Chapter Two

Fur Play

Chapter One

Logan Hunter and Rafael De Santos strode up the wide, granite steps to the front door of Vircolac’s, braced to plunge headfirst into the heart of the enemy camp. Well, Logan was braced. Rafe’s step possessed a suspiciously eager spring to it, and his expression looked more lazily amused than wary. He’d recently defected.

Few people had been more surprised than Logan when Rafe decided to take a mate, especially a human witch. Actually, Rafe might have been slightly more astonished, considering he’d spent most of his adolescent and adult life demonstrating where the expression “tomcatting around” came from. But he had taken a mate, and apparently it didn’t matter to Rafe that he was supposed to be one of Logan’s closest friends. In matters of marriage and mating, not even friends could be trusted.

“Last week they somehow managed to rig the door of Graham’s office to lock from the outside. ” Logan held open to door for his companion and checked the hallway to be sure none of the perpetrators he was currently griping about lay in ambush. “Then they sent me in there to wait for him. As soon as I stepped inside, the door slammed shut and trapped me in there with Annie. Annie, of all people! ”

Rafe grinned at Logan’s obvious dismay. “I thought you liked Annie. She is a very attractive woman, after all. And intelligent. I would think she’d make some lucky Lupine a fine mate. ”

Logan growled. “She’s Silverback, man. It would be like sniffing my sister. ”

“Right. You and your pack mores. It’s not like she’s actually any blood relation to you. ”

“That’s not the point. ”

“Right. Because the point is that you probably humiliated a beautiful and sensitive young woman by tearing down the office door just to get away from her. How do you think that made her feel, you insensitive clod? ”

Logan scowled. “I didn’t tear it down. I just kicked it in. But Annie knew it wasn’t about her. She’s cool with it. She’s not interested in me either. ”

“Right, puppy. She just smiled and thanked you for opening the door and told you to have a wonderful day. ”

Logan paused and grimaced. “She told me to shove the door up my ass and shit splinters. ”

“Precisely. Logan, you need to learn that whether she’s a werewolf, a shapeshifter, a witch or a human, women are women. They all need to be flattered and coddled and made to feel special. ” Tipping the attendant who took their coats, Rafe led the way down the main hall and toward the club library. “It’s a wonder you’ve ever managed to get laid. ”

“And that’s such a sophisticated observation, ” the Lupine scoffed. “Don’t bother to pretend with me, De Santos. Under that pampered, nancy-boy Casanova image you like to project, you’re just as much an animal as I am. ”

Rafe’s dark brow shot up toward his hairline. “I might be an animal, my friend, but I am not, as you might be, a dog. ”

“Very funny. ”

Rafe smiled a feline smile.

“You can’t tell me they didn’t drive you crazy. ” Logan sniffed the air in the hall outside the library, and his keen senses caught the faint but unmistakable odors of breast milk, perfume and female skin. Damn it. Bracing himself, his muscles tensed as he reached out to open the door. “They were after you almost worse than me. ”

“They meant well. ”

“I don’t care what they mean. I want them to leave me alone. ”

“Aren’t you supposed to be happy about the idea of finding a mate and settling down with one, single female forever and ever and ever? At least you canines seem to take to the idea. ”

Rafe pushed ahead of Logan and entered the room. The fire crackling in the hearth at the far side of the room cast a very becoming glow on the skin of the two women standing beside it. Logan shook his head as he saw his friend’s gaze shift and fix on the curly-headed urchin of the pair. He was still getting used to that possessive gleam that sparked in Rafe’s eyes every time they turned toward Tess Menzies De Santos.

“And you took to it just fine, Morris. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to do my own finding, damn it. ” Logan had lowered his voice, and he looked carefully away from the women at the hearth. “They just don’t seem to understand that mating is a whole different ball game from just getting married. Maybe if they weren’t all so…human. ”

Rafe shrugged. “Regina isn’t human. And Tess might be human, but she’s a cut above the average, you have to admit. ”

“Regina has been Other for less time than it takes me to mark a fire hydrant. And Tess doesn’t count. She’s a witch. And she’s taken. ”

“Damn right. ”

Logan heard the possessive note in Rafe’s voice and watched him stalk toward his wife. He fought the simultaneous urges to snicker and roll his eyes. A couple of months ago, Logan would have bet his left canine tooth that Rafe would never settle down with one woman, let alone a human woman. Good thing for him no one had taken him up on that bet, because the marital bliss that followed Rafe and Tess around like a cloud would have meant some seriously tough hunting for Logan.

