Page 84 of Mated Exile

For the last two weeks we've scoured the land, searching for any signs of the vampires. In human form and wolf form. On our own and with other members of the pack, including Niall and a few wolves from his generation.

There are no signs of them on our territory. Even though the wind sometimes carries the distant smell of blood rot, and I feel a tension between my shoulder blades when I look out the window.

In the meantime, I've searched for another way to wake the elders, or lift the curse, but none has revealed itself to me. It seems that we're in a double bind, because we can only save the pack from being taken over by waking the elders, and we can only do that with the help of the alpha coming to save the pack. Though Niall and Roarke put out feelers, other packs weren't interested in sending their alpha, the key protector of their territory, all the way to us for a bit of freshly-spilled blood.

So now I find myself standing near the road into Juniper, my father's now-repaired house just behind me, squinting against the last afternoon sun and wishing for more time. John deLance will be here in just a few short minutes, to test his possible connection to the pack's members and lands. If he doesn't agree to help us wake the elders somehow then I don't know what we'll do next.

"It's going to work," Roarke says, standing beside me. "We'll just tell him that our alphas are meant to wake the elders, have him slice open his palm, you wake Vivia, and then we don't need him anymore."

"I don't know." While this plan seemed great when we came up with it, the Summit is tomorrow, and we still have vampires on our heels. "There's barely any time left, and anything could go wrong. We're not even sure that Michael was right about waking the elders."

"He has to be. If he isn't... well, we'll get there when it comes to it."

I eye him for a moment. "Once we do lift the curse, who will be alpha over the pack?"

His lips tighten together imperceptibly. "I don't know."

"They want you," I murmur, glancing over towards Lance and Kieran, who are trying to get Kieran's old pickup truck started. He's supposed to be driving into town to pick up supplies for the wake we'll be having after the Summit, to celebrate Dad's life. Finn is watching them with an amused smirk, leaning up against his flashy sport car casually. "I've already talked to Niall about it. There's no one else to put their hat in the ring, unless he chooses to do so himself, but even then he could only be alpha for a decade or two before he'd have to step down."

"You could be alpha." I shoot him an incredulous look. "What? Plenty of female wolves have a strong enough connection to the land to serve as alphas, and we both know that includes you."

"They would never accept a wolf-witch hybrid as their leader. Being female is nothing compared to that."

"I just thought I'd point it out. We should explore all options. They seemed ready to begin accepting you during the last council meeting, when the flame leapt at your touch."

Snorting, I tell him, "It's not an option. You may have seen how they looked at me, and what they said, but you didn't feel their emotions the way I did, or sense their thoughts. They're frightened of me, and that'swithoutme taking over their pack and invading their minds. No—I can't do it. Even if I thought they might accept me despite my nature, that's too much power for one person to have. I don'twantto have control over them."

Roarke watches me with some nameless expression in his eyes. "Do you think you would do something immoral with it if you had that kind of power at your fingertips?"

"I don't know." A shudder goes through me, and a moment later his hand drops to the small of my back, strong and warm. "All I know is that it's not what I want my life to be. I want to bepartof the pack, not some mystical all-powerful being set apart from them. That's more important to me than power, which I never wanted in the first place."

"I get it." Turning to face the scene before us, Roarke chuckles a little as Kieran accidentally stubs his toe on the truck tire, and Lance gives him a withering stare. "I'll do it, you know. Be their alpha. The whole pack's leader."

"I know you will." I give him a tight smile. "You'll step up to the challenge."

As he looks down into my eyes, there's a shadow across his summer-blue gaze, like a cloud covering up the sun. "There's something I should tell you before we consider it, though. If I'm going to be their leader, I want you to hold me in check. I want you to make sure I never overstep."

I frown at him a little, confused. "Overstep?"

The sound of an engine coming to life catches my attention, and I turn towards the road as Roarke says tightly, "Yes. I'm ashamed to admit it, but one time, years ago—"

"He's here." The distant silhouette of a car coming down the road catches my attention, and nervous energy turns over inside me. "An hour late, but here. Did he even explain why he fell so far behind?"

"No. But I'm sure he'll give Niall and me an explanation." Dropping a kiss on my forehead, Roarke stares at me for a moment, his face somehow unbelievably sad. The expression clears by the time I notice it, replaced by inscrutable confidence. "You'll be there at the council meeting? As soon as you're done running errands?"

"I think the errands will have to wait," I point out dryly, motioning towards the guys and the pickup truck. "But yeah, I'll be there."

A moment later the silver SUV pulls up to the curb, and Roarke approaches it. A man gets out of the passenger seat, wearing thick, dark sunglasses, slim well-fitted black jeans, and a white button-up shirt with a perfect crease. The top buttons of the shirt are open, revealing a tanned and muscular chest, and his strong jawline is accentuated by an impeccably groomed short dark beard.

I hate him immediately.

My greatest consolation is that, as he reaches out to shake Roarke's hand, I can tell that he's a couple of inches shorter than my blue-eyed lover.

Small victories.

* * *

Finn checks his phone, a frown settling on his handsome face. "When the hell are those two showing up with that asshole?"

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