Marked Wolf (Protector Wolf Shifter Series Book 2), page 22
“I’ve forgotten nothing.” Kodiak narrowed his eyes at the insolent comment.
“The alpha is dead and last I saw, he wasn’t happy with you.” His gaze turned to Tamaska. “After all, you mated with a human. You’re wanting to bond with a human. You brought that stinking human and her vampires here. You don’t deserve the title of alpha.”
“Kodiak…,” her whisper was low. “I’ll leave.”
“No.” He turned his hard gaze on Shota. “Tensions are high. We’ve suffered terrible loss, so you get a pass. But, Tamaska is a guest. And I’m your alpha. Treat me as such.”
“You’ve not been sworn in as the alpha,” responded Shota. His eyes were dark, his shoulders square and chin high.
“Shota, what are you doing?” Onai said. “Olcan not only marked Kodiak to be the next alpha, but Olcan explicitly said Kodiak would be his pick tonight.”
“He did what?” Kodiak stared at Onai. He knew he was beta, meant to be alpha unless Olcan died before officially naming him, and it could be challenged.
And considering how angry the alpha had been at his bringing in Tamaska…
Or was it anger? Maybe it had all been a test. When he’d thought in the past Olcan was protective of his position, hanging on too long, goading him and seemingly looking for ways to get rid of him, could that have been Olcan’s way of seeing how he handled things?
Onai met his gaze, clearly picking up his thoughts. “Exactly. I’m never gonna be in the running for alpha or beta and don’t want to be, and with others pushing for it…Olcan talked to me. And he needed to test you and everyone because changes were coming.”
“Bullshit.” Shota spat on the ground.
Onai ignored him. “He said you were the future of this pack, a true leader, Kodiak. He said an alpha isn’t just the strongest, but the smartest, and a leader. Someone who knows their weaknesses and strengths, who takes the hardest paths when they must. And he said you were different. The old and the new.”
“But we didn’t see eye to eye.” He rubbed a hand over his chest.
“I know,” Onai said. “It drove him insane, but he liked it. He said it was a needed quality. You never boot licked; you pushed even when falling into line. He wanted us all to survive and change with the times.”
“I call bullshit,” said Shota, spitting again. “That’s bullshit. Tradition is the way forward. Letting the times change got Olcan dead. Letting filthy humans in got him dead along with a bunch of us.”
“Shota.” Kodiak narrowed his eyes.
But the man wasn’t showing signs of stopping. “They’re dead. Big, strong shifters, and this puny human lives? How? She in with the vampires?”
Tamaska folded her arms. “No, I’m not! They want me for a ceremony and—”
“You brought in a vampire lover. And right now, we don’t have an alpha.” Shota shook his head.
Kodiak’s stomach tightened. He knew what was coming. There’d been too much violence and death tonight, but Shota always wanted more and tonight, he was fully out of his restraints.
It made him dangerous.
It put him in danger because Kodiak knew what was coming next.
“Shota,” Fern said, trying to grab hold of him. “Stop, please.”
But the shifter wasn’t having it, and he pushed her pard, sending her sprawling.
Kodiak narrowed his eyes into slits as he pulled off his T-shirt.
“Fuck. Shota, you maniac. What’s wrong with you?” Skoll grabbed him and shook him. “You got some kind of fucking death wish? Get out of here, now.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at Kodiak and his soft word.
“Clearly he’s got something to say, so maybe he should say it. Let him speak,” he said.
“I challenge you for the position,” Shota said and grinned.
Kodiak wanted to attack him right now. But he stayed still. “You couldn’t even wait for their bodies to cool? You would put the safety of the pack at risk just to become their leader? You disgust me.”
“You brought a human into the pack. This is all her fault. You’re not fit to lead.” Shota moved to stand chest-to-chest with Kodiak.
“You don’t want to do this.” Kodiak’s wolf strained to escape and start the fight immediately. But that wasn’t the protocol.
