Alpha Instinct: A Moon Shifter Novel (17 page)

It jerked to a halt, then narrowed its glowing crimson eyes in her direction.

Her heart thumped erratically. Red eyes meant one thing.

It was feral.

By its wild eyes, she guessed it was diseased. Probably recently. Unless it had once been a human and turned against its will. She dismissed that thought as quickly as it entered her brain. Shifters didn’t turn humans for sport. Most didn’t undergo the change well and it was too dangerous anyway.

Clutching the weapon tightly, she took a wide step to the side. If she didn’t provoke it, it might not attack. But she wasn’t counting on that and was going to protect herself.

It growled deep in its throat. An eerie, whiny sound that sent icy chills spooling through her. By the look of it, the deranged animal hadn’t eaten in a while either. Its ribs were visible and when it snapped at her, she got a view of nasty, sharp yellow teeth.

With her feet hip distance apart, she crouched and got ready for an attack. Normally she’d shift and run from such a large opponent. There wasn’t enough time, and she’d be able to take him on better in her human form.

If he hadn’t been feral, she wouldn’t try to fight. But feral wolves didn’t think like skilled hunters. They just wanted to kill and eat. Which made them weaker. All she had to do was stab him through the heart with her dagger.

Bracing herself, she waited for him to make the first move. He growled, then ran right at her. The thing had no strategy whatsoever. It just wanted to kill.

He was only a few feet away now. As he lunged, he bared his neck and underside to her. Dagger out, she leaned back, ready to strike. Before she could drive it into his chest, a mass of fur and muscle hurtled through the air.

“Connor!” Pure black fur and strong, muscular legs flew past her as he tackled the feral animal. When he stood on all fours, he was almost five feet tall. Terrifying and majestic at once.

For a feral wolf, the gray one was surprisingly agile. He took the hit from Connor and rolled across the grass before pouncing back to all fours.

When it lunged at Connor, Ana knew the fight was over before it started. Snarling wildly, it came at him with no regard for protecting its neck.

Connor easily ducked the strike. As the animal sailed past him, Connor turned lightning fast and caught it from behind. In one giant bite, he snapped the gray wolf’s neck.

With a thud, it hit the soft earth. Still clutching her knife, Ana stared at the limp, lifeless animal. Its neck was bent at an awkward angle and blood pooled around its head, soaking the ground beneath it.

Before she could move, Connor shifted back to human form.

Connor could think of nothing else but Ana as he underwent the change. Pain ripped through him as his bones broke and his tendons and ligaments realigned. He tried to focus on the rush of rapture that would inevitably follow once he was back to his human form, but thoughts of Ana being hurt overrode everything. That was a special kind of agony all by itself.

Losing Ana … He cried out in pain as his bones shifted back into place. He blinked a few times as the world came into focus. His fingers dug into the earth beneath him.

“Connor, are you okay?” Ana crouched next to him and rubbed his back in soothing little circles.

Every part of him loved the feel of her hands on him. Still on his knees, he turned his head and stared at her. “Did he hurt you? What were you
thinking
?” Ignoring the dirt on his hand, he blindly reached for her and grasped one of her hands.

She raised a dark eyebrow and held up a silver dagger that gleamed wickedly under the rising sunlight. “I was thinking I’m almost seventy and know how to take care of myself. He was feral, not a warrior. I could have handled it.”

“I told you to stay put….” He frowned as he stared at the dagger. “Is that what I think it is?”

“It was blessed by the fae hundreds of years ago. It belonged to my father.” The rare dagger would have plunged the feral wolf into a comalike state almost immediately. Fae magic was incredibly powerful and rarely used, and it surprised him she had something like this.

He warily eyed the weapon. Years before the Council had come out to the world and years before he’d moved to North America, his parents and first pack had been killed by faeries looking to expand their land in the Highlands of Scotland. He and Liam had been out playing and his father had telepathically warned them to stay away. At the time, he’d been ten and Liam eight. They’d waited hours in the woods for some kind of message from their father but none ever came. Eventually Connor had ventured back toward their land and had found the entire pack slaughtered. Blinking, he shook the images of the carnage away and focused on Ana. “Where did your father get it?”

