Chapter 6
JOSIAH CADOGAN had requested that Mac and Hannah stay in town—the invitation couched around a demand. The man made Mac uncomfortable in an itchy-skin sort of way. The Alpha of Blaidd’s Gap exuded a low level of power that abraded Mac’s skin like fine grit sandpaper. It was irritating more than anything else. The man gave him space, and respect, but he was also oddly… insistent .
A few hours after Sally Dee’s birth, he was shown a large cabin perched on the edge of a steep hill on the outskirts of town. A cluster of cottages huddled there, all but spinning off into the valley below. Gap Mountain Resort. The forest loomed close, promising places where a wolf could run free. Mac’s wolf snapped and snarled, his need barely leashed. Yes , he promised his wolf. They’d hunt soon, but not until Hannah and Liam were safe and Mac had a better handle on this place.
Josiah waited on the wide front porch while Mac prowled through the place. Open family area, kitchen, a large bedroom with an en suite bath on the ground floor, two smaller bedrooms and a bath on the second. The place was furnished. Nothing fancy, but comfortable, including a big screen TV and a game console. The refrigerator and cabinets were stocked with food. When he stepped out onto the porch after exploring, he greeted the other man with a raised eyebrow.
“I own the grocery store. Figured y’all might be a bit peckish after your trip.”
Mac reached into his pocket, but Josiah waved his money away. “You can pay later.” He extended his arm to encompass the rest of the cabins. “They’re all empty, especially this time of year. Winter’s all but here and we don’t get visitors this time o’year.” A sly grin slid across Josiah’s face. “Not that we get many visitors anyway.”
“What do you want, Mr. Cadogan?”
“Josiah, please. We don’t stand much on formality ’round here.” He gestured toward a pair of large bent-willow chairs lounging on the porch. Bright, calico cushions decorated the seats and backs.
Mac nodded, but waited until the older man settled before he followed suit. He bridled his impatience, waiting for Josiah to speak. It didn’t take long.
“There’s room here. Mac? Is that what folks call you?”
“Yes.”
“We have room to spread out here, Mac. It’s a quiet town and we’re rather…closed.” Josiah waited until Mac acknowledged he understood. “But there’s room. Especially for someone like you.”
“Like me?” Mac almost laughed out loud. “You’re the Alpha, Mr. Cadogan. You can’t possibly want me or those like me coming here.”
“There’s more to you than meets the eye, Mac McIntire. And Sean. That boy was lost when he was growin’ up here. He didn’t know what he was and we didn’t realize he didn’t know. He grew up feelin’ like he didn’t belong. Then his momma up and disappeared, takin’ him with her. I figured they were both dead until he showed up at the town limits waitin’ all polite like to be introduced. You didn’t do that. You blew straight into town like you owned the place.”
“I don’t belong to a pack, Mr. Cadogan. And I’m certainly not the Alpha.” Mac shook his head as the other man started to remind him about calling him Josiah. “In the military, there’s no place for even the idea of pack . I haven’t acknowledged pack politics since I was eighteen and left my father’s pack before I took matters into my own hands and killed him.”
Josiah studied Mac, keeping his own counsel for almost five minutes. “Why didn’t you challenge him?”
“I didn’t want his…pack.” Mac didn’t mean to stumble over the word, but what his father ruled had nothing to do with pack.
“You been in touch since you left?”
“No.”
“You do know your old man is dead, yeah? If you be from Kansas City originally.””
“I figured he probably was. Who finally took him out?”
“Not sure. I heard it was some Russian. Those who stood with your father died. Some of the pack scattered after that. The rest stayed, though I heard the new Alpha brought in some of his own.”
Mac snorted. “Pack? The Nightriders were never a pack. My sire was a drug-running thug who bullied everyone within his reach.” He didn’t want to think about his father or the motorcycle gang he’d grown up in. The members all insisted they were a club. MC, they called it, right before admitting they belonged to the one percent—the criminal element of the motorcycle world.
“Get to the bottom line, Mr. Cadogan.”
“You are welcome to stay here, Ian McIntire. You and the rest. We have places for them to stay. I know a little about who and what threatens you and yours, and I understand enough to know you need a place to regroup. Might as well be here.”
“Why?”
“Now there’s a question. Unlike your father, you are a man of honor. When you say you don’t want Blaidd Pack, I believe you. But I also know that Wolves have stood separated for far too long. I’m reaching out. That’s all.”
REACHING OUT. Really? That’s what they called it? Hannah carried another suitcase in from the SUV and brushed past Mac as he was headed out of the cabin.
“What?” He stopped, turned, and snagged her arm so she couldn’t brush him off.
“Why are we here?”
