Page 173 of Unforgivable

Penny

"Hey, what's up, In?" I plop down next to him on the oversize blue bean bag chair.

"Just thinking," he replies softly.

"About?" I flip over on my stomach and rest my chin in my hands. Tomorrow we have school. Lyri's males (OMG, that's so weird to say even in my head) don't want us to go, but Mom did. Until the crazy-huge visitor, Teague, told her that the female visiting the alpha family, Alice, pupnaps and sells little females my age into sex slavery.

Yeah, that shut Mom up real fast. We are so not going to school. I think she may have had a stroke judging by the murder in her eyes and her red face. I honestly thought Mom was going to claim the right to kill Alice from the big bad wolf. She can't, though, because apparently, there's a 'plan.'

Inuit seems real pensive, almost sad, about something, which makes me worried, too.

"When Alpha Macon was here, he brought up my family, my pack... from before."

"Your birthpack?" I whisper. I haven't ever asked him about them. I can tell it hurts him just to think about it.

"Yeah," he replies, before falling into silence for a few minutes. "I was the Alphason."

I honestly don't think I heard him correctly at first. I thought it was going to be this big secret. Of course, I am his best friend... only friend.

"You're the who, now?"

He cracks a grin. "You knew that. I'm the alphason."

I flip on my back. "I did know that. I'm just surprised that you admitted it out loud."

We fall into a comfortable silence for a while. Then he whispers, "I'm afraid. My family had enemies. This pack... the RustClaw isn't mine. Not really. It feels uncomfortable."

I turn on my belly again so that I can look at him. "In... someone has to start a pack, right? There's always a number one, the first dude through the door. I know it's weird that this is an established pack, but maybe think of it as something new?"

He blows out his breath, linking his hands behind his head. "That's a little hard with Alpha Macon telling me the pack's history all the time. He wants me to understand how the families and bloodlines work."

"Isn't his bloodline going to die out, anyway?"

Inuit laughs, "yeah, can't wait for that." A dark look steals over his face. "It's not just the alpha family. It's all the families. All the wolves who have had generations of their ancestors here. It's also bloodlines that have gone to different packs. Alpha Jax has a sister who mated into the BlueSnout to the east of here. She has pups, right? A son from before her mating who lives in another pack. He could be alpha, but RustClaw doesn’t want any more Cristorsens, see how it works? It's a web of wolves, and I'm like this spider, all alone, coming along and taking over!"

He stands up, agitated.

"Inuit!" I say his name loudly to stop his rant. I guess he can give speeches, after all. "Listen, it doesn't matter. None of those wolves are a true alpha. And... this pack is going to go ballistic when they find out what Daan did to my sister," my voice trembles in fury when I say his name. He's an evil son-of-a-bitch.

Inuit deflates and sits back down with me. "Alpha Macon said that Daan and Jax are just part of the ebb and flow of alphas." He picks at a string, visibly gathering his words. "Not every alpha is as strong as the others. He thinks that Jax is just more of a typical alpha, then Luna Jessi spoiled Daan to the point of no return."

I snort. "Sounds like he's making excuses for his blood."

"Maybe," Inuit says. "But... my father was so strong, Penny. What if I'm a weak alpha, too?"

I lean over and hug him with one arm. "You'll be a great alpha, In. You haven't even shifted yet, and you're already so much braver than Daan ever was."

"Thanks, Penny."

"You're welcome," I say pertly.

He laughs again. "Hey, do you think that Lyri's Heat is over? I've been afraid to leave the loft."

"I'm hungry," I admit.

"Yeah, let's try to sneak down and eat."

"Just pray my sister didn't cook anything."

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