Page 11

The vibe in the house had changed since Jenny discovered I was her father, but my role in the pack had remained the same. The Dark Alpha group was eager to scout a new area to the north, and it was my duty as a member to help them. It made me nervous to leave Jenny and Christa behind without my protection, but I knew my pack would keep them safe.

It had put my mind at ease knowing that the most dangerous member of the Dark Alphas, Gage Desmond, was with me on the scouting expedition. Unfortunately, that meant I had to deal with his constant power plays and sneaky attempts to downplay the other members’ contributions and gain the upper hand over the rest of us.

We had traveled into the territory late last night and, so far, hadn’t seen any signs of major pack movement. There appeared to only be a few small packs—even smaller than the ones we came from—mostly made up of family units.

“Getting them to cede their lands to us won’t take much convincing,” I said in passing to Desmond and Alpha Vitali as we took a break on a hilltop overlooking the most recent of the pack structures we had seen. A handful of homes stood together in the valley, and no one appeared to be on guard—or even awake. “I don’t think it’ll even come to a fight. They’ll just let us have it once they see the strength of our numbers.”

“This is exactly what I was warning you about,” Desmond whispered to Alpha Vitali.

“‘Warning’ him?” I asked. “What on earth are you talking about?”

Vitali gave a hard look to Desmond and shifted his eyes back towards me. “There’s been some talk…” he admitted uncomfortably.

“Talk about what, exactly?”

“About you and your new little lady friend,” Desmond quipped.

I had known that some of the alphas were still upset by me leaving Christa and Jenny alive, but I had hoped with time, the females’ confinement in my territory would help convince them of the rightness of my plan. Apparently, I was mistaken.

“Is there something wrong with her? Has she done something to your pack, Desmond? I didn’t realize she had any power over your territory,” I pointed out sarcastically. If he wanted to be derogatory, two could play that game.

“It has nothing to do with her power ,” Desmond sneered, squaring up to me. “I saw the signs when you wouldn’t dispose of her when you should have. You’ve got her playing luna in your pack, claiming she’s your mate.”

“I claim nothing but the truth,” I countered.

“That’s what you claim,” he argued. “But I think there’s more to the story than you’re telling. I think you’re harboring a spy and putting us all at risk.”

I laughed at the accusation, hoping to get him to realize how preposterous his thought process was. “My mate is no spy,” I chuckled.

“If she’s your mate, does that mean you’ve had the ceremony and bedded her, then? I bet you tasted all of her sweet, milky skin. Is that why you’re acting like a little puppy who’s afraid to fight for what is rightfully ours? She’s got you pussy-whipped.”

Hearing this vile man speak of Christa in such vulgar terms made my wolf rise up in arms before I even had the opportunity to register it was happening. Orin transformed and sprang at him, raking a claw across his shoulder before he could follow suit.

As we tumbled down together, Gage transformed as well. His dark gray wolf howled in pain and bit my flank, leaving a gash in my thigh. I growled and prepared to reengage when Alpha Axel Vitali, still in human form, jumped between us.

“Enough!” he shouted. “You two are causing a ruckus that’s going to wake the enemies. We don’t have any backup with us. Stop now, before you cause more problems for us all.”

I waited until Gage turned back into his human form before I did as well, unwilling to let my guard down.

“We’re allies. Act like it,” Axel said.

“Allies” is a bit of a stretch, Orin growled.

He’s right, though, I said. What were you thinking, attacking him like that?

I was thinking that he wasn’t going to stop talking shit until I made it impossible for him to talk again.

“We should head home,” I said. “We’ve seen everything we need here.”

“Yes. We have,” Desmond agreed. He eyed me suspiciously as we transformed again for the run back home. The hate seemed to roll off of him in waves as we ran. Our encounter may have been the first violence between us, but I could tell it wouldn’t be the last.

By the time I got back to the house, it was almost three in the morning. I did my best to be quiet as I came inside so I wouldn’t wake the girls, but Christa must have been waiting up for me.

“Where have you been?” she whispered harshly.

“Out,” I replied with a muffled groan.

My leg had started to heal, but wolf bites were always slow. Blood had soaked my pant leg, and if I didn’t get it washed quickly, it would take longer. The sooner I got a calendula salve on the injury, the better my chances were of avoiding a scar.

“I’m serious, Colson,” Christa said, following me to my room, where I headed immediately into the bathroom and started the shower. “Jenny was worried about you when you missed dinner. You can’t just leave without telling her. You know that, right?”

I winced, both from the pain in my leg and the knowledge that I had hurt my daughter.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I haven’t been a parent for very long. I didn’t think—”

“Exactly! You didn’t think. If you want to have a relationship with her, you had better figure out how to think of her well-being first,” Christa chided.

“I will,” I assured her. “But can I get some privacy, please?”

Christa’s forehead creased in confusion at my request, and then she spotted my blood-soaked leg.

“Col!” she exclaimed. “What in the world happened?”

“You should see the other guy,” I joked, removing my clothes.

“Who hurt you? What happened?” she demanded again.

“Alpha Vitali and I had a bit of a scuffle.”

She sighed as she helped me get my blood-soaked pant leg unstuck from my skin and got me into the shower. My eyes closed as the hot water streamed down my body, relaxing my tense muscles.

I assumed that Christa would leave while I showered, so I was surprised when I opened my eyes and saw she was still there. She grabbed a clean rag and handed it to me so I could clean myself up.

“Why are you allies with them?” she asked quietly. “I don’t understand the appeal of tying yourself and your pack to a group of people that would be so cruel, let alone people who would turn on you like this.”

“Our goals align at the moment,” I answered. “Tonight was an outlier for how we usually interact. My wolf and I let our anger get the best of us and responded to Gage in a way that was… unhelpful at diffusing the tension. Trust me, if I play nice with them for a little bit, my pack will be safe for years to come.”

She eyed me intently for a moment and then turned to grab my towel. She handed it to me as I turned the water off and patted myself dry, careful to avoid getting any fresh blood on the cloth.

“Where are your bandages?” she asked.

I nodded toward the sink, and she opened a drawer to find what she needed. As I sat on the edge of the tub, Christa applied the salve to my wound and placed a large bandage around my thigh. Her fingers brushed against my skin, and I took a deep breath at the contact.

When she was done, she looked up at me, and I could see a sea of thoughts racing behind her eyes.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You’re better than this, Colson,” she whispered. “At least, you used to be.”

The comment wasn’t accusatory. Instead, it gave a feeling of sadness that perforated the room. I reached my hand out to cup her cheek. She leaned into it, closing her eyes peacefully.

Both of us were thinking about the people we used to be, and how much things had changed. It made me wonder if what she said was true and if I was still the same person I used to be, deep down. I’d done many things I wasn’t proud of since then, but it had all been to protect my pack. Did that make me a good alpha, or a bad person?

“What if I want to be that person again?” I whispered back to her.

“Then show me, Colson,” she replied, an edge of pleading in her voice. “Be that man again. For Jenny.”

I swallowed hard, knowing the task she had set before me was a gargantuan one. But it was clear that I would need to figure out a plan, and soon. Alpha Desmond wouldn’t stop his scheming, and I had a family to protect now.

“I will,” I assured her.