Chapter One

His shoulders back and his head held high, Rory stood before Marco, Alpha of the Dark Hollow Wolf Pack, and tried his best to ignore Marco’s mate, Nicky. Lounging on a sofa behind the alpha, Nicky looked gorgeous as usual in the morning sunlight streaming in the windows. His golden hair, streaked with silver highlights, was tousled and messy, probably from a recent romp in bed with Marco, his blood mate. Nicky was lying on his back, wearing only a tight pair of leather pants, with his bare feet up on the back of the sofa, pretending to read a magazine, but shamelessly eavesdropping on their conversation.

“So you think you can handle this, Rory? You’re still pretty young. Training these rogue wolves to help them assimilate into our pack is a big job, not to mention getting them ready for possible battle. The Hunters are on the move again. They’ve been seen within a hundred miles of us, probably heading right for us. I’m assigning Ian to start training the wolves and I’m laying in a supply of weapons and ammunition. You’ll help to make sure everything runs smoothly.”

“I know I can do it, Marco. Give me a chance and you won’t be sorry.”

Nicky made a scoffing noise behind his magazine, and Rory clenched his fists. “You got something to say, Nicky, just come out and say it.” Nicky lowered the magazine, and his beautiful blue gaze raked Rory up and down. “I never said a word.”

“No, but you made a noise, and I can see the doubt written all over that smart-aleck face of yours.”

“Rory,” the alpha said quietly. “Don’t insult my pet, and Nicky, stop baiting him.”

Nicky and Rory glared at each other. Nicky made another little sound and raised the magazine back in front of his face. The two had a long-standing love/hate relationship. Rory had changed Nicky to werekin to save his life after muggers had slit his throat. He’d been careful, though, not to give him a mating bite, knowing he was Marco’s designated bloodmate. Rory had also fed Nicky his wolf blood after Nicky turned into a feral, monstrous werewolf and Marco had given Nicky all he could without endangering his own life. Both events had formed a bond between them. They were close like brothers, but, like a slightly older brother, Nicky loved to tease and bait Rory whenever he got the chance.

Marco smiled indulgently at his mate. Everyone knew he spoiled Nicky shamefully. It was even rumored Nicky had only received one or two spankings the whole time he’d been Marco’s pet, and afterward Marco had taken him to bed and made love to him for hours. If Nicky had been Rory’s pet, he’d have spanked him daily, whether he needed it or not.

“I think you’ll do a great job with the rogues, Rory. Only a few of them are older than you, and I’ve only noticed one or two who seem a bit dominant. You’ll have to show them who’s boss right away and not let up on them.”

“That should be easy enough for you, Rory,” Nicky said sarcastically from behind his magazine. “The only problem you might have is if they try to outwit you, unarmed as you are.”

“Just let me swat his backside one time, Marco, please,” Rory said, shooting Nicky a menacing look.

Nicky jumped to his feet and threw down the magazine, striking a fighting pose. “Bring it on, Rory, if you think you can do it!”

Marco intervened. “That backside is my property, and I’ll give it a smack myself if I hear one more word.”

Marco hooked an arm around Nicky’s waist and pulled him down in his lap, wrapped both arms around him and gave him a little shake. Rory suspected his threat was an idle one.

“Settle down, baby,” he purred, and Nicky laid his head on Marco’s shoulder, giving Rory a self-satisfied little smirk, making Rory’s hands itch to spank his butt.

“You can meet with them in the morning then, Rory, and get them started first by helping with building. With the rogue pack joining us, we need more room. We need the addition finished asap, so we can concentrate on training with weapons. Ian will be there to supervise the actual construction, so all your new gammas have to do is general clean-up of the site, carrying wood, or roofing, that kind of thing. Helping out, basically. Just a few days and then they can go out to train in the field.”

“No problem. Thanks again, Marco, for the assignment. I’ll let you know how things go tomorrow.”

Rory turned and walked to the door, letting himself out quietly. Marco already had Nicky laid back across his arm, kissing his lips, his hands busy roaming all over him. They’d be making love again in a minute, and that was one image he didn’t need seared in his brain.

Nicky was beautiful, probably the most beautiful young man he’d ever seen, but Rory liked girls. A petite but curvy brunette, with dark eyes would be his ideal woman. Someone like the girl who worked in the beauty shop, Tara, who was Cody’s mate. She was a pretty, sweet little thing, very quiet and ladylike. Not a mean brat, like Nicky. It wasn’t that Nicky was male. A magical, supernatural element in their blood picked their mates, and a wolf knew them immediately when he met them whether they were the same sex or not. Once recognition happened, there was no use in fighting it. Attempting to avoid the inevitable with denial made everyone miserable. The magic was strong. A wolf’s blood sang for only one mate, and that person was his mate for life.

