The Reluctant Wolf (Book 1 Cloverleah Pack) (20 page)

Micah was facing his Alpha a determined look on his face.  “I have the right under pack law.  Kane was intimate with me before he met this interloper and I have the right to fight for the claim.”
  Arthur growled and stepped away. 

The Shaman looked at Shawn and then Micah
and then shrugged and said loudly. “A claim has been made.  Shawn will have to fight.  Everyone step outside of the circle.  Micah, as the challenger you have the right to shift first.”

Micah stripped off his clothes as Shawn watched him and shifted into a
large dirty brown wolf.  He started to move towards Shawn who hadn’t made a move to remove his clothes at all.  Micah hesitated obviously giving the Shawn the chance to strip and shift, but Shawn put his hands up and beckoned to him. 

Fuck hon, at least change.

I am not getting this suit dirty.

It was over in a flash.  Micah ran and jumped at Shawn’s throat but Shawn caught him easily
around the middle with his bare hands.  He slammed the wolf into the ground on his back and using one hand clawing around the wolf’s throat, and the other on his belly, he pinned him to the ground.  Micah flailed his legs trying to get traction but Shawn would not let up.  Shawn allowed his power to edge out until he heard the wolf whimper in submission.  Standing up Shawn used his quiet slow but lethal ‘Dom’ voice.

“Now shift and fuck off.”
 

Micah shifted and scrabbled to his feet, running out of the circle.  He was grabbed by two of Arthur’s men who ordered him to be put in one of the
SUV’s until after the ceremony. Attempting to subvert a true mate pairing in wolves was a serious offence.

Shawn dusted off his hands, and straightened his clothes.  He looked around the circle at the men, and Cheryl who were all looking at him in astonishment.  He smiled
wryly and opened his arms wide, “Anyone else or can we get on with this.”

Kane came towards him as the others gathered in the circle once again.  Shaman Paulo stood in front of them again and asked Shawn quietly, “Do you want to continue?”
  Looking at Kane with an annoyed frown on his face, Shawn said shortly, “yes.”

How much trouble am I in?

Enough.

You know that is a huge insult to a wolf shifter to not even bother to shift to fight.

I know.  That was the point.  Maybe he will warn another dozen or so wannabees to leave me alone.  Should cut the number down a bit.

You know how hot you look when you get all masterful and Dom-like?

Ha, don’t even go there. You will be groveling for a week for this.

I don’t mind groveling.  I can grovel real good.

Shut up nutter and pay attention to the Shaman.

Kane grinned at Shawn whose own look of annoyance had softened and indicated for Shaman Paulo to continue.

“Right, if there are no more claims I will continue.”  Shaman Paulo waited for a moment and then went on.

“At this point I would like to ask Kane to speak to those present and explain his reasons for choosing Shawn above all others.”

Looking straight at Shawn Kane started to speak.  His voice was low but clear and honest and it carried to all points of the circle and beyond.

“Shawn has stolen my heart.  He has proven he is strong enough to protect those he cares about, but gentle enough to always put the needs of others first.  He is tolerant of mistakes, thank goodness,” the crowd laughed a bit at that, “And he means more to me than my own life.
Put simply, I love him with all that I am. I know as an Alpha I will always put the needs of my pack first, and I have done that in choosing Shawn as I genuinely believe that Shawn is a welcome addition to any pack as the strong and unique individual he is.  For me personally he is everything I have ever searched for, everything I ever needed and all that I will ever want.  For me he is exactly that, everything and all that I have is his.  I ask my pack and those present to accept him as my mate, my partner and their leader, equal to me in every way.”

Kane looked deep into Shawn’s eyes as he spoke and saw the love mirrored there.  All those around the circle yelled their acceptance and the Shaman waited for quiet before continuing.

“Shawn, can you now explain to those present why it is you chose Kane and why you agreed to be joined with him in this undertaking.”

Shawn closed his eyes for a minute and
then opened them staring at Kane with such an intensity that Kane honestly thought he would cry.  Then Shawn’s quiet strong voice rang out through the valley.

“Kane has given me my life.  He has shown me what was missing for me in the years before we met.  His strength and devotion to his pack
empowers me.  His love nurtures me.  His heart healed mine. Kane is what makes me complete in every way.  I chose Kane because I simply could not walk away.  I love him more than my own life.  I care for him and his pack more than I have anyone else ever in my life.  Everything I am, I give to you, Kane.  All that I can be is now yours. I chose you without reservation and ask the pack and all those present to accept me, as I am, as your chosen Alpha mate.”

