Mack 'n' Me: The Wolves of Alpha 9 by C.M. Simpson (top ebook reader txt) 📕

words trail off, but I nodded. This was some weird-ass wolf-honor thing, and it was better to let Tens and Rohan deal with it.

In the end, Rohan let the cub go, and it was just Tens and one very angry wolfling. I’ll give the Tens this, once the cub took him off his feet, again, he at least remembered he was dealing with a child—a very tough child, who was beating twenty kinds of crap out of his face, but one that was barely a meter tall, and who’d been through Hell.

The fight ended with Tens pinning the kid to the floor and growling into his face.

The kid snarled right back, but he stopped fighting and he wasn’t trying to get away.

“She is my pack,” the technician snarled, clearly referring to me, “and mine to command.”

I raised an eyebrow, and shifted uncomfortably, but, before I could work out a response to that, Mack walked through the door, one very worried girl child by his side. He pointed her to where Tens had the cub pinned to the floor.

“You wanna go explain to him why he can’t eat my tech?”

It wasn’t really a question but the kid nodded, and trotted right over to where Tens and the Wolf captain’s cub were locked stare for stare. I’m pretty sure Mack didn’t expect the girl to land a boot into Tens’s ribs and kick him off the cub, or to follow it by smacking the cub hard upside the head.

“You defending other fems?” she asked, snarling into his face. “Not me?”

And the cub was lost for words. He just lay there and gaped at her, and then the effect of her hit wore off.

“Uh oh,” said the kid who’d grabbed me, and he stepped behind me, like he was gonna need protecting from whatever came next.

“She earned the protection. She saved us.”

“Like that’s a good excuse!”

“I am your Alpha. I do not need to explain. Myself. To. You!”

And it was on. The two of them rolled across the floor looking like they were doing their very best to tear each other apart. From the look on Mack’s face, this was the last thing he had expected when he’d brought the girl to break up the stalemate between Tens and the cub. The look on Tens face said he was about to do something he’d regret.

“Yours to command, huh?” I challenged, and he looked away from the cubs. “You run that one by Mack?”

Tens turned towards me, and he wasn’t happy.

“You got me shot.”

“And you had me jumping off another fucking building.”

I felt the kid backing away from behind me. Guess he’d finally worked out what I was doing and that being behind me was about as safe as sticking with his friend and his mate.

“I ought to tan your hide.”

“Buddy, that privilege just ain’t yours.”

Tens stopped, and cocked an eyebrow.

“And just who does have that privilege, kiddo?”

And, just like that, it was my turn to blush.

“None of your Stars-be-damned business, Tens,” and my eyes flicked to Mack before I could stop them.

Tens, of course, caught the look, and he gave a yelp of laughter. The captain’s cub and his she froze, each turning their heads towards us. I took the opportunity to redirect the heat.

“You two!” I snapped taking both of them in. “Get your furry tails over to Mack, and take your friend with you. And you!” I added, looking right at the cub. “You can explain to Mack who’s going with you and why, and if I don’t like why you have two humans looking to you for protection, I’m going to stick you in a doggie box for the rest of the trip. You got me?”

I was shouting by the end, and the Stars knew why. It wasn’t like I’d fucked anything up, or even dropped Mack in the shite. I put it down to having had a really long, hard day, and the shock of finding weavers and vespis in the Rennet’s Wolves tower. That, and the fact I’d had to jump off another very tall building with nothing but Tens and his ability to calculate moving targets for teleportation between me and a very messy death.

I needed a drink. Or a long, hot soak in the san. Or a...a run. Or to kick the crap out of something in the gym. I needed something, and standing here with every single eye in the room staring at me was not it. I grabbed hold of what little dignity I had left and stalked towards the door—and not a single person in the room moved until I’d left.

I managed to keep walking until I heard the door slide shut behind me, and then I broke into a run, and the corridor cleared in front of me. I think I’d made an entire circuit of the deck before someone started running alongside. I ignored them, and kept running. I think I’d completed a second circuit before Mack spoke.

“You gonna have pity on an old man with a newly mended leg, or are we gonna do another lap?”

For some reason, the sound of his voice made me want to cry, and it took another half lap before I could grab hold of that. Just as I was thinking it might be a good idea to slow down, a third person joined us, and a hand curled gently around my arm.

“You don’t take a break, kid, and I’m gonna have to put you under.”

Doc.

I stopped running, noting the fatigue coursing through my veins, and feeling Mack slow down beside me.

“Thanks, girl,” he said, settling his ass against the nearest corridor wall. “Needed a break.”

“What,” I asked, and even my voice sounded tired, “two weren’t enough?”

Doc gave me a remonstrative shake, and Mack gave me a look.

“Thanks for the reminder. I’ll kick your ass for that, later.”

I shook my arm free of Doc’s grip.

“You could try kicking it, now.”

And Doc took hold of my arm, again.

“You need the san,” he said, and, when I