Chapter 9

The mention of kitsunes startled a growl from my former assailants, but none of the five moved to act on their ire. So I took a deep breath and accepted that it was time to live up to the promise I’d made Elle when we first started getting together just beyond the edge of Atwood land.

“Are you going to get into trouble for meeting me here?” I’d asked tentatively the first time we’d slipped our minders and visited Claremont territory on the down low. I didn’t want to lose my teacher before lessons even started...but I also didn’t want to be responsible for a werewolf getting tossed out of her pack if she wanted to stay.

“I’m Ransom’s favorite cousin. He wouldn’t do anything to me,” Elle had promised with a soothing smile. “But Gunner and Crow aren’t currently in his good graces. We have to play this carefully to protect the guys.”

So we’d met in secret, Elle passing along coded messages through her mate that Crow pretended not to understand the meaning of. For my part, I’d evaded Gunner’s questions with far less agility, but the plausible deniability was still very much there.

And now the time had finally come to deny the males’ involvement. After everything Elle had done for me, I refused to let my mentor down.

“Crow had no idea what was happening,” I proclaimed, striding past far too many narrow-eyed shifters as I forced myself to approach the angry Atwood pack leader one step at a time. “No one here knew where I was going. The fault was entirely mine.”

“Mai...” Kira started, her voice suddenly young and scared as the reality of our predicament broke through her youthful belief that no harm could come to those she cared about. I hated to worry her, but I trusted Gunner to protect my sister. And I didn’t want Ransom’s attention focused on Kira for any longer than it already had.

So I pulled out a metaphorical red cape and waved it in front of the bull—or is that bully? “If you want to punish someone for training me,” I continued, standing tall at my full five foot zero inches, “surely you’re not afraid to tackle a kitsune on your own.”

***

The words were pure bravado, and I braced myself to be punished by the pack leader now that he had an actual offense to lay at my doorstep. But I’d underestimated Gunner’s protective instincts. Because his proximity warmed my backside mere seconds before his hands gently moved me out of his path.

Then the two brothers were facing each other directly, only a few inches of air standing between shoulders that were equally broad and features so similar they were almost twin-like. “An alpha knows what happens in his territory,” Gunner growled, completely ruining my efforts to keep him out of harm’s way. “It was my choice to allow Mai and Elle to spend time together. I wanted my kitsune to be properly trained.”

I half expected Ransom to laugh at both of us. After all, Gunner and I were naked, muddy, and sorely outnumbered. But, instead, the Atwood pack leader puffed himself up further as if facing a rival, his muscles tensing as he attempted—and failed—to stare his brother down.

“Your territory?” Ransom muttered finally. Even I could tell that the words had been ill-chosen on Gunner’s part. Because the younger brother was still on Atwood land despite having been exiled from clan central. And no pack leader likes having his property impinged upon in front of his men.

“My corner of your territory,” Gunner corrected himself. He cleared his throat, remembered at last to avert his eyes from the supposedly un-meetable gaze of his older sibling. “I’ve finished clearing the city of malcontents as ordered, pack leader. Are you ready to put me to use so I can quit twiddling my thumbs?”

There. That was the answer Ransom had come here to draw out of his sibling. Gunner’s head bowed in submission, and the tension between the pack leader and his brother dissipated like fog beneath summer sun.

Still, Ransom waited a moment before accepting his brother’s rewording. But then he clapped his sibling on the back...just a little too hard.

“Oh, are you ready to end your vacation, brother? Ready to help me manage our entire territory...and reap the sweet rewards?”

The reminder of the waiting pack princesses made something dark flare within Gunner’s eyes for one split second. But his words were pure docility.

“Of course, pack leader,” Gunner answered, speaking to the mud rather than to his brother’s face. “I come whenever you care to call.”