The crowd roared their acceptance again but all Shawn
heard was Kane’s heartfelt
Thank you
resonate in his head.

The Shaman took Kane and Shawn’s right hand in his and bound them with a leather tie.  Then standing proudly, his head turned up to the heavens Paulo chanted the words that have resonated around all packs for all time, joining Kane and Shawn under the spirits that protected them all.  The crowd joined in the chanting and soon the sound bounced off the trees filling the whole glade with love, acceptance and togetherness.

When it was finally over the Shaman turned over the bound hands and lightly touched each man on their pulse point on the wrist.  A small tattoo of a wolf head appeared on each man’s wrist, a black wolf on Shawn’s and a white wolf surrounded in blue on Kane’s.  Satisfied with the marks, the Shaman smiled and released the ties.  Turning to the crowd he yelled out.

“It is done.  Let no-one come between this Alpha and his mate on pain of death as is decreed by pack law.”  The crowd all cheered and moved into hug the couple, who were now bound in every way possible.  Of course the hugs had to wait a
few minutes because the moment the Shaman had finished speaking Kane had pulled Shawn into his arms for a long kiss.

I love you. 
Kane’s words reverberated in Shawn’s head.

As I love you, totally, completely and forever.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t expect you to grovel.

Laughing Kane finally released his mate’s lips and they turned to accept the well wishes of the others.

Chapter Twenty Five

The party was well under way when six motorcyclists pulled up, their Harley’s
throbbing through the night.  Kane immediately stiffened beside Shawn, watching the men approach in the waning light. 

“It’s all right, lover, they are from Damien’s pack.  I recognize them from the club.  Wonder what they are doing here?”  Shawn’s voice was quiet as he stood to receive the visitors.

“Master Shawn, it is a pleasure to see you looking so relaxed, even if the wolf beside you isn’t.”  The tall young man smiled as he stepped up the porch.  Under the light Kane could see he was a good looking man, all lean planes and strong features, his blond hair hanging chin length around his face.  But it was the way he walked that commanded attention.  His swagger drawing instant attention to his long legs and taut ass.

“Just Shawn, please, Master Lucius, it is a pleasure to see you.  This bristling wolf is Kane, Alpha of the Cloverleah pack and my mate. What brings you so far from the club?”  Shawn’s tone was relaxed but curious.

“Conveying Damien’s respect and best wishes for your mating.  He apologizes he couldn’t be here himself but he has pack issues to deal with.  He asked if we would stop by and offer support for the Alpha challenge tomorrow, and hey, we all felt like a ride.”

“That is awesome my friend, thank you to you and the others. 
Please pass on my respects and best wishes to Damien when you see him next.”

“Actually er…Shawn, Damien asked me to ring him as soon as we arrived.  He would like the opportunity to speak to you in private if that is okay.”  Lucius had the grace to look a little bit embarrassed as he took in Kane’s scowl.   Handing over his phone to Shawn, he and Kane both watched as Shawn wandered off to the edge of the porch.  Moment’s later Shawn was speaking but Kane could not hear what was being said.
  Frustrated he growled at Lucius instead.

“Hey man, I am sorry, I am just following my Alpha’s wishes.  We were meant to be here earlier, before your Alpha Mate ritual but we got held up.  Bumped into Xavier and his convey heading down.  He has a message for you, well for all of us actually.”

Kane and Griff who was standing next to him both scowled at Lucius.  “What message could he have for us?”

“Just to let you all know he will be here at 12 Noon tomorrow and any pack caught associating with yours will be taken out after he has ‘killed the freak’ as he so eloquently put it.”

“Does Damien know this?”

“Yeah, he laughed and said he wanted us to stay.”

Griff and Kane looked at each other and at Kane’s nod, Griff shot through the crowd to find Arthur and Claude.  When he arrived with the two men, Lucius looked impressed.  “Wow you have some connections.  I take it I have the honor of meeting Arthur Matthews of the Denver Colorado Pack and Claude Murphy of the Tulsa, Oklahoma pack.”  He leaned forward to shake the two men by the hand.

“And you are?” Arthur was sizing up the young man, which Kane figured was probably habit
from being an Alpha rather than anything sinister.

“I am Lucius Cooper of the San Antonio Pack in Texas, here on behalf of the Alpha, Damien.”
  Arthur raised his eyebrow at Kane who explained, “Damien and his pack are friends of Shawn.”

