The Power Of The Bite (15 page)

Dax wanted to reassure his father, wanted to tell him that he would get better, would rule his pack again. But even in the face of death, Dax would not lie to the man who raised him. Instead he simply said, “I understand.”

“Call in my enforcers,” Nathaniel rasped out. “Quickly. I don’t have much time.”

Dax turned to Joe, indicating the man should do as his Alpha asked. He waited silently, his mate ever present at his side, as the ten men who had served Nathaniel for many, many years came in and ranged themselves around the bed. Dax wasn’t surprised to see some of them had tears in their eyes. Nathaniel had been a harsh and stern father, but he was an Alpha who was adored by his pack.

Nathaniel waited until they were all in place and then he struggled to sit up. Dax helped him, making sure the man was well supported by pillows when it seemed Nathaniel’s’ body was failing him.

“My loyal enforcers,” Nathaniel started strongly, but Dax could tell the effort wasn’t doing the man any favors. “In accordance with our laws, and the customs of our people I have gathered you here to appoint my successor.” Nathaniel looked squarely at Dax before returning his attention to his enforcers.

“I like to think I have been a good Alpha, strong and a leader for the people I care for so much. However recent events have shown me, that like anyone, I too am fallible. I let the words of a trickster, and my own prejudice blind me to what is obvious before me now. Perhaps if I had listened to my son when he talked to me, I would be planning my retirement with my beloved Alpha Mate.” Nathaniel smiled fondly at Alice, and Dax was pleased to see a responding softness in his step-mother. Maybe their bond was stronger than he thought.

“Regardless, the line of succession is clear. My son is now mated, and under the laws of our people can take the mantle of Alpha as was my plan from the day he was born. Dax has been blessed with a true mate, one that he is both strong enough and stubborn enough, to stand beside.”

The enforcers chuckled softly but quickly quietened down again. It was clear to everyone in the room that the big man was tiring.

“Those will be good qualities in an Alpha. As my last act as Alpha I ask you all to show your respect, your loyalty and your commitment to the new Alpha of the Portrain Pack, my son Dax and the new Alpha Mate, Zane.”

The enforcers all turned as one, and dropped to their knees, their right hand over their hearts, their heads bowed in respect. Dax grabbed hold of Zane’s hand and said firmly, “Your loyalty is noted and appreciated. May the Portrain pack continue to prosper. Please rise.”

The men all got to their feet, watching Nathaniel, some with affection, all with respect. They knew their Alpha was dying and Dax was pleased that the men who had served his father for so long, could be so open in showing their affection.

“I call upon you all to go now – spread the word among the pack that a new Alpha and Alpha Mate has been appointed in accordance with the rules of succession, and the customs of our pack. I wish to, I want to,” Nathaniel broke off and looked at Dax as he said in a whisper, “I want to spend some time with my family.”

Dax felt Zane move to leave the room with the enforcers who all nodded their head, some of them taking the older man’s hand for a brief moment, all of them clearly saddened by Nathaniel’s imminent demise. Zane was probably wanting to allow Dax some time to spend with his father, but even in his grief, Dax couldn’t let Zane leave. He needed his man by his side, perhaps more now than ever. Nathaniel seemed to understand because he rasped out, “You’re family too, Zane.” Zane still didn’t say anything, but he stepped back into Dax’s space, and Dax felt his mate’s warm arm around his waist.

Nathaniel closed his eyes, his breathing was getting harsher, and Dax could sense the man didn’t have long for this world. He pulled up a couple of chairs, and once Zane was seated, he sat next to his mate, holding his father’s hand, determined to be by his father’s side until the end.

It was probably half an hour later, when Nathaniel’s eyes opened again, and for a moment they looked just as they always had – bright, piercing, and missing nothing. He beckoned Dax closer and Dax stood up leaning over the bed.

“You were right, my son,” Nathaniel whispered. “What you said about the Fates and their unhappiness at my great grandfather refusing to take his true mate. My grandfather, father and I, we all had vampire mates and we all, when the time came, took female wolves as wives instead, thinking it was best for the pack. My father told me on his deathbed, and now…” Nathaniel broke off coughing, although he recovered quickly.