He still really didn’t get it. Not that he had anything against taking a mate—he was Lupine, for God’s sake—but he liked for there to be a certain sense of order to his world. And in his world, a Felix did not settle down with one woman and look happy about it. Of course, in the ideal version of his world, the only woman he’d wanted for himself in longer than he cared to think about didn’t up and marry his best friend and pack alpha, either.

Shit.

Tearing his gaze away from the blonde head on the other side of the room and plugging his nose to the warm, milky scent of new motherhood that wafted from the same direction, Logan turned on his heel without bothering to say hello to the ladies. Damn Graham for getting to Missy first and damn himself for caring. Graham Winters was like a brother to Logan. For all intents and purposes, the men were brothers, and Logan did not poach on his brother’s territory. Even if it didn’t go against every fiber of his loyal body, it also meant risking a fight to the death with an outcome that he honestly couldn’t predict.

He swore again and then again, quietly, because in this house, you never knew who might pick up on it. Some of the folks who frequented this club had sharper ears than he did. And that was kind of scary. He took a firmer hold of his self-control and tried to beat back the restlessness that seemed to be constantly stirring inside him these days. He had been called to a meeting with his alpha about pack business, and he’d present a business-like demeanor if it killed him. Graham did not need to know that his beta had the hots for his mate.

Graham kept an office on the first floor of the club in the heart of the action. He said it helped him keep an eye on the happenings, and when your clientele consisted mostly of werefolk, vampires and other assorted creatures of the night, keeping an eye on things made a heck of a lot of sense. Technically, it should have been Logan’s job as head of security, but Graham was the owner and the alpha, and that made him the boss. Logan suppressed the urge to growl and stuffed the thoughts aside. Bad thoughts.

Puppy, you have got to get a hold of yourself. You are not the alpha here, and your best friend is. So quit trying to sniff on his wife and do your damned job. He paused outside Graham’s door and took a deep breath while he repeated those words a time or twelve. He took another one before he raised his hand to knock.

“Come on in. ”

Logan pushed open the door with his game face on. His brown eyes took in the office, empty except for Graham, and he met the other Lupine’s gaze for a second before he shifted his own to stare politely over his alpha’s shoulder. “Sorry I didn’t come earlier today. I was at the gym until after two, and I didn’t get your message until I got back. ”

“Don’t worry about it. ” Graham pushed back in his chair and closed the folder he’d been working on. He waved Logan to a seat. “It was your day off. I didn’t expect you to be on call. ”

Logan settled himself in the leather armchair that faced Graham’s desk, but he didn’t relax. He sat coiled and tense, the way he always did these days, and he felt Graham’s gaze on him. The sensation made his hackles rise, and he fought back the growl that wanted to rumble low in his chest.

Damn it, this is not happening. You are not challenging your alpha in his own damned home, moron, so shut up and play nice doggie. Now.

He clenched his teeth so hard, he thought he heard the grinding sound echo in the quiet office.

“All right. That’s it. ” Graham leaned back until his chair threatened to tip over backward and crossed his arms over his chest. “What the hell is your problem lately? ”

“I don’t have a problem. ”

“Right. ” Graham’s eyes narrowed, and Logan looked at the alpha long enough to guess his own were probably sparking with an eerie amber light. “That’s why in the past month you’ve been in four fights, broken three pieces of gym equipment, driven six waitresses to tears and destroyed the door to my office. Because you don’t have a problem. ”

“That’s right. No problem. ”

The nasty little voice inside Logan’s head was telling him to go ahead, pick a fight. Let him and Graham have it out and finally see who deserved to be alpha over this pack. To hell with the Winters line, to hell with Silverback tradition. Alpha was about strength and ruthlessness and power, and Logan had more than enough of it to make the pack his own.

