Page 123 of Wolf's Vow

I didn’t blink. “How soon?”

“Sooner than you think. They’ve sent summons to some other alphas—claiming you’re consolidating power too quickly. That you’re destabilizing the territories.”

“Let me guess,” I said dryly, “they don’t like that the two packs haven’t imploded yet.”

He huffed a grim sound. “I think they werecountingon it. But here’s where it gets worse. There’s a whisper going around. That Blueridge Hollow was never meant to have another alpha.”

I stared at him. “What does that mean?”

“They’re saying your bond with Rowen wasengineered. That it’s a false bond, forged for power.Yourpower.”

I laughed once, a cold, humorless sound. “That’s bullshit. They’re scared.”

“They could be,” Diesel said, eyes dark. “But they’re not running, Wolfe. They’re circling, and they have a lot more power than you do.”

I glanced back toward the way we’d come, where my mate lay sleeping, and my chest tightened. “Do they know the bond’s complete?”

“I don’t think so.” He hesitated. “Not yet.”

Let them wonder. Let them feel that unknown like a knife pressed to their throat. “A completed bond is very hard to fake,” I spat out. “What else?” I asked.

Diesel’s lips pressed into a line. “They’re calling for a hearing. A formal one. They’ll want both of you.”

I exhaled slowly, the weight of it all pressing in. “She’ll come with me,” I said confidently.

“Wolfe,” Diesel warned.

“They won’t separate us,” I said flatly. “And if they try?” My wolf snarled beneath my skin, eager and sharp. “Then let them come.”

“Your packs aren’t ready for this war,” Diesel muttered. He looked at me. “Kill told me everything, while you were in there and…well.”

“Killian needed to sleep,” I grumbled. “You’d better have let him sleep.”

“You’ve been fucking for almost two days. He’s slept.”

I punched him. He hit me back. We had a brief brawl. It was over as quickly as it began. I wiped the blood from my mouth and glanced at the smear on my knuckles. Diesel’s eye was already swelling.

“Feel better?” he asked, breathless but smirking.

“Not even close,” I muttered, then offered him my hand. He took it, and I helped him up. We didn’t need to say anything else. Not right away.

The Hollow was quiet this morning. Waiting. The kind of stillness that came before the earth cracked open and swallowed you whole.

Diesel followed me to the pack hall, rubbing his jaw, not bothering to shift. He’d heal quickly enough. “The majority will follow you,” he said, quietly now. “But we need them prepared.”

“They will be.”

His look was grim. “I don’t know if they will.”

I walked into the hall, seeing the looks from the few that were there, hearing the whispers.

“Did you sleep well, Alpha?” someone asked good-naturedly. I laughed with the others, as it was the pack’s way, but my wolf snarled beneath my skin.

You look like you want to kill them,Diesel snorted.You’re supposed to be chilled out. You just spent over twenty-four hours having great sex. Can you at leastpretendto be relaxed?

Can you shut up about sex and my mate?

For the love of the Goddess, I’m sending you back in if you don’t lighten up.