Page 92 of Forever Mates

But this is important.

“Hey. My boobs’ll still be there in a couple of minutes. Let’s talk.”

Ryker is immediately on his guard. Don’t blame him for that, either. With a courtship like ours, ‘let’s talk’ never meant anything good—but that was before. Now? Everything’s different.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“Let’s talk about what we did today. I know you were making some calls, talking to some Alphas. Did you hear back from River Run?”

Ryker nods. “Kendall got in touch. Finally. I gave him the head’s up about Walker, but he already heard what happened in California.”

Of course he did. Even though Ryker was trying to get in touch with as many Alphas as possible before the Wicked Wolf tried to spin exactly how he lost his pack, each pack is its own insular community. Apart from the annual Alpha’s gathering, the pack leaders never wanted it to appear like they were answering to another. River Run is the closest pack to Mountainside, and usually one of our allies. If my jerk of a birth father starts shit on the East Coast, he might target Kendall and the River Run Pack. We need them on our side first.

I’m not surprised that he heard what happened. Shifters gossip worse than old ladies, and that’s before you factor in Walker’s reputation and manipulative tactics. He purposely kept himself away from other Alphas—he refused to go to a single gathering after my mom left him—but that was when he had the Wolf District to lord over.

What is he doing now? No one knows, and both Ryker and I admit that that couldn’t be good. Making sure the packs we thought of as friendly to Mountainside—like River Run, and my real dad’s Lakeview Pack—knew the truth was a priority right behind fortifying our own borders.

“And?”

“Kendall liked Trish. Not enough to let her into his pack when he was sure she was still loyal to Mountainside, but he thought she was a good wolf. When he heard that Walker had her in a cage, he stopped pussy-footing around. He’ll back us.”

That’s right. When Ryker kicked Trish out of Accalia, she realized that she wasn’t lone wolf material. She needed to be part of a pack, and River Run’s the closest. She was in the middle of trying to convince Kendall to let her in when Aleks interfered, telling her to track me and Ryker down in Muncie to beg for forgiveness.

At the time, my ex-roomie was trying everything he could to break me and Ryker up. His motives had been less than innocent, and I nearly went for his throat when my rival showed up in my territory, once again claiming that Ryker was her mate. And, sure, Trish made it clear that she only name-dropped Ryker to the Cadre so that they would let her inside of Muncie, but still. I was a possessive wolf in the middle of the mating dance. Sue me for being a little temperamental.

I’m glad to hear that Kendall is on our side. They’re another level of protection for our pack, and one that we could use.

Good.

“What about the Beta hunt?” I ask next. “Any luck on that?”

“I wish. I swear to the Luna, I don’t know how that asshole was able to get a hundred different Betas while he was Alpha. I’d do anything for just one good one.”

That asshole… since we made it back to Accalia, the Wicked Wolf has been relegated to “that asshole” by Ryker. I can’t say I don’t love it.

“You know, I think I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.” And that was putting it mildly. “What about Jace?”

The way I see it, it’s like killing two birds with one stone. Jace gets a promotion that he deserves, I get a little more breathing room when it comes to him acting like my shadow, and Ryker has a loyal Beta who won’t betray him. Huh. Make that killing three birds.

Not bad, if I do say so myself. Now I just have to get Ryker to agree.

When he scoffs and says, “Jace? Jace can’t be Beta,” I know I have my work cut out for me.

“Why not?” I demand.

Ryker looks at me like I’ve asked him why two and two is four. To him, the answer is obvious. “Because he’s not a born beta.”

“So?”

“Gemma—”

Come on, Ryker. It’s not that obvious.

“Hear me out. What’s a Beta anyway? A title. A position in the pack. The Beta needs to be a right-hand to the Alpha. Someone the pack respects. And, okay, maybe the beta rank is perfect for the job, but there’s not that big a difference between Warren’s dominance and Jace’s. He’s younger, devoted to Mountainside, and a good wolf. I think he’d be perfect for it.”

Ryker’s quiet for a few seconds. And then, almost begrudgingly, he nods. “You’re not wrong.”

I know I’m not. “You’re the Alpha. If you want to choose him to be your Beta, who’s gonna stop you? The only one who can even try is me, and since this is my brilliant idea, you know damn well I won’t.”

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