If only his conscience didn’t scream a denial every time he thought about it. Damn it, Graham was his brother. The closest thing he had to family, closer than any other member of the pack. He’d die for that man.

But damn it if he didn’t really want to kill him right now…

“Fine. ” Graham’s voice indicated things were anything but. He sat forward again and picked up a piece of paper, which he tossed across the desk to Logan. “You say you don’t have a problem, that’s terrific. Because I do. ”

Logan caught the letter in one hand, but didn’t bother to glance at it. He snarled in satisfaction. “Perfect. Who do I get to kill? ”

“No one. It’s not that kind of problem. ”

Well, shit.

Suppressing another growl, Logan got up to pace around the office. The restlessness inside made it impossible for him to sit still for long. “Fine. Then what do you want me to do? ”

“If you’d read the damned letter, you might have a clue. There’s been a death in Connecticut. The White Paw Clan has lost its alpha. ”

That bit of news actually managed to get Logan’s attention. He turned toward Graham with interest. “Ethan Tate is dead? ” He paused, letting it sink in. “Challenge? ”

Graham shook his head. “Cancer. And apparently he managed to hide it from the pack until the end. ”

Logan let out a low whistle. That was old school, and a hell of an accomplishment. In the old days, any sort of illness that might have compromised an alpha’s ability to lead would have been punished by a swift challenge and the likely death of the sick or wounded Lupine. Knowing that, the toughest alphas would hide any sign of weakness, using whatever means necessary to camouflage their vulnerability and maintain control of their pack. But with an illness like cancer, it was damned difficult. Most Lupines could smell the taint of the disease and would have known immediately. He wondered how the old alpha had done it? Tate had been a tough old bird, but hiding cancer… That took balls.

“So no one guessed at all? Not even his beta? ”

“That’s probably one of the things that helped him fool everyone. ” Graham nodded to the letter in Logan’s hand. “The email I got is from his beta, who was also his daughter. She probably didn’t want to think her father was ill, so she denied it, thus making it even easier for him to deceive everyone else. ”

Again, Logan perked up in interest. Female alphas weren’t unheard of in the Lupine world, but they were unusual enough to stir considerable interest. “Do you think she can hold the pack? ”

Graham shrugged. “I have no idea. I haven’t visited the White Paw since I first took the reins from my dad. Since they’re one of the clans under the Silverback protection, I paid a courtesy visit. But she couldn’t have been more than nine or ten at the time. I’m sure she was introduced, since she was Tate’s daughter, but I didn’t pay her much mind. ”

“All right. So what’s the situation right now? ”

“Tate was supposed to be buried this morning, and according to the daughter, there were already two male pack members making noises about a challenge. ”

Logan growled a little at the thought of the males calling a young female beta to an alpha challenge. There were just some things a Lupine didn’t do. “You want me to take care of the challengers? ”

Graham shook his head. “Not necessarily. What I need you to do is go up to the clan center and assess the situation. If the girl can’t hold her pack, I need to know so I can oversee the open challenge. That’s what would have to happen. ”

“Is that what the girl asked for? ”

“Not exactly. ” Graham paused. “She asked for me to formally acknowledge her succession to alpha. ”

Logan couldn’t help the eyebrow that shot up at that. “If she wants the burden, why not let her take it? ”

“Do you want to see a female in alpha challenge? It hasn’t happened in thirty years for a damned good reason. The last woman who took a challenge ended up gang raped and under nursing care for nearly a month. ” The snarl that passed over Graham’s face at that thought would have scared most people half to death. It just reminded Logan of why he considered this man his brother. “Besides, Tate’s daughter can’t be more than twenty-four or so. She’d be like a rabbit in the wolf’s pen. If I can keep that from happening, I will. Or rather, you will. ”

“Damn right. ” Logan growled again and finally glanced down at the printed email in his hand. “So you also want me to make sure the girl doesn’t get into trouble while I scope out who’s likely to take Tate’s place. ”

“Yeah. And I want you keeping an eye on it until it’s settled. ”

Something about Graham’s tone made Logan look up and meet the other man’s gaze. He felt his mouth quirk in a reluctant smile. “What you want is to get me the hell out of your hair until I calm down, brother. ”