“Well, I have to say I have heard good things about your pack Lucius, although how
your Alpha can go without a surname is beyond me.”  Arthur smiled a bit as he spoke which helped ease the whole Alpha tension aspect.

“Yes, well Damien is a little unique, sir, but he is very loyal to his friends.”

Kane flicked a glance over to Shawn who was still talking on the phone.  His jealousy hit him hard in the chest, but he managed to keep it submerged for now. Shawn, however had caught his look, but he kept talking on the phone. Kane looked back as Lucius was explaining the message from Xavier to the two Alphas.  He wasn’t surprised to hear his father laughing at what Lucius has to say.  Claude also seemed amused.

“You mean to tell me that after Xavier has defeated Shawn, he is going to take on the combined might of three of the biggest packs in the United States.  The man is a complete loony tune.”  Yep, Claude thought it was hilarious.

“The fact still remains that this fight is between my pack and Xavier’s so if anyone wants to leave we will quite understand and there will be no hard feelings on either side.”  Kane felt he had to step up as an Alpha and do the right thing.  Not an easy thing to do when your father rubs your head like you are a puppy.

“Your problem Kane is that you are too damn stubborn.  These men have come all this way and they want to help.  And so do I.
” Arthur rubbed his head again and then looked back at Lucius.

“So who is Xavier bringing with him, anyone we should be worried about?”

Laughing, Lucius explained that he had seen about 25 males with Xavier, none of whom looked like they had any fighting experience.  In fact he described them as ‘pampered pussies’ much to Arthur and Claude’s delight.  Satisfied there wasn’t much more to say, Kane made to head off.  He needed to get to Shawn.  Lucius grabbed him before he got too far.

“Look,” Lucius started, “I am sorry about Damien’s insistence on talking to Shawn but you have to know that the news of Shawn’s mating to you was devastating to Damien.
  He wanted Shawn to bind with him in an Alpha ceremony even though they weren’t true mates.” 

Catching the look
of anger in Kane’s eye, Lucius continued quickly, “Shawn never gave him an ounce of encouragement ever and made it plain from the start they could only be friends.  He was only ever friends with any of us. That’s what makes him such a good guy - well that and he was a bloody amazing Master Dom. But look that is not why I pulled you aside.  I wanted to warn you.  Xavier has a Shaman with him.  A really sick little man who absolutely stunk of evil.  Apparently Xavier is going to insist that the Shaman be allowed to touch Shawn before the challenge to strip him of his ‘evil’ - you can’t let him do that, man because that guy can’t be trusted.”

Kane
nodded, his anger disappearing and he shook Lucius’s hand.  “Thanks for telling me this.  We do have our own Shaman here from my Dad’s pack so hopefully we can work that part of things out.  But in the meantime this Alpha thinks his mate has been on the phone with your Alpha quite long enough, so excuse me.”

“Hey,” Lucius called out as Kane moved off.
  Stepping up close to Kane, Lucius murmured, “Who’s the guy that looks a bit like you standing with your Dad and that woman.”  Kane looked over and smirked. 

“That’s my brother, Vincent.  Why?”

“Well, I am gonna have to get a bit closer but I could swear that man is my mate.”

“Take it easy, okay.  He is not ‘out’ yet
, especially not to my Father, who has a few issues with gays.  Plus which he is my younger brother so if you hurt him I have to do the whole ‘kill you’ routine and boy I would really rather spend some quality time with my new mate.  Are we clear?”

“Crystal.” And with that Lucius sauntered off to meet his destiny.  Watching an
ass that would make straight men think twice, Kane laughed to himself.  I bet my Dad is going to be thrilled with that one he thought as he strode over to Shawn who was still on the phone.  He saw that Griff, Troy, Scott and Dean were all standing around Shawn as he was talking.  Kane nudged up to Griff and whispered, “What’s going on?”

“Seems your mate knows you to well, boss.  When he saw you were busy he gave me the word to get the others here so that you could have an accurate report of the whole ph
one call from your entire pack.”

“Humph,” Okay Kane felt a bit better.  “So what’s the gist of the conversation?”

Griff laughed quietly.  “From what I can gather the boys were meant to be here this morning so that Damien could try and talk Shawn out of the binding with you. But of course they got delayed.  So now Shawn is dealing with the shit like, Damien’s bigger than you boss, that he has a lot bigger pack than you, he could be more useful than you, blah, blah, blah.”

“Fuck this is just like a pissing contest.  How’s Shawn been handling it?”

