“I’d like to see you make me. Pretty land you have here though. Pretty little girl sleeping in there," said the intruder.
“Kurt, what the fuck do you want? You have your pack, your land, and I've backed off. I don't run anything there."
Kurt strode closer. He towered over most everyone, except Ethan. Ethan was more an alpha than Kurt could ever be and that pissed him off, or so it seemed.
Ethan bit back the storm of anger and frustration. He pushed hard to douse the eruption, he nearly bit through his damn lip.
“You backed off, but they know. Everyone knows that I ain't the alpha. I don't have control. I need you gone. How about I stand here, and you make me leave.”
The wolf inside Ethan started to pace, head low, ears at attention, hackles raised.
“Your leadership might be the bigger issue. An Alpha is not something you come into lightly. You can't force it. You have to win it, and although I'm sure you think your cunning won it, you ignored pack law. I can’t help you."
Kurt spat. God Ethan hoped it hadn't hit his shoe. Or maybe he did. He wanted nothing more than to kill the SOB. Over some spit though? He was more controlled than that. Now.
“Go home. I gave you what you want. I have my child and that was the agreement. Go and actually try and control the pack you wanted so damn bad you traded off one of your own. Go."
"Ethan, don't you dare walk away from me like you are high and mighty. You ain't. You couldn't please Heather and you caused your own father’s death. It's because of you that your father was challenged by our alpha. I hope you wake up proud every day you stare at the little girl and know her mother wanted to get away from you so badly that she'd leave her own baby."
Squaring his shoulders and widening his stance Ethan pushed down the wolf, letting him linger just out of reach. If he weren't controlled, Kurt would end up short an esophagus. Threads of magic within him called out to the pack. Mentally, he pulled at each one and tried to soothe the anger.
Ethan hated that he could feel the other pack, they were his after all. Their anger couldn't be reduced though. Their anger ran deeper than the blood of the pack. He'd tried to keep the peace. In the end, though, Ethan had betrayed them. He'd traded that pack for his daughter.
There had been nothing in pack law to deal with a child outside of a mated pair. Not when the child was the alpha’s, and like it or not Ethan was that true Alpha.
He'd really screwed up. He'd acted on instinct. He'd challenged the alpha that had killed his father. No way would he allow his pack to be subjected to the shit that the Ashburn pack pulled. Now though, they were stuck with Kurt, and he wasn't the Alpha they needed. He couldn't be. Ethan stood tall, staring down Kurt.
Kurt hadn't killed the reigning alpha, and he wasn't going to get that chance either.
" Kurt, leave before you regret this. You can't hurt me, and you can't control me. You tried once and look where we are now. The Ashburn pack is restless. Until you come to kill me, just go. I've kept my end of the bargain. My daughter's safety for your control of the Ashburns."
The white of Kurt’s teeth flashed against the moon peeking behind clouds.
"Don't think you are perfect. You ain't. I can get into that pretty little head of yours and break you. Just you wait. What can a pack be with a broken alpha? Still trying to find your mate? We all know no Alpha is strong enough to keep his pack for long without her."
The muscles of his jaw screamed. Ethan sucked in air as his body shuddered. His wolf fought to come out and play.
"Last I checked you didn't have your mate either. I guess we're both stuck in the same spot, except that I am the alpha, and I won it fair and square. Back down now Kurt."
Deep breaths. Deep fucking breaths. Amelia needed him. The vision of his baby girl had his wolf backing down and the anger starting to simmer, doused in a warm drizzle of reality.
Ethan turned his eyes away and looked into the sky. The lunar goddess that seemed to have little to do with them, in reality, did somehow always bring him peace. A flash of a curvy, brown-haired, baker eclipsed the calm. The slow burn of need between his legs traveled up his abdomen. The chill of the night air couldn't stop his dick as it pressed against his jeans. He could practically taste her on his tongue as her moist heat covered his mouth in slick need. He wanted to take her so bad that he nearly came in his fucking jeans.
Fuck. He had found his mate.
"Hey, jack-off. I'm still talking to you. "
Ethan shook off the image of his mate and swallowed.
"No. We're done. Either kill me or go home. I don't know what you expect to change. Get off my land."
Ethan paused and listened. Nothing, then he felt it.
Kurt has denounced Ethan as his Alpha and therefore was little more than a rouge. The desire to be Alpha kept him there, but his lack of strength to acquire the pack by pack law left him somewhere in limbo without a valid claim. That's why at that moment Ethan was shocked to feel a weak connection to the wolf.
You son of a bitch. He was trying to break into the pack mind. What for? Ethan could guess.
"In case you're curious, yes. I found her. And don't bother trying to break into the pack's connection again. No one will tell you who
