Bayou Wolf (15 page)

The temperature in the room warmed gradually, but Sera had what she needed. Strength and commitment were two vital attributes for a leader to possess. Luciana had both. Declining any refreshments or food, she and Linc headed for the door. Outside, Luciana walked with her to the car. Linc ranged ahead and Rayne followed behind.

“You are not what I expected,” Luciana said, a rueful grin on her face. “From Rayne’s descriptions and admiration, I thought you had come to—how do you Americans say, bust my balls?”

Sera chuckled. “I might have, had you been the spoiled princess playing at Alpha. But you seem to care, a great deal. You seem to understand where some of our upset is coming from, and I can appreciate your stance.”

“What of the others? Mr. Clayborne has proven intractable in our few conversations. He will not commit…perhaps because you are five instead of one as Salvatore is the leader of all our—his packs.” The noticeable slip pained her. Families had that effect.

“I can’t speak for them. I wouldn’t pretend to try. We will talk. Chances are we will talk a great deal. We may have other questions…”

“I will be ready for them.” She sighed, sliding her hands into the sweater she wore. Between the ponytail and sweater, she seemed so very young. “I know I have a lot to learn, but I love them all, Signora. I will not abandon them willingly. Would you tell the other Alphas, I do not want a war, but I will fight one?”

“I will.”

“Until next time, then.” Luciana inclined her head. “
Ciao
.”

Pausing, Sera waited as Luciana retreated to rejoin her mate. The couple returned to the relative shelter of the porch. Several inches of snow had fallen since their arrival at the regional airport. A soft hush fell over the town. Linc’s ears flicked forward, but he waited for her angled to keep her in his line of sight even as he scanned the darkness. A wave of exhaustion passed over her, it was well after one in the morning.

They needed to return to the regional airport, fly back to Willow Bend in the storm, then get to the town and maybe spend a little time together before she had to meet with the Alphas.

And tell them what?

Linc barked once and she blinked, she was still standing where Luciana left her. “I’m coming,” she told him. Something niggled at her, but she couldn’t put her finger on it and the spirits remained silent on the subject since the moment of her first meeting. Opening the SUV, she let Linc in first before sliding into the driver’s seat. Both of them were covered in snow, but she took a deep breath of the air inside still fresh with their lovemaking.

Starting the vehicle, she glanced toward the house. Where were the other wolves? None of them ventured too close while she and Linc spoke to Rayne and Luciana. Despite the presence of other scents, they hadn’t been in the house proper.

Still mulling the question, she backed the vehicle onto the street, and turned in the direction they’d traveled. The little town’s main street seemed even more silent and solemn than their first trip through. Linc’s gaze remained fixed on the windows, his ears flicking forward and back.

Was he nervous or was she?
What the hell am I nervous about?
A half-mile from the town, a hundred wolves surged onto the road—no, more. Sera had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting them. They were everywhere. In front and behind.

Linc’s lips peeled back off his teeth, a snarl rising from his throat. A bulky red wolf landed on the hood, his eyes gleamed in the darkness and his hackles raised.

Show of power…

“Well,” she said slowly, putting the gear in park. “I guess she wasn’t done with us after all.”

W
olves surrounded them
. Not daring to look away from the eminent threat glaring at him from the hood, Linc tensed. Sera put the vehicle in park, but she didn’t do more than sweep her gaze at the wolves filling the road and all around. If she decided to drive, she would have to hit them. With this many, all they needed was one lucky shot.

“Serafina Andre,” a man’s voice echoed outside. One Linc didn’t recognize. The brutish red wolf on the hood leapt down and the wolves paced restlessly, but backed off some. “I call Alpha challenge.”

His heart stopped.

No Alpha could refuse the challenge, who the hell was this guy?

“His name is Patrick DuMonde,” Sera said softly. “And you cannot interfere.”

The hell he couldn’t…the growl rumbling through him vibrated the air between them. Sera gripped his muzzled and pulled him to face her.

“You cannot interfere.” Command reinforced every word. “Alpha challenge must be met.” Her eyes seemed to bore into him. The compulsion to obey her slammed into his need to protect.

