Chapter 3

Austin

I could feel the twins close by as I argued with my mother. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were listening in. But wherever the twins were, Anna wouldn’t be far. I sighed. She had been making so much progress with us that I didn’t want her to overhear this and have a setback.

“Enough!” I finally shouted at my mother. I hated raising my voice at her, but she was not going to stop and would keep berating me until I gave in. That was not going to happen.

Anna was everything I could want in a female. I saw her disregard for fashion and the trappings of wealth as a plus, not a negative. I loved how she could be happy with a burger and a beer just hanging out with us guys.

I had no doubt that if she did have children, she would teach them what’s really important in life: family, pack, love, and acceptance. The last thing I wanted was a female exactly like my mother. I loved her, but she was too focused on appearance and status.

I heard the car pull up outside the house. Rich had already warned me that two men sent by my father were at the gate. I was a little surprised that my father had sent someone to come get her so quickly, but my guess was that he had the guys who brought her here to stay close exactly for this reason.

I opened the door to find John and one of the other errand boys for the council. I scowled at the sight of them. John had a grin on his face, which meant trouble. John never smiled unless he was causing someone pain or discomfort.

“I didn’t expect to be greeted by the pack-master himself.” John drawled.

“You’re here for my mother?” I asked doubtfully. These were not the same men my father had sent earlier. I knew for a fact that my mother hated John. It was unlikely that my father would have sent him for her.

“Oh, we were actually already on our way here.” The asshole grinned. “You gonna invite us in?”

I waved an arm to allow him and his associate inside. Reagan’s scowl matched my own. She was obviously not happy to see them.

“I’m not going anywhere with them,” she announced.

I sighed and raised an eyebrow at them, waiting to hear why they were really here.

John seemed to enjoy dragging this out. “Reagan, how lovely to see you again.”

She sniffed. “That’s Mrs. Zilker to you.”

He held his hand to his heart. “Ouch, you wound me.”

I was losing patience with this. “What is it that you wanted?” I asked him gruffly.

He snapped his fingers. “Oh, that’s right!” He dramatically pulled out a letter with the council’s seal on it.

I held out my hand for it and he started to hand it to me, but pulled it back. “Where is the lovely Anna tonight? I enjoyed meeting her earlier.”

I held back from snarling at him the way that I wanted to. I was not going to give him the reaction he wanted.

“The letter?” I asked politely.

He chuckled but handed it over. I opened it up and my heart dropped when I read the words.

“I’m going to retire for the evening, Austin.” My mother interrupted. “You can have someone take me home in the morning.”

She completely ignored the two men standing in front of me and headed up the stairs. That didn’t faze John at all; I think he enjoyed the reaction he got from her.

“Are you going to produce him or not?” John’s companion asked. I just glared at him in response. He wasn’t as tough as John because he dropped his eyes and took a step back after meeting my gaze.

“You can hand over the wolf that the council is requesting, or you can try to fight us. I’m hoping for the fight, but I have to warn you. If you fight this, the council will no longer be comfortable with you having custody of the female. We can’t have her being influenced by a rebel pack.” John told me with a gleeful smile.

I tapped a finger on the letter thoughtfully. There was no way that I was willing to hand over any of my wolves to these two. I didn’t trust them at all.

“I will be escorting my wolf to the council myself.” I told them quietly. “You may follow us to provide security while we are on the road.”

John looked surprised but disappointed. “Fine.” He growled. “But no delays, we have a schedule to keep to.”

I stepped closer to him, forcing him to look up to keep my gaze. “I think you must be confused about this situation.” I let him feel the full weight of my stare. “I am the pack-master here and you are on my territory. If you cannot be respectful, then you can leave.”

He held my gaze for two heartbeats before dropping his eyes. This was a man who was not used to being challenged. It was a mistake for anyone to give this man power over anyone; he would abuse it and twist it to his advantage.

I called for James and Cody with the pack bond. James was the first to arrive and I handed him the letter without a word. His eyebrows rose as he skimmed it.

“Really?” He asked with an incredulous scowl.

Cody was next to arrive. James passed the letter to him with a glower. Cody’s face darkened as he read it and he glared at our two visitors. John held his ground but swallowed nervously. Cody was a mountain of a man and could be quite fearful when he turned his wrath on you. It didn’t happen often, but Cody’s feral side could come out when someone he was protective over was threatened.

I thought it was best not to relay John’s vague threats against Anna to either James or Cody. The situation was already tense enough without the added threat to our female.

I nodded at Cody. “Will you go explain the situation to him?”

Cody dipped his head in agreement and headed up the stairs.

I communicated silently with James as we waited. I was leaving him in charge of the pack while I was gone, he was the best suited to protect what we had here. A thought of Anna crossed my mind, but I pushed it away.

I would be bringing Cody with me and would send for Trevor and a few of our guys to meet me in the morning. They were the most intimidating of the pack and I think the council needed a reminder that we were not a bunch of pups that could be pushed around and intimidated. If they went after one of our pack members we would not roll over, we were going to fight for him.

Cody came down the stairs with Caleb, who looked pale and nervous. I sent some reassuring thoughts his way. He would not be facing this alone, he had the weight of the entire pack behind him. Other packs might bow down to the council and hand over a wolf to placate them, but not this pack. The council had a habit of making an example of one wolf to keep the rest of the pack in line, but I was not going to let that happen.

James clenched his hands and I knew he was not happy being left here when there was a chance of danger where we were going. I pressed towards him the importance of keeping our stronghold secure and reminded him what was on the line. I hesitated but then decided to send him an image of Anna. It had become more clear to me that he had a soft spot for her, but I didn’t want to push too hard with that. Otherwise he would just withdraw in denial.

James reluctantly nodded at me. I took a deep breath and motioned for the two errand boys to precede us out the door. I gave Caleb’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze as we headed out the door. He looked at me with anxious eyes and gave me a small smile in return.

It annoyed me that the council would target Caleb. I knew exactly why they did it. Caleb was probably the least intimidating member of our pack. He was the most comfortable in front of a computer and had no direct combat experience. I think the council would have been afraid to take James or Trevor, knowing that either one could easily kill them all in their sleep.

“We will be taking our own vehicle,” I told John. “You may follow behind us.”

John looked irritated but nodded in agreement. Had he really expected us to just hand Caleb over to them? That would never happen.