top of him. He reached one hand up under her shirt to fondle her roughly, while his other hand fisted her hair and drove her mouth to his, stopping any sounds of surprise or protest she might emit. Gods, I hated that man.

The rest of the pack milled about, uncertain where to go or what to do.

“Hey, bitch!” Brick called out and silenced everyone.

Among our kind, every female wolf was a bitch, but he wasn’t saying it like that. He put as much hatred and vulgar insinuation into the word as he could. “Nice place, where do I sleep? I better have a bed as my station deserves!” Brick had been prime beta, and VP of the Fangs motorcycle club.

“Hell yeah, me too,” Tank called out. “I can’t wait to have a real mattress beneath me, or rather, beneath my girl here while I fuck her. I wonder how long it will last before I break it.”

Tyson eyed me and Bronn. This was it, our time to step up. “You’ll take whatever your given, Brick,” Tyson said evenly. “Whatever our new alpha sees fit to give you. You’re no longer a beta anymore. I’m prime beta now and you’ll defer to me.”

Brick rose, eyes flaring with rage. “You listen here, whelp. I ain’t taking orders from you. I’ll?—”

“Then you’ll sleep outside,” Jane shouted from behind me. She’d used that special mom-voice that Kira broke out from time to time, the kind that said, “I’ve-had-enough-of-your-shit.” Jane stepped between Bronn and me. “Go. Now!” She pointed toward the back of the house.

Brick took a step forward. “I’ll tear your throat out, bitch!”

Bronn and I instinctively blocked his path to her, even while she said, “I don’t think you can, not for one week, isn’t that right? And until then, it’s clear to me, you’re not house trained yet, so you sleep outside until you can act appropriately in here.”

I almost laughed at the clear slapdown Jane had just given, and the outrage on Brick’s face. He snarled and the shimmer of a pre-shift slid over his features before he got control of himself.

“I can’t touch you… but…” He slammed his fist down on the coffee table in the living room, shattering the wood. “I can touch anything else I want.”

To prove his point, he stalked over to Cassie — one of the newer members of our pack — and gave her a hard backhand slap, which sent her to the ground. She yelped then whimpered in pain. Tyson moved, pushing through the pack to get to her and help her up. Brick stared daggers at Jane.

“Every time you command me,” he said, “I’ll hurt someone else, just like that, because I can, because I’m going to rip your throat out and rule this pack in a week.” Then he left, stalking down the back hall and crashing out the back door.

And there it was. The first of many confrontations to come, and it hadn’t gone well for us.

Tank laughed, drawing our attention. He had Petra’s neck in his huge hand, easily lifting her off his lap. The poor woman didn’t even struggle, she’d learned the hard way not to defy Tank. Just like I’d learned… over and over… as a kid. I alsoknew just how willing Tank was to kill, though I was pretty sure this was a bluff. Petra was pregnant, and I was fairly certain he wanted her to have his kid. But with Tank, you never quite knew. He was truly savage. He’d killed Tasha, the woman I’d loved, and laughed while doing it. Yet another reason for me to hate him. He raised his chin defiantly at Jane.

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