Free The Power Of The Bite by Lisa Oliver

mind racing with possibilities. His Father had been a very old school Alpha and hated change of any kind. Something that used to chaff at Dax as he was growing up. But Van and Broz had made some good points, and when he took over as Alpha he could make a lot of improvements which would benefit everyone, vampire, human and shifter alike. Or not. “But as I’m never going to be Alpha here, there’s not a lot I can do.”
    “What would happen,” it was Van asking the question this time, “If you challenged your father at the next full moon meeting? If you fought for the pack, and won, rather than have it handed to you. Then he could have no say in who you mated, or anything else for that matter. The pack would be yours.”
    Dax’s first reaction was to shout no, and then get his mate in the car and drive them both until the scent of his home was nothing but a memory. But years of learning to bite his tongue where his father was concerned kicked in and he thought seriously about what the man had asked.
    On the surface of things, hypothetically and from an academic viewpoint, Van was right. If Dax took the pack by force then he could rule alone, he could rule with Zane by his side, he could do whatever he wanted.
    “There’s two major issues with your suggestion,” he said finally, grateful that in the silence Zane had thought to fill the coffee cups with a fresh brew. “Firstly, I could win the pack, I have no doubt about that. My father is getting older and more importantly he has a wife on his back who doesn’t like being Alpha Mate. It’s the pack itself that’s the problem. They would have to want to follow me as their Alpha. Otherwise I would be challenged at every turn, members would leave, pack stability would suffer. It could be a disaster and Zane, I’m almost certain you wouldn’t be safe.”
    “We’ll worry about that in a minute,” Van said. “What’s the second thing?”
    “It’s a personal thing really. I’ve never wanted to be in a position of having to challenge my father. We might not be very close, but he is the only family I have. I know I wouldn’t have to kill him, he’s not like that. But even making a proud man submit to me…yeah. He’s my father, it wouldn’t be easy for me.”
    Dax’s phone vibrated violently in his pocket and he pulled it out. “Speak of the devil,” he put his finger over his lips and the vampires fell silent.
    “Father. Is something wrong? We only spoke yesterday.”
    “Something wrong?” Nathanial spluttered. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong? I had to hear you have claimed your fated mate from your friend Cole, who then proceeded to issue a formal challenge for my position. He said you quit the pack.”
    “My mate’s a vampire, Father. Did Cole tell you that too? I knew you wouldn’t approve, whether our union was fated or not. I understand I have no choice but to leave the pack. I’m sorry you had to hear about it from someone else, but it’s a new development. I would have told you before I left town.”
    “I don’t care if your mate is a two headed dinosaur with purple spots. You do not have my permission to quit anything. I will not have someone like Cole take over this pack. He might be your closest friend, but he’s a wastrel, a scoundrel and he’s got the morals of an alley cat. Not to mention he’s only a beta. Make sure you’re at the pack grounds at sunset tomorrow night and bring that fucking vampire with you. If Cole beats me, I expect you to challenge him and kill the bastard. Don’t let me down.”
    Dax found himself listening to dead air as his father clicked off without waiting for a response. He slowly lowered his phone from his ear, turned it off, put it back in his pocket and then looked at Zane.
    “You, my lover, are going to need some serious protection. I think the proverbial shit has just hit the fan.
     

Chapter Seven
    Zane had never been more thankful for his friends than he was in the hours that followed. Broz