Chapter Nine
Gavin Voss wanted to feel us out, and he wanted to weaken us.
He held up a meaty hand. “I just want to have a talk,” he called. “Not going to hurt you, child.”
I snarled, hating him immediately.
“Kait?” Zach asked, his blades back in his hands. “Attack?”
My first instinct was to shift and go make the trespassing alpha regret his decision to come to my territory. But two of my people were injured, and it didn’t matter that Sam and I could take on the alpha and his warriors and probably run them off my land.
Zach and Remy were not going to go inside and sit out a fight, no matter how injured they were. And I wasn’t going to put them at risk if I didn’t have to.
“No,” I said. “Let’s see what the bastard wants.” What I wanted was to call Jared again, but I wouldn’t. I could take care of myself and my pack and defend my small territory, even without my magic.
I could.
“Remy,” I said. “Can I borrow your shirt?”
He took off his button-up shirt immediately, and I saw that the blue T-shirt beneath it was wet with blood. I needed to get Voss out of the way so I could get the doctor to Silverwood.
I hurriedly buttoned the shirt, feeling better. I didn’t want Gavin Voss’s stare on my body. I had a feeling he wasn’t the type to ignore another shifter’s nudity.
There were seven of them, and when they walked to the edge of the cleared front yard where we stood, Voss glanced at the wolves scattered across the ground. His smile was rueful but not in the least concerned for his people.
“I was hoping a good fight would gentle you some,” he said.
He and his men, without either clothes or weapons, should not have been quite so intimidating.
They stood there, huge, tall, shaggy with their long hair and bulging muscles, blazing, eager stares, their bodies practically vibrating with energy.
They all had scars, scars from silver or attacks from an alpha, most likely, and there was no doubt they wore those scars proudly.
And there was no doubt they believed I was beneath them.
After glancing at me—taking in the shirt that covered my body, lingering on my lips and my legs—they settled their cooling stares on the men at my side.
Bastards, all of them.
All of the men were just a tad smaller than Gavin, and I wondered if he chose his warriors based on that fact.
He didn’t attempt to downplay his nakedness.
On the contrary, he put his hands on his hips and thrust his pelvis forward slightly, his shoulders massive, his scars many, his grin flashing as he appeared to be waiting for me to admire him.
The Iron Fang alpha of Ironridge was…iron. His eyes were a metallic silver-gray, his long, shaggy hair the color of rust, and his skin was darkened and scarred, like old steel that had been left in the elements for decades.
“What do you want to talk about, asshole?” I asked, my voice hard. “Let’s get this over with so I can decide whether to run you off or kill you.”
His men sneered, and Voss laughed, hearty and loud. My hounds didn’t leave their shelters, but they began braying at the sound. I couldn’t blame them.
Remy, Zach, and Sam tensed, ready to take on the trespassers. Eager, even, despite their wounds.
“See, that’s why I sent in some men to rough up your boys there,” Voss said. “I don’t want to fight you, little miss. Women are for hurting in a whole different way.” He winked at me. “A much nicer way.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Your caveman antics don’t impress me, Voss. Why don’t you stop wasting my time and tell me exactly what you think the endgame is here? Because despite their injuries, two of the men at my side are hunters. They want to bag your ass, and I’m not going to hold them off all day.”
Finally, he lost his smile as a sneer curled his lips instead. “Just one more reason why a woman shouldn’t run around playing at being an alpha. Wolves don’t get into bed with hunters, girl. Adam should have taught you better than that.”
“I killed Adam Thorne,” I said mildly. “I really don’t want the responsibility of your pack, but if you return to Silverwood, I’ll bury you, too. Take your goons and get the hell off my land.”
“Look,” he said, taking a small step forward.
“I’ve come to this territory because I owed Adam.
I don’t blame you for somehow managing to end your alpha’s life.
I blame the alpha who helped you do it. He’s the one at fault here, and I aim to retrieve the Stone Moon pack and restore Stonebridge.
I’ll kill Jared Walker to do it. And I’m taking Silverwood, because really, that’s Walker’s too, isn’t it?
I’ll have it and you, too.” He clapped his hands once, hard, and despite my desire to remain impassive, I jumped. “That, honey, is my endgame.”
“You’ve started a war you can’t win,” I said, hoping he couldn’t sense my emotions. My heart was beating my ribs to death, and fear was attempting to get the upper hand. Because though I saw Voss’s bluster, I felt what lay beneath it. He was mean and dirty, and he was powerful.
