Massaging her temples, she closed her eyes. Why did she feel so numb inside, so empty? Her father had just been killed. Shouldn’t she be devastated? Railing against fate? What kind of a daughter was she, that she didn’t feel anything?
One by one, the pack arrived. Victor searched the dead man’s pockets, looking for identification. There was none.
Rising to his feet, he looked at the pack. “You know what to do.”
Rising, Kay turned away, unable to watch, as the wolves disposed of the dead man’s remains.
It was then that she saw the black wolf standing on the rise, watching her.
Kiya, are you all right?
Gideon asked.
Someone just killed my father. I need to be here, with the pack.
I’m sorry, Kiya. Is there anything I can do?
Just stay close.
Count on it.
He needed to talk to her, but now wasn’t the time.
I have to go.
I’ll be here if you need me.
She nodded again. When she turned to face her pack mates, there was no trace of the stranger save for his clothing and a faint smear of blood in the dirt. Three members of the pack shifted to their human forms to help Victor carry their fallen Alpha home. A fourth gathered the dead man’s clothes to be burned.
Feeling uncomfortable being naked in front of Victor, Kay shifted back to her wolf form and followed the others back to the compound.
She trailed behind as they carried her father into the house and up to his room where they laid him on the bed.
Kay hurried to her room. After shifting to her human form, she pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater, then returned to her father’s bedroom. Victor, Greta, and Brett were gathered around the bed, their expressions somber. It was obvious they had dressed in haste. Victor wore a pair of sweatpants, Greta had pulled on a bathrobe, Brett wore only a pair of jeans. They all looked up when Kay entered the room.
She moved slowly toward the bed. A sheet covered her father. How could he be dead? He had always seemed so strong, so invincible. And now he was gone.
Greta came around the bed to give Kay a hug. “We have some hard decisions to make,” she said quietly.
“And we need to make them right away,” Brett said.
“What kind of decisions?” Kay asked, although she was certain she already knew the answer.
“Your father didn’t leave a male heir,” Brett said.
Greta took Brett’s hand in hers. “Which means leadership of the pack falls to me.”
“You’ve always been next in line,” Kay said. “So, what’s the problem?”
“You know how it is. Word of your father’s death is probably already spreading through the werewolf community. We’re a small pack.”
Kay nodded as she began to see the dilemma. Even though Greta had been born an Alpha, it was rare for females to be pack leaders, mainly because male werewolves tended to be bigger and stronger. When challenged, the females were almost always defeated.
“As long as your father was our leader, we weren’t in any danger,” Brett remarked. “But now …”
“It’s come to our attention that the pack in Montana is looking to expand its territory,” Greta said.
“Why haven’t I heard anything about that?” Kay asked.
“There was no need to worry about it while your father was alive,” Greta answered. “He was one of the strongest Alphas our kind has ever had. No one was willing to go up against him.”
Brett slipped his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Your aunt doesn’t have a reputation like that. I don’t want her risking her life.”
Greta touched her husband’s cheek. “We’ve already talked about this. I’ll do whatever I have to do. And I’ll win. I’m not afraid. My biggest concern is that the pack won’t accept me. If that happens, we’ll have a whole new set of problems.”
Kay nodded. A pack without an Alpha didn’t survive very long. “So, if you refuse to take over, or the pack doesn’t accept you—and I don’t see that happening—what then?”
“An Alpha from another pack will issue a challenge. If no one opposes him, our pack will be absorbed into a new one.”
“What if we don’t want to be absorbed into another pack?” Kay asked.
“Those who refuse will be disposed of.”
“Disposed of?” Kay shook her head. How could she have grown up here and never heard about any of this?
“It’s a pack thing,” Brett said, as if that explained everything.
Which it didn’t, at least as far as Kay was concerned.
“We’ll have to discuss this with the pack tomorrow night,” Greta said. “Right now, we need to get cleaned up and lay our Alpha to rest.”
With a worried glance at Kay, Brett followed Greta out of the room.
