Redemption: Montana Wolves, Book Three (Montana Wolves series 3) (9 page)

“You’re amazing,” he murmured softly. He swept her hair to the side and pressed a kiss to the back of her neck. The simple show of affection sent her emotions tilting out of control. She’d never felt this way before and it left her reeling.

Because now she knew it for sure.

She was madly, inexplicably, crazy in love with a werewolf.

CHAPTER EIGHT

H
e’d just had the single most intense sexual experience of his life.

And it had been with a human woman.

Jesus, Mother Nature had a warped sense of humor. But he wasn't surprised. He'd known the second he'd seen Amber. Held her in his arms and comforted her after Chandra's attack, that she was special. His wolf had known from the very start what he was only now coming to terms with.

He didn't just want to help her. And he didn't just want to sleep with her.

He wanted her to be his mate.

There were still too many hurdles to cross to tell her yet. And it was too much, too fast, especially for a human to relate to. They could be so caught up in their heads sometimes, never staying quiet or still long enough to listen to the whispers from their true selves, so quick to dismiss what their instincts told them.

His instincts were telling him that Amber was as nuts about him as he was about her. The question was, would she be able to admit it to herself?

"Billy?"

Amber's soft voice pulled him back to her and he tightened his hold around her waist.

"Yeah?"

"Your pants are lighting up."

It was then that he focused, tuning in beyond the splash and hiss of the pool. His cell phone.

Shit.

He'd been so distracted, he hadn't even heard it. The pack had long ago selected a ringtone for calls from the emergency line at the compound in the event that someone needed to be reached but had put their thoughts in “private” mode.

That ringtone was pouring from the pocket of his discarded jeans.

A shot of adrenaline went coursing through him and he released Amber to make a lunge over the edge of the spring to grab for his phone.

"Yeah," he barked, with growing apprehension.

"What the fuck did you do?"

Maggie's voice sounded over the line like a whip-crack and he pinched his eyes closed before blowing out a sigh.

This wasn't part of the plan. Not yet.

"Look, I'm busy right now, and I'll be home as soon as I can—"

"No. You'll be home now, because—and I know this will come as a surprise—I didn't cover for your dumb ass. I told Liam what you were doing.”

He paused, wracking his brain for how she’d known so quickly. He’d planned the date for a crowded bar, so the background noise would render the bug nearly useless in anyone had decided to monitor it. And when they’d gone out to the clearing, he’d had Amber leave her purse in the car, so how had Maggie—?

“I saw that googly-eyed, lovey look on your face when I went into your office and I knew you were going to do something stupid. So I placed a bug on
your
phone when you were in the shower.” Her voice was thick with accusation. “I heard you tell her, Billy.”

He felt guilty and angry all in the same go. She hadn’t trusted him and had invaded his privacy, but she was justified on both counts. She had done it to protect the pack, and she was right not to trust him. However he chose to rationalize it, he had broken the rules, and disobeyed his alpha. He only hoped that Liam and the rest of his pack would stand by him once he had the chance to explain himself.

“Liam has called an emergency meeting. Don’t add insult to injury by disrespecting our alpha at a time like this. If you care about the pack, you will stop what you're doing, get in your truck, and get back here, now,” she said.

Without responding, he depressed the red button to disconnect and set the phone down next to his jeans.

"What?" Amber asked, laying a warm hand on his shoulder. "Is everything all right?"

He hadn't anticipated this. Not so fast, at any rate.

He kept his features calm and turned back to her, the ache in his gut worsening at the sight of her beautiful face. "No. We've got a situation to deal with. I'm so sorry to do this to you right now. I wanted to spend the next week talking. Explaining things, exploring our options. I know I’ve piled enough on your plate for the night, but there's no getting around it.”

He tucked a wet strand of hair behind her ear.

“The timeline has changed. You have two choices now. I take you home to pack your most sentimental possessions and I put you on a plane to Budapest or Fiji or somewhere far, far away until I've assessed and eliminated the risks. Or you can come with me to the compound and face the pack. I've broken a lot of—"
Christ, so many,
"rules tonight, not to mention some direct orders, and I have to stand and face my brothers and sisters and explain why.”

