The Power Of The Bite (19 page)

Dax hung his head for a moment, and then lifted it, holding out his hand to Zane, which Zane happily took. He’d never had a problem supporting Dax in his position as Alpha, even if Dax didn’t offer him the same respect.

“I thought this could work,” Dax continued. “I had hoped that with time you would all come to see the benefits of having the vampires in our lives. I had faith in the pack of my birth, that you would come to realize it doesn’t matter what species a person is, it is what is in their heart that counts. Zane proved himself a worthy Alpha Mate today, sending his friends to save your women and children, while he did what a mate does best, and fought by my side. Neither he, nor his friends deserve your fear and lack of respect. I am no longer sure I want the position I was given.”

“You don’t have any choice, although your pack certainly does,” a new voice joined the crowd and Zane looked down to see Elder Shalom and his two mates coming through the pack. The Elder seemed to turn up whenever he wanted, which was probably more a Fae than a wolf thing. Murmurs went around the crowd, as they parted letting the two men and one woman come through, heads bobbing nervously in respect. Wolves automatically recognized another wolf stronger than their own.

“Elder Shalom, I wasn’t aware of your arrival, or an intended visit,” Dax bowed his head while the Elder laughed, pulling his mates under his arm.

“You wouldn’t have been, dear boy. My mates’ mode of transport is a little hard for anyone to detect unless we want someone too.” Elder Shalom looked around at the carnage on the pack grounds. Wolf bodies were littered everywhere although apart from some blood on the enforcers, everyone else seemed fine.

“I see you have now become Alpha of the Carmine pack as well,” the Elder mused as he looked over the bodies. “I take it, it was you that killed him?”

“Yes Elder, although I have no wish to take on another pack. I am seriously considering leaving this one.”

“Because of your mate, hmmm.” Elder Shalom looked at Zane and Zane gave a small bow. He did rank higher than the Elder and always would, but he could still show respect.

“Prince McLeod, I was impressed that you allowed your mate to kill Alpha Carmine on his own. That’s not usually your style. You’re a kill first, ask questions later type of guy.”

“Lance, the head enforcer let me know that Dax would lose by default if I interfered.”

“I think that would have been a hard point to prove given the attack the man made on the pack before the challenge had even begun.”

Zane shrugged. “Unlike my mate, I do believe Dax can take care of himself. He’s a strong Alpha. I only fought to ensure the odds were fair.”

“And you are a good and fair man, with the very best of friends.” Elder Shalom smiled as he bowed to Broz, who nodded his head briefly in return. Zane was pleased to see that none of his friends looked any worse for the fights they’d engaged in. They probably enjoyed themselves. Broz had complained more than once he wanted to slap some wolf silly because of the way they behaved sometimes during the coven house renovation. Now the man had had his chance.

“So what to do about this pack?” Elder Shalom mused, looking out over the people gathered, who all stared silently at the leader of all wolf shifters.

“You are quite certain that your pack won’t accept your mate?” The Elder asked Dax who shook his head.

“There was another threat on Zane just last week,” Dax said glaring at his pack. Zane kept his growl to himself, but he would be having words with his mate about keeping things like that to himself.

“Pity.” The Elder smiled down at his own two mates who were happy enough under his arms. “Diversity is a real bonus regardless of species. Well, I suppose we can disband this pack and send the members elsewhere. You now own the joint territory of Portrain and Carmine, so you can pretty much build a new pack of your own.”

“I thought the territory belonged to the pack?” Dax looked puzzled, especially when Elder Shalom laughed.

“Hell no, boy. The pack land, territory, houses and everything else belong to the Alpha pair. An archaic, but totally necessary part of pack law. Stops anyone making a claim on a territory when they don’t get on with the ruling Alpha. It is entirely up to the Alpha who he decides to share that territory with. You can send your whole pack away if you think they are a compromise to your mate’s safety. You have that right.”

“But we don’t have a problem with a vampire Alpha Mate or his friends,” a voice called out from the crowd. “They’ve been nothing but good to us.”

“Then where do the threats to my mate keep coming from, Warwick?” Dax called out. “Only last week I found poisoned meat in my freezers at the club. Not only would it have killed my mate and his friends, but countless humans as well. My business would have been shut down, and the coven destroyed.”

“Your last shipment came from the Clearlight Butchery,” Zane said, trying to see a connection with the pack. “According to your records you’ve been buying meat from them since you opened the club. That’s why I didn’t say anything about the invoice, even though I thought we used somebody else.”

“We were using somebody else,” Dax said, his eyes scanning the crowd. “Clearlight Butchery is owned by George’s son and I didn’t trust George not to interfere with my orders. Paul, what do you know about the poison in my order?”

