Claiming His Chance

A
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. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author or publisher except for the use of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews. This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.

“
I
t’s them
. They’re finally home.”

The call carried down the hill, the heavy drawl a balm to my ears. Perhaps to my Alpha as well.

“You hear that, Cahill?” Alpha Killian asked, his eyes locked on the forest hiding our packlands from view. “We’re home.”

I blew out a heavy breath, unable to speak. We were
home
. Back with our pack, our family, and our friends. Back where we belonged. And even though I’d be going home to an empty cabin, at least I was back on our mountain. At least I’d survived.

“I don’t think I can handle a big crowd.” The only female in our small party clung to the side of her mate. Beta Gideon kissed the top of her head and tightened his hold on her, ready to protect her even if it was from those who only wanted to welcome her home.

“We’ll go straight to our cabin,” Gideon whispered. His eyes met mine over Kalie’s head, and I nodded. It was time for me to get back to work, to pick up the reins of being head of security for our pack and protect those who needed it. And Kalie definitely needed it.

As we came around a bend in the drive, the air practically shimmered with anticipation. Southern Appalachia pack shifters lined the road leading to our mountain, but they didn’t approach. They stayed back, watching us with wary eyes, anxiety high as the four of us passed a row of armed guards stretching across the drive. They were the protection we’d left behind, the shifters I’d hired to guard those who stayed on the mountain while Alpha Killian, Beta Gideon, and I raced off to bring back a packsister who’d been taken from us. From their guns to their camouflaged uniforms, their icy stares to their heavy, black boots, the men I’d left in my place were the baddest, most intimidating I could find. I couldn’t blame my packmates for being on edge.

“I want the guards off this land as soon as possible,” Killian said, hiking up his bag on his shoulder. “This pack needs to heal, and they’re not going to do that with soldiers surrounding them.”

“Understood,” I replied, eyeing the guards over my shoulder. I hadn’t expected to be gone as long as we had been, and I wasn’t sure what the cost of their protection would be. Shifters like them weren’t exactly known for accepting an IOU. What should have been a week-long trip had morphed into months away, and our pack had taken the brunt of the stress of being left behind. Like us, they were tired—on edge, physically and emotionally. The past year had been a fucking whirlwind of both the highest highs and the lowest lows. And now I needed to pay the piper for doing my job while I’d been gone.
Fuck.

Our pack stood on the edge of a precipice, watching, waiting. With each step, they seemed to creep closer, anticipation rolling off them. Until finally, the restraint of the group reached its limit.

A breathy, relieved call of “Killian” set things in motion. The Alpha’s curvy mate was the first to break from the crowd. She raced forward as soon as we trudged around the final curve, practically leaping across the boulders lining the driveway to get to him. He dropped his bag and snatched her out of the air as soon as she was close enough, the two becoming one in a heartbeat. Their connection was like that—bright and bold, something no one could deny. The pack practically sighed in relief at seeing their Alpha male and female back together.

Pack Beta Gideon continued up the hill with his arm securely around his mate Kalie, both looking haggard but smiling politely at the other shifters who were practically itching to place hands on the couple. The second-in-command and his mate were quieter than Killian and Lyra, less show biz. Their love for each other was something you simply understood. It was in the little gestures, the help they offered one another, the subtlety of their smiles. Quiet but mighty, their bond was just as intense and unbreakable as the other mated pairs in our pack, but it had been stretched hard. Hell, raked over the coals might have been a better term for what those two had been through.

“Omega Kalie is home, my friends,” Killian hollered, his voice loud and deep as it practically shook the rocks underneath us. “Come, welcome her and Gideon back to the mountain.”

Members of the pack rushed forward, grabbing the couple’s bags, following them along the long and winding incline leading to their cabin. The pack whispered almost continuously, sending prayers and thanks to the fates and quietly hissing threats to those faceless enemies who might dare another attack. The hardiest of our group walked beside them, already on guard. Prepared to defend the beloved couple with their lives if needed. Kalie had been missing for months, having been kidnapped during an attack on our pack that’d left numerous members dead. Just the fact we’d found her at all had been a blessing. There was no way we would let anyone come near her again.

