The Complete Bloodling Serial: Episodes 1-5 Page 14

  Yep, there was absolutely no way this would end well.

  Chapter 4

  Chase caught up to me in the park. I'd taken the precaution of hiding behind a bush as I disrobed and turned wolf, but I hadn't been able to resist running through the trees as I waited for my friend's arrival. The crunch of fallen leaves beneath my paws calmed me, their woodsy aroma clearing my head from the foul remembrance of the oathbreaker's scent and the bone-chilling glimpse of Chief Wilder's soul. By the time my milk brother arrived, I finally felt human...or, rather, wolf.

  But I still wasn't ready to swap fur for feet quite yet. Luckily, Chase had come prepared with leash and velcro collar, the latter rigged to split open at a quick tug if I needed to be set free. "Home?" my best friend asked as I shouldered the illusion of being a well-behaved mongrel while he gathered my clothing to stuff into a backpack at his feet.

  I shook my head. I didn't want to return to the problem of the stranger invading my turf, not when I still needed to figure out what could be done about Chief Wilder. Instead, I led my friend deeper into the heart of the city, where shops lined both sides of the main road and humans walked with faces turned away from the chilling wind.

  The late autumn cold no longer bothered me, though. Instead, it soothed my pack mentality to walk through the frozen city streets alongside someone I could trust implicitly, my shorter lupine legs easily matching Chase's stride for stride. Meanwhile, I could smell subtle changes in my friend's personal aroma that proved he was enjoying the outing as much as I was. So I let my feet go where they would, relaxing into the hunt.

  Only when she came into view through the plate-glass window did I realize that I'd been following a scent trail this entire time. A familiar odor long-forgotten and not really believed in even now. The seductive aroma of Chief Wilder's younger daughter.

  You're jumping at shadows, I told myself, forcing human words into my lupine brain to center myself enough that I didn't immediately break through the transparent barrier and rush to the pack princess's side. Because that was my immediate urge. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

  Instead of obeying my lupine inclination, I let the jolt of rationality brought forth by two-legger language force me to question my own nose. What were the chances I'd see Terra Wilder again now, eight years after pushing her out of my mind for good? And minutes after leaving the side of her father?

  If it is Terra, that means the wily old wolf is even more manipulative than I've given him credit for. And it also means that this trap will be harder than ever to wiggle out of.

  But did I really want to strive toward freedom? No, if the pack princess curled up with a book on the other side of the shop window was the trap, I'd pull the trigger myself.

  So I nosed Chase's hand and led my milk brother into the store.

  ***

  Without my friend's humanity, we never would have gotten her to sit with us and sip hot cocoa. Because I was so deeply immersed in the wolf I could barely hear the two-legger's words.

  I could sense her caution, though. I could taste her fear, which layered a bitter coffee undertone beneath her tantalizing chocolate aroma. And I could see the urge to flee in the set of her slender shoulders.

  Who was I kidding? She wasn't just cautious; she was terrified. The pack princess ran from me at first sight, springing for freedom until I commanded her to halt. The bark came unbidden from my lupine throat and it was entirely the wrong thing to do. But how could I prevent my reaction when I felt our souls twining together from a distance?

  She was my mate. She couldn't leave without a word.

  The Terra I had spied on from a distance at nineteen had been beautiful but unformed. She'd hidden behind long, dark tresses and had jolted at the cues that told her a predator lurked nearby. It had been so clear that the teenaged version of Terra wasn't ready for me that I'd left her alone in the human world, thinking I was relinquishing my dream for both of our sakes.

  Whatever the identity of this current female, whether Terra or another pack princess that looked so much like her, the woman was still hiding from her wolf...and from my own. But when Chase shot me a warning glance and then pressed my leash into the woman's tense fingers, she accepted the danger along with the responsibility. And when I slipped my chin onto her knee as she shivered atop a cold metal seat outside a cafe, she buried her fingers into my fur and stroked gently.

  Perhaps she only wanted to warm frozen digits. But I didn't care. My heat was hers for as long as she wanted it. My heart too. I closed my eyes in pure bliss.

