To Right a Wrong (4 page)

I’ll become a skilled fighter.”

“This is serious. I don’t think you have any idea what we’re getting ourselves into.” He motioned for her to follow him. “We’ll eat out here.”

She sat across from him on the picnic table at the side of the cabin and took a sandwich.

“Ethan, I know what I have to do. My life would mean nothing if I walked away and left my brother’s fate to Greggoire. You’ve taught me so much already. You have the weapons that will kill him. We can do this. I know we can.”

“It takes more than silver bullets and silver-coated blades to kill a werewolf.” He bit into the bread, chewed, and swallowed. “Packmates you thought were your friends will come after you….me. It’s in our blood to protect the alpha.

It pisses me off to think Greggoire is the pack’s leader. He’s a beta at best.” His mouth tightened.

The pain etched in the set of his jaw and the narrowing of his eyes hurt her physically. His unspoken worries left her jittery and stressed, and she'd yet to figure out how she could help him be at peace. Something as soft as feathers brushed against her heart. This was her mate.

Her other half.

She pulled a paper napkin out of the sack, wiped her mouth, and decided the time was right to ask Ethan something she’d wondered about for years. “Why were you banned? You were
the alpha. Everything I’ve ever heard about you gave me the impression that you followed the rules. I don’t understand.”

Ethan popped the rest of the sandwich between his lips and ran his forearm across his mouth. “I had no choice.” He stood up and peered off into the distance.

“Tell me. Please.”

He rubbed the back of his neck.
“It’s an ugly
story, little one.”

Dani pulled her legs out from underneath the table, stood, and walked in front of Ethan.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest. “Please.”

He ran his hand over her hair. Gentle and loving, he caressed her as if she were the most precious thing in his life. “Long ago, before you were even born, I was the alpha of the pack.” His hand stilled, but his heartbeat raced against her ear. She closed her eyes. Going from alpha to a lone wolf must have nearly killed him.

“Even back then, the pack was divided.

Greggoire’s family on one side, with my family, the Tolenes, on the other side. It’d always been that way. Bad blood between them went back generations despite us being distant relatives.

Each male from the family fought over the alpha position. The Tolenes were always the winners, but Greggoire…” He sighed. “It came time for me to replace my father as alpha. Dad wanted to retire.”

Dani nodded against Ethan. She’d seen many challenges. A young male would fight for the alpha position, just like her father had with Greggoire. The fight wasn’t supposed to last until death, but until the weaker male submitted to the alpha. She swallowed. Greggoire had not let her father submit, but had killed him outright.

“Are you okay?”
Ethan pulled back and gazed down at her face.

She laid her head back down
. “Yes. Go on.”

“The day of the challenge, two she-wolves were murdered.” Ethan’s hands stiffened against her back. “Stabbed through the heart with a silver-plated knife and left where someone would walk up on them.”

“That’s how my mom was killed.” Stepping back, she gripped her hair with angry fists. “Oh, God, Ethan. Greggoire’s been the one doing this to the pack the whole time. Why can’t the others see how evil he is?”

“It gets worse, little one.”
He leaned against the tree she’d used for target practice. “One of them was my sister, and the other woman was her friend. Greggoire spoke in front of the pack and gave them a story about how I had killed Sharon because I didn’t want Greggoire to become her life mate…he said I wanted her for myself. I supposedly killed my sister because she witnessed the murder.”

She narrowed her eyes.
“Bullshit. You’d
never.”

“No. I wouldn’t.”
His gaze softened. “You didn’t hesitate to defend my innocence. Maybe you should think about what I’ve told you, because in the pack’s eyes, I’m a killer. I was banned that night and left everything familiar to me. I, the future alpha, did what I swore I’d never do…leave the pack to survive on their own, but I also couldn’t go against the rules that were placed there by my ancestors. Without them, chaos would reign, and no one would be safe.”

“No one is safe!”

He growled, his wolf snarling with frustrated rage. “And, because of being forced out of the position I was born for, trained for…needed, more of the people I love, you love, have suffered.”