He hated this. Seeing her shining face grow solemn and scared again.

“Risks? I don’t get it. I thought you said Tobias Wheeler was no longer a threat?”

How sad was that? The same night he told her about the existence of weres, he also had to tell her that they were often their own worst enemies. That, while they had dealt with Tobias, they had only traded one danger for another. One that could prove far more deadly.

“If you come with me,” he continued, determined to get it all said quick, like ripping off a bandage, before he started answering questions. “You're going to be judged, and possibly mocked, and once the other packs know about you, you will be hated. Worse, you will be targeted.” He took her hands in his and squeezed, making sure his gaze conveyed how committed he was. “But I will protect you. You have my word on that. So now you need to ask yourself if you're in, or you're out. Because once you're told the rest of it, and enter the compound, the wheels will be set in motion that can't be stopped. You won't have the luxury of just walking away, so you need to be sure. I won't blame you if you want to run."

Her furrowed brow and worried eyes seemed to take on a harder, more determined edge and she took a long breath.

"What are we waiting for?"

“
I
S
this real life right now?” Maggie demanded, her voice shrill with disbelief as she looked at him, and then at Amber, and back again. “Liam tells you to come and you bring her with you? You realize, you have just confirmed to the Kotke and Big Sky Canyon packs that we are accepting another human into the Pray fold? The human they’ve been suspicious of for more than a month now?"

He stood his ground and squeezed Amber's trembling hand in his. He couldn't imagine how terrified she must be. On a good day, Maggie was intimidating. On a day like today, when she looked like she would just as soon slit both their throats and be done with it, she was chilling.

“I did what I thought was right. We wronged her, Maggie. All of us.” He swept his gaze over the rest of his packmates scattered around the great room. “She thought she was losing her mind, and she’d started asking questions that would put her life in jeopardy. I wasn’t about to stand by and watch an innocent woman die because a couple of backward old men don’t like the fact that this pack has chosen to treat people as more than food, sport or some sort of nuisance to be exterminated. In this, I thought we were of the same mind, Liam.” He let his gaze settle on the alpha and waited.

"And so we are, Billy. But there is a lot at stake. You've forced my hand by bringing her here, and I don't like it," Liam said, his tone matter of fact as he searched Billy’s face for answers.

"I get that. And you know what your options are.” Billy leaned closer to Amber. “I'm willing to accept whatever punishment you deem necessary."

Everyone in the room went silent as the ramifications of the men's exchange set in.

Amber flicked a glance from Liam to Billy and back again.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" She turned to face Chandra. "What punishments?"

Billy wanted to explain. To reassure her, but he was pretty sure nothing he could tell her was going to help. Because what everyone else in the room knew that she didn't was that Liam had the authority to handle this a number of ways.

He could stand by Billy and they could handle it together, as a pack.

He could turn his back on him and excommunicate him.

Or he could kill them both and be done with it.

By standing toe to toe with him now, Billy was letting his alpha know that he wanted to stay in the pack, but if that wasn't acceptable, he would leave with Amber. And if Liam chose option three? Well, then it was about to go down. He would fight to the death to protect Amber if he had to.

The idea of fighting his family sickened him and the idea of watching them kill his true mate sickened him even more, but no matter how many ways he'd examined this problem, once the other packs had become suspicious of Amber, she had been marked for death. He had opted to put his faith in himself and his pack to protect her and do what was right.

Now, all that remained to be seen was whether his faith had been misplaced.

"We need to prepare," Liam said, his face solemn as he rose from behind his desk. Amalie stood and took his hand, nodding in agreement, relief washing over her face. “You’re right. The days of behaving like barbarians and killing humans on a whim is over. We’ll stand for Amber now as we stood for Amalie then. And we’ll fight."

His words were a balm to Billy’s soul and he sucked in a steadying breath to thank him, when a short, harsh laugh had him turning his head.

