Page 1 of Sapphire Flame
Chapter One
“Kryder will have your head this time.”
Grant stood at the railing of the Meldorin sandpit watching nine of the pack’s female wolves run training drills. He turned slightly to meet Ryan’s gaze. “Do you honestly think I give a fuck?”
“No. But what will the pack do if Kryder decides you’ve pushed him too far? He’ll kill you and get away with it.”
Davis Grant reverted his gaze to the sandpit floor below. His pack was one of the few that had their own pit, something he’d made happen four years ago. The Meldorin Pack had needed a focus to keep it together. The drills he ran every night had helped create that focus.
Kryder, as pack alpha, could not have cared less.
Grant crossed his arms over his chest uncertain if what he felt was rage or frustration. Both, he decided. Equal measures.
Ryan, as usual had gotten straight to the heart of the matter. For six long years, Grant was the only thing that stood between Alpha Kryder and total brutality in the Meldorin Pack.
Though suited by sheer brawn and a high degree of intelligence to be an alpha, Kryder was a fraction-of-a-gene short of criminally insane. He ruled not by an iron fist, but by an undercurrent of magic-filled terror. He’d raped a number of the women, especially those newest to the pack. He would beguile and seduce them, usually with the help of a wizard’s spell, then assault with a force that left the women brutalized physically and emotionally.
Kryder’s latest object had been three new females. Grant had coordinated efforts with Ryan and his team to get them to different hidden locations. This would keep them safe until Kryder’s interests waned. At least that was the plan. Once the alpha learned they’d disappeared, however, he would come for Grant.
Right now, despite Ryan’s accurate assessment of the situation, Grant asked, “But are they safe?”
Ryan, his features tight, nodded. “Yup, safe. Relieved to the point of tears.”
Ryan was a few inches shorter than Grant and had sharp features. His thick, curly black hair went almost to his waist and drove the females wild. His intelligence was off the charts.
He had a way of taking Grant’s best plans and making them better. Ryan missed nothing. Yet despite his abilities, he would never rise to alpha level. He was six-foot, stronger than most and lean. But he was no match for Kryder’s six-five, heavily muscled frame or a dozen others ahead of Ryan in pack order.
But for Grant, he was the best of them all. He had a heart and that spoke more for him than all the muscle, height and bulk ever could.
Not surprising, during Kryder’s rule, most of the serious rivals to his rank lost patience with his taunts and challenged him before they were ready. Each had died in the ensuing dominance battle. Kryder made sure of that.
Grant’s survival had depended almost exclusively on keeping his shit together and not giving into Kryder’s jeers. But Grant hadn’t succeeded this far on his own. Without Ryan’s level-headedness, Grant would have caved years ago, and he’d be dancing with the worms.
As for their current predicament, every time he, Ryan and those loyal to Grant effected a rescue, they walked a tightrope with Kryder. Would this be the moment that Kryder decided to hell with protocol and kill Grant outright? He’d come close more than once.
“Where exactly did you send them?”
“I turned them over to Kiara and she placed them in safe houses in Revel.” Kiara was Alpha Warren’s bonded mate. She had refuges in each of the five territories of theiralterprison as well as a network of safe houses.
Technically, Five Bridges was a nation unto itself, with its own governance and a Border Patrol. But thousands of feet of barbed wire and tall concrete walls, that in turn kept each of the fivealterspecies from escaping to the U.S. proper, meant it was a prison. At least, that’s how Grant saw it.
Grant narrowed his gaze at Ryan. “Revel didn’t mind taking the wolves?”
Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know. Kiara said it wouldn’t be a problem. Because it’s been three years since the Fae-Wolf wars, she says times have changed.” The wars had been a blight on both territories and had lasted for two long months three years ago. He’d played his own unfortunate part. Ryan continued, “She called Kryder a scourge.”
The word was too mild. “He is at least that.”
In the pit below, nine female wolves, in full-fur, were running a coordinated drill, leaping over each other, circling back, rolling to leap once more. He’d taught them at least thirty drills and the women of his pack, in rotation, ran them. He wanted the females to be able to elude pursuing males of rogue packs or even Kryder and his men. Savage Territory lived up to its name.
He also ran drills with the males of the pack. One day, he’d beat Kryder in a dominance fight. But Kryder wouldn’t give up the pack without a war. Grant had been preparing the Meldorin wolves for that day. He just wished like hell it would arrive sooner than later, but he was in no way ready to challenge Kryder in the sandpit. Kryder was still the stronger, more powerful wolf.
A dominance battle would have to wait.
Grant moved to stand at the top of the small arena behind the uppermost row of seats some forty feet above the pit. He wanted to see the women in action from the higher vantage. Ryan followed him.
The women were spectacular which gave him hope.
As he watched their moves, he thought yet again how different his life had been before thealtertransformation. Prior to becoming a wolf, he’d been a high school science teacher built along the lines of Ryan, six-foot and lean. He’d loved teaching, bringing the bored students around to his fascinated view of the world, of science, and especially astronomy.
