Page 92 of Black Moon

Mom took a sip.

Try as she might to stay mad, Juniper found herself talking at length with Mom about the grove and the trees and the cider press. The whole table’s attention shifted that way, so when Dad leaned in behind me, it gave me a shiver.

“You smell like him,” Dad accused, close to the back of my neck. “But I don’t see that he’s marked you yet, at least.”

I rounded on him. The table had gone silent again.

Like a pissed-off teenager, I wanted to stretch the neck of my sweater out and show off a bite mark on my neck from Linden. Only, it wasn’t there...and that’d mess up this soft sweater he took such wonderful care of. And, obviously, that’d mean that what Linden wanted was more important than what I wanted—his alpha teeth on my skin meant more to my father than my choices.

“I don’t need a mating mark to justify staying here. I’m choosing to.” Nervously, I glanced at Linden. He hadn’t offered me a place to stay forever, hadn’t said he wanted that. Was I really thinking about putting roots down and settling here? If Linden didn’t want me, was I going to get an apartment over the hardware store downtown? “For now.”

There were so many things up in the air that I’d been putting off dealing with. Sure, I wanted to be here, but it didn’t feel permanent yet. I hadn’t talked to my boss. I didn’t have anything holding me here but a few impermanent requests.

“That is the most insane thing I’ve ever heard,” Dad sneered. “Staying, for what? There are plenty of alpha wolves in Washington. I cannot imagine what’s possessed you to show serious interest in the first red-neck ruffian who looks your way, but you’re not built for this. You need our support.”

I jerked back like he’d hit me. “Support? What fucking support have youeveroffered anyone else? Not just me—anyone.”

Dad’s mouth snapped shut.

“I’m serious,” I pressed. “Name one selfless thing you’ve done for Mom. Or hell, for Chase or Cait. Anything.”

“Colt—” Mom’s voice was soft, but it held a warning note. “Your father—”

“No. Fuck it. I know what you’re going to say. He’s looking out for werewolves everywhere. That without his sacrifice, we wouldn’t have a voice in government. We’d be worse off than we were before he was elected. I know all that.” I looked at him again, watching him go from red and furious to completely pale. “I know that this is your way of looking out for werewolves and doing what you think is right. And I want you to have that. Do it. Whatever you want. Whatever makes you happy. But what I’m saying is that that isn’t howIwant to live—running with the pack once a year for show, worrying more about what politicians think of me than what my peers do. I want a real pack. I want this one. Being here...that’s how I can best look out for my own kind. So if I can support you doing it your way, why don’t I get to do mine?”

Cait’s eyes were still glittering. Chase’s head was hanging. But Mom and Dad were both staring at me, neither offering a good answer.

“Your son saved one of us,” Linden said quietly, when the silence had hung too long. “An omega who’d been taken by another pack. Whether he’s with me or not, he’ll always have a place with the Groves if he wants one. We’d be honored to count him among our own.”

I stared at him, searching his face for any show of doubt. Linden’s smile was soft and steady. He reached over, grabbing my hand in my lap, and squeezed.

That was the difference between Linden and every other alpha I’d ever known—Linden didn’t want to get in a pissing match over first rights to decide my future. He’d never push me. But he was offering a space, and he was offering support. Not one bit of it was selfish.

Dad scoffed. “You lost an omega to another pack?” He rounded on me. “You realize this is why you need to come home? It’s wild out here. In Washington, we can protect you. Here, you can count on getting kidnapped, getting raped by a pack of feral alphas when this sorry excuse for an alpha fails to keep you safe.”

“I can take care of myself!”

“You only think that because you’ve never had to do it,” Dad snapped.

But for my whole life, I’d been trying to prove that I could, and just because my father didn’t see I was able didn’t mean he was right.

Juniper was growling, her hands on the table, claws extended. Mom looked horrified. And Cait still looked like she was going to burst into delighted laughter any second.

But before this got any further out of hand, I stood up, holding onto Linden’s hand all the while.

“I appreciate that you’re worried about me, Dad, but it’s time for you to go. I don’t need your permission to stay, and unless you want every tabloid in the country sporting pictures of you dragging me kicking and screaming out of here, we’re done talking.”

Dad stood up too, and I was sure that he was about to test my warning, if not for the sharp knock at the door interrupting us all.

47

Linden

Well. The senator was every bit as insufferable as I’d been worried, and maybe even a little more on top of that. Colt’s mother was a peacemaker, which made sense. His brother seemed like a good little yes man.

His sister...I couldn’t quite put my finger on whether she was the worst of all, ghoulishly enjoying everyone’s discomfort, or whether just maybe, she was enjoying seeing her father made to understand that he couldn’t own everyone. The way her bright eyes were twinkling, and she was barely holding back a smile, I wanted to think it was the latter.

Colt telling his father to leave was a thing to behold.

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