Page 36 of Devotion

“Couldn’t sleep,” she murmured, focus still intent on her inspection. “Then Caleb came home and needed to feed.”

“Way to bury the lede,” Kingston said, glancing around. “Where is the good father?”

“I’m right fecking here. Can’t a man rest with his wife without being interrupted in this godforsaken house?” Caleb grumbled, true to form, as he came down the hall.

“No,” Thorne and I answered in unison, both of us glaring at Kingston. Because honestly, that wolf refused to be left out of damn near everything.

“Remember, she’sourwife. This isourhouse,” Kingston said. “But if that doesn’t penetrate, maybe this one will. This ismyland, and that means I can go anywhere I want.”

Speaking of pack land, I grimaced. “There was an, erm, altercation when I returned.”

“We see that,” Thorne said, handing me a towel he’d snagged while Kingston was reminding us where we stood. “What happened?”

“Wolves. They surrounded me and attacked. I scared most of them off, but not before they got a few good bites in.”

“Did you recognize them?” Kingston asked, on high alert now.

“No. But... I killed one. It couldn’t be helped.”

Grief flickered in Kingston’s eyes before he locked it down. “You didn’t have a choice, and they drew first blood.”

I hadn’t realized how badly I needed to hear that from him until the words left his lips. “Still, I’ll make amends however you need me to. I know things are precarious right now. I don’t want to make things harder for you.”

Kingston shrugged. “They came for my daughter, and now another member of my family. They had it coming.”

Sunny took the towel from me and pressed it to my lacerations with more strength than I’d expected, drawing a soft hiss from me.

Thorne nudged Sunday aside, silently glancing at the towel until she lifted it so he could inspect the bite. “May I?”

“Be my guest.”

The vampire had healed us all more than once over the last year. It was one of the perks of his kind.

Bringing his thumb to his lips, he pierced the skin with a fang and quickly spread his blood over my arm. It healed almost instantly.

“Such a cool party trick,” Kingston muttered.

“What are we going to do?” Sunday asked, worry in her tone. “The pack is growing more volatile every day.”

“I’ll have to call a pack meeting. I have no choice.”

“When?”

“It’ll be at least a few days before we can get everyone here. It has to be a formal all-hands-on-deck meeting. No one gets to bow out.”

The room was silent as we let the weight of tonight’s attack sink in.

“Do you think they’re going to demand you step down?” Thorne asked.

Kingston’s eyes glowed with his wolf. “They can fucking try. The only way to take an Alpha’s spot is to beat him in a fair fight. No fight against me and my wolf will be fair.”

“Whatever happens, we’ll be right there at your side,” I promised, Thorne and Sunday echoing my sentiments.

Caleb stayed suspiciously silent, still lurking in the hallway, not quite joining our little group. He was like this sometimes. I long ago chalked it up to a lifetime of him feeling like an outsider.

“Well, that’s a matter for another day,” I said, wanting to clear our home of all this oppressive energy. “In the meantime, anyone up for breakfast?”

Sunday snickered and shook her head. “Only you would want to eat at a time like this.”

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