Pride's Pursuit (a Wolf's Pride novel, book three) (11 page)

He grins.“Looks like it’s a draw.”
“No, I’m pretty sure I won,” I announce.
“Fine you win,” he says and juts his chin outward, like a spoiled child.
“So what does the winner get,” I ask.
“It was usually a stick of gum, but you, Pride,” he says, his voice dropping an octave as his
blue eyes darken with need. “You can have anything you want.”
As I think about what I want, I ask,“What do you want,Logan?”
“Oh, I think you already know that.” With that he throws himself on the ground and reaches
for me.“Come here,” he says and pulls me down beside him. With our arms and legs in a
tangled mess, we lie there and look up at the stars, and while I appreciate the fact that Logan
isn’t putting any demands on me, there is another side of me that craves his touch, his kisses.
“You know, when this is all over, I’m going to make sure you laugh every day.”
My stomach knots because my old fears that this war on wolves will never be over, haunts
my thoughts.As I think about all those I’ve lost in battle,I say, “There was a picture of my
mother in my room.”
“I saw it when I went looking for you, but I didn’t know it was your mother.” He leans into
me, plants his elbows on the ground and props his head onto his palm.“Although I should have
known. You look like her.”
“Why do you think he has that picture?”
“Probably because he really did love her,Pride.”
“Do you think he has any of me?” I ask before I can think better of it, and hate how needy I
feel, hate how it actually matters—that I allow it to matter—or that it would mean so much to
me if he did.
“I’m sure he does.”
Logan places his hand on my stomach and spans his fingers. As his warmth transfers to me,
I close my hand over his, my mind instantly rewinding to our time on the mountain, to when we
held and protected each other while we slept under the stars.
“Logan.”
“Yeah?”
“Sandy thinks the master is still alive.”
I feel his body tense.“Do you?”
I angle my head to see him.“I’m not sure. I don’t think so, but what if—” my voice falls off
because I suddenlycan’t push the words past my lips, suddenlycan’t give the idea validity.
But I don’t need to voice those worriesfor Logan to know what I’m thinking. “Do you
think she changed him?” I don’t miss the silver in his eyes as he carefully searches the grounds.
“Even if she did, he wouldn’t have gone through a lunar cycle before the panthers got to
him.”
“He’s a dangerous man, Pride. And we can never underestimate him.”
“I know,” I say quietly and after a long moment I ask, “Why do you think he’d want to turn
wolf?Why now, after all this time?”
“I don’t know. Power maybe.Or maybe he thinks he can control us better if he’s one of us.”
I take a moment to think about it longer, before asking, “Do you think Sandy is going to be
okay?”
“She needs time to heal. I think it will be better once we get heraway from all this.”
I crinkle my nose and ask, “Where will we go?”
“After we find Malcolm and the others, we’ll head to the Jasper Mountains and try to find
my pack.”
I think about that for a moment longer, and as he holds me tight, smoothing my hair from
my face, I realize how much I’ve missed our private talks. How right it feels to be held by him,
even if he was never destined to be my mate.
“Once we’re all together again, we’ll have to rebuild our lives.”
Thinking about rebuilding has me remembering what Stone said to me only a few short
hours ago.
“
There can only be one alpha in the pack.”
I think about how Logan went after Stone tonight, to bring him back to safety, and I wonder
if Stone would have gone after Logan. And if he had, would two wolves have emerged from the
ominous forest tonight? Or only one?

Many hours later a flock of chirping birds pulls me from my slumber, and I blink my eyes
open to once again find myself all wrapped up in Logan.
I stretch and pull the fragrant autumn air into my lungs, letting it fuel my mind, body and
soul. As my stiff limbs protest after sleeping on the hard ground, I ease out from under the
heavy arm draped across my stomach and pull myself up to a sitting position.
Warm autumn sunshine spills over us, and I tilt my face and drink it in for a moment before
looking at the boy sprawled out on the ground beside me. When my glance moves over his
handsome face, noting how sweet and innocent he looks when sleeping, Idon’t miss the
quickening of my heart or the way my wolf stirs restlessly.
