Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,173

known where he stood. All this peace bullshit made his fur crawl. It would have been so easy the other day to rip out that bear's throat, but Angela had held him back with a warning snarl.

“Remember what Brooke said,” she’d growled as they turned tail and ran. Vince snarled. Brooke. She was a weak alpha, she knew nothing about running a pack and it showed. She was sloppy, she lacked a backbone - it should be me in charge, he thought furiously and I should be running that lodge. He was easily the better choice. He was older, wiser and he wouldn’t back down just because of a few bodybuilder wannabe bears. He needed a plan to take over. And for that he was going to need backup.

He already knew the rumors that were going around the pack, he’d started most of them himself - Brooke spends an awful lot of time up at that lodge don’t you think? I heard she was planning on selling us out, think about it - how little of this territory do we actually have a claim to? And how long before we get kicked out of here too?

Vince grinned. It really was too easy. The pack was twenty strong and growing and the number of them that were starting to listen to him instead of Brooke was close to half. He’d asked them to meet him just outside the lodge grounds, already deep in the bears’ territory. What was that saying? The best offense is a good defense? Yeah, screw that.

The meeting place was a well-hidden clearing, so well hidden in fact that Vince almost didn’t find it. He broke through the trees too fast and almost went flying. He skidded to a stop. The semi-circle of wolves turned to look at him and he growled in warning when a few of them laughed.

“What are we doing here, Vince?” Lucas asked. “This is way too close to the lodge, if Connor Strauss and his brothers find out we’re here.”

“Let them find out!” Vince interrupted. “I know none of you give a shit about what those bears think of us. They need to be taken down. I know it and you know it.”

Silence. Good.

“For years we’ve been tossed from one territory to another. We’re predators! And here we are clinging to the edge of these forests like dogs begging for scraps.” Vince felt a rush of power as the others watched him pace back and forth. He could definitely get used to this.

“Angela and I got chased off of unclaimed territory the other day.” Several of the wolves bared their teeth, shifting agitatedly from foot to foot. He could see Lucas nodding; Vince remembered what he heard about the trio of youngsters being chased off unclaimed territory as well, not that long ago. He grinned. Wolves really are pack animals. Vince smiled to himself. A few choice words and they were eating out of the palm of his hand.

“We are a proud pack and I know with the right alpha we can take back what is rightfully ours.”

He looked at each of them in turn, it was important to make them feel heard after all. If he was to gain their support, he would need to be clever. “Brooke is weak. She doesn’t care about us; all she cares about is kissing up to Connor Strauss and his sleuth. And they’ve made it clear they don’t care about us. It’s time we took over and to do that, Brooke has to go.”

Looking at the semi-circle of wolves around him, teeth bared, Vince’s grin widened.

Brooke was as good as dead.

65

Brooke

Brooke awoke a few hours later feeling more rested than she ever remembered being. The sun had set and Connor was still sound asleep next to her. She took a moment to admire the way his hair fell softly across his forehead as he slept before slipping from the bed and getting dressed.

Her shoulder felt much better; Connor was much better at dressing wounds than she was. He’s probably been in more brawls than I have, she thought, remembering the sheer strength the man currently drooling onto his pillow had shown the night before. Brooke shivered and slipped out of the suite before she could do something she’d regret. Like crawl back into Connor Strauss’ bed and never leave it.

It was better this way, she told herself as she climbed into her car. It didn’t matter how much she liked him, how soft his eyes