CHAPTER 2

Pavel

Woodward Airport, Oklahoma

Twelve hours earlier

I stared out over the rim of my glass through the window of my jet as we taxied, withholding what would only be a withering sigh. The skyline was dismal — if you could call a single traffic control tower and endless rolling hills a skyline. There were about a dozen places I’d rather be than Oklahoma. Maybe more. I was pretty sure I’d rather be at the dentist getting a cavity filled than in this desolate town.

It wasn’t the flight that bothered me — not at all. I kept Johnny Walker Blue Label on the jet, actually. It was an excellent hiding place. I swirled the amber liquid and the whiskey stones clinked gently against the glass. Honestly, maybe if I went to Oklahoma City or Tulsa, I’d have a better time. Civilization! Restaurants! Something to actually do with my time rather than stare at faces I’d be perfectly happy never to see again.

Instead, I was in the Middle of Nowhere, Oklahoma, and scheduled to socialize with a rival pack, and whoever their other honored guests might be. And oh, it couldn’t just be a meet ‘n greet, it was a whole damn Moonmate ceremony. The thought made me shudder. I lifted my tumbler, tossing the rest of my drink back in one healthy swallow. The idea of spending hours not just socializing, but pretending to like these people, made my skin crawl. That dentist appointment? I’d rather have a damn root canal. Awake. Without a sedative. Or a painkiller!

In fact, I would rather get rid of the pack altogether.

Which is exactly what I plan to do, I thought with a huff. The whole region would be better off if the wolves of Lupus Claw joined the Silverstreak pack. It was only a matter of time, of course, but it was an idea I’d been rolling around in the back of my skull for ages. The longer I mulled it over, the wiser it seemed.

“Sir? We are ready to disembark.”

I glanced up to see the air hostess hovering nearby, already picking up my empty cup and collecting my debris. I flashed her a winning smile. Oklahoma or not, I had planned ahead for the visit to the Lupus Claw pack. One could never simply trust their rival pack, after all; I had sent a few trusted packmates ahead to scout out the location. The city. Sniff around and report back if they found any interesting data points. We could not afford to be caught off guard tonight if it was indeed more than a Moonmate ceremony, and I always preferred to be as prepared as possible.

My mother called it being anal. I simply called it having foresight. After all, I wouldn’t invited Dave Claw to so much as a birthday party, much less something as stogy as a Moonmate ceremony. The man was not to be trusted.

The cabin opened; my stewardess had already finished tidying. I stood and straightened my vest. A stern gaze arrested mine and I paused, just for a moment. “You made the right choice, coming to Oklahoma,” my mother said, her green eyes never leaving mine.

I straightened up but didn’t move from my seat. “Thank you, Fiona,” I grumbled. I didn’t remember inviting her assessment of the matter.

The woman pinched her brows together, breathing slowly through her nose. She did the same thing when I was a little boy who was getting on her last nerve. It seemed I was good at that. Honestly, I had only gotten better with age.

“I hate to think of what the other alphas might say, were you to miss it. Your poor father is probably rolling over in his grave just at the mere suggestion. His only son, and not a care in the world for tradition.”

The mention of my father made my stomach sink, as if we were still in the air and we hit a particularly rough patch of turbulence. “My father might have been a traditionalist, but not in matters like this,” I shot back, shoving my hands into my pockets. “He’d be the first to say this was a complete waste of time.” I met my mother’s gaze steadily. I could think of a hundred different things we could be spending pack time and energy on, back at home in Texas.

Fiona leveled her unblinking gaze at me. I did not waver, ignoring the air hostess as she quietly crept around whatever familial dispute she imagined this to be. The woman was clearly uncomfortable, but she’d only joined the Silverstreak pack last year. Believe it or not, there weren’t many shifters who were also trained air travel professionals.

Finally, my mother looked away, glancing out the window instead. “If that were the case, he would be denying that they worked. I met your father at such a ceremony, Pavel.” She sighed, wistful. “That’s how your grandparents met, too, you know.”

It was my turn to sigh and look away. We’d had this conversation at least a dozen times already. We’d been having it for the last five years. No matter how many times my mother brought this topic up, it did not change the facts; I was not that type of guy, and my mother couldn’t see it. Maybe she was determined to see whatever it was she was missing in my father in me instead, but all I needed was a temporary liaison, at best. A weekend fling. A week in paradise. Something with a set shelf life, and no one holding any illusions otherwise. I was an adult, and I associated with other adults. It was a beneficial system, really. The idea of having to entertain the same person for the rest of my life?

