Page 55 of Fighting For The Pack

It was such a small step in the grand scheme of things, but to me, it was a start, and that was all that mattered. I walked through the pack community and thought about how insane everything had become. So much had changed, but in many ways, things were still the same. Same paths, same buildings, same cabins—but I no longer felt like I had to scurry from place to place just to avoid detection from either Troy or the Terrible T’s.

As I moved deeper into the compound, I paid more attention to the land rather than just the buildings and the people of the pack. Grass that had once been beautiful, lush, and green was now dead. The foliage lining the compound had become unkempt and overgrown with sharp, pointy weeds. Branches that had fallen during storms and harsh wind still lay where they had fallen. Most had started to rot. I knew by sight that if I touched them, the wood would cave under my touch like an overripe mushroom.

The flowers were dead, and one or two of the cabins—the cabins that were closer to Mom’s in size—were starting to fall apart from unnatural damage.

Someone had purposefully destroyed those buildings, but Wargs hadn’t been the cause of it. That meant that Troy had allowed this destruction to occur under his watch and had done nothing about it. I frowned. This was a far cry from the beautiful home that I had been taken from five weeks ago. I’d need to put in some serious work to get this place back to its old state.

I knew my position as Alpha would only last a month, but I wanted to take it seriously. That was why I wanted to make sure the reconstruction projects went along smoothly. I had no clue how to be an Alpha, knew nothing about all the various tasks that being an Alpha entailed. Of course, I’d never gotten the chance to watch Gregor work or to even form an idea of the daily activities of an Alpha. I was willing to learn because I wanted the pack to do well and because I fully intended to serve on the Kings’ council after my term ended.

It felt like an overwhelming amount of work that I was about to tackle. I wondered if this was what Night had felt when he became the Alpha for the Wargs.

“Hey!”

I froze at the sound of the terribly familiar voice. I turned slowly, and the moment I laid eyes on Samson and Harlon, I nearly burst into tears. I immediately started to second-guess my decision to keep them in the pack. Wouldn’t it be better to just send them away? To never have to look at them again?

“You don’t fucking belong, bitch,” Harlon said, revealing a sharp-toothed grin.

“You’re not fucking fit to be Alpha,” Samson spat. “It’s a disgrace to the Kings to see any woman in the position, especially a former human.”

My hands trembled. I was back in the cave, back in the entry of Violet’s apartment, back in my childhood when these two and Troy would torment me. I wanted to turn tail and get the fuck out of here, but I clenched my hands into fists to hide the way they shook. There was a crowd forming around us, and I couldn’t back down. I needed to show that I could be strong even in the face of this heckling.

“Yeah,” Trish’s voice cut through the brief silence. Whatever I’d been about to say died on my tongue as she, Tanya, and Tara stalked toward me. The Terrible T’s in full force.

“You’re a fake wolf!” Tara shouted. “You must have used black magic to make yourself shift. No human can be a wolf.”

The crowd had grown. It wasn’t as big as the one in the dining hall, but I heard them begin to murmur to themselves that I must have used magic, that there was no way a creature as horrible as a human would be blessed with the ability to shift.

I clenched my hands even harder and straightened my spine. The only way to get them on my side was to be honest and open with them. I felt that this crowd would somehow know if I lied.

I cleared my throat and began to speak. “I didn’t become a shifter, I was one the entire time. It wasn’t until I found my mate that I found my wolf.” I explained a bit more about the story, about how suddenly the shift had happened, how I felt like I’d known my wolf my entire life even though I’d only recently found out about her. Looking out over the crowd, I saw that while some of them believed me, many were still skeptical.

“That is the biggest load of bullshit I’ve ever heard,” Trish snarled. “True love brought your wolf back? I don’t think so.”

“We’re not just going to let you put a spell on our pack, bitch!” Tara called.

I let out a sigh. I didn’t expect anyone to believe me, I knew it was a crazy story, but it was my story. There was no way to convey the truth in a way that would prove I wasn’t lying to them.

“Whatever you believe about me,” I said, speaking up so that crowd could hear me, “I know I’ll need to work my ass off to earn your trust, but I’m more than willing to do it.”

“You’ll crash and burn,” Samson told me. “You’re the last person in the pack who should be Alpha.”

His words stung, but I tried to force them off me. I couldn’t appear weak to the pack. “You’re entitled to your opinion,” I told him, “but I believe that we can move past our differences and forge a path forward, for ourselves and for the pack.”

Neither Harlon, Samson, nor the Terrible T’s seemed to have a response to that, so I went on.

“Troy Redwolf is no longer a threat to you all; I’m making sure that you won’t ever need to fear him or me killing someone you love just because they looked at him the wrong way. I believe that with a bit of effort, we can restore the land to its natural beauty.” And, because I was feeling a bit cheeky, I told them, “I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, so you might as well start accepting that.”

That was it. That was enough. They could accept that or leave it, I no longer cared. I walked away, eager to get out of the limelight, but as I forced myself to pass Harlon and Samson, I heard in a whisper, “You better watch your back, and enjoy the position for as long as you still have it. Because your time in this pack won’t last much longer.”

I wished later that I had glared at them or that I had slapped them in response, but their threatening tone took me back again to those dark moments of my childhood. All I could do was pick up my pace.

22

NIGHT

I arrived back on the Kings compound the night before the Alpha ceremony. I had been planning to return tomorrow, but I couldn’t stay away from Bryn for even one more day. I burst into the cabin, eager to find her, and followed her scent to the kitchen where she was washing dishes. She wore one of my old shirts and nothing else. Just the way I liked.

“Night,” she said as I pulled her away from the sink and into my arms. My name was the only word she could get out before I covered her mouth with mine. I pressed her back to the counter beside the sink, and she pushed her wet, sudsy hands up my shirt, running them over my chest. I didn’t care about getting a little wet as long as I could return the favor.

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