Page 10 of The Alpha Dire Wolf (Bloodlines & Bloodbonds #1)

Lincoln

B lue and gold eyes tracked her through the bushes, unblinking with determined focus, watching her every move.

I didn’t worry about being seen. It was extremely unlikely a human would detect me. It would take magic to do so. To that point, she had shown no signs of possessing the magic the elders feared.

The reverse wasn’t true. I could see every breath she took, every sway of her hips, every tiny waft of sweet delicious scent she left in the forest air.

Her very presence shook my wolf to its core, forcing me to work overtime to prevent the instinctual guttural growl from coming out and revealing me.

My claws dug deep as I watched her body move, every muscle fiber twitching, aching to lunge forward and take .

I must have this woman. I will have her. The elders be damned.

That presented a problem. As alpha, in theory, I could do whatever I wanted, and the pack would follow.

Reality was always different. The elders commanded great respect, and my position as alpha was still relatively new.

Combined with the rising tensions from the forest itself, and things were rocky, to say the least.

If I told them I was going to claim her, I could be looking at full blown civil war. She wasn’t just a witch. She was the witch. The one who elders claimed would spell doom for us.

She found my wolf print. I watched her eyes widen and look around with fear, recognizing the warning sign I had purposefully left. It went completely against my inner desires. I hated trying to push her away, telling her to stay out of the forest. So why had I?

Perhaps it was part of my desire to protect her—not only from the darkness growing at the heart of the forest but perhaps from my pack as well. From me, and the threat that I represented.

Teeth bared as my lips pulled away, snarling against the internal struggle and the futility of it all.

A wave of her fear was carried to me on the cool breeze, replacing the lavender and cinnamon sweetness that was so sticky and cloying in my nostrils the entire time I stood across from her. A potent mixture designed to draw me in and take her. Right then, right there.

Even now, slightly removed, I wanted to rub her smell all over me. I wanted more of it. More of her. All of her. Corded muscle strained against steel willpower as instinct fought rationale. Neither a winner. Neither a loser.

Resisting the urge to go to her was beyond frustrating. Her call was silent but intoxicating.

Almost like a spell.

A cold wave zipped through my veins, chilling them. I stood perfectly still.

Could that be what happened? Is everything she’s doing an act while her magic works on me so subtly that I cannot notice it?

Suddenly wary, I considered this new angle. It would explain the bone-deep desire I’d had since she’d been attacked by the bear and we had collided, coming into physical contact. Perhaps that was when the spell truly was cast on me, awakening my wolf to a newfound need to have her.

So what was it? Was acting na?ve, pretending she didn’t know me or what I was, an attempt to lure me in?

To what end? That was the part of the elder’s warning that I could never make sense of.

As far as I could tell, there had never been conflict between our pack and her bloodline. So why would she be out to destroy us?

Too many questions. That’s all there was surrounding her. Questions upon questions and precisely zero answers. All that was ever said was that she would try to destroy my pack. It was the entire reason we had pulled back contact with humans as a whole, to avoid detection and problem.

Or so the elders said.

It wasn’t the first time I’d wondered if perhaps not everything had been shared with me upon my ascension as alpha.

She was on the move, and I followed, watching the way her hips moved with each step of her long legs that I wanted to have wrapped around my thighs now .

The instant she was free of the forest and safe in her grandmother’s house, I bolted deep into the woods, turning on the jets and running as fast as I could. The trees were a blur as I ran, burning off my excess energy and seeking to calm my body, even as it yearned to turn back.

Minutes stretched into an hour and then two, yet still I ran. The den was nowhere near that far away, but I took a long, circuitous route, skirting the edges of the Dyne River and the heart of the forest beyond.

It was evening by the time I returned to the den. Immediately, I was in a better mood. This was home. My home and that of my people. Under the mighty trees was where we lived, and being among the pack was where I belonged. I took comfort in their presence, in knowing that my people were safe.

For now .

That worry was what took me to Elder Germander’s cabin, on the edge of the den. A sometimes-calmer voice among the worry-prone elders, I felt comfortable seeking advice from him. He wouldn’t immediately tell me I was doing everything against “tradition.”

Elder Germander was sitting out back of his home, staring out across a little fire to the edge of the den, where the trees grew thicker and close together, blocking us from those who might seek to find our home.

His gnarled right hand was clasped around a piece of thick, tough jerky that he slowly worked at every now and then, chewing it idly after letting it soak in his gums first.

Shifting into my human form at the edge of the fire’s light, I inclined my head respectfully. “I seek council.”

At first, there was no response. Had he not heard me? I wasn’t aware of any hearing impediment with him, but one never knew when the senses would start failing. I opened my mouth to repeat myself, when Elder Germander turned my way.

“You come to me for guidance?” He chuckled, the sound raspy but not weak. “That is a first indeed.”

Gritting my teeth at the sarcasm, I walked into the circle around the fire. Germander might be less hysterical than some, but he could also be frustratingly blunt as well. “I am the alpha,” I told him. “I seek council from those I feel can give sound advice.”

