Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Jared

"I don't like this at all." Milo's growl is deep and throaty, conveying a barely restrained fury I've never heard from him before.

"Me either, but she's gotta do what she thinks is best." I pause for just a second before I ask, "Hey, you okay, man?"

He swats angrily at a tree branch as we continue walking toward the clearing, and doesn't answer. It's cold out tonight, the moon lamp-bright in the dark, cloudless sky. Our breath forms clouds of vapor as we walk, matching the crowd surging from Harridan House as we trudge along together. Dried leaves cover the trail, making for a noisy crunch with every step. More people appear from the shadows between the trees, taking the shortest distance from the parking area behind the greenhouses to the clearing.

"I'm fine," he answers finally. "I've just been… annoyed lately."

That definitely feels like an understatement.

"Did something happen? Is there something you're not telling us?" When he doesn't answer immediately, I add, "You know we're always here for you, right?"

Milo's eyes dart my way for a fraction of a second, then return to the moon-bleached path ahead. "It's no big deal. I'll get over it."

"If you say so."

In truth, I'm sort of worried about him. I don't know if it's the rescue mission getting to him, or the stress Lily's under;or that she's so insistent on getting Derrek back in the first place… or maybe it's just because he still doesn't like the way Derrek eyes our mate.

Either way, something changed drastically the day after the unfortunate homecoming dance and he's not talking. But I don't have the time to probe him for answers, because we've arrived at the clearing and it's barely five minutes till midnight.

We follow the crowd until they split, household staff joining the outer tree line and Lily, Landon, Milo and I, along with her ‘guests' and security, heading straight for the center. Lily glances around at the murmuring crowd, and as if they feel her eyes, they quiet down as one.

"Good evening, Smoky Falls!" She greets them with a wide smile, and I can see the pack returning the grin as if following from cue cards. "It's my honor to spend another midnight run with you all. First, you may have noticed that we have a few guests with us tonight. These gentlemen are from Pack Montrose-"

A wave of gasps and hisses rises from the crowd, forcing Lily to wait before continuing. "They're from Pack Montrose and they're my guests ," she emphasizes the last word forcefully to drive home the point. "They've come to potentially help us retrieve someone important to me that the Montrose alpha took, but they wish for me to prove my worth as an alpha before they take that risk."

Now the crowd is furious. An angry rumble rises as they react to this news.

Lily's voice lifts to compensate. "I am happy to provide them with this demonstration, and I expect that you all will serve as witnesses without interfering. Is that understood?"

The rumbles quiet down to a dissatisfied murmur, and Lily smiles in response. "Excellent. Since we're just a couple minutes out, I think it's best we prepare ourselves for the shift. After our little demonstration, we'll head directly out for our run!"

The pack begins stripping in unison, peeling off warm layers and exposing their bodies to the icy wind that's rattling branches overhead. I follow suit, unzipping my puffy vest and dumping each piece of clothing on top of a pile of leaves. My eyes stay trained on Lily. As she pulls off her own clothes, she reveals gleaming white skin that seems to be made of light itself. All of her soft curves catch and reflect the moonlight. So much skin I haven't gotten to explore yet…

Saliva gathers in my mouth and I swallow it down with difficulty; my throat seems to have closed. Lily gives the appearance of focusing solely on the task at hand, but I know the look of concentration she wears; she's reaching out with her alpha senses, keeping tabs on everyone without making it obvious.

The Montrose guys are stripping in a tight circle, the security team surrounding them still in full gear. It suddenly occurs to me that the security team is there to protect the visitors from us , and not the other way around. Given the way the surrounding pack is sending distrustful glares their way, I can't blame my mate for her caution.

Milo, Landon, and I form a tight semi-circle behind Lily once we're clear of our clothes. It's so cold I can see the heat rising off our bodies, and those of the crowd, like veils of steam in the moonlight.

"Are you sure about this?" Landon's voice is gentle, just asking and not questioning her.

She turns to face us, a hard smile on her lips. "I've got this. Don't worry about me."

