Page 18 of Forsaken Fate

“Fine,” I said. “Just…be careful. There’s no reason for you to be tempting fate near the border.”

“Didn’t you hear?” he said. “The war’s over. We own California now.”

“You don’t own it. You just got your land back, that’s all. But there are plenty of other packs who would love to move in. You’re too old to be fighting over territory. Just don’t push it, okay?”

“All right, Button,” he said. “It’s gettin’ late. You get some sleep now. Don’t worry about me.”

“I love you,” I said.

“I love you too.”

The weight of one more layer of lies felt heavy against my heart as I clicked off the phone and tossed it on the bed next to me.

CHAPTER 8

Theo

He was pushing eighty, but Adam Burnett could still hunt like he was a wolf half his age. God, it felt good to shift. To be with other wolves again. We spent the morning tracking two big bucks in the woods along the lake. I ran at top speed, chasing the larger of the two, letting Adam and Doyle go after the other.

It had been so long since I’d done anything like this. Let the full power of my wolf out. Primal need coursed through me. To hunt. To kill. To live.

I knew I’d been lucky. During the worst years of the war, I was in relative safety in Wild Lake. But even there, I couldn’t fully be myself. I had to hide my power for fear of upsetting the balance. They were good men in Michigan. Allies. But having me there was a threat. I never felt truly at home. I could never claim a pack. I was an interloper.

Adam and Doyle hunted just south of me. I dragged my kill to the clearing and met them. Adam’s wolf had gone pure white with age. Blood stained the fur around his mouth as he tore into the deer’s flesh. Long ago, he would have gone on this hunt with my father. He would have been at his side. His wing man. Ready to kill and die for him.

I saw tears in his eyes as he looked at me. I knew he was thinking of my father today as well. His Alpha. His former pack leader. Now I was all that was left.

It was a good day. We packed up what we could and headed back to Adam’s house. They’d offered to let me stay there while I was in Albany. I hadn’t yet decided if I wanted to. Even there, I felt like an interloper somehow. As evening fell, I joined Adam and Doyle in the den. Now that we’d all sated our wolves, it was time to talk.

“So,” Doyle said, diving into a conversation I didn’t yet want to have. “Are you really going to stand up with Grayson at the Gathering? You know what that means.”

“Is he really going to go through with marking that girl?” I couldn’t say Brynna’s name. I worried just by uttering it, Doyle and Adam would sense something in me.

Adam shrugged. “It really looks like it. It’s an odd match, that’s for sure. But Grayson’s right that she makes him look good. She’s an Alpha’s mate.”

“Claiming her doesn’t make him an Alpha,” Doyle said. “She’s still out of his league.”

“What do you really know about her?” I asked. I had to be careful. I couldn’t risk them knowing what I’d done.

“Not a lot,” Adam answered. “She’s cagey anytime you try to ask her about herself. Anyone else pick up on that?”

“I have,” Doyle said, smacking his lips. “I took her aside a little bit at Diana’s Christmas party last year. It was a few days after they announced she was going to take Grayson’s mark. But we didn’t get very far into the conversation.”

“And she didn’t have Diana’s blessing, I take it,” I said.

“Nope,” Doyle continued. “Not the coven’s either as far as I know. She’s human. I don’t sense a whiff of magic about her other than her being an Alpha’s mate. But she never seemed scared of Diana. At least, what little I saw, she didn’t back down from her. I think that’s what turned Grayson onto her; I mean, other than the obvious. Grayson likes the pretty girls, but most of the ones he’d show up with were vapid. Diana chewed ’em up and spat them out.”

“So you’re going to stay in town until after the Gathering, then?” Adam asked. He was the sliest of them all and he looked right through me.

“It’s archaic, isn’t it?” I said.

“It’s important,” Adam said. “We lost so much during the war. Had to hide so much of who we are. Traditions matter now more than they ever did. It’s a time and a place to renew old alliances. Form new ones. Remind each other what makes us more alike than different so there will never be another war like the one we just survived.”

“If you do this,” Doyle said. “If you stand up there with Grayson during the ceremony and give that girl to him…in the eyes of every shifter and magic user in New York, you’re giving your blessing on him becoming the next Governor. Do you really want that?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. If my dad were alive ... I’d do it to keep the peace. But I haven’t even talked to Grayson before this week in I don’t even know how long. I debated even coming back here for the funeral. I did because I knew I’d get a chance to see you assholes.”

“I’m touched,” Doyle put a hand to his chest.

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