Page 60 of Wolf's Reckoning
Control was the spine of every pack, the silent law that kept blood from spilling on the wrong side of the border. You didn’t become an alpha without knowing what it meant to carry that weight. Not just the decisions, not just the consequences—the pack themselves.
Their fears. Their hungers. Their trust.
Without control, a pack fractured. With it, they thrived. They obeyed. They survived. And Rowen? She was everything a pack feared in a leader. Female. Fierce. Unbound. The druid saw it. So probably did the Pack Council, and I realized today, so did her father. Even if he wanted it to be different for her, the fact was, it just wasn’t.
She wasn’t unstable—she wasunclaimed. And in the eyes of tradition, that made her dangerous.
Blueridge Hollow was teetering. Between the pressures from the Pack Council and the hovering rogues and every old law whispering that a woman couldn’t lead—this place needed a name that meant power.
Mine did.Wolfe. Alpha of the Stonefang Pack. Soon to be Alpha of Blueridge Hollow.
An alpha that theyknew. A leader they would openlyrecognize…and if I was being honest, recognize with a sigh of relief. If tying myself to Rowen was what it took to keep this pack from bleeding out? Why would I not do it?
A marriage bond wasn’t romance. It was a strategy. Strategy, I knew. Strategy, I could do. With teeth bared, head high, and not a single heartbeat of hesitation. Because control wasn’t just what I wielded. It was what I was—as an alpha.
“Hey.”
I looked up and saw her hovering near the edge of the brush she’d just come through.
“You always were quiet on your feet,” I murmured as I straightened. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, falling down past her breasts. A simple black tank top, black pants, and her boots. She looked ready for whatever life threw at her. I wondered when she stopped recognizing that.
Rowen didn’t look me in the eyes as she said, “I’m sorry.”
I hadn’t expected that. “Why?” I asked her, knowing I sounded as suspicious as I was.
Rowen smiled as she looked away, pushing her hair over her shoulder. “Because they suggested a marriage to a woman you don’t want, and despite that, I know you’re out here considering it.” She took a deep breath. “Do you…” She cleared her throat. “Do you have someone at home?”
“I have a whole pack of someones.”
Rowen gave me a flat stare. “You know what I mean. Don’t be a dick.” I widened my eyes and feigned shock, and I saw her fight the smile. “Do you have a…female at your other pack?”
“We have a healthy mix of male and female,” I told her with a straight face.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Wolfe, do you have a partner? A lover?” She saw me about to speak. “I mean, a woman you are in a relationship with!”
I considered playing with her some more, but the look in her eye made me think she might throttle me, and I wasn’t in the mood to play fight with her. “No.”
Rowen swallowed, licking her bottom lip as she looked away. “And there’s no…”
“I haven’t found someone to spend my life with yet.”
Rowen nodded, eyes on the ground. “Yet…”
I sighed out my frustration. “What do you want me to say, Rowen?”
She looked up at me sharply. “I want you to say it. If we agree to this…this insanity—you think about what you’re letting go.”
My body stilled. Cold. Controlled. “Letting go?”
Her mouth twisted. “I won’t tolerate infidelity.”
“You won’t tolerate it?” I huffed a laugh. Bitter. Ugly. “What if I don’t care? Or what if I want a harem of women at my beck and call?”
She didn’t miss a beat. “Well, you already told them where you’d rather stick your dick, but I think aharemmight be ambitious, even for you.”
I moved.
Two steps, no warning, all dominance. She flinched, startled—but didn’t run. Just backed up as I approached, spine hitting the rough bark of the pine behind her. Her breath caught, but she didn’t break eye contact. Brave, foolish girl.