“You were the only one of us with the strength to follow the destiny the Fates had in store for you. I am so proud of you. Name a son after me.”

They were the last words Nathaniel would ever say. Dax watched as his father took his last stuttered breath and then it was if the man just floated away, leaving his battered body behind. The silence that followed was deafening, broken only by Alice’s quiet sobs. Dax took one deep breath and then another and then he stood up straight, stretched out his neck and howled. He howled as he heard the pack assembling in the hallway, he howled even as Zane took him in his arms, and he howled again totally disregarding the tears that fell down his face. His father was dead and Dax wished with all of his heart that he’d been able to tell the man how much he loved him. Now he would never have the chance.

Chapter Sixteen

Zane followed Dax silently through the woodlands that surrounded the pack house. Being a shifter, Dax had a knack of moving through his environment without making a sound. Zane had years of training to ensure that he could do the same thing. Not that anyone was around. The sun was just starting to peek its head over the horizon and the air was crisp and clean. In accordance with pack tradition, which Dax had explained to him the night before, Nathaniel would be buried at high noon with the full pack in attendance. But in a break from tradition, Dax had insisted that he and Zane would dig Nathaniel’s grave by themselves, hence the early morning hike through the trees. Dax apparently had a spot in mind when they set out from the pack house a good thirty minutes before, and he didn’t seem to need a compass to find it.

“It’s just through there,” Dax said, pointing to a group of trees that to Zane looked suspiciously like every other tree around. He didn’t mind traipsing through the woodlands at sparrow’s fart, but even with his military training, Zane had never really been one for appreciating nature, or understood it much beyond what could kill you and what couldn’t. If forced to admit it, he’d been mostly watching Dax’s ass as they had moved quickly but purposefully through the trees. Even the thought of what they were doing couldn’t dampen Zane’s ardor for the man he’d claimed. But any thoughts of that nature would have to be put on hold for the foreseeable future.

A few moments more and Zane followed Dax into a large clearing. There was a stream that ran down one side, the water adding a light tinkling to the chorus of the awakening forest. The clearing was large enough that the sun was able to shine through, highlighting the beauty and peacefulness of the spot.

“My dad used to love it here,” Dax said, looking around apparently lost in his memories. “It was here that he took my mother as his mate, it was here that he bonded with Alice. He brought me here as a toddler and I remember him sitting me on that rock over there,” he pointed to a large flat rock that sat by the side of the water. “It was the first of many talks we shared about the importance of pack and what it meant to be an honorable wolf shifter. This was his favorite place in the whole territory. It’s fitting that his body be returned to nature, right here in this spot.”

Zane cast a worried eye at the water and hoped that it wasn’t a drinking supply for the pack. A human body would naturally decompose, as nature intended. But in Zane’s experience it could be a messy process that would take time and would probably impact the water table until there was nothing left of the man laid to rest.

Dax smiled at him. “It’s okay, this is a natural fast moving spring all year round. It’s not a source of drinking water for any of us and once my father is buried here, the pack members will respect this place and the water around it and treat it as sacred for at least a year. Possibly more, considering how loved my father was in the pack.”

Zane felt a light warmth on his face, knowing the rising sun wasn’t responsible. “I wasn’t questioning your judgement. Just…years of habit from working in war torn areas and natural disaster zones.”

Dax stepped closer, the shovel in his hand not stopping him from clasping Zane close and pressing a quick kiss on Zane’s lips. “Your ability to assess dangers of all kinds, and your caring for the safety of others would make you a good Alpha Mate.”  He stepped away and Zane watched him stride over to the aforementioned rock, and then take fifteen big steps from it, back into the center of the clearing.

“We dig here,” Dax said, and with a ripple of his strong shoulder muscles, pushed his shovel into the ground. Zane hurried over, moving alongside his mate, applying his own strength to the necessary job.

The two men worked in harmony for some time.  The sun had been rising steadily and with the warmth in the clearing both Zane and Dax had long given up their shirts. As they worked, Zane tried to work out what his mate had meant by his last slightly cryptic statement. According to Nathaniel’s decree the night before, Zane already was Alpha Mate, and with their joint claiming it wasn’t possible for Dax to take another. Was Dax still planning on stepping down and getting someone else to rule in his place?

