Page 59 of Rejected Wolf's Secret Baby (Rejected Moons 4)

“Listen, Jack,” I say. “This pack wouldn’t exist without the support of the women. You can say shit about me because my chosen mate decided to leave, and that’s fine. But where will you be whenyoursdecides to leave? She’s had a taste of freedom now, and if you and Lonnie decide to take that away, all the women might go.”

“Oh, no, they won’t,” Jack says. “You might not know how to keep a bitch in line, but Lonnie and I do. They won’t leave us because we won’t allow them to leave. And if you were a real man, you wouldn’t have let Alicia reject you either.”

“Now you’re talking about forced mating,” I say. “This pack’s never done that. It’s inhumane.”

“Well, if it works…” he says with a grin.

What a fucking sicko. I actually can’t stand him. And he’s crazy if he thinks I would ever have tried to control Alicia that way. Never.

If he’s willing to consider that possibility, maybe I should let someone know. This is actually dangerous. And it really fucking disturbs me.

I turn away from him. I can’t stand to continue this conversation any longer.

“Have a good one,” Jack says. “Don’t let the bitch get you down.”

I don’t respond. I wait until I hear his footsteps receding before I take my seat again.

Men like him are enough to make me want to go back to my old ways of turning every disagreement into a brawl. But I’m supposed to be showing Alicia that the pack is different. She can’t come out and find me standing over Jack’s beaten body.

But what if I’m wrong?

What if the pack hasn’t really changed at all?

35

BRANDON

Aliciaiswide-eyedwhenshe comes out of the meeting house.

“That was incredible,” she says. I fall into step beside her, not sure where we’re going. The direction she’s walking doesn’t lead back to her father’s house.

“You liked it?” I ask.

“Oh, Ilovedit,” she assures me. “I love that it exists. You have no idea how much something like that would have helped me when I was younger.”

“You would have been able to object to being mated to me, you mean.” I’m mostly joking. It’s obvious to me now that our being chosen for each other was the least of the things she objected to.

“I was thinking more of Deidre, actually,” she says.

“Your stepmother?”

“Ex-stepmother.”

“Right, but how would this have helped you with her?”

“When she threatened me, when she told me that she’d come after me if I had children with you, I would have been able to talk to someone about it. I could never talk to my father, because I wasn’t sure he would take my side. Maybe I wouldn’t have had to leave.” She sighs. “I’m honestly starting to wish I could stay.”

I can’t believe it. This is what I’ve been hoping to hear her say for a long time. And I know that it wouldn’t take much from me—just a little push—to convince her that she’s thinking about things the right way now. That sheshouldstay here.

But, incredibly, now I’m the one who isn’t sure.

If Lonnie’s really going to strip the pack of all the good changes that have been made since Alicia left, why should she come back? Everything is going to be as bad as she remembers it being.

She was right all along. She can’t stay here if Lonnie is going to be alpha. But the thing is, I can’t let her go.

If she was my mate… If she accepted me, I could vie for the alpha seat.

I’ve never wanted to lead the pack. I’m not Lonnie. I’ve never craved that power.

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