Desired By The Pack: Part Three (8 page)

Mira was dead.

The three words knocked around in January’s head as she gathered tiny clothes and diapers from Mira’s trailer. The place was
spartan except for the baby’s small room, more like a closet with a bassinet. Cross had already taken the bassinet to January’s cabin per Cleo’s instructions.

Cleo paced the room, screaming infant stiff and arching in her arms.

“She’s hungry.” January offered a pacifier but the baby--not even named yet--only screamed louder, open-mouthed around the foreign object that didn’t taste or smell like a mother.

“I sent Marcus for formula, bottled water, and more diapers.
And a car seat.”

She could only imagine what a twenty-four hour box store clerk would think of a sixteen-year-old boy loaded up with those items at that hour.

“You could put her to your breast again. That calmed her yesterday.”

“She won’t get any milk, Cleo. She doesn’t want comfort, she wants food.” But January stood from the trunk of baby clothes and relieved Cleo of the unhappy child.

“You could try to induce lactation.” Cleo wiped her hands on her pants and picked up the bag January had packed.

With the baby crying in her ear, she couldn’t possibly have heard right. Still, her breasts tightened and tingled at the thought, and all the maternal desires she’d suppressed rushed her.

Goddess, how she wanted to comfort and nourish a child. But this one? She wasn’t equipped to lose the newborn when her family found a better solution.

“It’s me, you, or Star,” Cleo said, referring to the female alpha of the third Peace River pack. “Star and I have territory responsibilities.”

“So this is how I earn my keep?” January asked wryly.

“It’s not like that. She has the alpha sigil. Her place is with us. If she didn’t carry the mark, we would place her with an approved family.” Cleo pursed her lips as she folded a small towel. “I don’t
think Mira was prepared for motherhood. Hers was a warrior’s Moon.”

The baby snuffled pitifully at January’s shoulder. Praying Marcus returned soon, she rubbed the bridge of her nose. Her own early years had been spent among a pack. January barely remembered them, but her pack life came to an end when, innocent and naïve, she had offered her wolf to a witch posing as a little girl.

She’d only meant to share a treasured thing, to make a friend, because like this little one in her arms, January was the only child among an Earth-bound pack. January had known her mother, but, like Mira, January’s mother was a warrior, not content to remain close to the den and raise young.

A Blood relative--the woman January came to know as grandmother--had offered January an education. January’s mother took the offer, against the wishes of her pack. January had gone to pre-school, had shown her sigil in show and tell, and less than a month later, lost her wolf.

An elder werewolf had regained the wolf’s spirit but January had never changed.

She closed her eyes on a sigh. “It’s too dangerous to place her among humans.”

“Paxton may want to place her with a different pack,” Cleo said, naming the child’s father, Mira’s bond mate. “You should be prepared for that. He is not fond of Beck. But I don’t know what will happen. He might want to keep her close. He loved Mira deeply, as most bond mates do. Or, he might…”

Cleo trailed off. January nodded, knowing what Cleo wouldn’t say.

Paxton might throw his own life after his mate’s. It was not uncommon among bonded shifters.

“Let’s go,” she said, vowing to protect this child’s spirit and body.

Beck backhanded the blood from his face and turned away from the unmoving body of the hunter.

“Drop Prince into the pit,” he said, catching Maverick’s eye.

As Maverick and Jared moved on Prince, who was still alive but unconscious again, Beck gestured for Smoke to follow him.
They walked in silence, stopping at a quiet stream to cleanse themselves of the evidence of the past sixteen hours.

Jared, Maverick and Anders soon joined them. Together, the pack returned to the camp. Cross sat on the step outside January’s cabin. He stood as Beck and the others approached, blocking the entrance.

Beck narrowed his eyes, but Cross spoke before he did.

“She’s in there with Mira’s baby. Jan just got her fed and sleeping a little while ago.”

He relaxed marginally and ran his hands over his face. “We have a situation on our hands.”

Cross hunkered back down. “I caught some of it. Tell me.”

“Hunters are dealing a drug that brings on a change. How that’s even possible, I don’t know. Maybe some science. Maybe more magic. I don’t know how much has been produced or how widely it’s been distributed, but I do have a lead.”

At Cross’s raised eyebrow, Smoke bared his teeth in a cold, humorless grin. “Hunter spilled his guts before we ripped them out.”

Beck didn’t blink at the satisfaction dripping from Smoke’s fangs, which still bore pointed evidence of his grief and rage.

Smoke’s tactics had been benign compared to those of Mira’s bonded mate.

“A name?” Disbelief edged Cross’s question.

“A location, too.
They’re probably low level but it’s somewhere to start.”

Anders cocked his head, his gaze far away toward the falls. “Are we going to take this on?”

“We have no choice. It will divide us but that might be what needs to happen. Half of us here on the gate. The rest of us tracking down what we can in the city. We need to tighten our parameters here. Smoke is doing what he can to dispose of the hunter’s remains but they were too many to just erase them.”

Cross nodded.

Anders’ mouth was an angry slash across his face, but he only said, “What is your plan?”

“Two of you will stay here with Anders. Pull in the outer reaches of the territory so we can double patrols. Star’s pack is reliable but I don’t know how long Paxton will hold on. I don’t want his group on the Gate.
Burn all this.” He waved to encompass the camp. “The rest of you will come with me.”