Internally, I shuddered. No thank you.

My mother stood and closed the rest of the gap between us, then reached out to squeeze my hand. I tipped my head, looking over at her. The corner of my mouth lifted. “You were the exception,” I told her. Even I couldn’t argue that she and my father had clearly had a special relationship; I could see it even when I was a boy of five years.

Fiona simply studied my expression for a moment. “Pavel,” she sighed softly. “Please try to remember that this is an important ceremony. A very important ceremony. It might not be your style, or whatever your argument is — don’t give me that look — but it is very meaningful to our pack and most of our people. They still believe in it, because it works. Finding a mate wouldn’t just benefit you, but it would benefit our entire pack. I know you know that, Remy, even if you won’t say as much.”

I bit my tongue before I could fire off another quip, bristling as my mother dredged up my boyhood nickname. Before I could argue, my mother continued. “I can’t expect you to understand, my love, not until you meet your own mate. You could not possibly imagine how deep the bond goes. Even I had doubts, you know, though I was a bit younger than you when I met Remington.” She paused, gaze going distant for a moment. My irritation softened as I watched her reminisce. “Your lifelines become tangled. It is the single most wonderful, intense thing — and you will have your mate for the rest of your life. Or theirs.” Her voice thickened and she cleared her throat, looking away again. I could see the hint of moisture peeking over her lower lashes and despite our tiff, I still had the urge to embrace my mother. She seemed determined to finish this talk now that she had started it. “I knew the moment he died, Pavel. I wasn’t with him, but I knew. I miss that man every moment of every day, but even with this, I would never trade having known him. Having been his mate. Do you understand me, Remy? There is nothing more sacred, nothing more beautiful than that. Please do not brush it off as an old woman’s fancy.”

Fiona was just trying her best to help. She just couldn’t understand that I wasn’t, I don’t know, as old-fashioned or naive as some of the others. Still. The emotion still brimming in her voice had sucked most of the fight out of me.

“I won’t embarrass you,” I said instead of something sharp and biting, trying to placate her. I had had enough of this familiar argument for today. I certainly didn’t want my mother to devolve from misty-eyed to outright teary.

Unfortunately, my mother knew me better than that. She fixed me with a frown, her silvering brows knitting together. Her earthy green eyes searched my face and I sighed, knowing I’d been found out. “I still don’t want a mate, Mom, but for you, I’ll keep an open mind,” I said, squeezing her hand. “We’ll be the strongest clan in the southern United States regardless of my relationship status.” The pack’s stability wasn’t in danger — if anything, we were only getting stronger — but I didn’t linger on the topic, or my mother might think I was inviting another lecture. “But I will look, and I won’t say anything untoward. All right?”

“That will be all right,” she agreed, giving my hand one last squeeze before letting go. At least we could both recognize a stalemate when we reached one.

I stepped to the side, allowing my mother to gather her jacket before walking off the plane. I followed her and a moment later, my beta, Bane, fell into step behind me. Both he and my chief financial officer at Silverstreak Motors, Tala, had the good manners to pretend they hadn’t witnessed any of that conversation.

Instead, Bane stepped around me as soon as we had descended the steps, striding out ahead of me. A black limo was already waiting on the tarmac. Before I could ask, the driver opened the door and out stepped Dave Claw and his mother, Kate. I stiffened, the hair on the back of my neck prickling as my wolf bristled. Now that we were off the plane, I quickly got the sense we were not alone, and it wasn’t just my dislike of Dave setting off the warning flag in my head. He had wolves watching us.

“Pavel Silverstreak,” Dave drawled, shoving a callused hand in my direction. I fought down the urge to bare my teeth, even if my wolf was now on high alert. Bane had sidestepped seamlessly, suddenly at my mother’s shoulder instead of acting as a makeshift meat shield. “So glad you could make it.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I replied, offering a wolf’s smile in return. Dave’s eyes gleamed as he squeezed my hand; I gripped right back, uncowed by whatever he thought he might be displaying. Behind him, his mother cleared her throat, and Dave finally looked away, withdrawing his hand to offer it to my mother instead.

