Opposition: Montana Wolves, Book Four (Montana Wolves series 4) (3 page)

“What are you, like five ten?” he heard himself ask.

She snorted and crossed her arms over her chest, not out of modesty, but out of amusement. “Is that what you came all the way her to ask me? Yeah, I’m five ten.”

He cleared his throat and forced himself to think about the issue at hand. He’d been in a pack his whole life and had never been so distracted by nudity before. It would behoove him not to start now.

"I have something to tell you and your people.”

"Why would I believe anything you have to say? You’re from the Big Sky Canyon pack, right? I've heard enough from Chandra to know better than that."

A low blow. Chandra had left his pack and joined the Pray clan months before. For his father, it had been a tipping point. The sharpening of the arrow's head that was now directed squarely at the Pray wolves.

Grey hadn’t said it out loud, but he hadn't blamed the woman for leaving. In truth, he wondered why more wolves hadn't followed her. If anything, the fact that so many pack members remained was a tribute to just how much fear his father could inspire in his people. Grey himself had left, only to come back when he got word of how bad things had gotten. Which was why it was imperative to keep war at bay as best he could until he convinced his father to let him take his place.

"Again, I refer you to the previous comment. The one about how you're still alive. Surely that earns me a kernel of trust." He returned her hard gaze, and she narrowed her pretty, dark eyes. "Listen, maybe we started off on the wrong foot—"

"
You
started off on the wrong land," she cut in.

"None of that matters,” he snapped, at his wit’s end with her now. “You’re not going to
have
any land if you don’t listen to me. Your pack is in danger. The human—"

"Amber," she corrected, her eyes now little more than slits.

"Amber, then, has caused a rift in the community."

"We settled this with the Kotke when they came a-knocking, and we’ll settle it with you too, if we have to. We will not kill her. She belongs to the pack now."

"She belongs to the pack, but she's still a human?" This time he tried to make his words sound calmer, but the result was much the same as it had been before.

"We’re not prepared to let her turn right yet."

"Well you don’t have much of a choice in the matter. It needs to happen, and fast."

"Who do you think you are to come in here and tell us how to run our pack? Don't you have some children to eat or something? Last time I checked, that was the Big Sky Canyon M. O."

The words burned like acid but only because they were true.

His father's cruelty had not been restricted to tormenting the pack. The last time Grey had left Joseph unchecked, he had gone for a hunt and stumbled upon a family in the mountains. When Grey had returned home, it was to find what was left of their carcasses waiting for him. The older wolves had been proud, had celebrated the alpha and toasted to him.

The rest of the pack?

They looked to Grey, waiting for him to step in. Waiting for him to confirm the one thing he’d suspected since his return.

His father was losing his mind.

He’d always been strict and old-fashioned. Since Grey could remember, he’d had a blatant disregard for human life. But now? He was a bloodthirsty monster, and disregard had turned to zealous hatred. Age had brought on a dementia-fueled paranoia that was eating away at what was left of his compassion. And this encounter with the Pray wolves was about to be the tipping point. If they followed him into war, win or lose, the aftermath would lead the pack from reluctant obedience to total chaos in the form of mutiny and civil war.

If he could put an end to all of it—if he could stop the battle before it began, then he had a chance of saving dozens of lives.

All he had to do was convince the woman in front of him that, if he had a little time to work, the future could be altered.

Though, it seemed that was going to be far easier said than done.

"Stick with your pre-conceived notions of me if you want to, but I defy you to find a single wolf who would say I would kill a human for sport,” he said wearily.

She cocked her head in confusion but rebounded quickly, pursing her lips and pinning him with a challenging gaze. "But you sit by and allow it from your packmates, though?”

