The Pack (30 page)

    
After the police moved him away from the crime scene,
he headed for his car barely making
it away from the humans befor
e
he pulled over abandoned the vehicle
letting his wolf free
. He howled and tore through the woods hell bent on revenge and when he found the object of his
fury
,
he did not hesitate to pounce.

    
Trevor
had not expected his attack, he
was at a severe disadvantage
, but nothing
stop
ped
Lucan from tak
ing revenge
.
He was about to strike the killing blow his teeth poised to rip into Trevor’s jugular when Cade
,
the only voice that could reason with him
dared to step in
.

    
“
Brother this is not our way
,
if you kill him you become t
he very
thing he is.”
S
o
sure,
Cade
wa
s that Lucan would not hurt him
he stayed in human form as he came to his side not hesitating
to reach out to him.

    
The moment his hand touched Lucan
’s fur
,
calm began and
the rage receded reve
a
ling to his human side
what he had been about to do. H
e backed away and took off into the woods leaving C
ade to
handle Trevor
.

    
That night they had decided to leave before Lucan did kill Trevor
and without anyone aware of their plans,
they left in the early morning hours never looking back.

     “I do not
need anyone to tell me where to
g
o or who to see Trevor,
you forget I am still
Alpha
of this pack.” His father’s deep voice penetrated his memories a
nd he shook his head to focus
on the heated conversation before him
.

     “
I only worry for your safety.”
Trevor
sounded sincere
,
but Lucan knew it was all an act
,
it always had been where their father was concerned.
The only thing Trevor cared about was becoming
Alpha
no matter what he had to do to get there
.

     His father’s laughter filled the night air in response. “Son, the only thing you care about is that I name you my heir before I die so
you do not have to fight for the position.
”

     “I am not afraid of a fight
.
I have proven that t
ime and again,”
Trevor,
argued
his chest puffed
up with
self-indulgence
.

     “Not even if Lucan
or Cade
were to return
and challenge you?
” Mather answered slyly.

     Lucan barely held back his growl of
disapproval
upon hearing his father
using
Cade and
him to goad his brother
.
He felt Alec move next to him and turned to see understanding and sympathy
in his
amber canine
eyes, which helped him keep his place
.

     “Is that what this is about
? Y
ou are
still trying to convince the pro
digal sons to return
?” Trevor
sneered
,
his face taunt and ugly
.

     “And if I am?” Mather asked looking none too concerned by his son’s reaction.

    “
Then you are
wasting your breath
.
Lucan does not want anything to do with you or our pack and Cade is no match for me in a fight.”

     “Funny how things can
change,” Mather told him
opening his door and walking inside the motel room leaving his son to mull over his words.

    
“Looks like you have some competition,” a dark male whose slimy appearance matched his unwashed scent said to Trevor as he walked out from the dark corner he had been listening.

     “
I have no intention of letting the old man rep
lace me. Isn’t that
why you are here
Blade
,
” Trevor said with a grin
. “Why don’t we get a drink and discu
ss i
t.”

     Both men walked away
,
neither saying another word that Lucan deemed important.
Alec whined s
oftly next to him letting him know he was ready to
check
on Mercy and he followed
his lead
back to the house
thinking over everything they had just heard
.

    
Mather was clearly trying to incite a fight over the future
Alpha
position
of his pack
, w
hy he did not comprehend yet
.
Could it be his father finally saw in truth what Trevor was or did he just want to see them kill each other before he died?
Either way he wasn’t planning on giving him the satisfaction of returning to his pack.
Never again would he follow the man who had caused him so much pain.

     They broke through the thick wood l
ine that bordered the house swiftly changing
forms before walking into the house.
Both men stopping
upon
entering,
seeing Cade sitting at the table
with
a cup of coffee in
his hand
and his bag packed at his feet.

    
Cade placed his cup on the
table
and turned to his brother noting
his
eyes locked on his duffle bag.

     “Going somewhere?” Lucan
asked walking to the table and
dropping
down
into a seat.

     “Yeah kind of,
” Cade answered rigidly.

