The Wolf's Surrender

CHAPTER 7



“You and I need to talk,” Bane said as soon as the door closed behind Mia.

“So talk,” Jenner said. He was already regretting his assertion that Mia was staying with him. Hadn’t he worked this all out in his head when he’d been in the garage? Except that had been before that cocky little Silverback walked in and started making eyes at her. When that had happened, the rational, planning ahead part of Jenner’s brain seemed to have shut down completely.

And now here he was, about to suffer a dressing down from one very pissed off Alpha. Jenner knew the look on Bane’s face, all too well. He ought to feel good about the warning he knew was coming, should be glad that there was now no chance at all of Mia becoming his.

Of course, that would be a lot easier if he wasn’t still envisioning punching the smile off of Kenyon Chase’s face.

“I think Mia asked the right question, actually. Except she was too nice about the way she phrased it, so I’ll give it a try. What crawled up your ass and died, Jenner?” Bane began to pace the room restlessly, more comfortable in motion than he was still.

Jenner, just the opposite, settled back into a chair and watched Bane make the circuit around the couch, in front of the windows, around the other chair, and back again.

“Nothing’s wrong, except that next time I’d like a little warning before you bring the crown prince of the Silverback into my house.”

Bane shot a glare at him. “Crown prince my ass.”

“Please,” Jenner grunted. “Young, pretty and cocky. He’s got hereditary werewolf written all over him, and you know as well as I do that with the Silverback, that equals power.”

Bane stopped and shoved a hand through his unruly hair, looking as though he was praying to the ceiling for guidance. “Not everyone works the way we do, Jenner. Kenyon is going to be the Alpha one day. He seems like a reasonable, thoughtful man.”

“I bet he spends an hour in the bathroom every morning doing his hair.”

Bane’s lips quirked. “Maybe. But I would rather not start a war with him, and potentially his whole pack, just because you decide you don’t want him touching your stuff. Which, by the way, Mia D’Alessandro is not.”

“Didn’t say she was,” Jenner muttered as Bane resumed pacing.

“You didn’t have to say it,” Bane replied. “I think the growling did that for you.”

Uncomfortable as he recalled that particular (and satisfying) moment of weakness, Jenner lifted a hand to rub at the tense cords of muscle that joined his neck and shoulder and sighed. What was he supposed to say? “Okay,” he finally allowed, “I growled. Look, you saw the way he looked at her right when he walked in here. Mia had a hell of a night, she’s finding out that she can’t go back to her life the way it was before, and she’s got a psycho after her who’s planning to either rape or kill her. The last thing she needs is some smarmy Alpha-in-waiting trying to put the moves on her.” Or some jackass non-Alpha with impulse control problems, he thought, then pushed it quickly from his mind. That wasn’t going to happen again.

For both their sakes now, it couldn’t.

Bane was looking at him, his dark eyes shrewd. “That’s a noble thought, Jenner. And I think you mean it on some level. But I also know you. Loyal as you are, you don’t put yourself out for just anyone.” He looked out the window at the fiery trees, pensive. “You know the rules. Gaines was one of the Silverback. They cut him loose, and he bit Mia. If they want to force the issue about where she belongs, they very well can.”

“We found her,” Jenner pointed out. “Our men saved her. That should make her one of us.”

Bane shook his head. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but Kenyon Chase wants her. It’s pretty obvious.”

Anger, and some other, even darker emotion, reared its ugly head. The hairs on the back of Jenner’s neck prickled to attention. “This isn’t the Dark Ages, Bane, and those are some old rules you’re talking about invoking. Mia’s stronger than she looks. She got through last night and she hasn’t come close to breaking yet. You think she’s going to take it if the Silverback tell her she’s got to take one of them, no choice?”

Bane’s gaze was piercing. “You know very well there are ways around that. If I tell our men to back off, let Kenyon court her or whatever he’s got in mind, she’ll never think twice about the possibility that she had anything less than free choice.”

Jenner curled his lip and turned his head, hating this conversation. “Don’t you think she’s been manipulated enough?”

A pause, then a heavy sigh. “Look, Jenner,” Bane said. “I get that this is a sore spot with you. You’re entitled. But you’ve got to separate this from what happened with you and Tess. It’s been years.”