“Indeed, indeed,” Elias Germander said, tapping his knee. “So do you seek to flatter me then, by coming to me?”

“No. I seek council. That is all. I don’t play politics.”

“Which is why you struggle to keep the pack united,” Germander pointed out in his usual manner.

“That is not what I came to you for,” I said, hoping I wasn’t wasting my time. The other elders would likely lose their collective minds if I went to any of them, but dealing with Germander was likely to prove just as frustrating in another way.

“No?”

“No,” I reiterated. “I came seeking more information on the history of our pack and the ban the elders have insisted on. The one you convinced my father to enact, regarding unnecessary interaction with humans and have so far refused to support me removing. A straight answer has never been provided to me, and it is past time.”

“Is it now?” Germander asked coyly, staring at me. His face was lined with wrinkles and age spots, but his eyes were as dark and sharp as ever. The body faded, but his mind worked just fine.

“Yes. I know it wasn’t always this way. Not until recently.”

The pack elder’s bushy gray eyebrows went up. “Recently? Since when does a young pup like you consider sixty years ago ‘recent’?”

“When it comes to the age of our pack, it is recent,” I countered, staring him down.

“Indeed.” He gnawed on his jerky some more.

“I can see no good reason why friendships should be forbidden. We are here to protect them. Are we not?”

Germander snorted, aiming to brush my comment aside.

But then he paused and sniffed the air, lightly at first before taking a deep breath.

His eyes refocused on me, wider now than before.

“Well, if friendship was the only thing, it wouldn’t be an issue, young one.

But when friendships become more, and the judgment begins to cloud, mistakes are made—mistakes that can endanger the entire pack. ”

He smelled her.

“You are spending time with the witch. Be careful, Lincoln. She is not what she seems.”

“I have encountered her, nothing more.”

Germander laughed acidly. “I can smell your wolf’s interest. Do not bullshit me, pup.”

My growl tore through the fire pit. “I am alpha. You will show respect.”

Leaning back in his chair, Germander appraised me for long seconds. Then he nodded.

“I warned her off,” I said, explaining the situation to him once he acknowledged he had been out of line, elder or not. “She was in the forest, looking around. I told her not to come back. That is all .”

“You speak the truth. I believe you have done what you say. Though I will admit that I did not expect it. This is good, Lincoln. You must keep your distance from her.”

“Why?” I demanded, not appreciating the patronizing tone or attempt to control me by telling me what I “must” do. “There is no logic. She has done nothing to us. We have done nothing to her.”

“There is much logic,” Germander countered sharply, sitting up straight. “Her bloodline will doom us. They will require sacrifice of us, to achieve their own goals. A sacrifice in blood! Will you force your own people to pay that price, all because you find her attractive?”

I bit down hard at the insinuation I would sell my pack out for a chance to bed the woman.

“See through it. It’s nothing but a ruse, a spell she’s cast on you, to bait you.”

“I smell no magic about her. Do you smell it about me?” I challenged.

“I can smell nothing over her scent,” Germander shot back, a point I could not argue. I had basked in her scent.

“Witches’ magic is foul,” I said. “I have smelled the magic of the Gonagall sisters on the occasions they come down from their perch atop the hill. That magic is unmistakable.”

“Perhaps her scent is so strong to cover it up.”

I clenched my jaw to stop myself from an instant retort. It was a valid point, and one I would make to anyone who came to me if I were on the other side.

“Perhaps. But I don’t sense any malevolence from her. No evil.”

“Of course you can’t,” Germander said, shaking his head.

“But make no mistake. You know who she works for and the purpose behind it all. Which you know I cannot discuss further in a setting like this. You aren’t ignorant, Lincoln.

When you became alpha after your father, you learned the truth from Elder Jackson. ”

“I know what he told me, yes,” I said, reminded of the session with Rome’s grandfather. “But what I don’t understand is that it didn’t used to be this way, with us and humans and the bloodline. What changed?”

“What changed? What changed?” Elder Germander’s eyes opened so wide I could see the whites.

“What changed is that a century and a half ago our pack was nearly wiped out because of it all. Because of it , and her bloodline. It took nine decades for us to learn and to withdraw from the humans. For the past sixty years, we have finally had sanity. You know the history. You can’t dispute it.

Alpha or not, Lincoln, if you continue to protest this, you will have trouble. ”

He growled.

My answering growl was louder, ripping through his like it wasn’t even there as I stood, towering over the elder.

“I have heard the stories. But Elder Germander,” I said, stressing his title with dripping scorn, “something about this is wrong. And I intend to prove it.”

Germander glared up at me, but credit to the old man, he didn’t back down or step away. He sat in his chair and waited for me to make the next move.

“I’m on night patrol tonight,” I said at last. “I need to get some rest.”

The elder understood that our meeting was at an end and conceded the point with a sharp, short nod. “Yes. In these troubling times, we must all do our part to be alert and ready for what is coming.”