“Well, there is that. ” Graham’s expression turned rueful. “I don’t know what’s been eating you, brother, but I’m hoping a week or two in the country will settle your damned nerves or something. ‘Cause you’re starting to get on mine. ”

Logan clenched his teeth, drew a deep breath and blew it out threw his nose. “Hell, I’m starting to get on my own nerves. I don’t blame you for making me go stand in the corner. ”

“It’s not like that. You’re the one I want handling this for me. Period. That would be true even if you were acting perfectly normal. ”

“But I’m not. ”

Graham didn’t answer, and Logan flipped him an obscene gesture on his way out the door. Just because Graham was right, didn’t mean Logan couldn’t call him a dick.

Chapter Two

Honor Tate bolted through the front door of her home and straight into the bathroom where she proceeded to throw up her breakfast, lunch and several of her internal organs. It didn’t help. The taste of blood in her mouth was strong and metallic. It should have been familiar. Instead, it was sickening, sweet and sticky and coating her tongue in thick, persistent layers.

She clutched the rim of the toilet bowl and heaved again, so violently she almost missed the sound of footsteps echoing across the wooden floor of the big cabin’s great room.

“Honor? Honor, are you okay? ”

She bit back a moan, her fingers clenching as another dizzy wave of nausea swept through her. Her cousin’s voice sounded as soft and concerned as always and it was next to the last thing she felt like dealing with right now. She spit into the toilet, trying to rid herself of the taste of blood and bile.

“I’m fine, Joey. ” As fine as a Lupine could be after chewing off the hand of one of her oldest friends and pretending to enjoy it. “I just wanted to wash off some of this grime. ”

She heard a pause, then a soft question. “Why don’t you go upstairs, then? Take a proper shower? I can make you some dinner and bring you up a tray. ”

The word dinner set her stomach racing toward the back of her throat, and she quickly shoved on the faucet full blast to mask the sound of more retching. Trembling violently, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and forced her voice to sound steady as a rock and calm as Sunday church. “Well, I was going to finish up delivering this week’s wood to the cabins on the lumber road…”

She let her voice trail off and crossed her fingers that her tenderhearted cousin Josephine would reply in form.

“Don’t be silly. You’ve done enough today. ” Joey’s voice sounded firm and soothing, and made Honor’s shoulders sag in relief. “Michael can finish the deliveries. You should take a shower and relax this evening. Or if you have to, work on the books. But stay in and get some rest. It’s been…a difficult few days. ”

Honor stifled a laugh and flushed the toilet, grabbing a neatly folded towel from the bar beside the sink. A difficult few days? Why? Just because her previously healthy, arrogant, indestructible father had died, she had inherited his position as alpha over the White Paw Lupine pack, and had fought three alpha challenges in the same number of days? Pshaw.

She cupped her hand to her mouth and rinsed away the last taste of bile. Then she wet one end of the towel and used it to wipe her pale, chalky face. Damn it, she looked like hell, and that was not the sort of face she could let anyone in the pack see. Not even Joey. If Honor was going to assume the title of Alpha, she would need to act like an alpha at all times. Even when she felt more like crying.

Stuffing down those very dangerous thoughts, she draped the towel around her neck and used one hand to hold it to her face as if she were cleaning up, then reached for the doorknob with the other. One deep breath later, she stepped out into the great room with a false smile and the towel half concealing her face.

Joey stood just beside the door, her hands clasped nervously together, her brow wrinkled in concern. “I’m sorry it was Paul, ” she said in that soft, come-down-from-the-ledge voice of hers. “I know how close you two always were. ”

“Don’t be. ” Honor forced her voice to come out casually as she turned and headed for the stairway. “If it wasn’t him, it would have been someone else. That’s just the way it goes. ” As soon as she had her back to Joey, she let the towel drop and reached for the banister instead. She made it a point to barely touch it rather than clutching as she wanted to as she walked up to the second floor. “Go ahead and tell Michael to finish the wood deliveries. I’m going to go take that shower. Send up a tray whenever it’s ready. ”

Her steps remained brisk and measured all the way down the hall to the master suite and did not vary until the door closed securely behind her. Then she leaned back against it, squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself not to cry. Pallor she could handle with a little make up, but red, puffy, bloodshot eyes would take a lot more effort to conceal than she felt capable of just now.

