Rane's Mate (6 page)

“We need to work out some things, since you lot are my best
enforcers, and Arden and Tristan are in away teams for the next couple of
months. I asked you to come today as I’ll need help to put the new recruits
down a peg or two. Show them the supernatural strength they’re going to be
working with. I’ve also been given the go ahead to expand outward. I’ve spoken
to several of the world’s alphas and they’ve spoken to their head human
military. They’ve all decided that they need to take part and will be sending
representatives from a couple of packs to see how we’re working out.”

He ran his fingers through his hair as he looked at all the
wolves before him.

“America and England have only agreed to have one human
military base, so we’ll be getting extra recruits from England and America’s
packs, so we need to get ourselves ready. A lot have been given the choice to
move and join our pack permanently. I’m in total agreement with this as it
should make us stronger, although it will also make things harder as we’ll have
more work and many more recruits.”

Rane looked around at his fellow werewolf friends. He knew
what they were all thinking about. It was the same thing that clouded his mind
at present. The enormity of what he had just told them and what it would mean
for them.

Getting ready for the dinner party and the big concert,
Kirby smiled, because as usual all the women were running late. They had lost
track of time this afternoon as they enjoyed the sun and sea at the beach, and
they were now all nicely tanned, or burnt in her case. They were all in Faith’s
huge bathroom getting ready when she asked Faith for the second time, “Are you
sure you don’t mind Rane coming to take me? I feel so bad. I came to spend the
weekend with you.”

Faith laughed. “I’m fine. I’ll have Remy, my brother, and
Kane. After what I said this morning, my husband…” She glanced at Remy who
raised her eyebrow. “…mate, is going to watch me like a hawk. You and Sara are
meeting us there, and we’ll all be sitting at the same table together. At the
concert we’ll definitely be together. Sorry, Remy, but I’m going to sneak back
early and have some hot se—”

Sara’s hands raised in surrender. “Okay, okay, we get it. We’re
to go out with these men and not feel guilty.”

Faith laughed again and seemed to go into a trance for a
minute or two, then looked at Sara. “Please, don’t choose the red, because it’s
not my color, and think of poor Kirby, redheads and red do not go together. Oh,
and say no to your dad, you are not waiting that long. I’m not going to be your
bridesmaid six months pregnant. With a werewolf baby, that would mean I would
be almost ready to pop.”

All three women stared at Faith.

She stared back at them, raising her eyebrow. “What? I
really don’t like that red you have picked out.”

Kirby giggled. “I hope I don’t sound weird saying this, but
Faith, I love you. You make me feel normal. It’s so nice to have friends that
are just as crazy as me.” Kirby hugged Faith, Sara, and Remy.

Sara grinned. “Okay, I get it. No red bridesmaid dresses.”

They were interrupted by Jamie. “If you guys just kiss, it
would be just like my—”

Kirby, Remy, Sara, and Faith each picked up something and
threw it at Jamie. He dodged everything, chuckling. “What?”

Faith laughed. “Jamie, you’re a dick. Tell them we’ll be out
in five minutes and to never send you in again, or to allow you to volunteer.”

“Argh, come on, Faith. Lately you’re always taking the fun
out of everything.”

They all threw more stuff at Jamie and he grinned, dodging
them, then waved and walked away.

The laughter stopped as Faith turned to Sara and Kirby with
a grin on her face. “I’ll be sleeping in to really late tomorrow. Remy already
volunteered to take Bengie bowling. I’ll be sleeping in so late that you probably
won’t see me tomorrow. Maybe Monday morning before you leave for work I’ll say
bye.”

Remy groaned. “This is so too much information.”

Kirby bit her lip to stop from laughing.

“How come I get stuck going bowling, while you guys get to
fuck those hot, hard-bodied men?” Remy asked.

Kirby stared at Remy, and Sara laughed; obviously comments
like that were common from Remy. Walking out to the lounge room, they found
Tray, Kane, Rane, and Bengie all dressed up and waiting for the four of them.

* * * *

Kirby arrived with Rane at a huge field area that was
covered with tables galore, where groups of werewolves were sitting, relaxing
and talking. She felt roughly a hundred wolves. They were easy to spot as all
of them were freakishly tall and muscular. She would swear the smallest one was
six-one and he was probably a teenager. You could even tell who the female
werewolves were because they were stunning.

