The Bucklin Wolves Next Generation: Revelations (6 page)

For the first time in her life all the numbers and statistics in her head had taken a backseat to cold, hard instinct. She was completely focused on Seth and nothing else. That would prove to be her ultimate undoing. She never noticed the other one sneaking up behind her. The only indication that she wasn’t alone was when she felt the cold, hard barrel of a shotgun being forced into the small of her back as she heard the deadly click synonymous with this type of gun being cocked.

“Don’t fucking move, lady,” a woman’s voice said. “If you try to shift I will blow your spine out the front of your stomach. This thing’s filled with silver slugs.”

Chapter 6

Seth rolled through the attack, managing to plant his paws on the ground and push as he slung the larger intruder off of him. It was a pissed-off looking wolf with a familiar scent. He knew the fight wasn’t in his best interest, but his half-brother was worked into a frenzy.

He thinks I’m a wild wolf intruding on his territory,
Seth realized as he tried to take control of his rage-filled wolf mind. The wolf was fighting on instinct and if he didn’t grab the reins good and hard, then they were both going to end up bleeding out here in the field. He knew Rowan was a badass, one of the strongest wolves in history, but Seth was no slouch in a fight either. There would be no winners.

Rowan growled and leapt at him again, trying to pin him to the ground so he could close his powerful jaws around Seth’s throat and end the fight quickly—just as Seth had done to the cougar earlier today. That moment seemed a hundred years ago.

Seth ducked the ill-timed leap and rolled out of the way again, but this time he forced himself to shift as he rolled across the ground. It wasn’t easy to shift when you were moving, and he had done it three times today with his only meal being burned trout that he had caught from the river before they headed out. His energy was sapped from so many shifts and from forcing the pissed-off wolf he shared a mind and body with back into the recesses of his brain.

Now he was completely naked, with no weapons, staring down the biggest wolf he had ever seen. Rowan had always been an impressive man and an impressive wolf. He was the alpha’s true son, not Aster. Aster had only become alpha because Rowan had refused the command. Aster had never been as strong as Rowan and he had known it during his entire rule—it was why Rowan was his top enforcer.

“Rowan, stop,” Seth barked, still crouched low, not wanting to rise to his full height. Rowan might take it as a challenge if he did that.

The wolf stopped and cocked its head as he said its human name. Just as quickly as it recognized him, it melted back into anger and began to snarl and circle Seth.

“Please, just hear me out,” Seth said. “I’m not here to cause you any problems. I don’t want to fight you, brother. Just hear me out. I’ve come in peace, brother. You have to believe me.”

Rowan snapped and growled, taking a few lunging steps at Seth in hopes of getting him to freak out, but he held his ground and remained crouched with his eyes on the ground, refusing to make any kind of contact that would be misconstrued as a challenge.

“I’m not here to fight, brother. I’m here to talk—about Bucklin. Please.”

The man who rose up before him had always been an impressive sight to Seth. Even in his grief and depression over losing his sister, he had been intimidating. It was strange; Seth had never desired a relationship with his half-sister—the only thing he had ever sought was the approval of his half-brother.

“Why do you keep calling me brother?” Rowan asked. It was dark, but in the moonlight Seth could see the fury in his eyes. Rowan’s jaw clenched was so tight that Seth thought his teeth would break.

“Because I’m your brother,” Seth said, rising to his feet.

“You lie,” Rowan scoffed. “I only have a sister.”

“Your father had another child,” Seth said, swallowing hard. He knew the words he was about to say would anger Rowan. Only Aster knew about Seth’s lineage, and he had kept it a secret for so long. It was why Seth had been able to meet with Aster for advice shortly after he took the reins of Bucklin, but never Rowan. Did Leena know as well? “Out of wedlock.”

“You lie!” Rowan boomed, rushing forward. Seth put his hands up to defend himself but Rowan went low, punching Seth in the stomach with all his might. Seth tried to throw Rowan off of him, but his older brother was bigger and stronger. Instead, Rowan’s fist slammed into Seth’s mouth, bringing the familiar taste of blood. He collapsed to one knee as Rowan stood before him.

“Please, brother,” Seth said, his eyes on the ground as he sat on one knee. “Please, just listen to reason.”