"You can't be serious." Maggie's flat tone as her gaze flicked from him back to Liam again, was enough to have his hackles rising. “She nearly got Chandra killed.” She wheeled around to skewer Jax and Chandra with her glare. “Are the two of you going to stand for this?”

Jax pursed his lips and stayed silent but Chandra patted his leg and lifted her chin. “We are. Amber was as much a victim in this as I was. I won’t see her harmed.”

“This is bullshit,” Maggie spat.

That was the final straw. She was pissed. He got that. But enough was enough.

"Who the fuck are you?" Billy demanded, slipping an arm around Amber's shoulder. "This isn’t your decision to make. And if you don't like it, you know where the door is."

"Have you all lost your minds?” Maggie spun in a circle to treat the entire pack to her glare. “Do you realize the Pandora’s box you’ve opened? Our enemies are coming for us, and we're going to have no choice but to fight. There hasn't been a war of this size in a hundred years. And all this for what?" she demanded, her eyes wide with incredulity. "Because the boys in this pack can't keep their dicks in their pants?"

Amber flinched and white hot rage poured through him and he stepped toward Maggie, a low growl reverberating from his lips. "Watch yourself, woman. You have a lot to say about love considering it’s a subject you know nothing of."

She flinched like he'd slapped her. "Screw you, Billy. This isn't about me or my love life. This is about family. Our pack. Every pain we’ve suffered in the past few years has been because of humans." Her voice broke and he saw something he'd only seen once in his whole life. Tears in Maggie’s eyes. The only others he’d seen her shed were for Sara.

Shit.

"Mags—"

"Don't." She stepped back with both hands held up defensively like she was warding off an attack. "I don't know what's happening anymore. It used to be that we talked about things and how they would affect the family before we did them. Now all of a sudden it's a free for all."

Amber shrugged away from him with a shuddering breath and took a step forward. “I’m so sorry, Maggie. I didn’t meant to-”

“Don’t speak to me, woman,” Maggie said, without even sparing Amber a glance as she spoke. “You’re a very small pawn in a very big game. You wouldn’t have the power you do if the men in this pack hadn’t given it to you.” She turned to Liam and swiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand. "You are to blame. You started this. I love Amalie, and I wouldn't change it, but your actions are what made everyone think they could do whatever they wanted no matter who it hurts. It has to end somewhere, and it’s your job to see that it does.”

Liam's jaw went tight and his eyes went flinty in a way that had them all shifting restlessly, except for Maggie, who was oblivious in her anger and hurt.

"Here's what's going to happen,” Liam said, his voice deceptively soft. “I'm going to give you twenty-four hours to think about this all, and then we're going to meet again, just you and I. At that time, you will tell me whether or not you will stand with us."

She glared at him as she backed away. “Yeah, well, don't hold your breath. And don’t say I didn’t warn you." She stalked toward the front door and stormed out into the night.

They all watched her go, but no one made a move to follow.

"It's been a rough few weeks for her,” Amalie said softly. “The kidnapping, and then we found out Chandra is pregnant and moving out, and now this. Things are changing so fast and she hates change. None of this is easy on her."

"I feel terrible that I’m adding to the burden. Is there anything I can do to fix it?" Amber asked, the miserable look on her face making Billy's gut clench.

"It's not on you, it's on her,” he said, vowing to talk to Maggie again when she had time to cool off.

"As for the rest of you, if anyone would rather not fight, or has any other objections to add?" Liam asked to the rest of the room at large.

To Billy’s everlasting relief, the room was silent for a long moment before Liam continued.

"All right. If the Kotke and the Big Sky Canyon packs already know she’s here, we probably have only a few days to prepare for battle, maybe a week on the outside, while they work out a plan of attack. It's going to get ugly. Let's remember that we're not just doing this for Billy and Amber today. We're doing this to make a positive change among our people. For our generation but also for other weres who live under iron rule and can look to us as a beacon of hope for the future. If they want to come on our lands and try to stop us, they’re going to have a hell of a fight on their hands.”