Page 98 of Wolf's Mark

“Someone thrown into this fray who didn’t want to be.” She was defiant in her answer, something I admired about her.

“She is important to our group whether you like it or not,” I told him. “You’re right. We are wolves. We have an enemy we must defeat. You may not like the Wolfen politics or even agree with my methods of leadership, but I won’t take anything less than your full support. Either accept we have a fight ahead of us and be willing to lay down your life to protect our world and everyone involved or leave now. It’s your choice.”

“You don’t give me one,” he said mostly under his breath.

I extended my arm further. It was past time to draw a line in the sand.

As he shook my hand less than a minute later, his body relaxed. This wasn’t some instant rekindling of our relationship, but it was a decent start.

“The love fest must end, but your woman is correct,” Riker told us. “We must stick together. The pack will not be as interested in saving our ancestry if it means possibly destroying the lives that have become important to them. However, it would seem we have no choice.” He moved toward the stairs to handle the arrival of the members.

“I’m not his woman,” Sedona threw out.

I backed away, giving my brother the nod of respect I knew he needed. It would do for now. But he remained a loose cannon and would need to be watched.

Chase headed for the bar and I walked toward Sedona, now standing in front of her. There was soulful need in her eyes,a contemplation of everything she’d learned and fear unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

It wasn’t so much because of the people she would be meeting, a scientist’s dream. Or because the nightmare she’d maybe had as a child could be reality. Her apprehension was because she was questioning who she was.

And if she was a wolf.

CHAPTER 25

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest fear is fear of the unknown.”

—H.P. Lovecraft

Jax

Fear.

Perhaps the emotion had been something I’d experienced as a child, but by the time I’d reached manhood, I’d been afraid of nothing. Sensing the strong and powerful draw of terror racing through Sedona was alarming.

As well as eye opening.

The Wolfen had become arrogant, set in their ways of finding happiness in pretending to be something they weren’t. We’d lost our edge when we’d allowed ourselves to step in the shoes of mankind completely.

Money.

Clout.

Power.

We’d found it in other ways, now expecting our desires and needs would be met until the end of time. If it was true that werewolves were attempting to claim a solid place in this world, we’d lost our way. We’d become complacent. That would be our undoing, our walk into the realm of fear.

Of the known.

Maybe this was our punishment, one that was long overdue.

My mother had once cautioned our entire pack that we must be fastidious in our training of our youth. And that we must protect our own.

Her wise words hadn’t been heeded, many moving away from the area just to be free of the Wolfen rules.

In my opinion, that had been the beginning of the end.

Already that had been proven, although sharing that Riker and I had eliminated four werewolves prior to their full transformation would be met with anger. No Alpha would ever have been allowed to challenge the wolf marked for leadership even twenty years ago. But with our push toward leaving our heritage came an entirely different and dangerous set of rules.

They couldn’t give a shit who and what I was.

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