“Are you too scared to accept the challenge?” Shota raised an eyebrow and turned to face the others gathered around them. “He’s not fit to lead you. I am.”
“You are not.” Kodiak lifted his chin. “I accept.”
Kodiak had never been one to walk away from a challenge. If Shota wanted a fight, he would get one.
29
Tamaska
Tamaska stood outside, rubbing her arm where the vampires had marked her, as if enough friction could remove it. Fern had patched up the cut on her arm and covered it with a white bandage.
Inside she was shaking as the events kept washing over her, bashing her against sharp rocks, and after all that had happened, with all the violence and loss, these two wanted to fight?
She got it. Understood that Shota wanted to challenge Kodiak’s leadership position, but she didn’t see how or why this shifter was out for more blood and violence.
There’d been enough.
She wanted to say that. Scream it.
But she didn’t.
Something told her that would be bad, it would undermine Kodiak, so she kept quiet. Her mouth firmly shut. It went against the grain of her being, but she did it.
No matter how stupid, how wrong, how fucking Neanderthalic and male this was, she kept her mouth shut.
Shifting, she huffed out air.
“Hey, he’ll win,” said Ash quietly as she stepped to Tamaska’s side, clearly misunderstanding her disquiet. Ash’s loose pants and long-sleeved top were all black. The outfit complemented her toned body.
Almost.
Tamaska nodded, pretending that was what was on her mind. She curled her hands and shifted again. “I just don’t get it.”
In a way it was like that fear she’d had of dogs…probably still did, with actual dogs. The primal, pagan element of these shifters bore resemblance to that mentality she’d seen in canines. That’s the thing that scared her. How the wild creature always lurked from the tiniest to the biggest of dogs. And they were displaying that element at this moment.
Oh, she didn’t think these people would hurt her. Kodiak had been right. They’d talked a tough line, let loose with rough emotion, but they’d also protected her.
Even Shota, though she suspected that was because Olcan had ordered him to.
Olcan, who was gone, and these idiots were going to disrespect him.
Or…idiot. She suspected the alpha was more complex than in a pack animal; the alpha here had to navigate all kinds of waters, make tough, and sometimes unpopular, decisions.
But she wanted to yell at them both. They’d just buried their loved ones and now this…
She closed her eyes for a moment. Was this life in this place, as part of a pack, or was this just the aftermath of all the horrors of the evening? With the burial she’d weirdly connected with the pack. It might only be in her head, but a real attachment had formed.
And when Kodiak stepped up and took control, like he was born to it, she was both proud and scared.
Leaders were targets, and she couldn’t help but see Olcan’s lifeless body every time she closed her eyes.
What if Kodiak… What if something happened?
It was bad enough knowing it could out in the world, but right now? With Shota?
She didn’t want to lose him because of some stupid fight.
“Honestly, I just don’t get it.”
“It’s the pack’s way,” Ash said, drawing her into a quick side hug.
“I mean, I get it. I heard what was said. But after everything that happened, I don’t get it. Haven’t enough people been injured? Died?”
“It’s a pack thing.”
Tamaska sighed. “Let me guess, it’s something I wouldn’t understand as a human.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” Ash guided her over to some logs arranged around a fire pit behind the clubhouse. “Just it’s how things are done. Shota has made an official challenge and Olcan died before he could announce, officially, his choice.”
“But Kodiak’s meant to be the alpha. I got that.”
Ash shrugged and half smiled, though no smile reached her eyes. They blazed, dark and shadowy. “He’s the beta, and yes, it’s his place to take over. Olcan picked him. He just didn’t do it once more before he died, as in emphatically say Kodiak is to be alpha. And Shota’s gone and challenged him.”
The other pack members were heading inside. There was still a lot of cleanup to do.
“Kodiak can’t back out of it without looking weak or opening up to more challenges. What he’s doing is nipping it now.”
“And if something happens?”
