Pack Beta (Were Chronicles Book 11) (2 page)

“Coffee?” Justin asked.

“Sure,” she replied.

Justin played his long fingers along the pot as he prepped the machine. The strong muscles in his back rippled when he reached for mugs above the sink.

They’d first become friends when she’d moved into town. Justin had been taking a business course located right next to her math class.

Something about him had called to her, resulting in a quick friendship with the reserved man. Although, at the time, Kayla had been hoping for more.

After a few dates, they both realized that the chemistry between them just wasn’t there. They’d known the relationship would never progress, so they’d remained good friends.

Once he’d got the coffee brewing, Justin turned to face them. “Who’re you?” he asked, looking at Randy.

Shit, he must be in one of his moods.
The hostile edge to his tone was not what they needed after running for their lives. Justin could get rude and defensive when anything unexpected happened but he usually showed more patience than jumping his guests like this.

Randy started to laugh, cutting off her response. “Randy O’Hare,” he answered still grinning. “I’m a friend of Kayla’s.”

“The musician? Huh.”

Glancing between the two men, Kayla tried to gauge how the meeting was going but she wasn’t sure. Justin appeared just as grumpy as he normally was. However, Randy’s amused manner threw her off on what was going on between them.

“Yep, you’re the temperamental artist.”

She started to stand when Justin shocked her by laughing—a full, loud, belly laugh.

“I like you,” Justin said, as he pointed at Randy.

“My heart is all aflutter,” Randy replied but he winked at Kayla.

Relaxing back onto the stool, she knew everything would be okay. Randy and Justin were two of her best friends. They were bound to meet eventually anyway.

As he turned back to the coffee pot, Justin lowered his voice as he grew serious. “So you want to tell me what you two were running from?”

“I guess we’d better,” Kayla told Justin. While she spoke, she could see Justin listening carefully by the way his features changed, tightened with worry then relaxed with relief. It was a short story, although by the time she was done, her stomach had soured.

She sat blowing on her coffee as she waited for Justin to say something, anything.

“You both are all right?” he finally asked.

“Yeah, sure,” she said, exchanging glances with Randy.

“Did you hear them say anything?” Justin inquired.

“No, they just went after us,” she replied.

“Uh, I did.” Randy waved his hand.

“When?” Kayla asked.

“What?” Justin looked at him intently.

Running his gaze from her to Justin, he sighed heavily. “Just as we exited the restaurant, I heard a voice say ‘get the wolves’. I didn’t see who said it, though. I didn’t have time to really think about it.”

“The only thing you heard them say was to get the wolves?” Justin pressed.

“Yes.”

Kayla tried to go back in her mind but she couldn’t recall hearing the men speak. But if Randy said he did, she believed him.

“Stay here. I have to make a phone call.”

Stunned silence filled the kitchen as she watched Justin flee.

“He’s kind of…”

“Intense?” she offered.

“Yeah.”

Nodding she placed her hand over his on the counter. “I don’t trust anyone for something like this other than you and Justin.”

“I can’t scent him.”

In the time she’d known Justin, she had never been able to get a trace off him either. Normally when she was around a shifter, their unique fragrance was a connection to their animal. Humans tended to have a more chemical or fabricated odor. Justin had neither. There was no smell whatsoever.

At first it had bothered her but she eventually got used to it. For thousands of years nature had shown that there were always exceptions to the rule. Over time, Kayla had chalked up Justin’s unusual non-scent to just being a part of him.

“I know. I never figured that out.” She shrugged to show Randy it didn’t bother her.

Randy hummed but didn’t say anything more on the subject. She suspected he wouldn’t let it go, but they had a bigger issue at the moment. Justin’s low voice traveled through the building but even with her superior hearing, she couldn’t make out the words.

Since she couldn’t eavesdrop on his conversation and not wanting to dwell on what happened earlier, she thought about Randy’s words. Justin was more than he appeared—she knew that for sure. Justin had known right away that she was a shifter. Kayla hadn’t realized that she had given any signs to her true nature but obviously, she had. Justin had asked her before they were ever intimate. The way he’d asked had made it easy for her to be honest.