Lord help me; my eyes dip down, just a moment, to take in her perfect breasts and the dark triangle where her legs and hips meet. I clench my hands to restrain myself from reaching out and gripping her ass to lift her to my height. My mouth floods with saliva once again, and I readjust my stance to position my hands in front of my crotch. I should not be getting myself turned on right now.

Lily's eyes drop to my hands, and her determined expression softens into a teasing grin. "Jared, is it a little cold out here for you?"

"What? I mean, yeah it's cold, but that doesn't mean… I mean, I'm fine. Are you?" My stammering is incredibly embarrassing, but apparently all the blood has left my brain. I glance sideways and see immediately that Landon is in the same boat, obvious discomfort etched across his face as he tries, and fails, to avoid ogling our mate.

I don't know what the issue is; we've been naked with Lily before the shift tons of times, and we've never had a problem. I mean, of course I enjoy the view every time, but it's always been easy to behave myself, filing the image away for a time I'm alone and able to enjoy it properly.

When I glance to the other side, I'm shocked to realize Milo isn't having the same issue at all. In fact, he's standing with his arms crossed, glaring at the dudes from Montrose, who are staring at Lily. Not with any sort of lustful expressions on their faces, thankfully. The spokesman for the group, Jeff, wears a battle-ready look. The rest of them just appear curious, as if they are looking forward to this little showdown.

And just like every night, a sudden riot of sound emits from every cell phone among the pack, loudly and chaotically proclaiming that it's midnight, and time to shift.

LILLIANA

I take in the hard planes of my tallest mate's body, the way the light and shadows play across those cheekbones, his lean, muscular arms and pecks, the impressively narrow waist and defined ‘V' of muscle below his belly button, which is practically at my eye level. Aware that I'm ogling, I glance up and give Landon a flirty smile. He grins back widely, dimples appearing like deep shadows in the stark moonlight.

When I turn my attention back to Jared, I can appreciate the difference between Landon's milky skin and Jared's dark complexion. The moonlight drains the world of color, rendering him all shadow with gleaming silver highlights on the curve of each well-defined muscle. Where Landon is tall and lean, Jared is thick and wide, his body reminding me of a Greek statue carved from onyx with every muscle perfectly defined and polished. I long to run my hands over every smooth, hard curve, particularly his sharp hips and well-rounded butt.

My belly clenches and the awareness that I'm losing myself to incredibly inappropriate thoughts for this setting hits me full force.

Then the alarms go off.

The shift is so familiar now I don't even have to think about it. Before the last buzz sounds from a nearby phone, the clearing is now filled with every size, shape, and color of wolf I can imagine.

My mates creep closer, nuzzling me with their furry heads while I try to give each of them a comforting lick. Milo's body presses tightly to my side, a low growl rumbling deep in his chest, with his head turned to the left.

A large brown wolf is approaching the center of the clearing, his steel-grey eyes focused intently on me. I spare one more nuzzle and lick for Milo before I issue him a commanding growl of my own, warning him to knock it off. He quits immediately and steps back, leaving me to face my challenger.

We'd sorted all the details before leaving Harridan House, so there isn't much to do besides begin. I trot forward to meet him and can feel my mates retreat further, melting into the outer circle but still close enough they feel secure. When I reach the exact center of the clearing, I sit and wait for him to make his move.

With my position as alpha, I'm due a fair amount of deference even if he doesn't belong to my pack. I accepted his stupid challenge, but that was verbally. Now he has to issue me the challenge as a wolf.

When he approaches, a low growl emanates from the surrounding wolves, all of them disliking this foreigner being so close to me. I examine their color map swiftly; mostly orange for anxiety or discomfort, nothing I need to be too concerned about. A sharp bark silences them immediately, and my gaze darts to the other three visitors, where they wait patiently with their guard, who are still in human form.

Jeff is a sizeable wolf, and with his hackles up, back arched to make himself look even larger, he could be intimidating.

Except I have no reason to be intimidated by him. My wolf remains silent, simply waiting for him to make a move.

