Free Heir To The Pack (The Cursed Pack Book 1) by Laura Welling

showed, the more Gaelan
would drag it out. He knew this from a lifetime of painful experience.
    “You sent most of the pack
on ahead. What the hell were you thinking?”
    “I had business to take
care of, and I wanted peace and quiet to take care of it. What does it matter?”
He kept his voice easy, relaxed, and fought not to drum his fingers on the low
table in front of him.
    The giant nodded. “Perhaps
it doesn’t matter at all. But many wolves from other packs are within a couple
hours drive, on their way to the Gathering. I’ve heard all kinds of rumors about
what’s going on here. Wolves get curious, you know. They start wondering if
they should come and take a look.”
    “Is that the only reason
you’re here? Curiosity?” Dash raised an eyebrow.
    “That’s part of it.” Gaelan
paused, stroked the blond stubble on his square chin with one meaty hand. “I
heard you had some babe stashed away, and I wanted to see for myself.”
    “Don’t talk about Annie
like that,” Dash warned, his voice unintentionally gravelly.
    “Hmph.” G smirked, opened
his mouth to speak, and closed it again. His face darkened. “I wasn’t actually
referring to the woman. She’s a pretty little thing, sure. But I was referring
to the pup.”
    Dash sat back in the
armchair, tilted his head back, and stared at the ceiling. He knew trouble was going
to come out of this, but not so soon. “Word does travel fast.” Also, he’d have
to figure out who had been gossiping, and have a conversation with them that
they wouldn’t enjoy. Werewolves loved to talk. But they needed to be able to
keep private pack business to themselves.
    “I’m trying to understand
this, Dash, but I can’t seem to get my head around what’s going on. The girl’s
human. The pup’s yours, I assume. How the fuck did that happen?”
    Dash sighed. “Your guess
is as good as mine.” He’d been thinking about that pretty much constantly since
Annie showed up.
    “It’s going to fuck up a
lot of people’s plans. The mere fact of the existence of this kid. The Russians
are trying to arrange a mating between you and Irina next week.” Gaelan made an
obscene gesture.
    Dash chose to ignore it,
and went back to staring at the ceiling. “I know.”
    “ I know ? You’re sitting there, all zen and shit, saying I know ?”
    “I wouldn’t say I was zen
about it.” He turned to look at Gaelan, who watched him intently. Dash shoved
one hand through his hair. “I figure they’re going to be pretty pissed at me. We
had no formal agreement, though.” It had been his father’s whim, and he would
not be bound by it.
    “Right. So that brings me
to why I came. I heard you sent people on ahead, which leaves you, this little
nuclear family of yours, and your aunties, sitting here without an honor guard.
Like sitting ducks.”
    Elaine cleared her throat,
reminding Dash of her presence. Her expression was mild. “Bill and Novie are
here. Dash is an excellent fighter. And Marjie and I are hardly defenseless.”
    “Sorry,” Gaelan said. “I
don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but I’d rather that than fifty Russian wolves
bursting in here to get you.” He fisted his hands, sending a ripple of tension
through the muscles all the way up to his thickly corded neck.
    Dash had been watching
Gaelan get worked up for years, and talking him back down. He leaned forward to
refute his points. “I don’t think the Russians are coming to get me. If they
want to kill us, they’ll try at the Gathering. And up on the ranch we’ll have
lots of guards.”
    “It’s not the killing I’m
worried about. Gods, wolf, think! That pup is a lever. If someone can take him
from you, they can make you do anything they want. Or at least that’s what I’d
be thinking, if I were your enemy. The woman is human. She’s basically a fat
little chicken sitting on a giant pile of golden eggs. There’s nothing she’s
gonna be able to do to defend him. That’s on you.”
    “Somebody