Dead.
In less than a month, my mate... this girl with her long legs, full lips, and a body Kim Kardashian would even be jealous of... a girl who blew into my life without so much as a warning, will be dead. According to her pack prophet. And I'd love to chalk it up to the ramblings of a mad woman, but I've never met a pack prophet whose premonitions didn'tcome true.
Kiara knew this, and she allowed me to mark her anyway. To take the first step of claiming her knowing we were on borrowed time.
Fuck!
Just... fuck!
The Moon Goddess must truly hate me if she's mated me to a girl who will be dead in less than a month. And how selfish of Kiara to keep this from me?
"Permission to speak freely?" Eli asks.
"No." I wave him off.
Ignoring my command, he speaks anyway.
"Do not hold it against her. She's spent months avoiding you to prevent you from having to suffer another loss."
"Didn't I just tell you not to speak?" I stare incredulously at him.
Glancing briefly at Bo and Tai, I give them a nod and they bury their fists in his stomach. Eli drops to his knees, but I must give him credit where's its due. He's got heart. He shakily climbs back to his feet and tries my patience again.
"If you love her like I believe you do, it shouldn't matter. Make her final days memorable ones."
This time I don't enlist my handlers to do my dirty work and I deck him in the face myself.
"Stop. Talking." I warn him.
Wiping the blood from his mouth, Eli is back on his feet again. And if he wasn't so blatantly defiant, or his actions so disrespectful to me as his alpha, I might be impressed.
"She needs you." He tells me.
The thin tether holding back my temper snaps and I'm on him in an instant.
"She needs me. To do what exactly? What good is she to me as a shifter who can't shift? What good is she to me if she'll be dead in less than a month? Had I have known any of this, I would've-"
"You would've what?" Kiara asks. Standing in the doorway with a world of hurt on her face.
I'm sorry she heard me, but it needed to be said.
She's put me in a bind.
So, I opt for honesty instead of treading lightly where her feelings are concerned. And I tell her, "I would've let them sell you to Elijah Grey."
Hurt skitters across her face for a moment before it disappears as quickly as it came. But I don't need her to speak to know what she's thinking. Thanks to my mark, I get a front row seat to everything she thinks and feels. And my words may as well have been a heart-seeking-missile, tuned to the frequency of her heart. Because with a single sentence, I've completely obliterated it.
With tears stinging her eyes, Kiara nods, swallows hard, and walks away.
Shit.
"You're a special kind of dick... you know that?" Eli glowers at me.
Don't I know it.
Even as I knock out two of his teeth for his continued defiance and have him taken away.
Kiara locks herself in her room, refusing to speak to anyone or answer the door. Which is fine by me. I have enough shit to deal with.
"That was cruel, Ras." Eve tells me. A look of disappointment on her face.
"What's cruel is allowing me to fall in love with her knowing she was on borrowed time." I snap at her.
A stunned smirk spreads across her face.
"What?" I frown.
"Do you realize you just admitted to falling in love with her?" She happily points out.
And she's right.
I did.
Scrubbing my face with my hands, I rake my hands through my hair. But rather than go make amends with Kiara, I head to my office and lock myself inside. I did not mean to hurt her, but I am angry with her.
She should've told me.
Kiara knows what I went through with my parents.
She knows the threat I face with Eve on a daily basis.
Why would she allow me to get so close to her?
The more I think about it, the angrier I get.
You love her, my wolf tells me.
No shit.
You do not want to lose her, he adds.
Again... no shit.
Yet, she has doomed us both to die. Because the moment she does, I'll follow her into the afterlife. And what future will my pack have then?
Who will protect Eve, my brothers, and take care of my people when I am gone?
It appears as if the other alphas, and even those in my pack, will finally get their wish.
Pounding on my office door gets my attention and I answer it.
"I'm afraid we've got a little situation." Tai tells me.
"What's happened?"
"The shadow pack has delivered you a message and you're not going to like it."
"What was the message?"
"They sent us Patrick's head in a trophy case."
Patrick... one of the lieutenants within my pack. He was last seen a week ago and has yet to report back.
Now we know why.
"This business with the shadow pack will get worse before it gets better." I sigh. "And now I have a dying mate to deal with... fuck me."
"Well, not to make your day worse, but I've received word a few members of our pack have plans to meet behind your back. My source tells me they wish to discuss removing you as head of the pack. What would you like to do?"
"Find out when and where and gather as many men as you can."
"On it." He nods and disappears.
I need to send a message to anyone wishing to challenge me, and I can think of no better way to do it than with a show of power.
Arming myself, I'm placing a gun inside my ankle holster when I notice a figure standing in my doorway.
"More bad news?" I ask Tai.
"Actually, I have a bone to pick with you." Kiara replies. Entering my office without an invitation.
"Now isn't the time."
After having shut down the conversation, I expect her to leave but she doesn't. She just stands there staring at me with both disappointment and disgust in her eyes.
"Where are you going?" She asks me.
