Page 14 of Deception

It sounded so civilized, though she suspected it would end in the usual bloody mess. Wolves didn’t just run for candidacy. They fought to the death.

Everyone’s eyes slid to two men: Thomas and a scarred old wolf from somewhere farther west. After a weighty silence, they both stepped forward and glared at each other.

“I’m for Thomas,” someone to her right whispered to a friend.

“I’m for Dryver,” the other said. “He’s older. More experienced. He already leads his own pack. We could join them.”

Summer scribbled notes on her mental notepad. The problem was, neither Thomas nor Dryver was transparent enough to understand. Well, no alpha ever was. Even when the crowd started lobbing questions at the men, they both danced around the issue of continuing the so-called crusade against unpure shifters.

“Who are you for?” Mett slid up beside her and whispered in her ear.

She flinched. “Whoever’s the better leader, I guess.”

That sounded vague enough, didn’t it? Vague and airheaded, like she’d used to be. But inside, she considered what her true answer might be. Thomas? Dryver? Neither?

Summer took a long, deep breath, trying to memorize which person raised which point. Many of the men in the crowd seemed to want nothing more than peace and prosperity, but a few seemed sympathetic to the Whytes’ cause as they threw question after question at Thomas and Dryver.

“What qualifies you to lead this pack?” That question came in various forms, and both candidates parried it easily.

“What would you do about this pack’s debt?” someone asked as the questioning went on and on.

“What do you think this pack needs most?” Summer spoke up at a pause.

A dozen surprised heads turned, none more disapproving than Gretchen’s tightly drawn face.

I don’t remember you speaking up in meetings before, dear,her drop-dead expression said.

I didn’t think for myself before,Summer wanted to say.

“Stability. Time to recover,” Thomas said immediately. “Strong leadership.”

Dryver nodded and shot out an equally neutral reply. “Firm rules and a common goal.”

She was about to ask what that goal might be when the door swung open and a ray of sunlight sliced into the room. Every head in the room turned, and a pregnant pause ensued — the kind that announced the entrance of a powerful alpha who could change everything. From the shocked look on some faces, she half expected Ty Hawthorne, the imposing leader of Twin Moon pack, to stride into the room.

Whoever it was took a long time to enter. A whisper went through the crowd, but she didn’t catch the words. She was too busy focusing on a sound. The sound of feet wiping on a doormat.

Right, left. Right, left.

Her heart skipped.

A burly figure stepped slowly over the threshold, rubbing a thickly muscled shoulder against the doorframe in a bold move that said,I might not own this place, but I am not a man to be fucked with.

A rumble went through the wolves gathered there as they sniffed his oaky scent.

Drew,her wolf cried.Drew!

“Ho-ly shit,” someone exclaimed.

“A bear? Who the hell invited a bear?” another person whispered.

Drew looked around slowly as if to say,Go ahead and challenge me.No one did. They just stared dumbly.

She stared, because it was Drew, but it wasn’t Drew. This was a rougher, tougher,rawerversion of the man she’d kissed. Meaner, almost. All the gentleness had gone out of him, and he was all warrior, all power.

Ho-ly shit was right. Back at Blue Moon Saloon, he’d never shown his full strength. Perhaps he hadn’t had the occasion to. But now…

“Man, oh, man. Let’s not piss him off,” someone whispered.

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