Jenner’s head snapped around. It was all he could do not to bare his teeth, an action that would have been a grave mistake. Bane was a fair man, but he didn’t tolerate disrespect.

“This has nothing to do with Tess,” he managed to grit out.

“Sure it does. She was one of the most manipulative women I’ve ever known. I hate to think what would have happened if you hadn’t finally seen through her, Jenner.”

Jenner exhaled loudly. He hated talking about it, even though it had been years. Sometimes he thought he should have known so he could have stopped her sooner. Other times he wondered if he might have been able to save her instead of—

“No, quit it. I can see the pity party starting, and you should be way past that. The Shadowkin hunt us, we hunt them. If a wolf heads to their side, it means either their death, or all of ours. You did the right thing.” Bane’s tone brooked no argument, and Jenner knew he was right on some level. Most levels, even.

“Yeah, I try to look at it that way,” Jenner said with a small shrug, an attempt to cover how strongly he felt about it. “Would be easier if I didn’t think there was still some part of her in there that wanted to stop and do the right thing, even at the end.”

“It would have been a small part, because she never did. She caused the deaths of some good wolves, Jenner. Don’t do them the disservice of forgetting.”

“You know I wouldn’t,” Jenner replied flatly, his temper prickling again. “Now if you’re finished lecturing me about old news, again, I’m sure you can think of someone more interesting to bother. You want to let Chase paw at a feral victim because of some archaic notion of property rights? Go for it...on your own watch. While I’m keeping track of her, it isn’t going to happen.”

Bane’s eyes flashed, and Jenner knew the man well enough to realize that the long, slow exhalation that followed was an attempt to refrain from shouting. Jenner had to fight back a smirk, despite his anger. It took a lot to get Bane to this point, but he’d always been pretty good at it.

“Would it kill you to follow the rules on this, Jenner? Mia’s not attached to any of us. What does it matter which pack she ends up in? Letting Kenyon at least try to get in her good graces doesn’t do any harm. If she rejects him, so be it. But stepping back will keep the peace. Besides, I can’t think of any Blackpaw who’s seriously in the market for a mate right now. I’m sure as hell not.” He paused, lifting one black eyebrow. “Or maybe you are.”

“Of course I’m not,” Jenner muttered. “I like my life the way it is.” And he did. So why was this so important to him? Why was the thought of her with someone else so unconscionable? Imagining Mia alone with Chase had his nails lengthening, sharpening, and digging into the arms of his chair.

Bane prowled over to perch on one of the arms of the couch. His gaze was piercing, and saw far too much. “You seem awfully invested in this woman.”

Jenner felt his shoulders trying to hunch defensively, and fought it. “No.”

“You’ve known her for one night,” Bane continued, speaking as though he hadn’t heard Jenner’s denial, “and you’re arguing to keep her for the pack, not to mention getting in a high-ranking Silverback’s face when he takes an interest in her. That looks like you’ve taken quite an interest to me. If you want to challenge for her...”

“I don’t,” Jenner growled, and now his shoulders did hunch. “Not liking the idea of setting her up to feel a certain way doesn’t mean I want her. Jesus. You know me better than that, Bane.”

“Uh-huh.” Bane watched him curiously, as though Jenner had suddenly become a part of a particularly riveting circus sideshow. “Thought I did, anyway. But this breakfast-serving, warm and fuzzy side of you is something new.”

“Bite me.”

Bane snorted. “You know, normally I’d enjoy giving you a rough time about this. But you keep acting like a possessive mate around Mia, you are going to have a fight on your hands. Kenyon will challenge you for her outright.”

Jenner glowered, hating Bane’s habit of cutting straight to the heart of an issue with a minimum of finesse. “That would be a mistake. I’d beat his ass.”

“Of course you would. You’re the frigging Blackpaw Lunari. But you beating his ass would create some...diplomatic issues.” Bane’s eyes were not unsympathetic, but Jenner knew that sentiment had no place in this. Jenner was almost certain that Bane would back him if having Mia were that important to him, despite the strain it might create for a time between packs. But Jenner had no intention of creating a situation there.

