Page 24 of Carnage Island

Scents can make wolves do stupid shit.

Like attacking the superior Alpha on the island.

Which Alpha Dirk does now by throwing the first punch.

The only reason I don’t outright kill him is because I understand he’s being driven by lust more than intelligent thought.

If he wanted to truly challenge me, he wouldn’t do it here or now.

I duck his punch and counter him by slamming my fist into his groin. He’s too big and slow to see me coming, my reflexes far outpacing his as I whirl around behind him and follow up my hit with a kick to the back of his knees, sending him to the ground.

Then I jump and land my heel on the back of his neck, forcing him to complete the fall and face plant against the rusty old dock. It’s the one we maintain for Elder purposes—to help add to the overall beat up flare of the island.

The nicer dock is hidden on the other side in an alcove protected by tree cover.

That’s where I keep the yacht and other boats for my men.

Alpha Dirk grunts into the decaying wood, moaning as I take a knee on his back.

“I could kill you,” I tell him, my voice bored as I lean down to continue speaking against his ear. “I could take the silver blade from my pocket and slit your pathetic throat. But I’m not going to do that. And do you want to know why?”

His response is unintelligible because his mouth is currently kissing the dock.

“You’re one hell of a warrior when not thinking with your dick,” I go on, answering my question without bothering to wait for his clear interest in the response. “So take a breath. Walk it off. And you’ll realize what I’m doing is the right thing for our pack.”

I shove off of him and meet Alpha Kin’s stare directly.

He holds it for a beat before looking away.

Alpha Pan and Alpha Duncan are next.

They don’t hold my gaze, their eyes averting in respectful submission.

“Good.” I brush my palms off on my jeans, taking a step backward toward Caius. He’s the only one behind me because he’s the only one I trust at my back. “Give me a few days to sort this out with our newcomer. A proper introduction will occur when she’s ready.”

They don’t respond verbally, just nod in agreement.

There are about twenty of them.

If they wanted to really push this and challenge me, they could as a group.

But too many of them already respect my role as Pack Alpha.

It’s these troublemakers that give me grief. Mainly the idiot on the ground and his buddy Kin. They’ll heel eventually. They always do.

6

VOLT

The little wolf follows close behind me as I lead her up the hill to our den. When I reached down to carry her earlier, she stood up and shook out her fur, then gave me a lopsided grin. It seemed to be a dare from her animal, or maybe an invitation.

Shrugging, I kicked off my pants and shifted.

Then she happily trotted along beside me up the path.

Tieran was right—her animal is definitely in control.

I can see the conflict in her eyes every time I glance at her, the general confusion as to why her wolf is so easily trusting mine.