No, Rory just liked the way girls looked, smelled, and felt. They were all so smooth and smelled so good. He just knew in his heart his blood mate would be a cute girl, and he couldn’t wait to meet her. Like Nicky and Tara, she’d probably have to be an adopted human. He knew all the pet girls of the pack, and none of them were his blood mate. Wolves only mated with pets, either werekin who didn’t inherit the wolf gene from their wolf parent or a bloodmate human turned werekin. Soon he’d have to take a trip to some of the local towns in the valley and see if he could find her. Still pretty young, with his whole life ahead of him, he was in no real hurry.

This was an important job Marco had given him, and he took it seriously. The Hunters were an ancient group, well over a hundred years old, dating from the early nineteen hundreds. Their founder was a self-styled monster hunter named Abraham Van Helsing. Even after Van Helsing’s death, the group of hunters he’d established continued his mission, coming to be known simply as the Hunters. They’d been waging a war against the werekin ever since. They’d been quiet for over two years, but intelligence reports from various wolf clans around the country had them preparing themselves for more fighting. The Dark Hollow Pack had to be ready to defend itself.

Rory had called a meeting of his new crew in the main hall. He walked toward it, anxiety fluttering in his belly. He was always a little nervous when he met new wolves. Small for his age, he’d pretty much stopped growing and filling out when he was about fifteen. Marco assured him he’d hit another growth spurt, but so far it hadn’t happened. Most wolves his age were already quite large, well over six feet and muscular, while Rory was leaner and not nearly as tall. The ten new gammas all came from the rogues who had just rejoined the family. For Marco to pick Rory to train them in pack discipline was quite an honor and meant Rory was moving up in pack hierarchy. To be the lead gamma had been his goal for as long as he could remember. Or rather, it had been Marco’s goal for him, and he hated to let him down.

He’d walked no more than two feet into the main hall when he was assailed by a mouthwatering scent, delicious, and like nothing he’d ever smelled before. A little like cotton candy, the scent drew him in like a beacon, and he tried to figure out where it was coming from. He quickly scanned the room, but only gammas stood gathered around the fireplace.

Rory shook his head, trying to clear it. His mind screamed, “Mate,” and his cock stood up, paying close attention. Exciting and puzzling at the same time, he couldn’t see anyone in the room as a potential mate. Yet the smell was almost overpowering. Rory crossed over to the gammas and stood in front of them, trying to keep his mind focused on the task ahead. He wanted to make a good first impression on these former rogue wolves, but the closer he got to them, the stronger the smell became.

“Hi, it’s good to see all of you here,” he announced to the assembled group. “I’ve been assigned by the alpha to be your leader on this part of the project. I expect you all to work very hard on this temporary job. You can be assigned a permanent job after training. There have been some alarming reports about the Hunters, as you know, and we have to prepare for them. You’ll all have a vital role in our preparations.”

Rory paused and looked around the group to check their reactions. Most were listening politely, but one big wolf over by the side of the fireplace glared at him. Rory didn’t know the guy and had done nothing to warrant such a challenging look. He glanced nervously away and tried to concentrate on getting through his speech before the scent of his mate completely overcame him.

“Be back here in the morning at seven o’clock sharp, ready to work. Any questions?” The big guy spoke up. “Yeah, I have a question. How old are you? You look like you’re about fifteen. Are we really expected to take orders from a fifteen-year-old?”

Rory was so surprised by the remark and the attitude he was speechless for a moment. The guy wasn’t all that much older than Rory. Admittedly, Rory looked a little younger than nineteen, but not that much.

Surveying the man up and down, he asked, “What’s your name?” He kept his voice low and calm, imitating the way he’d heard Marco speak many times when he was really pissed off.

“Casey. And why are you avoiding the question? How old are you?” The guy straightened up from the wall where he leaned. He was even bigger than Rory first thought. At least six foot two, he was extremely muscular, even for wolves well known for their well-toned bodies. His hair was brown and spiky, and his eyes were a startling cat’s eyes shade of green. His face was handsome, despite the scowl and the sneer turning his lips down. As a matter of fact, those lips were full and surprisingly luscious. Rory couldn’t seem to take his eyes off them.

Casey advanced on Rory in a cocky, self-assured manner, despite the efforts of a few of his friends to catch his arm and pull him back. He shrugged them off and came to stand right in front of Rory. He was most definitely where the scent came from. Up so close, like a cloud drifting off him, the smell hit Rory full force, causing him to take an involuntary step backward. Rory couldn’t understand why everyone around him wasn’t commenting on it, it smelled so delicious. Shocked, Rory looked up into those cat eyes, and his brain screamed at him. Mate! His dick hardened until Rory was afraid everyone would notice the bulge in his pants. Right on the heels of that thought was another one. His mate was a male wolf? No fucking way!