Page 30 of Pack to the Wall

I patted the bed next to me, beckoning him. I felt more comfortable now with the pillow covering me. I wouldn’t mind if he was a bit closer.

He came, but more like a whipped puppy than a willing man.

“Yes, alpha,” he whispered as he came and sat on the edge of the bed, closer, but still out of reach.

Those words, and how he’d said them, spoke volumes.

“Bronn, I may be your alpha, but you know I’ll never hurt you, right?”

Then it occurred to me he had no proof of that. Just that morning he’d seen me shoot his old alpha.

He looked at me with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “I want to believe that.”

I finished for him. “But that’s never been what you’ve known, has it?”

He shook his head. “Alpha’s aren’t kind. They’re brutal, especially to those who aren’t wolves.”

“You’re not—?” I stopped myself. Something Tyson had mentioned earlier that day came back to me. He’d mentioned that some in this pack were werebears and there was one werelion. I didn’t even know what instinct I drew on then, but I justknew… “You’re a lion.”

He looked at me, brows drawing together. “How…? Humans usually can’t tell.”

I shrugged. “Call it woman’s intuition? I don’t know.”

He nodded. “I am, yes. And despite lions being bigger than wolves, there are a lot more ofthem.” His voice grew faint. “And they made sure I knew it… often.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

“I was taken from my pride when I was sixteen,” he whispered. For just a flash of a moment, a smile appeared, then vanished. “I loved my family. Prides are ruled by a collective of females, did you know that?” He looked over and I shook my head. “There is an alpha male, sort of, but he’s chosen by the females as their primary protector. Other males may also follow the alpha and, just like with wolves, the culture isn’t always pretty. Males challenge each other for dominance and whoever wins, wins. The females only want the best and strongest warriors as their alphas. The alpha is also the one who… gets access to the females. My father was an alpha and my mother was the respected eldest of the pride females. They were both killed when Harley’s pack fought ours. Harley claimed me as hisprize and loved to remind me I was just a lowly cat as often as he could.”

“I’m so sorry, Bronn,” I said, feeling the need to reach out to him. I shuffled over a bit so I could put a hand on his shoulder. His leather vest was cold under my fingers and his eyes were wet with unshed tears when he looked at me.

“Your kind now, but I fear…”

He feared what? That I’d stop being kind?

“What?” I asked when he didn’t go on.

“That after you’re turned, you’ll be a wolf and…”

Oh.

“I also fear what you’ll have to become to defeat someone like Brick…”

Oh.

I hadn’t thought about that. Did becoming a shifter change a person? Obviously yes, there was a physical change, but did their temperament and behavior change as well? Tyson had said this was a curse and he’d implied that those who had it were inherently evil. If that was the case… then would I become evil too? Would I no longer feel the compassion and kindness I felt now?

Yet… despite what he’d said, I didn’t think Tyson was evil, nor Bronn or Colt. I didn’t know what to believe. Suddenly, I desperately needed to find out.

“Does turning a person usually change them?” I asked, tentative.

Bronn shrugged, his heavy shoulder muscles moving under my hand. “I don’t know. I wasn’t witness to any turnings when I was with my pride. The only ones I’ve seen have been with this pack, and…” He seemed to realize something. “They weren’t wolves.” His muscles bunched, tension building within him. “Tank is a bear and he…” Bronn’s face shifted into a mask of disgust. “He finds women he likes, kidnaps them, and turnsthem, uses them, then… kills them as soon as they no longer suit him. And yes, they change, but I don’t think it’s because of being turned, but because they’re forced to… by Tank.”

My other hand balled into a fist, my jaw tight, teeth grinding. Something needed to be done about Tank. I’d seen the cold look in his eyes, people were playthings to him. And now, hearing Bronn speak of kidnapping, rape, and murder along with the man’s complete lack of remorse, a rage burst to life within me. And the fact that Harley, the previous alpha, had made a man like that one of his betas spoke volumes about the sort of man he’d been as well, not to mention what pack life must have been like.

Venom laced my voice when I whispered, “There is no way I’ll put up with such behavior inmypack.” I swallowed a foul lump in my throat. “I don’t know if I’ll change when I turn or not, but I know that I won’t be an alpha like you had before. I don’t want to hurt these people. I want to take care of them… take care of you, Bronn. That’s the sort of alpha I want to be. I won’t stand for anyone in my pack hurting anyone else, whether they’re in the pack or not.”

A bundle of restless dread formed in my gut at the thought of what Tank had done, what this pack had been like, and what they’d all gone through. Also, I had no clue how I was going to stop men like Tank and Brick, nor change things, not yet. That only made that cold, hard ball in my stomach all the heavier. Yet at the same time, I felt some of the knotted tension within Bronn release.

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