24

Ranger

Let's kill him already.

I wanted to. My wolf started growling, urging me to do it when Aspen placed her hand on my back. She motioned with her eyes to the cameras. I winked, hoping she'd pick up on my subtle clues. There hadn't been enough time to tell her Ivan wanted to get Chad to repeat his earlier promises on film, but I figured now would be as good a chance as any.

"Unless Ranger won't let you make up your own mind," Chad taunted, giving me a grin. We hadn't finished going through the ballots, but I already knew what they would show. He'd cast his vote to keep her here. This was always in the cards. He wanted to use Aspen against me. They all did.

Chad took a step forward like he'd already won. "Say the word, sweetheart, and we'll take good care of you. Show you what you're missing."

Being Tulia Alpha might not be so bad.

You knew things were going south when my beast tried to be rational. I took a steadying breath, keeping my muscles relaxed.

"Aspen is a free woman. She can go wherever she pleases." I smiled at the look of outrage on her face. It wasn't like she was some delicate flower who needed saving. And she could decide who or what she wanted… dead that is.

She was already mine. There was no room for discussion there. But if she wanted to stay by my side, I wanted her to know she was an equal in this conversation.

"You hear that, sweetheart?" Chad called out. "Why don't you come on over and let your wolf taste some different samples?"

"No thanks. I don't eat asshole," Aspen shouted because my brat had claws and teeth.

"Don't knock it until you try it," I whispered under my breath, causing her to gasp as her cheeks flushed. "Samples?" I glanced at Brett. He was awfully quiet during this little powwow of theirs.

The southern gent looked back at his guards. I got the feeling this was not where he wanted to be.

That gave me an idea.

"What's he offering for you to stay by his side?" I directed my question to Brett, but looked at Scott too.

"Why would you think that?" Brett's eyes narrowed.

"Come on now," I teased. "We all know Chad-boy likes to make promises he won't fulfill. I want to know what he's offering that would have you make a dumbass decision like making an enemy of the McCaw Pack."

"What's he talking about?" Scott blurted out as his gaze darted between Brett and Chad.

"Oh, are you not getting something from the Tulia Pack?" Aspen whistled dramatically as my quick-witted mate played along.

"What are you getting?" Scott asked Brett.

"They're messing with you." Chad rolled his eyes as the camera drones continued filming. I heard a low growl in the distance and stepped closer to Aspen out of instinct, but I was too amused to stop this inevitable car crash.

"Or he's messing with you," I planted another seed of doubt.

Aspen stood on her toes behind me, trying to see over my shoulder. "You realize you sided with the bad guy, right? If you've ever read a fiction novel, you know things aren't going to turn out well for you."

There was a moment of confused silence as all four of us males looked to each other. I shrugged, reaching up to scratch the back of my neck. I'd never been on what I'd consider the ‘good side' but Aspen seemed to think so and I wasn't about to crush her dreams.

"Dude, she's right." Scott's gears were turning. "You promised me revenge for the sucker punch, but what's Brett getting out of this?"

Now I feel bad for hitting him.

He sniffed our mate's nest. He deserved it.

Scott glared at Chad, waiting for an answer.

"Revenge probably won't happen." I motioned to their teams standing slightly back in the woods and out of the camera shot. "You'd need to get all of them together to help. I'm not sure if you know me, but I was holding back in the ring."

I was slightly bluffing–not sure if I could take all seven of their guards plus them–but the way they stepped away from each other drove my point home.

"I'll tell you what though. Here's your official apology for the cheap shot I took." I glanced back at Aspen, giving her another wink. "I wasn't thinking clearly. There were other things on my mind."

She smiled at me with adoration in her eyes.

I never knew I'd enjoy being the ‘better man.'

I'm not a man and I'm still not sorry.

Scott looked to Chad and then to the cameras, thinking about our deal before he turned to me. "Does Meghan have a shot with your wolf?"

"No chance in hell," Aspen spit.

"Figured as much." He held up his fingers. "Peace out, guys. Enjoy the rest of the season."

And then there were two.

"So, what did he promise you?" I asked Brett again. The shrewd look in his eyes reminded me of his father though he didn't have the Frazier red tint to his hair.