“Liar!” Rowan screamed, rushing forward to deliver a final knee to Seth’s face, which was in the perfect position for the killing blow.

But Seth reacted this time, preparing to defend himself. He nimbly dodged back and spun, sweeping his other leg around. It caught Rowan’s foot right on the heel, sending it into the air and Rowan flat onto his back. Seth used all of his quickness to flip forward, springing into the air and coming down with his knees on Rowan’s stomach, driving the air out of his older brother.

Seth rolled away as Rowan tried to collect himself from the sudden assault. “Please, Rowan. If you doubt me, then ask Aster! He knows the whole truth. I’m sorry to come to you like this, but it’s the truth. I’m your half-brother. Luke had me several years after you were born.”

“If you’re my own brother, then why have I never met you?” Rowan asked, struggling to his feet. Seth’s blow would have crushed the ribs of a lesser man, but for Rowan it was just a nasty cramp that he could shake off.

“Luke didn’t want anyone to know about his shame. He disavowed all knowledge of me. William of the Red Moon pack counseled me and provided my mother with the means to raise me.”

“William?” Rowan asked, laughing sarcastically. “So you come to me with lies straight from the sire of the Blood Moon dogs?”

“Red Moon,” Seth corrected him. “William isn’t like his son, Rowan.”

“Which one of his sons?” Rowan asked. “Crow or you? You’re just as treacherous as your brother.”

Shit,
Seth thought.
He thinks I’m another one of the Red Moon’s plots.

“Please listen to reason,” Seth said. “I’m the alpha of Bucklin now. We’re in danger.
You’re
in danger.”

“They don’t mean us any harm, Rowan,” a female’s voice said from behind Seth. He spun around to find a human female wearing nothing but a bathrobe and a pair of tennis shoes walking up with Maribel. The human female held a shotgun in her hand, but it was pointed at the ground like there was no threat.

Rowan growled at Maribel as she walked up and Seth turned back towards him with venom in his voice. “I am not acting unkindly toward your mate, brother. I suggest you don’t growl at mine.”

He turned back to Maribel, who hadn’t even reacted to his comment about her being his mate. She was looking at the ground with her mouth hanging open. It was obvious she was overwhelmed by the situation–it just wasn’t something human females normally had to deal with. Meanwhile Eva was acting like this was just another day at the office.

She was quite stunning. Her breasts were full and perky, hidden just behind her robe, which did nothing to conceal the long, thick legs that protruded from underneath. Her blonde hair was short, but kept well for someone who had obviously been sleeping. She was beautiful and he could see why Rowan had lusted after her so hard and had eventually claimed her. Of course, she didn’t hold a candle to Maribel in Seth’s eyes.

“What are you talking about?” Rowan asked, finally breaking his string of grunts and growls. “Who the hell is this woman?”

“Her name is Maribel,” Eva said. “And she’s with Seth over here. They’ve come to talk to you.”

“You were supposed to capture her,” Rowan spat.

“She’s here, babe,” Eva said, making a sweeping motion toward Maribel. “And she’s not going anywhere. But she’s a very sweet and very scared girl, so drop the tough guy act.”

“You learned all of that from talking to her for two minutes?” Rowan asked.

“Call it woman’s intuition if you want, babe. She’s cool.”

“And what about this liar, here?” Rowan asked, pointing at Seth.

Seth was between the women and Rowan. He had to turn back to his half-brother to speak to him, effectively putting his back to the shotgun. “Stop calling me a liar. Take in my scent, look me over, do whatever you need to do. Your wolf will know I’m not lying.”

“Shift,” Rowan said.

“We’re not fighting again,” Seth said.

“Not yet,” Rowan said. “Now shift if you want me to trust you.”

Seth wasn’t sure what was about to happen. He hadn’t spent a lot of time around wild shifters and Rowan was one of the baddest. Still, it had only been two years since he had shifted to a wild lifestyle—and judging by the construction that was underway, he was melding the best of both worlds into one. He wasn’t a true wild shifter; he didn’t even have a den.

Seth complied with his wishes nonetheless. He quickly shifted into his monstrous wolf form. He had thought Rowan was big earlier, but as he stared at his brother he realized that in wolf form they stood eye to eye. He wasn’t sure how big of a shadow he cast over his half-brother, but he couldn’t have been too much smaller. Rowan was the true heir to the Bucklin throne, but in pure strength Seth was finding himself right up there with him. This was a pleasant surprise and one that invigorated him even more to lead his people.

