Bound to the Tribe (Bound to the Pack, #2) (8 page)

What amazing control she had.

It was easy to forget that while Kris, Ian, and I could easily hear and smell the others in our area, Jen was essentially blind by shifter standards. And yet, she still stayed with us, ignoring her fear and human ‘limitations.’

Ian watched her as she calmed back down and looked to him, awaiting his answer. Ian’s opinion of my mate rose another notch in his book and he nodded to her before replying. “Yes, none of the others want to anger an alpha, let alone the entire council.” He snorted. “Bunch of chicken shits.”

“You don’t talk like Liam,” Jen commented suddenly and I sighed. Was I never to live that down?

“And thank the gods for that!” Ian laughed quietly. “He was raised by one of the old packs that go on and on about tradition. If only they could see their star pupil now.”

My growl only earned a grin from him.

“Oh. I guess I just assumed everyone at the reservation would be like him. Proper.” Jen said,  looking at me; irritated, probably wondering why I had never mentioned it before.

“Proper?” Ian laughed again. “Is that what you’re calling it then? Only the old packs are like that, most of the rest of us just
are.
We don’t need to learn an awkward way of speaking or have useless traditions forced down our throats.”

“Tradition is not useless, Ian.” My voice held little heat for the old argument, though my wolfish instincts cringed a little inside for antagonizing our alpha.

“There’s a place for tradition, don’t get me wrong,” Ian continued by rote, both of us playing our roles. “But tradition for tradition’s sake fails to keep up with more current times. It should be able to adapt somewhat. Who knew a few thousand years ago that humanity would be what it is today?”

“Ian, as a rule tradition isn’t required to adapt.” I snorted, finishing our age old argument.

Ian looked at me, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “You seem the same to me as when you left. I don’t know what caused your... lapse.” He looked to Jen. “But can I assume that if I take off your harness you won’t do something stupid like attack me or try to run?” He nodded at my flat stare before coming around to use the releases on the back of the harness.

“Thank you.” I rubbed my shoulders where the leather had been biting in. “I think there may be something amiss with that set, they continually tightened and required adjustment.” Ian looked me over as he sat back down across from me, dropping the shackles nearby.

“They aren’t broken, boy, you’ve been growing.” He looked at Jen, “And unless I miss my guess, she has too.”

“What?” I laughed. Ian rarely joked, but when he did, nobody every understood them.

Kristen, however, was nodding. “I missed it at first,” she said, looking between Jen and I. “Jen’s an inch or two taller, you’re probably twice that.”

“Wait, what?” Jen was as confused as I felt.

“I noticed it earlier,” Kris said slowly, “At first I thought it was just because I had changed out of my heels. But then I really looked. I used to be able to see clear over your head, Jen. Now I’m looking at your forehead.” She shrugged. “I can’t explain it.”

This had to be a side effect of bonding a human, but what did it mean? Jen stared at me; unease, confusion, and worry flashing through her as she wondered the same.

“Maybe the elders will have some answers for you,” Ian spoke, unconcerned, “But I sure as hell don’t. Dinners ready.”

We fell into an uncomfortable silence as he passed around skewers of meat.

“As delicious as this always is,” Jen commented as she accepted her meal. “Would it kill you guys to add some vegetables or
anything
that isn’t strictly meat to your diets?”

“It might,” Ian replied without missing a beat. “Best not to find out.”

Kristen chuckled as he handed her a spit as well. A few minutes of quiet eating followed, Jen finishing her meal quickly and taking some of my own with a mischievous grin.

One spit still stood near the fire, keeping the meat warm, and Ian regarded it a moment after Jen had playfully taken a few bites from my own.

He looked up at Kris and spoke. “I assume it’s safe to say that your bond mate, Troy, wasn’t it? Isn’t going to catch up to us tonight?” Ian’s words caused her face to darken, though she kept her eyes on the flames and didn’t reply.

Jen’s emotions flared. Concern, anger, worry, love, and too many others to describe, all passed through her as she looked at Kris calmly. I had to rub my nose at the onslaught and caught Ian doing the same out of the corner of my eye.

