“If it bleeds, it dies.” Hayden and Savage spoke together, which made them both grin. Some things from Lucian’s farm training stuck with them both, apparently.
“Then you mean to do it, to fight the Garto?”
“I mean to kill the Garto.” Savage stepped away from Tobias. “The second I do, I am taking your daughter away from this place and giving her anything her heart desires for the rest of her life.”
“Here’s a question.” Hayden squatted down and touched the dirt between his fingers. Growing grapes in Napa, Hayden considered himself to basically be a farmer. He cared about things like dirt and rain. Savage couldn’t have cared less.
“Why did you have children?” Hayden asked. “A good way to end this crazy is to simply not have any more daughters for the Garto to take. That’s what I would do if I weren’t strong enough to fight; I’d starve it. No girls, no sacrifice. You’ve had twenty.”
“The moon calls for us to procreate. To be fruitful. To make sure the sons and daughters of Lily and her Alpha Wolf are plentiful on this earth. That is what the heat is for. To bring us babies.”
Hayden let the dirt run through his fingers. “I should have known you were going to say something like that. Did I mention to you, Tobias, that my true mate is a human?”
Savage looked down at his phone. No message from Alexei. He should have known. The fucker wouldn’t help, not unless there was something in it for him.
Max called his attention. “My Alpha, I’m told there are cars pulling up to the farm. Your mate’s mother does not know the people inside.”
Tobias’ eyes got huge. “We aren’t expecting anyone. We only have visitors from our family and almost none of us drive.”
“Then let’s go see who came for a drop-by.” Savage headed toward the house.
He wasn’t at all interested in getting into any of Tobias’ business unless it somehow involved Sydney and her safety. Her father had all but handed over authority of his life to Savage, which wasn’t surprising on many levels, so, for at least the time it took to handle the Garto and get Sydney to San Francisco, he’d be lord of the manor.
As when he’d arrived, the entire family, except Sydney who was at her cousin’s house, waited on the front porch staring at the visitors. Power hit Savage as he rounded the corner and came to a stop.
Three Alphas with at least forty guards waited below the porch staring upwards. What. The. Fuck. Was. Going. On.
Hayden shook his head slightly, otherwise standing completely still.
“Three Alphas on my mate’s front porch. Somebody want to tell me what you’re doing here. All uninvited.”
Savage growled. He had no time for bullshit and politics were completely uninteresting to him.
Milo Shepherd, the Alpha from Los Angeles whose brother Cyrus had killed when he took over New York, was tall and bald. As Werewolves never lost their hair, the fact the other Alpha shaved his head was always a source of discussion whenever he was around. Milo handled Southern California, Savage Northern. They never crossed each other’s borders and spoke to one another as little as possible. Milo thought Savage was an asshole, had said so on many occasions, and Savage returned the sentiment.
Jesse Reed, Seattle. The oldest Alpha living in the United States since Lucian’s death. For whatever reason, when Lucian sent his group off to get rid of the old bunch of Alphas, he’d left Jesse alone. Savage had dealt with him maybe once in the last five years. He was tall, brown-haired, and didn’t look a day over forty even though Savage would put the unassuming man at least one-hundred years old. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, he could easily be mistaken as relaxed. But no one stayed Alpha for seventy years and remained easygoing. Savage wore makeup. Jesse wore jeans. Same difference, he suspected.
Finally the so-called Alpha Prime from Phoenix. Barrett Morales. Tall, blond, with long hair that touched his shoulders. He was in black-on-black clothing. Black jeans, black V-neck t-shirt, black biker books. Savage admired the outfit. It said “don’t fuck with me.”
It was Barrett who spoke. “Idaho has no Alpha. We are entitled to come and go here as we please. I don’t believe my brothers and sisters here will deny me entrance. Will you?”
He extended his hand to Tobias like they were friends. For Werewolves touch was a big deal they would wear each other’s scents all day and possibly into the next. Barrett extended a great honor to Tobias by holding his hand out. Savage might be impressed by the gesture, an Alpha holding out a hand to a much lesser wolf, if he didn’t feel Barrett’s Alpha energy hit him like a bus striking a tree.