“Just keeps saying the same things.  That he is in love with you. You are his true mate determined by the Fates. He loves us, his pack members.  This pack is perfect for him because it doesn’t have all of the shit of the bigger packs.  That he wants to be here and he wants to fight Xavier and get this crap sorted himself and he knows Damien would have never allowed that, which would have meant full packs would have been involved.  Personally I think Shawn is being too reasonable but then he knows the ass hole, not me.”  Griff seemed adamant on that point.

He looked over at Shawn whose smile was looking a little strained as he was saying, “I have been trying to tell you…”  Kane took the phone from him and held it to his ear.

He cut over whatever Damien was saying. “This is Kane, Alpha of the Cloverleah pack.  Why are you hassling my mate?”

“Ah, Kane.  I was wondering how long it would take for you to take the phone.”  Damien’s voice was silky smooth and yet full of power.

“I trust my mate to handle a lot of things himself.  However, your behavior now is bordering on rude especially as I hear you were planning to try and derail my Alpha mating ceremony today.  That is an insult to me and to Shawn.”

Damien laughed. “Can you blame me, Kane?
  Your mate is a gorgeously sexy man with more power in his little finger tip than you and I have combined.  Plus which for me he has one other intriguing factor.”

“And what would that be,” Kane didn’t even try to hide the growl in his voice.

“He kept saying no, dear boy, repeatedly. Look, please don’t take offence as none was meant.  I have done my research on you and your pack and I know you are well connected and apparently a strong Alpha in your own right.  I don’t want any conflict between our packs.  Shawn is a loyal friend and any posturing between us would simply put him in a position where he won’t want to see me again. I’d prefer for that not to happen.  So are we good?”

“I’d rather kill you.”  Even as he growled his response Kane knew what Damien said made sense
. Having a friendship with the biggest pack in USA would be a good idea.  And he didn’t want to upset Shawn.

“As I would you, but that is not going to happen.  So as one Alpha to another will you accept the hand of friendship?”

“I would be an idiot not to as you well know.  I appreciate you sending your men through, even if the original intent was not something I want to think about.  I will also ensure that Shawn and I visit you in the not to distant future as I am sure it will be nice for Shawn to reconnect with old friends.”

“That’s all I ask.” Damien’s voice purred down the phone.
“Please tell him to bring his whip as his talents are surely missed down here.”

“Yeah, well we will see about that one.  Bye, Damien and thanks.”

Kane hit the END button and passed the phone to Dean. “Take that over to Lucius, will you.  He will probably be with Vincent.”  Dean looked at him in astonishment but headed off to find Lucius.  Shawn was sitting quietly but as Dean left he looked up at Griff, Scott and Troy and said, “Thanks guys, I appreciate the support.”

“Yeah well we all know how jealous these Alpha’s can be, don’t we boss” Griff laughed as the three men headed off to join the party.

“He is a smooth bastard isn’t he,” Kane said as he went to lean against the rail, facing Shawn.

“Yep, he is that all right.  Not used to people telling him no that’s for sure,” Shawn said with a grin.  “I see he got you to agree to a visit which is what he had been ang
ling for from the start.  I told him that you wouldn’t go for it.”

“Okay well I will probably get pissed off about that, but I don’t want you to be separate from any friends you might have made on your journey here.  All I do want to know is firstly are you sure you made the right decision in being with me and secondly why did you keep humoring the man when he was talking to you?”

Standing up in his graceful way, Shawn sauntered over to Kane and put his arms around the larger man.  Putting his mouth up to Kane’s ear he said quietly, “I am not even going to answer the first question.  I am bonded to you in every possible way and you are going to have to learn to trust that.  To the second question the answer is simple.  Damien is lonely.”

Kane snorted so Shawn continued in his melodious voice. “Think about it Kane.  Damien is the leader of the largest pack in the States.  He is the owner of the biggest BDSM club anywhere.  He has droves of men falling over his feet to be noticed by him every single day.  But he is looking for the same thing I was.  A true connection.  Someone who will love him exactly for who he is rather than what he is.
He wants to find his mate. I understand how he feels and that is why he is my friend.”

Kane took Shawn’s face in his hands and kissed him, thoroughly.  “You are so understanding aren’t you?”

“Only when I have to be,” Shawn managed to murmur before he captured Kane’s lips with his own.  Kane felt all of his tensions from the past hour melt away under Shawn’s expert kiss.  Once the kissing started to increase in urgency, Kane pulled away and tugged Shawn into the house up to their room. 

“Won’t anybody miss us?”  Shawn asked.