Personally, Zane was in two minds about the whole situation. The reactions of pack members the evening before had shown how much damage Cole had done to pack moral. When Broz, Van and the others had arrived, the atmosphere around them wasn’t hostility, it was rancid fear. Likewise when Zane had asked for guidance in being shown Dax’s room after his mate’s spectacular meltdown, the response he got was hurried, as though the staff were terrified to be in his presence. Zane’s concern was how long would it be before that fear turned to a desire to protect the Alpha from his own mate?

On the other hand, Zane had always known that Dax had the qualities of a good Alpha. The man cared about the people he’d grown up with and although Dax was still young for such an important position, Zane had no doubts his mate could do a good job. It was that belief, combined with an in built need to protect and help his mate in all ways possible that had led Zane to damn near dying from starvation.

Now they were double claimed. Despite his grief the night before, Dax had urged Zane to feed from him, even if the sexual activity that usually preceded the action was absent. Zane had refused, thinking that Dax was too upset to be bothered tending to him. That was until Dax pulled the mating card, telling Zane it would bring him comfort to provide for his mate. He didn’t take much. The grief Dax was feeling tainted the man’s blood in a most unpleasant way.

“That’s enough.” Dax’s words broke their silence. Zane looked down at the hole. It was only about four foot deep although definitely long enough and wide enough to take a man of Nathaniel’s size.

“We don’t bury our dead in coffins,” Dax explained. “Four foot is deep enough to stop his body from being dug up by scavengers, and to help prevent the smell escaping. But…” Dax broke off, and he looked embarrassed. Zane dropped his shovel and despite the fact that both of them were sweaty and covered in dust, he pulled Dax into his arms.

“I don’t want Dad too deep,” Dax whispered into his neck. “He always loved the sun.”

Zane didn’t bother saying anything. If his mate wanted a four foot hole instead of a six foot one, then it wasn’t his place to argue against it. Dax’s reasoning had no logic behind it, but maybe it was just the way a wolf thought. He focused instead on stroking Dax’s hair, letting the man stay buried in his neck absorbing his scent.

Zane had no idea how long the two men stood there. But finally Dax stepped back, and Zane could almost see him pull on the mantle of Alpha. It suited his mate well.

“It’s time to summon the pack,” Dax said. He stripped off his jeans and boots, and then bent down, preparing to shift. Just before he did, Dax looked up at Zane his eyes pleading for something Zane didn’t understand. “Please be with me today. No matter what I say or do, please stand by me.”

“I love you,” Zane said simply. “I will support you no matter what you do.”

Dax gave a small hesitant smile, but then initiated his shift before saying anything in response. The big black wolf sat down and tipped his head back, calling in a series of yips and howls, so loud Zane was sure they could hear him in town. In the distance, Zane could hear wolves answering their Alpha with long howls of their own and an instinct even he didn’t understand, told Zane the wolves were coming. How could they carry the body of a dead man, if they were all in their wolf form?

Zane’s question was answered soon enough. Slowly the clearing gradually filled with wolves. Zane had never seen so many diverse colors and sizes in one place before. Small ones, clearly pups, kept in check by older bigger ones. Sandy ones, grey ones, ones with a reddish hue to their fur. Dax was the only black one, he noticed, and also the biggest. Then he caught sight of his friends Broz, Van, Ewan and Foyle, Seb and Royce, all acting as pall bearers to Nathaniel’s body which lay covered in a shroud, carried on a stretcher. Ten big wolves, although still none as big as Dax, forming an armed guard around them. They must be Nathaniel’s enforcers.

Dax shifted in one fluid movement, taking the jeans Zane held out and slipping them on. Even covered in dirt, and dressed only in his casual pants, the man looked like the Alpha he was born to be. Addressing the vampires, Dax nodded his head. “Thank you for your assistance, my friends. My father has never been so honored, than by your presence here today.”

Broz bowed back, and Zane didn’t think he’d ever seen his friend so formal. In fact, as he took a second look he could see all of the vampires were wearing their dress uniforms, only ever brought out for special occasions. A shaft of pride ran down his spine as he viewed his spotless, and very regal looking friends. They had done him and the coven proud with their respect.

