Sentinel: Reckless Desires (Wolf Shifter Romance) (Alpha Protectors Book 2) (11 page)

M
aisie was begging
me with her eyes, her small hands reaching for me, pleading for her momma to help her.

And I was useless, unable to move, too scared that if I didn’t reach her in time, Smith would snap her neck and take her from me.

So I stood there, staring at her.
Useless
.

“Why do you think you have any leverage?”

Angel’s question obviously threw Smith for a loop, because he looked down at Maisie then back at Angel. “You’ve been screwing Chloe?” He phrased it as a question, as if suddenly unsure. “You’re serious about her.” This time it was a statement.

“I’m not. I don’t give two shits about the woman, or the child. I came here for
this
.” Angel wafted the piece of paper in the wind, a self-satisfied smirk spreading over his face.

He wasn’t looking at Maisie or me. All of his attention was focused on Smith.

And then he turned and walked away.

I saw the shock register on Smith’s face when he realized that Angel wasn’t going to back down. He dug his claws into Maisie’s neck, dragging a startled scream from her.

Angel didn’t even pause. He just continued to walk away.

He didn’t care.
Or did he? Was it all an act? Suddenly I didn’t know. Did I really know him? He’d told me that my dad had brought him here, but those were his words. And my dad had been injured shortly after he’d arrived.

My stomach churned as waves of doubt washed over me, boiling through my blood and chasing away the ice. With a scream I threw myself at Smith. His uncertainty might be the only opening I would get.

Hands grabbed at me, trying to pull me back, and then the next thing I knew I was lying on the ground, my head ringing from Smith’s punch. I leaped back to my feet and was about to throw myself at Smith again when his head snapped around, his gaze lasering in on Angel.

Angel’s violent curse floated on the wind, giving him away.

“You called my bluff, pretending you don’t care about her,” Smith sneered. He reached a hand behind him and the next thing I knew he was holding the barrel of a gun to Maisie’s head.

“You,” he snapped, looking at me. “Get down on your knees and put your hands behind your head or I’ll put a bullet in your sniveling child’s brain.”

I fell to my knees, the impact shuddering up my spine, and laced my fingers behind my head.

I glanced over at Angel. He still wasn’t looking at us, but he wasn’t walking away either.
Do something!
I screamed at him silently, begging him to help us. I’d admit it: I needed him to be exactly who he was—the big, bad alpha.

“Why?” I asked Smith, my voice breaking.

“Why what? Why the money? Why pick Maisie?” he sneered, leveling me a look that made my skin crawl. “Let me tell you something. You never once looked at me, even after everything I did for you. Why did you have to go and get yourself knocked up and have a bastard child by someone who didn’t even want you? Why, when
this
guy arrived, did you act like a bitch in heat, putting out for him within seconds of meeting him and lowering yourself even more? Did you really think he’d want you? After some guy used and discarded you, that anybody would want you but me?”

“But he’s her—” Mark started, but Angel silenced him with a glare.

The pack was silent, shock on everyone’s faces as they watched a man they had loved turn against them.

Angel slowly turned around. “There is no gambling debt, is there? Are you really going to cling to that excuse?” He took a menacing step forward, his muscles bunching and seeming to grow before my eyes. “Let’s be truthful here, Smith, shall we? Nobody gives two shits why you did it. You
killed
a man, and put a bullet in another—your
alpha
. And now you’re threatening a child. Do you really think anyone here is going to forgive you?”

“It was worth a shot. I never cared about the money anyway. For
me
it was always about her.” Smith shrugged with the air of someone who didn’t give a fuck. He pressed the barrel tighter against Maisie’s forehead. “That’s close enough,” he murmured. “You should have just left. You’re not really a part of this pack. There’s no reason for you to have to pay for something you didn’t do.”

“You’re wrong.”

Those two words had hope bursting through me.

“Excuse me?”

“This has everything to do with me. The woman you struck is my mate. The child you are hurting is my pup. And I,” he paused, a ferocious growl erupting from his chest, “I am your beta.” On the last word he unleashed his power, letting his true potential ripple out over the pack, the air pulsating with his fury.

I had never felt anything like it, and from the looks of it, neither had Smith.

Behind me, I heard Mark suck in a breath.
“Fuck!”

He was glorious, furious and feral and pissed off. And he was mine. I glanced at Maisie, trying to tell her with my eyes it was going to be okay.

He was ours. He would protect us.

* * *

E
verything was a white noise
, static filling my ears as my vision tunneled and all I could see was Smith. The rotten, slimy bastard. Threatening my child, hitting my mate.

I could pinpoint the exact second Smith realized his mistake... the exact moment my power caressed his skin and he
knew
. His life was over.

The other man swallowed, his throat working as he choked on his own saliva. His hand shook, the barrel of the gun wavering between Maisie’s eyes.

“Put the gun down.” I threw everything I had behind the words, willing him to obey. I might have been given the role of pack beta as a cover, but the gesture had meant something. Today I was a part of this pack, his dominant, and he was going to
obey
.

His hand twitched and my heart leaped into my throat. He was fighting it.

Dammit!

My eyes flicked to Chloe, to where she knelt in the dirt. She didn’t belong there. She was strong. She needed to fight for her child.
Our
child. An idea hit, something I’d seen Jason do with Macey. As an alpha pair they
shared
their power.

I willed her to stand up, reaching down with the bond and shoving as much strength as I could into her.

She jerked, her knees locking and eyes widening. Slowly her fingers curled, hardening into fists. She closed her eyes briefly, and when they flashed back open they were glowing with her wolf.

I sent another bolt screaming into her until I staggered back. I had sent too much, given it all.

