Savage Urges (5 page)

Dawn took the paper from her hand and read it carefully. “Mediation. Says here that if we can’t solve this ourselves through mediation, the matter will then go before the council after eight weeks.”

“I thought the council typically gave people twelve weeks to sort out their shit,” said Madisyn.

“Only in cases where the parties want war,” Dante told her. “This situation is different.”

“Going before the council could be bad,” began Madisyn, “since it wants peace above all else. Right now, the humans who signed the petition are probably all stirred up because it got them nowhere. The council could see Remy taking over as a way to keep things cool here.”

“Remy seems too eager to get ahold of this place to wait for the council’s decision,” said Makenna. “I think he’ll try to put Dawn in a position where she feels she needs him.”

Ryan shook his head. “It will never come to that.”

Makenna was surprised at the vehemence in that vow. “You heard what he said out there—
‘Everybody has a price.’
He was prepared to bribe Dawn”—the feline bristled at the insult—“so I’m thinking he’ll try to pay off the mediator, try to make them convince us to give in to him and maybe even suggest to the council that Remy should be given what he wants.”

Taryn snorted. “The Californian mediator for shifters happens to be my best friend. Trying to bribe Shaya will achieve nothing. I’m not saying she’ll jump on your wagon. She’ll remain impartial because it’s her job, despite that she’ll no doubt totally hate what he’s doing.”

Madisyn didn’t appear completely reassured. “What if he tries to bribe the council?”

“I hope he does,” said Dante. “The last time someone did that, they were killed for the insult. When is the meeting?”

“Two weeks from now,” replied Makenna. She looked at Dawn. “I’ll be coming with you.”

“Me too,” said Madisyn. Dawn shot them both a grateful smile.

“In the meantime,” began Taryn, “all you can really do is stay alert. When you need us, we’ll come.”

An hour later, after spending time with Zac and an extended tour to check out the basement and upper floors, the Phoenix wolves were ready to leave. Dawn had proudly shown them around while Makenna and Madisyn accompanied her for protection.

Hey, the Phoenix wolves seemed friendly and eager to help, but that didn’t mean Makenna trusted them. She especially didn’t trust the broad, rugged male who moved into her personal space as if he had every right. Or, more specifically, she didn’t trust that his behavior didn’t bother her the way it should.

Having said their good-byes at the front door, the wolves then began filing outside, heading to their Chevy. Ryan, however, snatched Makenna’s cell phone from the pocket of her denim jacket, keyed in his number, and then just as deftly returned the cell to her pocket. Had she not been looking at him, she might not have noticed. She should have bristled at his boldness, but she was too busy admiring the sneaky move.

“If Remy comes back or there’s a problem, call me.” It was a rumbled order that brooked no defiance.

A lesser female might have folded under the weight of all that dominance and raw masculinity. “Careful, White Fang. You’re pushing.”

His scowl deepened, but he said nothing. Just stared.

“Yeah, that whole ‘I’ll just stare until she gets so uncomfortable she gives in’ ain’t gonna work with me.” His frown remained firmly in place, but there was the
slightest
touch of amusement in those dark eyes. And she couldn’t help wondering what he looked like when he smiled. Did his face light up? Did his eyes crinkle? Did he have dimples? Was it a lopsided smile or was there simply a slight curve to his mouth?

It was only right then, when his lips parted slightly, that she realized she was staring at them. She snapped her gaze to his, swallowing as the air became hot and thick. Need began to slowly spill through her veins like warm honey. To evoke this kind of need in her . . . it was power over her. Power that made her anxious. She took a step back. “See ya.”

With a grunt, he turned and left. And she indulged in a thorough inspection of his rather epic ass as he stalked down the path.

No sooner had the Chevy disappeared than Madisyn dragged Makenna aside. “I want the details on Mr. Dark and Dangerous.”

Of course she did, the nosy feline. “He’s Zac’s cousin,” Makenna replied with a nonchalant shrug. But Madisyn waved a hand, encouraging Makenna to continue. “That’s it. There’s nothing else to say.”

“Why ‘White Fang’?”

“You remember the movie, right? The wolf was fierce, morose, and a deadly fighter.”

“I guess Ryan does have a savage look about him. I have the feeling that’s part of why you’re so hot for him.”

Makenna frowned. “Who says I’m hot for him?” Madisyn just stared at her. “Okay, I’m hot for him.” She liked his hard, dangerous looks and his enigmatic nature. Mostly, though, it was his strength and air of self-possession that drew her. He seemed so solid and steadfast—wolf nip to someone who had never known stability, who had never been able to relax, who hadn’t felt safe in a very long time. “But I’m pretty sure that’s a one-way street.”

