Free Jacks, Marcy - Taken by the Alpha Wolf [DeWitt's Pack 9] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) by Marcy Jacks

do it whether they like it or not.”
    Ryan suddenly got a good idea of just why this was the man in  charge around here. People did what he said, period.
    “You were a cop, too, right?” James then asked, turning his hard  stare onto Ryan.
    Ryan felt the way Blasius had tensed up beside him and was

    60                            Marcy Jacks
    forced to ignore it. “Detective, but you don’t get to that position  without doing some street work first. I’ll do whatever you want me to  do if it means getting the guy who killed Decker.”
    “Would you kill him? If you caught the man and knew without a  shadow of a doubt that he was the one who killed your friend, would  you end his life?”
    It was strange how Ryan didn’t even need to think about it. His  conviction was that strong. “Yes.”
    “You must know that if you do that, you won’t ever be able to go  back to living with the humans.”
    Ryan had almost forgotten all about that, and his insides froze up.
    That was right. What the hell had he been thinking? If he decided  to go after these hunters with these werewolves, he could never go  home again. He would be forced to stay here, forever a member of  this pack, taking orders from a man he didn’t know.
    He would be a murderer and an outlaw.
    But he could be with Blasius, another man he barely knew.
    “I don’t want to make things worse for you,” said James, and  Ryan’s guts sank further anyway. “But the likelihood of you returning so soon after becoming a werewolf is pretty much nonexistent anyway. You still need to learn to control your wolf at a hundred percent before you can start interacting safely with humans, and since  I’m pretty sure being a detective is a stressful job that involves a lot of human interaction, you wouldn’t be able to go to work while you’re like this either.”
    “Will I ever be able to go back?” Ryan asked.
    James leaned back in his chair, and Ryan noted the way the man’s  eyes would dart over to Blasius. He was at least taking the other  man’s feelings into consideration. Unlike Ryan, ungrateful bastard  that he was.
    “Some wolves have been known to make lives for themselves
    outside of packs and with humans. These wolves were usually born  werewolves, though, and keeping control of their wolves and

Taken by the Alpha Wolf                       61

    emotions is second nature to them. I’ve met werewolves who were
    able to go months without a transformation, lessening their chances of  being found out or putting humans in danger, and that’s a skill no one  in this pack has mastered yet.”
    Great.
    After Ryan had heard all he wanted to hear and was let in on the planning stages of hunting down any other hunters who might still be in the area, Ryan got up from his chair and left the main house.
    Aside from the few hours he’d spent in the forest and back here with Blasius, Ryan had spent most of his time caged up in James’s basement. Now he just wanted some fresh air and a chance to think.
    He wanted to kill the men responsible for Decker’s death so badly, but that would force him to stay here even should he learn to control his transformations to the extent that James spoke of.
    If he left, he would never see Blasius again, but he hardly knew the man and was still coming to terms with the idea that he was something other than a newly transformed werewolf.
    Staying, however, was damn near out of the question. He was a stranger on this land, and he never liked being the new guy, putting up with all those stares. It wasn’t his thing.
    “Where are you going?” Blasius asked.
    Ryan stopped walking, clenching his fists. He half turned to look at the man who was his … mate. “If I wanted to walk into the woods
    by myself, would you let me go?”
    He already knew what the answer would be, so he didn’t know
    why he was bothering with picking this fight.
    Blasius folded his arms