Page 14 of Lost Fate

Evander’s eyes gleam. “You’d talk to your beta like this?”

“I’ll talk to you however the fuck I want,” she barks.

That makes me blink. Normally, betas don’t elicit the same type of respect that alphas do, but people in a pack still feel their authority slightly. I can tell that he’s rippling with it, at the very least. If he’s not, the bigger man, Orion, definitely is.

But if she can tell, Ember clearly doesn’t give a fuck.

“Where are you staying?” Evander growls, looking at me.

I blink. “With Ember.”

He stares at the two of us, his eyes bouncing between us. “Bring him to the pack headquarters tomorrow. Thorne is out right now, but he’ll be back tomorrow. And I’ll assign an enforcer to follow you home…”

“If you do, they have to fight me,” Ember says in a low voice.

Power ripples through her words. Ember’s tough as hell, which I find insanely attractive, but this is more than just toughness. It’s that same confidence that she radiates like the sun. It’s the kind of confidence that alphas have, and the realization catches me off guard for a second.

She expects to be obeyed. She knows that she’ll fight and win, and I think she probably will, too. I move protectively behind her, folding my arms and looking as stern as I can.

If they want to come for Ember, they have to come for me, too.

Ember and Evander lock eyes, both staring at each other. Finally, he gives a sharp nod. “If something bad happens because of him, Ember, it’s going to be on you. You’re strong, and we all know what you’ve done to save the pack, but our grace only goes so far. You can fight us one by one, but you can’t win against all of us,” he says softly.

Her eyes glint, and given Evander’s little frown, I wonder if he doubts that statement as much as she does.

He leaves. One by one, the enforcers turn to go, with Orion being the last one to leave, and when they make it out of the clearing, I take one deep breath.

When Ember’s phone rings, we both jump.

She hands it to me after looking at the number, and I nod. I need to get myself under control. Adrenaline is pumping through me, but more than that, I need to make sure I don’t jump Ember right now. She’s so hot, it’s unreal.

I shut my eyes and take one more deep, shuddering breath. I hit answer and hold the phone up to my ear. “Hey, Mom.”

Chapter 5

Ember

The adrenaline from confronting Evander is still flowing through me, but once I listen to Leander’s conversation, a whole new type of emotion replaces the rage that I’d barely contained just moments ago. After he establishes that he’s fine, just injured, he point blank says, “Am I seeing anyone?”

There’s a moment of silence. My heart pounds. I feel like maybe I shouldn’t be listening to this, so I go to leave, but Leander just waves at me to stay. “I’ll catch you up later, Mom. But I need to know.”

I can tell she asks why. He sighs. “Because… There’s someone I might be interested in.”

His mom’s accompanying excited screech, the ensuing torrent of words that I honestly can’t make out because her Southern accent is so thick, and the flush on Leander’s cheeks tell me all that I need to know.

He’s not taken. And his mom is thrilled that he’s asking.

He wraps up the conversation, and when he tells his mom that he loves her, I know that it’s not something forced or unnatural. He genuinely loves his mom. And she genuinely loves him.

Shit, Leander might be from one of those rare, well-balanced, happy families. Go figure.

He hands the phone back to me, and he rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “Uh. No. I’m not dating anyone. And I’m not mated.”

“Well, I would hope if you were mated, you’d remember that,” I chuckle.

My relief at the fact that he’s not mated is palpable, but I don’t want to seem desperate.

He looks away bashfully. “I guess you heard that part.”

---