“I am only sorry that it is grief that has finally brought coven and pack together,” Broz said solemnly.

/~/~/~/~/

Dax took a big breath and turned to face his pack. “It is time,” he said loudly. “The fact that we come together to grieve a man who put his whole life on hold for that of his pack, only to be brought down by the cowardly actions of one selfish man, is beyond painful for me. Cole’s death does not ease my conscience or my grief. He was an evil man, with a cruel agenda of his own and every action, every word he spoke was designed to undermine this pack my father worked so hard to keep safe.”

Dax looked around. Every wolf in the clearing was focused on him, and underneath the grief that permeated the air, were questions, concern and fear. It was time to address that fear, or walk away and leave the pack to its own devices.

“Most of you have very little to do with vampires, or indeed any other species of paranormal, and it clearly bothers you that my friends have joined us here today. I don’t know why my father kept us segregated. My father never shared that confidence with me. However, he did share this. The original conflict between vampire and wolf shifters stemmed from my great great grandfather’s refusal to accept his vampire true mate. Understandably, the vampire ruler of the coven at the time was upset by this, and the tales of troubles between wolves and vampires have come from that time. Those stories, the fabricated hatred, the distrust and rumors all originated from two men who ignored the destiny given to them by the Fates. That was a bad mistake.”

Taking another deep breath, Dax held out his hand to Zane, who took it readily, standing guard beside him like a true mate should. “Theirs was not the only pairing set up by the powers that guide us, yet ignored by man. My great grandfather, grandfather, and father all gave up their chance for a true mating with vampires, so they could rule the pack with a wolf by their side, thinking at the time that it was the right thing to do. I am not here to tell you my ancestors made a mistake, I am telling you that times have changed. On his deathbed my father told me he was proud of me for claiming my own true mate despite the dissent and fear I sense around me. I plan to live up to that pride.”

“All my father wanted was for his pack to be happy. He found love, both in my mother and later in the dowager Alpha Mate, Alice and I am glad he had those experiences.” Dax shrugged and let out a small smile. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for those bonds. But you all know that the love and the strength that comes from having a true mate, far exceeds anything that can be had with a bonded mate alone. I mean no disrespect to Alice or the memory of my mother, but my father would have been an even stronger man, if he had taken the vampire mate he’d been blessed with by the Fates. I am thankful that I did not make the same mistake.”

Flinging his head back, Dax said with as much strength as he could muster. “Zane is my true mate, the one blessed for me by the Fates. We are double claimed, and as such no one will ever break us apart. Not the actions of Cole, not the fear I sense in this clearing from you all. I understand your anxiety, but know this. Your fear is perpetuated by ignorance and a failure to understand and appreciate the diversity of species offered in the paranormal world. If I continue to lead this pack, it will be in with change in mind. Discrimination of any form is wrong and I honestly believe that the Fates intended for the Alpha of this pack to be mated with a vampire. Personally, I see increased prosperity and security for all of us because of my bonds with my mate and the new coven that will grow here.”

“However, I also respect the fact that many of you fear change, and long only for the stability and ignorance you have known before.” A few growls were heard at Dax’s words, but he didn’t flinch or stop talking. “If that is your choice then come to me later, let me know you don’t want me as Alpha. I will not take anything you say as a challenge, nor will I fight against you for your honesty. But if the bulk of the pack will not accept a vampire Alpha Mate, then I will get in touch with our Elder and do my best to see you are well provided for before I take my leave.”

Dax turned to the six vampires who were escorting his father’s body, and closed his eyes for a brief moment, trying to hold back his anguish at what he had to do. When he opened them he wanted the resolve he had, to make his father proud, to be the only thing that shone through. It took a moment, but when he was confident in his actions he said clearly, “It is now time to bury my Father, and all I ask of you my respected pack members, is to let me do this with the peace and dignity my father deserved.”

Not a single wolf moved. Not when Dax went over and carefully cradled the body on the stretcher in his arms. There were a few whines when he carried his father over to the hole he and Zane had dug. He passed his father’s body to his mate, before jumping down in the hole, taking the body carefully back, and placing it in its final resting place.