If Mia took a shine to Kenyon Chase’s particular lack of charm, that was.

Which meant that right now, he had no answers for Bane. No good ones, anyway.

“She trusts me,” Jenner finally said. “I’d prefer to be worthy of it.”

A slight smile touched Bane’s lips, not mocking, but genuine. “You are, Jenner,” he said. “I wouldn’t like you half as much as I do if you didn’t have a raging justice complex. No one’s going to make Mia do anything she doesn’t want to do, or steer her in a direction that would cause her further harm.”

“But you still want to steer her.”

Bane chuckled. “Sure. But it remains to be seen if she’s steerable. Hopefully she isn’t anything like you.”

The two men grinned at one another, and Jenner felt a few of the knots he’d tied himself into relax and unwind. They were all right again. It was important to him. More important, Jenner reminded himself, than the unknown feelings of a woman who was little more than a stranger. And he needed to remember that the next time he thought about beating up the Silverback’s Alpha-in-waiting.

“Okay. She stays here, then. Not like you were going to listen to me if I said otherwise anyway, but I’ll defer,” Bane said.

Jenner managed a half smile.

“For what it’s worth, I won’t try and scratch any itches I might have with Mia. Apart from the pretty package, she’s not my type. I won’t have anyone harassing her, but if she decides to give Chase a shot, she can have him. Just don’t expect me to play nice with him, and we’re good.”

Bane looked relieved.

Jenner got to his feet, taking great care to keep his thoughts shielded behind a wall of casual, superficial amusement. He could feel Bane in his head. Once, it might have offended him. Now, he understood it as just a necessary caution taken by an Alpha who didn’t want trouble outside of what he was normally saddled with. So Jenner blocked him out, though not without considerable effort. After a moment, the probing sensation vanished.

“All right, then. I’m guessing the Silverback contingent will show up before long,” Bane said. “The numbers will help us cover more ground tonight after...well, after. Maybe next time Mia can give us a better picture of where Gaines is hiding. Though I’m not sure anymore that it’ll be much help. A feral who’s been exiled from a pack is different than one who went through the change alone.” His lips thinned as he looked away. “He’s going to be a lot better at hiding.”

“We’ll catch him,” Jenner said, feeling the truth in it. The Blackpaw didn’t lose. He didn’t lose. As he thought it, the memory of Mia’s pale, shell-shocked face arose in his mind. The bastard who’d hurt her wasn’t going to get away with it. He’d make sure of that. Still, one thing Mia had said continued to trouble him.

“Bane,” he said. “What Mia saw today...the red eyes, and the cold...it reminds me a hell of a lot of before.”

How many times had he heard Tess talking in her sleep about the cold, and some terrible, unseen gaze? The bewildered shame of it rushed back to him, as fresh as though his emotions from that awful day had been preserved in amber in his memory. He should have known...but he had been only a hunter then, not Lunari, and unaware of the full extent of what the Shadowkin could do to corrupt a person. Jeff Gaines being insane didn’t mean he didn’t know what he was doing. He’d targeted Mia for a reason—whether or not he was right about her almost didn’t matter. She was in danger either way. Except...

Bane pressed his lips together and nodded. “Yes. And no. The vision might be the same, Jenner, but the woman in the middle is very different.”

“She knows more than she’s saying,” Jenner said quietly, glancing toward the door.

“Probably. But she also doesn’t know us. Not yet. Give her time before you pass judgment.”

Jenner gave a curt nod, but quietly, he wasn’t sure they had time. What if the Shadowkin had already gotten to her, gotten inside...he would have to do his job. Again.

A chill like ice washed over his skin as he imagined his hands around a woman’s throat, her eyes full of unearthly fire. Tess’s eyes. Mia’s eyes.

God, he hoped not. He didn’t ever want to have to do that again. But it was one more good reason to keep his emotions all the way out of this thing with Mia. He would do his duty. Nothing more, nothing less.

He would never open himself up to pain like that again.

“You remember the signs, Jenner, better than anyone,” Bane said, surprising Jenner with the weight of his hand on his shoulder. “You’ll know.”

Jenner nodded, grim.

“I’ll know.”