Grinning, Madisyn shook her head. “He looks at you like he wants to take a bite.”

Makenna blinked. “A good bite or a bad bite?”

“Depends how you define ‘bad.’”

“Honestly, I’m not sure I’d know what to do with him. I’ve never been around a guy as dominant as him before.” He wasn’t someone who could be handled. “Dominant males are tricky, domineering bastards. Even Colton can’t deny that.” The dominant bear—who was standing at the reception desk,
totally
eavesdropping—just shrugged, unoffended. They’d once had a short, casual fling, but they’d quickly realized they were better as friends, and there had never been any awkwardness between them. “Still . . . I know Ryan doesn’t talk much, but when he does”—she shivered—“I honestly have to wonder if he could talk me into an orgasm.”

Madisyn laughed. “You know, I’ve heard that the quiet ones are always the most vocal in bed. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to let him take that bite he seems to want.”

Maybe. Maybe not. But Makenna doubted she’d be put into a position where she had to decide. She was a loner, which meant he automatically wouldn’t trust her around him or his pack. Once he’d won over Zac, she’d likely never see him again. Although the Phoenix wolves seemed genuinely intent on helping with the Remy situation, there was a distinct possibility that they were simply trying to impress Zac and use it to gain his trust. Time would tell.

In the meantime . . . where was the damn chocolate?

CHAPTER FIVE

E
ating dinner at the long oak table in the kitchen of Phoenix Pack territory, Taryn informed the rest of the pack of all that they had heard and seen at the shelter. Only four were absent: Roni and Marcus, who were on Mercury territory, and Gabe and Hope, a mated pair that was guarding the gate.

Taryn’s expression was pained even though her mate was soothingly massaging her nape. “I have to say, I’m seriously ashamed of myself right now. Whenever I thought the term ‘lone shifters,’ I thought ‘hired guns.’ It never occurred to me just how hard it must be for them, or all the different kind of reasons that drive shifters to become loners. It’s not always a choice.”

Jaime stroked the ugly, loudly purring ginger cat on her lap. “And not all of them have had the luck to get a place in a shelter.”

Their resident cook, mother hen, and Rhett’s mate, Grace, spoke as she fed chocolate pudding to her infant daughter in the highchair. “The shifters working there are good people for doing what they do.”

“Think of what it must cost per person to clothe, clean, and feed the residents,” said Jaime. “The animal sanctuary I work at is hard to keep running; it must be way harder to run the shelter.”

“What’s the interior like?” Lydia, Cam’s mate, asked.

Jaime fed some scraps of meat to her cat. “I would have expected a shelter to feel melancholy and hopeless. It didn’t, though. There’s warmth and comfort there. But also a hint of sadness. It was in the eyes of some of the residents. It made me wonder what they’d been through.”

Taryn looked at Grace. “It was absolutely heartbreaking seeing little kids there. Some were just babies—one of them was so little, I think he might have been born there.”

Scooping more dessert onto the spoon, Grace said, “I don’t want to even imagine how hard it would be to have to live in a shelter with my Lilah. Even though the shelter sounds like a good place, it would still be a sad situation for anyone.”

“Not sadder than being on the streets.” Jaime sighed. “It’s horrible to think that Zac was once in that situation. I wonder how he ended up at the shelter.”

Trick, an enforcer, pushed his empty plate aside. “Considering all that’s going on, wouldn’t it be better to bring him here, out of Remy’s reach?”

Taryn shook her head sadly. “I wish I could, but he doesn’t feel safe with us yet. And I think Trey’s right, parting him from Makenna might be hard. I was pretty suspicious of her and her motives at first, but I totally misjudged her. Dawn said she’s been there since she was a kid. I’m guessing that she’s changed her name because she doesn’t want to be found.”

Ryan grunted his agreement.

Dominic, another enforcer, lounged in his chair with his arms crossed behind his head. “I’m looking forward to meeting Zac. Bring him here for a visit.”

“He won’t come,” said Taryn. “Not yet. He knows we’d prefer to have him here for his own safety; he won’t trust us not to force him to stay.”

She was right, which was why . . . “Remy has to be dealt with.”

Dante’s eyes snapped to Ryan. “He will be.” It was a vow.

“I called Shaya and told her everything,” announced Taryn. “Of course, she now thinks Dawn, Makenna, and Madisyn are angels and that Remy needs to jump off a cliff.”

