Page 20 of Violet Moon (Pitch Mountain Pack #1)

Sera laughed, the sound strained, and nodded in agreement.

The tension from the rest of the pack seemed to lighten as everyone breathed a sigh of relief that the conversation hadn’t gotten too awkward.

The game continued, but her attention was elsewhere.

She kept glancing between Wilma and Parisa’s office door and wondering what, if anything, she had let on.

Regardless, she was going to have to be careful until these feelings faded with time.

A heavy knock on the front door silenced the room. Sera stood, wondering who could be at their home this late in the night.

Opening the door, she was surprised to see Clyde’s Beta, Gabriel, standing there, hair wet from misty mountain rain. His eyes were wide and his normal smile was gone. “I need to speak with Alpha Parisa.”

“She’s not home. Maybe I can help you,” Sera offered. “Do you want to come inside and dry off?”

“I really need to speak with her. Clyde — Alpha Clyde just heard about everything and wants to confirm —”

“He knows what’s going on with Parisa? What is it? Did he tell you?”

“You don’t know, do you? It’s not my place to tell. You should hear it from her.”

“She won’t tell me anything. Please, if you know —”

“I really shouldn’t.” Gabriel’s expression was serious. “When she’s back you need to talk to her.”

“I can’t wait that long. If something is bad enough that Alpha Clyde is concerned, then it’s something I need to know about.” Sera clenched her hands at her sides.

Gabriel backed down the steps. He shook his head. “I’m not the person to tell you. Wait for Alpha Parisa.” He dipped his head as a goodbye and disappeared back into the night.

Sera stood at the open door, fingers gripping the wood.

She had no idea when Parisa would be home, but this time when she waited for her, there was no chance she’d fall asleep.

She slammed the door shut and went straight to Parisa’s office where she’d sit, or more likely pace, until her Alpha was home.

In the hours right before dawn, the office door creaked open. Parisa walked in wearing dirty, wet loose clothing, her hair a mess, looking nothing like her normal self. She froze in place when she noticed Sera.

“Gabriel was here. Alpha Clyde wants to speak with you. What is going on?” Sera demanded.

“I’m handling it,” Parisa replied, voice weak with exhaustion.

“No.” Sera wasn’t backing down. “I understand that we all keep our secrets, but you aren’t you lately!”

Parisa clenched her fists, eyes flashing amber. “I’m who I need to be.”

“And who the hell is that? Because I don’t think you’ve been who this pack needs these past few days. Weeks, even. Where have you been? What are you doing?”

Darkness swept across Parisa’s face. “I need to be this way. I’m this pack’s Alpha. I can’t do anything if I’m weak.”

“How is being approachable weak? How is having an hour to chat being weak?”

“It’s not who I need to be.”

“Why? It’s worked for us for decades I don’t get why —”

“There’s a challenger! It’s that new Alpha. He’s challenged me to a duel for control of this pack.”

The ground dropped out beneath Sera’s feet. Her knees felt weak. It was hard to breathe. Duels were a thing of the past, especially in Hickorywood. It’d been decades since the last one.

“What?” Sera sputtered in disbelief. “When? How?”

“He made his intentions clear early, but he made it official during the full moon. He made sure to remind me while we were there. I’m taking care of it. I’ve been preparing.”

“I know you can handle everything but, Pari, we’re all here for you. And if you can’t trust everyone else, then at least trust that I am here for you.”

Parisa glanced away and crossed her arms, holding herself tight. “A duel must be faced alone.”

“Sure, when you’re in the middle of it. But now? In the weeks before? Why would you pull away? You know we’re all stronger together.”

“This is different. You know it is. I need to prepare alone. Stop trying to convince both of us otherwise.”

“The health, safety, and reputation of the pack comes before all else,” Sera repeated Parisa’s favorite rule, her tongue sharp as she said it.

“What do you think I’m doing if not that?”

“I know that’s what you’re doing, but what should the rest of us be doing? Are we supposed to do nothing? Are we supposed to be there for one another, but not you?”

“A duel is different.”

“A duel is just another obstacle that we take on as a pack.”

“How have you forgotten what it was like when every Alpha male thought he could take my tiny pack from me?”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Sera replied, knowing Parisa was partially right. She could recall the time right after she came back from being lost to the wolf, but it was with the same foggy recollection that she remembered her family. All she knew well was what they had now.

“I face it alone.” Parisa’s tone chilled Sera to the bone and shut her lips tight. “This pack rests on my shoulders more than anyone else’s and I bear that weight proudly. Everything I do is for all of you. I’ve made plans. I’m ready.”

“Plans?”

“If I lose —”

“Don’t.”

“If I lose, those who choose not to remain with him I would hope would follow you, with Wilma as your Beta.”

“You won’t lose. He’s new. He’s nothing.”

“He’s becoming unhinged. He respects Clyde enough to keep it tamed. The moment he’s around me, though, everything changes. The wolf can claim him whenever it wants. He’ll allow it. There’s no telling what he is capable of.”

“You won’t lose.” Sera repeated, voice shaking as her body trembled.

“I don’t plan on losing, but I’ve prepared for every eventuality. You are a part of that.”

“I’m not an Alpha. I can’t lead us!” Tears stung the back of Sera’s eyes.

Parisa pressed a warm hand to her chin and gently lifted her head. “You are an Alpha in everything but status. How have you not seen it all these years?”

“A pack needs an Alpha, a real Alpha.”

“Your years of being lost to the wolf. Does that not make you think of anything? Have you never considered that the Alpha form chose you then? Your years of struggling. You won in the end.”

Sera was thrown back in time to her first moments of clarity after she was turned. The wolf was so strong and terrifying then. It had taken her years to tame it. She was weak. She had lost to the wolf. There was no way. She whispered, “I’m not an Alpha.”

“I think you could’ve been. I think you still are in some ways. When an Alpha forms and the human side fails to tame it, every wolf knows it’s assured death by one means or another. But you? You’re here.”

“I’m not an Alpha.”

“And you can cling to that if you need to, but I know in my heart that you’ve considered this, too. Your eyes tell me everything I need to know. And if that wasn’t enough, your racing pulse tells me the rest.”

“I’m not.”

“Not now. I don’t think it will ever take hold like that again. The opportunity has passed, but I believe without a shred of doubt that, if you were faced with that transformation again, you would emerge even stronger than you are now.”

“None of that matters. You won’t lose.”

“I don’t plan on it, but the pack comes before all else and that includes planning for the worst, no matter how impossible it may seem right now.”

“We’re here for you.”

“Tell no one.”

“But the pack should —”

“Do you trust me?”

For the first time, Sera faltered when responding to that.

“Do you trust me?” Parisa asked again.

Sera nodded, unable to find words.

“Then tell no one. I will tell Wilma the evening of the challenge, but no sooner, and no one else.”