“I don’t know. I never asked. And who cares?” Dismissively she set it down and stroked a soft hand down Connor’s back. “Are you sure you’re okay? I’ve never seen anyone move so fast.”

He didn’t answer because he couldn’t make his throat work. It didn’t matter that Ana would have likely been able to protect herself. The vision of seeing her facing off with that mangy animal would forever be seared into his brain. If he could, he’d kill the thing all over again. Swallowing a curse, he leaned forward. She let out a small gasp before he covered her parted lips with his.

Hungrily he kissed her. Like a wild animal he ate at her mouth, afraid she’d somehow disappear.

There was a lingering taste of cinnamon coffee on her tongue. When she moaned into his mouth, his hips surged forward. He wanted to finally consummate their relationship, right here and now. Hell, he’d been ready for years. Forever, it felt like. And she wanted him. The knowledge urged him on.

The voice of reason shouted loudly in his head. Now wasn’t the time or place. They had a dead, bloody problem lying a few feet away and another one he needed to tell her about.

He could feel his inner animal start to take over. He wanted to claim Ana so badly his body ached, and it had nothing to do with the fight.

Somehow he pulled his head back. As he witnessed the hunger in her dark eyes he had to remind himself why he’d stopped kissing her. “I have to get dressed; then we’ve got to get out of here.”

She shook her head slightly, as if she’d forgotten where they were. Glancing over his shoulder, she frowned. “What about him?”

“I’ll come back later with Liam to burn him.”

“But we can’t just leave him. What if he’s one of Taggart’s wolves and that monster comes looking for him?”

“It was a justified kill. He was on your property and he was feral. I did Taggart a favor.”

“Taggart won’t care. He’ll try to use it against you. Trust me—he doesn’t care about rules. We need to do something about this now.”

The desperation in her voice made him growl. She’d been taking care of her pack for too long. Why couldn’t she let him do his duty as Alpha? “Don’t worry about that bastard. He’s
my
problem, Ana. Besides, we’ve got other things to deal with.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve got something I need to show you.” He grabbed his discarded clothes and shoes and quickly dressed. As he zipped up his jeans, he was mindful of his almost painful erection. No matter what else happened today, he and Ana were mating tonight. They wouldn’t bond, of course, but he had to mark her. The world needed to know she was his. He couldn’t take it any longer. She might have told him she wanted to wait, but every time they were together she acted otherwise.

When he started heading southeast, Ana grabbed his arm. “What are you doing? That’s toward the property line.”

“I know.”

Quietly she fell in step with him. It was obvious she wanted to say more but she held back. Which was more than he could say for her earlier actions.

As Alpha it was his responsibility to protect his entire pack. “Why didn’t you stay put like I told you?” He kept his voice low as they trekked across fallen leaves and dry grass. Many of the trees were bare because it was winter, but the forest was still relatively thick.

She looked at him guiltily. “I thought you might need some backup.”

“Damn it, Ana. What I need is for you to stay safe. If anyone else had disobeyed a direct order—”

“Well, I’m
not
anyone else. I’m going to be your mate.” She lifted her chin a notch higher in that haughty, sexy way he loved.

“That doesn’t mean you get to pick and choose what you listen to.”

“If you really want to mate with me, then you should know I don’t take orders very well.”

“Then I’ll just have to come up with unique ways to
punish
you.”

“P-punish me?” She faltered slightly.

He smothered a smile and dropped his voice even lower. “Mm-hmm. I think tonight I’m going to show you exactly how I punish disobedient she-wolves.”

She didn’t respond, but he scented her desire. Tonight he’d dominate her, but he’d also show her how much she meant to him. He didn’t care what his brother said about restraint. Ana needed to know how he felt about her, and the only way he knew to show it was between the sheets. He planned to worship her the way she deserved.

As they neared the ledge, he stopped and motioned for her to crouch on the ground. There was a steep drop-off on her property that delved into a valley and right onto Taggart’s land.

