The taste of victory was on Rinc's tongue. He savored it with pride as he howled out at his moon. The wolf within him grinned, happy at the defeat of their enemy. The pack celebrated with a howl in unison around him as he smeared the trader's blood over his own skin. Wearing the blood of your enemy was an honor and a message to those that dare to think about challenging you the same.
To his right, he was proud to see his beta standing over a killed enemy. Daron was a fierce and skilled fighter. He nodded at his Beta, honored to fight beside his best friend. On his left, his father stood over his own kill, basking in the blood of the defeated. Rinc looked over him, admiring how strong and feared his father still was at his older age. Kane was still magnificent, and most members of the pack, including Rinc, would still lay their life down for the former Alpha.
But it wasn't the pack that had pushed Rinc to win that fight. It wasn't an ego or his desire to stay Alpha. It wasn't his father or the devoted Beta at his side that motivated him to finish that fight on top. Rinc hurried his eyes around the barn, looking for her. When he saw Lacee across the room unharmed, his heart relaxed.
It was her. She was his reason.
Death had never scared Rinc. To die in battle was a worthy end to a life that he had lived bravely and with honor. So, he never feared dying. But tonight was different than any other fight he'd ever fought. He knew from the moment that he saved Lacee that if he didn't kill Walt, the male would murder her the first chance he got.
If he died, Lacee would die, and he would never allow that.
The pack began to rush out of the barn. Fights were exciting and a rush for the wolf within them all. They were all heading outside to turn and run beneath the June moon. His Beta took off with the pack, but Rinc stayed behind. He headed across the barn to speak to Lacee.
"Rinc." His father's stern voice stopped him. "Where did this female come from? Why is she unconnected?"
"She must've been abandoned and lost from the packs as a child." Rinc told him.
"That's unheard of." Kane's brows went up with doubt.
"I don't know, Dad." He shrugged. "I'll get it figured out."
"You know she will have to complete the full wolf fast, or she'll be hunted and killed."
"I won't allow that." Rinc's eyes began to glow as he got angry at his father's words. "I'll kill anyone that even thinks about harming her."
"Son, calm down. You've had enough fight for the night." His father sighed.
"No one touches her. You hear me, no one." Rinc warned.
"Why are you acting like this?" Kane questioned. "Why her?"
"Because she's mine, she's my bonded mate." He admitted.
"What?" His father looked shocked. "I don't feel the bond between you."
"It's there, I feel it," Rinc said. "She's not complete wolf yet, so she can't feel it and the bond is complete until her wolf is. I know it, Dad. Trust me, I feel it."
His father looked concerned for his son instead of happy, but he shared his father's apprehension. Alphas of packs had a lot of responsibilities and a lot of enemies, and there were lots of wars among the packs at the moment. Lacee would be a target.
"You better get her wolf fully awakened by the next Moon Festival." Kane sighed. "Or she won't stand a chance, and neither will you."
Rinc knew that his father didn't say it as a warning, but as advice. His father was right, and as Kane left the barn, Rinc knew that his father was surely replaying his own mate's death in his head. Rinc's mother had died during giving birth to him, but she wasn't his father's bonded mate. His parents were an arranged married set up to unite two packs.
His father's bonded mate was named Adira and they had met when Rinc was four years old. Adira wasn't from a strong pack, and she wasn't of a fierce bloodline like them, but she was beautiful and kind. She was the only mother he'd ever known.
Two years ago, Adira was kidnapped and murdered by a rival pack. After his father got revenge and defeated her killers, the Alpha stepped down from his position to mourn the love of his life. Rinc became Alpha and had been doing everything in his power to prevent another tragedy like Adira's.
"You are bleeding." Lacee was only inches away from him. Being so close to her was making his heart beat faster.
"It's not my blood." He reassured her.
"But look." She pointed to a wound on his hip. Between the adrenaline and thrill, he hadn't even felt the pain of the cut down his hip. "You are hurt."
"I'll survive." He smiled.
"Let me help you." Lacee's fingers ran over his hip, and he felt his body tingle with excitement from her touch.
Werewolves healed fast. It wasn't instant, but the wound would heal within an hour or two, not days or weeks like a human. Only severe injuries took longer for wolves like him to heal. He didn't tell her this, he liked the look of worry on her face for him, and the feel of her hand on his skin.
"Are you afraid?" He asked her.
"Of you?" Her green eyes peeked up at him. Fuck. She was too beautiful. The moon and stars above were no longer as magnificent a sight now that he had seen such beauty as hers to compare. Her lips opened to speak again. "I'm not afraid of you."
Rinc sighed and then looked her away from her pretty face.
"You're in danger," he said.
"From you?"
"You will never be in danger from me." He meant each word. "But this world of ours is dangerous. Being a wolf is dangerous. Being connected to an Alpha is dangerous."
"Connected?" She asked as he realized that he was throwing too much information at her in one night.
"Never mind that." He looked back at her and motioned his head for her to follow him. "Come on, we need to get you home."
Neither of them spoke as they walked side by side out of the barn, over the hill, and into the parking lot where the cars were parked.
"Get in." He directed her to his truck.
"I have my own car. I'm okay to drive." The female pointed at her small vehicle that was parked a few spots away.
"Then you will follow me back to my pack farm. We'll go get your things from your place in the morning."
"What?" She looked at him like he was crazy.
"You need to move in with me and some of my pack on my pack farm. You're going to have to train to be full wolf." He told her. "We only have a few months before the next Moon Festival, and if you don't turn fully by then, many wolf packs will come for you.
"I don't know what that even means. I never said I want to be part of any of this."
"I'll explain more later, but you're not safe on your own right now. That's why you need to move in with me for now."
"Move in with you? I can't do that! Are you insane? I have my own life, my own job. I have a sis…" Lacee stopped speaking mid-sentence and suddenly looked even more worried than she'd been. "I have to go."
"Lacee, I told you, you can't go out on your own. I forbid it."
"Forbid it?" The female pushed him away. "Try to stop me."
If Lacee had grown up in the wolf world as she should've, she would have no better than to touch an Alpha like that. She would have known that if the Alpha forbids something, you dare not go against his command. Rinc would never allow such actions or words from another wolf, but he knew that Lacee was clueless about the ways of the packs. Plus, the lingering bond inside him may have been low, but it was still there, making him weak to her.
"Lacee, wait!" he called out to her, but he didn't grab her or stop her from getting in her car and leaving. There wasn't a point in forcing her to obey him. She wouldn't understand yet. It would only make things worse.
Instead, he jumped into his truck and followed her home. If she wouldn't go with him to stay safe, he'd go to her to keep her safe, because he was sure that his fight to keep her unharmed was far from over, and he'd do anything for the mate that was now his reason to live.