Embraced By Darkness (Riley Jenson Guardian 5)

"Pack rights are never surrendered, no matter what the situation. Once a pack member, always a pack member."

"You threatened to kill us if you ever saw us again."

"A statement that still stands."

"So why the hell are you contacting me? Fuck off and leave me alone. Trust me, I want as little to do with you as you with me."

I turned on my heel and began to walk back down the beach. Part of me might have been curious as to why he was contacting me, but curiosity didn't have a hope against old anger and hurt None of which I wanted to relive in any way.

"You will listen to what I have to say, Riley."

"Fuck off," I said, without looking at him. Even as my wolf cowered deep within at my audacity.

"You mil stop and listen, young wolf."

His voice was sharp and powerful, seeming to echo through the trees. I stopped. I couldn't help it. My very DNA was patterned with the need to obey my alpha. It would take a great deal of strength to disobey and, right now, it seemed I had none.

Even so, I didn't turn around. Didn't look at him. "Why the hell should I listen?"

"Because I demand it."

I snorted softly. "I was never one to listen to demands. You of all people should know that."

"So very true. And it was one of the reasons you and your brother were ostracized." Amusement laced his harsh tones. "Your grandfather feared one of you would challenge him."

Surprise rippled through me and I swung around.

He was still in the trees, still in the shadows. Maybe afraid that the wind from the beach would blow him away. "Why would my grandfather fear that? Neither Rhoan nor I were allowed the illusion we were anything more than an inconvenience to our mother and the pack. And inconveniences don't rule." Especially if they were female. Or gay.

"You have a long pattern of doing the unexpected, Riley."

"Yeah, and I have the scars to prove the foolishness of that."

He chuckled softly. "You never did learn your place."

Oh, I learned it all right. I just didn't always cower down like I was supposed to. I thrust my hands on my hips and said impatiently, "As much as I adore reliving old times, it's fucking cold out. Tell me what you want, or piss off."

He studied me for a minute, gray eyes abnormally bright in the darkness, his form waving slightly as the wind swirled through the trees.

"The pack needs your help."

"My help?" My sudden, unbelieving laugh had a cold, ugly sound. "That has to be the joke of the century."

"There is nothing amusing about the situation, believe me."

"So why me? There have to be hundreds of other people you could ask."

Which wasn't an overstatement. The Jenson pack might be one of the smaller red packs, and it might be the poorer cousin when it came to wealth and land status, but Jenson pack members were to be found in all avenues of government and throughout much of the legal system, I had no doubt those pack members could muster up something - someone - far more influential than me.

Unless, of course, the crisis was of a more personal nature. Despite everything, anxiety pulsed, and I added quickly, "Is Mother all right?"

Blake's smile was thin, "Yes. She sends her love."

Like hell she did. We were her firstborn and her love for us unquestioned, but once we'd left the pack, contact ceased. Blake might have had pack approval to contact me, but I very much doubted she would have asked for any message to be delivered. She knew how we felt about him. She wouldn't hurt us that way.

"You can't sucker me with that sort of shit, Blake. Just get to the point."

Amusement flared briefly in his eyes. "We have need of your guardian skills."