Savage had no intention of looking down, and, to his credit, Hayden kept his eyes up too. Every person on the porch fell to his or her knees. He watched the scene in front of him while his wolf pushed to change. Milo’s and Jesse’s lack of reaction to Barrett’s display told Savage everything he needed to know.
They’d both pledged allegiance to him as their new Alpha Prime.
The display was for his and Hayden’s benefits. But those were his mate’s people Barrett had put on their knees and much as he hated them, the grown-ups among them at least—and he did more and more every day—they were his people to hate. Not Barrett’s to use for a demonstration of his power.
Tobias shook Barrett’s hand fast, his eyes huge.
“Okay.” Savage stepped up on the porch, putting himself between the Dykes and the Alphas who stood on their land. “Max.”
He didn’t need to tell his pack mate what he wanted. The male nodded, heading toward the rear of the house. He’d get in touch with George, and they’d secure Sydney. All would be fine with his mate.
Barrett raised an eyebrow. “Savage.”
“Barrett. Milo. Jesse.” He spoke to them in the order in which they were annoying him. “I’m seeing you next week. Get back in your cars and drive far, far away from here.”
Barrett smiled. “I would. In fact, although I’m not a man who likes to be kept waiting, I was willing to overlook the fact you ignored all of my overtures, phone calls, emails, and texts. I was willing to wait to see you at the time you ordered. I even rearranged my schedule with Milo and Jesse—both strong Alphas—to accommodate you. Only I’m afraid I can’t anymore.”
Hayden stepped to his side. He could feel his brother’s power. It was jacked up. They hadn’t fought together, not since they were boys. The power of family was palpable. They’d be stronger together than they were apart, and each was tough on his own, too.
“Why?”
Savage donned his mask. The one he wore for the rest of the world, the face of the Alpha, the one he’d put on the day he had killed Lawrence Lurks and taken over San Francisco. He’d been letting it slip since he’d found Sydney. Faced with the three in front of him and their show of force, he had no trouble remembering how well he fit his role and what it took to hold his pack together.
They weren’t getting up on the porch unless Savage told them they could.
“Because the Moon came to me and told me you were in need of my service. I was right in the middle of negotiations with Milo when I was signaled. We dropped everything and came here.”
A muscle ticked in Milo’s jaw. “I wish he was exaggerating. Jesse and I were both informed our services were required here.”
“That’s why it’s so important to be careful to whom give you allegiance. Never know how quickly you’re going to be sent on a fool’s errand for no good reason. As you can see, I am fine. Tell the Moon thank you, and get yourselves off my mate’s family’s land.”
“See how his energy has changed, Jesse? This is what I was talking about.” Barrett spoke like he hadn’t been ordered to leave. “The importance of the True Mating for all of us. The years of the Alpha Prime staying unmated are not going to continue. I mean to pursue my Moon destiny and have it all. It’ll be good for all of us.”
Jesse nodded. “Do you think we could take this discussion somewhere else? Savage says he’s not in trouble. He’s a smart, capable Alpha. I’m real
ly not in the mood to help if I’m not required. Back in the car, back to the plane. Out of here.”
“Nonsense.” Barrett shook his head. “The Moon sent me. I mean to see why. We can all stay here on the front stoop, Savage. Or you can let us in. I’m not leaving unless Tobias tells me to.” Barrett leveled his gaze at Tobias. “Do you intend to do that, Tobias?”
Savage’s father-in-law shook his head wildly.
“Then let’s all go to the Guest House.” Hayden answered fast. “Let these people get on with their day.”
So much for lunch….
****
Sydney rubbed her cousin’s back. Females needed so much touch when they were pregnant. So frequently it didn’t happen because of their responsibilities to the home and their other children. Stacia, her cousin, was a year younger than she and already on her third child. Two boys. If this one was a daughter, she’d be the one bound for the Garto.
No. She had to change how she thought. Believe in Savage. He’d keep them safe.