“Jan and that baby can’t live in a den or a cave,” Maverick said.

“No. They’ll come with me too.”

“I go where that kid goes,” Smoke said.

Beck nodded. Smoke’s claim was unsurprising, given the high odds he had fathered the child.

Cross, Jared and Maverick exchanged looks.

Jared wore a faint, knowing smile. “I’ll stay with Anders.”

While Maverick and Cross sized each other up, Anders stared Beck down.

“Bind her before you take her,” Anders said.

“Get Cleo here by moonrise to relieve January. We’ll take her then.”

7

As soon as Cleo left with the baby, January climbed into the cabin’s miniscule shower. The water remained tolerably warm long enough for her to wash her hair, but turned cold before she managed much else. Her teeth chattered as she grabbed a towel and stepped out, and then shocked heat warmed her back up.

Beck lounged naked in the open door. Beyond him, Anders tossed pillows off the bed.

January swallowed and tucked her too-small towel under her arms. Beck’s lazy head to toe examination kept her painfully aware of how little flesh the towel covered.

He’d seen her naked before but this was different. This wasn’t in the throes of Heat, when beauty mattered less than urgency.

This was in unflattering light, minus lipstick and tummy-flattering textile technology and wine.

“You’re making me self-conscious,” she said after a few minutes.

He cocked his head, gaze locking with hers. “Why?”

“We’ve never been together outside of Heat.”

His mouth took on a thoughtful slant. “No, we haven’t. Are you going to refuse me tonight, without your mating Moon?”

Mouth dry, she shook her head. The boundaries she’d erected no longer seemed to matter, washed away during the storm of her few days at Peace River.

Beck’s eyes darkened and brightened at the same time. He stepped into the small room, so little space for two that his thighs brushed hers.

“I’m sorry about Prince.”

A lump formed in her throat. She shook her head. “He did…his choices were his. You acted out of duty and protection. I don’t hold you responsible for anything.”

Surprise flickered in his eyes. He reached up and traced the damp join of her neck and shoulder. “Thank you.”

Water beaded and slid from her hair, rolling down her back. One drop slid from the hair at her temple, clinging to her earlobe before falling to her shoulder.

Hunger sharpened Beck’s features seconds before he bowed his head and licked the moisture from her skin.

“Winter-wolf,” he whispered, lips tracing the vein that throbbed at the side of her neck. He put his hands on her cheeks and tilted her gaze to his. Their noses nearly touched.

Deep down, sudden, she knew. Her toes curled in the thin rug tossed in front of the shower and the muscles in her core flexed.

Maybe he saw her knowledge.
Maybe something else. But he nodded and breathed, “It’s time.”

She swallowed a couple times, looking for words, not knowing what she wanted or needed to say. Creating a mate bond was as close to marriage as a werewolf got. Much like humans and their weddings, the act of bonding could be elaborate or perfunctory, planned or impulsive.

Unlike human unions, a mate bond couldn’t be dissolved by a sheaf of paperwork and authorized signatures.Even if she physically parted ways with these men, she would remain connected to them in every realm and on every planet favored by the Moon.

“I stopped dreaming about this a long time ago.” Still clutching her towel, she looked up into Beck’s eyes. “Are you sure?”

“From the minute I saw you.”

“I believe you.” In the cramped space, she decided he’d lost his chance to come to his senses.

Tucking her hand in his, she dropped the towel. Beck’s gaze didn’t fall as she expected. He remained fixed on her face, eyes locked with hers, and drew a ragged breath.

“There’s a chance the Moon won’t accept this bond between the three of us. I need you to know that even if the bond fails, I claim you as mine. If a bond isn’t meant for you and me, I won’t take it with another.”

She hung her head, guilt flooding her heart.

He brought her chin up and kissed her closed eyelids. “I choose you, winter-wolf, not the Moon. Come with me now. Our witnesses are waiting.”

Yearning exploded in her chest, crowding out everything else. She barely recognized the two other shifters present as Beck drew her from the bathroom. Anders stood on the other side of the door, a pledge in his eyes that was different but not less than the vow Beck gave her.

Anders didn’t have the same connection with her--they were too different, his animal emotions and her human ones--but she didn’t need or want same. She wasn’t even sure her link to Anders was her or if it came from that shy, elusive winter-wolf hidden somewhere out of reach, where only Anders could touch it.

Still, he caught her human shell against his chest and kissed her human lips, and she knew he was as right for her--as meant for her--as Beck was.

The absence of Heat heightened her senses. She was hyper aware of Anders’ hands wrapped around her upper arms, holding her so close, her taut nipples grazed his smooth chest as he drew her across the room. A cool breeze chilled the moisture that hadn’t yet dried from her shower. At her back, the silky hair dusting Beck’s chest teased her, more stimulating because she had no way of anticipating when their bodies would slide together.

Anders withdrew from her mouth and found her throat, forcing her head to tip back on Beck’s shoulder. She drew a deep breath, expecting the spicy, earthy notes of their combined scents, but the perfume of the forest wrapped around her.

She opened her eyes to moonlight, pale but strong through the window someone had opened. A smile curved her kiss-bruised lips. Sensual energy pulsed through her body. She wanted to spread her arms wide and spin in the light.

Instead, she reached back and twined her arms around Beck’s neck. The motion broke Anders’ hold on her and his fingertips trailed over the sides of her breasts, traced her ribcage, before he drew away completely.