Page 45 of Mated

She presses her lips together, and I can tell she is thinking of telling me no. Her refusal would be a mistake, but I give her the space to make that mistake if she wants to.

“I don’t want to,” she says. “She’s not very nice, and she wouldn’t be very nice to you.”

“I’m not asking.”

Her head goes down. Her shoulders roll forward. She looks so dejected. She is absolutely filthy, and I can tell that all she has endured here is abuse. Part of me wonders why she has come here at all. To flee from a situation where she was going to be one of the richest women in the world to go and suffer in filth makes no obvious sense. There has to be more to this.

“It’s this way,” she says.

We walk out of town, eventually finding a small farm holding with a very rundown house on it, and a pack of semi-feral strays defending the front yard. They rush up, barking their heads off and making a racket that stops immediately when I glance at them. Threatening flashing jaws close, and raucous yapping turns to the occasional whimper as they slink away.

“Wow,” I hear Kira mumble under her breath. If she is impressed with how I handle the dogs, she will be even more impressed with the way I handle the family who chose to let her languish in that filthy jail cell.

An older woman who shares some features with my mate emerges from the house, wiping her hands on a dishcloth that I can smell from here. She looks at Kira and then at me.

“Did you take a plea deal? Turn your own family in?”

Her voice rasps with bitterness. She assumes I am some form of law enforcement. That’s understandable. I am sure that my bearing suggests authority and displeasure.

“No, I didn’t…” Kira starts to stammer excuses.

I step in front of her, both cutting her off and removing the line of sight from the she-wolf in front of us to her. I know who this woman is. The officer at the front desk was more than pleased to enlighten me as to the goings on. Ruby Smith is a con woman and criminal of renown in these parts, known for using her family to do her dirty work so she can pretend her hands are clean.

“I am Cain Lupin. Alpha of the Denholm pack.”

Ruby’s expression shifts unpleasantly. She is not impressed. She is also not afraid. I thought she might grovel when she heard that revelation.

If anything, I see a certain amount of disgust and rage on her face, swiftly hidden behind a saccharine smile. It is an expression clearly foreign to her features.

“What have you been doing, you slut?” Ruby hisses the question at Kira, as if she can speak through me.

She hasn’t told her aunt about me, obviously. She’s kept her mouth shut and kept her secrets to herself. The officer told me how stoic she had been, how she’d refused to tell on anybody, or explain how she’d broken into the house she was found in.

I am not pleased at her actions, but I am very proud of the way she has carried herself. There’s a quiet dignity about Kira, even as she is now.

“I am your niece’s mate, and you will respect the both of us.”

“Colton! We’ve got intruders!”

“Aunt Ruby! No!” Kira steps out in front of me to try to head off the chaos that is unfolding, but of course, there’s nothing she can do. Having set the dogs on us, she now sets her single wolf on us.

A young male bolts out the door, glossy in the hot sun. He’s not dilute, I notice. Nor is there anything remotely domestic about him. He’s full feral wolf, tongue lolling out between sharp teeth, pure murder in his eyes. He’s actually a very impressive specimen. I can imagine this family were quite something in their heyday, before they succumbed to whatever misfortune has brought them into this disrepute.

I get to consider all of this before the wolf gets within shifting distance.

I don’t move. I watch him come. I wonder if he will lose his nerve right before he reaches us. But as he draws closer, it becomes apparent that this is a young whelp who has never known the correction of a real alpha. He doesn’t understand what he is supposed to fear. That could make him exceptionally dangerous.

He gathers himself and leaps at me. But the man standing before him is no longer there. His paws make contact with thin air. By the time he lands, I am already on top of him and in my alpha shape. My teeth sink into the back of his neck, gripping him by the scruff as I pin him to the ground. I am more than twice his size. I am not a lanky young creature used to skulking and committing crime. I am an alpha. Domination is in my blood.

CHAPTER 12

Kira

I’ve seen Cain’s wolf form before, but I never appreciated just how large and powerful he really is. He is massive, and he is incredibly agile. Colton’s attack looked terrifying at first. Then it became a clumsy, almost clownish thing as Cain simply flowed into his wolf state and took him down.

Now Colton is lying on the ground on his side, whimpering for forgiveness. He doesn’t have any of his human bravado. He’s all animal now. It’s probably the better part of him. Definitely the smarter part.

“Get off my son!”

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