Making sure of that was my job, especially since no one would be waiting in the crowd to welcome me home. Not specifically, anyway.

I grabbed one of my packmates—a hulking brute named Eachann, who had nearly lost an arm in the battle that took Kalie from us. He looked better, though. Well healed. And brutally, savagely ready to protect his own.

“I want a perimeter surrounding their cabin. Leave enough room so they can’t sense you, but make the line deep. They need privacy
and
protection.”

“Yes, sir.” He grabbed my forearm in welcome and gave me a half smile. “It’s good to have you back, Cahill.”

“It’s good to be back.” I nodded and released the man to do his job, knowing he would treat his responsibility with the attention it deserved. Eachann had fought by my side a thousand times, had grown up with Killian and me on this mountain. He and Gideon were practically brothers. Gideon would appreciate my choice of leader for his security detail, as well as the privacy we’d give him. Kalie and Gideon needed time alone if they were going to recover from the shitstorm they’d been through. As did Killian and Lyra, though for different reasons. Lyra had looked exhausted when she ran for her mate, though I’d bet she’d handled herself and the pack with a skill few could muster. Still, I had a feeling she wasn’t going to let Killian out of her sights for days. That left my non-mated, no-family-left self to deal with…everything.

“You’re back, Cahill of the Southern Appalachia pack.” A huge shifter with a menacing air approached from the line of guards, glancing over my shoulder as Killian walked past with his mate still in his arms.

“We are. Thank you for your protection while I was away.” I offered my hand, a decidedly human custom but one that felt right for the moment. He stared at it—the traditional arm-grab of our kind being something he was probably more familiar with—then shook it with enough force to make my bones pop. I clenched my teeth as I endured the pain, but I didn’t drop eye contact. This guy was a total thug, a mercenary. He wouldn’t respect anything I had to say if I showed weakness.

“Time for your pack to honor our deal.” The security guard pulled a phone from his pocket and tapped the screen. “Due to the change in plans and the new amount owed, I’m no longer able to negotiate the fee. You need to talk to my boss.”

I pressed the device to my ear and waited through two rings as my stomach sank toward my feet. A year ago, I would have said something cocky just to get a rise out of the guard. But after the hell we’d been living for the past few months, I had no interest in mouthing off. I wanted to pay my debt and be done with…everything.

The voice that eventually came across the line sounded almost gleeful, so much the opposite of me. “Alpha Killian, my boy. So glad you made it back from the battle at Merriweather Fields.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but Alpha Killian is unavailable right now. My name is Cahill, and I’m his head of security.”

Silence. I glanced at the guard, who simply looked back with a glare that might have made lesser men nervous. But after the battle at Merriweather, fighting beside shifters with strength I couldn’t imagine and witches who could do things I once thought impossible, his brand of brute force couldn’t scare me. I knew he was a weak opponent compared to what I’d faced.

The man on the other end of the phone sighed. “Well, this is a bit of a disappointment. I had hoped to speak to Alpha Killian in regards to payment.”

“You can speak to me, sir. I have authority to handle payment.” I turned my back to the rest of my pack, knowing Killian would want to be involved if he knew what I was doing. But he and Lyra needed to reconnect, and the pack needed their Alpha to help them feel safe. Kalie needed her mate to help her heal from whatever horrors she’d lived during the months she’d been held against her will, which meant Gideon was out as well. I was officially the third-in-command, and I would handle whatever came up.

“Very well, Cahill of the Southern Appalachia pack. We have an underground boxing club of sorts in West Virginia that we’d like Killian to participate in. He would have to win just one fight, or lose five, and the debt of the pack would be cleared.”

My throat clamped down on an instinctual growl my human mind knew couldn’t be released. Underground boxing club? His language didn’t fool me. Those words were a polite way of saying they ran illegal cage matches between shifters for human spectators to watch and bet on. While the practice wasn’t sanctioned by our leadership—and was certainly illegal by human laws in the states where the fights occurred—they were still well-known enough even to a pack as closed off as ours. Some fight rings hosted matches that were to the death, some lasted until one opponent couldn’t stand anymore, but all of them had the same base rule—no shifting. Each contestant had to fight in their human form, which was hard for us. We fought better when we let our animal instincts rule. Even the strongest Alpha could fall during a human-form match. And if there was one thing we couldn’t afford to lose, it was our Alpha.