Rowan moved around Seth, sniffing every inch of his body. He glanced back at Maribel, who had the strangest expression on her face, like she was watching something she wasn’t meant to. Eva wasn’t fazed at all by what was happening; she just leaned on the shotgun like it was a cane and looked bored.

Seth’s wolf was bristling at this intrusion and the hair all over his body was standing up, but he remained in control of the beast as Rowan slowly and methodically did what he had to do to vet his half-brother and make sure he was who he’d said he was.

Finally Rowan stepped away and gave a low growl before shifting. “The stink of William is all over you, as is the stink of another that I can’t recognize. But I still found your true scent.” He bowed his head for a second before looking back up with sadness in his eyes. “You are my brother, and my father… well, he’s not the man I thought he was.”

Seth quickly shifted and tried to stop Rowan, but he was already too upset. He pushed Seth away and began to walk towards the trailer with his head down, leaving Seth and the two women standing in the field alone.

Seth shrugged his shoulders and tried to call out to Rowan, but he kept walking. Finally he turned back to Eva. “What’s his deal? I need to talk to him.”

“Down, boy” Eva said, drawing a surprised expression from Maribel. “You just destroyed the image he had of his hero.”

“I didn’t destroy anything,” Seth protested. “Luke is still the man he thought he was. He was an alpha wolf. He still had some of the old ways in him.”

“You mean whoring and fathering bastards?” Eva asked. “I supposed that’s what an alpha does, if Aster was any indication before he got Leena back.”

Maribel looked up at Seth and he knew exactly what she was thinking.
No, babe,
he thought, like he was communicating to her telepathically.
I’m nothing like them.

“It kind of shatters my image of wolves,” Eva said. “Rowan always assured me they were more loyal than any man would ever be.”

“Most of them are,” Seth said, growing exasperated with the conversation. He hadn’t shown up here to answer for every alpha before him needing to get their dicks wet. “But Rowan’s not and I sure as hell am not.”

“And you’re an alpha?” Eva asked.

“Who do you think took over Bucklin after you guys abandoned it?” Seth asked.

“Good to know,” Eva said. She was quite the bold human. He had never met one who wanted to stand up and challenge him like this. He was sure Eva wouldn’t have been afraid to try, but she would’ve eventually cowed, like all other humans. “Just give him some time. Why don’t you put some pants on and come inside with me?”

Seth turned to see Rowan. If he was going inside, maybe he would overhear Seth explaining things to Eva. Instead he had changed directions and headed for the half-constructed house.

“No,” Seth said. “You girls go on ahead. I’m going to go talk to my brother.”

Chapter 7

“Sorry about the shotgun,” Eva said as Maribel settled down at the kitchen table. “You can never be too careful out here so far removed from civilization. Normal girls like you and me don’t have big fangs or claws to protect us out here.”

“It’s okay,” Maribel said. “I probably would have done the same. Although gun accidents go up eighty-three percent when you cock the gun. I’m just glad we didn’t become another statistic.”

“That’s an interesting number,” Eva said, setting a cup of hot tea down in front of Maribel. “How do you know that?”

“I know a lot of numbers,” Maribel said. “It’s my job.”

“Yeah, you tried to go into that before we decided to stop the boys from killing each other,” Eva said, sitting down next to Maribel. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“Well, I can only tell as much as I know,” she said. “I work loss assessment for Sokolov Enterprises. It’s a multi-national conglomerate run by one of the world’s most powerful vampires. He sent me here along with a co-worker and a private security force to broker a deal with Seth and the Bucklin wolves. We did that, and soon we’ll be building a casino and hotel in Bucklin.”

Eva made a face like she had just smelled something terrible. “Things aren’t going so hot in Bucklin?”

“The town is broke,” Maribel said. “The wolves there are going to be out on their asses if they don’t do something about it. There’s so many abandoned houses and buildings. The economy is down seventy-eight percent in Bucklin. You took fifty-two percent of the town’s population with you. Another sixteen percent have abandoned the town over the last two years and the number grows every day.”