Page 62 of Artemis' Bow
“My wolf is all but showing his belly in submission at Greyson’s alpha bark. He’s always one of the most dominantwolves in the room, but he’s like a fucking kitten in your presence.”
“This is why I stepped down as alpha of my pack and moved to the academy. This much dominance can be dangerous. I don’t want to be a tyrannical leader of my pack, and I never would have known if I was making the right decisions or not because no wolf would dare go against me,” Greyson says, then sighs.
“That’s honorable. I would not have been so noble,” Tristan says, sheepish.
“And that’s why we will never tell you how it happened.” I nod. “A select few who we know wouldn’t abuse it know about what happened to the four of us and that’s how it’s going to stay.”
“I thought there was something different about you all too. I couldn’t put my finger on it, though.”
“Hold on. I think I have an idea,” Raven says. “Wolves respond to dominance, right? They have to obey the most dominant. Have you tried to force the pups to shift back to human?”
“Yeah, but nothing I do works… Oh shit.” Tristan’s eyes widen as he glances between Raven and Greyson. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“To be fair, you only realized he was stronger a few minutes ago.” Raven grins.
“What am I missing?” I ask, glancing around at my friends.
Jayden shrugs. He clearly has no idea what’s going on either. Adrian nods emphatically after a second.
“It could work,” Adrian agrees.
“What could work?” I throw my hands up.
“Greyson, will you see if you can force the cubs to shift?” Tristan asks.
“Raven, you’re a damn genius,” I say with a grin. “You said it yourself; you’re more than a wolf now, and an alpha wolf basically just submitted to you. It should work.”
“Yeah, I can try. We’re staying the night anyway. It’s not a permanent fix, though. I don’t know what will happen when we leave in the morning. They won’t be able to shift until we get Artemis back.” Greyson rubs the back of his neck.
“Got it, but if it works, it will keep the pups from going feral until you rescue the goddess.” Tristan nods and strides to the back of the lobby.
“Where are the pups being kept?” I ask.
If he has them in a cage in the basement or something, I may just gut the alpha. They may be animals right now, but they are still babies and they don’t deserve that.
“They’re in the presidential suite on the top floor. I’m probably going to have to repair it and have it cleaned when this is all over, though. Wolf pups can be unruly at best.” Tristan pushes a button for the elevator.
“Are we sure the elevator is a great idea with spotty electricity?” I ask, eyeing the box with trepidation.
“Do you want to climb the stairs to the eighteenth floor?” Tristan asks.
“I climb twelve flights of stairs several times a day.”
“What?” Tristan eyes me up and down in disbelief. “The elevator is fine. The backup generator is the best there is on the market.”
“It’s fine, Beth.” Jayden grasps my hand and tugs me against his side.
“Famous last words,” I mumble.
It’s odd to think that I used to trust elevators and technology in general, but now… When did that happen? Maybe it was the demon pigeons. Yeah, that’s a good thing to blame it on. Those bastards were vicious.
Tristan pulls a card from his back pocket and swipes it across the electronic scanner. The light flashes green and the elevatorlurches unexpectedly. I lose my footing and stumble into Jayden who wraps his arm securely around my waist, steadying me.
“Thanks,” I mumble.
“Anytime, love.” He kisses my temple.
“You two are sickeningly sweet,” Tristan scoffs.