Kirby gulped and paused in her forward movement. She glanced
at Rane and back to the werewolf women all around. Was he nuts?

Rane pulled her to a table. They sat close to Faith, and
Kirby darted another glance around. A beautiful five-nine, gorgeous blonde came
up and tried to sit next to Rane. He didn’t even glance her way, he kept his
eyes on Kirby as he introduced her to the woman. The woman smiled a sad smile
and walked away.

Frowning, Kirby touched Rane’s arm. “She could have sat next
to you if you wanted. I could have sat with Faith.”

His eyebrows furrowed as he frowned. “Why would I want to
sit next to Sandra when I have you?”

He picked up her hand, which she’d placed on his arm, and
kissed it, holding it against his lips. He smiled at the woman and man sitting across
from them. Kirby was startled when she realized the couple was Rane’s parents.

“I’d like you to meet my father Jack. He’s the leader, as
you would call him, but we call him the pack alpha.”

Jack didn’t look a day over forty. He had the same electric
blue eyes and tanned skin as Rane. His hair was a dirty blond and he looked to
be in the same good shape as all the werewolves.

She smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

He nodded at her, then Rane pointed to the woman on Jack’s
right. “This is my mother Della.”

This was Kirby’s first real good look at the couple. She’d
had a brief look at them that morning, but she would never have thought them to
be his parents. His mother looked barely thirty-five years old. Kirby couldn’t
stop staring in amazement, and she couldn’t turn away from their stares. Realizing
she was being rude, she still couldn’t disconnect from their stare.

When she noticed the table had gone quiet, she was embarrassed
and finally turned her head away, apologizing. “I’m so sorry, I don’t mean to
stare.”

The couple exchanged looks and smiled. Kirby frowned and
looked around for help, as Rane didn’t seem to be giving her any. Catching
Faith’s attention, Kirby saw her roll her eyes and take pity on her.

“You just looked into the eyes of two of the most powerful
alphas in the world, and the only reason you eventually looked away was because
of your human rules. You should feel good, you’re one of only a small group who
can look at these two alphas and not back down or turn away.”

Rane looked at her and the smile on his face was huge. She
was shocked as he leaned down and placed a quick kiss on her lips. She was
curious now, so she asked, “Who else?”

“Remy can, but that is no surprise as she stands up to Kane,
and he’s also one of the strongest alphas and she speaks to him like no one
else would dare. Kane is one of the biggest alphas in the world, that’s why he
was running the hospital emergency department at such a young age. When you take
into consideration that he had been in the military for eight to ten years he’s
accomplished a lot to get to where he is in his career for his age.”

Kane brushed his lips against Faith’s head. “Thanks,
princess.” He rubbed Faith’s shoulders. “You see, Kirby, every male in our
family has done at least four years in the military, although our family is a
rarity as all my parents produced were alphas. The military helps teach us control
and discipline. I did eight years, and as you know Rane is still in.”

Kirby glanced at Rane.

“Well, at the moment, I have my own kind of division of the
military,” Rane said. “Arden is still in the reserves, although he’s joined my
division now.”

“Arden isn’t here, about a quarter of us aren’t as we have
away teams,” Kane explained. “Australia is a new country, so we only have six packs
and they’re stretched out to cover their territory. We cover New South Wales
and Australian Capital Canberra, and another pack covers Queensland, another
pack covers Western Australia, and so forth. As Australia is so young we are
small, but as Australia grows older, we will grow. This all depends on how
strong the alphas are, and who leads each pack.”

The food was brought out and the men got up, telling the women
to keep talking and they would fix them a plate.

Kirby nodded in acknowledgment at Rane as he left the table.
Her brain right now was having an information overload. “Did I just pass some
kind of test?”

Faith laughed. “Yes, but we would have still kept you even if
you failed.”

The men returned and Rane set a plate with a mountain of
food on it in front of Kirby. Everyone went quiet as they ate.

Kirby smiled and ate everything on her plate without even realizing
it as her mind was thinking about everything she’d just learnt.