“What is that?” she whispered, even though they were more than a hundred yards away and a lot higher up. Shifters had sharp hearing. Two of Taggart’s men stood guard outside a ranch-style, one-story house.

“You smell that?” he asked. It was a faint chemical odor. If they’d been humans they’d have to be much closer to scent it.

“Barely. It’s like ammonia and burning plastic or something.”

“I think they’re cooking meth in there.” He’d only seen a meth house once before, but it fit the profile.

“What?”

“Look at the windows.” Despite the cold, they were all open, probably to ventilate the house. And there was a huge pile of smoldering embers to the south of the structure. No doubt where they’d been burning their trash. If Taggart was running a meth lab, he wouldn’t take his trash anywhere or leave evidence of it. This far off the beaten path they’d be able to keep their drug production hidden.

“I know Taggart is an asshole, but selling hard-core drugs?” She scooted back a few inches from the ledge and turned on her side to face him.

“Might explain the feral shifter.” For a shifter to turn feral, it was usually from disease or because a human had been turned against his will. That rarely happened. Drugs were the only other reason for a shifter to turn. There was a lot they didn’t know about the aftereffects on their kind of all the new drugs that were available, so more than likely meth use had turned the wolf feral.

Her lips pulled into a thin line. “Even so, that doesn’t explain the attacks in town. Why would he go out of his way to attack the sheriff’s sister?”

“He wouldn’t.” Connor might loathe the other Alpha, but Taggart wouldn’t bring unnecessary heat if he was selling drugs. It didn’t make sense. So far the two attacks had been against one woman loosely connected to their pack and another whom his brother was interested in. The attacks on the ranch were just personal bullshit because Ana had rejected Taggart. At least those had stopped. Either way, this drug business was going to stop too.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of movement. “Look at that,” he murmured.

Ana inched back up to the ledge. “Oh, my Lord.”

Taggart walked out of the house and stripped off a surgical mask. He might not be using the drugs, but he sure as hell knew what was going on. He was probably checking on his production.

All Connor’s protective instincts kicked in. If that was a cook house, there could be more feral wolves roaming around, and he didn’t want Ana anywhere in the vicinity of that asshole Taggart. Wordlessly Connor placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded for her to move back.

Once they were almost back to the horses, Ana finally spoke. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we should notify the police.”

He shook his head. “No. The humans will lump us all into the same category. That shit is too close to your property and Taggart might try to claim that it’s your meth house.”

“But if we tell them about it, they’ll have to believe us.”

“We’ll take care of this our way. I’ll contact the Council and ask them to send an investigator.” Or maybe the enforcer. Connor didn’t like to bring in someone whose main intent would be to “clean house,” but he’d learned a long time ago that humans had to be watched carefully. He wouldn’t depend on their law enforcement when shifters had their own way to deal with problems.

The first five years after shifters and vampires came out of hiding had been tense. Out of necessity, the North American Council of lupine shifters had convened with the other councils around the world and for once, feline shifters and lupine shifters had worked together. Technology was advancing too rapidly and hiding from humans was becoming all but impossible. Vampires had been pissed when shifters had made the decision to announce their existence to the world, but they’d had no choice but to deal with it. Surprisingly the humans hadn’t gone to war with them, though many had more or less expected it. Humans fought each other enough, and most civilized governments preferred to wage war in other countries anyway. With so many shifters and vampires living in all countries across the globe, a world war wasn’t an option anyone wanted. Still, in smaller towns, if there was a problem it was so easy to blame any and all shifters. He’d seen it happen before and he wouldn’t let anyone in his pack get railroaded. “I mean it, Ana,” he growled. “No police.”

She held up her hands in mock surrender. “I’m not going to do anything,” she muttered.

“So far you haven’t exactly shown you know how to listen.”

“And you haven’t shown you know how to tell the truth.” Sarcasm laced her words—something he found he’d missed immensely.

He preferred any mood of hers over her anger. Smiling, he shook his head. “Don’t change the subject.”

“Fine. I swear I won’t do anything stupid.” She grinned playfully and nudged him with her hip as they walked.