“I cannot believe you mated an Alpha.”
“Don’t get me wrong.” They’d always been close. Stacia’s older sister had died the year before at the hand of the Garto, and Sydney tried hard to fill in where she could, to be there for her. “I know he’s an Alpha. I can feel it when his men are around, how they talk to him and about him. When he’s with me, it’s like he’s Savage. My own.”
“I can’t imagine if Phillip had been an Alpha. It’s hard enough to keep up with his needs, and he’s only a regular Werewolf. How much work are you going to have to do? How many houses will you be responsible for cleaning?”
“I….” Sydney hadn’t given her duties a single thought. Past the Garto, San Francisco seemed a distant dream.
“Ma’am.” George’s sudden arrival kept her from having to travel that path. “We need to go to the guest house. Now.”
He extended his hand as though she couldn’t stand up on her own, and she gave it to him without thinking twice. George pulled her to her feet.
“What’s happened? Is it Savage? Is he hurt?”
Had the Garto somehow gotten wind of their plan to fight it, come early and killed him? Goosebumps broke out all over her body.
George put a steady hand on her arm. “I’m sorry I frightened you. Savage is safe. His men would never let anything happen to him. They would die for him as I would for you.”
“No one is dying.” She shivered. “Goodbye, Stacia.”
Her cousin watched their exchange with wide eyes. “Sydney.”
She followed George out the door. “So if no is hurt or dying why are we rushing to the Guest House?”
She looked down at her watch. She hadn’t missed lunch, and, even if she were late, she highly doubted Savage would order her home to eat it.
Her wolf prowled around inside her. They were getting closer to Full Moon, closer to Garto. Her anxiety had woken the canine right up. She wasn’t going to really believe Savage was safe until she saw him.
“Some people have shown up, werewolves, Alphas. I don’t envy my Alpha anything in the world. I hate dealing with Alphas from other packs. Alpha Hayden is fine; he is kind and quiet. The others are all pushing power out all the time. It’s exhausting to sit through it. Makes me want to break something when they’re gone.”
She placed her hand on him as he had on her in the house. The touch seemed to settle George. Touch. Maybe it wasn’t only the pregnant women who were starved for it. She needed to place a hand on each of the men every day when she saw them.
“Savage needs me to be with him with the Alphas?”
Her stomach turned. One Alpha, her Alpha, was enough. Hayden had been intense in the kitchen although she supposed he’d always be fine as he was family. The others? What was she to do with them?
“All Max said was to get you in the Guest House. Savage wants to make sure you’re safe. They’re having a standoff in the front house.”
Her father and mother were never going to recover from so much chaos. She fiddled with the totem around her neck. New things were always happening, every day it seemed. But nothing could have been as startling as when Lily became the Alpha Wolf’s mate. She was human, then she was raped and dying, and then she was a Werewolf Queen. How did she make so many jumps and not fall over from them?
Lily had survived the Garto, or so the legend said. Of course, no one ever said how she did. Her father said it was because of her pure Moon-filled spirit. Sydney didn’t know why her cousins didn’t have Moon-filled spirits and she had no idea if she did either. But Savage was going to kill the thing, so what did it matter anyway…?
“Can I ask you something?” George always asked permission before he spoke. She’d never get used to it.
“Yes. Please. Get me out of my own head.”
“Why does your family act like the Full Moon isn’t coming tomorrow and with it the Garto? They’re all treating you like everything is normal. You’re mated, they don’t comment, and you have a battle to face. No one mentions it.”
“That’s a valid question.” She supposed it really wouldn’t make sense to folks on the outside. “Imagine you live your whole life with this secret no one discusses. It’s not really a secret. I mean, we’re informed as soon as we’re old enough what will happen to us, but it’s out there. Like an illness everyone knows you have that will eventually kill you. Do you want to go through life never doing the things you want or being Moon-driven because of the thing which will eventually happen but hasn’t happened yet?”
“Yesterday, Elena couldn’t keep it together. It must be weighing on them.” George looked left and right, sniffing the air. He was never off duty, not even when he spoke.
