Hunger of the Heart (Wolves of Ravenwillow Book 1) (20 page)

“What exactly are you accusing me of?” Doyle Mackenzie’s irritated voice asked through the speakerphone in the center of Eric’s desk.

Pacing back and forth, Eric suddenly stopped to turn toward the speaker phone. Fangs growing long and his claws slashing into the edge of his desk, he snarled. “You know what I am talking about! Your mate’s messed up drama just showed up on my doorstep today!”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Eric. Are you saying that you encountered one of Malca’s enhanced soldiers in your own territory?”

With a disbelieving scoff, Eric shoved away from his desk. His rage filled eyes, turning over to Mark who lounged against the far wall. With a slight nod, Mark stepped up to the opposite of Eric’s desk. Folding his arms over his chest, Mark sighed.

“Doyle; its Mark here.”

“Thank God, at least there is one rational person there that I can talk to.” Doyle’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

With a look of anger, Eric clenched a tight fist against the top of the desk beside the phone. Fearing that his temper would cause him to smash the phone to bits, Mark held up a calming hand to Eric.

“Doyle the situation is…complicated down here.”

“When is it ever not?” sighing heavily through the phone Doyle added, “Tell me what is going on.”

“Eric’s home was attacked while his children were there.”

“No offense, but why would you assume it had anything to do with what we are dealing with here? How do you know that it’s not members of your pack, Eric? It’s widely known that you wolves are known for attacking other packs to acquire more territory.”

“They attacked with
guns
, Doyle.” Mark replied. “To my best knowledge, most shifters prefer a more
personal
approach when killing someone.”

Before Doyle could respond, Eric bit out a snarl of frustration. His eyes glowing as his wolf attempted to leap forward, possibly in a vain effort to attack the grizzly shifter through the phone. “What I think is that when I saved your troublesome brother that your mate’s problems have followed me!”

Though Doyle wasn’t wrong about the possibility of it being other wolves behind the attack, Eric knew that wolves didn’t possess the scent that he, Jason and Mark remembered. It had to be the freaks that were always hunting Doyle’s mate.

Tension became as thick as a heavy cloud of smoke as Doyle spoke again, his normal deep voice echoing with the inner fury of his beast—of his bear. “Are you blaming
my mate
?” instantly, Eric felt the chill of Doyle’s words, but being a leader himself; he shook it off. Before he could respond to the enraged words of his ally, Eric’s hearing picked up shuffling sounds on the other end of the call.

“Give me the phone.” A soft feminine voice ordered.

“I’ve got this!” Doyle snarled, clearly still miffed about Eric’s comments concerning his mate.

Was it possible that Doyle’s mate; Aria, had heard their conversation? A wave of shame hit Eric at the thought and he found he was angry at himself. The last thing he wanted was to burn his new bridge with the Alpha of Darkwood Springs, but he had to know what he was facing.

Voices on the other end continued until Eric heard the sounds of a scuffle. Were they fighting for possession of the phone? As the rough shuffling sounds lessened, Eric recognized the sound of the phone being passed to another person.

“Hey this is Doyle’s irritated mate, what do you want?” Aria’s soft, yet stern voice asked.

“We need your help, Aria. Why would those guys be coming after Eric?” Mark asked before Eric had the chance to piss off anyone else.

“As far as we know; Malca’s main players have followed her to Washington D.C. we’ve just arrived there and are working on another lead on her. I don’t see how she would know anything about you, Eric. Which makes it unlikely that she is personally targeting you and your family. My advice to you is to look more closely at your own pack; I’m sure the answer is there somewhere.”

Eric scoffed. That was
not
the answer that he needed. “Thanks for nothing, Aria.”

“You called us; remember.”

“My last mistake with you and your pack.”

“Give me that damn phone!” Doyle bit out in the background. With a sound of a light slap, Aria sighed into the phone.

