Page 86 of To Keep A Wolf
Before I can work through it all, a rumbling comes from the gardens at our back. I look up to see my father stalking through the crowd of wolves gathered there. His shirt is torn and stained with blood, and he grimaces as he walks, but he’s on his feet, breathing, fighting, looking like a force to be reckoned with. And that is enough to make my heart swell with love.
As he approaches, Black Moon pack and Jades alike all part for him.
He wears a sword strapped to his back like some kind of medieval hero. Guns are strapped across his chest and down his legs. He’s not injured that I can see.
I exhale as he approaches.
“You okay?” he asks me.
I nod, and satisfied, he hurries over to untie my mother. The moment she’s free, she hurls herself into his arms.
“I thought you were—” She doesn’t finish as she chokes on her own relief.
“I know,” he assures her.
She sobs quietly against his shoulder, which is a definite first, but their embrace is short-lived as she turns to Rina.
“This is not okay,” she hisses.
“Isn’t it?” Rina asks, unruffled by it all. “Isn’t it all more than okay?”
My mom’s face flushes.
Before she can answer, Burnett pushes to his feet where he’d crouched to check Jadick’s vitals one last time. When he turns to us, his face is ashen.
“He’s dead,” Burnett says, half-shocked, half-lost at the news.
“And you’re fired, buddy,” Tripp says cheerfully.
He brings an elbow up and slams it into Burnett’s face. “Whoops,” Tripp says gleefully.
Burnett growls, ready to fight, but Levi steps between them, baring his teeth.
“Stand down,” Levi orders.
I can feel the alpha energy radiating from Levi, but Burnett doesn’t bow. My wolf strains to act. Mostly, to rip Burnett’s heart out for daring to defy an alpha. But then I notice Burnett’s gaze flicking to me as if waiting for a command.
His eyes widen, and I freeze as I realize what’s happening between us.
Energy like nothing I’ve ever felt before winds its way around me and then reaches for him.
A tie binding us.
A rope stretching across the distance that—
No!
My wolf tries to resist, but the alpha bond has already taken root.
I snarl, shaking my head and tossing my body as I struggle to fight it off. But deep down, I know it’s too late.
“Mac,” my mother says, her voice hushed. “I feel…are you…” The thread reaches for her too. She takes a step toward me and then drops to one knee, bowing her head. “I swear loyalty to you as my alpha.”
Immediately, my father does the same. He draws his sword and lays it out on the ground before him. “Mackenzie, I swear loyalty to you as my alpha.”
The sound of his deep voice rings out in the silence.
Behind me, voices rise, and I turn to see other pack members dropping low in a show of deference and respect to their new leader. One by one, the Black Moon pack swears their loyalty. And then Burnett drops to one knee, muttering an oath of loyalty. To me.
