Page 48 of Return to the Pack

Axel supports me on the other side.

Callan and Ethan take their places on either side.

“Congratulations,” Borris shouts.

“Our pack is mighty!” someone else calls.

The pack folds around us until we’re surrounded. Fiddles start playing, and two people begin to dance, then two more and two more until everyone is caught up in the music.

Someone reaches for me and sweeps me from Warrick and Axel’s shoulders. I turn to see Hati, who grabs my hands and twirls me in a circle. Someone else moves in on Hati, and we skip through the crowd. Then Axel cuts in, places one hand around my waist and the other holding my hand, and we weave through the pack.

“I’m so in love with you,” he says, smiling.

“Me, too,” I say, grinning. “Or you, too? Which one is it?”

“I don’t know,” he says, laughing. “I just know I’m honored to be your husband.”

Warrick slides in front of Axel. “My turn. Go play Alpha.”

His tone of voice is warm, though, and Axel allows the intrusion.

Next, Callan and Ethan appear on either side of me and sweep me away from Warrick.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt so happy.

A few of the women prepare the barbecue pit, setting it ablaze. Everywhere pack members are nibbling on snacks, drinking, laughing, and talking.

Thoughts of my mama and all she denied me whiz through my brain. For a moment, I’m flooded with compassion for her—in denying me access to the pack, she also rejected entry to the community. But I won’t think a single bad thought today.

I fling my arms skyward and send all negative thoughts of her flying. Mama deserves to be free, wherever she is…and I deserve to be happy with a pack at last.

Chapter Eighteen

Warrick

We’re hours into the festivities. I’m sitting on a tree stump next to my brothers. It’s the best place for me to be right about now, since walking is difficult. I’m about to tip a bottle of whiskey to my lips and drain it dry. My limbs are loose, and my speech is slurred. Which accounts for not being on alert and sensing danger.

Suddenly, three huge shadows rocket into the clearing from the shadows of nightfall. I bolt to my feet and stumble backward, caught off-guard by their arrival. We’ve all been busy celebrating and intoxicating, letting down our guard and letting loose, working off the stress of the year.

Now, the enormous beasts loom over us, bounding into our festivities in the form of wolves that are three times the size they should be.

Chaos explodes all around me as women scream and run for their children, grabbing them and yanking them toward safety. One of the mutants launches for Kato, who stands next to me. Without time to shift, Kato falls to the ground, writhing and shouting.

I glance around wildly for my new mate, who’s several yards away, sprinting away from the murderers. “Get Luna,” I bellow to Ethan. “Get her the fuck out of here.”

“On it,” he shouts, already in motion.

I shift, shredding my rented tux to strips that fall away from my fur. I leap for the throat of the motherfucker attacking Kato.

That bastard wolf is twice my size and completely berserk.

I’m struggling for purchase on his neck when Axel leaps toward his other side.

Together, working as a team, we manage to take the maneater to the ground.

Axel shakes his head viciously, and the maneater’s skin is torn from his neck.

Blood spurts from his veins, and his massive head and body fall with a thud to the ground.