"Where's John?" Brett looked to the trees.

Was this about the fight he'd lost?

"Currently mating Fallon," Aspen said.

My wolf put his paws over his eyes and I cringed. Could've gone the rest of my life without hearing those words.

"But that's not why you're here," Aspen pressed. Brett turned his face to the moon and sighed.

I was pretty sure he didn't sign up for this.

"I don't know what prior beef you two had, but I'm barely keeping my beast in check. Can we hurry this up? I want to go hunt." There was another crunch in the woods and Brett's eyes drifted ever so slightly in that direction.

I took a step closer to Aspen.

Chad put his hands in the air, trying to save face in front of the cameras, and turned up the watts on his smile. "Let's chill on the politics for once and speak honestly."

I narrowed my eyes. The surest sign one of these political Alphas was about to lie was when they said they were going to tell the truth.

"You do know you don't have to settle for this, sweetheart." Chad tested the waters as he took a step forward. "I could set you up better than he ever could. Give you everything you need."

"No thanks." I could practically hear Aspen roll her eyes. "Besides, you make promises you won't keep."

"Like what?" Chad huffed.

"Oh, I don't know," Aspen kept going with the challenging tease to her voice. "What did you promise Ranger in the ring? Or can you even remember after that knockout?"

Chad snapped his teeth like a weak wolf who couldn't help but rise to a perceived challenge. "Don't you dare question my integrity. Tulia Pack will stay out of McCaw territory and he'll get his little reparations thrown to the trailer trash shifters in the outskirts of pack borders."

My breath hissed through clenched teeth.

I don't know how she orchestrated that so perfectly without knowing what was going on, but I wanted to sweep her off her feet and kiss her senseless.

Aspen stepped closer to my side and I buried her under my arm, covering as much of her body as I could.

But my mate wasn't done yet. She laced her fingers through mine. "I think Tulia Pack is getting off easy after all they've done."

"For now." I gripped her hand tight.

Chad's upper lip curled as he watched us together. "You're the one picking the wrong side. Tulia is a heritage name. We have the bloodlines to survive hundreds of generations. Last chance before I walk away. Do you want to be a street trash whore or come be a royal queen?"

Aspen's nails dug into my arm as I let out a feral, bloodthirsty growl. The air charged with a predator's threat. Someone was going to die tonight.

"No," Aspen whispered, pleading.

"Cindy, don't!" Brett yelled.

Chad screamed like a banshee with his hands in the air as he fell to the ground on his ass.

A massive–and I mean massive–fiery red wolf came stalking forward through the field and stopped directly in front of a shrieking Chad.

"I didn't mean it," he cried out.

I took another step back, tugging Aspen along with me. I wasn't stupid. There was no way I'd stick around to fight that.

The stench of fear and piss filled the air as Chad tried to climb to his feet. "You have to believe me, babe. She means nothing to–"

The sound of bone crunching filled the night as the wolf chomped down on Chad's head. Her jaw worked with two more bites, then she shook him like a rag doll before tossing his decapitated body away with blood spraying in an arc across the woods.

As shifters, we could sometimes regrow body parts, but I didn't think there was a way back from this.

My normally rock-solid stomach betrayed me as bile rose up the back of my throat. Aspen was deathly pale and swaying as I caught her in my arms and swooped her up bridal style.

"She… She… She…" Aspen sputtered.

"Dang it, Cindy. I told you to let it go." Brett placed a hand on his cousin's side.

The wolf gave a scorned female howl before bounding off toward the trees. Chad's team chased after her. Brett gave me an apologetic look before he and his team followed suit.

Aspen buried her face into my shoulder. "Holy shit. She ate him."

I nodded, too stunned to speak as a single camera drone remained filming us while the rest went on to chase the killer beast.

The light from the drone dimmed as I bared my fangs at it.

Aspen cringed. "Don't let my papa see this."

The camera drone bobbed up and down in the air, doing the strangest movement like it could understand and was pleased. Then it took off like a shooting star into the night sky, leaving us shrouded in darkness again with only the soft light of the moon to guide our way back to the nest.

"That does it." Aspen closed her eyes as she curled deeper into my arms. "I've officially decided I'm not cut out for television."