She patted his arm again. “As for the mating thing, well that’s just what we do around here. The Mated pairs are all True Mates. The Moon chose for everyone. It’s weird I did it; Garto girls don’t. But they don’t find anything odd about me except how I’m dressing. Did you see Stacia’s eyes when I first showed up?”
He snickered. “I did. She got a little green-looking.”
They finally arrived at the Guest House, and she stopped short. The Alphas weren’t facing off at her parents’. No, they stood, all five of them, right in front of her. Savage turned his head slightly to acknowledge her but otherwise didn’t turn in her direction at all.
His spine was stiff, his eyes hard, his jaw clenched. Her gentle lover was nowhere to be seen in the power-wielding Alpha blocking the entrance to the door. Sydney didn’t know much about politics. She did, however, understand when boys were about to come to blows.
“Is this the mate, Savage?”
She moved around George, and he reached for her but she kept going. No one was harming her when she was in Savage’s vicinity.
“Hello, gentlemen. Welcome to my family’s home. Have you eaten? I’d love it if you’d all come in the house and let me make lunch.”
Food helped. Werewolf men didn’t tend to want to kill when they had full stomachs.
Chapter Nine
“We had a miscommunication, my Alpha.” Max lowered his eyes. “I did tell George to secure her. He brought her here. That’s on me. I should have been clearer.”
Savage shook his head. “What happened is done. I don’t believe they pose any danger to her.”
He still couldn’t figure out why they had come in the first place. Barrett’s bullshit about the Moon telling him to come didn’t add up. Savage wasn’t big on believing people when they claimed to have spoken to the Moon. Lately, it seemed everyone was doing it.
Betsy Fennell, the mate of Cyrus Fennell, Alpha of New York City, had been near death, should have died, in fact, and now insisted she’d talked to Lily and the first Alpha Wolf. Lucian, too. Then Lake Fennell had died—been dead for days—and woken up the Healer Prime. She received all kinds of messages, found missing children, could sense when someone needed her across long distances as long as she had once been physically near the person before. Beaux Nelson was always
on his knees praying to the Moon. Apparently, he sometimes got answers.
If he was to be believed, Alexei Babikov had died and returned Alpha Prime. Which begged the question….
Savage motioned with his hand for Max to back off and his pack mate did as he instructed. He put his feet up on the table and regarded Barrett. All of the Alphas had gone silent. Jesse looked bored, but an Alpha of his age would know how to put on a show. Milo seemed preoccupied with his phone, another tactic.
All of them in the living room in Idaho. At home, he’d have been better prepared for them to be comfortable. Sydney hummed in the kitchen. He loved the sound and resented the fuck out of the three of them that they got to hear it.
“Alexei says he’s Alpha Prime.” Savage got all of their attention. Milo sat up straighter and smirked, catching Savage’s eye. He doubted anyone else would notice. Jesse took a sip of his water. Behind him, Hayden cleared his throat. His brother played politics better. But he’d never had to oust an Alpha.
Savage knew Barrett understood him perfectly.
“I hear that is what he’s saying.” Barrett leaned in his chair.
Savage nodded. “That’s what you’re saying too.”
“Believe it or not, I’d still be happy to wait to talk about this. I’m really only here because of the Moon.”
“Yeah.” Savage laughed which banged around the silent room. Was anybody even breathing? He didn’t care. “I don’t believe you. Not for a second, actually. You came because you wanted my attention faster than I was prepared to give it to you. You’re here. You want to talk. We’ll talk. Alexei died and came back from the dead. He woke up knowing he was Alpha Prime.” Or so Savage had heard. “What’s your story?”
Barrett nodded. “You are as rough as I’ve heard. You and I always got along fine. Your hostility surprises me. Aren’t we friends? I expected your support.”
“I expected to be left alone because I told you to. I’m in Idaho, and you have no business plowing in here this close to the Full Moon when I have a task ahead of me I’m trying to handle and a new mate I’d rather be spending time with than you.”