Enemies with Bears (Hate to Love Shifters Book 2) Read online

  The rage flared in him again. Who was she to criticize his abilities as alpha? She hadn’t seen him lead for the past several months. She had no idea the extent to which everyone had begun to fall in line. Even his brothers listened to him now.

  “That’s right,” he snapped. “I don’t want to talk about that day. Because that day doesn’t matter to me at all, and we have more important things to discuss.”

  “I have nothing at all to discuss with you.”

  “You most certainly do. We’re going to talk about what’s going on in that little Shifter Town of yours.”

  “What do you mean, what’s going on? Why on earth do you care what’s happening in Shifter Town? Don’t you have enough to concern yourself with here? With the pack? Or is that not enough for you?” She shook her head. “Don’t tell me. You’re thinking of attacking Shifter Town. I wouldn’t try it if I were you, Xander. I’ve lived in both places long enough to know which one would win in a fight.”

  “You have no idea what the pack is capable of.”

  “Okay, you’re right, I don’t,” she said. “Go ahead, then. Attack Shifter Town. I hope you do! I’d love to see what they make of you.”

  He stared at her. She was nothing like the woman he remembered. This new attitude—he didn’t recognize it at all.

  And I thought she seemed cowed when I came in.

  Could she possibly have edged toward human in her nature? Could she have let go of her wolf identity?

  She very well could have.

  It had always been he who had reminded her of her true nature. When she’d gone off on her own…yes, of course, that was why she had lost herself.

  Understanding helped him relax a bit, and he smiled.

  Disconcerted, she frowned, and that helped him too.

  “Well, let’s start here,” Xander said. “I know that Shifter Town has an army.”

  “There’s no army! It’s not that kind of place.”

  “You’re planning to attack the pack, and I want to know why!”

  4

  Lacey

  Lacey stared at Xander.

  “You think that Shifter Town has an army,” she said, “and that it’s coming to attack the pack?”

  “I know you do,” he said. “Our scouts have seen you organizing. We’ve seen regiments leave the Shifter Town territory together. All the biggest people. All the fighters. It’s obvious what’s going on.”

  Lacey closed her eyes. She knew exactly what they must have seen.

  It would have been the groups of fighters that had gone to the Genesis building to investigate the killings that had happened there. The threat that loomed over all of Shifter Town.

  But Xander had seen what was happening and had assumed it had something to do with him and his pack.

  Suddenly, and for the first time in her life, Lacey felt disgusted with him.

  “No one cares about the pack,” she said. “Honestly, you wolves think your pack is the center of the universe, but it isn’t. Nobody outside of this pack cares about this pack. Nobody worries about you. And nobody would ever muster an army to come and attack you because you are not a threat to anyone. No one in the world.”

  “I don’t know how you can talk to me like that,” he said, staring at her. “Don’t you realize what I could do to you? How badly I could fuck you up?”

  “I’m not afraid of you. If you were going to hurt me, you would have done it already.”

  He lunged forward, slamming his hands against the wall on either side of her head. His face was right up in hers. And suddenly, in spite of herself, Lacey was afraid of him.

  “Don’t be so sure,” he snapped. “You don’t know everything about me. You might know the man I used to be, but you don’t know the man I am today. And you never will. Now, are you going to tell me the army’s plans, or am I going to have to drag the information out of you with my teeth?”

  She shuddered. Having him so close—it was like one of her fantasies, only twisted into something dark and disturbing. Her heart raced.

  Horrifyingly, her instinct was still to reach out and take him in her arms.

  She turned her face away and closed her eyes.

  “You are afraid,” he breathed. “And you should be. I could kill you.”

  Maybe he really could.

  She didn’t doubt his ability to do that physically. But until this moment, she hadn’t believed he could bring himself to do it. Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure.

  He withdrew, and she opened her eyes.

  “Tell me the battle plan,” he said quietly.

  “No one’s planning on attacking the pack,” Lacey said. “It just isn’t like that.”

  “Do you expect me to believe that?”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “This pack has always kept an eye on the supernatural community in the surrounding area,” Xander said. “You would know that if you had been a more involved pack member while you were here. If you had ever cared about being one of us.”

  “You didn’t care about the pack either when we were young,” Lacey said. “You were like me. You didn’t give a damn about them. We used to laugh about it. Because they left us out of everything. We were always separate. It was just the two of us.”

  “You don’t know me,” Xander said. “You don’t know what I care about.”

  “No,” Lacey agreed. “That’s the truest thing you’ve said so far. I really do not know who you are anymore.”

  “Don’t expect me to get all emotional about that,” he said. “I don’t care about you. This has never been about you.”

  “You kidnapped me, and it’s not about me? Do you expect me to believe that?”

  “This is about Shifter Town’s plans of attack. I want to know what they are.”

  “And, what, once I tell you, you’re just going to let me go, right?”

  He crossed his arms and looked at her without saying a word.

