Page 7 of Primal (The Prey Drive #1)

Chapter 6

Rennick

“ I heard her say it, Rennick.” Talis, the woman I’m betrothed to, the one who is pushing twenty-eight years old, just stomped her foot. Lovely. “We all heard her say it.”

My fingers are once again pressed to my right temple, the ache that has been steadily increasing since I first found Noa Alderwood standing on my back deck flaring with each vexed syllable out of Talis’s mouth.

“We need to take a breath,” Canaan interjects, his usual calm cutting through the tension stuffing up the conference room. Ever the peacemaker of our leadership duo, he adds, “We won’t be able to get anywhere with this conversation if we keep letting high emotions run the show.”

Copper hair flies around her shoulders as Talis whirls on my second. “Another female just publicly claimed your Alpha as her mate. Do I have to remind you he’s already betrothed to me ? So, pardon me for taking offense to the whole embarrassing display we just watched.”

With a cutting attitude that would make his mate proud, Canaan’s gaze sweeps coldly over the redhead. “Talis, I don’t think there’s a single wolf in this pack who needs a reminder of your impending union. You do such a damn good job at reminding us of it every chance you get that it would be near impossible to forget.”

“You’re such a?—”

“Talis!” I cut off her shrieking insult, one I have no doubt was aimed well below the belt. When words are all you have to fight with, you learn to wield them like knives. And if there’s one thing Talis McNamara excels at, it’s turning insults into weapons. Even if they’re cheap shots more often than not.

“Get your man under control, Fallamhain,” Cathal, who’s been silently stewing across the room since we all funneled in here, grumbles from where he sits at the table. “My daughter is your Luna-to-be, no one should be permitted to speak to her in such a manner.”

Aside from Oswin, a council member who is pushing eighty years old, Cathal is the only one sitting at the long oak table. The way the other pack Alpha has claimed a spot at the head of the conference table doesn’t go unnoticed by me or my wolf. Despite my animal’s grumbling, I don’t have the bandwidth to entertain a petty display of dominance right now.Not that it would be a hard-won battle for my wolf.There’s a certain power in a quiet kind of dominance. It’s the kind that doesn’t need to be flaunted. It’s always there, pulsing just beneath the surface. It's the type of authority that commands respect without the need for words or a single growl. There are only two other people I’ve encountered whose dominance rivaled my own, and neither of them are in this room right now. One of them is Rook, and the other is the nearly feral Alpha of the equally volatile pack based in northeastern Montana.

“Then again, she’s only your intended mate if our contract still holds,” Cathal continues, one thick ruddy blond brow arching, the challenge in his brown eyes clear. “Is this little conundrum with the Alderwood female going to interfere with the arrangement we’ve agreed on?”

The arrangement. The one where I sacrificed my future to ensure the safety of my pack’s omegas.

“Do we know for certain if this girl—Thalassa’s daughter—is our Alpha’s mate?” a council member asks, but I don’t bother looking to see which one. “Should we not be trying to confirm this before a conversation regarding our packs’ alliance goes any further?’

My mind is a battlefield right now and I am in the trenches fighting for my life. Despite the panic and outrange coming from the McNamaras and a few of the council members after they overheard Noa’s declaration, I refused to leave the little unconscious female until I knew she was under the supervision of our healer. Zora, a woman who moves at her own pace and dances to the beat of her own drum, answered my summons uncharacteristically fast. My wolf fought me tooth and nail when I put Noa on the den’s sofa and left her in the care of both Rhosyn and the eclectic empath. His persisting unrest has me vibrating as I stand here nearly half an hour later. He wants to see with his own eyes that she is all right, even though both Rhosyn and Zora had assured me that Noa may be unconscious but she’s stable. His devotion to her is steadfast, and no less perturbing than it was when he first caught her scent.

“With all due respect to Alpha Fallamhain, whether the Alderwood girl is his scent match or not is a moot point,” Yrsa, the alpha female who’s built like a shield-maiden with her near pure Scandinavian bloodline, pushes off the far wall she’s been leaning against. “He agreed to the accord with McNamara Pack months ago. For our Alpha to break his word now wouldn’t just be dishonorable and in poor taste, it would be a heedless betrayal of our people’s safety.”