Ryan had every intention of attending the mediation meeting. Makenna might not realize it yet, but he would see this matter through to the end with her—even if Zac was part of his pack before the situation was resolved. Since it had shot to life earlier, he’d been unable to shake off the protectiveness or the feeling that it was his
right
to look out for her.

Trey turned to Rhett. “What did you find out about Remy?”

Rhett put down his coffee. “His father died when he was seven, so he was raised by his mother.” Most shifters couldn’t survive the breaking of a mating bond, but some managed to hang on. “He has a lot of alliances and friends in high places. He became pack Alpha four years ago. Since then, he’s been challenging the packs around him to expand his own, spreading over California like a virus. And now he seems to want the territory that the shelter sits on.”

Tao, who had Kye sitting on his lap—the kid was playing some kind of game on Tao’s cell phone—frowned. “I can’t work out why Remy wants that territory. It’s a really bad area that’s well known for housing loners.”

“Maybe it’s not the territory he wants,” suggested Trick. “Maybe he wants the shelter.”

Cam frowned. “But why?”

Trick shrugged. “It could be that he’s hoping to shut it down. Being Alpha to Dawn would give him the power to do it.”

“But
why
would he want to shut it down?” Cam asked him.

“I didn’t say I had the answer. It’s just a theory.”

Ryan had a theory of his own. “I’ve been thinking about this . . . and I don’t believe this is about the territory at all.”

Trey cocked his head. “Why?”

“I once heard a rumor about Remy.” A rumor that he hadn’t thought could possibly be true—or maybe he hadn’t wanted to believe it. But now, with everything going on around them, he wondered if there was something to it. And that made Ryan’s wolf want to rip out the fucker’s throat. “If it’s to be believed, Remy’s not into females.”

Dante’s brows flew up. “He’s gay?”

Ryan shook his head. “He likes little boys.”

There was a stunned silence followed by a string of curses.

“Are you sure?” asked Taryn.

“Like I said, it’s a rumor.”

Taryn suddenly looked nauseous. “There were a lot of kids at that shelter.”

Dante’s hand paused as it stroked over Jaime’s hair. “Such kids would be the perfect targets—they don’t have a pack to defend them, they don’t have anywhere to go unless Makenna rehomes them. If he was her Alpha, he could prevent her from doing so. Dawn said that kids are handed over to them frequently.”

Ryan nodded. “He’d basically have access to an endless supply of children.” And that was a frightening thought. “He’d have access to Zac. I won’t let that happen.”

“Our pack as a whole will protect him,” Taryn assured him. “Not just Zac, but the shelter. It’s doing something good, and that needs protecting.”

Greta, Trey’s antisocial and pretty psychotic grandmother, raised a hand. “As much as I appreciate what the people there are doing for my Zac”—she hadn’t even met the kid yet, but she already considered him hers—“I don’t think we should get involved. It’s not our fight.”

Taryn scowled. “You’re suggesting we ignore the fact that those kids could end up in the hands of a pedophile?”

“As Ryan said, it’s just a rumor. There are plenty of rumors about my Trey; not all of them are true. The same can be said for most powerful Alphas—there are always people trying to ruin their reputation.”

That was part of why Ryan hadn’t initially given much thought to the rumors about Remy.

“Yes, but I’m not prepared to take that chance,” said Taryn. “Especially since we owe the shelter.”

“But we don’t owe any of the loners staying there. I’m telling you, loners can’t be trusted. One of them shot my Roni.”

“So it’s totally fine that
I
was shot by a loner?” Jaime asked, amused.

Greta humphed. “Why should I care? My Dante could have done better than you. Just like my Trey could have done better than that hussy.”

Greta thought of Trey, Dante, Tao, and all four male enforcers as “her boys” and was having trouble cutting the apron springs. That was why she disliked any unmated females being around them and always did her best to chase them off. It hadn’t worked with Taryn and Jaime. Somehow, Roni had tricked Greta into approving of her. The entire pack was still in awe of her for it.

“Back to the subject at hand,” said Taryn, “we have to help any way we can with the Remy problem.”

Trey cocked one brow at her. “Do I not get a say in this?”

She patted his arm. “Of course you do. Just note that if your opinion is different from mine, it will be disregarded.”

“You can’t be serious about helping loners!” Greta griped. The word “loners” was spoken in the same tone as someone might use for “Nazis.”

