Wolf on the Run: Salvation Pack, Book 3 (18 page)

He embraced his wolf and allowed himself to partially shift. His shirt split as his shoulders widened. His arms grew more heavily muscled and thick, lethal claws extended from the tips of his fingers. His jaw cracked and reformed as it extended. He growled, exposing sharp fangs.

Not many wolves could hold the shape of man and beast at the same time. It took an enormous amount of strength. But to Cole it was second nature.

“What are you?” Matt asked. He swiped his hand over his brow, inadvertently smearing Cole’s blood over his forehead. “You’re a freak just like Cherise is.”

Cole’s blood boiled at the slur to his mate. He couldn’t care less what they thought of him, but he wouldn’t let them say bad things about Cherise. He didn’t allow his anger to show. Instead, he projected a calm, almost bored demeanor. “Are you going to fight or talk me to death?” Cole inquired, putting as much contempt into his words as he could. His voice was low and guttural. It wasn’t easy to speak when he was in this form.

Matt attacked, but Cole saw the twitch in his opponent’s leg before he leapt and was ready. He jumped to the side and raked his arms over Matt’s belly, digging his claws deep. The smell of blood burned his nostrils. He was sick of fighting, but he was damn good at it. All he wanted was to go home. The sooner he was done here, the sooner he could get back to Cherise.

“Have you had enough?” Matt didn’t deserve another chance to walk away, but Cole felt honor bound to give it to him. Some might call him stupid, but he didn’t kill indiscriminately, only when necessary.

Matt staggered, one hand on his belly and the other fisted by his side. “Never,” he growled.

So be it. Cole was tired of wasting time. He attacked swiftly and brutally. He registered the collective gasp of the crowd but was focused solely on his opponent. Using his burst of speed, he got behind Matt and wrapped one heavily muscled forearm around the man’s neck. He could have easily twisted and broken it. Instead, he hung on, choking off Matt’s air supply until he went limp. The minute he did so, Cole dropped him. Matt fell to the ground at his feet.

Cole shifted back to his fully human form and bent down to check Matt’s pulse. It was thready but there. Cole rose to his full height. “He’s not dead.”

“Why didn’t you kill him?” Ryan asked.

Cole turned in a circle, pinning each male with a stare. “Don’t for one second think I won’t kill.” He couldn’t allow them to see him as weak. “But you’ve already lost enough here.” He faced Ryan once again. “Lift the death threat from Cherise and I’m gone. Don’t and I’ll kill everyone who comes after her, starting with you.”

The crowd was getting more restless with each passing moment. Damn him. He should have just killed Matt and been done with it. Now some yahoo would figure he could take Cole, would see him as weak.

He yanked off the remains of his shredded shirt and wiped his bloody hands on it before he tossed the material aside. If he had to fight again, he didn’t want anything impeding him. “Well, what’s it going to be?”

Cole heard the slightest brush of dirt behind him and whirled in time to see Matt jumping at him from behind. He didn’t think, he simply reacted, slamming his clawed fist right through Matt’s chest.

The other man gasped and hung on the end of Cole’s arm. Blood poured from his chest and trickled from his mouth. Cole yanked his hand back, holding Matt’s heart in his hand. Matt’s legs crumpled and he fell to the ground. Cole opened his fist and dropped the still-warm heart beside the body. There was no doubt this time that Matt Hatfield was dead.

No one moved or spoke. None of them had warned him that Matt was sneaking up behind him. They would have let their packmate cheat to win, even after Cole had spared his life the first time.

No honor here among this group.

“He killed him,” one man cried.

“Ripped his heart clean out,” said another in a hushed voice, tinged with fear.

Ryan held up his hands and the crowd subsided slightly. The alpha didn’t have as much control over his pack as he should. This pack was ripe for a takeover, and there was always someone who coveted power and would make a play for it. That was the way most packs worked.

“You think you can come in here, kill one of us and walk away?” Ryan asked.

“That’s up to you.” Cole swiped his bloody hand over his jeans. “You can give me what I want and I’ll walk away, or I can destroy this pack one by one.”

“You really think you can take all of us?” Ryan asked.

Cole couldn’t figure the alpha out. Wasn’t sure if he was challenging him or simply curious. “Maybe. Maybe not. But are you willing to risk your life?” He held his hands out by his sides. “All I want is for you to leave Cherise alone. That’s not difficult. You simply all go on living your lives the same way you have all these years. Only this time you forget she ever lived here, was ever a part of this pack.”