A tall, young looking wolf shifter stepped forward. Presumably Paul. But before he could say anything, Elder Shalom interrupted.

“I think this would be better handled inside,” he said in a voice loud enough to be heard by everyone. “Your pack have had a difficult day and it is clear to me that there is only one family that is causing the problems in your pack. If you ask your enforcers to bring George and his entire family into the pack house, the rest of your members can show their gratitude by cleaning up this mess, and perhaps organizing food for you and your friends from the coven. Or they can pack their bags and move on, their choice.”

“You’re quite right,” Dax said. He turned to Zane and waved his hand at the pack. It took a moment for Zane to get the gist of what Dax wanted, but then he smirked from his position on the railing. Oh great, he got to order the pack – woo hoo.

“Enforcers, bring George and his family to the pack house. The rest of you, show some respect for your home and your Alpha and clean up this mess. Otherwise, you heard your Elder, you can all fuck off,” He jumped down off the porch, and wrapped his arm around Dax’s waist.

“You didn’t order them to bring food,” Dax whispered as they went inside the house. Zane needed to find a bathroom and quickly. He was still covered in blood and while he needed the stuff to survive, wearing it was not pleasant.

“I wasn’t going to push my luck,” He whispered back. “Now show me to the nearest bathroom, and for fucks sake put some clothes on before I fuck you in front of your Elder.”

“Maybe later?” Dax had a smirk of his own.

“Maybe.” Actually in Zane’s head it was a definite yes, but Dax had got some truth telling to do before Zane went near that delectable ass. In fact, a spanking might just be the lesson Dax needed to stop him keeping things to himself in the future. Sometimes his Alpha just got too full of himself, and maybe Dax needed to see that underestimating his mate, and trying to keep him smothered in cotton wool was not a good idea.

Chapter Twenty Three

Dax knew he had some making up to do with his mate. He hadn’t been honest about the threats from the pack, consciously not thinking about them at all when Zane was feeding from him. He was fairly sure Zane was going to have a major hissy fit at some stage about not mentioning the challenge from the Carmine pack either, although in his defense he had honestly thought it was going to be a straight out Alpha challenge, not a full on pack fight. By the Fates, he’d never been so grateful to see Zane and his friends turn up than when they did.

But with an Elder in the living room, along with a family full of traitors, he didn’t have time for anything more than a long drawn out kiss with his mate, before Zane shepherded them back into where the others were waiting. He couldn’t even get Zane to take a sip of his blood, and that was worrying in itself. His mate never had a problem taking a quick bite, no matter when or where it presented itself. It was possible his mate was angrier with him than he had first thought and just very good at hiding it.

Elder Shalom was sitting on the couch, chatting with Broz. It seemed the men were old friends. Dax looked around for the Elder’s two mates, and caught sight of them in the kitchen busy cooking something that smelled delicious.

“I hope you don’t mind,” the Elder said. “My two do like to cook and I am sure you and your friends are hungry.”

“Not at all, Elder,” Dax said, sitting down on an armchair, pleased when Zane sat on the arm of his chair.

“I do think you should call me Anton.” The Elder smiled. “Now, I must tell you, in the interests of full disclosure, my being here today was not a random visit. Your late friend Cole was not the only one to lay a complaint about your position as Alpha and we have been keeping an eye on you for some time. When the council was informed of the Alpha challenge, my mates suggested we should be around to observe the proceedings. To say it was interesting, is an understatement.” He fixed an eye on George who was still trembling and had to be held upright by Bruce, who didn’t look too happy with the assignment. Although Lance, who was holding Marjorie, didn’t look any happier. 

“You laid a complaint against me too, George?” George just shrunk down even further and didn’t say anything.

“Yes,” Anton sighed. “Apparently George had a lot of plans involving you and his daughter, and you didn’t seem to be cooperating. He also had a lot to say about mixed matings, which was easily ignored, but his comments about your abilities were not flattering in any way. Apparently you and the daughter were an item at one time?”

“In the Twilight Zone maybe. No disrespect, but that was never on the cards. I never even dated her.” Dax looked at the woman, Sarah who was standing with her two brothers. She was a nice enough girl for a wolf shifter, definitely of age, but she didn’t have the right equipment for Dax to ever consider her as his mate, even before Zane came along.

“So what was the story with today’s challenge?” Zane asked. “It looked like a full out pack attack to me.”

