Perfect Mate (A Werewolf BBW Shifter Romance #2)(6)

He had been hungry, and followed the scent of deer to where the severed haunch was laying against a boulder. The scent of other shifters around it should have been a warning sign, but he thought nothing of it. His pack trampled through these areas regularly, after all. But as soon as he had taken a bite of the meat, he'd scented another shifter.

He could have run. He could have lied, said that another animal had eaten the deer. It infuriated him to think that he had lost his eyes and lost his pack for a bite of meat that didn't even fill his stomach. But he'd stayed, and Lukas had challenged him, and he stood in a clearing at night with the pack surrounding him and Jordan at his back, whispering encouraging words, ready to kill or be killed.

Moonlight lit the scene, and nothing else.

The alpha male had been older, almost entirely wolf, and Damien was overconfident. As Lukas snarled, his grey fur rising on the scruff of his collar, he paced back and forth. Around them wolves growled and yipped, shouting encouragements to the alpha. Nobody would support a young contender against the leader of the pack. Nobody except Jordan, that is.

"He favors the kick," Jordan said softly. "It's how he kills most of his prey. I've seen it."

"I'll keep that in mind," Damien growled. "Wish me luck."

"I'll always love you," Jordan said.

The words gave Damien pause. He'd known of Jordan's affection for him since they'd been pups, but for his best friend to state it so plainly meant that he doubted the outcome of the fight. Still, he was young and agile. Lukas was old; he'd been thinking of stepping down as leader for a couple of years already. It was only his fierce stubbornness that kept him at the front of the pack. He wanted to lose his position by challenge, not by surrender. Like many alphas, he wanted to die while he was still able to shift to human form.

Lukas growled, and Damien turned to face him. The old wolf was large, and strong, and the scars running down the side of his haunches testified to the fights he had already fought, and won. Damien made up his mind that this would not be one of them.

Circling each other, Lukas and Damien sized up their competition. In this regard, Damien had a distinct advantage. He was young enough that the leader hadn't taken any notice of him, and had no idea what kind of fighter he was. Lukas was terrifyingly strong, but also slower, more careful in his motions. The slow circling put Damien on edge. Why wouldn't he attack? His nerves grew more and more tense, his muscles twitching from anticipated combat. Finally he could take no more. Adrenaline surging through his veins, Damien lunged forward.

It was a mistake. Two mistakes, the first that led to the fight, and the second that ended it. Lukas rolled back on his haunches and Damien stumbled, snapping his jaws at the larger wolf's underbelly. The backward step Lukas had taken was just enough to make Damien fall short of his target, and as the wolf's back legs had raised up to strike him, Damien had only one thought:

Wrong. I was wrong.

"Damien?"

Damien shook his head, and earth fell from his fur to the ground.

"Damien, are you done digging?"

Jordan's voice penetrated his thoughts, and he licked his chops, tasting the grit of the dirt underneath him.

"Yes," he growled, leaping up out of the hole in the ground. Without thinking, he had finished the job, and now it was time to bury the dead.

At least he hadn't died in the fight. Small comfort. The wolf they would bury in this hole couldn't see, either.

Julia's fear had subsided somewhat, although he could tell that she was still nervous at seeing him in his wolf form. Well, she would have to stay nervous for a while longer.

Damien went over to the body and gripped the bag with his teeth, pulling it towards the hole. He slipped only once, at the edge of the grave, and his hind leg dangled for a brief second over the empty hollow before he regained his balance. In his mind, he imagined the dead shifter falling on top of him in the hole, imagined the dirt piling onto them both, imagined being buried alive. It did not seem as horrible as it once did. The fear came in part from fear of darkness, he supposed, and his world was already dark. He found his footing and went around to the other side of the bag, using his snout to push the body over into the hole.

Filling the grave was a lot easier than digging it had been, and Damien made quick work of the ritual, sprinkling dirt with each of his four paws into the grave before pushing the rest of the earth in. The dirt made a low mound over the body, and Damien knelt in front of the grave. He growled the prayer of the dead, eyes closed, and lifted his head to the sky.

"Amen," Jordan said softly.

Although it was afternoon and he could feel the sunlight on his face through the tree branches, all was darkness. He howled a keening wail, his nose pointed toward the invisible stars of their ancestors. Behind him, Julia shivered in sorrow at the sound of the howl twisting through the trees. The birds ceased their calls, and when he lowered his head, all was silent.

He sniffed out his clothes and shifted back to human form, quickly pulling on his shirt and pants. Both Jordan and Julia had seen him shift, seen him nak*d, but for some reason he still felt awkward at having them around when he changed. None of them said a word as Damien finished dressing.

"Kyle and Katherine are on their way," he said, after they had left the clearing. Jordan sniffed, his nose raised to the air.

"I barely smell them," he said. "You're sure they're coming?"