  Can I trust you? I wanted to ask. But my lupine lips couldn't form the words. And I wouldn't risk breaking the spell by reminding her that she was petting an alpha werewolf. So, instead, I worried the repercussions of her presence like I'd gnaw on a meatless deer bone.

  It had been half a decade since I'd trusted myself to open up to an eligible female shifter and I wasn't entirely certain now was the time to change my tune. Sure, I'd caught Tia's pursed lips and wrinkled brow from time to time over the years as she stressed about my inability to find a mate. But how could I offer up my soul to another female after Alexis had so easily suckered me in with her parasitic gaze and then ground my heart to smithereens beneath her heel?

  Which isn't to say that I'd been living like a monk for the last six years. There were always females at All-Pack curious about the bloodling alpha, willing to sneak away from relatives and to pull me into the woods for a midnight tryst. I hadn't been in love with them, but I'd been willing to play along.

  After all, I had something to prove. I didn't want to believe I was the sort of male who would selfishly leave a female unfulfilled in the throes of his own passion. Never mind that was exactly what had happened with Alexis.

  I told myself I hadn't been entirely in my right mind at the time. It was an excuse, but one I was willing to take.

  So I practiced until I was perfect. And then I started gently guiding interested females toward males more amenable to their advances. I'd turned to stone, strong for my pack but uninterested in romantic entanglements.

  Until I saw this unnamed pack princess and smelled her alluring scent halfway across the city. Now I snuck out my tongue to steal a taste of her bare skin as her hand neared my mouth, and I was unbelievably pleased when she didn't jerk away at the contact.

  The female tasted like paper and printer's ink, the scent of the book still clinging to her fingers. And after stroking my fur, she also tasted like me.

  "...We'll head back your way soon." I could hear Chase saying as he opened the cafe's door, juggling two cups and a cell phone. "See you."

  My friend's spine was more rigid than it had been when he'd walked inside. Something had gone wrong back at home, but I couldn't quite make myself care. I wanted to spend more time here with this pack princess who had stolen my heart.

  I needed to know her name.

  Chapter 5

  "There are dozens of Terras out there," Chase countered as he piloted our car away from the city. We'd learned the pack princess's first name, but not her last. Instead, she retreated as soon as Chase asked about her clan, and this time my bark of command hadn't done the trick at stilling her steps.

  The fact that the female had been able to slip out from under my alpha compulsion so easily made her even more enticing, if that was physically possible. In fact, I was now reduced to clutching the oh-shit handle to prevent myself from yanking open the door of the moving vehicle and taking off after her.

  "She's Chief Wilder's daughter," I decided. "She has to be."

  "Or your second cousin. Or the daughter of the Price heir. You know 'Terra' is as common a name for us as Elizabeth is for humans."

  Chase glanced at me before turning his attention back to the road. I could tell my best friend wanted to ask why I was so certain this elusive pack princess was the daughter of the man who held my debt. And why I wanted that to be the case when the relationship seemed like an extra layer of convoluted trouble waiting to blow up in my
face. Wouldn't it be better if the female was someone I could woo and win without all the baggage that her heritage would inevitably entail?

  Unfortunately, I had no answers for my beta. So I simply shrugged and turned the conversation back to the reason we were rushing home so precipitately. "Who called?"

  "Oscar," Chase responded, allowing me to guide our words away from the tantalizing image of Terra Wilder curled up in a nest of upholstered chair and carefully chosen books.

  Or fondling my ears and forgetting for one split second that I was predator and she was prey.

  Too bad I couldn't guide my thoughts as easily as I could guide my milk brother.

  But as Chase explained what had happened at home, my attention finally latched onto the human words. And when we pulled up in front of our pack home, I leapt out of the car before it rolled to a complete stop.

  Fred had shown his true colors. And from the crashes and snarls emerging from our living room, it sounded like the oathbreaker had tempted one of my loyal wolves over to the dark side along with him.

