Winter Wolf (A New Dawn Novel Book 1) (19 page)

Katalina felt her wolf rise to the surface. She struggled from Jackson’s hold and found herself pushing through the crowd to get to Bass. She felt the moment he gave up. She felt his defeat, and as her eyes connected with his, she saw the message written on them.
Sorry.

Pure fury surged through her. She pushed the people in her way, felt the growl within her building. Katalina broke through to the edge of the circle, directing her angry gaze at Bass. He’d promised her they’d make it through this. He’d said they’d build a new world together, yet he was just giving up.

“You promised!” she screamed, her wolf’s growl in her tone. “You promised me!” He felt her words like a razor’s edge. She took a step toward him. “GET UP!”

Bass moved just a split second before his father would have delivered the death blow. He jumped to his feet, his body spinning out of the way, and his elbow slammed into Alistair’s side. Already bent forward, the momentum carried Alistair to the ground, his face smashing into the slush and mud.

Bass didn’t hesitate. He hit his father repeatedly until he was a bloodied mess at Bass’s feet. He stood over him, panting from exhaustion.

“It’s over father. Enough blood has been spilt. Let this be over,” he said wearily, looking down at his father with pity.

Bass stepped away from his father, his eyes seeking Katalina. As he found her, his knees went out from under him. Katalina caught him before he fell.

“I’ve got you,” she whispered, wrapping her arm under his shoulder.

There were hushed whispers all around them. People stared in confusion, looking from Bass to his father.

Katalina heard an audible gasp. No words left her as Bass’s father lurched forward, a lethal-looking knife held high in his hand.

They weren’t going to move out of the way in time. Bass, injured as he was, couldn’t move quickly enough. Katalina screamed as the knife came toward them, glinting in the dim light. Then there was nothing but fur, light grey fur, sprinkled with white.

The knife hit Jackson as his jaws wrapped around Alistair’s throat. They fell together to the ground, neither moving.

“Jackson!” Katalina pulled him off Alistair. “Jackson!” She yanked the knife from his fur. Seconds later, he turned back into his human form.

She could hear Bass talking behind her, but couldn’t concentrate on the words. All she could think was how she couldn’t live through losing another parent. It didn’t matter how mad she was at him; he wasn’t allowed to die; he wasn’t allowed to leave her again.

“Jackson!”

His eyes opened. “I’ll be o…kay,” he gasped. She pulled her hand away; it was coated in blood.

“Oh, God,” she whispered.

Jackson coughed, his body convulsing as blood spilt from his mouth.

“Jackson!” she sobbed.

Someone lifted her to her feet as people surrounded him.

“Get off!” she screamed.

“Kat! Kat, look at me!” She focused her eyes on Bass’s face. “Let them look after him,” he said softly.

Bass swayed on his feet. Nico was there a second later, holding him up. “Wow, pal, I think you need to be on a bed right beside Jackson.”

“I can’t. I need to contain.”

There was a yell and a child’s scream. Fur erupted from skin as wolves from Dark Shadow started to fight one another.

“Enough!” Bass boomed. Immediately, the fighting around them stopped. “I understand some of you are confused and I understand a lot of you were loyal to my father. I’m nothing like my father and anyone unhappy with me as their alpha is free to leave. I won’t stop you and no one will harm you by my orders, but if you do go, remember this, the moment you leave pack land, you are never to come back without prior permission from me. Think carefully about what you want. You have twenty-four hours to decide.”

Katalina looked at Bass with pride, pleased he was trying to end this with no more bloodshed.

“I’ve made my decision,” Malaki stepped forward. “I will never follow you and I’ll be damned if you think I’ll let you run this pack!” He pushed his way through, sending people sprawling to the ground.

“No one can challenge the alpha until five days have passed!” an older man said, stepping forward.

“I don’t give a shit about rules, old man!” Malaki spat.

“Kat, go!” Bass hissed, pushing her away. Niko vanished into the crowd.

“No, he’ll kill you.”

“Oh, don’t worry, little girl. I’m going to kill you first and make him watch.”

His legs tensed to spring. Standing her ground, her arms remained wrapped around Bass. If she was dying, she’d die beside Bass.

Only Malaki never made the leap. The tip of a sword protruded from his chest. A gargled gasp escaped his mouth as the sword pulled back out, and he dropped to the floor ground, dead.

“Anyone else have something to say?” Nico asked, wiping the blade of his sword over his leg.

“I do,” the older man said, stepping into the center of the circle. “I’ve been an enforcer for this pack a long time, long enough to remember what it used to be like before Alistair went mad with grief. He destroyed the very fabric of what it means to be a shifter in his bitter quest for vengeance. Packs are meant to be a family, a safe place where you trust your alpha to do what’s best for you. It shouldn’t be a dictatorship. You shouldn’t quiver at the mere sight of your alpha. I know Sebastian is young, but I’ve known him his whole life, and I stand by him.”