“Fiona,” he murmured, dipping his head in her direction. “You look lovely, as always.”

My mother beamed as she leaned in to kiss both of the man’s weather-worn cheeks, using his handshake to keep him from escaping. “Dave,” she cooed, as if he were a nephew rather than the alpha of a rival pack. “You look just stunning today. A spitting image of your father. I am sure Noah would have been delighted to see what a wonderful young man you’ve grown into over the past year.”

She sounded honest in her assessment. I glowered at the side of my mother’s head, but she’d already moved on from exchanging pleasantries with Dave to embracing Kate. Admittedly, I didn’t have much of an issue with the Claw matriarch (outside of the fact that she had spawned Dave, but fate could be cruel, so I wasn’t sure I could hold that against her, either), and I supposed it was good for my mother to have other wolves who could relate to her grief. My understanding was that Kate had almost entirely disappeared from her pack’s social structure after Noah died, and Dave took over his father’s role as alpha. I had no idea how much truth there was to that, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about that…other than that I still didn’t trust her, no matter how happy my mother seemed to see her.

The two women stood side by side, hands and arms entwined as they looked the both of us over. Heat prickled on the back of my neck; even my wolf took notice of Fiona’s and Kate’s appraisal, his focus torn between seeking out potential threats and feeling the need to preen.

I shoved the instinct down and straightened my shoulders. Dave, in turn, did the same, drawing his shoulders back enough to display exactly how broad his chest was, like managing a construction firm had the same effect on a body as working on the build site itself. It took a lot of effort not to roll my eyes; who the hell did this oaf think he was impressing, exactly? Me? If I were to go for another man, I could certainly do much better than that. Hell, even Bane managed to look more attractive than this posturing asshole, and all my second was doing was being as unassuming as possible. If Dave thought he was impressing Tala, well, he was barking up the wrong tree entirely. That thought was almost laughable. Unless… My eyes darted to where my mother stood. I exhaled slowly, nostrils flaring. If that man thought, for one fucking second—

“Darling, save it for the ceremony later,” Kate murmured, her soft voice barely penetrating the boiling rage threatening to spill over inside of my skull. She turned, bumping her shoulder against my mother’s. “Goodness.” She ducked her head closer. Fiona tipped her chin, as if they were sharing a secret. “These boys! I don’t remember Moonmate ceremonies being nearly as tense when we were girls.”

“Oh, no,” my mother agreed, bobbing her head. “Nerve-racking, perhaps, but it was all about making a good impression! The gentlemen tried to woo us with manners, none of this silly posturing business. It’s not as if we weren’t sure who was an alpha and who wasn’t.”

My wolf grumbled, unsure if he ought to be irritated or flustered to be spoken about as if we weren’t all standing on the same tarmac. Frankly, I couldn’t blame him. Even Dave looked marginally abashed, if he was even capable of such a thing. He glanced at me and narrowed his eyes. My upper lip twitched as my wolf snarled.

Bane cleared his throat, sensing the tension about to boil over. “Mrs. Silverstreak. Mrs. Claw,” he hummed, trying to draw the women’s attention away from us as he opened a door. “I hate to interrupt, but I suspect the airport would prefer if we got off the tarmac. It’s not a terribly large one.”

The corner of my mouth twitched. Always sensible, Bane. Which was exactly why he was my beta. I nodded, breaking away from Dave to turn my attention fully to my mother. “I’m afraid he’s right.” I casually herded my mother towards the limo. Thankfully, neither she nor Kate seemed inclined to argue, and allowed themselves to be helped in.

Tala, who continued to be as silent as could be, allowed me to help her in next. Bane followed her, leaving only myself and Dave standing on the asphalt, staring each other down once more.

“After you,” Dave purred, flourishing a hand as if I were his date instead of an equal. No, not even a date. Just some fucking fling. I stiffened all over, fighting the urge to put a fist in his smug teeth and fix that expression once and for all.

“Pavel?” my mother called, tipping her head. “We don’t want to be late.”

I swallowed hard and nodded. It took everything I had to step into the limo, arranging myself next to my mother before Dave finally stepped in, closing the door behind him. The man sat directly across from me. I folded my hands in my lap, lest my fingers curl into fists without my permission.

Soon, I thought, venomous, I’ll wipe that smug look off your face for good.