Page 31 of The Wild Wolf's Rejected Mate

“What were you planning to do when Quarry Pack came to fetch their females?” I ask Alroy to distract myself from that train of thought.

“It was a fair trade, not a theft.”

“And what were you trading?” I ask. I bend over Elis and rest my hands on his sides. He tenses and whines. I wait for him to relax. The last thing I want to do is upset an injured Elis. When his wolf bites, he goes for your dick.

Alroy mumbles an answer that sounds like pelts and steaks.

He better not have fucking said pelts and steaks.

“What?” I ask sharply. Elis startles and presses himself more stubbornly into the dirt, whimpering when it hurts. Dumb wolf. I pat his haunch and rumble.

Alroy hangs his head. His expression is still ornery, but his face is turning green. His lips are mashed together. He’s decided silence is his best move.

I look at Khalil and raise an eyebrow.

“Pelts and steaks,” Khalil says.

My stomach sinks. “How many?”

“All of them,” Khalil says, holding my gaze. He’d love for me to take it as a challenge. He’s been angling for a real fight for years, but if he wants to go out in a blaze of glory, he can find someone else to do the dirty work. There is no room in the pack I carry for any more ghosts.

“Fate’s ownidiots,” I groan, searching my memory. I don’t remember seeing a stack of pelts and steaks at the Quarry Pack dens. “Tell me you hid the goods somewhere untilafteryou had the females in hand.”

Khalil’s brown cheeks darken. “One of their males hauled it all into a den before you got there.”

I lift my hands off Elis so I don’t squeeze his guts out through his belly as my fingers ball into fists. “And you thought you’d make this trade right under Kelly’s nose?”

Khalil shrugs. “Old Byrne said something’s wrong with Killian’s new mate. He said she’s made him weak and distracted.”

“And you didn’t question how reliable the word of a male making deals behind his alpha’s back might be?”

“We make deals behind your back.” Khalil smirks.

“I amnotthe alpha.”

Khalil shrugs again.

Every word from these idiots’ mouths pumps more blood into my brain. It’s going to explode. “The lost packs have alphas,” I begin for the thousandth time. “Theyare the ones so lacking in pride that the stronger make themselves bigger by standing on the shoulders of the weaker, pretending that’sourway.Ourinstinct. But that isman’sway. Look at the natural wolves. You only find alphas in cages. Inzoos. In the woods and hills, there are onlypacks.”

My pack gapes at me, blinking.

They’re tired of hearing it, and I’m tired of saying it, but damned if I can stop myself. “When the smoke shed is full, and the firewood is piled high, when everyone is cared for, from the weakest to the strongest, there is no need for alphas.”

“Well, Alpha, I have some bad news for you. Don’t know that the smoke shed is full anymore,” Khalil says, raising a pointed black eyebrow.

My wolf snarls in my throat.

Khalil puffs his chest and opens his arms. “Well, come on,” he says. “I’ve been waiting.Alpha.”

My temper snaps.

We meet mid-air in a collision of fur and skin, limbs and fangs and feet and claws. He moves faster than the last time we brawled, but his weakness is still his weakness—what he really, truly wants is pain, not a win.

Except for Elis—who lies still and watches with his muzzle flat on the ground—the others edge away, licking their wounds while they enjoy the show. I don’t fight much these days. No one will try me except Khalil.

He attacks with no strategy, snapping and swiping at whatever part of me he can reach, shifting to dodge and lunge without thinking about where I’m going to be or what I’m doing.

He leaps for my neck. I shift, squat, grab his hindlegs as he sails overhead, and swing him through the air at an oak, just like a game of snatch ’em. He hits the trunk with a meaty thud. I’ve still got it.

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