He turned and stood in front of Bass. Lowering his head, he said, “I accept you as my alpha.” Then his eyes focused on Katalina before dropping again. “I accept you as my alpha’s mate.”

Bass reached out and squeezed the man’s shoulder. “Thank you, Bill.”

“Right then, scatter the lot of you. Our new alpha needs a doctor,” Nico yelled. The crowd froze, silence hovering around them as they wondered whether to follow Nico’s order. “Didn’t you hear me? Scatter!” They scattered like little ants; scurrying here and there until only four men remained, Dark Shadow enforcers.

“Go get fixed up. The politics can wait. We’ll patrol and make sure no one starts any trouble.”

“I need one of you to go to River Run and let them know what has happened. If any of them would like to come see their alpha they are to be allowed onto our lands, and treated with the same respect as our own. Understood?”

“Yes,” the enforcers murmured in unison.

“Come on,” Katalina said. He’d been leaning heavier against her with every passing minute. “Little help, Nico.”

*****

Katalina sat alone on the deck of the doctor’s cabin. The snow had stopped falling a while ago and the sun had come out in wake of the clouds. Bass and Jackson were both asleep after being injected with a sedative so that they would rest and heal. William and Graham had come back with the Dark Shadow enforcers. They’d treated the Dark Shadows with respect, but Katalina could see the doubt in their eyes. They refused to leave their alpha’s side, Graham, standing at the bottom of his bed as a guard, with William on a chair, his braced leg, propped up.

Exhausted, Katalina didn’t have the brainpower to think about all that had happened.

“You might as well come sit with me instead of lurking behind corners, Nico.”

Nico flopped down beside her. “There go my killer spy skills.”

Katalina smiled. “Do you ever get tired?” she asked.

“Not really, so how’d you spot me?” he asked.

A frown appeared between her eyes. “Not sure, just sensed you there I guess.”

“Didn’t think you’d have wolf senses yet, with only just changing.”

“Bass tell you everything?”

“Not always, but he seemed to think you needed to be looked after.”

“I’m getting stronger every day. Though I haven’t the energy to get up, let alone defend myself.”

“Well, that’s why you have me! Bodyguard extraordinaire.”

Katalina covered her mouth as she yawned.

“Why don’t you go to sleep?” Nico asked.

“I’ve not really got a bed.”

“Go and curl up with Bass. No one will stop you.”

“All right.” Katalina dragged her sore, tired body up. She paused before walking into the cabin. “Hey, Nico, you’ll stick around, right?”

“Bodyguard extraordinaire, remember.” Nico laughed.

Katalina lay gently on the bed, as close to Bass as she could get without touching him. As she closed her eyes, she smiled, thinking that maybe, just maybe, they could carve out a world they both belonged to.

Epilogue

One Month Later

Katalina couldn’t quite believe they’d pulled it off. There were people here actually here enjoying themselves. She wandered through the party filled with pack members from both Dark Shadow and River Run. Listening to their conversations and their laughs, provided a sense of contentment she’d yet to experience. Music pulsed through the air, the timbre resonating through her blood. The huge fire crackled and spit, casting its warmth and glow over them all and the smell of food wafting through the air, mixing with the scents all around her made her sigh with satisfaction. Over the past month, she’d grown into her wolf. Sometimes, it amazed her, seeing how different the world was through the eyes of her wolf; the wolf used more than just sight. Scent, sound, touch, all of these things guided her through the woods, through her new life.

Someone called her name. Katalina paused, looking for the face to match the voice. Her hand raised, a smile spreading across her lips. “Hey,” she called back, carrying on with her wandering. Being an alpha’s mate wasn’t the easiest of titles to have. She sometimes felt as if she’d had ten years put on her overnight. Pack members from both Dark Shadow and River Run came to her for advice. They asked her opinion on the situations of everyday pack life. This new life was so vastly different from her old one, but in many ways, it felt completely right. She might not know anything about the way a pack should be run, but she had her ‘real world’ opinions, and so far they’d got her through some pretty difficult situations.

“Kat! Kat!” A second later, Toby’s arms wrapped around her shoulder. “Come with me to get some food! I’m starving. Just come off my patrol.”

Katalina changed her direction, smiling at Toby’s infectious enthusiasm. “So how was it? All quiet?”

“Yeah, some of the old fogies from Dark Shadow are hanging around the borders. The idiots are missing out on this awesome party! Seriously, Kat, this was the best idea.”