The smile that Taryn shot Greta was a little evil. “But just think how much fun it would be to have more unmated females around your boys . . . you know, flirting with them, leading them down the path of sin.”

Greta lifted her chin. “I refuse to offer any help to loners.”

“And I refuse to accept that someone who is so old she was a waitress at the Last Supper could still be alive, yet here you are.”

Hearing a series of beeps signaling that Ryan had received a text message, he took his cell from his pocket. The message was from Zac and mostly in shorthand, but Ryan translated it into: “Thanks for chasing off Remy today. Are you really going to help the shelter?”

Ryan immediately replied: “Yes. The whole pack will help.”

It was a promise, and Ryan never broke his word. He wasn’t concerned that Greta would change Taryn’s mind on the matter. Even if the woman miraculously managed to do so, it wouldn’t change Ryan’s plans.

Generally, he didn’t get involved in other people’s drama. Having been raised in a house that was full of it, Ryan avoided it like the plague. But he had every intention of helping the shelter, and he wouldn’t be swayed from that course. Once Ryan committed himself to any cause of action, he saw it through to the end. He wouldn’t overlook the danger Remy presented to those children and he wouldn’t let Zac down.

In truth, the kid deserved a better guardian than Ryan—he wasn’t good at giving emotional feedback, wasn’t good at bonding, and wasn’t good at expressing affection or receiving it. But he could give Zac a home, a sense of belonging, and ensure he was safe. Those were all good things, right?

Spending time with Zac to earn his trust would also mean spending time with Makenna. Ryan waited for discomfort to settle in at the idea of being around a loner . . . but none came. In fact, he realized with a start, he wanted to see her again. Probably because she was a mystery. Ryan liked having all the facts of a situation. He wanted to know who she really was and what happened to her. Moreover, he wanted to know what fucking pack would cast out a pup and just how they could possibly justify it to themselves.

“Where did you hear the rumor about Remy?” Trey asked, interrupting Ryan’s thoughts.

“I was at a shifter bar,” said Ryan. “The waitress was flirting with him at the other side of the room. One of the barmen—Myles—didn’t look happy about it. Then he snickered when Remy dismissed her. He said he wasn’t surprised she’d been sent on her way because he’d heard Remy’s interests leaned toward young boys.”

Dante folded his arms across his chest. “Then I think we need to go and speak with this barman, find out where he got that information.”

Later that night, Ryan strode through the crowded bar with Trey, Dante, and Trick. They found Myles at the far end of the bar, flirting with the female he was serving.

He went rigid at the sight of their grim expressions. “What’s this about?”

A straight shooter. Ryan liked that.

“We have a few questions,” said Trey. “It won’t take long.”

Myles barked a nervous laugh. “I’d be a fool to walk off alone with four pissed-off Phoenix wolves.”

“It’s not you we’re pissed at,” said Trey. “But I have a feeling you can tell us a little about the wolf who
did
piss us off.”

Myles pressed his lips together, clearly reluctant. Finally, with a heavy exhale, he rounded the bar and gestured for them to follow him. He led them through a door marked “Staff Only” and into an empty break room. “What do you want to know?”

Trey spoke. “Remy Deacon.”

Myles’s face scrunched up in distaste. “What about him?”

“Last time I was here,” said Ryan, “you told me Remy likes little boys.”

Myles shifted uncomfortably. “That’s what I heard.”

“From who?”

“Some of my pack mates. They were originally members of one of the packs he took over. They switched to ours a few months ago.”

“They know this for certain?” asked Dante. “They’ve witnessed it?”

“No. They said he likes to be around the kids, that he takes them on nature walks and he’s adopted all the orphans.”

“There’s nothing wrong with spending time with pups,” said Trey.

“No, but some of the boys have gone missing. And one of the fathers outright accused Remy of abusing his son and then attacked him. Remy killed the father. Since then, some of the families have left—maybe because they believe the rumors or maybe because they’re being cautious.” He cringed as he added, “I also heard that his extremely possessive mother loves him . . . a little
too
much.”

A bitter taste settled on Ryan’s tongue. His wolf curled his lip in total disgust. If the latter rumor were true, a person might be tempted to feel sympathy for Remy. Ryan wasn’t tempted. Sad and sick as it was, lots of people were abused. They didn’t all become abusers.

“We need to speak with your pack mates,” Dante told Myles. “We need to know more about Remy.”

“I don’t think they know anything more.”

“Maybe not, but we have to be sure.”

Myles scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “They’re visiting relatives in Canada. They’ll be back Friday.”