Page 13 of Destined Bear
I’m starting to understand. They’ve discussed me joining the council at length already. They knew what my arguments were going to be and how to counter them with their own. I had walked into a losing battle.
Irritation bubbles beneath the surface of my skin. “I wouldn’t have left if I had received the respect I deserved in this pack, from any of you. Seems to me the last time I was here, you had little regard for what I had to say. Why would I think anything is different now?”
“You’re here to fill your mother’s position, not to pursue your own agenda,” Collessus reminds me. “We’re not asking you to serve as an advisor, but as a member of the council.”
I scoff loudly. That’s not the response I wanted, nor does it reassure me in the least. The autonomy I crave isn’t on the table.
“Does that mean you’ll listen to me more or less?” Sarcasm drips from my words, and they eye one another. I guess that wasn’t one of the questions they expected. “If this is just going to be a replay of what happened last time I was on the council, I want no part of it. I gave you all a perfectly sound resolution for ending the friction between us and Ember Hollow, but you ignored it. You mocked me for suggesting a peace treaty, for wanting to stop the fighting. And, in the end, you just did the same thing. How am I supposed to feel about all this now?”
I think my mind is made up on the matter.
With that, I stand and stalk toward the exit, ignoring the cries of protest in my midst.
A strong arm touches my bare bicep, but I don’t need to look to feel the unmistakable attraction between us. I swear, I could feel Emeric in a crowd, even if I couldn’t see him, our connection still strong enough.
I shake Emeric off, steeling myself against the trembling.
“You have to do this.” His voice is a low growl, leaving no room for argument. “You will give us a definitive answer. Fill your mother’s place, or leave the territory.”
My head whips toward him, and I glower. “Don’t play that card with me! If you’re so in control, handle it yourself!”
His verdant stare widens at my rebuke, and I step back, hoping some space will create some clarity between us, but it only serves to confuse me more. His mere presence overtakes me, making me want him more.
Emeric’s face softens, his shoulders sinking as if he can tell he is losing to my pragmatism. “I do need you.”
His admission takes me aback. I almost ask him, “Since when?”
But something holds me back. I’m not sure I want an honest answer to that question. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all.
“The pack, the council, everything functions as a cohesive whole. We need to work together. That includes the enforcers, the council—your mother… you.”
My heart freezes. Is that really why the mating ceremony hadn’t happened with him and the female from Ember Hollow? Because of me?
Another swipe at my legs tells me that Alessa is still at my feet, but I ignore my friend and try to focus on what Emeric is saying… or at least trying to say. It’s all so distracting with the council watching and these emotions consuming me.
I’m too overwhelmed.
His gaze locks onto mine. “Why don’t we go talk somewhere quietly for a minute?”
He still has that uncanny ability to get in my head. It shouldn’t surprise me. We had spent so much time together before he embarrassed me. Once, I thought we would end up together forever. But I had been much more naive then.
My impulse is to refuse, but he doesn’t allow it and steers me out of the council room toward the hall, his hand reminding me of all I’d tried to forget for the past five years. It had been a mistake to come here, to return to Willow Grove, to listen to Alessa, who continues to lurk by, eavesdropping.
I scowl at the cat, and she returns my look with wide, innocent eyes before jutting off down the hall with a flick of her gray tail.
“You need to put all your biases and anger aside and think about what Collessus and the other members just said in there. Your mother is valued and needed. Without her, someone needs to step in and take over.”
“You also said that you managed without her.”
This stubbornness doesn’t become me, but Emeric brings out the worst in me. Once upon a time, we brought out the best in one another. I miss those days. If only we could go back to that time again, when we were in love and in tune with one another.
“So you’re refusing?” His eyebrow arches, and his piercing eyes bore into me like he can read every thought in my head. He probably can. This was such a bad idea. Now I’m flustered again. How does he always manage to do this to me? I’m like a different person around him.
“I never said that.” I hate the way my voice sounds right now. “I need to think about things. Like I said, I didn’t come here for this. I want my mom to be the focus of my concerns.”
“Circe is everyone’s primary concern.”
I snort lightly, and his frown deepens, but to my relief, he doesn’t push the issue. “I’ll have Heath drive you home.”