“It’s not quite that easy anymore.” Ryan slowly walked toward the body of his dead brother.

“You’ve already lost four men to me,” Cole pointed out. “This can end right now.”

“I’ll take him if you won’t.” A large male stepped out from the crowd and swaggered forward. The implication was that their alpha was too weak.

Shit. Why couldn’t things ever be easy? Cole stepped to the side so he could keep both men in his sights. “It’s up to you,” he told Ryan.

The newest opponent addressed the crowd. “We can take him. He’s only one man. He’s all alone.”

“No, he’s not.” Cole felt a familiar blast of energy and tensed just as Jacque strode into the clearing. The crowd, sensing the dangerous predator in their midst, stepped back to let him pass.

Chapter Eighteen

“You should have told me you were coming here,” Jacque said as he prowled forward. Outwardly, Jacque was calm, but Cole knew his friend was severely pissed with him.

Cole shrugged. “Figured I could handle it and be back in time for dinner.” He’d never been so happy to see anyone in his life. If Jacque was here so were Louis and probably the others as well.

One corner of Jacque’s mouth rose in a half smile and he shook his head. “I told you not to do anything I would.”

Cole started to relax and then tensed. If all of them were here, who was watching out for the women? He almost howled in frustration. Cherise was here. He couldn’t smell her. There were too many wolves, too many bodies surrounding him. But he knew in his gut she was out there.

That was the last thing he wanted. He didn’t want to give anyone here a chance to attack her. She’d already been hurt enough.

Jacque turned his attention to the alpha. “Ryan Hatfield?”

Ryan gave a brisk nod. “I’m getting mighty tired of having uninvited guests.”

“I understand completely.” Jacque crossed his arms over his chest, looking totally relaxed. Only someone who knew him well would know he was coiled and ready to fight. “I don’t much like them either. We can leave peaceably as soon as I know I won’t have any trouble about Cherise.”

“You’d protect an abomination?” one male shouted.

“I protect my pack.” The iciness of Jacque’s words and the intent behind them silenced the man and he shrank back into the crowd. “She was born here. One of you and you turned on her. Where is your honor?”

Many in the crowd looked away in shame, but some stared belligerently, unwilling to admit their wrong.

“I assume you didn’t come alone?” Ryan walked forward and stopped a few feet from Jacque. Cole moved in closer in order to be in better position to protect his alpha if it became necessary.

Jacque inclined his head slightly. “You assume right.”

Ryan sized up both men. “You could be alpha of your own pack,” he pointed out to Cole. “You don’t have to follow him.”

Cole was tired of the posturing. “I don’t want to be alpha. Seems to me it’s a hell of a lot of problems without much return. I’m happy to be part of the Salvation Pack.”

“You say that now,” Ryan said, “but things change over time.” He turned his attention to Jacque. “And you’d have a man who might someday covet your pack at your back.”

“I wouldn’t have him anywhere else.” It was the highest praise Jacque could have given him. Their trust was as solid as steel. Jacque knew Cole would give his last breath to protect the Salvation Pack. His alpha continued. “There’s not one man in my pack who couldn’t be alpha of his own if he chose. But we banded together, brothers of the heart, and we’re building something strong that will last.”

Ryan and the others stared at them like they were aliens from another planet. It was unheard of for a wolf not to advance his position within a pack and obtain the highest spot he could among the hierarchy.

Cole was ready to fight, if it came to that, but he really hoped Ryan and his pack would show some commonsense and end this before it got any more bloody than it already had.

Ryan seemed to come to some internal decision, but before he could speak, a new scent entered the space. Cole inwardly groaned. He’d throttle her when he got her back home again. He swiveled his head and watched Cherise walk toward them head high, shoulders thrown back, like she didn’t have a care in the world, like there wasn’t a death threat hanging over her. She was incredible.

Cherise was scared out of her mind. Her heart raced a mile a minute and she didn’t think there was an antiperspirant manufactured that could keep her from sweating. She appreciated what both men were doing. As much as she loved Cole for wanting to protect her, this was her battle, her life, and she couldn’t let anyone else she cared for die for her.

She almost stumbled when she caught a glimpse of Matt Hatfield’s body. Up close, the injury was particularly gruesome. His chest was cracked open, his heart lying in the dirt beside him. The stench of blood and excrement was almost overwhelming to her enhanced senses.