There is nothing I can do to keep the smile from my face or my heart from fluttering a little
quicker when he blinks his blue eyes open. I see raw emotion in his gaze and think about the
way he lightened my mood last night after so many things went wrong.
“This is getting to be quite the habit,” I say and stretch my hands over my head.
“You do seem to drag me outdoors to sleep a lot.” His grin is mischievous when he says,
“You know, if this is some twisted way of yours to get me alone—”
I arch a challenging brow and cut him off.“You were the one who dragged me out here,” I
counter.
His grin is sheepish when he admits, “Okay, so I like waking up with you like this.I’d like
to do it every day.” Then he pats the ground and runs the dewy blades of grass over his palms.
“Well, with the exception of onlyhard ground beneath us.” He pulls a pained face and the sound
of his joints groaning and popping makes me laugh.
Before I can tease him back and ask if he’s gone soft on me, a commotion from inside the
house draws my attention. Frowning in worry, I climb to my feet and Logan follows me up. We
hurry to the mansion and when we slip inside the back door leading to the kitchen I find my new
family seated around a table.
The delicious scents of bacon, eggs, toast and coffee hit at the same time and when my
stomach grumbles it’s a reminder that I haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon.
I spin on bare feet and find Gem hustling about the kitchen, and can’t help but think how
domestic she is, or that it would serve me well to take a few lessons from her.Someday I’ll have
to learn to cook to feed my own family. But thinking about family has me thinking how a pack
can only have one alpha.
I give Stone a brief glance, but can’t bring myself to meet his eyes after spending the night
outside with Logan.But I don’t need to see his face to sense how dangerous he is right now,
don’t need to meet his eyes to know he’s watching me.
Feeling uncomfortable under his scrutinizing gaze, I turn my attention to Sandy, who still
appears skittish but at least has a bit of color on her face.
My gaze goes from Sandy to Blaze, and in the morning light I see how young and innocent
she is. Her big brown eyes are wide and with her hands tucked under her legs she watches us all
carefully, like she doesn’t know what to make of the crew who came to her rescue.
But that has me thinking of her family. Where are they? How did she get separated from
them?
The empty wooden chair beside her creaks as I lower myself into it and when her glance
settles on me, I offer her a smile in an effort to put her at ease.
“Blaze,” I say softly, to ease her into conversation before I get to the hard questions.“How
are you feeling this morning?”
“I’m okay,” she answers, then darts a nervous glance around.“I just want to go home.”
Leading with her answerI ask, “Where is home, Blaze?“Where is your pack?” Instead of
answering, she gives me an odd look, like she has no idea what I’m talking about, so I refocus
my questions.“How did you get captured?”
Her voice is slow, hesitant when she answers with, “The other night, during the full moon,
these men shot me, and the next thing I knew I was wakingup in that cage.” Despite the warmth
of the morning a shiver moves through her and she hugs herself.
“They shot you?” I ask, wondering how she’s still alive. I instantly think about Nova. Could
this little girl be another pawn, harnessed by the PTF to trap us?
She nods, and lifts her shirt to show the scar. When I examine the spot where her body
rejected the bullet and healed itself my insides turn to ice because one thing becomes glaringly
apparent.
“They didn’t use silver,” I say, more to myself than anyone. Of course they didn’t. Because
they wanted her alive, so they could have a little fun with her.
“Where did they find you?”
“In an alley way.”
Anger trickles through my veins, and my wolf howls. Why was this young girl out
wandering the dangerous streets alone? Why would her pack allow her to do that? I calm my
agitated wolf before asking the next question.
“What were you doing in an alley way?”
“It was the night of the full moon,” she says, and gives me a look that suggests I’m
seriously dense for asking such a question.
I think about it for a moment, my brain spinning, but when comprehension slowly trickles
in, I try to keep the hysteria from my voice.
“You were hunting?”