“Alpha Killian is needed on packgrounds for the foreseeable future,” I replied, keeping my voice steady even though exhaustion was quickly creeping over me. “Perhaps there’s another payment method you’d accept.”

“No,” he said, voice curt. “I want a strong fighter in West Virginia, and your pack is rumored to have some of the largest and toughest shifters around. Word of the battle at Merriweather has spread far, my friend. I want a Southern Appalachia fighter. That’s the only payment accepted.”

Ah, there it was. The opening I needed, the opportunity to take care of things myself and relieve Killian of the duty. He didn’t
specifically
want Killian as the fighter, just a strong fighter from our pack. Having been raised with and taught by Killian himself, I knew I was one hell of a tough fighter. The guy on the phone didn’t know it yet, but he’d see. As much as I wanted to stay with my pack and enjoy the quiet peacefulness of our mountain home, we had a debt to pay. And I fully intended on paying it myself.

Steeling myself, I pulled on every vestige of confidence inside of me as I said, “I’ll take Killian’s place in the boxing club to resolve the debt.”

Silence again from the mystery man, and then an almost excited... “Are you pack Beta?”

Gotcha.
I smirked, knowing exactly how to impress someone like him, though I’d need to fib a little. There was no way I was letting him know about Gideon. “No, sir. Killian’s sister, Moira, was our pack Beta, but she’s found her mate as the third in the triad of the President of the National Association of the Lycan Brotherhood. I’m the head of security for the Southern Appalachia pack, though. I’ve grown up with Killian and his sister, have fought with them and against them since I was a pup. You would not be wrong to put me in your ring, sir.”

I waited. The only sound a subtle whooshing noise through the receiver as the man processed my offer. I wasn’t worried, though. He wanted our pack because of our reputation, and I had the experience to prove those rumors true. We were big, tough, and hard to win against in a head-to-head battle. The only reason the attackers had gotten a single foothold in our pack a few months ago was because they’d come in like snakes. Instead of challenging us forthright, they’d gone after our weakest links: our elderly and our youth. I’d lost both of my younger sisters that night because the bastards had been too cowardly to face our grown shifters directly. A fact that had fueled my rage through the battle at Merriweather. Once the fight was over, though, that rage had dissipated. In its place, filling a giant hole inside me, was a sea of guilt over how many mistakes I’d made and the numbing realization of how much I’d lost.

“Three fights, not one.” The man’s voice over the speaker pulled me from my spiraling thoughts. “And you’d better be good enough to make us some money right from the start. You screw up in your first fight, and I’m calling Killian down here to finish off your contract.”

I nearly sagged in relief. This I could do. I could fight. I didn’t want to—I’d had enough fighting for multiple lifetimes already—but I wouldn’t put my pack in danger. Three fights, good ones, and I could come home to my mountain and bask in the silence as I mourned my sisters. That was all I wanted. Plus, Killian would be safe, and Gideon would be able to take care of Kalie as he needed to. Those two facts alone were well worth the cost.

I took a deep breath and gave myself over to the need to pay for as many mistakes as I could. “Understood, sir.”

He disconnected the call with a grunt. For a split second, I wished I had let one of the others handle the debt we owed. I needed peace, calm, and quiet after what we’d been through, but there was no one else who deserved the burden as much as I did. I scratched at the burn marks on my arm, handprints left behind by a witch I’d attacked. I’d been so sure I was right, so solid in my convictions, but she and her sisters had proved me utterly wrong. They’d opened my eyes to things I’d misunderstood my entire life. And I’d failed them, exactly as I’d failed my own sisters. Perhaps quiet and peace just weren’t in the cards for me.

With little more than a glance his way, I handed the phone back to the guard.

“You’re smaller than many of your pack. Our fighters are big, mean, and well-trained. You should have let your Alpha come.”