4

In my periphery, I glimpsed David turning the corner out of the corridor and into the parlor.He stuck his hands in his pockets as he looked us over. “I’m pleased to see you’ve had a successful hunt,” he said.

“You should’ve been there,” said Catrina. “Gavin was the star of the show.”

I didn’t want to acknowledge them.

“How about some wine, hm?” She crossed the dinette into the open kitchen overlooking the backyard, disappearing through a door leading down to the wine cellar.

I got ready to help carry the elk down the stairs into the basement where the carcass would be bled out and butchered, when David’s casual clearing of the throat implied he had other plans for me. “Gavin, why don’t you let the hunters take care of that?”

My anger from earlier that evening was still red-hot. I abruptly released the elk and looked up at him, but my eyes were drawn back to Colt, who’d been standing across from me with a deep gash across the bridge of his nose. I had made that.

Colt avoided my eyes and kept tugging the elk. “Lift it by the haunches. Get the antlers,” he instructed the others.

I stepped over the blood trail that dragged across the linoleum and past David, opening up a cupboard in search of a glass. As I filled it with cold water from the fridge, David stood beside me, his neat grey dress shirt and black pants starkly different from my shirtless, filthy appearance.

“Impressive kill,” he commented. “I take it you’re the one who made it.”

“Yeah.”

“My pack will eat well tonight.”

I chugged my glass of water but felt no relief from it.

“You know,” David continued, lowering his voice, “I have a shipment of PMR-30’s coming in tonight that I need to receive, but I’ll be somewhat preoccupied meeting with a client. Alpha to Alpha, you wouldn’t mind taking care of that for me, would you?”

My fingers left an oily residue on the glass as I put it down, still thirsty. “Gotta scrounge up something fresh for my pack tonight.”

“Send them my way. I can spare a quarter of that elk,” said David.

“A quarter’s not enough.”

“It’ll tide them over. There’s only, what, ten of you left now?”

His idle comment punched me in the gut. Whereas Dalesbloom boasted forty-four wolves, Grandbay lost numbers every year and struggled to regain them, and the way he said it felt almost like he was rubbing it in. “I have to head back out,” I grunted.

David’s mouth tightened into a firm line. “I was really hoping I could depend on you for this.”

To what, collect and transport the illegal shipment of handguns he bought under the table to avoid having to register them? I wasn’t interested in doing his dirty work. I was an Alpha in my own right; I had enough to take care of, even if my pack was barely a quarter the size of his. I avoided responding to that by going for another glass of water. Thankfully, the silence didn’t last long before the wine cellar door opened, and Catrina reappeared with a bottle of Merlot.

“Ugh. What a mess,” she said, gesturing at the blood trail left behind by the elk with her nose.

“I’ll have Billie clean it up once everyone leaves,” said David.

“You’ll have her butcher the thing too, right?”

David frowned. “I thought you and Colt were taking care of that and delivering the cuts.”

Arching her lean body above the counter to search a cupboard for wine glasses, Catrina balked over her shoulder at her father. “I’ll be busy. Won’t I, Gav?” She winked at me.

For a split-second, I reconsidered my obligation to feed my pack. The way Catrina’s leggings and tight camisole accentuated the curves in her body made me want to redirect my anger into a more gratifying activity. “Cat can pick up your shipment,” I suggested from behind my glass of water.

“Hm,” David hummed.

Catrina’s saucy expression withered. “What shipment?”

“Just a little something to supplement the territory patrols,” said David.

“Well, sure. I can do that instead. I just thought Gavin would be staying the night.”

“He’s busy.” David’s pointed chagrin reminded me of his expectations for me.

 My life had been easier before I was the Alpha of Grandbay. Before I had all these responsibilities and was constantly busy trying to take care of my packmates and protect them from the threats lurking around Gunnison National Forest. Gone were the days when I could blow off my work and fuck Catrina all night. She didn’t seem to understand that I couldn’t just drop everything to hang out with her; or maybe she did, and just wanted me to neglect my pack.

Catrina poured two glasses of red and handed one to me. “At least stay for some wine,” she said, trying to look unbothered.

I didn’t take the glass. “I should get going.”

Her eyelashes hung heavily above her eyes, giving me the same look she’d sometimes give me on nights when we were alone. “I can feel the heat in your blood. You’re still worked up. Relax a little.”

“Worked up about what?” asked David.

I didn’t like how sultry she acted in front of her father. It put me in a strange position, and made me feel exposed. I really didn’t like that she’d brought up the hunt again.

“The others trying to steal his kill. Gavin proved himself once again to be an unyielding force of nature while we took down that elk. He even made Colt bleed,” said Catrina, sipping from her wine and still trying to push the other glass into my hands.

“Did he now?” David’s brows rose.

I took the glass and set it sharply down on the counter; the glass cracked and wine spilled over the edge. My eyes hardened on Catrina.

She only smiled over the edge of her glass. “I think he’s even tougher than you, Alpha.”

“Good. That’s what a pack needs: an indomitable show of force. That’s the only way they’ll listen to you,” said David, unfazed by my aggression.

Neither of them understood that I hadn’t wanted to let my violence get the better of me.

“Who needs to be marked anyway,” Catrina dismissed.

That tipped me over the edge.

“I have to go,” I said for the third time that evening. Without waiting for their response, I pushed past Catrina and went for the porch door.