Page 49 of Malcolm

“You don’t know?” Agun asked, seeming surprised she was out of the loop.

She rolled her eyes, “If I knew anything, would I have asked?”

Embarrassed, Agun cleared his throat and continued, “Well, the elders finally approved of Malcolm to fight for the right to be Alpha. So, they are starting sign-ups.”

“Excuse me?” Eliza said, her eyes wide with shock. She noticed a certain male who topped the others in height. His figure was impressive, as he swung up an axe and set it on the table. He spoke to a man who wore glasses and was taking down names. As they cut through the crowd, she couldn’t help but ask, “Is he going to fight all of them?”

“No, he’s going to fight the one who beats the others,” Agun said, his voice holding a bit of pride. That took Eliza by surprise.

“You think he can win,” she asked, thoughtfully.

“Yeah, especially after seeing him in action when we went to see the warlocks,” Agun said, his expression holding an almost heart-stopping optimism. “When he defeated Damon a few years back. Not many in the pack were surprised; it sucked that he wasn’t able to participate in the fight then. Damon was a fucking bastard.”

“That’s what I have heard,” Eliza said as they left the loud mess hall and entered a long hallway. Eliza had been taken aback when she started working in the kitchen, that there were multiple hallways that led to the castle that she’d thought was pretty far away. She was pretty sure there was some magical work at play to make the distance shorter.

After a few minutes, they arrived at a closed door, and Agun stepped aside.

“Well, here’s your stop,” he said, exiting.

Eliza watched him go before she knocked on the door.

“Enter.” Opening the door, she entered only to stop the sight of Malcolm.

He stood near the back window, and in his hands was a scroll. He wore jeans and a shirt, but over his shoulder was hisplaid. It looked like a large scarf on him. His eyes were focused on the scroll. As she observed him, she couldn’t help the pang at the sight of him.

This is where he belonged. Now, the pictures of him she had in her mind in the city seemed almost fake. Like another life, in this stone-walled study with its hundred-year furniture and thick tombs that probably were the same age as her grandmother, Malcolm looked not only at home but like he was meant to be there.

And she didn’t.

This wasn’t her world.

Frankly, she didn’t know where her world was. This feeling of not belonging had always chased her; even when she slept, she’d feel it creeping up on her.

He finally looked up, closed his scroll, and immediately tossed it on the desk. “Come in.”

She closed the door behind her and walked deeper into the room. It was weird; for some reason, she felt like she should be wearing a gown as she approached him. Well, at least her hair was playing its role; she’d let it hang down her back as she pulled the top half back. She motioned toward the scroll, “What’s that?”

He glanced at it before groaning. “Something I was glad to live without all these years.”

For some reason, she couldn’t look at him. She felt fragile, like a glass shard waiting to fall.

“Is it true?” She asked, not looking at him. She had no right to demand anything from him. She was a burden, a charity case as far as he was concerned. “Are you really going to become the Alpha here?”

His smile slipped away as he looked away from her to the window. “My uncle asked me, and like I said earlier, it would be until he found a better person.”

“I thought you didn’t want anything to do with him?” She closed her eyes and called herself stupid a thousand times. “I’m sorry, I should be the last person to question you or your actions?—”

“No,” he cut her off, meeting her gaze. “I am doing this for my people and only for the time I’m here. I told him that once the issue of the missing wolves is solved and we find whoever is working with them, I’d leave.”

She observed him, and before she could stop herself, she spoke. “You should be their Alpha, permanently.”

He moved towards her. “Is that what you think?”

She nodded, taking a step back. “I-when I saw you, I thought it fit,” she said, swallowing. She quickly sidestepped so a chair was between them. “I don’t think you belong in the city. I’ve only known you for a short while, but something about this place is right for you,” she said, laying her hands on the back of the chair to ground herself. “I know how it feels to be out of place, not to have a home. So, it’s not something you should give up easily.”

He didn’t laugh at her words or brush them off. Those green eyes she was starting to form a weakness for faced her directly. “You see me clearly, then. I can’t lie to you and say that I don’t wish it was different. That I could truly be these people’s leader. I can’t lie and say my blood doesn’t sing at the idea of playing the role of a true alpha.” He shook his head, “But I can’t take it.”

“Why can’t you?” she softly demanded. “You were the only one who heard my cry, the only one willing to be punished for hiding me. I can’t think of a better man to be a leader here.”

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