“I told you.”
“Oh, right. You told me.” Hannah glared up at him. “Since when did you start telling me what to do?”
Mac huffed out a breath and reached for patience. “What was there to discuss, Hannah? Sean and Annie need to stay here until Sally Dee can travel. This place is as safe as anywhere else we could be. We can guard them while they’re vulnerable.”
“Oh. So now it’s we. ”
“Jeez, woman. Why are you making this so damn difficult?”
“I’m not some brainless ninny, Mac.”
“I never once insinuated you are.”
“I just…this place is…” She groped for the right word. “Creepy? Stepford Wives-ish?”
Liam, carrying a box under each arm, ducked past both of them. “Silent Hill, Mom.” He let his eyes bleed to wolf and added, “Or maybe Children of the Corn.” He scurried inside before she could pop him on the head.
“See? Even Liam agrees with me.”
Mac pried her hand from the handle of the suitcase and tugged her to the steps. “Sit with me.” He sank down, and still holding her hand, all but forced her to join him. “I know this place seems a little—”
“Weird.”
“Different. This is a pack town, Hannah. And from what I’ve learned from Sean, it’s been a pack town since it was first settled. Do you know why it’s called Blaidd’s Gap?”
Hannah shrugged. “I figured somebody named Blaidd settled here first.”
Offering a little grin, Mac nodded. “Close. Blaidd is Welsh. It means wolf.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course it does. Just like McIntire means wolf’s son or some such shit. What is it with you people?” She leaned against his arm and nudged with her shoulder.
Mac grabbed her and started sucking on her neck, to the accompaniment of many squeals on her part. Liam appeared at the front door and grunted as he maneuvered around them. “Jeez Louise. Will you two get a room or something? No self-respecting teenager wants to watch his parents make out on the front porch.”
Hannah snorted even though Mac straightened and motioned Liam to join them. “You need to hear this too, son.” When Liam leaned against the porch railing, arms folding across his chest in a gesture so reminiscent of Mac, he almost laughed. Instead, he offered a history lesson.
“Towns like Blaidd’s Gap are rare. They remain what they are by discouraging outsiders. At the same time, they understand that not everyone born here can stay. There are always a couple of alphas who will grow up and at some point, they’ll want to challenge for leadership. Other places, packs live in proximity, but it’s a much looser structure. They pay protection money to the Alpha and challenges there are more frequent because not everyone is related.”
“What about you, Dad? Where did you grow up?”
Mac stiffened. He didn’t think about his life before the 69th if he could avoid it. “My old man was Alpha of the Nightriders Pack. They were more motorcycle gang than anything. He never married my mother, though they were mates. She adored him. Never could figure out why. He beat the crap out of me and her both. I was sixteen when I broke his nose the first time. Told him I’d kill him if he ever touched her again.”
Hannah circled his waist with her arms and stretched up to nuzzle the soft spot beneath his jaw. He shrugged. “That’s the way life was. I didn’t know any better. He left us alone after that, though. Until the day I turned eighteen. I beat the crap out of him on my way out of town. I had a date with an Army recruiter.”
Liam shifted to prop his shoulder on one of the columns that held up the porch roof. “That won’t be us, Dad. First, you don’t hit Mom.”
Hannah’s laughter erupted at the same time as Mac’s. “You got that right, son. Your mother would castrate me if I was ever stupid enough to try.”
Liam grinned, a lopsided stretch of his mouth so like his father’s that Hannah’s heart lurched in her chest. “What’s your second reason, Liam?”
“I’m not sure there’s anyone in the world strong enough to take you, not that I’d even want to try. You’re my dad. And my Alpha. But if it came to that, I’d just leave. Go somewhere else.”
Touched more than he’d admit, Mac stood up and snagged Liam in a gentle headlock while pulling him close. “That’s where we’re different, big man. Every one of us is an alpha in our own right. The others? They don’t stay for protection or because they need the pack. They stay and fight together because we’re more.”
The tips of Liam’s ears turned red. “Did you just call me big man ?”
“I did, son. You aren’t exactly little anymore.” Mac grabbed one of Liam’s feet and held it up. “Seriously, look at the size of these feet!” He winked at Hannah. “What do you think, woman? Is he gonna grow into ’em?”
“Lord, I hope not. We can’t afford to keep him in clothes as it is!”
Mac gathered his family close, an arm around his wife and his son. Maybe staying in a pack town for a while wasn’t such a bad idea after all. At least until the Wolves could regroup and scout the terrain. They needed intel, and having everyone here and virtually off the grid while still having some comforts of home would be an advantage. They’d all been living on the knife’s edge for too long. It was time for some R and R.