Cherise swallowed hard to keep from disgracing herself and kept going until she reached her former alpha. She was very aware of Cole moving to stand just behind her, protecting her back. The air was a little less tainted here and she finally took another breath.

“Hello, Ryan.” She’d always addressed him as Mr. Hatfield when she was a child, or alpha. But he didn’t deserve those courtesies from her. Not anymore.

If he was perturbed by her lack of respect, it didn’t show. “Cherise.”

Cherise looked beyond him to his mate, Massie, and to his sons, Seth and Curtis. She nodded to them.

The crowd was fidgeting, getting restless again, many of them moving in closer, tightening the circle around the Salvation wolves. When she and her mother had fled years ago, she’d never been able to have her say. As a teenager who hadn’t made her first shift, she’d still been considered a child by the pack and had not been allowed to address them. But she was all grown up now and there was no one left in this pack to speak for her.

“I was a member of this pack once,” she began.

“Abomination,” a female sneered.

Cherise faced the woman, knowing many of the pack thought the way she did. “How can you say that, Irma Jones? I was born of two werewolves. My parents were both pure-bloods. But I got sick when I was a child. That was nobody’s fault. That illness, whatever it was, killed my wolf. I still have the enhanced senses the rest of you have, but I can’t shift, can’t fully embrace my wolf.” She looked at the many faces she’d known well in her childhood. “How can you blame an innocent child for something that wasn’t her fault?”

Cherise faced Ryan and asked him a question that had plagued her for years. “How could you turn on one of your best friends and kill him for defending his daughter?”

“Cherise.” Ryan rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. His eyes darkened and she saw sorrow there. “Aaron didn’t just come to defend you. He challenged me for the position of alpha.”

She sucked in a breath. Shocked. She’d never known that. Cherise swayed and Cole banded his arm around her, supporting her. “No.” Surely she hadn’t heard him correctly.

Ryan nodded. “I wanted to talk, but he felt the only way he could protect you was to become alpha. I didn’t want to kill him, but he left me no choice. You and your mother ran before I could come and tell you myself.”

“My mother wasn’t waiting around for you to kill us too.” Cherise would hear no criticism of her mother. “And she was right to do so. Over the years, we moved constantly, never having the security of a pack, alone in the human world. Do you have any idea what that’s like?”

Ryan shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

None of them knew. They stood here near their safe homes, surrounded by their kin and condemned her for something that wasn’t her fault. It was all too easy to revile someone simply because they were different. “It’s hell on earth,” she told him. “We couldn’t settle anywhere. Were always looking over our shoulder. Several times over the years, someone almost found us. And finally Keith and his buddies did. And they had to have searched long and hard to do so. We didn’t leave much of a trail.”

“I’m sorry about your mother,” Ryan told her.

Tears pricked her eyes, but she wouldn’t allow them to fall, wouldn’t show weakness. “I want nothing to do with this pack.” She gave them all a contemptuous glare as she cast her gaze over the entire group. “You call yourself a pack, but you’re quick to turn on one another. Many of you claimed to be
friends
of my parents, yet not one of you spoke out in their defense, in my defense.”

“I told your father he could leave the pack.” A collective gasp rose from the crowd when Ryan spoke. He addressed the pack and, for the first time, let his anger show. “That’s right. I knew many of you would never accept Cherise, so I told Aaron to take his family and go. But he didn’t think you’d be safe even then.”

He turned back to Cherise. “I didn’t want to kill him. He was a good man, a good friend. But when he challenged me, it was my life or his.”

Cherise was shaken to her very core. Her father had been given the choice to leave but hadn’t taken it. She knew he’d done what he felt was right, but she felt so betrayed. She’d have much rather he’d walked away from the fight, taken them and run.

“I never put a death threat on you or your mother, Cherise.” His quiet words were like a sonic boom in the silence.

“Then why?” She struggled to understand. “Why did they come after us?”

“I don’t know, but I’m damn well going to find out.” Ryan’s eyes were filled with compassion for her and her lost family. “I think it had more to do with you. Keith was obsessed with you. He talked about you constantly, and I always told him to forget about you. I never dreamed he’d do something so extreme. Honestly, I didn’t think he had the guts.”

“Not to face you maybe,” Cole interjected. “But his kind doesn’t mind chasing down someone they think is weaker, especially not when he had a couple of his buddies with him.”