“Little tip for the day, Eric; take a Midol and go play fetch with a ball or something. Then once you’ve done that, maybe you want to look at what enemies you have next to you instead of working to create new ones.” Without another word, the line went dead.

Reaching across the table, Mark hit a button on the phone to turn off the speaker; all the while he eyed Eric with a hard look. Catching his gaze, Eric bit out a foul curse. Pacing the length of his office behind his desk, Eric fought the need to break, tear or maim something.

“You know she’d got a point, Alpha.” Jason said quietly from his spot by the door.

When Eric flashed his beta a hard glare, he was surprised to see Chris was nodding his head in agreement. Alright so maybe he could have handled that phone call a bit better. Mentally shrugging it off, he forced his mind to focus on the issue at hand.

Glancing back at Jason with a shrug, Mark turned back to Eric. “What do you want to do?”

Wincing at the only option open to him, Eric came to a slow halt. “Call a pack meeting.” Eric reluctantly said. “Every wolf under my rule, call them all here. If one of them is behind what happened today, I am going to give them the opportunity to have a second try at me. When they do; I will end this threat to my family permanently.”

When Jason and Chris moved to do as Eric ordered, they paused after barely taking a step when Eric spoke again. “I want the information on Rebecca that you both learned today to stay secret for the time being. Once I discover who attacked my house and the threat is eliminated, then I plan to tell her the truth.”

“Eric,” Chris began with disapproval ringing loud in his voice. “I couldn’t be happier that you not only found your true mate, but that you finally pulled your head out of the sand when it came to Rebecca. That being said, do you think it is wise to introduce her to the pack before you claim her fully?”

“What are you getting at?” Eric raised a brow at his beta’s question, his lips pressing into a hard line at the thought of not fully claiming Rebecca.

“If you introduce her to the pack before there is a bond between you, what’s to stop her from running or denying your claim on her as her mate?”

“Either scenario will get Rebecca killed by the pack, Alpha.” Jason agreed with a solemn look.

Rising to his feet, Mark held up a staying hand as he stepped in the middle between the two betas and their Alpha. “Hold up here. Are you guys suggesting what I think you are?” Mark asked, pointing an accusing finger at Chris and Jason. “Are you really suggesting that Eric forcibly turns his mate and then just tosses her in front of the pack? Giving her a
take it or leave it
deal?”

As if I would give her an option to say no…
Eric thought with a dark scowl.

“What other option is there?” Jason asked. “It would ensure that she’d be safe from the pack. I’m sure she’d eventually understand.”

A mocking laugh rang out from Mark. “Trust me, I know from experience that forcibly binding your mate to you and dealing with the consequences later
never
works out for the best.” Mark replied with a heavy look of regret.

At Mark’s words, Eric felt his curiosity peaked. Was there more to Mark than he knew about? Mark had never mentioned a mate or any family other than his elusive pack. Making a mental note to discuss the topic with Mark at a later date, Eric settled heavily in his chair, his thoughts returning to his own mate.

Could he really find it within himself to take away Rebecca choice as Jason and Chris suggested? Did the pros and cons truly balance in this? Sighing he began weighing the options.
Pros
: Rebecca would fully be his, she would be safe from the Act of Revealment, and she would become a shifter within a week’s time; making her impervious to most injuries.
Cons
: It would destroy any headway he’d made with her in the last week, she could come to hate him or even fear him, and the possibility that she would run from him regardless was still a concern.

Either way he looked at it, he’d be silting his wrist when it came to Rebecca.

Go to her.
His wolf urged.
You’ll know what to do then.

For the first time, Eric found solace with his beast’s reasoning. He still had at least two days before all of the pack would be here. He had time to bind her him in every other way. Perhaps that would be enough to convince her to accept his mating mark. Rebecca was a reasonable person; she’d see it his way.

With his mind made up and the pull of his mate too great to ignore any further, Eric rose from his chair and passed the arguing trio. As he left, Mark, Jason, and Chris’s voices fell silent. Turning down a separate hall, Eric made his way to the kitchen. With every step his wolf prowled in a nearly stalking manner as the scent of their mate grew stronger.