The silence drew out uncomfortably before Kris said simply, “He isn’t coming.”

“I see,” Ian nodded. “So those rumors are true as well. It certainly explains his enthusiasm in helping us find you all.” Seeing the effect his words were having he continued to press on, instinctively exploiting what he saw as weakness. “Seems you may have to take notes from your brother on how to pick a mate, then. Ironic, isn’t it?”

She stood up, furious, face twisted in anger and loss. “Don’t you dare!” The words hissed out of her.

I needed to step in, but how? Kris would not appreciate it in the slightest and Ian was still my alpha. Locked in indecision, I watched with a sense of dread as Jen stood up and whirled on Ian.

“Hey! That’s totally out of line!” She stared challengingly at him. “Who the hell do you think you are?!”

Kristen was startled out of her anger as I cursed inwardly. Jen really had no idea that Ian was important; an alpha, not just some run of the mill shifter like those she had been meeting till this point.

This was bad.

“Girl,” Ian said softly, an edge of danger coating his words, “This is none of your business.”

“She’s my best friend and she’s just gone through some serious shit.” Jen stared at Ian defiantly. “I’m
making
it my business.”

I wondered where this fire was coming from, Jen had never flared up like this that I knew of.

“Jen, it’s fine. Really,” Kristen spoke, hoping to diffuse the suddenly dangerous situation.

“No.” Jen’s anger continued to rise. “It’s not fine, not even slightly.”

“I could beat you senseless, child,” Ian continued to speak softly as he stood to his considerable height. He felt he was being challenged. This was going from bad to worst. Fast.

“And?” Jen actually took a step closer to the angry alpha, and he blinked. A small thing, blinking, but it spoke volumes. This was likely the first time in his entire life that anything had come
closer
to him while it was the target of his anger.

“What do you mean, ‘and?’” Ian asked, surprised.

I prepared myself. There was no way I could fight Ian purely in human form, and Kristen wouldn’t be able to help much either. Not to mention that any noise would draw in the rest of our guards.

“Jen.” I had to try diplomacy, it was our only hope of getting her through the night unscathed, but she just talked right over me.

“What I mean,” she continued, staring at Ian, who actually seemed off balance, “Is so what if you could kick my ass? Just because you’re bigger, stronger, or just more violent doesn’t mean that what you say is right.” There was no fear in Jen, only a righteous anger.

Ian was truly confused now. In the shifter world being bigger, stronger, or more violent
did
make his words right. And he was all three and an alpha as well. His word was unquestioned law.

I moved quickly, putting myself between them as Kris jumped over the fire and pulled Jen back. Ian was surprisingly fast for his age, though and he didn’t have to move far. Unfortunately, I was completely unprepared for him and looked on uselessly...

As he laughed.

Head thrown back, arms wide, he turned in a slow circle where he stood as gales of genuine laughter poured out of him. Looking back, I saw Kris and Jen both starting at me in shock.

This was unexpected.

Relaxing slightly, I stepped back towards Jen as Ian laughed himself hoarse before plopping back down by the fire.

“Liam,” Ian spoke, still shaking with laughter and wiping tears from his eyes, “Bring her with you before the council, it’s your right and she is
nothing
like what we expect humans to be.”

He regarded her warmly before turning to me and continuing, “Put her in front of the council and she’ll win your fight for you. Probably leave as the first human alpha as well.”

The rest of the evening passed without further incident and, before long, Jen and Kris were crawling into the tent while I found an appropriate tree to sleep under for myself.

Reflecting back on the night’s events, I felt myself smile at the marvel that was my mate. Walking into the camp, Ian had been an enemy. By nights end she had turned him into our ally.

By challenging an alpha.

Jen

W
e entered the village shortly after noon, the wooded path suddenly opening up onto a well-tended dirt road. Log cabins dotted the area nearby, trees coming right up to them, apparently left as close to how they found the area as possible.

