An Alpha's Pride [tribal bonds 2] by Stormy Glenn

south of his waistline. “Maybe I do. Do you think you’re man enough to punish an alpha wolf?”
Carlton wanted to shout the hallelujah chorus when Daniel pinned his hands over his head. He tugged at the grip, cocking an eyebrow when he couldn’t get loose. He could see a glint of fire igniting in Daniel’s gray eyes and knew his fierce electus was back.
Daniel grinned. “I’m the perfect man.”
Chapter 9
    Daniel watched as Carlton sat down in his chair very carefully, leaning slightly to the side. He knew why his anamchara was sitting so carefully, and as much as he didn’t like the man being in any sort of pain, he couldn’t regret why he was in pain. In fact, he was pretty damn elated about it.
    Carlton had not only submitted to him for hours the previous night, he had given Daniel back a part of himself he had thought he had lost. Daniel felt invigorated, strong. Something he had felt a decidedly lacking in the weeks following Carlton’s departure.
    Daniel was still a little worried that two strong alpha males couldn’t be in the same relationship, but he was willing to see where this led. He needed Carlton too much to let him go. If it came down to it, Daniel would do whatever it took to keep Carlton, even submit to him.
    Daniel leaned closer to Carlton, bumping shoulders with him. “I’ll kiss it all better later, anamchara.”
Carlton stilled for a moment then turned to look at him with heat in his eyes. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Daniel grinned then turned to face the others sitting around the room. He felt his face flush a little when Luca looked at him and arched an eyebrow. There was a knowing look in the electus’s eyes. Daniel just shrugged. He had nothing to be ashamed of.
“Carlton,” Luca said as he sat forward, “after you were shot, Daniel and I decided to send out four separate teams to investigate, not only the area where your wolves were attacked, but where the vampires from Daniel’s tribe were taken from and two known locations where hunters gather.”
“What did they find?” Carlton asked.
“Well, as of now, only three of the teams have reported in. There were signs of a scuffle where the wolves were attacked and the vampires taken. One of the locations where the hunters gather was vacant. In fact, it looked like they hadn’t been there in weeks.”
“And the fourth team?”
Luca shook his head. “They haven’t reported in. I hesitate to contact them in case they are someplace that they can’t talk, but if we don’t hear from them soon, I’ll have to do something. I can’t just leave them out there in the cold.”
“Has anyone gone to look for them?” Daniel asked.
“Or sniff them out?” Carlton asked.
Daniel blinked then turned to stare at Carlton. “Excuse me?”
Carlton chuckled. “Wolf shifters have very good noses, mate. If there’s a scent, we’ll be able to follow it.”
“I’ve already considered that, Carlton,” Luca said. “Rowan informed me of that little ability of yours. The problem is that we’re not exactly sure where our team is at the moment.”
Daniel was confused. “I thought you said they went to check out a location for hunters.”
“I did. Unfortunately, we don’t know the exact location, just a general idea. And I don’t think it’s a good idea to plan a rescue mission unless we can pinpoint exactly where our people are.”
“Any ideas?” Daniel asked.
“At the moment, no. But I’m open to suggestion.”
“What do we know about the hunters in the area?” Daniel asked.
“There seems to be two factions at the moment,” Luca said. He didn’t look happy. “The main one is more of a policing unit. They pretty much leave us alone unless there’s an issue with one of our own.”
“And the other one?”
“They seem to be a fringe group that started sprouting up several months ago. They are more of the ‘annihilate them all’ theory. There have been several small attacks in my territory over the last few months, most of