Page 8 of The Weakest Wolf

“I’ll get to them,” I interrupt. “Right after I find out where Eden is. She knows, and she’ll tell me. Then I’ll deal with the others. A week will do it.”

“Or you could just come back and I’ll take care of it.”

You won’t make them suffer enough.

“You won’t do what needs doing. It has to be me.”

“Galen… I get why you want to do this, I truly do. But, don’t you think it’s time you looked to the future?”

“For fuck's sake, I’m not interested in a mate. I had one. She’s gone.”

My wolf snarls. I ignore him. Just because he’s ready to find a new mate, doesn’t mean the man is. The man still remembers the sweetness of Melody’s smile. He’ll never forget it.

“You need a Luna, Galen. There are no alphas without mates, at least none that stay alpha for long.”

I narrow my eyes. “Is that a threat?”

Dom’s tone doesn’t change. “No, it’s a warning.”

“You sure, ‘cause it sure sounded like one to me.”

“You’ve been alone for years. The women in the pack are fighting amongst themselves because you’re a young, virile—”

Briefly, I close my eyes, and then it’s my turn to pinch the bridge of my nose as I fight back the urge to laugh or cry. “Dom, seriously.Stop. I’ve heard more than I ever wanted to hear. Fuck, you sound like a matchmaking aunt, not a man pushing thirty. Maybeyouneed to find a mate.”

“It’s the truth.” Amusement creeps into his voice, but it quickly fades. “They won’t settle down and find mates until they know you’re taken.”

“I’m not a fucking prize stallion.”

“If that’s what it takes to get you to understand, then yes, you are the prize stallion. The one that all the women know will give her all the sex and babies she could ever want.”

I choke out a laugh. “I’m listening.”

“Right now I’m dealing with the odd argument, but itwillturn physical, especially with you not here.”

Sighing, I move around the room. Just like everything else I’ve seen so far, there’s an air of neglect about the place. The furniture and bedding are old, worn, and just plain tired.

When I think back to the stench of the pack in the dining room, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. No one gives a shit about themselves, so why should I expect them to give a shit about this place. “Tell them to stop.”

“It doesn’t work. They need a Luna as much as you do. You need to pick someone.”

If he’s warning me, then this is a problem. A bigger one than I realized.

The pack will put up with Dom being the temporary leader because they like and respect him. But I’m alpha.

My pack are mine because they choose to be. Because I can give them something they know they can’t find anywhere else: home, security, family, stability, and belonging. The moment they stop believing that, is the moment they stop looking at me as their alpha. And they should stop because I would be the sort of leader I swore I would never be.

That’s how alphas lose control of their pack. They have two ways to regain control. By force, which never ends well, or by dealing with the problem that has triggered this loss of trust.

“Then fine.Youpick one.” I think over my failure to protect Eden and Melody. “Someone who doesn’t need me to watch over them. An alpha. I have to go.”

Hanging up before Dom can respond, I swing around and come face-to-face with the older, auburn-haired shifter who thought he could sneak up on me. “What?”

Bowen’s eyes go to the phone still in my hand.

“I said, what!” I snarl when he doesn’t speak.

I tell myself the sudden and almost uncontrollable need to rip this guy’s throat out is how I feel about all the shifters here. That this need has nothing to do with the fact I just watched him shove Sierra to the ground.

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