Bride of the Alpha(5)

“Are you all right? Did he hurt you?” he demanded.

“I’m fine.” I resisted the urge to rub my aching wrist, because I didn’t want to inspire him to get in a fight with Kray on the spot.

My heart pounded in my chest. This was what Camille had been living with ever since Kray took over her pack? Why hadn’t she told me? Then again, what could I have done to help her? The Alpha made the rules.

The council of Elders, the thirteen who oversaw matters which affected wolf shifters as a whole, would be very unlikely to help out in a case like this. What could Camille have told them? Her new pack Alpha was a mean asshole? They wouldn’t care. They mostly only intervened when there was a threat of exposure to humans, or some threat to all shifters. They didn’t interfere with pack business.

“The wedding is off,” Kray growled. “I’m taking her with me.” He made a move as if to grab me away from Maxwell, and Maxwell let out a mighty growl of rage and went wolf.

I staggered back as he shifted, splitting out of his shirt and jeans. His snout shot out, his ears went pointy, and white fur rippled like a field of grass in the wind. He’d been wearing a necklace in human form, a strip of leather with some tokens dangling from them, and that stayed on him, dangling down. The rest of his clothing lay in strips on the floor.

Maxwell was a very fast shifter, turning in seconds, and he was, not surprisingly, one very huge wolf. Saliva dripped from his gleaming fangs, and his eyes glowed with rage.

Kray shifted too, into a big, sturdy wolf with thick gray and white fur. It took him several seconds longer than Maxwell, and Maxwell was significantly bigger than him.

I stumbled back away from them as they crouched there, snarling at each other. Then, abruptly, Kray shifted back to human form, which signaled his surrender. It wasn’t quite as submissive as rolling onto back and baring his belly, but it was a clear admission of defeat.

I was startled and relieved. This was the mighty Kray Renker? When he was up against a real Alpha, he didn’t seem so tough after all.

Maxwell shifted back, hands balled into fists, his jaw set with anger.

Kray held up his hands placatingly. “This should be a day of celebration,” he said. “There’s no reason to fight here.”

“You attempted to put your hands on the woman I will be marrying. That’s a reason to fight,” Maxwell’s voice was a rough, angry growl.

“She has disrespected me, and I can’t tolerate that,” Kray said. “I need to take her back to my family compound and teach her a lesson. An Alpha can’t tolerate disrespect; you know that.”

I shrank away from him, heart hammering on my rib cage. This was bad. If Maxwell let him take me, I was as good as dead, especially when he found out who I really was.

“Her behavior is now my concern, not yours. Are you attempting to renege on your deal with me?” Maxwell demanded. “Because that is the equivalent of declaring war on my pack. Is that what you wish to do?”

Kray swallowed hard, and then cleared his throat. I tried not to look at how incredibly well hung Maxwell was, but it was really hard not to look.

Ouch. Hurt me so good, I thought. Then I immediately chided myself. This was really not the time or the occasion to go all pervy!

“I can provide you with another bride, equally attractive and much more agreeable,” Kray protested. “You want a bride that is submissive and will obey you, and show you the respect you’re due. That isn’t her. My apologies for bringing the wrong woman. I had no idea she was capable of the kind of behavior she’s displaying today.”

“Don’t tell me what I want in a bride,” Maxwell snapped. “You promised me this one. I want this one.”

Oh, goody, now I was the juicy bone that the two wolves were fighting over.

Still, he had saved me, and I was grateful for that.

Kray stood there, furious, not wanting to back down but not wanting to challenge Maxwell either.

“Your pack and my pack can meet on the field of battle,” Maxwell said, smiling a very nasty smile. “Or you and I can meet wolf to wolf. Shall we notify the Council of Elders?”

Maxwell was basically threatening to issue a formal Death Challenge. Winner would have the right to take over the other’s pack and lands. Somehow, I didn’t think Kray would take him up on that – and I was right.

“Fine. If you want her, take her. My family and I will be leaving at once; we will not be attending the wedding. As soon as the nuptials are complete, you will notify me. Then our packs are officially allied, and you will not be returning her to me. I don’t take used goods,” Kray sneered at me, and turned and left the cabin, still buck naked.