Chapter Three

Marrok was right behind Tala as she burst into a wider clearing beside the river to find a child of not more than seven crying, her dark hair hanging in her face. Despite confronting the cougar and stopping to argue about it, they were the first to get to her.

Where the fuck was the security on patrol in this area of his territory?

Tala slowed as she approached, obviously not wanting to scare the child. Deliberately Marrok hung back. Kids tended to be wary of him because of his size. That, and most alpha males weren’t exactly approachable.

“Are you hurt?” Tala asked softly.

The child, one of his pack, stared back, tears slowing, and shook her head.

“Can I make sure?”

When the girl said nothing, Tala moved closer, crouching down, and gently checked her over. “Did he touch you?”

“No,” came the whispered response.

Tala tossed Marrok a glance he easily interpreted as “thank the gods.” “Did he scare you?” she asked next.

That caused the tears to well back up in the girl’s eyes.

“Oh sweetie,” Tala gathered her close. “You’re safe.”

“Mira!” A frantic woman—Seela, who was a hunter for the pack—sprinted into the clearing and went straight for her daughter only to yank her from Tala’s grasp, tossing a glare at his mate in a way that clearly said she wanted to singe the hairs off her head.

“What happened?” Seela asked her daughter. “Did this woman hurt you?”

Tala stepped back, her face going blank, but he didn’t miss the way she paled.

“What the fuck did you just say?” Marrok snarled, the need to protect his mate overriding every other instinct and thought.

“Marrok,” Tala muttered. A warning.

Seela turned her glare on him. “She’s a Canis,” she hissed.

“I’m your alpha,” Tala snapped.

“You’ll never—”

Marrok yanked Seela up by the arms, getting right in her face. “Because I respect you and your mate, I’ll say this just once. Finish that sentence and you’re out of the pack.”

“Dammit, Marrok,” Tala snapped. “Let her go.”

With a growled warning at a now trembling Seela, he forced himself to do just that. Mira tugged on her mother’s arm. After a moment of hesitation, she turned her head to the child.

“She saved me,” Mira whispered. “From the mountain lion.”

Seela’s frown morphed and she flicked a glance brimming with confusion in Tala’s direction, then knelt down to her daughter. “There was a cougar? On this land?”

Before Mira could do more than nod, more wolf shifters burst into the clearing, and the space turned into a circus for a hot minute.

“I don’t give a shit if their union is blessed by the gods or not. Another shifter wouldn’t have dared before the Canis pack came here,” someone muttered, but soft enough that he couldn’t pinpoint who. By the stiffening of her shoulders, Tala heard, too.

“Aaron,” Marrok snapped at one of the guards posted nearest this spot. “Take three men and go after the cougar to make sure he’s out of our territory.”

“Sir.” Aaron ran off to execute the order.

Tala stepped slightly ahead of Marrok, a subtle show of dominance. “Until we know if this is an isolated incident, we will step up security protocols. Go back to your homes until we communicate things are in place.”

That mountain lion might be only the beginning. What if other shifters who wanted their territory viewed the pack—still divided, both physically and because of dissent over their mating—as weak?

“What about tonight?” someone called out.

Full moon tonight. Fuck. “The moon must be honored,” Marrok assured them.

Only to receive a flat-lipped glare from Tala. Through their connection, all he got was anger. What had he done now?

With a barely concealed roll of her eyes, she stalked away.

Irritation scraping over his skin, setting the hairs on end, Marrok followed. “What did I say?” he asked as he drew abreast of her. “You think we should cancel the celebration?”

She flicked him a glance. “It’s not what you said. It’s that you didn’t even glance at me for a confirmation first.”

Okay. Fair point. He was having trouble correcting years of habit and being the only one in charge. She’d already pointed this out several times. Still, that hadn’t exactly been a big thing to make a decision over.

“And do not threaten your people over me,” Tala snarled next.

That’s how she’d seen that? “I was protecting my—”

“I can fucking speak for myself. Thanks.”

Marrok blew out a sharp breath. “I’m not going to apologize for instinct. You’re my mate, alpha or not. I can’t not defend you.”

“You won’t even try, you mean.”

That was not what he meant. “Tala—”

She snapped up a hand. “We’ll discuss this later.” They’d reached the main building that housed the room where they’d be meeting with the fighters.

A low chuff of frustration came from his wolf. Marrok echoed the sentiment. He couldn’t change who he essentially was, and neither of them had figured her out yet. “For someone who doesn’t like being overridden, you sure like to give orders.”

On that note, he held the glass door open for her, giving a sarcastic wave for her to precede him into the slick black granite foyer, which no doubt he’d pay for later.

This wasn’t exactly easy for him, either.

The meeting with their fighters only continued the shitshow, a reflection of the frustration both alphas and both packs were feeling. All were worried that this one cougar represented a greater threat. A sign that other supernaturals considered the combined pack to be weaker. An early warning shot of things to come.

Finally, hours into it, Marrok leaned over to Tala. “I feel we should all go get ready for the full moon. Do you agree?”

She stiffened in her seat. “Yes.”

Together they stood. “You know what to do for tonight,” Marrok said. They’d already agreed on increased patrols on a rotating basis. “We’ll resume the unfinished topics tomorrow.”

Not looking at him, Tala muttered, “Astra should be here by now. I promised her I’d get ready with her and take her to the celebration.”

That’s right. Her sister, who had remained on Canis land any time Tala was here, acting as alpha in her stead, had come to visit for his and Tala’s first full moon since their mating night.

“Fine,” he said.

Tala nodded, still not looking at him, then walked away.

Marrok held his own annoyance behind a dam he’d built up over years, trained from childhood as the obvious next in line for alpha. An emotional alpha was a weak alpha. But damned if his mate didn’t have his emotions dangling on a rope.

There had to be some way through for two alphas leading a combined pack of enemies.