Understanding her need, he refused to acquiesce to it. Protecting her
was
his
duty
and more. Holding her gaze, he glared until she released him. “Dammit, Linc, now is not the time to prove your alpha potential. I need to know you’re safe so I can take care of this man.”

Her need did more for him than her orders. Flicking his ears toward the gathered, he glanced at her again.

“Be my second,” she murmured. “Keep the others from interfering.”

Yes.

One bob of his head and she released him, then claimed her phone. No way had he found his mate, a potential resolution to their issue with the new pack and lose her in the same night.

Not happening.

She pressed a button on the phone as she opened the door and stepped out. Linc rushed behind her and landed in the snow. Tail lashing once, he glared at the nearest wolves and they withdrew another few feet. The man who issued the challenge strode toward them, his bare chest gleaming with snow.

Phone to her ear, Serafina stood silent and still. Power rippled the air around her, the energy cascading over Linc’s fur. A male voice answered the phone, “Sis?”

“Etienne. Patrick DuMonde has called Alpha challenge. I’m in Nebraska and need you to bear witness.”

A single inhale of air on the other side of the phone, then, “You need a second. A true witness.”

“My mate is with me.”

Surprise rolled over the assembled wolves and they cast him wary looks. Baring his teeth drove a few more away. Most were not all that dominant. Some, like Patrick, held a certain amount of power, but they were watchful and cautious, not lunging or running away.

“I look forward to meeting him and, Patrick?” Etienne’s voice rang through the night. “Enjoy the afterlife. May your return journey be as painful as your entrance.”

Linc sneezed. The level of disdain in Etienne’s voice rang true.

“I bear witness to the Alpha challenge for Delta Crescent.”

“Thank you, brother. If you’ll stay on the line, I’ll chat with you in a few.” Her radiant confidence improved Linc’s furious mood.

Who the hell was this wolf? Why the fuck was he pulling this? She’d come here to help their damn pack.

Sera set her phone on the hood of the car then faced Patrick. She swept him from head-to-toe, her glance abrasive and dismissive in equal measures. “Do you care to rethink your challenge, Patrick? I let you walk away once. I won’t be so kind or generous a second time.”

“No,” the man growled, stalking forward. “You shouldn’t have come to force us back a life we don’t want. You shouldn’t be attacking the only Alpha to stand up for us. I demand Alpha challenge. Will you face me or do you
yield
?”

The air crackled as Serafina stripped off her jacket. After tossing it into the SUV, she closed the door and walked forward into the snow. No, walk was too tame a word. She stalked forward, all dangerous predator. The force of her approach pushed the other wolves away until they formed a loose semi-circle. None dared come near Linc. He kept his distance, but refused to lower his vigilance.

No one interfered with an Alpha challenge. It could get the person killed. Then again, these Lone Wolves all violated the laws, one after another. Why should they begin to observe tradition where Sera was concerned?

Patrick waited, his breath coming in shorter, shallower gasps of air. Energy surged around him, but his scent carried the tang of fear beneath the male musk. Crashing through the snow and a woman’s voice punched through the building tension.

“What are you doing?” Something tickled in the back of Linc’s mind, he recognized the voice. Bursting from the trees, kicking up snow as she struggled through it, Shiloh Sullivan yelled again. “Stop this madness. Are you crazy?”

Wolves surged to block the human before she could run into the fray. Shiloh was Willow Bend and as far as Linc knew, she’d never formally left the pack. A member of one of their human families, and former year mate of Ranae’s.

“Stay out of this girl,” Patrick snapped. “This is between myself and the soon to be former Alpha of Delta Crescent.” Old anger drizzled every word.

“Patrick,” Shiloh yelled, undeterred as the wolves pushed her back. To their credit, they were gentle but they didn’t balk at keeping her from the fray. Another human rushed out of the woods. His breath came in explosive gasps. Shiloh tried again, “Patrick we’re so close to having your pack acknowledged. The other Alphas will kill you if you do this—she came in
good
faith.”

Sera didn’t seem to notice the human, the entirety of her focus on the male opposing her. Neither moving toward him or away, she simply waited for him to make his move. Despite the bitter cold, sweat slicked the man’s chest. The taste of his fear rose.