  “They’re not attacking you,” she said. “I could make something up if you want, but you asked for the truth.”

  “Right. If they’re not attacking us, why are they mobilizing? There aren’t any other packs in this area. There’s no one else around here that they could be attacking.”

  Lacey pressed her lips together. She wasn’t going to tell Xander about what had happened at the Genesis. She wasn’t going to tell him about the deaths of her mates’’ best friends or the fact that she had barely gotten away with her own life. She didn’t want to open up to him about that nightmare. And besides, who knew what the pack would do with the knowledge that there was a dangerous group out at the Genesis?

  She couldn’t trust him.

  Bern and Dov, the two men she loved, were part of the group that had gone to the Genesis to gather information about what was going on there. If the pack knew, they might try to intervene, and Bern and Dov’s cover could be blown.

  For the sake of her mates, she was going to have to remain strong. She was going to have to keep the information about the Genesis carefully concealed.

  So she said, “I don’t know what you saw, Xander. But I can promise you that the shifters of Shifter Town are not mounting an attack against your pack. They don’t care about your pack. They don’t care about you. Nobody in Shifter Town talks about you, or thinks about you, or gives a damn that you’re the alpha here. It doesn’t matter. You don’t matter.”

  He stared at her for a long moment.

  Her body tensed. She was sure that he was going to attack. She shouldn’t have been so assertive—

  But instead, he whirled and stormed out of the room.

  Lacey felt the tension drain from her, and she fell back onto the mattress, feeling utterly defeated.

  What the hell am I going to do now?

  5

  Xander

  Derek was waiting for Xander outside the door of Lacey’s room. The rest of the pack had dispersed, and Xander was glad that Derek was the one who had chosen to remain behind. He had always been the most
level-headed and the easiest to talk to, and he would certainly be the most understanding about the fact that the interrogation hadn’t gone well.

  “What did you get out of her?” he asked, falling into step with Xander.

  “She’s not giving much up,” Xander grunted.

  Derek was quiet for a moment. “Mitch isn’t going to like that.”

  “Mitch isn’t the alpha of this pack, Derek.”

  “I know that. I’m just saying…you need to be cautious. If he gets angry, or if he decides you’re not handling leadership right, he could challenge you, and—”

  “And what?” Xander snapped, rounding on his brother.

  “Jesus. What’s gotten into you?”

  “You don’t think I can handle Mitch if he decides to challenge me?”

  “I didn’t say that, Xander.”

  “Haven’t I already proven that I can beat him in a fight? Isn’t that how I got the alpha position in the first place? Or am I remembering wrong?”

  “Don’t come at me about it,” Derek snapped. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m on your side. I’m trying to help you.”

  “But you think I should make all my leadership decisions out of fear? Because Mitch might challenge me if he ever disagrees?”

  “I didn’t say that!”

  “Because that’s no different than just standing aside and letting him be alpha anyway,” Xander said. “If I can’t ever do anything Mitch might not like, what’s the point?”

  “Okay.” Derek grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him into a side room, slamming the door behind them. “You need to get your shit together, Xander.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “You can’t be acting like this. You’re completely falling apart, and it’s obvious why.”

  “I’m not fucking falling apart—”

  “Yeah, you are. You’re letting her get to you. We all worried it would happen if you brought her back here. You insisted, but there were plenty of people who didn’t want to go along with your idea.”

  “Well, they have to, don’t they? My ideas aren’t optional. I’m the alpha around here. When I give an order—”

  “I know. I know. Fucking Christ, Xander. You’ve been doing a great job leading so far, but if you’re going to get all emotional, nobody is going to follow you anymore. Now, for God’s sake, what’s got you so worked up? What did she say?”

  Xander took a breath, doing his best to steady himself.

  “It’s just the way she makes me feel, I guess,” he said.

  Derek looked at him carefully. “You still have feelings for her?”

  “No,” Xander said. “She’s a half-breed.”

  “That didn’t use to bother you.”

  “Things were different then, and you know that. Don’t make me account for those days. That’s not fair.”

  “Fine,” Derek said. “Then what do you mean, the way she makes you feel?”

  “She just makes me feel…small,” he said. “She reminds me of a time when no one respected me. It’s hard, having her around.”

  “We don’t have to do this,” Derek said. “We can get rid of her. Nobody would complain. You’re the only one who really wanted to bring her back here.”

  “Yeah,” Xander said. “Because it was the best strategic idea. That doesn’t change just because it’s hard for me. I know you all thought I brought her back because of sentiment, but that’s not true. This has never been about my fucking feelings, all right? So get it through your head.”

  “Stop attacking me,” Derek said. “You might not have noticed, but I’m one of the only members of the pack who’s completely supporting you. I don’t want a fight between you and Mitch—”

  “You think he’d win?”

  “I can’t be sure who would win,” Derek said evenly. “And you can’t be sure either. You can’t deny that he’s strong. I know you’ve beaten him before, but he’s beat you in the past too. So stop acting like that’s a crazy thing to worry about.”