     “If you don’t mind I
will check on Mercy then head
out
for the night.” Lucan nodded
and
Alec
walked up the stairs leaving the brothers
alone
to talk.

     “I suppose I don’t n
eed to ask where you are
going.
”
He had known his brother was concerned about his future bond mate
. H
e felt his worry and fear as if it were his own.

     “
I have to go before she’s t
ied to another,
” Cade
told him
walking
to the sink
and rinsing his cup then turning
around to f
ace his brother who watched
him without comment. “I know this is a bad time but this cannot wait.”

 
   “I agree with you completely,
”
Lucan,
answered
evenly
. “Trevor is here with father
,
that should give you time to get the situation handled
before they go home
.”

     “Trevor is here?” Cade could not hide the hate he felt for his older brother or t
he shock that he was so close
.

     “
Apparently,
he did not like father looking in on us and wanted to be sure he wasn’t handing over the pack to me.” He clenched his hand tightly
,
but went on. “After all this time he still pits us against each other
. A
s if I would willingly take over the pack he ignored us for.”

     “Luc
,
we cannot blame the pack for father
’
s neglect
,
they are good people and even though I resent fathers lack of concern with his children he has led them well.” He placed a calming hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I will stay
,
I do not like the idea of you and T
revor in the same town
it could get ugly.”

     “No
,
you need to go and keep your mate from making a mistake
.
I will handle everything here.” He knew Cade was about to protest and stopped
him. “I would regret it
if you lost the chance to be with y
our destined mate
.
G
o
,
I have Alec and Gregory here with me it is you I am worried about.”

    
“No need for that
,
I am invincible.”
Cade puffed out his chest a
nd grinned reminding Lucan
of the many times
when they were young how often
he had done the same thing.
His brother might
not be invincible
, but he was damn close
.
R
ealization dawned on him
as he watched his brother seeing clearly the strength within him
. Ne
ver before had he
thought of his kid brother as
Alpha
,
but now it was clear
he had the gene
.
H
e wondered how
long Cade had been hiding it from him
, but b
efore
he could say another word,
Cade hugged him in a manly sort of way tha
t was awkward yet endearing, then
grabbed his bag and headed for the door.

     “I’ll call when I get th
ere,
”
h
e
said then
he was gone
.

    
Lucan waited until he heard the low purr of his old mustang as it left the driveway before he sat once again
,
so
stunned by the reve
lation that
Cade was
Alpha
,
he barely heard Alec
say goodbye
.

     “Maybe I shoul
dn’t go out tonight,
” Mercy said to
Kirk the ne
xt afternoon as they walked to the parking lot where Alec waited for her
after school
.
All day she had thought
about
Lucan who seemed up
set by Cades sudden departure
and she was worried about him
. Lucan had always been there for her and s
he longed to make him feel better even if it meant sacrificing her own happiness.

     “Your brother
is a big boy
,
he can handle one evening by himself,
besides I can’t wait to spend time alone with you.” He backed her up against the
stone marquee
outside of the
school building
and
kissed her cutting off her protest.
Knowing Alec was watching he lengthened the kiss as long as he dared before letting her go grinning in Alec’s direction as she walked to the car. 

    
Alec waited impatiently clenching the
wheel
staring
at him with pure venom
. “Could you
have any less consideration?” h
e snarled as Mercy
got in a fastened her seatbelt
turning to look at him with hazy eyes and kiss-swollen lips
.

    
“What?”

     “Nothing.
” He slammed his foot down on the gas pedal and took off noting
the look of triump
h on Kirks face as
they passed him on the way out. He had to say the guy
knew how to piss him off
,
but Alec
also knew how to aggravate
people
and hop
ed his plan for the night would do just that
.

     They drove in silence the entire was home, Alec fighting
desperately not to attack her
for
kissing another male when he was her destined mate
. Never would she know how very difficult it was to control the urge to kill
Kirk when
he was touching her. S
he
c
ouldn’t
understand the amount of possessive
ness he felt towards her and
he
could not explai
n it or
he might lose her forever.