Rane leaned over. “Do you want me to get you something
else?”

Kirby groaned. She’d eaten too much already. “No, I’m fine,
I couldn’t eat any more.”

Two hours later, the four girls stood in front of the center
stage as they laughed and giggled. The next act would be the one they’d all been
waiting for.

“I think because I’m the birthday girl, I should get to get
up on the stage with him.” They all laughed as Kane growled.

Kirby glanced behind her to see three massive werewolves
standing a stone’s throw away with their arms crossed over their muscular chests.

Never having had this much fun in her life, she nudged Remy
and giggled. “Maybe Remy could heat up the stage for us a bit. If it’s hot, Jeremy
might have to take off all of his clothes.”

“I didn’t know you had it in you, Kirby. That’s the best
idea you’ve had all night.” Remy grinned, patting her on the back.

* * * *

Jamie came up behind them, chuckling. “Oh my God, you got
your wife the worst birthday present. You are going to be killed by several
werewolves tonight as their mates have gone crazy. I’m telling you guys, this Jeremy
Sento has power over women.”

Devlin, Griffen, and Blake joined in Jamie’s laughter.

Jamie continued, “They haven’t even noticed you guys since
the concert started. Just imagine when this Jeremy Sento comes onto the stage.”
Jamie was now doubled over laughing.

Rane smiled as Tray went over to his brother and whacked him
hard on the shoulder, which almost caused Jamie to topple to the ground. “I so
can’t wait until you have a mate. Payback will be a bitch.”

Rane whacked him on the back too. “You’ve got that right,
Tray.”

They walked over closer to their mates, finding them standing
as close to the stage as possible. Tray looked at Kane. “How the hell did you
get her favorite band to play?”

“I donated a truckload of money to their charities, and on
top of that I offered them a ridiculous fee.”

“Have you seen their video clips?” Tray asked. “I watched
one earlier today, the one that’s Sara and Faith’s favorite,
Hurricane
,
and after seeing that I can tell you now I would never have done what you did.”
He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “Maybe I’m just old, but that
film clip…”

“Don’t worry, you’re not old. I’ve seen it. It’s filled with
bondage and naked men and women, but that’s how videos are these days,” Rane
commented.

Jamie and Devlin laughed. “You guys are so old. I have no
idea how your mates are going to put up with you.”

Tray, Kane, and Rane sighed in relief when Jamie shut up as
his dad got onto the stage.

“Hello, everyone. I would like to say welcome and thanks for
coming to this special night for Faith. This next act are our last guests of
the night. While I have everyone together I would also like to welcome our new
members, who are staying with us to help fight our cause, or just to stay and
feel safe. We thank you all. But tonight was originally for one of our best
girls, Faith. I personally don’t know this band, but my daughters do and the
birthday girl does. She’s their number one fan, so, does she want to come up
here and introduce them?”

Faith screamed at the top of her lungs. Kane seemed to
reluctantly help her onto the stage. She kissed their father, grabbed the
microphone, and turned to everyone.

“Thank you all for coming tonight and for my presents. I
would also like to say that one of the reasons I love this band is because they
support causes that better the earth. Without further ado, Sixty Seconds to Venus!”

Three men came out onto the stage and the women’s screams
became deafening. Rane chuckled as he noticed Kane holding his hand out to
Faith to help her off the stage. Faith just stood there staring at, he assumed,
Jeremy Sento. The man in question turned to Faith and said, “I understand that
today is your birthday?”

All the werewolves chuckled as Faith stared wide-eyed and
opened-mouthed. They had never seen her speechless.

Jeremy Sento looked around at all the werewolves, then his
gaze fell on Faith’s friends at the front, and Rane and several other wolves
growled. Jeremy averted his eyes and gave an uncomfortable laugh.

“Luckily, we’ve been told what your favorite song is.” He
reached out and grabbed Faith’s hand.

Rane and Tray grabbed Kane as he launched himself at Jeremy
Sento. Faith leaned up to say something into Jeremy’s ear. Kane did not like that
at all, and Jamie came and helped them restrain him, grunting in frustration at
having to hold a nine-five kg raging werewolf.