“Ethan—”

“No.” He pushed himself away from the tree.

“I’ll never forgive myself for falling into Greggoire’s trap.”

Dani stood frozen to the spot and gazed after Ethan as he stormed to the cabin. She flinched at the sound of the door slamming behind him.

“There was nothing you could do. No one will
blame you once they know the truth.”

“I don’t know, little one. I don’t know…”

Chapter Four

Dani leaned over and braced her hands on her knees. Sweat ran off her hair into her eyes.

She gasped for air. “Oh, God, I’m going to die.” Ethan pulled her back up into a standing position and smacked her on the ass. “You’re out of shape. Concentrate.” He raised his open hands in front of him, his fingers relaxed.

She lifted her chin, raised her fist, and remembered to tuck her thumbs so she wouldn’t break them. “Okay. I’m ready.”

Ethan punched incredibly fast, and she jabbed the air deflecting his strikes. He refused to hit her and instead tried to tap her body. On her chest, her face, her shoulders, his hands were everywhere, boom, boom, boom, one after another, challenging her.

Her arm and back muscles burned fiercely.

They’d trained all day, beginning at sunrise and stopping only for lunch to keep up their strength. Even so, her stomach screamed for food. Her wolf grew bigger and stronger every day, demanding more of her energy.

Ethan’s aims were quick, precise. Left, right, down, up, she knocked his hands away. No longer overheated, she gained her second wind and deflected his attacks even faster, forcing Ethan to step up his game. Her reactions came automatically, no longer within her conscious mind, but she anticipated his every move.

Inside her body, a powerful force rushed to the surface. Ethan threw up his hands and backed up, grinning. She stared him down, her bones quivering. An almost feral growl came from her throat.
“Ethan?”

“Go ahead, little one. Take off your clothes.

Let your wolf come out. This is why I had you
wait. You have not only learned the skills
required for protecting yourself, but you have
taught your wolf to guard you when you are the
most vulnerable.”

She scrambled to remove her clothes. The dam she’d built the last week broke. Finally, she could let her wolf come. Her adrenaline spiked, and she swiftly inhaled. She’d finally meet her hidden wolf. Happiness bubbled inside her.

Dani fell to her hands and knees. She arched as bones cracked and transformed her into her canine species. An explosion of sensations released within her core and flowed throughout her body. Fur grew were there was once skin, and her jaw lengthened. She yelled in surprise, but only a yip from her wolf sounded.

She gazed up at Ethan. Her vision so sharp and the colors so vibrant, she stared in wonder.

He was beautiful and his smile was only for her.

Her formerly tired muscles tingled with energy. She wanted to run, hunt, and stretch her legs.

The patter of soft quick footsteps came from the edge of the forest to her right, and she turned her head. She flicked her ears, snapped her jaws, and sniffed. All senses zoned in on the…umm…rabbit. Her stomach growled.

“Ethan, my wolf is starving. I don’t think she
liked how hard you worked me today.”
The hair on her side shifted, and she tensed.

Ethan had changed while her attention was drawn to the woods and now stood beside her as a wolf. She stepped closer and rolled on the ground biting him under the neck.

Dark gray with silver highlights lined his fur.

He was gorgeous. His eyes glowed yellow in a familiar way. She’d witnessed his eyes changing during lovemaking, and it had never failed to turn her on. Ethan was a spectacular man, and it didn’t surprise her a bit that his wolf was even more beautiful. Regal, majestic, and bigger than life, the alpha in him proudly displayed for all to see.
“Are you ready to run, little one?”
He nipped her belly.

Dani flopped over and shot to her feet.
“Yes!

I can’t wait.”

“Let’s see if you can catch that rabbit.”
Ethan sprinted toward the trees.

She followed close behind, sniffing the air. If she were in her human body, she’d be jumping off the ground and shouting out her happiness at this moment. She was alive, complete, and more content than she’d ever been in her life.

The hunger gnawing on her insides all week grew. She ran ahead of Ethan. The rich bloody scent of the food available in the woods excited her. She planned to satisfy her out-of-control appetite she'd suffered since going through her heat cycle.