“Thanks, Toby. I’m pretty pleased with the outcome. Is Cage coming?” she asked hopefully.

Smile dropping for a second, Toby answered sadly, “No, he’s doing double shifts. I don’t think he’ll come after.

“Do you think he’ll ever forgive me?” she asked, feeling responsible for hurting Cage.

“I’m sure he will, Kat. Let’s not talk about him now. We’re at a party,” Toby replied, brightening.

“Katalina.” She’d hear that voice anywhere, through the loudest of parties, the biggest of crowds. Her smile changed as she sought him out, her Shadow Wolf. He still took her breath away. Her heart raced when he returned her smile, contentment filling her soul.

“Go on then!” Toby grumbled. “I’ll grab food and come find you.”

“Okay.” She planted a kiss on his cheek, hurrying off. “Hey, you,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around Bass’s neck, “finished all your important alpha duties?”

“Just one more left,” he breathed into her mouth, before claiming her lips with his.

“Oh, what’s that?” she asked, hoping he didn’t have to leave again.

“To keep all the wandering eyes off my beautiful mate.”

Katalina laughed as she dropped her hands away. “Come on. Nico has claimed the best seating.” She took his hand and pulled him toward the far edge of the party.

Nico sat lounging on a sofa, his eyes fixed on a girl who stood by the fire.

“Who’s that?” Katalina whispered as they approached.

“Oh, that’s Olivia. Nico’s had a crush on her forever.”

“She not feel the same?”

“She’s pure blood. Nico’s half.”

“So! That’s not an explanation!” Katalina snapped.

“No, not any more, my feisty girl,” he chuckled.

Katalina jabbed her finger in his side and ran off laughing. She jumped onto the sofa next to Nico. “Hey!”

“Hey, yourself,” Nico answered.

“So, ‘bodyguard extraordinaire’, why don’t you stop staring and go talk to her?” Katalina teased.

“Talk to who?” Nico asked.

“Olivia,” Bass answered for him.

“Stop telling your mate all my secrets!” Nico grumbled. “And I’ll talk to her when I’m good and ready. No interfering, you two.”

Katalina laughed, ruffling Nico’s perfectly styled hair, much to his disgust. “I have magic powers, Nico. He can’t help but tell me.”

“You two are disgusting, you know that.”

“You’ll be disgusting, too, when you’ve finally worked up the nerve to speak to
her!”
Katalina countered.

“I said, stay out of it, all right?”

They didn’t answer. Instead, Katalina crawled onto Bass’s lap, kissing him. “I missed you,” she whispered.

“I was only gone an hour,” he whispered back.

“I still missed you.”

Bass grazed his mouth over her ear. “I missed you, too.”

“Will you two get off each other?” Jackson growled.

Katalina moved her legs and curled up against Bass’s side, resting her head on his shoulder. She looked up at Jackson. “Will you stop being a grumpy ass?”

“Who’s a grumpy ass?” Toby asked as he took a seat next to Nico, his plate piled with enough food for two.

“Jackson,” Katalina confirmed.

Toby burst out laughing, spitting food everywhere.

“The youth of today,” Bill muttered, as he approached them, shaking his head.

“Yes, they have no respect,” Jackson agreed, shaking Bill’s hand.

“Everything all right?” Bass asked Bill, his second.

“Yes, all running smoothly so far.”

Katalina slapped Bass across the chest. “No work talk. You’ve clocked off.”

“An alpha never clocks off,” Jackson stated.

“In your world maybe,” Katalina said countered, glaring at him, daring him to respond.

“And which world do you live in, daughter of mine?”

“The real world,” she said with a smile.

“The real world?” he repeated.

“Yep, you should come try it out sometime,” Nico added.

Jackson shook his head, looking to Bill. “You have any idea what they are talking about?”

“Not a clue. Bass?”

“Oh, it’s a real thing, and once you’ve been there, you’ll never want to go back,” Bass told them, and then he added for Katalina’s ears only, “You’ll find the most exquisite things in the ‘real world’, and once you’ve found them, you’ll never let them go.”

He kissed her with a lazy hunger, dragging her onto his lap. The others around them whistled, and grumbled, but they didn’t care.

Pulling away from their searing kiss, Katalina linked her hands around his neck and surveyed those around her. Nico was stealing food from Toby while Jackson and Bill stood with their arms crossed, looking serious, but she was convinced they were secretly having fun; things weren’t simple here, and she still felt the sharp pain of her parents’ loss, but this was home and she was happy. “We did it, you know,” she murmured against his neck.

“Did what?” he asked her.

“Carved out our own little piece of the world.”

Bass looked at the smiling faces around him, the most unlikely of friends.

“Yeah, we did, didn't we?”