“You’re right.” Ryan looked at Jacque, who had remained silent during this entire exchange. “Cherise is part of your pack now?”

Jacque nodded. “She is the mate of one of my friends. And even if she wasn’t, she is a female werewolf alone in the world. She is a member of my pack.”

Acceptance. The one thing she’d been missing her entire adult life. Cole and his pack had given her that. Cole had gifted her with so much. She only hoped he wasn’t too angry with her about following him. Of course, she was still furious with him for coming here on his own.

Ryan strode back to his porch steps and stood on the top one before addressing the crowd. “Years ago, I was forced to kill a man I called a friend. I will not compound this sad deed by harming his only child. Cherise has accepted banishment and that’s the end of it. Any other attempts to harm her will be treated as insubordination and will result in banishment for the offender.”

The crowd rumbled, shocked by his proclamation. Cherise was dazed herself. Was it really that easy? Was it over? Of course, it hadn’t come without a huge cost on both sides. She’d lost both parents and Cole had killed four men who’d threatened her safety. Enough blood had been shed over something that was beyond anyone’s control.

Ryan was unbuttoning his shirt as he stepped down off his porch and strode forward. “Take your woman and go, Cole Blanchard. And I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but I pray to God I never see you again.”

Cole inclined his head. “The feeling is mutual.”

Then the alpha addressed Jacque. “I know you have men surrounding us. Take them and leave our land.”

“Will you survive the challenges?” Jacque asked.

Cherise was shocked to realize that’s what Ryan was preparing for. He knew at least several men would challenge him. She glanced up at the porch. Massie looked worried, but Seth and his brother looked determined. Cherise was sorry for their troubles, but at least they all still had one another.

Ryan shrugged in answer to Jacque’s question. “If I don’t, I don’t deserve to be alpha, do I? Take your people and go.”

Jacque held out his hand. Ryan stared at it before taking it. “Under other circumstances, we might have been friends,” Jacque told him.

“Maybe,” Ryan agreed.

“It’s time to go home, Cherise.” With his hand on the small of her back, Cole urged her away from the crowd.

Everyone watched them leave and no one said a word. The silence was deafening. Cherise glanced over her shoulder one final time. Ryan was watching her leave. He raised his hand in a silent salute.

She turned away and let Cole lead her back into the trees. The moment they were out of sight, a roar went up from behind them. She knew Ryan had just been challenged.

The rest of their small pack emerged from the woods to join them. The women smiled at her, but the men were tense. Jacque glanced over his shoulder. “Let’s get the hell out of here. I don’t trust some of them not to make a run at us.”

They hurried to their trucks. Gwen, Louis and Jacque jumped in one. Armand and Anny in another. Gator waited beside his truck and turned to Cole. “You ever do anything that stupid again, and you and I are going to have words.”

Cole smiled at his friend. “I can’t promise anything.”

Gator swore, grabbed Cole’s hand and yanked him into a rough embrace. Cherise’s chest constricted at the show of love and caring from Gator and from all of them. They’d all come here for her and Cole.

“Where’s your truck?” Gator asked.

“Down the road about a mile,” Cole answered.

“Jump in and I’ll give you two a lift. The faster we’re out of here the better.”

Cole held the door and she climbed inside. Gator didn’t waste any time starting his truck and getting them out of there. The others followed behind them.

“Just up there.” Cole pointed to his vehicle, which was parked on the side of the road.

Gator pulled over. Cole climbed out and offered her his hand. She took it, noting it was still stained with Matt Hatfield’s blood, but she didn’t care. Cole was alive and that was all that mattered.

The others waited while Cole opened the passenger door and got her situated before letting himself in on the driver’s side. He started the powerful engine and it roared to life. Their small convoy started the journey back to Salvation with Jacque leading the way and she and Cole bringing up the rear.

They were finally alone.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again.” Cherise knew she should wait until they were back home, but there was no holding back her fear.

He tightened his fingers around the steering wheel until the plastic squeaked and his knuckles turned white. “Me scare you? What the hell were you thinking to leave the protection of Gator and the others? For that matter, what were you doing coming back here to Kentucky?”

“What was I doing?” She didn’t know whether to kiss him or smack him. “I was taking care of my problem. You were the one who came here all alone.” And she’d never forget how scared she’d been if she lived to be two hundred.