Chapter Fifteen

Vince had watched from his hiding place behind her cabin as Gabe and Serena drove away. Anger burned inside his chest like acid. That shifter had probably taken the credit for his roses. He’d seen the way Serena had looked at the man, like he’d handed her the moon on a platter. He hit the steering wheel hard, winced, and let go, shaking out the pain in the side of his fist.

“Damn it.” He was a pussy, letting these fucking shifters take his woman. Well, no longer. He had to stand up for himself. It was time to act like a man.

For years he’d fantasized about taking revenge on one wolf shifter or another. He’d been stockpiling the things he’d need for a long time, knowing there would be a use for them. Well, today was the day.

He’d had to rush to the old storage shed at the edge of the property and get everything, but it hadn’t taken very long. They weren’t back. They weren’t going to be back anytime soon by the look on that alpha’s face. His anger surged.

He forced it back down. He could be angry later. Right now, them being gone only gave him the time to do everything right.

He put on thick rubber gloves and tucked his hair into a hairnet. Then he pulled the hazmat suit on over his clothes, followed by goggles and a face mask. He was completely safe. After everything was tucked away, he sprayed every part of his suit, including the soles of his booties, with Lysol. This way no one would know who he was by his scent. Then he parked his dad’s old Toyota Corolla and switched to one of the ranch’s utility trucks, loading it with a power saw and driving it down the hill to a tight hairpin curve, where the slope caused you to drive faster but the trees hid anything that might be approaching.

This was the spot. And now was the time. Wulfric thought he had the upper hand—well, he did for now. But after the asshole dropped Serena off, he’d find out that this was the last time he’d have the advantage.

He’d chosen this spot a long time ago, on one of those days when he needed an outlet for his frustrations. The tree was perfectly situated, and just big enough for him to use the saw and cut it down. A few online videos, some careful planning, and it toppled exactly where he wanted it—right across the road.

While he worked setting up the trap, Vince daydreamed of Serena. When he’d first met her, he’d fallen instantly for that dark-eyed, quiet look she’d given him. She’d been so nervous and he’d helped her in any way he could. He’d known right away—this one was his.

She was a dreamwalker from a different pack, which meant she wouldn’t have any biases against him. And she hadn’t—she’d been so nice to him. He could tell he was making progress. But as soon as he turned his back, those Wulfric boys were pissing all over her. All his life, wolf shifters had made him feel like less than a man. First his father. Then all the adolescent boys at the shifter boarding school, where all shifters went to take the Bite. And after, when he’d found out he wasn’t going to get a real wolf, it was everyone. All the sly glances and excuses the pack made for members who didn’t have a wolf. It all sucked the big one. And he wasn’t going to take it anymore.

He kicked the log a few times with the bottom of his foot, making sure it was secure, and pulled out a bottle of industrial cleaning fluid, spraying everything he’d touched. Then he walked back up the road and checked. Nope, the shadows hid the log perfectly from this angle. He took one last look, before heading back to the truck, every step feeling lighter than the last. It was done. That shifter bastard wouldn’t know what hit him. Vince drove down the mountain back to the ranch and switched his supplies into the Toyota. Time to fix the other brother and clear the way to Serena.

He drove his own car out the ranch gates, making a right and heading for an old mining road that cut off into the property bordering the pack’s holdings. The road was steep and rutted, and the old Corolla barely made it up the drive, but he was here. He stepped out and took a large breath. The cabin’s roof was sinking, the faded green shingles almost lost under piles of dried pine needles. The old boards were way past restaining. But it was his, all his. No stinking shifters to sniff him out. No spelltalkers or shamans to poke at him. He’d had enough of that when he’d failed dreamwalker training.

Out here, he could be himself. And the first thing he was going to do was go to sleep. And dream. He walked to the splintered sides of the old building and unlocked the padlock. Inside, he bypassed the main room with its potbellied stove and sunken old couch, and went straight back to the only bedroom with the large, brand new, queen-size bed. It took up most of the room, leaving him only a narrow space on one side to strip his clothes off and pile them in the corner, but the sheets were clean. And no one would bother him.

He got in and began his sleeping ritual, counting off all the people who owed him. Starting with his dead father and counting on down to his latest addition, the Wulfric twins. The soothing chant ran on in his head until he was in his waking spot in the dreamscape.

All dreamwalkers could walk the dreams, but only the certified ones were allowed to walk in other’s dreams. It was highly regulated. When he’d failed his tests, and they’d had the spelltalkers put a binding spell on him to hold in his abilities, it had made him howl with rage.

Out there, in the realms of the astral, he could be an equal to the shifters. He could show them how his wolf could run and fight and kill, just as effectively as theirs could. To know all that and not be able to do any of it? It ate at him.

And then one day, he’d met his mentor. A man who saw the inequities in the pack system. A man dedicated to the good of all the pack, and not just those who could manifest a physical wolf. He’d shown Vince a way around the blocking spell. Now, Vince could enter anyone’s dreams he wished—as a man, or as a wolf.

It wouldn’t be difficult to tiptoe into Sam Wulfric’s dreams and push a little here, shove a little there. He’d seen Sam; he was already on edge from his obsession with Serena, and it was obvious she wasn’t interested in him. But Vince would make sure.

Once he was inside Sam’s head, he’d find his trigger.

Then he’d aim the gun of Sam’s wild wolf at the first competition he came to. No one else was going to have Serena. No one but Vince. And once the coast was clear, she’d know—she was destined to be his mate.