Pushing away those thoughts, he ducked down. Tristan was unconscious. Black smoke filled the air as five miscreant wolves circled his body. Michael swallowed. They weren’t alone. Standing in the circle watching Tristan’s silent body was Michael’s father.
The smoke that made it hard for him to smell and detect the man who’d helped make him did the same for Michael’s benefit. Kendrick had yet to detect his presence. Tristan’s chest moved up and down. For now, he breathed.
Michael let his gaze fall on his dad. Other than a brief glance at the man during Cullen’s rescue three years earlier, he hadn’t seen his father since the older man had stood on a boat calmly floating away from the chaos of the massacre occurring on Westervelt. Minutes after murdering his own wife, Michael’s mother.
If others had been surprised, Michael had not. He’d known—for as long as he could remember—there was something wrong with Kendrick Kane.
We’ve done this number before.
He had. Just recently when he’d fought Zack. But he hadn’t been alone. That’s why he’d lived. Hearing a sound, he whirled around. Todd, Barge and Seamus stood behind him in their wolf forms. Michael placed a hand to his lip to quiet them. For his part, he wanted to ring their necks.
They were Pack now. They could be spoken to telepathically. “Can you three not follow orders?”
Todd snorted. “You’re not our Alpha and besides, last night when Tristan swore us in he told us that the one thing he would ask was that we protect Pack first and foremost.
Our pack needs our help, not our bodies hidden away where they can’t get hurt.”
He wanted to argue, might have, if he didn’t also see Cullen approaching in the distance.
“The boy makes a good point.”
Damn it, Cullen wasn’t going to support him.
“They wanted to be Pack, Michael. They swore an oath. Their Alpha needs them.”
“Fine. There are five miscreant wolves there…and my father.”
“I’ll take your father,” Cullen growled in his head.
Michael shook his head. No, I will.
He wasn’t being macho. Out of the whole pack, Michael had been the only one to best him and walk away unscathed. He knew it and what’s more Kendrick knew it.
“Cullen, as Royal member here, I order you to get these three bozos away when the fighting is done and to get Tristan to help.”
He could hear Cullen mutter before he spoke. “I am Tristan’s top Enforcer.”
“You are but just an hour ago, he named me Keeper of the Pack until Braden comes of age. I don’t want to be the Alpha. If you value Westervelt, get Tristan out of here.”
Michael was done arguing. He moved forward in the direction of the black smoke. It burned his eyes and made his wolf want to vomit. They hadn’t been able to replicate the stuff yet. Clearly, it had a sulfuric component. Not that knowing that particularly helped at the moment. He had to make it. He had to endure until he knew he was covered in it.
The smoke hid him, hid his scent. The only way he could win was with an element of surprise.
Silently, he moved into position behind Kendrick. Once he was hidden he spoke.
“Hello, Dad.”
Kendrick jumped and whirled around. “Michael?”
“Glad to see you still recognize my voice. Maybe you’ll recall some other things too.”
Shifting, he leapt out of the dark smoke and onto his father’s back. He made contact, biting down on his father’s still human back for a moment before Kendrick called the shift onto himself and changed into his large wolf form. Still, he’d had the enormous pleasure of hearing the man scream before the fight started.
Around him, he heard the miscreant wolves begin to growl. They would pounce on him any second. As he knew they would, Cullen, Todd, Barge and Seamus attacked.
Cullen could handle two of the “made” shifters himself. That meant Todd, Barge and Seamus would each be matched up one to one.
He hoped they could handle it. The magically created wolves were stronger than they should be thanks to their mystical enhancements.
That was his last thought as he ripped and tore at his father. Kendrick swiped at him, catching him in the eye and the blood that ran into his vision made it hard for him to see.
I want to kill him. His wolf growled, reaching for Kendrick’s throat.
Behind him, he heard a yelp and a howl of pain. Using his back legs, he rolled fast and kicked his father in his underbelly. Kendrick bit back at him, catching Michael on the leg.
If this was a fight to the death, he wasn’t going to be the one losing.
Michael wasn’t sure how long the battle went on. He gained ground only to lose it.
His father would press forward and he would manage to push him back. As a young wolf, Michael had beaten him. Now, however, it seemed that whatever supplemental magic Kendrick ingested on a regular basis made him harder to hit.
Still, Michael held on. He couldn’t let Tristan down and he would walk through fire completely unprotected before he allowed anyone to harm his mate.
Behind him, Tristan groaned. “…off of me, Cullen, I’m not leaving this fight.”
“You will, my Alpha. You have no choice.” Cullen must have shifted back. Michael didn’t care. His father had been momentarily distracted. Michael went for his neck.
Making contact, he tore until he could taste Kendrick’s blood.
Tristan growled. “By all that is holy, I have a choice.”
As Michael went for a final rip at his father, sure that this would be the one to kill their former Alpha, Kendrick vanished beneath his grip. Michael fell forward hitting the ground with a thump.
What the hell happened? His wolf was not pleased to be denied the right to finish his enemy off.
Michael groaned and called his shift back on to him. The white light brought him back to his human form.
“Dad is such a coward. I had him. I had his throat in my mouth.”
He could still taste his blood. Michael pounded the ground with his fists as he roared.
It was intolerable.
When Tristan didn’t answer, Michael whirled around. Standing in a group were Barge, Tristan, Cullen,and Seamus. Where was Todd? Michael’s heart beat faster as he took two steps to reach the small group.
He looked down and knew instantly what the others must have already learned. Todd was dead.
Michael shut his eyes for a moment to collect himself. He was responsible for this.
He should have found another way to get to his father. It had been useless anyway.
Someone grabbed his arm and he opened his eyes. It was Tristan. Half of his brother’s face was covered in ash, he looked tired and blood ran fast from a gash on the side of his head. “This is not your fault. It’s mine.”
For a moment, Michael couldn’t speak. When he finally could, his voice sounded hoarse. “I brought them here; I should have done a better job of explaining just how bad it is.”
He heard Barge suck in his breath as he looked at them. “Don’t do that.” Barge shook his head. “You gave us everything. You came and rescued us. Todd—all of us—
we’d gladly trade our lives for the few days of learning we had with you and the night of feeling the wholeness that comes from being in a true pack.”
Tristan nodded. “Michael gives us what we need, even when we don’t know we need it.”
Why was Tristan always saying things like that? Michael shook his head. There weren’t words for the conflicting emotions Michael felt. Horror and utter sadness at Todd’s death, pride that his Alpha thought so highly of him. Michael did what he’d trained himself to do for years, he pushed it aside. He’d deal with it later. Cullen leaned over and picked up Todd’s lifeless body.