Oswin hums his disapproval, cloudy eyes narrowing at the alpha female. “An Alpha’s loyalty to his pack should be second to only one. His mate. If this female is truly Rennick’s scent match, then it’s safe to assume our pack’s participation in this prescribed alliance is all but null and void.”

A rage only a mother’s grief can ignite flickers across Yrsa’s features, her eyes shifting into the yellow gleam of her wolf’s. “That may be easy for you to say, old man, but those of us whose children have vanished don’t have the luxury of sitting back and letting a theoretical fated mate bond take precedence over the safety of our young. We need action, and more importantly, we need protection. As of now, seven unmated omegas from our pack have disappeared, one of them my daughter. The alliance with Cathal offers us that security. If we’d had his extra guards at our northern borders seven months ago, my daughter might still be here. Instead, I’m left wondering if she’s alive!”

The Eklund girl vanished from our territory within the first month of my reign as Alpha. She had only presented as an omega the week prior when she came into her wolf four days after her eighteenth birthday. For three days, I ran in wolf form, forgoing sleep and food, chasing every trace of her scent. I was desperate to bring her back to her mother. For the first time since my mom had passed, I’d prayed to the Moon Goddess for her assistance, but it was in vain. Just like the young omega before her and the six after, Yrsa’s daughter disappeared without a trace.

It was the soul-piercing howls of despair, the hollow anguish in Yrsa’s eyes, and the grief etched into the faces of every family with a missing loved one that drove me to accept the Canadian pack Alpha’s offer for support. By the time we’d started to discuss terms, four omegas had gone missing from under my nose, and I was damn near willing to agree to anything. Even taking his beta daughter on as my chosen mate and the Luna of my pack.

But that was before.

Before her.

Noa.

Now, the ground has been ripped out from under me, and I’m barely holding myself upright. I’m questioning everything I thought I knew about finding your supposed scent match. And yes, I’m using “supposed”, because I’m still trying to wrap my mind around what happened out there when my wolf lost his damn mind.

Every story I’ve heard about finding your fated mate share the same defining moment—the instant you meet the one you're destined for, you just know. There’s no hesitation, no doubt, because your wolves recognize each other on a level beyond reason, beyond logic. It’s pure instinct.

And there shouldn’t be any division between wolf and man on this matter.Yet, I can’t ignore the doubt creeping in, questioning the echoing declaration my wolf made in my mind. He and I are not on the same page, something that seems to be happening more frequently as of late. A rift has formed in our once seamless bond, and it’s only deepened with the arrival of Noa.

“ Alpha Fallamhain .”

The sharp bite of my name snaps my head up. My downward spiral had pulled me away from the room, tuning out the voices of those who now argue over a matter that, under different circumstances, I’d say is none of their business. A mate bond—confirmed or not—is a private matter, something that should be discussed between the two parties bound by it. Not debated by a room of people with their own agendas. No matter how well-intended their motives are, they’re still motives all the same.

My love life—my future mating bond—stopped being solely mine the moment I allowed it to become a bargaining chip.

My focus locks onto the impatient culprit, a silent warning flashing in my eyes as my wolf pushes forward, reminding Yrsa exactly who she’s speaking to with that tone. “What is it?”

Oswin doesn’t permit the piqued female to speak, instead he’s the one who asks the question on everyone’s minds. Including my own. “Is Noa Alderwood your scent match? Your destined mate?”

You know those scenarios where there is no right choice? This isn’t one of them. There sure as shit is a right answer. It doesn’t matter what I say, it’s going to stir up untold problems with varying parties. Then there’s the other complication—who’s answering? Me or my wolf? If it’s up to him, there’s no hesitation. He’s furious this is even up for debate, and his answer is an unwavering, resounding yes .In his eyes, the little female with cascading espresso-colored hair is his. But if it’s me? Well…

“I don’t know.”

Like the punchline of a bad joke, everyone in the conference room goes still, silence falling over us like a wet blanket. Every gaze locks onto me. In another scenario, being the center of attention wouldn’t faze me. I’d take it in stride, but right now it feels very much like the most intimate parts of me have been laid bare only to be picked apart.

It’s my right-hand man, and the person I’d much rather be discussing this privately with, who breaks the tense moment. “What do you mean you don’t know?” Canaan questions beside me, the concern in his hazel eyes unchecked.

