Kianna and Her Three Alpha Wolves [Featherstone Pack] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More)

KIANNA AND HER THREE ALPHA WOLVES

Featherstone Pack

DEBBIE BAILEY

Copyright © 2012

Prologue

Once a month, it was freedom for them, freedom to shed their human form and run once again as a pack. Teaghen, Duncan, and Alex Featherstone, as pack alphas, led the run through their lands along the British Columbia coastline. Their family had lived there for generations and had never had any difficulties from the outside world until one fateful night when a few of the local idiots decided to go spotlight hunting on their land.

* * * *

They had smelled the hunter’s stench the moment they drove their truck onto Featherstone property that night. Stale booze, gunpowder, and gasoline permeated the air. Many of the people from the local area were all friends or family of the pack. They worked with them and celebrated with them, but the five men in the truck weren’t friends or family.

The Deacons were part of a group known to do a lot of poaching in the area. They didn’t seem to care what it was they killed as long as some part of the animal could be sold. Area wildlife officials had never seemed to be able to catch them in the act, so no charges had ever stuck to them. But this time they’d gone too far. No one came onto Featherstone land to kill.

The brothers Featherstone had never had to deal with the Deacons encroaching on the property before. They always thought that the Deacons were smart enough to know better. If they were ever caught then there was a possibility that tribal law would prevail and they’d be dealt with accordingly.

* * * *

As the men brought the truck to a standstill, they turned on the spotlight mounted to the top of the cab and swept it along both sides of the road. Sean, the oldest of the Deacon boys, stood behind the light, swilling on a bottle of booze.

“I heard there’s a really large wolf pack in this area. Let’s hope we can bag a few before we have to head in.” He laughed as he passed the bottle to one of his younger brothers.

Steven, the youngest of the Deacon brothers, said in an oddly quiet tone, “If we get caught, Sean, we’re in deep shit. We’re on protected lands owned by the Featherstones, and I don’t want to mess with those three guys. They’re not exactly small, you know.”

“Oh, quit being such a little momma’s boy, Steve. What are they going to do? There are five of us and only three of them, so there’s no way they will start anything physical with us. All we have to do is show ’em our weapons, and that should put enough of a scare into them so that we can get off their property before the law comes. So grab some balls, will ya?”

* * * *

Alex listened from behind a downed tree not too far from the men. Even if he would have been a mile away, he would have heard and smelled them.

If he howled to warn the others, they’d know he was there, so there was only one of two ways to get out of this little mess. Shift back to human form and confront them naked? Or as quietly as possible turn around and head back further into the trees until they moved on. Not liking the idea of having to explain why he was out in the middle of the forest naked, he chose to slowly back away.

All he heard was a small crack of a twig he’d just stepped on, then felt the pain in his right hind leg. The fuckers had shot him. Howling out for his pack members, he tried to get as far away from the truck as he could hoping he didn’t lose consciousness before his brothers could get to him.

* * * *

“Alex, we’re coming, brother. Hold on just a little longer. I can feel you close by.”

Teaghen kept calling to Alex through their link, but he seemed to be fading in and out. He knew Alex was hurt. They all heard the gunshot. He was not dead yet. Teaghen knew that for sure because he could still feel his link. Barely, but it was there.

“Stay with me, little brother. If you think this is getting you out of laundry duty, then think again.”
Teaghen was trying to keep Alex focused on anything other than his injury. They needed to get to him before those fuckheads did.

“
Alex, how many are there?”

“Five…Deacon boys, shot me in the back leg, and they’re not far behind me. I’m at the lake now.”

Teaghen and the rest of the pack arrived at the lake within minutes and headed for the lake shacks where they kept extra clothing and a few rifles in case of emergency. Shifting, they quickly dressed, grabbed the rifles off the racks, and headed out to get Alex.

Just as they were coming out of the shack, Alex came limping toward them and headed into the shack as well. Right behind him were the Deacon brothers.

Duncan switched on the shack’s lights just as the truck came to a screeching halt in front of Teaghen.

With his rifle raised up toward the men in the back of the truck, Teaghen knew he was well within his rights to shoot them for trespassing on their land. They had signs posted all over so that anyone venturing unknowingly onto Featherstone property knew they had better leave quickly.

“Get the fuck down off the truck, Sean,” Teaghen said. “The signs say ‘No Trespassing.’ Are you such a dumbass that you can’t follow simple directions?”

Sean dropped his weapon immediately and jumped down from the truck bed. “Take it easy, Teaghen. We were only following an injured wolf so that we could take it to the vet in town to get some help for it.”

“Bullshit, Sean. You and your idiot brothers were doing exactly what you’ve been doing around these parts for years. Poaching, only this time you’ve been caught, and I’m gonna make sure they throw the book at all of you.” Teaghen knew he had to be watchful of the other Deacons. They were known to get real nasty when cornered.

“Fuck you, Teaghen,” Sean spat out. “You can’t prove anything. All you’ll get us on is trespassing, and that’s it.” Steven, the youngest, got out of the truck and came to stand beside Sean. “My little brother is studying to be a lawyer, and he’ll make sure that none of us spend any time in jail.”