Ash didn’t look at her. “Then it does. But he’s strong. Stronger than Olcan, and stronger than Shota. He’ll be okay.”
But worry laced her words and Tamaska couldn’t help but think maybe she was trying to soften things, make her feel better.
She didn’t voice that though, instead she looked up, seeking out the man she was falling for.
Kodiak currently talked intently to a few packmates. New creases lined his face, and her heart squeezed. The crown as they said, was heavy, and this one must be heavier than most.
All that death. That carnage. And her. A human.
An interloper.
She sucked in a breath. Did it even matter that members of the pack were welcoming, that they wouldn’t do a thing to her—except maybe Shota and even then, she wondered if that was angry hubris on his part. She didn’t belong here, even if she wanted to belong. This wasn’t a club or a secret society.
This was about supernaturals, and the fact she wasn’t anything more than an ordinary woman. Albeit one who’d been singled out by the vampire leader in Sydney for some evil purposes that had to do with the opal.
And Kodiak must be thinking that, too. Trying to balance everything, including his emotions for her.
He had them; he’d told her, and she…she hadn’t said them back. Everything had been overwhelming for her at the time, and now…was it even her place to muddy waters further by telling him how she felt?
“Hey, Tamaska, I need to head back in to do more focused research shortly. Do you want to help?”
She looked at Ash. “I’m happy to help, but I don’t know what you need. I’ve told you everything I know.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “Are you trying to make me feel useful?”
The other girl laughed. “Guilty.” She patted her arm. “I’ll get you if I need you, so don’t go far.”
And where would she go? Or maybe that was Ash’s way of telling her not to run.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Tamaska said. “We have to see this through. I have to. I…”
“It’s not your fault.”
She tried to smile. “Tell that to half the people out there.”
“It’s not. And you’re with Kodiak, so…”
But even to Tamaska’s ears that didn’t sound reassuring. No, it sounded full of doubt, the same doubts as inside her.
“If he wins. He’s strong, but so was Olcan and…”
Ash folded her arms. “Olcan’s mate was killed early. He—I think he went out hard because it’s the only way he knew. He pushed.”
“Like Kodiak will.”
“It’s not in your hands.”
She flicked her gaze to him and a ripple of awareness ran through her as he glanced briefly back at her, eyes dark and vibrant. “I worry. And he…he needs to focus and prepare himself for the fight. When is it? And—”
“Tonight. And no there’s no stopping it. It has to happen.”
Ash and Tamaska each sat down on a log, and she stared out over the bushland, a kind of peace washing over her as she did so. Strange to think they were in Sydney. Sitting here, she could be in rural Australia. The sky above turned from red to blue as the sun rose.
She could live somewhere like this. Close to everything, but free and having nature so close.
And now he was alpha.
That brought a whole new level to things.
Would a human even be allowed as mate to the alpha? Or would Kodiak send her away for being human?
Maybe she needed to change. If she could. If she wanted to stay with him.
“Is there a way I can become like you?” she asked.
“A wolf shifter?” Ash raised her brows.
Tamaska nodded. “I have to be one, don’t I?”
“Oh, I see.” Ash slid closer to Tamaska, lowering her voice. “Wolf shifters are born. We’re like this because of our DNA.”
“So, I can’t ever be like you?” Tamaska stretched her legs towards the firepit.
Ash breathed out. “During a full moon, one of us could bite or scratch you. If our essence infected your blood, you’d begin to change.”
“I…I could do that.” Tamaska wasn’t sure if she really wanted to change, but having the option gave her the hope of a future with Kodiak.
“If the pack allows it.”
“It’s not up to Kodiak?” Tamaska’s heart sunk.
Ash shifted. “Not entirely. You don’t have wolf-shifter genes. We’re purebloods, and we’ve all agreed to preserve our bloodline.”
“Pureblood? What about genetics? Isn’t that….” She shrugged. Clutching at straws is what people called what she was doing.