"Well... thanks to you reaching out to Harlan for help, and undermining me at every turn, I now have members of my pack who believe I am weak. That they can gather in my absence and force me out of power. And now I must make an example of them." I tell her.
"Are you going to kill them?" She lowers her gaze to the guns I have strapped into the holsters at my sides.
"Probably."
"I'm coming with you."
Kiara turns to leave, but I stop her. Firmly grabbing her by the wrist.
There's no way in hell she's coming with me.
"You're staying here." I tell her.
"I can fight, Rasan. Let me help you."
"Haven't you done enough?" I lose my temper again. Instantly regretting it the moment I see her crestfallen face. "If you really want to help me, Kiara. You should start by listening to me for once."
"Have you considered that instead of a liability, I might be an asset to you?" She counters. Completely ignoring my suggestion.
"Perhaps I would if you weren't always getting in my way."
Again, hurt skitters across her face before she schools her features back into neutrality.
I don't want to hurt her, but the longer she stands here, not listening to a thing I say, the angrier I get. And I don't know why. Just that she infuriates me.
"For once... do as your told. I'll be back in a few hours."
Folding her arms across her chest, Kiara steps aside as I walk past her to greet my men at the door. Tonight, things are going to get ugly, and fast. The last thing I need is to worry about her getting caught in the crosshairs of a pack war. She needs to stay here where its safe. And where the men I'm leaving behind can protect her.
"You're making a mistake." Tarik tells me. An amused look on his face. "Kiara isn't some girl you can sideline because you're afraid her claws might be bigger."
"I love the fact that she believes her claws are bigger." I correct him. "And I'm not sidelining anyone. It's called protection."
Nodding to Bo, I watch as he takes a rod to the backs of Tarik's knees, and he drops to all fours before me.
"Hey!" Kiara shoves Bo away from Tarik who's still smiling. "If you ever touch my brother again, I'll kill you myself."
"He's just following orders." I explain. "And your brother was out of line."
"I don't care."
Shifting my gaze to Eve, I tilt my head to Kiara, and she plays peacemaker. Helping Tarik to his feet and taking both him and Kiara away.
With the two of them distracted, I gather my men and we head to the meeting location where those wishing to remove me as alpha have gathered in secret.
First, we wait for my brother's Chance and Orlando join us. Then, make quick work of the guards outside. Which isn't hard. No one is expecting trouble tonight, but they're damn sure going to find it.
Leaving some of my men outside to secure the place, the rest of us venture inside. Subduing anyone we encounter quicker than they can act or alert the other's to our presence. Then we approach the door to the meeting room and quietly enter.
"I should be the one to replace him!" Scott Morse argues loudly. "I'm second in power beneath him and I have more resources than all of you combined!"
"Resources?" I frown as I walk into the room to stunned silence.
Motioning for Bo to hand me the file in his hands, I starting laying photographs of the assets of every man in this room. Including any property they might have, before them.
"You're too late." Scott tells me. "We've already voted and you're out."
"Have you now?" I meet each of their gazes. Pressing forward, undeterred, I tell them. "These photos represent every single asset you all possess. Assets that belong to me."
"The balls on this kid." Scott balks. Rounding the table, he angrily walks up to me and tells me. "I ruled packs before you were even an itch in your father's nut sack. Had he not cheated when he challenged me as alpha, I still would be."
"But you're not. I am."
"Didn't you hear me, boy. You've been voted out."
"Shifter code is pretty clear on mutiny's, Morse." I take a seat at the table. "A vote isn't valid unless all members of the pack are present. Had you have been as busy studying the code as you have been putting a knife in my back, you would know. Also, had you all not been so preoccupied with getting rid of me, you would've known you were already defeated."
"What are you talking about?" Pack member, Reuben, asks.
"Well... my father taught me well, Reuben. He also had the foresight to know you mutinous lot of assholes would turn on me eventually. So, he made sure I had an insurance policy."
The mutinous pack members exchanged confused glances. So, to put them out of their misery, I help them connect the dots by placing the portfolio of one of the companies I own on the table before them.
"Fuck. Me." Pack member Lenny Foster slumps back in his seat. Having connected the dots first. "You own Venture Capital Investments."
"I absolutely fucking do. And seeing how my company has funded all of your investments, it's safe to say that I have you all by the balls." Leaning across the table to stare each of them in the eyes, I warn them. "Fuck with me again, and not only will I bury you, but I'll put you, your family's, and even your fucking pets six feet under."
Checkmate.
Pushing away from the table, I rise and fix my clothing. Then I leave them with these parting words...
"Before my father, our pack operated out of a single town in the middle of nowhere. As we grew, he handpicked you all to oversee a territory in his absence. But it seems as if you've all forgotten how you came into power. And now you wish to bite the hand that feeds you. For your betrayal, I will let you decided your punishment. But I will be taking a finger or a toe from each of you. You decide."
Turning my backs to their pleas for mercy, I block them out as the screaming begins. Four severed toes and three severed fingers later, and I'm sitting back at my desk at the packhouse. Wondering what my father would do if he were here. I may have stopped them for now, but I know they'll be back.
And I must be ready for them.