Page 21 of The Strongest Wolf

“I told them you had a Luna.”

After casting a glance over my shoulder, I lower my voice. “I haven’t even told Sierra that yet, so she’s going to get a big surprise when we arrive and everyone knows before she does.”

Dom is silent for several seconds. “And is there a reason why you haven’t told the woman who puts a smile on your face before nine in the morning that you want to spend the rest of your life with her?”

I rake a hand through my hair in frustration. I’d have told her as we were driving away from the smoking ruins of the Stone pack if I hadn’t believed she’d tell me to stop the truck and get out. “She’s not ready.”

“To be your mate? To be Luna?”

“Both.”

His silence lasts a little longer now. “Galen, I understand that she’s suffered a lot. I really do. But you’ve been gone for over two weeks now. That’s a long time for a pack to be without its alpha. You need to come home.”

Guilt stirs, louder now than it has before. Leaving my pack to get justice for Melody was only supposed to be a couple of days. I never imagined I’d be gone as long as I have. “You’re right. I miss the pack.”

Wylder, New York, was the first place that felt like home after leaving the pack I’d always known I’d lead one day. Dom and I built everything from the ground up—the pack, the house, all of it.

I miss it.

Fuck, I even miss dealing with pack finances, and that’s something I never thought I would.

But telling Sierra she’s going to lead my pack when I can’t even get her to admit she likes me in any place other than in the bedroom is going to end badly. I just know it. “She isn’t ready, Dom.”

I could tell her that she wouldn’t have to do anything as Luna, and I’d do it all, but the rest of the pack would expect her to step up. Sierra isn’t stupid. It isn’t like I haven’t seen her watching Talis. She’s absorbing what her role in the pack would be, and it’s pushing her further and further away from me.

“She can stay with Eden and the Blackshaws while—”

“No.”

Dom falls silent at my snarl.

“I’m not leaving her here with…” My voice trails off.

If I’m not here with her, anything could happen. She could realize that she’d have an easier life with a man who wasn’t an alpha. Maybe find someone who could make her laugh like Nathan, teach her how to hack a government agency like Dean, or be with someone like Gavin who undoubtedly comes with a lot less baggage than I do.

“I’m not leaving her here.”

“Galen…”

I stalk a little further away from the house. “The Stones fucked her up, Dom. Not just her human side, but her wolf. If I tell her that I plan on making her Luna—having her lead the pack—shewillrun.”

“She’s a submissive. I’m not surprised her wolf is antsy at the idea of leading.” There’s no judgment or criticism in Dom’s cool voice. “She softens your edges, but what does your wolf think of what you plan?”

This is what Dom excels at. Getting me to think.

As someone ruled by instinct, he helps me straighten things out in my head. It’s why he’s such a good beta.

“He likes her. Respects her as an equal. You haven’t met her yet,” I say, voice low as I stare at a tree. But it isn’t a tree I see. It’s Sierra’s determined silver-gray eyes. Eyes more alpha than submissive. “Because if you had, you’d forget the bullshit belief that a submissive’s only role in a pack is to take orders.”

“The others will poke at her,” Dom warns. “With claws.”

He’s right. While the Hunts aren’t cruel like the Stones, they will want to test their new Luna. Their last leader let them down badly enough that trust has to be earned.

I could tell them how Sierra got revenge on the men responsible for killing her parents, or about her partial shifting ability that no submissive should possess. But they won’t respect stories. They have to see her and recognize she is nothing like the alpha that betrayed them. She has to win them over. “Then they’ll get what they deserve. Sierra…”

A small sound has me turning before I can complete my thought.

I’m alone at the edge of the clearing. The back doors are still closed, but my brow creases in a frown. “I have to go.”

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