“It was,” Dax said, thinking about how much danger his pack had been in. He remembered his flash of panic when he saw the invading wolves, and put his hand on Zane’s solid thigh. His mate had come, his mate had done what he could and when it was necessary, Zane had let him fight the Alpha challenge the way he was meant to. Dax felt ashamed he hadn’t trusted his mate with what was going on.

“Perhaps George would like to explain.” The way Anton said it, he was not making a request, but George refused to talk. Anton sighed and called out softly, “Ariel, could you come in here please?”

The sweet little female Fae came running, her lovely face alight with curiosity. Anton beckoned her close and whispered in her ear, and she smiled, before turning to George. A quick flick of her hands and she went running back to the kitchen again.

“Now George, explain why you got in touch with Alpha Carmine, and what you told him.”

George struggled, Dax could see it. His face twisted up, all of his features scrunched up as though he was willing his mouth to stay shut, but all of a sudden his mouth started working and words just spewed out – words laced with hatred.

“Dax is a disgrace as an Alpha. Spends all his time consorting with vampires, doesn’t care about this pack. His father would turn in his grave if he knew. Comes in here spouting about making changes and doing what he thinks is right. There’s nothing wrong with the pack the way it was. No wolf should have to accept a vampire Alpha Mate, that’s just wrong. I had to do something for the welfare of the pack.”

“So you called Carmine and filled his head full of lies.” Anton was looking thoroughly disgusted and Dax could totally understand why.

“Carmine was going to take Sarah as Alpha Mate. He’s wanted this territory for ages but didn’t dare take on the late Alpha. I told him the pack was ripe for taking because Dax was barely ever here.”

“I wouldn’t come here because of the threats to my mate. What would you do, if someone threatened your wife and children?” Dax was furious. He had missed his pack, missed going for runs and being around other wolves. He loved Zane with all his heart, but he couldn’t deny his nature and just knowing it was George’s bigoted attitude that had stopped him from sharing those treats with his mate made his blood boil. Anton interrupted before George could answer.

“Who else is involved in this scheme of yours? The threats against Prince McLeod in particular?” He said sternly.

Again George fought not to speak, but whatever the little Fae had done was too strong for him to fight. “Marjorie, Paul and Sarah.” His face looked stricken and Dax could understand why. George had just signed the death warrant for most of his family members.

“Anyone else in the pack?” Anton asked.

“Only Cole,” George spat out. “Cole wanted Dax for himself, and he was so easy to manipulate. But he wasn’t supposed to kill the late Alpha, only wound him so that Dax would come home.”

“You told Cole to attack my father?” Dax roared, leaping to his feet. Only Zane’s restraining hand stopped him from tearing out George’s throat.

“He wasn’t supposed to die, but I knew if Cole attacked the Alpha then the enforcers would kill him. I didn’t know Nathaniel was running with Alice, she barely ever went on pack runs. With Cole dead and Dax at home, then I could have got Nathaniel to accept Sarah as the next Alpha Mate.”

“I was already mated and my father knew it.” Dax was struggling to hold in his shift. His father knew about Zane, had accepted him. He knew it was what the Fates had wanted all along, and now because of George’s distorted sense of reality and his delusions of grandeur, Nathaniel was buried on pack grounds instead of enjoying his retirement with his wife.

“Don’t do it Dax,” Anton said firmly, the Elder’s power wrapping Dax like a warm, but very secure blanket. “I know how you feel, believe me I do, but the council will take care of these people. Let justice be served. Your pack doesn’t need any more bloodshed.”

“I have a right,” Dax yelled, forgetting who he was talking to for a moment. “This man is responsible for killing my father, he’s been threatening my mate for months, his son would have killed humans in my club, just so his daughter could be Alpha Mate? I would have never taken a female Alpha Mate and my father knew that years ago. My being gay was never a secret.”

“Nevertheless, let justice be done.” Dax wasn’t sure why Anton was being so insistent, but he couldn’t go against an Elder. Especially not one with Fae mates. He sunk back into his chair, leaning against the arm that Zane wrapped around his shoulder.

“Food is ready,” Ariel said, poking her head out of the kitchen.

“Thank you lovely,” Anton smiled. “Can you ask Pier if he could zap these traitors to the council jail, and then we can sit down and eat?”

Dax leaned against Zane as the pretty Fae male flickered his fingers, clearing the living room of George and his immediate family. Paul’s wife was crying and she held her two small children in her arms. Paul’s brother, Eli had stood staunchly listening to what his parents and other siblings had done, and hadn’t even blinked when they disappeared. Hopefully he wasn’t harboring aspirations on the Alpha position himself. At least he was unmated. Maybe he could look after Paul’s wife and children. Paul and his wife weren’t true mates, so anything was possible. Dax told them all to head to their homes, and that they were under house arrest until he could make any decisions about their future.