When it occurs with dawning horror that this young girl was out hunting humans on shift
night, like it was the most natural thing in the world for her to do, I push back in my chair, my
vision going a little fuzzy around the edges.
As my stomach turns and my mind races with a million questions, I take deep breaths to
calm myself and struggle to wrap my brain aroundwhat she’s telling me.She doesn’t fit the
profile of a rogue killer, so why is she out hunting humans?Why isn’t she being cared for by a
pack?
At the head of the table my father clears his throat, and that’s when Officer Sanford comes
into the room and drops down in the chair across from me.
His eyes lock on mine.“What you fail to understand, Pride, is that not all wolves are good.
For every well-meaning wolf out there, there is a rogue, which is why I assembled a team and
wanted to change tactics in our approach.”
As I digest his words, I look at Blaze.“Do you hunt every full moon?”
She nods, and there isn’t a hint of remorse on her face. “Don’t you?” she asks.
“Yes,” I say quickly. “But not humans.”
She angles her head like she doesn’t understand.
“Where do you live? Where is your pack?”
“My mom and mehave an apartment in the city.”
“And she hunts on shift night, too?”
Blaze nods in response.
I lean toward her.“Blaze, do you go to school?”
She pulls a face, like such a suggestion is ludicrous.“My mom teaches me everything I
need to know.”
“And she taught you that killing humans is acceptable.”
She nods again, then as if to justify it she says,“But only on shift night.”
“Did she teach you that wolf communities exist, and these wolves work together and take to
the woods on hunt night to avoid killing innocent humans?”
She shakes her head, and it’s clear she has no idea what I’m talking about.
“Do you think killing humans is wrong?”
“It’s what we do,” she says matter-of-factly.
With my heart racing and my breath leaving my lungs in a whoosh, I look at Officer
Sanford.“She doesn’t know,” I say. “She doesn’t know it’s wrong.”
“And that’s half our problem, Pride. While some rogues kill because they enjoy it, there are
others out there who are doing what theydo because it’s all they know.”
“We need to help them,” I rush out.“We need to get them off the streets and integrated into
packs that will teach them and take care of them before the PTF get to them first.”
Officer Sanford scrubs his chin.“And how do we determine which wolves are good, and
which aren’t? Our orders are to shoot and to kill. There are no gray areas, Pride. Not in this line
of work.”
As I think about that, I think about my purpose for this mission. I set out to find Malcolm
and the others and in pursuit of freedom I wanted to confront the PTF. I wanted to change the
fate of our future.
But how can I ask the PTF to stop hunting wolves, when clearly some wolves need to be
hunted? Don’t humans deserve to be protected from those that have gone rogue? Or those that
have no idea that their actions are wrong?
As I toss that around in my mind, and my brain works to come to terms with this new
knowledge,I begin to wonder if I’m approaching this mission all wrong. Maybe what I should
be trying to do is educate the force and teach them about wolf behavior, to help them determine
which wolves are rogue and which ones needs saving.
I look at Officer Sanford. If the force refused to listen to a member of their own team, how
then can I get them to listen to me? What must I do?
And the truth of the matter is,listening to me isn’t enough. For me to
know
the right wolves
are being hunted,I’d have to be out hunting the streets myself, following the scent of those
committing atrocities against humans.While my run in with Nova wasn’t a pleasant one, at least
something good has come from it.I’m better able to identify the raw odor of deception.
I scan the room and that’s when my glance lands on my father and I know in an instant this
is what he’s been trying to tell me. For humans to be safe, the PTF
are
needed. While some
wolves just want to live normal lives, there are othersout there that don’t. Although I’m
suddenly questioning what normal is, these days.
Another thing that occurs to me is that Officer Sanford is trying to make things right, but
this mission is too big for him, the dangers too high for one man going it alone.That’s when I
understand more than ever that I have to try to convince the PTF to change their hunting
strategies, to understand we’re not all the same.
