Charmed Wolf by Aimee Easterling (best ereader for pdf TXT) 📕

three paces, but after that she’d placed her body between the others and danger. And yet...she possessed no weapons. No way to protect herself other than retreat and hope Ash wouldn’t attack in the face of her pack mates’ combined strength.

But a Beta didn’t retreat. Instead, the girl stood tall, unarmed, as Ash’s sword flickered away from me...and toward her upturned face.

No, that wasn’t Ash leading the attack. That sword was wielded by the Guardian. My friend would never have pressed the tip of his blade into the palm Caitlyn instinctively raised between them.

And my friend would never have smiled like that while promising to maim a pack mate. “Do you think she’ll serve the clan if I sever a tendon here”—his sword swiped out a tiny trickle of blood across Caitlyn’s wrist—“and here?”

Another swipe and he’d bared her elbow. Cloth fragments fluttered to the ground. The entire pack held our breath.

The Guardian was right. This was my weakness. If the Whelan clan was threatened, I would do anything in my power to protect them.

So I did. I feinted and pivoted then lashed out while Ash was still raising his sword to defend himself. Without hesitation, my dagger pierced my oldest friend.

Steel ground against bone as the blade thudded hilt deep into his body. Fae faded from Ash’s eyes as he fell.

Chapter 36

The pack’s reaction pulsed through me in a wave of sorrow. Their pain and distress forced me to clench my teeth and swallow hard before I could speak.

“He’s not dead.” I sought out the eyes of family members in the shadows, hunting connection. “And he deserves your support. Ash was fighting....”

The rest of the words dried up as glitter bit into my cheekbone. I couldn’t offer an explanation. Instead, all I could do was be Alpha.

“You”—I addressed the closest thing we had to a doctor—“bandage his wounds. You and you”—jerking my chin at two of our strongest members—“carry him off the field gently. Now, who will challenge me for the role of Beta?”

Because I needed a Beta now more than ever. Not for the Guardian’s sake, but for the sake of the pack I’d leave behind.

Yes, I intended to leave them. Ash had been vanquished, but the Guardian was still a danger. Kale and Hazel were in peril. Rune and Erskine were stuck in limbo.

All of that could be fixed, however, if I opened up a single door.

In order to open that door, I needed to leave my pack in the hands of another. To that end, I raised my voice and asked, “Anyone?”

Unfortunately, nobody came forward to make a challenge. Instead, feet shuffled and eyes averted. I’d broken something by stabbing my friend.

Their distrust threatened to double me over. Still, protecting the pack involved choosing a Beta. Immediately.

So I straightened then prodded individuals verbally. “Caitlyn?”

The teenager in question drew a bloody hand away from her cheek. Ash’s sword had struck before he spun to protect himself. But it wasn’t the wound that made her shake her head.

“No, Alpha. I’m to be your son’s Beta, not yours.”

At least she wasn’t afraid of me. Heartened, I turned to the other pack member who could do the job and was unlikely to be horrified by my recent behavior.

“Willa?”

“No.” The older woman dropped her voice as she schooled me, but the entire pack still heard. “A female Alpha is balanced by a male Beta. You need to choose a man.”

Little did she know that gender didn’t matter. Not for what I had in mind.

I flared my nostrils, trying to tamp down the impossibility of the situation...only to scent something that brought a reluctant smile to my lips. Persimmon. Sweet and clean and warm, like strong arms enfolding me against a supportive chest.

“Butch,” I greeted the darkness. “What are you doing here?”

I could barely make him out as he stalked forward, but his rumble was clearly audible. “Lupe and Ryder took over in town. I’ve stepped down as Samhain Shifter.”

My eyebrows shot up. I’d thought duty was Rune’s guiding force just as it was mine. “Turned in your badge?”

Now he was close enough to make out. Dark skin against dark trees. Dark eyes sparkling. “Samhain Shifters don’t have badges. But metaphorically, yes, you could say that.”

He paused three feet away from me and I found myself at a loss for words. The Guardian would soon realize what I was up to, which would put my entire pack in danger. And all I could do was drink in Rune’s presence like moss soaking up the first autumn rain after a long, parched drought.

Like moss leaves, I felt myself unfurling. Softening. Strengthening.

Rune was here. The impossible might be possible after all.

He misread my silence. Clearing his throat, his gaze fell to the soil. “Since I no longer have alternative duties, I came here seeking a position.”

“Consort?”

His head drifted slowly from side to side. Steel rasped as his sword emerged from its scabbard.

“It looks,” he rumbled, “like you’re seeking a Beta instead.”

RUNE HAD GIVEN ME EXACTLY what I needed, if not what I wanted. Because the notion of having him join my pack just in time for me to leave it.... I shivered and squelched the upcoming pain.

Meanwhile, the shifters around us rustled as if a breeze had flowed through them. They smelled uncertain, but for an entirely different reason. Rune wasn’t a pack mate, and what the others had seen of him didn’t shine a positive light.

Still, I was Alpha...for the moment. My clan would come around once they understood my choice.

And I was choosing this, even though the idea carved out my middle until I felt completely hollow. There was no one I’d trust more than Rune to do this for me. No one else I’d want at the head of this pack.

So I knelt to recover the sword that had fallen from Ash’s fingers, unsurprised that Rune waited for me to straighten before hefting his own weapon. Even when our blades clashed together, the back and