When Kay started to follow them, Victor took hold of her arm, then closed the door.
Kay stared pointedly at his hand. “Let go of me.”
“We need to talk.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“No? Well, I’ve got a few things to say to you,
wife
.” His hand tightened on her arm when she tried to pull away. “Tomorrow night, when the pack meets to discuss who should take over as Alpha, you will suggest that I take your father’s place.”
“Like hell I will. You’re not even a member of our pack.” She flinched as his fingers bit into her arm. “You’re hurting me!”
“I’ll do worse than that if you don’t do as I say. I want this, Kiya. If you’re smart, you won’t oppose me.”
“Are you threatening me?” She stared at him, appalled by a sudden niggling fear that Victor was somehow responsible for her father’s death.
“Of course not,” he said, his eyes narrowing to mere slits. “But it would be a shame if anything happened to your aunt Greta, her being next to the last of your blood kin and all.”
There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Victor would carry through on his threat. Even worse, the suspicion that Victor had killed her father no longer seemed as far-fetched as it had only moments ago. Victor had always been power-hungry. Alpha werewolves lived a long time. She had a horrible feeling that Victor had grown tired of waiting and had decided to hurry things along.
“If you suggest that I take your father’s place, the transition will be smooth. No one will get hurt. With your blessing, the pack will agree. After all, I’m your husband and everyone knows how much your father loved me. Who better to take his place?”
“Anyone but you!”
“Think about this, then. If you don’t back me, I will challenge Greta for leadership of the pack. Who do you think will win?”
Feeling sick to her stomach, Kay could only stare at him, mute.
“So, do we understand each other?” he asked, his voice a low growl.
She nodded curtly.
“You need to get ready for the funeral. I’ll help you dress.”
“I don’t need any help.”
“It’s my husbandly duty,” he said smugly. Still grasping her arm, he opened the door and escorted her to her bedroom.
When it became obvious he wasn’t going to leave, Kay turned her back to him. She longed to take a shower, but it wasn’t going to happen with Victor in the room. She quickly pulled on the black dress she had worn such a short time ago, brushed her hair, stepped into her heels.
When she was ready, Victor grabbed her hand and hauled her to the guest room at the other end of the corridor. She moved to the window, staring out into the night while he dressed. She tried to think, but she was numb inside. Empty. Her parents were gone and she hadn’t had a chance to tell either of them good-bye. But even worse, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Victor was responsible for her father’s death. She told herself it was impossible. Her father’s death had been an accident. A hunter in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Let’s go.”
She turned away from the window, her jaw clenching when Victor again took hold of her arm.
He grinned at her. “I’m not taking any chances on your doing something stupid.”
“I already did that when I married you.”
She gasped with pain when he struck her across the face, her head snapping back from the force of the blow.
“That tongue is going to get you in trouble one of these days, Mrs. Rinaldi. I’d advise you to choose your words with more care in the future.”
Werewolf funerals were always held in the deep woods late at night. Her father’s body, tightly wrapped in a wool blanket, was laid out on a bier to be burned. The pack, all clad in unrelieved black, surrounded it.
Shrouded in a long hooded cloak, Greta stood at the head of the bier. “We are met here this night to mourn our Alpha, Nagin Luta. He has served our pack well. We know not whether his death was accidental or provoked, but the man who caused it will slay no more of our kind.”
Brett moved up beside his wife. “Nagin Luta was my brother-in-law, and my friend. Under his leadership, the Shadow Pack knew fifty-three years of peace and prosperity. He will be sorely missed.”
One by one, the members of the pack paid their verbal respects to their Alpha.
As his next of kin, it was Kay’s duty to ignite the funeral pyre. She stared at the lighter that Brett offered her, then shook her head. “I can’t do this.”
Without a word, Victor took the lighter from her hand.
Tears flooded Kay’s eyes as the hungry flames devoured her father’s remains. A morbid part of her mind wondered if fire consumed all preternatural creatures as quickly and completely.