“Damn you, Dad. ”

The curse had somehow become her mantra over the past three days. Damn him for dying, damn him for leaving her his business, his pack and his problems all in one fell swoop, and damn him again just on general principles. The bastard deserved every extra second he spent in whatever passed for hell these days.

Pushing away from the door, Honor paused for a few seconds, swaying gently with the rush of fatigue and nerves that seemed to plague her constantly now. She could barely remember what it felt like to relax. And to think the fun of leading the pack was just beginning. Wheeeeeeeeee!

She padded across the floor toward the bathroom, thinking that a shower sounded better than sex or chocolate. Or sex involving chocolate. The smell of blood and sweat and soil lingered on her skin and clothes, and she felt pretty sure she carried enough small twigs and dried leaves in her hair for a decent fire. She doubted the ability of soap and hot water to make her feel clean, but at least it could get rid of the surface detritus.

Ignoring the cavernous room, looking even bigger now that it had been stripped of all her father’s personal possessions and the stamp of his decidedly masculine tastes, she pushed into the bath and flipped on the lights. She turned on the shower and let the water heat while she stripped. Her clothes landed in the wastebasket rather than the hamper. She’d never be able to bring herself to wear them again, so why bother scrubbing out the stains?

When she stepped under the stinging spray, she hissed at the scalding heat and felt her skin immediately pinken to a rosy glow. She kept her eyes squeezed shut as the water sluiced off the worst of the blood and dirt, not wanting to see the water turn as pink as her skin as it circled down the drain. The steel fence she had erected to cage in the memories of this afternoon still had a few weak spots, and she couldn’t afford to encourage any escaping thoughts.

She lingered in the shower, scrubbing herself from head to toe with a loofah three times before she could stand the feel of her own skin. That’s when she opened her eyes and reached for the conditioner. She applied it liberally to the mess of knots and debris that passed for her hair and let the thick liquid ease everything free. When she couldn’t feel any more pieces of bark or clumps of mud, she rinsed and applied a generous handful of shampoo. She lathered, rinsed and even repeated twice before she could make herself stop. Then she conditioned again and turned off the water.

Hesitating for a long moment on the bathmat, dripping water onto the porous rectangle, she contemplated grabbing a towel, but found herself heading for the bathtub instead. She still didn’t feel really clean, but the shower had done the best it could. Time to give the big Jacuzzi and her favorite scented bath salts a shot.

She set the tub to fill, grateful for her father’s ridiculously large water heater, and wrapped a towel around her hair before dumping two huge handfuls of spicy-floral salts into the tub and turning on the jets. She slipped in before the tub was full, leaning back against its sloped side and left the water running until she was submerged up to her chin. Then she used her foot to turn off the water and let the rumble of the jets lull her into a half-trance.

That was her first big mistake. As soon as her body began to relax from the pounding streams of water around her, her mind began to wander. And, of course, it went directly to the places she didn’t want it to go.

Damn Paul Clarke, anyway. Why had he needed to play the big man with her? Why now? They’d been friends since they were whelped, for God’s sake. They’d spent their childhoods playing fetch and chase together, their teen years learning to hunt side by side. They’d even brought their first deer down together. She’d considered him a friend. So why then hell had he chosen now to challenge her? What the hell had he been thinking?

That he could win.

The thought echoed in her head, mocking her with the simple fact that it was completely true. That was exactly why Paul had challenged her now, when stress clouded her thinking and grief slowed her reaction times. As the beta, second in command of her father’s pack and a young Lupine in her prime, Honor had been too much for him to take on. But as an unprepared and insecure new alpha, she had been ripe for a challenge. Three of them as a matter of fact, so the one coming from Paul never should have surprised her.