“For the sake of your pack’s omegas, I’d figure it out—and fast—Fallamhain,” Cathal drawls, slowly standing from the leather rolling chair he’s been using as his personal throne since we gathered in here. The man is built like a typical alpha male, tall and burly, but years of inactivity has made his middle soft. His gut that is tucked into a dark green button-down shirt hangs slightly over his brown belt. “We don’t want that number to increase to eight, do we?”

“This shouldn’t be up for discussion.” Yrsa steps forward again, the handful of council members who were also big supporters of the alliance with the McNamara Pack watching her closely. It was these four that were the most hesitant to lend their support when I took over as Alpha. This agreement is what brought me into their good graces and helped stop them from seeing me as the cocky teen I think the remembered me as. “Since Cathal’s men took up station as extra guards along the northern edge and began closely monitoring the border between here and Canada, we’ve only lost one omega. Before their help? We lost six in half as many months. Mate or not, you would be a fool to put this alliance at risk.”

Her supporters nod their heads in silent agreement.

And that right there is the reason this deal with Pack McNamara was originally proposed. The border. My pack is sizable, strong, but insular. Self-reliant to a fault. We’ve spent generations thriving within our own borders, but that isolation left us vulnerable the moment outside threats started slipping through and stealing our omegas.

I inherited a fortress without a network of allies to call upon.

There was only Cathal McNamara.

He’s been a friend of my pack’s—of my father’s—for half a lifetime. Our packs’ history and mutual trust made taking him up on his offer for support the most sensical option. Especially since I’d stepped into this role as Alpha unexpectedly, without any of my own forged alliances to bring to the table. It wasn’t until I left for college and met Rook Draven that I formed my first friendship with someone outside of our pack.

Rook’s pack doesn’t have the extra manpower to spare. With no other connections to exploit, I was left to rely on the one partnership my father had bothered to nurture during his era.

Admitting we needed help was a blow to our pride—my pride as our new leader—but the reality was clear, we couldn’t watch both sides of the border alone. Four of our missing omegas had been tracked that far, but once they reached the boundary line between the two countries, their trails vanished. We needed help from those who knew that side of the border better than we did. And we needed whoever is trafficking these poor souls to know that their route is being watched on both sides.

As it stands now, the extra support has greatly slowed down the number of missing persons. I know this. Yrsa knows this, but that does not give her the right to speak to me in such a way.

“It would do you all well,” I say, my voice measured, as I slowly scan the room, locking eyes with everyone present until they drop their gaze to the floor, “to remember that your role is toadviseyour pack Alpha, not tocommandhim. It is not your place to demand anything of me. To order me to act.” I let the silence stretch, let the weight of them settle. “Every choice I make, personal or not, is made with thewell-being and stability of this pack in mind. And if that isn’t already clear to you, then you haven’t beenfucking paying attention. I’ve done everything I can to show I’m worthy of your support, but I’m growing tired of constantly needing to prove it. You hold your positions because I value your insight and believe your guidance can help me be a better leader. But make no mistake, I am more than capable of doing this job without your input.”

Yrsa doesn’t lift her head, but the moment my focus settles back on her, she feels it. A shiver runs through her, and her chin dips even further toward her chest. “I can’t begin to understand thecrippling grief of having your child disappear, and if it were within my power to bring your daughter home, I would do it in a heartbeat. But your fear and your pain—however justified—do not give you the right to demand anything of me, Yrsa Eklund. Continue to do so, and I will show you which of us is the fool. That goes for everyone in this room. Do I make myself clear?”

Aside from Cathal and his daughter, everyone in the conference room echoes various versions of “Yes, Alpha ”, their heads still dipped in deference.

I nod, my wolf satisfied with the level of submission he’s been shown. “Everyone get out,” I snap, not bothering to contain my alpha bark. I need to think, and I can’t do that with these people breathing down my fucking neck. As if they’d all been poked in the ass with a cattle rod, everyone jumps in place and files toward the door. Everyone aside from Canaan and the McNamaras. I arch a challenging brow at the other pack Alpha. “I will find you soon to discuss where we go from here.”

The asshole still doesn’t make a move to leave.

