Page 39 of Devotion

“You threatened the Alpha’s daughter while on his land. What did you expect to happen? You want to challenge me,Charlie, then challenge me, but come for my family againand I will deal with you however I see fit. Alpha or not, my obligation to pack stops when it interferes with my family.”

Chester growled low in his throat but didn’t say a word.

“Let’s settle this once and for all, Chester. Lay down a formal challenge on Alpha Farrell, submit, or be banished from pack lands. Which one do you choose?” This time Elder Simms spoke up, his voice frail and shaky.

Chattanooga wasn’t so quick to talk this time. His cheeks burned red as I stared him down, eyebrows raised. I could beat him with both hands tied behind my back. I hadn’t become Alpha on a whim. I was the strongest wolf in this pack, and I’d proved it.

Derek gave him a shove, and the weak prick stumbled forward.

“Not so tough when you don’t have other wolves you can send to do your dirty work, are you? It was a kindness I didn’t kill all of your pathetic minions when they attacked me.” Alek’s words were low and meant just for Cholula.

“What are you talking about?” he snapped, seeing Alek as the lesser threat and addressing him instead of the elders.

“The little welcoming party you sent for me.”

Elder Brixby got to her feet, eyes blazing with outrage. “An attack without a challenge is unconscionable and grounds for immediate banishment.”

“I didn’t attack!” Chester sputtered, eyes wide. “I confronted the Alpha in the woods, sure, but I only said what the rest of us were thinking. I wasn’t part of anything else. I swear it.”

The way his face paled and the tremble in his limbs had me just this side of convinced he wasn’t lying.

“Then do as Elder Simms suggested and end this once and for all. We do not have time for your pitiful, jealoustantrums. Either lay down your challenge, Chester, or roll over and accept Kingston as your Alpha,” Elder Forsyth boomed.

With fury in his eyes but defeat in his posture, the alpha wolf did as he was told. He stripped out of his clothes and shifted, padding over to me and bearing his throat in a sign of submission.

I crouched down, my face right in his. “If you so much as sneeze in my family’s direction, I will end you, motherfucker. Do you understand me? I heard you in the woods, and I heard you again today. I won’t forget your words. You better not forget mine. Now get the fuck out of here. I’m tired of looking at you.”

With a whimper, he tucked his tail and scampered away, leaving me riled up and on the brink of shifting.

“Fuck, Kingston, that was really sexy,” Sunday whispered, her lips brushing the shell of my ear.

“That wasn’t one of the wolves I saw,” Alek murmured. “He wasn’t lying.”

I didn’t say a word, instead looking to the elders and offering them a curt nod before leading my family out of the lodge.

Once we were well away from the building and out of hearing range, I turned to Alek. “You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“Hmm...” I murmured pensively, eyes darting to the side as I contemplated what that meant for us.

Chester was one of a small group of people who were unhappy about my non-traditional family unit, but he was the only one who had the balls to come for us. The rest were little more than followers. They could be talked into something, but they’d never step out on their own.

“Could it have been someone from a rival pack?” Sunday asked.

“It’s a pretty ballsy move. The Farrell pack is the most powerful in the area. Even with discord between some of us, I’m overwhelmingly supported. It would mean a war they couldn’t win.”

Alek clapped me on the shoulder. “We’ll suss it all out, wolf. The perpetrators will be found and brought swiftly to justice. No one threatens my family and lives.”

I nodded my agreement and we resumed walking, taking the shorter route through the woods instead of the more roundabout one that would take us by the lake, now frozen solid. Next year I’d teach Eden how to ice skate. I’d been barely three when my dad taught me. She could do it. My little Sunbeam was a fucking genius.

The setting sun cast the forest into darkness as we made our way home, and for the first time in close to a year, I was on guard on my own land. Sunday and our children were the most important things to me, and here I was, trotting her through the deep, dark woods when someone was trying to kill us. Again.

Just goes to show, you don’t have to have an apocalypse brewing to have a rough go of things.

Sunday took my hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. “We’re going to be all right. We’ve survived worse.”

“Don’t remind me.”

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