“Not everything is so cut and dry, woman,” he tried again, though frustration was already burning to the surface inside of him, ready to erupt. “From what I hear, even your pack was divided on the topic of your human, so spare me the soapbox. I'm not here to argue with you,"

"You're here to attack me—"

"God dammit, woman. I'm here to save your sorry ass. Big Sky is bigger than the Kotke. We’re smarter, faster, stronger. Do you honestly think you can defeat us so handily? Even if you prevail, there will be heavy losses on both sides. You have to tell your pack. Get them to turn the human at the very least. That will buy me some time. It won’t stop my father, but it will make it much less palatable for the rest of the pack to get behind him, and that’s all I need right now.”

She shifted restlessly from foot to foot and stepped into a moonbeam that lit her from head to toe. God, she was beautiful.

Color flooded her chest, snaking along her neck until her cheeks were a bright, rosy red. "What's your endgame?"

"Sorry?" he asked, trying to get him back in the game.

"You obviously don't care about 'the human’." Her fingers curled into air-quotes around the word. "So why are you here? Do you care about my pack or werewolf relations? Or is this just politics, and you’re trying to stage a coup?"

Anger bubbled in the pit of his stomach, and he clenched his fists. His patience for this had worn so thin it was threadbare. She didn't want to tell her people about the battle? That was fine. But he wasn't about to let her stand in judgment of his ethics.

"I care about my people," he growled.

"Enough to give us a warning so that me and mine are prepared and at the ready now that we know you’re coming for sure?” She let out a laugh. "Sounds like love to me. Good luck in your bid for becoming alpha, buddy. You’re going to need it."

He was so done with the conversation, he didn’t bother with a response.

He wheeled around and plowed into the foliage, back in the direction he’d come.

Screw her.

If she wanted to watch her people die, let that be on her conscience. At least he’d tried, and it wouldn’t be on his.

What did she know about caring for a group of people? She wasn’t trying to alpha from the second-in-command spot in secret. She didn’t have nearly two dozen wolves coming to her for guidance behind her alpha’s back. She wasn’t the one responsible for her pack’s future.

Which was why, tomorrow, he would cross the boundary again and this time, he wouldn’t stop until he found Liam, like he should’ve from the start. Maybe the Pray alpha would be more willing to listen.

And if not? If he, too, was mistrustful of some nefarious Trojan horse plot?

Then they were all going to find themselves in a little town called Fucked.

M
AGGIE BANGED
her head against the bark of the tree and let out a deep sigh.

Damned Amber.

Maggie had said from the beginning that they shouldn't have let her in. Just like they shouldn’t have let Amalie in the first time around. Exceptions like that only led to confusion and chaos.

She should have listened to her instincts. Shouldn't have been such a weakling and backed down when the rest of the pack pressed to bring her into the fold.

Shouldn't have grown to like her.

Sure, it was begrudgingly, but Maggie couldn’t lie to herself anymore. “The human” was growing on her, in exactly the way Amalie had. That was the only explanation for her anger when this interloper refused to call her by name.

Now, she a choice before her, and one of her options was quickly slipping away through the trees. She’d witnessed how fast he was firsthand. Once he was gone, she'd never be able to catch up with him once he found his stride. Even with his now-familiar scent to track him by, he’d be in Big Sky territory before she even got close.

It was now or never.

She rolled her eyes and shifted, charging through the foliage for a few minutes until she spotted his tanned skin through the branches. He hadn’t shifted and, even in her wolf form, her mouth watered at the sight of his firm backside and chiseled obliques. The man had muscles to spare, and combined with that shaggy black hair and those piercing eyes? Well, she was sure the ladies were lining the block to get a piece of him.

Not that any of that mattered. He was still the enemy.

Probably.

And she had to stay on her game. Right now that meant getting ready to pounce again.

He stepped into a little clearing and she made her move, leaping through the air and knocking him to the ground. All paw, no claw this time, in deference to the fact that she was starting to second-guess herself on his motives.

"You know, the first time I was willing to let you slide, but now I have to tell you. There are other ways of greeting people." He ground the words out before rolling over and shoving her onto the dirt as she became human again.

"There are a few more things I need to know."

