Jacks, Marcy - Taken by the Alpha Wolf [DeWitt's Pack 9] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (11 page)

something and losing sleep over it, and yet there he was, lying in  Blasius’s arms, trailing his fingers across the man’s neck and chest in  a similar way to what Blasius was doing with his hair.

When his fingers made it up to the smooth skin on Blasius’s jaw,  Ryan frowned, recalling something from the vision he’d had when he  went into the water back at the pond.

“Blasius?”

“Mmm?” It sounded like the man was fighting to no fall asleep.

“Where’s your beard?”

Blasius continued to lazily stroke Ryan until he drifted off, but

Ryan still caught the odd reply.

“This body can’t grow a beard.”

74
                          
Marcy Jacks

Chapter Eight

“I want to go hunting with you.”

Blasius rubbed his eyes, praying to Romulus and Remus for  patience. The spirits had given Blasius a second chance at life, and  had also apparently brought back his lover from the dead as well, so  surely they must be listening to his plight.

Perhaps not, as that stubborn set to Rhyan’s jaw remained

precisely where it was. The man would not back down.

“I know you are an alpha―”

“Then let me hunt with you,” Rhyan insisted.

“You do not yet have the skills for hunting,” Blasius told him,

ignoring the bothersome outburst of his mate. “You could become

enraged and make the shift by accident, and that will put every other  alpha near you in danger should you do it at the wrong time.”

If there was a hunter around, for instance, and Rhyan needed his  human mind in control. It could be dangerous if Rhyan’s wolf spotted  the others and panicked like before, and the others were forced to  protect him while he ran about.

Blasius was more than certain that Rhyan’s wolf would not be so  fearful of hunters or people, but there was no telling how the wolf  would react to these things. At least until the man had some proper  training or was able to socialize with the other werewolves some more  and lose his fear of them.

Rhyan’s budding friendship with that omega Tristan could hardly

be counted on for that.

“What better way to teach me how to control my wolf than to take

me out hunting with the rest of you?” Rhyan insisted.

Taken by the Alpha Wolf
                     
75

He thought Blasius was being stubborn and purposely attempting to keep him out of danger, as though he were an omega.

Blasius told himself that over and over again to keep his anger at being challenged in place. “You do not recall how you were on your first transformation. The very sight of the other alphas frightened you.  You could hardly move as they advanced. Perhaps it was memories of the end of your previous life that caused it, but we cannot risk it happening again. If it did, you would be useless on any battlefield and would be no good as a hunting companion to anyone.”

Rhyan flinched as though Blasius had struck him. He wished the other man would not do that.

Blasius put his hands on his mate’s shoulders. He did not speak again until Rhyan looked at him.

“I do not say these things to be cruel. They are truths that no new member of any werewolf family can deny. You have only had one transformation as well. You are not ready.”

“Then let it just be you and me,” Rhyan said, not willing to give

up.

It had been that stubborn insistence that had won Blasius’s heart

over a thousand years ago.

Blasius could only look at him, but Rhyan continued to speak

before he could make his decision.

“My wolf isn’t afraid of you. You told me that yourself. Take me  out there with you, train me to do what I need to do.”

“Is this so that you can have your revenge for your… friend?”  Blasius asked. He and Rhyan had recently argued over  the fact that  Blasius continued to call the human named Decker a lover of

Rhyan’s.

Though Rhyan and the human had shared a bed, Rhyan was insistent that he and Decker were only good comrades and that he wished to exact justice for the man.

“Yes, it’s exactly that. I want to find the man responsible for his death, and I want him  ”…

76
                          
Marcy Jacks

“Dead?” Blasius finished.

“Of course I want him dead,” Rhyan snapped then clapped his  teeth shut, his entire body trembling with rage as he and Blasius  argued outside the door to their shared cottage.

Just looking at him now made it clear to Blasius that the man was  in need of another transformation, and soon. Perhaps Blasius really  should stay with Rhyan to ensure that the shift went smoothly.

“I want him behind bars more,” Rhyan said eventually.

“And how will you do such a thing? I know not about the  dungeons or sentencings of criminals today, but I do know that we  cannot simply bring in humans to handle this for us.”

That, and last time he checked, and he had checked with James on

this, there was no law stating that killing werewolves was illegal, and  no pack was willing to expose themselves to the humans just yet  either.

“I can do it with this,” Rhyan said, holding up the little black  weapon in both of his hands for Blasius to see.

He jumped at the sight of it. “Do not point that thing at me!”

Rhyan looked at him like he’d gone mad. “I’m not pointing it at  you. This is the barrel right here. See? And it’s not loaded either. I  have the clip in my pocket.”

Rhyan pointed at the place  where the bit of metal, a bullet, was to  come out of the weapon. Blasius continued to stare down at it with  distrust.

“Well, what do you plan to do with the thing, then?”

“I’m going to find that last of the hunters who killed Decker, and  I’m going to plant the gun in their things. This is Decker’s Glock. It  was registered to him. If the police find a man packing the kind of  weapons that James and Isaac said these hunters are carrying, and one  of them happens to be the gun belonging to a missing officer, he’ ll get  taken in, I know he will.”

Blasius would rather wring the necks of his enemies, but the revenge was Rhyan’s to properly take, not his. If his mate wished to

Taken by the Alpha Wolf
                     
77

do this, then Blasius could see no harm in aiding him.