Luckily, he’d accepted her shifter half.

Justin reentered the kitchen, causing Kayla to snap out of her thoughts.

“I think it would best if both of you stayed here tonight.”

“What? Why?” Kayla questioned. Sure, she had come to Justin for help but she hadn’t planned to hide.

“There have been rumors for the last few months about a group targeting shifters. I’ve only heard bits and pieces but from what I’ve put together, if you’re being stalked, there is a real danger.”

“That’s crazy!” Randy slid off his chair. “How would these guys even know what we are?”

“I don’t know,” Justin responded. “How
would
they?”

Shaking his head, Randy stood, trembling, revealing his upset. “I’ve got a family here, a younger brother. I need to go check on them.”

“Give me their address. I’ll send someone discreetly to watch over them. The first thing we need to do is figure out why you two were chosen.”

“Who are you,
really
?” Randy asked, his voice dropping dangerously low.

Kayla stepped in front of Randy. “He’s my friend.” She waited until Randy met her gaze. Randy’s eyes were already glowing, the wolf inside striving for release. “You need to calm down.”

“Calm down!” Randy hollered. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Hey! I’m only trying to help,” Justin interrupted.

“Really?” Randy swept his arm, grabbing a hold of Kayla and yanking her behind him. “I haven’t heard anything about this group or other shifters being attacked. How is it you have?”

This was getting out of hand fast. Kayla knew the best course of action was to get both men under control but that require settling them down. “Stop, both of you!” she yelled drawing their attention. “This isn’t helping.”

“Randy, sit and drink your coffee. Justin, start explaining.”

For several tense minutes, the two men stared at each another in challenge. Finally, Randy sighed before placing his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll hear him out. But I make no promises.”

“Fine,” she conceded.

As Randy dropped back onto the bar stool, she faced Justin. “You’re not just an artist, are you?”

If she was being honest, she
was
a little hurt. She’d been friends with Justin for over twelve years. The first person she could say she had connected with when she’d first arrived in town. If he was hiding something major from her…she just didn’t know if she would ever be able to forgive him.

“Actually, I am.”

Randy snorted.

Giving Randy a furious glare, Justin took a step toward him.

Holding up her hand, she caught Justin’s attention again. “Don’t.”

A small growl escaped Justin as he spun around to begin pacing the length of the kitchen. Kayla relaxed her shoulders, rolling them and moving her neck from side to side. They didn’t have time for Randy and Justin to keep going alpha on each other.

Kayla sat back down closely watching Justin’s measured steps as he paced. Picking up her cooling coffee, she took a sip. The strong bold brew tasted like heaven.

She took a larger drink, enjoying the bitterness.
Damn, that was good.

“Okay,” Justin said, coming up to stop in front of her. He placed his hand on the island. “I’ll tell you what I can but this isn’t my story to share. There are people…family that could be hurt if any of this information gets out.”

“Look man,” Randy interrupted. “I’m sorry I lost my cool. It’s been a hard night. All I can think about is what if those men had gone after my brother or mom. There is no way they’d be able to escape as we did. But we wouldn’t put anyone else at risk. Whatever you tell us stays in this kitchen.”

“Thanks. For hundreds of years and long before the shifters came out publicly, there was—and still is—a group that operates behind the scenes. They protect nonhumans. They’ve always worked in the shadows. Very few people know about them.”

“You do,” Kayla pointed out.

“There has been a member in my family involved with this organization going back as far as my great-great-great-grandfather.”

“What do they do?” Kayla questioned. She really didn’t like where this was going.”

Justin looked up, steadily meeting her gaze. “Whatever they have to.”

Chapter Two

“This latest arrest makes it appear to this reporter, that the Church for Humanity is now finished. With its leaders accused of kidnapping, attempted murder and terroristic threats, the doors have closed on the religious faction.”

Grinning, Chase Lawson clicked the television off. The Wolf Council had come through, once again ridding the Packs of the latest danger to them.