As we followed the charming, yet terrifying, Ian further in I was startled when animals began emerging from the tree line to our left and right. I assumed they were our shifter guards but for some reason I wasn’t able to tell just by looking at them. Perhaps I could only tell a shifter when they were in their human form?

“I didn’t expect there to be farms here,” I commented as I noticed a cabin next to a tilled field in the distance. There were even some penned cows, pigs, chickens, and sheep.

It was Ian who responded. “We’ve done it for centuries, maybe longer. The old packs are still bitter over it.” He grinned. “Wait till you see your cottage.”

We continued on through the village, finally passing some of the shifters who called this place their own. Of every age and size they all turned to stare at me, confused. I doubted that many humans had ever come through here. I might be the first.

Looking at them all I also realized how important Kris’s job had actually been. Clothes ran the gamut from uncured pelts to colonial era and all the way on to a few passably modern outfits. The vast majority would look out of place anywhere in the human world.

Liam brought his own share of looks as well. Apparently well known and well regarded in his home village, many of his neighbors looked on as he was escorted past, under guard. Whispers followed in our wake.

The walk took far longer than I had been expecting, the reservation was enormous. And this area was mainly for wolves, the smallest clan that had a member on the elder council.

After a time we turned from the main road and followed this new street up to a short row of neat cottages. A large building stood nearby, the water wheel on its side turning in the river with quiet splashes.

One cottage had a shifter at each corner, they were all tending small fires. This had to be where we’d be staying. Guards to watch every exit and fires to light up the night when it came.

Escape would be impossible.

I had been in over my head for days now, but reaching this spot brought everything down on me in a very real way. Whatever was going to happen to Liam, to us, was going to happen here.

I walked even closer to him, drawing strength from his presence, and calmed myself as best I could as we approached the door. All of the new guards came over to us and, as if on cue, the ones that had been escorting us here all split off and headed back into the village proper. They were probably going to get some sleep or go home to their families.

Ian nodded to the tallest of the four as they approached. “Delivered on time, as requested.”

“Thanks Ian,” the guard replied, looking us over. “No shackles?”

“Took them off at the camp.” Ian grinned. “Someone’ll have to go get em if you all want to have them back.”

The guard just shrugged. “Not my problem, don’t really care.”

Ian and the guard apparently knew each other very well and as they settled into a quiet conversation I looked around at the other three guards. All were wolf shifters, unsurprisingly, and one was glaring angrily at me for some reason.

It was the final one that caught my attention, however. In the back of my mind I felt as if I had met him before. Taking in his full appearance it finally clicked.

“I sold you that shirt, didn’t I?” I smiled as he grinned back.

“That you did.” His smile took some of the edge off of the tense situation. It was good to see a familiar face, particularly on one of our guards. Not that he’d let us go, of course, but it was nice all the same.

“How have...” I began but was cut off by the angry guard.

“Is it not enough that you defile our land human?” His voice had a ragged edge to it, he was on the verge of violence. “You will remain silent. I will not have you soiling our ears with your voice.”

I stepped back, surprised by the vehemence of his words. He looked young, younger than Liam at least, and was wearing pelts.

Great, a traditionalist.

“Aaron!” The guard I had been speaking to turned and glared at him.

The quiet conversation died as everyone turned to look at the source of the outburst. Amazingly, instead of wilting under everyone’s stares, he seemed to take strength from it and stood straighter, fixing me with a glare.

“I’d be careful, pup.” It was Ian who spoke, causing the guard to flick his gaze off of me briefly. “She stared me down last night. Without fear.”

The rest of the guards turned to regard me in shock, but I was focused on Ian’s words. The slight inflections as he had spoken them was his way of telling me that I had to face down Aaron as I had faced Ian himself down mere hours before.

Bracing myself I took a step forward, then a second, keeping everyone’s attention on me. The angry guard seemed taken aback and I knew I’d have to thank Ian later for his help in this.

If I made it through.

I had no idea what I was going to do to get myself out of this, but I had to try. If I succeeded it would help us all in the days ahead. But how? I searched my mind for ideas as I looked at Aaron who was quickly regaining his composure.