Wolf's Pack (Wolves Next Door #3) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,174

I agreed with Elena on this. "Mm, I don't think I do. No one here is being held against their will, and if your mate left you, then clearly she's no longer your mate. Most of us call that getting dumped."

"She doesn't get that choice," Damon snapped. "I made her, and I'm not done with her."

So I looked over at Karen. "Is he done with you, then?"

"Please," she grumbled. "If he wants to rut on a few girls, then that's his privilege as the Pack Alpha. Oh, you didn't know that I'm not the jealous type? Thought you would've figured that out already, Ian. I mean, I've been banging your betas since they could get their dicks hard."

"Does Damon know I fucked you too?" I asked. "Or did you leave that little part off? He can't even get a natural-born wolf that hasn't been mine first."

"I wasn't yours!" she yelled.

Bingo. From the way Damon looked at her, I knew I'd just hit a sore spot. Either she'd never told him she'd fucked me, or he hated being reminded of it. Either way, the more pissed off he was, the less he'd be thinking when he actually fought me. We all knew that was where this was going, but I wanted to have the deck stacked in my favor before I opened that gate to let him in.

"Oh, Karen, you begged for me," I reminded her. "You tried to chase off my mate so you could have me. Damon was your backup plan, and I'm willing to bet you're the one who convinced him to look at Wolf's Run. Does he know what you think of the trash who live in mobile homes? How does it feel to fit into that category yourself now? Without your daddy's money - or mine - life's a whole lot harder, isn't it?"

"This should've been my pack," she growled.

"I challenge you!" Damon suddenly yelled. "We all know you're a weak alpha. Your mate does what she wants. Your betas claim her as their own! You allow teenagers to invade other packs, go against your rules, and more. You are a weak leader, Ian, and not fit to run this pack."

"Yeah, yeah," I said, flicking a finger toward the brick column between the inbound and outbound gates. "Not the best challenge speech I've ever heard, but I get the point. But here's the thing. You lose? I take any members of your pack that I want. Karen is not on that list."

"You want my converts?" he all but sneered. "Oh, that's almost funny. One of the oldest lines of wolves is begging for a little new blood. Have you all finally interbred too much?"

"Nah." I just tilted my head at Seth. "You make strong wolves. Could've been the thing that set you apart, but you're too stupid to use it."

"Alpha?" Pax asked.

"Open it just enough to let him in," I said. "This is still my territory until he wins. Your pack is still not welcome, and only a fool would declare war on us."

"With your lame father, ditzy sister, and human mate?" Damon asked. "Please, Ian. Oh, and I know about your shifter pets. Bears and tigers, huh? Do they do tricks too?"

"They do," I assured him. "Ever seen a bear's mid-form? I don't even know what they call it, but it's impressive. The tigers? They could be right beside you and you'd never have a clue."

The fact that he glanced over to the bushes was all the gratification I needed. Clearly, Damon had gotten a pretty close view of "my" tigers. But Pax turned the key, and the outbound gate began to slide open. When it was a man's width from the pillar, Pax stopped it. I knew the rest would find a way in if they wanted it, but we didn't need to make it easy.

Damon pushed through the gap. Karen followed behind him. The rest of Damon's pack moved closer to the gate, but weren't dumb enough to follow with us standing guard. Pax closed the gates again, waiting until they were completely secure, then pulled out the key and casually dropped it into his pocket.

A few of Damon's wolves grabbed the metal bars, setting up to watch the show. Some wandered to the sides, which made my guts clench. I didn't trust this man. I didn't trust his pack. Knowing we'd need at least a little room, I began to back up, aiming for the office parking lot.

"So?" Karen asked, sarcasm dripping