But it did. It shocked her to her toes. She hadn’t known what to do at first. Not until it became clear that even if she didn’t want to take the challenge seriously, that’s exactly how he had meant it. Deadly serious. He had gone for her throat, and as tough and strong as Honor was, she couldn’t underestimate a male Lupine who outweighed her by a good fifty pounds and had several inches on her in reach. Her father had taught her that every challenge needed to be dealt with swiftly and decisively, and he had made sure she knew enough to make her moves count. If she couldn’t compete with strength and size, she could use speed and treachery and use them well. Her father had pounded that into her until it became instinct. He had preferred the traditional end to a challenge—death—something Honor hadn’t been able to do. She had held back at the last minute and taken Paul’s hand instead.

She hadn’t wanted to. She’d tried stopping at a pin, as she had with the first challenger, but as soon as she let up, Paul had attacked again. So she’d hamstringed him, thinking if he couldn’t walk, he couldn’t fight. But he had still come for her, launching himself toward her throat with his good hind leg and suddenly there hadn’t been any other choice. It was his hand or his throat, and Honor had chosen his hand. He wouldn’t thank her for it, but her conscience did.

She laughed at herself, not with humor so much as disbelief. Like she could afford a conscience. That item now counted as a luxury in her life, and would until the challenges stopped. She knew exactly when that would happen, too. When she died.

Or when the Silverback Alpha came to Connecticut and formally acknowledged her as the White Paw Alpha.

Right. And that would be the third Tuesday after he named her Queen of the Oompaloompas.

Honor sighed again and reached up to turn the jets to a lower setting, no longer quite in the mood to be battered. At first, she had thought sending that letter to Graham Winters was the solution to her problems. The Alpha of Manhattan’s legendary Silverback Clan commanded respect from just about every Lupine east of the Mississippi River, and she suspected from a few of those out west, too. She had only met him once, when she was nine, but she remembered him vividly. He’d been a handsome young man then, only a decade or so older than her, but worlds apart. He had known his place as Alpha and lord over the Northeastern Clans. She’d heard he had a good heart as well, and recently, rumors of his marriage to a human had circulated their way. They said he had a son now, another Winters cub to lead the Silverback Clan into the future.

Good thing someone’s future was secure.

She made a face and turned the tap with her toes to let more hot water flow into the tub. The temperature had dropped below scalding while she brooded over Paul. If she made a habit of this, she’d need to get a second job to pay her water bills. The way things looked, Paul wouldn’t be the last childhood friend to try their luck with the new, female Alpha. Not unless the Silverback Clan finally got around to answering its frickin’ email.

“Argh! ”

“Honor? Are you okay in there? ”

What spawn of Hades gave Joey her sense of timing?

“I’m fine, ” she called out. “Just enjoying a soak. ”

“Oh. ” A pause. “I brought you a supper tray. I made venison chili. And cornbread. ”

Honor’s stomach launched a violent protest at the thought of food, reminding her exactly how badly she needed to brush her teeth. “Just leave it near the chair, Jo. I’m almost done in here. ”

“Okay, then. Is there anything else I can get for you? ”

Some Ovaltine perhaps? “Nothing. Thank you. ”

Grateful for her Lupine hearing that could pick out the sounds of Joey moving around the bedroom even over the roar of the tub jets, Honor listened until she heard retreating footsteps and the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing. Only when she was sure Joey had gone did she sit up in the tub and turn off the jets. Time to brush her teeth and flush that dinner down the toilet so Joey would think she’d eaten.

She dragged herself dripping from the tub and wrapped herself in a huge towel before padding over to the sink and the comfort of her toothbrush. The cinnamon flavor of the paste improved greatly on the lingering traces of blood and bile in her mouth. She scrubbed for several minutes, making sure to brush her tongue thoroughly before she rinsed out her mouth and reached out to unwind the towel from her hair. The long, dark strands, almost black with the weight of the water, fell down her back in ripples that would dry into semi-wild curls. She ran a comb through them quickly then left her hair to dry and headed back into the bedroom.

As she had expected, Joey had turned down the bed, lit a couple of lamps, and touched a match to the fire laid in the hearth. The tray of chili, cornbread and chilled Mexican beer sat next to her father’s over-stuffed armchair. It looked like a room well prepared for the lord of the manor routine, except that she didn’t feel a bit like a lord.

But the man staring at her from the door to the hallway certainly looked like he did.