Stray Shifter

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

THE INTERCOM CRACKLED above our heads. “Alpha! Trouble at the front gate!”

I fumbled with my carry-on while twisting to peer up at the speaker, but Luke didn’t pause. “Ruth will hear it,” he promised, scooping the bag off my shoulder without breaking stride. “Vacation. Drake Bay, remember?”

As if his words had moved my foot off the brake pedal, I followed him down the path toward the parking lot. It wasn’t just the rainforest of Costa Rica that drew us, either, although the photos I’d perused online were stunning. It was the sure knowledge that this pack—Ruth’s pack—needed to accept their true alpha before the Naming Ceremony next month.

Because the Naming Ceremony was the key to lowering our nerve-wracking vigilance. Once we proved that Ruth was our accepted alpha, even the most powerful packs would hesitate to attack.

And, okay, it didn’t hurt that we were so close to turning over the reins that I could smell the salt surf and see the monkeys. There’d be smoothies full of passionfruit and pineapple. Parrots in palm trees. Cuddling up to my mate on a breezy balcony while watching the sun set over the sea.

Best of all, our cell phones wouldn’t work there. If the pack needed someone, they’d have to turn to Ruth. By the time we returned, Luke would be the leader’s brother rather than a third-wheel alpha. No more confusion within the clan. No more danger from the outside world if pack mates’ eyes turned to the wrong leader when push came to shove.

The ordinary sounds of pack life, however, had transformed while I was daydreaming. A sharp bark rose above the rooftops. The wheels of my suitcase caught on a stray pebble and my feet snagged against an invisible mental barrier.

Could Ruth really manage without us? After all, she was eight months pregnant....

“Alright?” Luke asked. His hand was strong against my arm, steadying my balance. We’d passed the gaggle of pack vehicles by this point, heading toward the car we’d purchased for his and my use only. The vehicle had taken us on many adventures already and the pack had been fine each and every time we left them. In fact, bonds between werewolves had vibrated stronger after each absence.

Yes, taking a more extended vacation was the right thing to do. I smiled at Luke as he stepped around me to open the car door. And, okay, I did glance backwards once as I slid into the passenger seat. I wasn’t looking for pack mates, though. I was peering up into the bluest eyes imaginable, a swirl of cinnamon curling around my left shoulder.

The fact I caught a flash of orange out of the corner of one eye was irrelevant. It was hard not to see the gaudily clad teenager sprinting toward us, but I really did try.

Luke’s brow furrowed. “Please tell me you didn’t just meet her eyes.”

I didn’t ask him how he’d known the girl—Carly, turned Blade, turned twenty other names, now Ester—was present. The pack bond had grown sturdier during the time I’d spent with Clan Acosta. Now both Ruth and Luke knew the location and status of every relative without bothering to look.

As Luke’s mate, I caught snippets of secondhand information. Like the fact that Luke’s niece was frantic. Like the fact she was so light-headed from sprinting that she was about to pass out.

Still, she gasped out my name. “Honor.” Two more pounding footsteps, then another verbal exhalation. “Luke. I’m so glad I caught you guys.”

I didn’t even glance at her this time. Instead, I peered up at Luke, watching the war play out across his features. He wanted to stay and see what kind of trouble had appeared on the other side of the compound...and he wanted to flee for the long-term good of the pack.

This was his choice. I couldn’t make it for him. So I clutched the pelt that would shift me to wolf form and I forced myself to wait.

“Luke!” It was his niece’s shriek that decided him. The shriek...plus the pack bond tugging at his gut so hard it overloaded our mate connection and made me queasy.

His niece was level-ten upset. And while Luke had turned over the pack-leader reins to his sister quite willingly, he couldn’t ignore the kid’s desperation. No wonder he spun around even as I fought to pull my sword while leaping out of the passenger seat.

“Ester. What happened?” Luke demanded.

His hands were on her arms before I’d disentangled my weapon from the seat belt. He twisted her this way and that while his eyes scanned visible skin for signs of damage. I half expected him to flip her upside down to peer at her feet.

The girl’s brows slammed down as she shrugged out of his grip. “I’m going by Bruiser now. It’s stronger. Tougher. I thought you’d remember.”

She clearly wasn’t injured. Now that I paid more attention to the pack bond—a tiny thread of light connecting Luke and his niece, barely visible if I squinted and c****d my head sideways—I could feel her bodily wholeness. Her shriek had originated in fury, not pain.

And Bruiser was still irate when she grabbed Luke’s hand and began towing him back in the direction she’d come from. “Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear the intercom?” she demanded. Then, without waiting for an answer: “There’s trouble at the front gate.”

***

AS IF REACTING TO BRUISER’S reminder, the intercom once again flared to life. This time, Ruth was the one speaking, her voice terse with alpha authority.

“Uninvited visitors at the gatehouse. All on-duty wolves report to battle stations. Off-duty wolves, meet me lupine at the front gate.”

Breath caught in my throat. This wasn’t mere trouble. This was an invasion.

A click marked the end of the pack-wide message. A new click suggested that Ruth’s subsequent statement was broadcast less widely than the first. “Luke, get Honor out of here. The pack can’t handle woelfin distractions.”

My mate turned to face the security camera, one of dozens the pack had installed when we returned to Luke’s childhood home six months earlier. “I might be a distraction but Honor isn’t,” he bit out before getting down to business. “How many invaders?”

“None of your business,” his sister countered. “If you don’t leave now, you’ll miss your flight.”

Bruiser’s eyes, which had been raised and bright when she back-talked Luke earlier, fell to the pavement. The fact Luke and his sister were hashing this out aloud rather than silently attested to the cracks in their united public front.

Because while both agreed that Ruth was the pack’s alpha, Luke’s over-protective wolf often rebelled against her dictates...like it did now. “Are you planning on staying inside the fence where you’re safe?” Luke demanded.

The fence, like the security cameras, was new since we’d moved here. Twenty feet tall and lined with razor wire, the enclosure made the pack’s home base look like a sprawling prison rather than the welcoming hamlet it had resembled previously. On the other hand, we all slept better at night with more than the forest shielding us from enemy attack.

Ruth wasn’t one to huddle behind protection however. “An alpha doesn’t send her pack into battle alone.”

As the intercom crackled into silence, howls rose from outside the fence line. Something in my stomach twisted. The pack was in danger and further debate would delay the clan’s defenses.

I met Luke’s eyes then jerked my chin toward the back gate.

Unlike the spot where invaders were attacking, this secondary entrance only opened from the inside. We’d planned to drive our car out, turn left at the fork, then head to the airport.

If we turned right at the fork, though, we’d circle back around and end up at the front gate. Behind the invaders. It was a way to obey Ruth while still helping the pack if the tide of battle turned against them.

Unlike Luke’s bond to his sister, the connection between the two of us glowed with strength and unity. There was no squinting required for me to see the tether, and I also didn’t have to put my thoughts into words to get the point across. Just tagged his attention and opened myself up.

Luke nodded. “Okay,” he told his sister, ignoring the disbelief in the eyes of his niece. “We’re going. Be careful, alpha. Bruiser, do whatever Ruth says.”