Smith cocked his head, my hold on him failing. “What the—?”

Chloe lashed out in a blur faster than the naked eye could track. Her claws raked down his face, her other hand snatching the gun away and tossing it into the dirt. On a heart-stopping growl she grabbed Maisie away, then fell on the man she had once called friend. She was lost in the moment, her wolf calling for the blood of her enemy. She slashed and punched, Smith not getting a chance to defend himself against the onslaught.

He curled up into a ball, trying to defend his neck and heart. But it wasn’t enough.

She rolled him over, her claws digging into his hair and yanking his head back to expose the long line of his neck.

“Mercy!” He gasped out, his hands scrabbling at hers. His eyes locked onto the crowd, his mouth opening and closing in a silent plea for help. “You can’t let them do this to me!” he eventually croaked out.

Praying to God? It was too late for that.

“Would you have shown mercy to my child?” she snarled, and I had never seen anything so majestic as her, so strong and wild and gloriously protective of her pup.

We were in perfect accord. He had threatened our family. He had to die.

“Chloe. Stop!” The alpha’s voice rang out. The crowd parted like a wave, bringing him forward.

“Dad? You’re healed?” Her eyes flashed from her father, to me, then back again.

Shit!

“I’m sorry. We didn’t want to lie to you, but you couldn’t know. We had to flush the traitor out.”

Oh, fuck!

This time when she looked at me it was with betrayal in her eyes. “You could have told me.”

David looked between us, understanding dawning in his eyes as he noted Maisie clinging to my legs. “You!”

The weight of his anger hit me, crushing me in my weakened state. I fell to my knees, my head bowing.

I dragged my head up. I wasn’t going down without a fight.

“Grandpa! No!” Maisie screamed, throwing herself in front of me, as though her little body could shield me. “We’re going to be a family!”

Suddenly I could breathe again.

David turned his attention back to Smith. “You murdered your beta and threatened my grandchild. You will go before the Shifter Council and answer for your crimes.” He turned to Mark and Neil. “Take him back to the house and secure him.”

Mark nodded, and grabbing the former lieutenant from Chloe, started to frog march him away from the crowd. Smith kicked and lashed out, his movements more and more desperate the farther he was dragged away, his eyes searching the crowd with mounting desperation.

Neil circled around them and dropped back, a grim set to his mouth.

I tracked their movements, a niggling suspicion forming in the back of my mind. Smith’s confession echoed in my head, something not sitting right.

David turned his attention back to me. “Now, what do you—”

Clarity hit me, klaxon sirens going off in my head. Everything around me faded as things finally slotted into place.
Smith
hadn’t done it for the money. And he hadn’t been talking to God, he’d been talking to his
accomplice
.

The man who
had
done it for the money.

My eyes flicked to where the gun had been.
It was gone.

Time slowed. Smith twisted away from Mark, his claws slashing through the larger man’s chest. Mark howled, tackling Smith to the ground.

Metal glinted, unnoticed in the heat of the skirmish.

Drawing on my rapidly returning strength, I called the shift to me, my wolf bursting from my body and shredding my clothes in a twisting of snapping bones and swelling muscles. Before the shift had finished, I was flying through the air, my powerful hind legs driving me forward.

The gun fired, the
crack
deafening as a bullet tore into my shoulder, rending flesh and bone.

My jaws clamped around Neil’s neck. I bit down, blood flooding my mouth and staining my tongue. His hand twitched on the trigger as his body spasmed beneath mine, the life leaving him and fading from his stunned eyes.

Then it was over.

Crouched over the fallen man, I lifted my head and eyed Smith, a low snarl trickling from my lips.

Blank eyes stared back at me.

Mark tilted his head, a grim set to his jaw. He had taken care of business and protected our pack. But in doing so he had killed a friend.

I rose from my crouch, shaking out my fur. Pain radiated though my shoulder, a dull throbbing ache. My leg threatened to buckle beneath me and I shifted my weight, locking my knees before I disgraced myself by falling face-first. Now that the adrenaline had faded, weakness threatened to overwhelm me, but I couldn’t allow it. Not in front of the whole pack. Not in front of Maisie.

No sooner had I thought of my daughter than she was rushing toward me, hurling herself at my side and burrowing her face in my fur, her little fingers digging in as great sobs tore from her chest.

Turning my head, I nuzzled at her, blowing chuffs of air in an effort to comfort. I wanted to shift and take her in my arms, but I’d torn my clothes and I was pretty sure my human body would be painted in blood and dirt. I didn’t want her to see me like this.

Chloe approached us. Reaching out, she gently peeled Maisie from my side, her hands smoothing over blonde curls. “Shhh, he’s okay. Everything’s okay,” she murmured, her words setting off another round of heaving sobs.

“Okay. Show’s over, everyone,” David called out, the sorrow genuine in his eyes and softening his harsh tone. “I don’t want anyone to be alone at a time like this. We need to lean on each other and offer comfort and support. I am available to anyone who wants me. We will get through this and be stronger for it. Because we’re pack.” He thumped his chest, the gesture encompassing everyone, his eyes bright with unshed tears.

The bond of the pack swelled within me, a pulsing link to the alpha, connecting every member together and sharing strength. Only Macey and Jason stood alone, separate, their own little pack.

Indicating that everyone should head into the house, David walked over to me. “Son, you need to make this right.” Not waiting for my acknowledgement, he scooped Maisie up out of Chloe’s arms, wrapped her in a big bear hug, and headed back to the house.

He didn’t need to explain.

One by one everyone left, the other lieutenants discreetly removing the bodies and spiriting them away. Macey shot me a
go-get-‘em
smile before tugging Jason away.