Willing Sacrifice by Cree Walker Page A

ass.
    "Brian, I am so sorry I forgot your birthday." I motioned him forward and onto my lap as we turned onto the old dirt road leading to the house and lake. He sobbed openly for a few minutes before I wiped away his tears and I kissed him on his soggy cheeks. "Listen up big man; things are going to be weird for a while until Miss Sugar gets this all figured out, and I need you to be understanding, okay?"
    He nodded and rubbed one of his eyes, but the warning had been more for his mother than for him. He would never understand what was going on; he had been raised by a good family and a fair Alpha. I wondered how bad things had gotten and swallowed the fear sitting in my throat, setting the butterflies in motion.
    We pulled into the yard and there were a couple familiar faces waiting outside and a few I had never seen before. The house looked the same and it made me want to cry when I found myself searching for Jack's face in the crowd.
    I got out of the car and was immediately picked up off the ground by Kyle, Sarah’s husband and Jack’s brother, in a bear hug I didn't want to ever end. He snarled an almost word for word sassing his son had just given me before setting me down and looking me over, assessing me for any damage. Jersey trotted down the steps looking happy and proud as she too pulled me into a strong hug that I met it enthusiastically. She was the only female from my bitten pack that had joined this one. It had been my parent’s pack, until they were both killed. They had started the pack when they saw firsthand the treatment bitten wolves were suffering. My parents had made it their mission to care for their own kind, but also to take out as many of the Born offenders as possible. Due to the lack of numbers in the natural Born werewolf population some of them had turned to human beings for a little instant gratification in the bedroom. Unfortunately there is a high risk of infection between the two species and sometimes there were consequences to the pairings. These bitten “mistakes” were simply abandoned and left for dead without a pack or explanation. My parents would find these bitten humans and care for them, most of which went Mad, but some made it through and joined my parents in their quest for revenge.
    Everyone pulled me inside while I answered questions about where I had been and why I was back. Gage followed closely.
    "So where's the boss?" I asked after looking closely at a room full of women. It seemed there was a different girl for every day of the week and I understood well what Gage had meant by calling the pack a harem.
    "He went into town for some supplies." Sarah said while offering me a seat at the table. "Okay everyone who doesn't know yet, this is our old Alpha, Sugar Coon. Don't get on her bad side girls; she wasn't bred for the job, she earned it."
    I smiled sweetly at Sarah's high praise, but I understood what she meant by it as well. Some girls were groomed for the position of female Alpha from birth, just like some of the men; but the girls were primped, pampered, glossed, and shined more like expensive cars than people. They were trained in the art of seduction more than the art of combat. They were truly expensive arm candy. Each one of the present girls was a top quality exotic beauty in her own right and suddenly I felt like the frog in the room. I could see now what Gage had warned me about.
    Sarah didn't mind skipping the rest of the introductions for later and dragged me up the stairs to my old room. It hadn't changed at all but I could tell someone else had been using it and though I knew it didn't make any sense I felt that tickle of my territorial nature stirring.
    Sarah threw down my bags of new clothes on the bed and flopped down with them.
    I was stuck in the doorway staring at the rocking chair Jack used to sit in while I slept. He didn't know I knew about it but every morning before he went off to work, for the short amount of time I had been here he would watch