“There are other pureblood shifters out there. A lot. We tend to be attracted to other natural shifters. Like, I’m not related to anyone here by blood in that way. But I’m a pureblood and when my mother mated with a member of this pack later, after my father’s death, I stayed part of this one.
“Shifters here will mate with other shifters in the pack, shifters they are not related to other than by pack loyalty.” Ash breathed out. “It’s…it’s complicated.”
“Oh.” And she didn’t even have an iota of shifter blood in her. No way the pack would take her.
Maybe if Kodiak was an insignificant member, but as alpha?
It couldn’t happen.
She heard it in Ash’s words, and it made everything in her turn into lead.
“The vampires don’t care.”
“They do, they just have no qualms with making army members. But we need to keep our numbers up….” Ash paused, frowning.
She waited for her to continue, but when she didn’t, Tamaska looked at her. “What? Did you think of something just then?”
“No, it’s nothing.” Ash looked away, deep in thought.
Tamaska rubbed the vampires’ mark, the thing an irritation because of what it was.
“Can you remove this?” asked Tamaska. “The mark.”
Ash shook her head. “It will only lose its power once the vampire who created the mark’s ink is dead. Do you feel it?”
“Not really. It aches more than anything. But this morning it feels a bit weaker, like it’s fading.”
“Interesting.” Ash peered at Tamaska’s arm. “Maybe the one who marked you is dead, but the mark’s creator still lives. That could explain why you still feel it. He’s using it to track you.”
“I led them to you.” She closed her eyes.
“They came here before that.”
Ash’s words were meant as comfort, but it was scratchy-thin and not warming. Because she knew the truth.
She looked at Ash. “So, I just need to kill Amdis, and then I’ll be free?”
“Let’s get one thing straight.” Ash frowned. “You don’t do the killing around here, we do. That’s our job. But yes, once Amdis is dead, it might eventually fade enough to pass as a birthmark.”
“What’s that about killing?” asked Kodiak as he approached them, once again fully clothed.
Joy surged through Tamaska as she stood and went to him. Finally, he had a moment for her. She didn’t mind waiting, but her longing to have him all to herself was branding a permanent pain onto her heart. And right now, with her fate here in the balance, she’d take what she could get.
He wrapped strong arms around her, and she rested her head on his chest, breathing in his masculine scent. How she wished they could take the time to simply hold each other. She didn’t need to ask, or be told, that he would be busy all day preparing for the fight. Too busy to see her.
Too busy, or perhaps using it as the perfect excuse to put the distance needed for him to lead between them.
Leading just might mean the end of them.
A tiny shudder passed through her.
“Ash? Tamaska?” he asked.
“Nothing,” said Ash. “Just girl talk.”
“I’ll stay out of that, then.”
“Good idea,” said Tamaska as she looked at him, continuing the white lie. Even if the pack had rejected her, at least she had a friend in Ash. Maybe things could change, and the pack could eventually accept her, but that would take time they didn’t have.
Tamaska’s eyes met Kodiak’s. She was drawn into him, mesmerized by the depth of his gaze. He leaned down and kissed her, a slow, soft kiss, like he didn’t care who saw. Like he was coming home.
The kiss deepened, strengthening the connection between them as their tongues entwined. Her knees weakened, but all too soon his lips pulled away from hers, and she was left wanting more.
“You should go rest,” said Kodiak, his hands on her shoulders.
Rest? She didn’t think she ever could do that again. She lifted her chin. “So should you.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah. Unfortunately, I’ve got too much to do. Tamaska—”
“I don’t want you to fight.” The words left her mouth before she could stop them. They were easier to say than telling him she didn’t want to leave if asked. She would. But the pain of the thought lanced through her.
He took a long time answering. “Don’t worry about the fight.”
“I have to.” She cupped his face with one hand. He leaned into her palm briefly, then she stepped back, holding that hand against her chest, her heart.
“You don’t. It needs to be done.”