  Xander sighed. He knew his brother was right.

  “So she’s not giving you any information on the Shifter Town army?” Derek said.

  “Not yet,” Xander admitted. “I haven’t given up.”

  “But you’re going to have to go and make a report to the others,” Derek said. “You’re going to have to tell them that you’ve been unsuccessful so far. And they’re going to want to know how you plan to change that.”

  “I’ve spoken to her one time,” Xander said. “It would be stupid to expect that all the information we need would just come pouring out in our first conversation. She’s not exactly inclined to open up to me right now, given the way she and I left things.”

  “I guess that makes sense,” Derek said.

  “Where is everybody right now, anyway?”

  “Down in the kitchen,” Derek said. “I told them I’d bring you down when you came out of her room so that you could make your report.”

  “How would it be if I refused to go?” Xander asked. “They don’t have the authority to summon me anywhere, for fuck’s sake.”

  “No, they don’t,” Derek said. “But they have a right to know what’s going on in their pack, Xander. You should tell them. They’re going to find out anyway, and you’ll only help yourself by being open with them.”

  Xander sighed. Derek was right, as he always was. It was exceedingly annoying sometimes, having him for a brother.

  ***

  The kitchen was crowded and silent, and everyone looked up when Xander walked in.

  “Well?” Mitch asked.

  Xander ignored his brother for the moment and walked to the refrigerator for a beer instead. He cracked it open, tipped it up, and took a long, satisfying swallow.

  He could sense the others’ eyes on him. Well, let them wait. He was the alpha here. He wasn’t about to be pushed around or intimidated.

  Finally, though, he knew he couldn’t stall any longer. He leaned back against the kitchen counter and set the can down.

  “She’s not talking,” he said.

  Peter, the pack beta, looked immediately smug. “I knew she wouldn’t,” he said.

  “Be quiet, Peter,” Mitch said.

  Peter looked mutinous. “You’re not in charge around here,” he reminded Mitch.

  “That’s right,” Xander said. “I am. So be quiet and listen, and keep your opinions to yourself for a fucking minute.”

  And he took them all through the conversation he had just had with Lacey.

  “So she’s denying there’s any army at all,” Mitch said incredulously. “But we’ve seen it. Does she think we’re stupid or something?”

  “I don’t know what she thinks,” Xander admitted, realizing as he spoke the words how strange it was not to know what Lacey was thinking. He had spent years of his life so in step with her that he had felt capable of speaking for her, answering questions for her, telling everyone what was on her mind. Now he had no idea.

  Does she think we’re stupid?

  The idea of Lacey thinking something like that about him was just as foreign and unthinkable as the idea that he no longer knew her mind. And yet, hadn’t she made it clear just now that she had no respect for him at all?

  “All right,” Derek said, pulling out a chair at the table. “So Lacey isn’t giving up any information. What’s the plan now?”

  “Well, we’re going to keep trying her,” Xander said.

  Peter scoffed. “If you didn’t get anything out of her today, what makes you think you ever will?”

  “She isn’t stupid either,” Xander said. “No, don’t look at me like that. She’s not. Whatever you might think of her parentage, she’s not a stupid person.”

  “She’s half bear,” Peter said. “All bears are stupid.”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Derek murmured.

  “You know that isn’t true,” Xander said. “If it was, we wouldn’t have to worry about an attack from the shifters of Shifter Town,
would we? If wolves were really the only ones with any brains, it wouldn’t matter what they were planning out there.”

  “That’s true enough,” Mitch said. “The problem we have with bears isn’t with their intellect, Peter. Never has been.”

  “Like I was saying,” Xander resumed, “Lacey isn’t stupid. I never believed she’d give us everything we were looking for the first time we asked her for it. It’s probably going to take a few days. I’m going to have to convince her that it’s in her best interests to come clean. I’m still working out the best way to do that—what now, Peter?”

  Peter was looking at him as though he had grown an extra head. “What do you mean, you’re still working out the best way to do it?” he asked. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Xander said coldly. “And if you’re not going to explain yourself, I suggest you get out of this kitchen and let the adults talk.”

  Peter fell silent, and Xander knew that he wouldn’t dare to disrupt the meeting again. Not for a while, at least.

  But now Mitch spoke up. “He’s talking about torture, Xander,” he said quietly. “That’s the way to get the information you want out of her.”

  6

  Xander

  Xander felt as if his muscles were turning to ice.

  “What are you talking about?” he asked Mitch slowly.

  “We’re going to have to interrogate her,” Mitch said. “And if she doesn’t want to give up information about Shifter Town’s plans against us—I mean, we’re just going to have to make her, aren’t we? It’s the only realistic thing to do.”

  “The only realistic thing to do? We don’t torture people, Mitch. We’ve never done that.”

  “The safety of the pack comes first,” Mitch said doggedly. “That’s what’s most important. I know you don’t like the idea because she’s your ex-girlfriend—”