“You’re on your own, little one. Go feed.”
He slowed down and left her to her run.
“I’m proud
of you, mate. You are a beautiful wolf.”

* * *

Ethan lay on his back in the grass underneath an old alder tree with his arms folded behind his head, ankles crossed, eyes closed. Dani stalked a straight line toward him, slowed down, and crept closer. Within four feet of him, she saw his hard, flat stomach shaking with laughter.

She shifted and pounced on him. Straddling his waist, she planted both hands on each side of his head. “I almost gotcha.”

He cracked his eyelids open and grasped her around the waist. “Did you have a good run?”

“Mmm…” She ducked her head. “Yes, but it would have been nicer if you had come along.”

“I’m here now.” He thrust his hips. “I was dreaming about you.”

She leaned down and gave him a long, slow kiss before nibbling her way along his jaw and over to his ear, where she licked the lobe. “What was I doing in your dream?”

He sucked in his breath. “Almost this exact thing, little one.”

He lifted her away from him to search her eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, she smoothed the lines off his forehead. Her lips parted with the excitement he aroused in her.

She hadn’t had to wait to fall in love with him.

The solidity of them coming together filled her with a sense of loving him for a lifetime. No guesses, no doubts…the love they shared magically appeared.

Ethan made a rough sound in his throat, and the ridge of his cock pressed against her bottom. He skimmed his fingers over her ribcage, her breasts, and her sensitive nipples.

He cupped her fullness, then stroked the soft undersides. Her pulse jumped into her throat.

Everything about him turned her on. The woodsy scent she'd recognize anywhere, the way he always watched her, and most of all, how he showed her his love with whispered words and soft kisses at the oddest times. She stretched forward, her breasts within an inch of his mouth. His mouth opened, and her pussy grew damp. Her lower lips swelled. She craved the fullness only he brought her.

With his tongue, he flicked her nipple, leaving her gasping. He tasted, caressed, and nuzzled the valley between her curves. She squirmed, shifting closer to his cock, until she was able to rub up and down his length, driving them both wild.

“Take…them…off.” She moaned.

Ethan reached down and undid his jeans.

Using his feet, he pulled the material past his hips. She settled back down. Heat radiated off his cock, and her pussy spasmed. She grasped the thick base of his dick and rubbed the head against her clit as she gyrated on top of him.

She was already so hot and wet that she knew she wouldn’t last long.

Ethan groaned as her body slid over his.

With one hand on her hip, he reached to cup her breast. She went crazy. The intense friction and stimulation turned her into some kind of crazed sexual creature. No longer separated from her wolf, she let herself go.

She cried out and convulsed. Her lower muscles, her legs, and her stomach all tightened and relaxed rhythmically into thousands of pulses of pleasure that coursed through her body.

A guttural moan escaped Ethan. He pressed into her wetness hard and deep. Her pussy squeezed over every little twinge of his release.

She lowered her upper body to his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her back.

“You are mine, little one.”

She closed her eyes and smiled.
“I would not
survive without you.”

Chapter Five

The early morning sun broke through the trees, shooting light beams onto the forest floor.

Dani slowed down to a walk. She’d spent hours running through the woods in the dark, loving her ability to view a world she hadn’t experienced before.

The wildlife around these parts were party animals who stayed safe in their homes during the day, but at night came out to hunt, socialize, and scamper playfully in the deep woodlands.

She laughed. It was the perfect social scene for a newly shifted werewolf to try her new abilities to hunt.

With her stomach full and her mind quiet, she loped toward the cabin. Ethan gave her one full night to hone her skills. Shifting from her wolf to her human body at will, she was more confident than ever that she’d soon have her brother back in her arms.
Hang in there, Jordan.

I’m coming.

The grief she’d experienced after the deaths of her parents paled in comparison to the loss of her brother. It’d taken her mother many years to have a second child, as it does when one is a werewolf. Dani had helped her mother bring the pup into the world, taken part in his care, and had loved him the way a parent loves a child.

The birth had taken much out of her mother, and her father had asked her to step up to care for the baby.