He was deadly.
If I’d still had my magic, I believed I would have ended his life then and there. I would have crammed my magic down his throat and killed the threat before he had a chance to bring the darkness lurking inside him.
I took a breath, then let it go. “Don’t take us on, Voss. Go back to Colorado and take care of your people. You don’t want to die here.”
“Join me,” he said abruptly, all traces of humor and bluster gone from his scarred face.
“You’re strong for a female and suit me fine.
I’ll make you an offer right now. Come to me, and I’ll mate with you.
You can tend my pack as an alpha’s mate should.
I may even leave you here to oversee the Gray Shadow pack once I end their alpha. ”
I didn’t miss the way the warriors at his side stiffened and glanced at him, incredulous. The man on his left opened his mouth like he might say something, rage flashing through his eyes.
“Callen,” Voss said gently. “Is there something you want to say to me?”
Callen immediately blanked his face. “No, Alpha.”
Voss didn’t once look at the man. “My beta,” he explained to me. “Sometimes he gets ahead of himself and I have to put him back in his place. Now, little miss. What say you to my generous offer?”
“Are you insane?” I asked, frowning. “I mean…are you?”
Remy snickered. “He’d have to be, wouldn’t he?”
Voss speared him with a cold stare. “I’ll kill you first.”
“You won’t kill any of us,” I told him. “And this talk is over.” Then I paused, frowning, and hitched my thumb at Remy. “Do you really not know who he is? None of you know the wolves’ boogeyman when he’s standing right in front of you?”
I was gratified when one of the warriors standing behind Voss took a quick step back. “Yeah,” I murmured. “You know the boogeyman.”
Voss wasn’t amused. “Listen, girl—”
“No,” I said. “Take your dead and get away from Silverwood. And when you get to wherever it is you’re staying, start tying up any loose ends you might have.
Tell your people goodbye and offer your thanks to your beta, who’s about to become alpha of the Iron Fang pack.
Because you will be defeated, and we won’t want your people. ”
I saw a flicker in Callen’s eyes, but I wasn’t sure what it signaled. Surprise, gratification, mockery? I didn’t know.
Voss shook his head, his shaggy hair slithering like snakes over his massive shoulders. “You fascinate me, Kait Silver. You’re a woman, but you act like a man.” Then he grinned, and a gleam of genuine amusement lit his eyes. “I’m never going to believe you’re an alpha, though.”
“If you want Silverwood,” I told him, “you’ll have to challenge me to a fight for it. You can’t sneak in like a coward and attack our backs. Same with Jared.”
He shrugged his massive shoulders. “Dead is dead, little one. If I kill either one of you, your territory is mine. But I don’t plan on challenging you to a fight. That’d be like a wolf going after a puppy. I don’t fight girls.”
Zach drew the alpha’s attention. “You don’t know anything about Kait Silver. Challenge her. Challenge her and find out.”
My frustrated anger at Voss was tempered by Zach’s complete confidence in me.
“Go home, Voss,” I said flatly. I’d wasted too much time on the alpha and his men, and I was giving him five seconds before I tore into them all like a debris-filled whirlwind.
“I haven’t yet decided whether Jakeston is worth the trouble.
” His stare raked my thinly clad body. “But I’m having a good time finding out.
” Abruptly, he went from grinning poser to deadly alpha as he turned to his men littering the ground.
With a growl, he forced those who’d lost their wolves to shift, and somewhat groggily, they shook their thick bodies and whined as they attempted to heal from the damage.
The warriors gathered the dead, then Voss and his men jogged back the way they’d come. In seconds, their howls floated back to my sensitive ears as they shifted.
“He seems a little stupid,” Remy said.
“He wanted to see how strong we are,” I said. “He really is deciding whether he wants to take the chance of fighting Jared, and with me…” I shrugged. “He’s garbage. Come inside, you two. I’ll call the doctor and Lucy will feed us while we’re waiting.”
Voss might not challenge me, but I didn’t doubt for a second that he would challenge Jared. And Jared would be ready.
I’d be right there with him. I couldn’t interfere, but I could celebrate with Shadowfield when Jared made the Iron Fang alpha regret that he’d ever set foot inside our boundaries.
And I realized it didn’t matter that Adam Thorne was dead.
Apparently, he was never going to stop causing trouble.