I take a moment to sort things through and knowing I can only deal with one mission at a
time I turn my focus to locating Malcolm and the others. Right now finding them is top priority
and once they’re safethen I’ll turn my attention to the PTF and the matters of the rogue wolves.
“If the panthershave your pack,” Officer Sanford begins, as if sensing the shift in my
thoughts,“and the PTF find them before we do, then they’re all as good as dead. Information
came through my radio the other day, and from what I heard, I know they’re getting closer to
finding the hideout.”
Panic bursts inside me.“We need to find them first.”
The chair slides across the floor as Officer Sanford stands.“I need to make my way back to
my place to get my radio equipment.”
When Gem puts a plate of food in front of me my stomach growls, but I’m suddenly in no
mood to eat.
“I had a run in with these panthers,” Gem says as she holds her hands over her stomach.
“And if they do have Malcolm and the others, I think they might have killed them already.”
“Not necessarily,” my father pipes in.“From what we know, the dangerous drug cartel
moving in from the south are the ones controlling the panthers, using them against us so they
can take over our territory. My guess is they want to add the wolves to their arsenal. Why kill
them when they can harness them?”
Stone grunts, his disgust apparent in his tone.“Spoken like aman who knows what he’s
talking about.”
As Officer Sanford exchanges a look with my father, my father hands him the keys to the
SUV then turns to Stone.He doesn’t comment on the remark. Instead he tosses him a cell phone
and says, “You should go with him.”
My head jerks back with a start, surprised by my father’s suggestion. Why would he choose
Stone to go on this mission, the wolf who nearly killed the one man on our side, the same man
my father is now pairing him up with.As I watch on, I can’t help but think this union is a
mistake, can’t help but worry what will happen when the two are alone in close confines.
Stone and Officer Sanford glare at one another, then after a long moment Officer Sanford
gives my father a hard look and says through clenched teeth, “I’ve got this under control.”
“And now I do too,” my father adds, motioning for Stone to keep a close eye on the former
PTF officer and to keep in contact at all times.
Stone climbs to his feet and his eyes move over mine before he turns. I stare at his back
until he disappears from my line of sight.Once he’s gone, I nibble on my bacon, only because I
know I’m going to need my strength. Then I thank Gem for the food before I hurry to my room,
needing time to think about Blaze, Malcolm, the war on wolves I might have no chance of
winning, and this wide spread problem I had no idea existed until now.
Sure I knew rogues roamed the streets and occasionally turned to crime, but because I’ve
been imprisoned my whole life, I had no real idea how desperate things have become. Had no
idea there were so many wolves living amongst the population completely oblivious to the
immorality of their crimes.
When I make it to my bedroom I begin to pace, anxious for Stone and Officer Sanford to
return so we can get to the others before the PTF find and kill them all.
I see the picture of my mother, which is now on my nightstand. A shiver rushes through my
blood as I pick it up and hold it against my chest.
“Pride.”
My head jerks up to find my father leaning against my doorjamb.
“What?”
“Can I come in?”
I shrug and clearlythat’s good enough for him because a moment later he’s grabbing the
rocking chair from the corner, and pulling it toward me.
When he sits I look at him, and before I can help myself I blurt out, “Did you really love
her?”
There is no hesitation in his voice, no indication that I shouldn’t believe him when he says,
“I really did.”
“Did she know what you were? What you did?”
“No, none of the imprisoned wolves knew. I kept my real purpose a secret so I could
socialize and integrate with the wolves and keep them under control.”
I blow a long slow breath, and think about how it would have destroyed my mother to know
the truth.“I’m glad she didn’t know.”
His face is sorrowful, regretful.“I suspect someday she will.”
I crinkle my nose.“How?”
He looks heavenward.“When we meet again.”
I nod in understanding, but suspect that won’t be for a long time. Wolves live many, many
generations, which has me wondering how long my father has been walking this earth. Before I
can ask, he smiles and what he says next has my words lodging in my throat.
“The happiest day of my life was when you were born, Pride. I knew from the minute I set
eyes on you that you were going to be something special.”