  ***

  Blaze was the youngest of our yahoos and the most innocent. Unlike his compatriots, he hadn't spent any time wandering through outpack territories, having been given to me instead by another pack leader two gatherings ago. His previous alpha didn't want him—too close to the wrong side of the pack leader's lineage—but he also didn't want to slaughter the teenager as Chief Wilder would have done.

  So I ended up with another young hothead, and one whose views on life were excessively black and white. A character trait that our oathbreaker must have taken full advantage of, because a faint hint of the former's foul aroma now clung to Blaze's fur as the youngster did his level best to tear out Wade's throat.

  I knew no one else could smell the difference in fragrance, but our entire pack could see the results. The yahoos were always full of life and ready to tussle, but usually they did so outside. And usually there wasn't blood on their fangs ten minutes into the mock battle.

  Good thing Wade was smarter and stronger than his compatriot. And also good that the former was doing his level best not to hurt his friend. Otherwise, this fight would have been over long before I arrived...and not in a good way either.

  The whole pack had gathered to watch the show, and I could tell that more than one of them had tried to separate the combatants while they waited on my arrival. Proof in point—Oscar sported a long scratch down one arm and Quetzalli's sour face suggested that her bark of command had been ignored.

  Fred, on the other hand, looked upon the battle with a barely visible smirk on his jovial face. Oh yeah, the newcomer was thrilled to have stirred up dissension within our pack. One more indication proving that the oathbreaker needed to go, and sooner rather than later.

  But not right now. Because Blaze had finally found an opening in his opponent's defenses and looked ready to rip off Wade's ear. The appendage in question wouldn't grow back in human form once it was gone, and I didn't particularly want to draw attention to our differences from surrounding two-leggers by hanging around with a one-eared youngster. So I leveled the combatants with a single word.

  "Down."

  My use of alpha compulsion was so rare that I could see it shocking a bit of sense back into Blaze's addled skull. Not only did he release his friend's ear and fall onto his belly as ordered, but the teenager also licked the former's chin apologetically in the process. Unfortunately, though, the hint of oily black smoke that shielded his true aroma remained present.

  "Shift, then out," I continued coldly. This time I didn't push any compulsion into the words, but the yahoos still obeyed and followed me out the door with alacrity. They were good kids, if a little hot-headed.

  Luckily, the day was growing colder by the minute and their bare skin would chill sense into their brains shortly. In fact, I almost expected to see snow in the air as I stepped away from the agitated aromas of our main pack and into our front yard.

  I had a sudden vivid recollection of the frigid white powder I'd fallen into in lupine form on my first day on this earth. That wasn't the kind of alpha I wanted to be—one who would toss away an unwanted pack member to simplify his own life. But what else could I do with Fred when he'd been present less than twenty-four hours and had already turned my strongest supporters into a back-biting mess of fur and fangs?

  Still, the memory of my blood father's coldness reminded me not to be too hard on the youngsters before me. So I put a little bit of warmth back into my words as I asked, "Do you want to explain what happened?"

  Blaze and Wade exchanged wary glances. I supposed I had just asked each of them to rat out his buddy. I sighed in exasperation. We were getting nowhere fast.

  "Let me guess," I said, answering my own question. "Fred suggested to Blaze that maybe things around here weren't so fair. That the big, bad alpha has been lording it over his poor weak underlings. Am I right so far?"

  Wade—the older and wiser yahoo—smiled faintly. "Close. Blaze wanted to know why we don't get paid for all the coding work we do in the computer lab."

  The younger yahoo hung his head, kicking one bare foot against the sharp gravel. The smoky shadow atop his usual aroma had faded in intensity but was still present. Yeah, the oathbreaker's insinuations had stuck.

  "Meanwhile," I continued, "Wade stood up for his savior, saying that lord Wolfie would never withhold anything from the pack, that he always has your best interests at heart."

  Now Blaze laughed, the hint of merriment washing his scent entirely clean. "You do sound like a prig sometimes, Wade," he muttered under his breath. Of course, with werewolf ears, we all caught his accusation. So I wasn't surprised when Wade playfully punched his friend's shoulder with a force that would have knocked a mere human onto his butt.