* ~ * ~ *

Winching with pain as Rebecca reached out to hand both Travis and Emma a small bowl of chocolate ice cream, she forced a smile as the sad eyes of the twins gazed up at her. The simple treat did little to lift the dark clouds from their minds.

“I want Mr. Stripes.” Emma said with a sad expression. Knowing that Emma needed the comfort of her stuffed tiger, Rebecca took a seat beside Emma. Looking down at her bowl of ice cream the small girl’s bottom lip trembled as a single tear tracked down her face. The small drop of moisture was like a knife in Rebecca’s heart.

Earlier when they’d left the infirmary, Sarah had told the children that they would be staying at the lodge for a few days while Eric tided up a few things. Their reacted hadn’t been the best. The twins had instantly cried and grumbled with displeasure that not going home to their toys and seeing their friends at school for the next few days. If not for Rebecca’s suggestion that they get some ice cream, the two shifter children would still be stubbornly sitting on the tiled floor of Dr. Tessa’s office.

Reaching out to wipe away the fallen tear, Rebecca softened her expression as she spoke. “I’m sure your daddy will go and get Mr. Stripes for you, Emma. It’s just for a few days.”

With crossed arms over his small chest, Travis grumbled shoving his bowl of ice cream away. “I want to go home. I want my game boy.”

Turning to look at Sarah who stood at the sink, Rebecca sighed before turning her attention back to Travis. “I’m sure you guys can go home in a day or so.” Turning back to Emma as more tears continued to fall down her reddened cheeks, Rebecca looked pointingly at the untouched ice cream in front of her. “You should eat your ice cream before it melts. I think ice cream tastes so much better when it is cold, don’t you Emma?”

Pressing her small lips together, the small girl nodded. Slowly, her small fingers curled around her spoon before pulling her bowl closer. With a scowling look, Travis eventually did the same. Once both children were quietly eating their treat, Rebecca stiffly rose to her feet to join Sarah by the kitchen counter. The old woman was busy working on adding spices to some type of dough in a mixing bowl. As Rebecca leaned wearily against the counter beside her, Sarah lifted her gaze to her.

Eyeing the crudely wrapped bandage around Rebecca’s left forearm with a critical eye, Sarah shook her head. “You should have gotten that looked at.”

Smiling faintly against the humming pain in her arm, Rebecca shrugged. “I’ll be fine. It’s just a few scratches.” Rebecca said, attempting to downplay her actual injuries.

The truth was that when they had taken Emma and Travis to be checked out by the doctor in residence at the lodge, Rebecca had been too scared to let the glaring woman near her. Dr. Tessa was a shifter like all the rest, but even she could see the inner hate boiling in the doctor’s eyes.

The extent of her injuries had been from when she’d dived under the table to rescue Emma during the attack. Shards of glass had cut into her arm that had slid along the floor on impact. Other than a few tender muscles and bruises, she would be fine in a day or so. Not that she intended to stay here this long.

Emma and Travis had Sarah to look after them—they didn’t need her; which had been her excuse for lingering all morning. With Eric occupied elsewhere, now was her chance to slip away for good. Turning to Sarah, Rebecca positioned her body until her back was facing Emma and Travis.

“Sarah I need a favor.”

Lifting her gaze from her mixing bowl, Sarah frowned. “What type of favor?”

“I need to get a ride back into town. There are some things I need to take care of at home.”

When Sarah looked hesitant to say anything, Rebecca felt her hope deflate in her chest like a balloon. About to say something to persuade her further, Rebecca was cut short when she sensed someone else coming into the wide kitchen. Every bone in her body froze as she took in the sight of Eric standing in the doorway. His hard gaze fell on her in an assessing manner and made her nervous. She still hadn’t forgotten what she’d overheard in the kitchen this morning.