Page 31 of Dual Nature

"There’s a strange wolf on our land, and you're telling me not to worry about it?!" Craig snapped. "Is this what the federal marshals wanted? Are you harboring a fugitive?"

Mason stepped in, catching the man by his throat. "Are you questioning the rule of your alphas, gamma?"

Craig fought to pull Mason's hold off of him as he struggled to breath. Inside, I was at war. Part of me wanted to put a stop to this, but the other part was simply too terrified to make a move. Gritting my teeth, I crawled out of the bush and shifted, knowing I needed to have more control over my actions to deal with this. I couldn’t stop myself from wincing when I stood, the weight of my body settling on my ankle and making me hiss. Mason and Noah's eyes snapped in my direction upon hearing my pain, and both of them started to growl.

"Stop, Mason, let him go," I demanded as I made my way over to them. The ankle hurt, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Craig, on the other hand, was turning blue. "Mason, you're going to kill him! Let the man go… please."

"He hurt you," Mason growled, eyes lit with outrage. "No one gets to hurt you while I'm around."

"Craig didn't know who I was. He was doing the right thing by trying to protect his pack," I argued. "I would have done the same thing."

Noah stepped up and turned me to look at him. "He should have scented that you're an omega, so there was no need for him to act as he did. Not to mention your mates' scents are all over you, another warning that you were no threat to this pack."

I blinked up at him, not having considered that aspect to this situation. "At least let him breathe so he can talk. I'd like to hear what he has to say."

Mason dropped the wolf back into the river, causing the man to splutter at the frigid temperature. "There’s no way that she’s really an omega. They don't just show up out of thin air! What did you guys put on her? She's not acting like a scared shitless bottom feeder."

Whatever hope that man had of getting out of this unharmed had now flown out the window. Mason lunged at him, not caring that he was clueless as to what he'd just done. Noah picked me up and cradled me against his chest as Mason all but dragged the man out of the water and over the ground as we headed back into the forest.

"Noah, I can walk, and if I shift, it will be easier with all the extra legs," I said, wiggling for him to put me down, but at one look from him, I shut my mouth and sat still.

Up until this point, I had thought that Mason was the one to be worried about, but the rage that glowed in Noah's gaze told me Craig was lucky it was Mason dragging him around. Noah tucked me tighter against his chest, nuzzling my hair as we left the river. I had a guess as to where we were going, but I wasn't sure until I started to see the simple cabins scattered about the forest. The pack house was in the middle of the whole village, which was where Mason dropped Craig to hustle up the porch and into the house. Seconds later, he was back with a cell phone up to his ear.

"You want me to deal with him, or one of you?" Mason asked into the phone, eyes locked on Craig. At least he had the smarts to not move from where he'd been placed.

The pulse of angry energy that was coming off of Noah and Mason made me a little sick to my stomach, but I knew they were going to protect me. Noah seemed to be in an almost primal state, refusing to put me down, tightening his arms any time I tried moving.

My wolf still wanted nothing to do with this situation and begged for me to let us allow our mates to handle things. I, on the other hand, didn’t want a man to die because he didn’t know who I was, but as the twins had pointed out, Craig should have known better. So why risk their wrath?

"Finley, sit still," Noah instructed, flicking his eyes down to me for a moment before returning to Craig.

"Do you really think he would hurt me?" I questioned, feeling so confused as to what was really happening here.

The sound of a vehicle racing down the road caught my attention, and I could see a cloud of dust getting kicked up as a truck came flying up the drive. An extremely pissed off Colt was driving, with Lane looking not much better off in the passenger seat. An auburn wolf jumped out of the back when it slowed enough, then came charging over, flying by me to pounce on Craig. Elias bared his teeth, letting out a low, threatening growl as he loomed over the man under his paws.

Distracted by Elias, I didn't notice Lane until he was scooping me out of Noah's arms and cuddling me to his chest like a baby. "Are you alright, sweetheart?"

Nuzzling my face into his neck, I took a deep, calming breath of his clean scent to ground me despite the chaos of emotions. Before my shift, I could catch glimpses of their emotions, but now it was like getting blasted with one feeling after another. Lane was angry as well as worried, but his anger at seeing who’d caused the trouble outweighed the latter.

"You attacked my MATE!" Colt roared, causing me to peek out from Lane's neck. "Based on that fact alone, I could kill you for harming her, but add on the fact that she’s an omega, and you have no hope for leniency from us."

Colt blazed with alpha energy, making me shrink into Lane's hold. I knew he wasn't mad at me, but it was oppressive to my omega nature, and I didn't know what to do to fix it. As if sensing my distress, Noah wrapped his hand around my ankle, offering his support and allowing me to take a deep, ragged breath.

"How was I to know you took a mate?!" Craig shot back. "You were gone for two, almost three days, without a word, and half that time you took the betas with you. Then, while I'm out on patrol, I find this strange wolf lurking about our forest, leading those two on a wild goose chase."

"Do you have a nose, or did that get lost with your brain?" Mason growled. "We were playing, you fucking moron. She’s a new shifter, and learning how to be a wolf is essential to helping the bond grow between human and wolf. You were bitten. I'd think it would be easy for you, of all people, to understand that."

"Yes, and I was unlucky enough to be bitten by a gamma when I should have been an alpha! Do you know who I was before I was turned into this abomination?" Craig spluttered. "I ran a million-dollar company and had thousands of employees to look after, but it was all stripped away from me by a damn dog."

I gasped in shock when I felt his self-loathing and hatred for us and who he was. The intense anger that he felt about being a werewolf made my issues pale in comparison. It was almost as if he’d become toxic to himself; if left unchecked, it would spill out to others around him. If someone didn't do something, he would be too far lost with no hope of redemption.

twenty-one

Lifting a hand to Lane's face, his gaze instantly fell on me, giving me his full attention. "I need you to put me down." Lane's scowl told me that he was not a fan of this idea in the slightest, and he only clutched me tighter. "Please."

"Why?"

"He needs my help. Can't you feel how lost he is?" I questioned.