The Mating(31)

Elise felt her mouth fall open in surprise. “Ryne shot a member of his own pack?”

“Quite likely. We thought his scent was around the traps too. It was vague, but detectable. And the oil spill? Boot prints left behind looked like the kind that Ryne used to wear.”

“So are you trying to catch him?”

“We have patrols looking, but he’s too clever a wolf to stay out in the open. He’s holed up someplace, we just can’t figure out where that might be.”

“So why did you need to tell me all of this? Helen and Carrie said there was something personal involved.”

A curious blend of sadness mixed with anger seemed to wash over Kane’s face. He picked up a stone and tested the weight in his hand before hurling it into the brush. The dull thud of it hitting the ground broke the silence. Looking at her out of the corner of his eye, Kane answered her question. “There is something very personal involved. Ryne’s my half-brother.”

Elise couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice. “Your own brother wanted to kill you in a challenge? And now he’s out there sabotaging the pack?”

“All signs seem to point that way. And as I said earlier, some even think he’s responsible for Zack’s accident.”

“Did he really want to be Alpha that badly?”

Shaking his head, Kane picked up a stick and snapped it in half. “I didn’t think so. He never questioned Zack over anything and seemed content as Beta. We both were. Zack was a good leader and a power struggle was the farthest thing from anyone’s mind. Ryne was even talking about settling down. This flared up out of nowhere.”

Not sure what to say, Elise reached over and laid her hand on Kane’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Thanks. I might as well tell you all the bad news at once. There’s one other problem facing the pack. An oil company called Northern Oil wants to do some test drilling on our land.”

“I’ve heard about that. Helen or Carrie mentioned it.”

“Of course we won’t allow it, but the company is trying to pull some legal strings to get their way. At one time, a few of the pack members were leaning towards allowing them in—there’s a lot of money on the table—but in the end, it’s not worth it. Letting the company in would diminish our territory, cause environmental damage, and increase the chances of exposure. Originally, it caused some dissension in the pack, but I’ve had a few meetings and everyone realizes keeping them out is for the best.”

“But will the oil company listen?”

“They’re going to have to. Helen has a daughter, Chloe. She’s in university now studying Environmental Science. I’ve had her do a study of the acreage in question and we have a pretty good case for keeping them out. The area is home to several endangered plants and animals. Chloe’s working with some of her professors to get the northern corner of our territory listed as environmentally sensitive and a protected habitat.”

“Well, that sounds promising.”

“It is and thankfully it’s a bit of good news for a change.” Silence fell between them and Elise noted how tired Kane looked. Stress lines bracketed his mouth and the muscle in his jaw continued to work. She wished she could ease some of his worry and instinctively began rubbing her hand in comforting circles on his back. Kane looked at her appreciatively. “Just between you and me, being Alpha is giving me a huge headache.” He chuckled and stood up, tossing the stick he’d been worrying aside. “Come on, we’d better get back. Who knows what calamity might have occurred in the past hour.” Taking her hand, Kane headed towards the house.





Chapter 9





Back at the house, Kane went off in search of John, and Elise found Helen in the kitchen once again. She was busily making sandwiches and chatting to three other women who were also helping prepare lunch. They all moved about the kitchen with the ease of familiarity, obviously having spent a lot of time here. Looking up, Helen smiled.

“There you are! Elise, I want you to meet two of my daughters, Zoe and Phoebe.” Helen nodded at two young women who looked to be in their early to mid-twenties. Both bore a strong resemblance to Helen except that their hair was still dark brown, rather than liberally streaked with grey and their figures hadn’t rounded out yet. “And this is Zoe’s friend, Rose. She lives near the edge of the territory with her parents and works at the local bank.” Rose gave Elise a shy smile and then leaned over the sink so that her hair hid her face. The girl was rather non-descript with pale blue eyes, brown hair, average height, and weight. She wasn’t unattractive, but neither was there anything striking about her that made her overly memorable. Instinctively, Elise knew that Rose was probably one of the lower ranking members of the pack—not that it was a bad thing—but the girl would follow the lead of others and not cause any waves. There’d be no challenges coming from that quarter.