“Ah, what about the lack of a body?”  Blasius asked. “Will that not  make a difference to your police?”

Rhyan bit the inside of his cheek, putting the Glock back in the  leather holster he wore around his shoulders.

“The lack of a body will cause some problems, but there have  been murder cases that have gone through without one.”

“And, should the hunter tell your police that we buried the body  on the hill behind James’s house?”

Rhyan looked away from him, his lips and jaw becoming tight.  Clearly, he’d hoped that Blasius would not point that out.

“There’s a chance that he won’t say anything. He doesn’t even know where you guys buried those bodies.”

“No, but he could simply decide to point the humans toward the pack to be spiteful. He does not need to tell them that a group of werewolves live here for them to come searching, I’ll wager.”

Again, Blasius was willing to bet that Rhyan already thought about this and was simply taking the risk that the hunter would say nothing, or if he did, any search done by humans would turn up nothing.

One of Blasius’ s memories from his previous life had been frightening the dogs trained by humans to hunt werewolves or other smaller prey that his pack had required in order to survive for the winter. If any humans came here with dogs trained to search for dead and buried flesh, he could easily transform into his wolf and sit back somewhere in the shrubs, allowing his scent to throw the dogs into a panic and make them lead the humans into a completely different direction.

He would do such a thing if forced to, but he would not risk the safety of this pack, no matter what his capabilities.

“Rhyan,” Blasius said, wishing he had the proper words to make the man see…to make him understand. “The justice of a werewolf, or of a vampire, as well as the dragons, back when they still lived, is

78
                          
Marcy Jacks

entirely different from what the humans bestow on each other. You  are no longer a human, and you must stop thinking like one. If we  find the hunter, the best thing to do would be to kill him. Should I find  him first, I would even spare his life and bring him to you to deliver  your own justice if that is your wish.”

“I just…” Rhyan appeared more lost than Blasius had ever seen  him. “I wish I could send him to prison.”

Blasius inhaled a deep breath, a decision coming over him, and he  was resolved  to carry it out.

He gripped Rhyan’s shoulders tightly. “Do your friend one better  than that and send the bastard to hell. Come with me. You need to let

your wolf out, and I will stay with you until both your minds merge.  We hunt the dishonorable bastards together, just like before.”

Rhyan actually managed to smile at him, and that made Blasius  feel all the better as he took off the leather holsters and his clothes and

walked out into the woods with him.

Blasius was eager for the hunt and was glad when Rhyan’s transformation came over him quickly. His blood hummed with the urge to run and chase his prey, and he wished to take that energy out of him as quickly as possible.

Blasius shifted into his wolf, and he and Rhyan ran through the trees. Rhyan’s wolf was  still very much in command, and Blasius doubted he would recall much of anything when he finally transformed back into the man.

So long as Blasius was able to keep an eye on him and have  Rhyan follow him, it was simply a matter of waiting for their minds to come together, and then they would hunt the hunters.

In truth, as Blasius ran and Rhyan chased him through the trees, there were some worries he held in the back of his mind.

It was not that he had not been reincarnated. No, there was a

deeper reason for his hiding his rebirth from his mate.

He was fearful of what Rhyan would do should he ever discover

that Blasius had had to kill the former owner of this body in order to

Taken by the Alpha Wolf
                     
79

come back to life, and that he had killed, many times, happily in cold  blood, all in the name of revenge for Rhyan’s death.

Rhyan very much believed in the human version of justice, and  though he longed to avenge his friend, Blasius could sense it that  Rhyan did not wish to kill the man responsible.

For that, Blasius feared Rhyan would leave him should Blasius  ever tell him his secrets.

* * * *

Tatum watched the werewolves, keeping as still as he possibly could while hiding in the trees. Masking his scent had been a simple matter of watching the wind, keeping up with his hygiene by using

scent-eliminating soaps and avoiding restaurants and smoke.

He’d had to smack one of the hunters he’d hired pretty hard when  that idiot had been about to light one up. The people Tatum had  managed to get here were nothing but a bunch of amateurs, and  nothing at all like the men Tatum had lost when he first arrived in  Brampton, thanks to the call from that old man he’d gotten.

He knew that worthless piece of shit couldn’t be counted on to  lead them, and that was why Tatum had tried taking control.

Not soon  enough. He’d still had to rely on the man for information  on the pack’s whereabouts since he’d been here first. That had been a  mistake, and the men Tatum had worked with ever since he’d become

a hunter were now gone, tossed away and buried in some unmarked  grave like they were garbage or something.

He swore he would avenge his friends for that one alone, but first  he needed to study his prey and figure out what it was about this pack  in particular that made them so much stronger and well prepared  compared  to other packs of werewolves.

He figured it out when he pulled the recording from one of the  little bugs he’d planted in the trees. He had at least fifty of the things  scattered around these woods, as close to the pack as he could get

80
                          
Marcy Jacks

them without it becoming too dangerous.

He hadn’t expected to get any conversation out of them. The bugs  weren’t powerful enough to pick anything up of that nature. Tatum  had only planted them to listen in on the sounds of any passing  wolves or animals and hopefully get an idea of where these wolves  spent the majority of their time hunting.

Two member of that pack had actually sat right beneath the bug,  unaware that it was only a couple of branches above their heads, as  they spoke to each other.

It was seriously Tatum’s lucky day when he played back that  recording.