With a snarl he launches himself at me, and I spring forward with a snarl of my own, jaws snapping at his throat in a near miss when he twists away in response.

My nails dig into the ground, sending dried leaves flying behind me as I stop my momentum and turn to face my challenger again.

My wolf is furious that this unranked male would dare to challenge us. The alpha voice rumbles through my mind without conscious intent, but of course has no effect on him, since he doesn't belong to my pack.

When he charges again, I jump aside and focus on learning his tactics. He's like a freight train, barreling forward with the obvious intent of running over me. We're nearly the same size, and he seems to rely on brute strength with a goal to overpower me. Such an amateur mistake.

My wolf eyes are sharp, tracking Jeff's every move as he charges again and again. Learning his rhythm, the way he moves, the way he steps and how he leaps forward to attack.

Once I'm confident I have his number, I go on the offensive. But for every charge I make, snapping at his throat, I make him charge me several times, using up his explosive power to tire him out. He just doesn't seem to know how to switch tactics; it's like an arcade video game where the player knows the character's special move and just keeps mashing that button despite it continuing to fail.

The crowd is restless, their concern clear in the low growls and whines they make with each of Jeff's attacks. My mates aren't concerned, although the furious snarls Milo keeps making continue to surprise me.

Abruptly, I push the attack, rearing up on my hind legs and settling my jaws on the back of his neck like a misbehaving puppy. He thrashes beneath me, trying to shake off the teeth that are deeply lodged in his flesh, hot blood trickling onto my tongue.

But it's no good; my grip on his neck is solid, and I force him down into submission. When he gets his belly on the ground, he makes one last attempt to fight back, trying to use his hind legs to spring upward and break my grip.

My force is too strong, and his lower body bucks futilely against my inescapable force. A deep warning growl rumbles in my chest, and he stops kicking. With a series of small shifts, I work my jaws slowly around his neck until my teeth are imbedded below his chin. Now I could easily rip his throat out. If I wanted to.

All it takes is one more threatening growl, and the fight drains out of Jeff. His body relaxes, laying heavily on his side as a high, clear whine emits from his throat.

I hold on for one more moment, just in case he gets any ideas, then release him.

Standing tall over his limp form, I issue a long, clear victory howl to the moon. My pack answers with joyful howls of their own. If there were any normal humans within a ten-mile radius, I'm certain they'd be calling the park rangers to report us. But as it stands, there's no one here to interrupt our celebration.

Once I've finished celebrating, I step away from Jeff's prone body casually, as if to remind him how low his desires rank compared to mine. He shakes out his fur, meets my gaze for one long moment, then dips his head in respect. The remaining three members of his group trot forward, released by the guards, and my mates join me, yipping cheerfully. Milo takes a few extra moments to inspect me for injury and pepper my face with kisses.

Something hot and bubbling grows in my belly. The power I feel surging through me, or the delicious glory of victory, perhaps.

But also an indescribable hunger . Milo and I sneaked off after dinner and scratched the itch that's been plaguing me since we left his house. This time I was absolutely certain the others would notice something, maybe even the smell of us all over each other. And yet no one seemed to notice a thing.

However, I caught both Landon and Jared's eyes lapping up my naked body before the shift. Whether or not they realize it, something has been set in motion and our bodies know it, even if our brains are not fully on board. The need for Derrek remains in the back of my mind like a constant ache, a sore spot that reminds me every so often that it's there.

But it's currently overridden by a deep, unabiding need to claim the mates right before me, the ones who share my bed and whose bodies clearly crave mine as much as I'm craving theirs. I don't know if it's hormones or more magical wolf stuff, but I'm determined to trust my instincts, and they're screaming for me to take these two to bed.

Soon.

I butt Milo in the chest to get him to stop, and then we trot toward the trail as one. I release a howl and the rest of the pack answers joyfully, falling in behind. The visitors from Montrose melt into the pack, and as one we run our circuit through the black and white world of the midnight trees.