"So now you want to talk?" He lifted an eyebrow, rolling to his feet with a sigh. She started to say her piece, but even though the words had been crystal clear in her head a moment before, they were all but lost to her now.

He’d been cloaked in shadow before, so she only saw him in short bursts, when the moon hit him right. Now, he was in full view and it was clear that her nakedness had had a profound effect on him, and even if he didn't bring her attention to the fact, it was hard to ignore. Her mouth still open, she tried to pull her gaze away from the thick erection jutting between his muscular thighs.

Yep, definitely alpha material.

"Impressed, sweetie?" A cocky smirk was spreading across his handsome face.

Stupid. Stupid. He's the enemy, not a plaything.

What was it about men and their dick hubris?

"Not really,” she snapped back, willing him to believe the lie in spite of the heat flooding her cheeks. “And my name is Maggie.”

"Maggie, huh? I gotta admit, that’s a little less rough and tumble than I expected," he said.

"Then maybe it will be easy to forget."

"I don't think so." His eyes roved over her naked body and her nipples pebbled under the heat of his gaze.

God damn it, hold it together, woman.

To the pack, she was like a sister. Aside from their teen years, they were immune to one another’s nakedness. But it wasn’t like she’d never had a man look at her this way before. Still, his gaze felt different. Hotter. More intense.

"Was that all you needed?" he asked. “To stare at my twig and berries and then introduce yourself so that when I tell the story of this harpy I met in the woods, I could give her a name?”

Okay, she probably deserved that.

"Not quite." She stood and moved until she was partly shielded behind a bush, suddenly feeling very exposed. Brushing her hair over her shoulders to cover her breasts as nonchalantly as possible, she said, "It’s been a rough few months and I may have been hasty, but I did hear what you were saying."

"Apparently that's half the battle."

She ignored the quip and said, "But I'm still not sure about your motives."

He paused a beat, his gaze trailing from her eyes to her hair and lower still. "I think you are."

"If I was, I wouldn’t be here asking."

She didn't have time for this. She wasn't in the market for enigmatic answers or lingering glances. She needed him to get to the point so she could run home and put some clothes on.

"You want me to say it? Fine." He approached slowly, every step seeming carefully measured. When he'd crossed half of the distance between them, he said, "I was trying to be a gentleman about it and not rub it in your face, but this isn’t the first time I've saved your ass, Maggie.” He tilted his head to the side, apparently waiting for his words to sink in.

If that were the case, then he needn't have waited too long. Since the first time she'd seen him, she thought there was a familiarity there.

But his scent…

Blood rushed to her ears, and her head felt light. “Don’t lie to me. My nose is legendary and—”

“I masked my scent that night to get past the Kotke. If they knew I was there and not helping in the fight, who knows what could’ve happened. So I bathed in tomato juice and then pine-scented oils to evade detection.”

She took a step closer and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in. And there it was. It had been just a hint that night, buried under all the other smells and mixed with the scent of blood and battle in the air, but it was there.

"It was you," she breathed. “You’re Greyson West.”

He gave a single nod.

Which meant he didn’t need to angle for politics. He was next in line for the alpha spot regardless. Shaking her head, she said again, "I still don't understand. The Big Sky Canyon pack doesn’t care about humans. Or the pack of Pray, for that matter. What is this all about?"

"Doing the right thing. They wanted to kill her."

The answer was simple, and heartfelt. She respected the hell out of that. Even if she still couldn't get her head around it.

In fact, she couldn’t get her head around any of this. The man before her was Greyson West. And he had surely saved her life and the life of her charge.

The last of the anger that had been sustaining her drained away and she swayed on her feet, suddenly tired…so tired. All the strife, all the worry, all the discord, it had been weighing on her so heavily that no run in the world was going to make her burden feel lighter.

But here and now, it did. Because alpha or no, she could feel it. Greyson was a leader and a man of integrity. It oozed from every pore in his body and she found herself inexplicably drawn to it and him.

He must have sensed the change in her because, then, he was moving toward her again.