Teaghen wanted to wipe the smarmy-assed smile right off Sean’s face, but he knew that what Sean was saying was probably true. They couldn’t very well have Alex testify that it was he who was shot.

“No, Sean…not this time.” Steven walked over to Teaghen and said, “I’ll give you what you need to make sure they spend some time in jail. It won’t be much though because, knowing my brothers, they’ll hire a good attorney who will deal them out of any long-term prison sentence.”

“You little bastard, Dad should have drowned you when you came out from between that bitch’s legs.” Sean lunged toward Steven, but before he could get his hands on him, Teaghen stepped between them and brought the rifle up underneath Sean’s chin.

“He’s the only one in your family with any integrity, asshole. I suggest you start thinking of the name of a real good lawyer.” With his eyes still on Sean, Teaghen yelled, “Has someone called the sheriff?”

“Already on their way, Teag. They should be here in about ten minutes.” Duncan gestured for some of the other men in the pack to grab the other Deacon boys and hold them until the sheriff arrived.

“Get your fucking hands off me, half-breed.” Ray Deacon was the loudest and meanest of the brothers. Standing no more than five-seven, he had always been a scrapper. Even in school, if someone looked at him the wrong way, he’d challenge them to a fight. Didn’t matter whether it was male or female, he was never discriminatory in that sense.

He’d married one of the local girls a couple of years after high school only to have her divorce him six months later when he almost beat her to death one night. He’d spent a short stint in prison, but because he made a deal, it was severely reduced.

“This
half-breed
is going to make sure that you spend some serious time behind bars, Ray. I would have thought after your last stint in prison you would have gained some smarts and stayed away from all the shit your family is into,” Duncan yelled back to him and started toward him, his fists clenched at his side.

“Not a good idea, little brother. I know he’s a piece of shit and deserves to have his ass handed to him on a silver platter, but you’re better than that,” Teaghen said, placing his hand around Duncan’s bicep to stop him from going any further.

* * * *

Steven Deacon stepped up to Duncan and quietly spoke to him. “I have all the proof you’ll need to put them all behind bars. My family has done too much damage to the wildlife in this community to be allowed to get away with it any longer. I have pictures and videotape of some of their hunts, and I’ll give it all to the wildlife boys. The only thing I ask is that you don’t hurt my brothers. I know they deserve to be punished for their crimes, but let tribal law deal with them.”

“What in the hell are you talking about, Steve?” Ray shouted at him. “We aren’t natives.”

Turning to face his brother, Steve walked over to stare directly in his eyes when he gave him the news.

“I warned you to get off Featherstone land, didn’t I? Theirs is a protected forest. Not only is it protected by the wildlife service, but it is owned by the tribe, and what happens on their land is subject to tribal law, whether you’re aboriginal or not.” Steve felt a great sense of pride at the look of fear that passed across his brother’s face.

“You’ll go down with us, Steve. You’ve been hunting with us for the past six months, ever since you got back from law school,” Sean said as he pushed his way past Ray to confront Steve.

“I’ve been working with the wildlife service gathering evidence on your illegal activities, Sean. Our family has been poaching for decades, and it’s going to stop now. Our father is an animal and raised us to be just like him, only he made a big mistake when he sent me off to law school because I learned just how inhuman a man he was. For years, I thought that everyone’s family was like ours. We all lived in fear of our father and his beatings, never sure what the next thing would be that would set him off. He terrorized my mother for years before she finally had had enough and took her own life.” Duncan could see the pain in Steven’s eyes at the memory of finding his mother’s body hanging from the rafters in their home.

Before anymore could be said, three vehicles pulled up, and Jack, Samuel, and Dustin Lightfoot got out.

“What in the hell is going on here, Duncan? Teaghen…?” Jack asked them both.

“We caught the Deacon boys here poaching on our lands, Jack. They shot one of our wolves, too, and if we hadn’t have been out here, they would have hunted him down and killed him,” Teaghen told Jack.

Steven walked over to the truck and removed some equipment from the back. He handed the video recorder he’d retrieved to the other officer, saying, “This should be more than enough to put my brothers away for a while. I’ve already given you the ones of my father and his buddies.”

“I’m sorry you’ve been put in this position, Steve, but we want you to know how grateful we are for your help,” Jack said to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“You little fucker,” Sean spat. “How long have you been videotaping us?”

Steve turned to face his older brother. “I’ve been gathering evidence on the family for over two years now. Every time I came home for a visit and you insisted on taking me out with you on these fucking hunts. You have no idea how sick you really are, do you, Sean? You don’t kill these animals for meat because you have to. You slaughter them for pure pleasure and the money that their parts can bring you. That, big brother, is going to stop today.”

“You wait until Daddy finds out what you’ve done. He’s going to kick your sniveling little ass,” Ray screamed to him.

“I don’t think so, Ray. Right now your daddy is sitting in a small cell waiting to talk to the federal boys that are on their way here. Seems, not only have y’all been pissing off the local authorities, but your daddy’s been dealing a few other things as well. He won’t be able to help himself let alone you four idiots.” Dustin smiled as he placed Ray’s arms behind his back and cuffed him.