Page 18 of Wolf's Reckoning
“It was a farce,” I snapped. Too sharp. Too loud. Too much emotion from the one who prided herself on being in control.
Adair blinked, startled. I saw it immediately, the tension in her shoulders, the way her mouth pressed tight.
Damn it. I exhaled softly, not a sigh, just a moment to pull it together. “Sorry,” I muttered. “It’s been a frustrating day.”
Her expression softened again, but the moment was already broken. She nodded and turned back to her work without another word.
I kept walking, knowing my duty to my pack. They wanted me to smile, to be gracious. They wanted the transition from alpha to leader to be a blessing instead of the knife to my heart that it was. The pack was ready for me to walk into the arms of a stranger who’dearnedme by proving he could outsmart the others. They didn’t want a fight between alphas; no one wanted my father to be overcome by the strength of another. Of a stranger.
No, they wanted aneasy“handover,” one with minimal disruption to their lives. And the best way to provide that for my pack was for me to wed someone I could assist in the learning of our pack ways.
The thought made my lip curl. However, my sense of duty and loyalty to my pack forced me to smooth my features into one of calm—the mask my pack was accustomed to seeing—their leader in everything but name.
I would let these imbeciles chase me. I would let them think the alpha’s daughter was theirs to win.
They could try. But I wasn’t running to be caught…I was running to remind them who the hell I was.
The old hall creaked as I made my way to my father’s rooms. The stone was cool beneath my boots. Familiar. It felt good to be home. My dad’s scent hit me before I saw him—pine smoke and iron. It used to wrap around the whole Hollow like armor. Now it clung to this one room like a dying ember, fighting to stay alight.
Dad was propped up in the old chair near the fire, a wool blanket draped over his legs, shoulders thinner than they used to be. But his eyes were sharp when they met mine. Always sharp.
“Back so soon,” he said with a faint smile.
I nodded. “No point hanging around; they said what they wanted to say.”
His mouth twisted. “Sometimes speed isn’t always a good thing.”
“Tell that to the rabbit that outruns the wolf,” I murmured as I sat down opposite him. I saw his face and let out the sigh I’d been holding for too long. “No. You’re right, sometimes, speed is not good.”
The fire crackled. Dad didn’t look away from me, but I could feel the weight of the thing between us—the unspoken truth that had been growing like rot beneath the floorboards.
“They are keen to name your husband,” he said quietly.
“They are keen to name my replacement,” I corrected, wincing at my sharpness.
Dad gave a low laugh, rough-edged, a little shakier thanit used to be. “You think you can beat them, daughter?” He took a deep breath, his lungs rattling a little with the effort. “You cannot fight them on this.”
“I think you’re letting it happen.”
Silence. Long and brittle.
“I’m dying, Rowen,” he said, his voice thin but clear. “And our pack needs a leader, a recognized leader,” he said firmly.
“Iama leader. The pack recognizesme.”
He closed his eyes for a moment. Not in pain—in something worse. Regret. “You were always meant for more, my sweet child,” he murmured, “but the laws?—”
“The laws were written by men who feared daughters.”
His eyes snapped open. “Rowen. Don’t.”
“Why?” My voice cracked like a whip, the simmering fury boiling over. “They’ll send them in two days. Wolves who don’t know our land, our pack, ourways. And one of them will try andwinme like I’m a prize goat, and they’ll call it avictory.” I leaned forward when my father said nothing. “If you let this happen, you may as well ask them to strike you down, Dad. You’re not alpha anymore; you’d be no more than their puppet.”
The words landed like gasoline on the fire. My father didn’t move. Didn’t flinch. But the anger simmered in his eyes as he stared at me. Thealphaof my pack regarded me.
“You think I don’t see the storm coming, Rowen? You think I haven’t felt it? Heard the trees quiet. You thinkthisis how I choose to die?”
I froze. My pulse spiked, but I said nothing.