Zane led him to the table, and made him sit in what had been his father’s seat, taking the one beside him, and then piled up his plate with food, encouraging Dax to eat. Dax felt suddenly exhausted. He’d been stressed about the threats on Zane for weeks, then double stressed with the efforts it took to hide that from his mate. He hadn’t wanted Zane to get upset with the pack, no matter who was responsible for the threats. The attack when it came was so unexpected Dax had barely time to shift to defend himself, and then George’s revelations…his brain was just reeling. But conscious of Zane’s brooding stare, he mechanically ate the food in front of him, wondering what the hell he was going to do now. He was Alpha of two packs, and he didn’t want either one of them.

/~/~/~/~/

Zane sat and quietly fumed as everyone, including Broz and the other vampires, as well as the enforcers from the pack, all enjoyed their meal. He knew Dax was stressed out and he really couldn’t blame the man, but if what George had said was true, then Dax had been keeping things from him for months. It was clear that Dax thought he was weak, despite the evidence Zane had given him that he was capable of looking after himself. No matter how he looked at it, the way Dax had behaved was insulting, and more than a little hurtful.

But he decided to keep his mouth shut, for the moment at least. He wasn’t going to haul Dax over the coals in front of other people, especially the Elder of their species. He had no wish to see Dax lose respect in the eyes of his enforcers either, but he was still fuming. So much so, he almost missed when the talking turned from general chit chat to something more serious.

“You shouldn’t have too much trouble ruling the Carmine territory alongside your own, Dax. You and your friends took out all of the trouble makers this afternoon.” Anton’s voice sounded like it was a done deal.

“Won’t those wolves have mates and children? I presume I’m responsible for them now too.” Dax sounded so tired, Zane almost felt sorry for him, but he pushed it aside, noting the ‘I’ not ‘we’. Dax was a strong man, who had a lot of responsibilities and he would just have to face them. If the man kept forgetting he was mated, he would be facing them alone.

“Very few women and children. Carmine preferred to take in lone wolves who were looking for a pack. He liked to have brute strength around him. It’s probably why they tried to take the women and children you had,” Anton explained. “But I take it, regardless of what you plan to do with the additional territory, you will be ruling that alone, as well as this pack, just as you have been doing?”

“I have an Alpha Mate,” Dax said. “Zane rules by my side.” Dax sounded confused, and Zane shook his head at the stupidity of his mate. Anton caught his eye and winked before turning back to Dax.

“Given that your mate didn’t even know about the challenge today, or the threats on his life over the past three months, tell me, in the Portrain pack, what does an Alpha Mate do?” Oh Anton, that was below the belt, but Zane kept his amusement to himself. The Elder was making his point for him.

“Well, er…in the past…” Now Dax had a worried look on his face. “My step-mother was responsible for settling the problems with the women and children. She didn’t like it very much, which was why her and my father were retiring. I didn’t think Zane would want to do that sort of thing either.”

“But you claim that Zane is Alpha Mate, so what does he do? Does he help you make decisions? Do you discuss pack issues with him? Does he go on the pack runs with you?”

“I haven’t been running with the pack,” Dax broke in quickly. “I’ve been running with Zane on the coven grounds.”

“Despite the fact that the full moon pack runs are a vital part of keeping a pack together, helping the members feel secure and safe knowing their Alpha and his mate are close by.” Now Anton’s voice had a disapproving note and Dax flushed.

“I wasn’t going to risk my mate running with the pack, and leaving him open to attack.”

“In other words, you were treating me like some teenage girl who had no idea on how to spot a threat and deal with it.” Zane felt it was time to interject. He appreciated Anton bringing up his own concerns, although he wouldn’t have done it in front of an audience. But letting Anton speak for him was almost as bad as Dax’s earlier behavior.

Dax turned to him, his eyes so green and so very sad. “I didn’t mean to. I wanted you to like the pack. I wanted them to like you. But the threats kept coming, and I just couldn’t handle it if something happened to you.”

Zane knew his mate hadn’t meant him any harm, or probably even realized how insulting his behavior had been. Unfortunately that realization didn’t do a lot to soothe his own hurt at how badly Dax had misjudged his abilities.

“How did you plan on having the pack like your mate here, if you never let him have anything to do with them?” Broz drawled from his side of the table. “Seems to me the distance you’ve created between the pack and your mate isn’t helping to foster any like between either sides.”

“There’s been a number of wolves working in coven territory,” Dax said, with that confused little frown marring his lovely face again.