“Like I said, Rennick, I’d figure it out quickly if I were you. I can have my men pulled from their posts within an hour if our deal goes to shit over this… girl .” Cathal spits the word out with a vitrail I don’t think Noa’s earned. Mate or not, she’s innocent in all of this. My wolf’s ears flatten, a warning growl rumbling my chest. The Alpha, while still scowling, is wise enough to take a step back toward the open door. “For your pack’s sake, I hope you make the right choice. And when you do, I expect a public apology for the embarrassment you’ve caused my daughter with this whole dog and pony show.”

Talis looks at me, her dark, fox-like eyes shimmering, on the verge of spilling tears. But I’m not conceited enough to think the threat of waterworks has anything to do with the possibility of our so-called love being in jeopardy. No, our union was never built on genuine emotional connection. Some days, I think it barely qualifies as toleration. At least on my end. The moisture in Talis’s gaze isn’t for me. It’s for thetitleshe stands to lose. Being my future Luna, that’s what she truly loves.

As a beta, that title is something rarely— if ever —donned by someone of her designation. Pack Alpha is almost always a role passed down through generations, specifically, to the next alpha in line. Gender doesn’t matter, designation does. While alphas often take betas as chosen mates, their union will never produce an alpha heir. Only an omega can do that. That’s why the title of Luna is almost always reserved for an omega. A pack Alpha choosing a beta as their mate all but guarantees that their family’s reign ends with them. A pack needs an alpha at its head. The dominance required to lead a pack isn’t something a beta or omega possesses.

I knew this when I signed the metaphorical dotted line, agreeing to Cathal’s caveat for our deal. At the time, sacrificing the future of my own bloodline felt like a fair trade if it meant I could better protect the pack’s omegas. I made peace with this months ago, or at least I thought I had. But now, like everything else since I laid eyes on her, I’m questioning it all over again.

I don’t speak another world to either of them as they turn and follow the path the council took out of the room. And hopefully out of my goddamn house.

It’s not until the door closes behind them that I let the emotions that have been warring beneath my skin to wash over me. Like being slammed by a tidal wave of confusion, doubt, and an aching need for something I can’t even name, I stumble back against the wall. Bent forward, elbows on my thighs, I let my head hang between my shoulders and just breathe.

Canaan shifts to stand beside me, his large hand patting my shoulder. After a moment, he just lets his palm rest there, showing his silent support. As wolves, we’re tactile creatures and find immense comfort in physical touch, especially if it comes from a pack member. And even more so, from a mate.

“Talk to me, brother,” he urges. “What’s going on in that head of yours? How do you not know if she’s yours or not?”

I momentarily let myself to get sucked back into the memory of that moment when Noa’s sweet-as-sin voice whispered that one little word. Mate . It’d been so soft, almost fragile sounding, and yet the havoc its wreaked is anything but.

“My wolf is adamant she is,” I admit, exhaling deeply as if that will help expel some of this hectic energy racking me. Unsurprisingly, it does fuck all. “He caught her scent and he just…lost it. Completely infatuated with her on the spot.”

“And you? How do you feel about her?”

“I just keep thinking that it doesn’t make sense.” I shove myself up, forcing my body to stop using the wall for support. Walking forward a few paces, my fingers shove through my hair, tugging at the strands. “We were basically raised together. Her mom was the pack healer before she…” I trail off, knowing I still need to find a way to address that shitshow with Noa. “Thalassa was a pillar of our pack, and she worked closely with my dad, because of that, Noa was always here. I can’t for the life of me figure out why I haven’t thought about her in all these years, but we were around each other all the time growing up.”

Memories of running around this very house while our parents worked late or summer days down by the lake surface from the depths of my subconscious. Hell, I think I may have been the one to teach her to swim, now that I think about it.

“What part of that confuses you?”

“I came into my wolf a year early at seventeen.” In the long line of Fallamhain, I’m the only one to have done that. At the time, my father boasted to everyone who would listen about how it meant I had a powerful wolf, and I’d make a good Alpha one day. “That means my wolf hadalmost four yearsbefore Noa left the pack to sense this so-calledmate bond.Yet, he never did. Don’t you think that’s odd?”

