Page 81 of To Challenge a Wolf

“Please,” he whispered.

Twenty-One

“What is it, Rhett?” Kelsey’s voice was soft as a brush of feathers. “What can we do for you?”

He didn’t know. And then he did. “Don’t let go. I know I’m a screw-up, a lousy wolf, but please don’t let go of me.”

“Oh, Rhett, of course not,” she said, a gentle chiding in her voice as though he were some ridiculous pup. “You’re pack to us.”

“That’s right,” Trevor said with the growl that always sounded more like the purr of a lion. “Pack to us.”

“As I’ve told you countless times,” Malachi said. “Pack to us.”

“Definitely,” April said. The cool cloth settled on the back of Rhett’s neck again, and she said as if it were the completion of a benediction from the four of them, “Pack to us.”

Rhett shut his eyes against the knifing pain in his head. He wanted to let the three words soak into him. To trust them. But first he had to keep fighting. No one else would do it for him. He had to function at optimal efficiency, and feelings did nothing but get in the way. A liability. A danger. They’d stayed behindbarriers all these years. They could get right back there and be squashed again.

But if the barriers stayed up... “My mate.”

“She sure is,” Kelsey said.

“Which I told her,” Trevor said. “Not that she believed me.”

Rhett growled.

“Yep, I did. I didn’t expect you to send her packing. Thought y’all were about to make it official, waltzing off into the forest at midnight for whatever went on out there.”

Another low growl.

“Are you mad? Want to do something about it?”

“Trevor,” Malachi said.

“I think I know what he needs, Mal. Trust me, okay?”

Rhett looked up. What was the wolf going on about…?

Trevor had pulled one of the other chairs around to sit directly in front of him, a wooden drink tray set on top of his knees. He grasped Rhett’s hand, then positioned his elbow and Rhett’s to rest on the tray, their hands clasped in a thumb-locking hold.

Trevor wanted to arm wrestle.

“He’ll break your hand,” Malachi said.

Kelsey gave a little whimper.

“Don’t break my hand,” Trevor said. “Kelsey won’t like it.”

Rhett snarled.

“Okay, Rhett,” Trevor said quietly. “Put me down.”

He wrestled with all his might. Trevor resisted well, but he was a long-limbed, fast wolf. Rhett was compact, stronger, and they both knew it. Within five seconds, Rhett slammed Trevor’s hand down…too hard. The wood cracked, and Trevor yelped like a little pup. Kelsey gave a cry, and guilt coursed through Rhett’s whole body.

“Trevor,” he growled. “That was stupid.”

“That was strategy. Though I admit I thought I’d do better.” Trevor held out his other hand. “Best of three?”

“No,” Rhett said.

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