Page 68 of Taken By The Wolves
They hold the stare a moment longer, then turn and bolt into the trees.
Nixon exhales slowly beside me, but his eyes are still locked on the trail they vanished down.
“It isn’t over,” I say.
“No,” he agrees, voice cold. “He’ll have to kill me before he gets his hands on that child.”
We shift again, muscle and fur exploding through skin, and take off into the woods.
Faster this time.
Because war never waits for anyone.
And now we have everything to lose.
34
NIXON
I stand in the lumberyard, looking over the business my brothers and I bought as a fresh start. When we made the decision to leave our pack behind, it felt like chopping off a limb and limping on the bloody stump. Still, after Matt’s death and the blame that continued to hang over us, it was our only option.
I understand our parents’ grief, but their blame was unfair, and it ruined our pack, rotting it from the inside. A son should never have to become alpha until his father is weak or dead, but I was forced to walk away and step up to that role, and there’s no going back.
Now we need support. Gregory’s pack is large, filled with all the stray wolves he can find to bolster numbers. It never bothered me in the past. We have clear boundaries that haven’t been challenged, but now his goons are running through our territory, making threats to come for a baby that our mate has adopted as hers. There’s no negotiation here, no middle ground to reach. Ahya is ours now, unlessAura changes her mind. Scarlet would never break another woman’s heart, but she’ll defend that child like she’s her own, in place of a mother too broken to do the same.
An alpha doesn’t crawl or beg. An alpha doesn’t plead for the support of others. Going back to my father’s pack and asking for support will be challenging, but I’ll do it for my mate. I’ll do it for my pack. I’ll do it for the safety of a little wolfling whose presence in the world must have a greater significance than any of us can comprehend.
“You okay?” Reed asks. He’s leaning against our newest delivery while Finn checks on Scarlet and Ahya in our office. Leaving her at home unprotected is no longer an option.
I rub the center of my eyebrows, an ache permeating my skull. “I never thought we’d have to go back.”
“I know.”
“They’re not going to help us.”
It’s my greatest fear, which I’ve verbalized to my brother. He looks shocked by my admission. “We’re still family.”
“We walked away. Left dad without a bloodline.”
“He has Chris and Macon.”
“His brother’s sons are not his bloodline.”
Reed nods. In wolf packs, an alpha is responsible for siring the future alpha, much like human kingdoms. For our father to groom his brother’s sons for leadership is unusual, just like it’s unusual for three brothers to take one mate.
Nothing in our lives is as we expected.
“There isn’t another option,” I say.
“Hunter?”
I jerk my head to stare at my brother. Is he seriously suggesting we approach a clan of bear shifters to come to our assistance?
“They have their own family and their own pack issues. They’re a small unit like ours. They won’t want to step into problems in a world that isn’t theirs.”
Reed shrugs. “We live in the same world, Nixon, and they’ve experienced their own wolf issues. You forget what Gregory’s pack did to Goldie. Hunter would have an opinion on this situation. You could reach out, alpha to alpha. There may come a time when he would benefit fromyoursupport.”
I stare out of the open doorway at the forest beyond. We’ve made peace with the bears, a peace that shouldn’t have been possible. I trust Hunter and his bear clan far more than Gregory’s. Wolf should ally with wolf, but our world has tipped upside down.