Canaan’s big shoulders shrug. “Can’t answer that one. Never experienced finding a fated mate, not that I think I’m missing out. I have Rhosyn, and I’d choose her every damn time.” Some Alphas hold out hope for the rare chance of finding their scent matched omega. Others, like Canaan, don’t sit around waiting for fate to decide. They fall, hard and fast, destined or not. Rhosyn may not be his fated mate, but that meansjack-shitto them. They chose each other, and every day, they keep choosing each other. “But from what I’ve heard? When you find your scent match, there isn’t any questioning it. You just know . Your wolves recognize each other and that’s it.” He watches me closely. “Let me ask you this, Nick, are you questioning it because your wolf didn’t pick up on a bond with Noa when you were younger? Or are you just flat-out denying it to protect your arrangement with McNamara because you think that’s what you owe the pack?”

“Both—”

The conference room door opens so hard, I’m surprised—and relieved—the drywall doesn’t crack when the door handle connects with the wall.

As if he’d summed her, Rhosyn charges into the room.

“Canaan Orion Roarke!”

Damn, my buddy’s mate looks pissed .

“Rosie?”

After slamming the door closed just as effectively as she opened it, the beta stalks toward her mate. I don’t know how she manages it, but her wild, fawn-colored curls even look pissed off. She stops before him, long, slender finger stabbing into the middle of his wide chest.

“Please tell me I didn’t mate with a man who would move me to a pack that exiles latent wolves from their ranks?” Oh shit. Her ire makes sense now, but I will admit, I’m confused why she’s directing it toward Canaan. Poor guy. “My mama’s been trying to convince me you were a dog since the day I brought you home, and I’ve always defended your ass to that unpleasant as hell woman. You better swear to me I didn’t waste my time and breath doing that, because if I find out you knew about this policy , I will personally hand you to Mama on a silver platter and she’ll eat you alive .”

There are only two instances in which you’d know that Rhosyn ss was born and raised in the swamps of Mississippi. When she’s two drinks past tipsy and when she’s madder than hell. And right now, she’s basically spitting fire.

There’s genuine fear in my second’s gaze when he looks at me over his furious mate’s shoulder. “Rosie, honey, I have no idea what you’re saying right now.”

Like an owl—or the goddamn Exorcist —Rhosyn turns her head, setting her sights on me. “ You . Are you exiling pack members who can’t shift?” There’s marginally less heat in her tone as she addresses me, a wise choice since she’s speaking to her pack Alpha, but the fury is still clear as day on her pale face. “I swear to the Goddess herself, Nick, if what Noa said is true I’m going to?—”

“What did she tell you?” I demand, wondering if Rhosyn got more information than I did about Noa’s version of the past.

Rhosyn shifts so she can look at both her mate and me. Her arms tighten angrily across her chest, and she’s so full of simmering anger on behalf of the little stranger, her foot taps as she talks. “Noa told Zora and me about how she was cast out of this pack when she was still basically a child because your father refused to allow a latent wolf to tarnish his pack’s fearsome reputation or some bullshit like that. Tell me she’s wrong.”

“Fuck.” I scrub a hand down my face, my trimmed facial hair scratching against my palm as I do. “She truly believes that story, huh?”

“And what story should she be believing?” Canaan asks. “What’s the truth? That she was banished or the one we’ve always been told about her mother?”

Rhosyn nods. “I want to know how a sweetheart like her ends up believing she’s been banished from this pack.”

I drop my hand from my face and shove it into the front pocket of my wool trousers to stop myself from rubbing the ache in my chest. The ache that deepens every time I think about what was done to that poor girl. The girl my wolf still insists is ours.

“Noa wasn’t exiled from this pack for being a latent shifter,” I start, hating that for the past seven years, she’s been living a lie. “Thalassa, for reasons no one knows, broke one of the most sacred laws as a charmer and used her gift to bind her daughter’s wolf.” Despite the fact this story has been shared amongst the pack like its own personal ghost story, the way Canaan’s tanned face drains of all color it’s like he’s hearing it for the first time. I guess it’s different when you can actually put a face to the name. However, the dramatics of Rhosyn’s gasp has me wondering if this really is her first time learning this lore. She’s still relatively new to the pack having only been here a handful of years. “She escaped with Noa in the middle of the night before my father could intervene and punish the vile bitch. Dad told me he sent enforcers out to find them, but Thalassa was too clever and powerful to be easily tracked. They were just…gone.