She smacked him playfully on the arm. “What about compulsion? You mentioned that the other day.” She popped the toothbrush back in her mouth.
“Most packs have a female that can compel even the most strong-willed humans. We are still waiting on that person.”
“I wish it had been me,” she mumbled around her toothbrush. “Hearing is just stupid.” He smiled and kissed her on her forehead.
“I’m going to the study.”
She spit out her toothpaste and hastily threw the toothbrush on the counter. “Not without me!”
Cate looked around the room. Lukyan, Alek, and Mylo flanked the perimeter. She didn’t need wolf perception to know that they were on edge. “Tell me,” Dimitris demanded.
Lukyan looked to Alek and Mylo. They nodded for him to proceed. “It’s Cate. Other packs know about her shift. There have been threats that another pack is coming to see her.” Cate looked to her mate. His hands had balled into tight fists.
“How did they find out? Who told them?” His voice held menace. She felt sorry for the poor wolf that had blabbed about her silent transition. “Tell me now so I can rip the imbecile limb from limb.”
Alek stepped forward. “I know you are angry, D. I would be too. But it will probably amount to nothing. The alpha is probably just curious. Everyone has waited a very long time for the Wolf Queen. He will probably just want to see her.”
Alek’s words did nothing to placate the alpha. “I said, who told them?”
His brother sighed. “It was the younger Ivan. He boasted about it on a shifter forum. He didn’t realize what kind of trouble he was creating. As soon as it dawned on him, he immediately told Mylo.” Mylo nodded, confirming Alek’s story.
“Bring Ivan to me.” The demand was more growl than words. Mylo nodded again, turning to go. Cate jumped from her seat, cutting off his path to the door.
“Wait. Before you bring the kid in here, I want to know what this means? Why is it a big deal for people to know about me?”
The men looked from one to the other. It was clear that no one wanted to tell her what was going on. Finally, Dimitris stepped toward her. “They will want to breed with you.”
His words stole the breath from her lungs. “But I’m mated to you. I thought only you could —”
“Only I can mate you, but any wolf could breed you. When you go into heat you will want me above all, but your need will be so strong that you will take another male if necessary. The wolf’s need to reproduce is too strong to resist. Others know this and would want to take advantage of it. If another alpha captured you and held you during your heat, then he would get you with child. It would be his body that fathered the first female wolf, not mine. His name would go down in shifter history where mine should be written.” Dimitris gripped her shoulders, willing her to understand the acute nature of the situation. “It would be a source of pride for him and his pack.”
“Kidnapping and raping would be a source of pride for the pack? I’m sorry, Dimitris, I just can’t believe that could be true. I know I haven’t met everyone in this pack, but I don’t believe anyone here would stoop so low. If the situation were reversed, would you steal another man’s mate to breed?”
“You’re right. I would never sacrifice my morals for such low behavior. There are plenty of other alphas and packs that would also find that behavior abhorrent, but not all. Shifters are like humans, Cate. Some of them are assholes.”
The air was perfumed with the scent of Dimitris’ fear. He was truly fearful of losing her. One week ago she had been a normal single mom teaching kids how to cook. Now she was the supposed Wolf Queen being hunted by evil alphas. If it didn’t feel so dire she would laugh at the absurdity of it all.
“So what do we do now?”
“Wedo everything in our power to keep you safe.Youcall Mikaela and Yerik and have them bring Peter home. I want you both where I can see you.”
Cate’s nostrils flared. “I think what you meant to say was thatwewill figure out a plan to keep me safe. And thenwewill call Mikaela and Yerik about Peter. Becauseweare a team.” She gave him an assessing look. “That’s what you meant, wasn’t it?”
Dimitris scrubbed his hand across his face. “Sit down, mate. Let’s make a plan.”
It took almost two hours, but the five of them had finally come up with a plan. Dimitris had wanted to take Cate and Peter and go into hiding. His instinct to keep her safe outweighed his natural alpha desire to stay and fight for what was rightfully his. Cate’s flat refusal to leave was the only thing that kept him from throwing her over his shoulder and running with her as far as his legs would take him.
Ivan had been invited to the house and had nervously told about his on-line antics. If Cate hadn’t been so frustrated by his impetuous bragging she would have felt sorry for him. Dimitris had stood over the young man and bellowed about his stupidity for a solid thirty minutes. After a while, Cate could take no more. “That’s enough, Dimitris. Let him tell his story.” Her soft words hit their mark. Her mate was not pleased to end his tirade, but he did as she asked. “Go ahead, Ivan. Tell us what has been written since you first posted.”
Ivan looked nervously from Dimitris to Cate. “After I posted that the Goddess gave the Queen to our pack, there were several comments. Most dismissed my post saying that the Wolf Queen is just a legend, but there was one guy that wanted to know more. He said his alpha would ask for proof. When I said I didn’t have proof — I mean, it’s not like I would have taken a video of your shift or anything — he said that they would just come see for themselves.” He stopped speaking, but his eyes continued to dart nervously from Cate to Dimitris.
Dimitris growled. She put her hand up, silencing him once more. “Did they say when we should expect them?”
“No, not in that thread, at least. Maybe he posted something else on the forum, in a different thread, but not in mine. I could look for something.”
“Yes. Why don’t you do that? Go back to your computer and scour the entire forum. I want to know anything and everything that is posted about the Wolf Queen. If you find out anything, you come right to me. Understood?” He nodded his head and she smiled. Leaning across the space, she put her hand on Ivan’s. A growl erupted from Dimitris’ throat, causing the young man to jerk his hand away from hers.
Undaunted, she straightened and pulled her hand back to her own lap. “I think that what my mate meant to say was thank you for telling us. I’ve found that words are sometimes hard for him.” She sent a wink to Dimitris. “Now why don’t you go ahead and leave? It’s getting late, and I don’t want to take up all of your Saturday night.”