Bitten off more than you can chew, fool?
Linc possessed within him no ounce of sympathy. The bastard wanted to kill Linc’s mate. It had little to do with claiming her pack, and everything to do with Sera herself.

“Dammit, Patrick.” Shiloh’s voice cracked. “Stop this.”

“Shh,” Serafina said, the soft sound silencing everyone as her power expanded then pushed at the wolves and they withdrew until only she and Patrick were alone in the center. “This is done, little one. It is time for you to stand down and stay out of it.”

“Yeah,” Patrick snarled. “Shut the fuc—” He didn’t complete the word. Moving like lightning, Serafina struck. She drove her fist into his throat. Choking, he gasped and went down. Sera never slowed, twisting and slamming her foot into his chest. Patrick flew back three feet and landed on his back in the snow.

Some wolves might have taken a victory lap or run. Linc had seen many fights over the year, but the quiet, deliberateness of Serafina’s actions took his breath away. She stalked forward, pursuing her prey and prey he was, because challenge or no, Patrick fumbled to his feet and tried to run.

Seemingly without effort, she seized his right arm, twisting the hand out until bone cracked, then stuck him again. With a strained howl, he lunged for her and she avoided every blow, flowing like liquid grace across the snow. On his last swing, she caught his left arm and twisted, the bone’s punishing snap echoing through the hollow silence.

Patrick went to his knees, both arms broken and his trachea half crushed. Hate mingled with terror as he gazed at her. An unforgiving angel glared down at him, a goddess whose wrath he’d provoked and Linc almost pitied the wolf.

Almost.

A roar of rushing sound reached his ears. Pivoting once, Linc tracked the sound. A black wolf raced across the snow and he lunged. A second wolf raced behind her and they were streaking for Serafina. Not slowing he slammed into the black wolf and took her down. Whirling, he faced the male as he collided and set his legs. His brothers used to joke he was a tank, and he used his size and bulk to his advantage as the male jumped him.

Claws tore at him, teeth sank in and then he tasted the male’s blood as he pulled a stripe of fur off of him. The black scrambled to her feet, and Linc hurled the male at her to keep from interfering. Bleeding and panting, he faced off against them, his back to Sera.

The black wolf bared all of her teeth and power hit him, power demanding he yield. He snarled, growling his refusal as he continued his glare. Behind him, Serafina said, “Do you yield Patrick?”

The wolves behind the black converged forward. Linc braced himself. If they all came, the female was the first one he’d kill. If he took her out, the others would be too confused to do more. He didn’t want to kill Luciana, not when Sera had seemed to like her, yet he refused to allow them to interfere in a battle Sera accepted. He also wouldn’t let them attack her.

The black wolf closed the distance between them. A burn across his shoulders told him he’d taken the hit from Rayne, but he didn’t back down. He had no desire to obey Luciana or back down. If Luciana wanted Linc out of the way, she’d have to kill him.

“Go to hell,” Patrick spit.

Luciana shifted, the speed with which she changed stunned Linc. Retreating a single step, he refused to interfere with a changing wolf, though it seemed to take mere seconds to regain her human form. Ignoring the ice and snow, she strode forward with her mate at her side.

Snarling once, Linc inserted himself between the pair and Sera.

“Enough,” Luciana snapped at him, impatience rebounding in the two syllables. “I am here to stop this, not to hurt her. We have just hosted her as a guest.” Raising her voice. “Why are you all here?”

“Because,
cher
, you do not hold as much sway with your lost lambs as you think you do.” A bone crunched, the snap of a neck, and a body hit the snow. “Your Patrick challenged me, and he refused to yield. He will challenge no one else.”

Pain crossed Luciana’s face, true sadness, and for the first time since he met her, Linc thought he might have glimpsed the real woman beneath the Alpha. “Thank you for offering him a chance to yield.”

Never taking his gaze from the pair, Linc listened to Sera cross the snow behind him to the vehicle. She reclaimed her phone, and said, “I’m still Alpha, so I still expect those reports done.”

Etienne’s laughter and rude comment were so filled with affection, Linc relaxed. His mate’s brother loved her well. That satisfied him. Snow crunched as she approached, then Sera settled her hand against his back, just behind the injury.