He had to give the council credit. It had been a long investigation but finally, after a year, all five divisions of the Church for Humanity were now shut down.

Hearing a shout, he strolled to his office window to look out. Alpha Shawn stood hands on hips as Chase’s brother, Max, remained beside him in deep concentration as he stared out over at the property.

Pride washed over Chase as he watched the scene play out in front of him. Max was in full Alpha training and Shawn was not going easy on him.

Although Max was one of the rare non-shifters, Shawn believed Max would make the best replacement as Alpha, should something happen to the leader.

Chase agreed. In the time that Max had been home, he’d changed. Instead of the lost and angry military man Chase had worried about, Max was open, more confident. A lot of his personal alteration had come from Max’s mate, Cassandra Wilson.

He hadn’t known when he’d asked Max to watch over her that the two would form such a tight bond.

Chase had always been close with the Wilson family, as Cassie’s older brother Alex was Chase’s best friend. So when Cassie had been in trouble he, of course, would have done anything in his power to help.

He’d never imagined that Cassie would be the one who would save Max and the rest of his family.

Slowly, they had been losing Max to his demons. It had been all Chase could do to hold on to his brother. Nothing he’d tried had worked to return Max to the man he once was.

The next day, Max met Cassie. Finally, he’d found a reason to let go of his past.

Chase was happy for his brother, although there was a small seed of jealousy inside him as well. Chase was so busy with his restaurant and Pack duties that he’d never regretted not finding a mate—until he saw how happy Max was with Cassie.

Neither held positions with the Pack structure, but both were instrumental in insuring the Pack’s happiness and survival. If they could make it work, maybe it was time to concentrate on his own needs.

Then again, with the threats against them, in addition to the newly proposed legislation to require all shifters to register into a database, Chase knew he wouldn’t actually change anything any time soon.

A lot had been changing in the last few months. Even though Chase’s Pack wasn’t public to the world, they still had had to be careful. Already the Church for Humanity had targeted them. The entire population of Canyon, Texas needed to be ready to defend their homes against any other danger.

Staying hidden hadn’t actually worked out as he’d imagined.

When the shifters around the world united, deciding to come out to the public, it was left to every Alpha to decide if they would be open or remain hidden.

Chase’s entire Pack still lived in secret.

The past several months had put that secrecy at jeopardy and it was why the representatives from the Wolf Council were in town. Chase’s Pack couldn’t aid in their endeavor without revealing themselves, so they’d only played a minor role.

Still, Chase was proud of everyone, especially his brother and Cassie. Pushing himself away from the window, Chase sat back at his desk again. He had a little more work to do before he could head to the town diner that he owned.

Luckily, he had a good staff that was covering the place well as he took care of his Pack duties. Sue Ellen had worked for him for years as the head server. He was going to have to reward her for really stepping up.

He’d been considering promoting her to manager and hiring another waitress to take her place. That way, he could insure that as Beta, he was available to the Pack.

As Beta, it was his responsibility to make sure that everything ran smoothly for his Alpha. When someone needed advice or help but the problem didn’t actually require the Alpha, Chase was there.

That left Shawn the opportunity to take care of serious matters, as well as spending time with his people.

Unlike a Beta who was also an Enforcer, Chase didn’t discipline any members, so he had a good relationship with all of them. Some even came to him for his counsel, not even wanting to see the Alpha.

It made Chase feel good. He enjoyed helping others. Just like at the diner when he fed them. It was part of a circle that he had created—to care about his fellow shifters in every way.

Opening his laptop and powering it up, Chase waited as it loaded. A knock on his office door surprised him. He hadn’t heard anyone approaching his office. He stood, making his way to the entrance then pulling open the heavy wood door. Upon seeing the two representatives of the Wolf Council, he grinned.

“Hey guys!” he greeted. “Come on in.”

Kurt Moore and Clint Price sauntered into his office. Both men carried themselves with a strong presence that screamed Alpha male. They’d arrived in town to handle the church’s threats, working in the shadows the entire time.