As the flames died away, mournful howls of sorrow rose on the wind.
In the distance, a wild wolf yipped in reply.
Standing a good distance away, Gideon watched the proceedings. He didn’t miss the way Victor Rinaldi kept Kay close to his side. Gideon had only to brush her mind to know what she was thinking, feeling. It came as no surprise that Rinaldi had threatened her. What was a surprise was her suspicion that Rinaldi had murdered her father so he could take over as Alpha of the Shadow Pack.
Which was exactly what had happened. Gideon couldn’t say for sure what Rinaldi’s reasoning had been, but Gideon had seen the whole thing, which had taken only a few moments. Victor had paused at the foot of the rise and Alissano had stopped beside him. The murder itself had happened very fast. Victor shifted to human. A man stepped out from behind a tree and fired once. The bullet struck Alissano in the heart and he went down. Victor had congratulated the shooter on a job well done. Then, in a move quicker than the human eye could follow, he had shifted into his wolf form, ripped out the shooter’s throat, and quickly shifted back to human. By the time Kay reached the scene, Victor was kneeling beside Alissano.
The howls died away as the flames consumed the last of Alissano’s remains.
Dissolving into mist, Gideon followed Kay and the others back to the compound.
Trying to pass over the fence was like hitting a brick wall. He had hoped the death of the Alpha would allow him to pass, but apparently not.
He waited until the pack members had dispersed to their homes before resuming his own shape. He had to get in touch with Kay and let her know what he had seen and heard, had to warn her that her father’s death hadn’t been an accident.
Chapter 36
Kay hated to see the pack members return to their own homes after the funeral. So much had happened in such a short time, she would have welcomed their company… . Who was she trying to kid? Other than her aunt’s family, she had no real affection for any of the people who lived in the compound. The truth was, she was afraid to be alone with Victor, who had stayed downstairs to have a drink. She hoped he drank himself into a stupor.
She tried not to think of the two men who had remained behind in the forest. They would collect her father’s ashes, deposit them in a large urn, and take it to the pack crypt where it would be placed on a shelf beside his father’s remains. In a few days, she would order a bronze plaque bearing her father’s name and the years he had ruled as Alpha so that he would not be forgotten.
She had a bad case of nerves by the time she reached her room. She considered locking the door, but what was the point? Victor would likely just break it down. Going into the bathroom, she changed into flannel PJs, washed her face, and brushed her teeth, constantly glancing over her shoulder for fear Victor would burst in on her and demand his husbandly rights.
When she returned to the bedroom, he was waiting for her.
Nervousness turned to fear when he grabbed both her hands in his. Before she knew what he was up to, he’d handcuffed her to the bedpost. Heart pounding, she stared up at him.
He snorted. “Don’t worry. I have no intention of bedding you tonight.”
She went weak with relief.
Relief that was short-lived when he leered at her. “There’s always tomorrow night. And the night after that. Try not to miss me too much while I’m gone.”
Kay closed her eyes after he left the room. She had to get out of here.
Gideon? Where are you?
I’m here. Are you okay?
Yes, for now. I think Victor killed my father.
I know he did.
He would have preferred to break the news in person, but she needed to know what Victor was capable of.
Kay felt as though someone had submerged her in ice water. She had suspected Victor of murder, but having her suspicions confirmed by someone she trusted came as a shock.
Kiya, you need to get out of there as soon as you can.
I can’t. Victor wants to take over as Alpha. That has to be why he killed my father. The pack is meeting tomorrow night to discuss it. Victor has threatened to kill Greta if I don’t support him in his bid to take over. And the thing is, the pack will probably sustain him. Everyone knows that my father loved him like a son
.
Gideon considered her words. If what she said was true, then she was safe, at least until the pack had made its decision.
Gideon?
Try not to worry, Wolfie. And whatever you do, don’t make him angry.
What are you going to do?
I don’t know, but hang tight. I’ll think of something.