  "You two can go play it out in a minute," I concluded, stilling what would soon turn into another fight, but a more friendly one this time around. "Our pack needs an accountant anyhow, so I'll sit Blaze down with some spreadsheets later on and you can decide whether you want to pay each of us a salary. Yes, this is your punishment for upsetting Tia's kitchen." I'd noticed that the fight hadn't been limited to the living room, and the food splatters on the walls were bound to bother Chase's mother. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

  Then, turning to the other combatant, I tousled his hair even though the yahoo was nearly as tall as I was. "And, Wade—don't be such a prig."

  Then I headed back into the living room before the pack could disperse. Because, I'd figured out what I needed to do about the bigger problems in my life while I'd been slapping down the pair of over-excited puppies. And the entire pack had to be present for this failsafe measure to work.

  Chapter 6

  My gaze roamed across the shifters and human in the room. Tia with her huge heart, Lantana with the untarnished potential only the innocence of childhood could bring, Chase with his never-ending willingness to prop up a bloodling alpha who couldn't always be relied upon to remember that shifters were two-leggers too.

  Our newest members, Galena and Quetzalli, made me smile every time I thought of the way our only female teenager had dragged them through the front door triumphantly after I thought our clan had lost the girl forever. Meanwhile, my uncle Oscar was the kind of man I strove to be, Berndt and his wife Acacia had the sort of bond I yearned for, and the three male yahoos kept us all in stitches.

  My pack was small but perfect. Some of our members had fled my father's clan with me when I was younger and stupider than Blaze. Others had joined us through sheer desperation or through a rose-tinted hope that life really could be different in an unconventional pack.

  And all were in danger from not just one oathbreaker...but from two.

  Yes, Fred's foul aroma was sifting its way into the room, but my own influence would be ten times more damaging. Because the oathbreaker hadn't even required verbal inducement to sway my pack mates over to his point of view. No, his mere presence did the trick of soiling our carefully nurtured
pack bond.

  Fred's black smoke was visible now, to my eyes at least. The tendrils of oily contamination drifted off the oathbreaker's person and swirled around the legs and eyes of every shifter in the room. Only Acacia and Fen seemed immune, the former's non-lupine humanity and the latter's weak wolf protecting both from the oathbreaker's insidious effects.

  But far worse than Fred's contamination of the pack was the influence I knew I would have when I came back from meeting Chief Wilder with the same oathbreaking aroma. I didn't particularly think I deserved my current job, but I'd come around to realize that my role as these shifters' alpha was sacred to all of us. As such, my outlook on life would inevitably affect their own.

  I couldn't let that influence do more harm than good.

  So I patted my pocket to ensure I had a phone handy, I put one firm hand on the oathbreaker's shoulder, then I did what needed to be done. "Until I return, Chase is me," I told all and sundry.

  Because the pack needed an alpha. And if I wound up smelling like Fred, I didn't plan to return home.

  I paused for a moment to ensure the compulsion took effect, then guided the stranger out the door. "Fred, I'll walk you to your car."

  ***

  "To my car? I don't understand?"

  The stranger had arrived on foot much like any other supplicant, but I should have realized as soon as I saw his potbelly and tailored suit that Fred hadn't run here in lupine form. No, he would have wheels stashed somewhere nearby. Good thing too since I needed a ride.

  So I didn't answer him in words, only glared until the oathbreaker wilted beneath my regard and turned to the west. Yep, there was a little-used country road just a mile in that direction that would be the perfect spot to stash a vehicle you didn't want anyone to know about.

  The oathbreaker properly cowed, I pulled out my cell and got to work. Chief Wilder was an old-school alpha who didn't allow modern technology on his pack land, but I'd seen the bulge of a phone as well as a gun on his bodyguard's person and knew someone would be able to get in touch with the old coot. So I rang up three different alphas who owed me favors until I hit pay dirt, and then I called his high holiness himself.