Page 113 of Wolf's Reckoning
“Tell Cody to keep her close,” I said. “Tighter patrols. And get ready to move her out of the Hollow to Stonefang if there’s even a whisper of a breach.”
Killian looked at me with surprise. “Really?” When I nodded, he whistled low. “You going to tell her any of that?”
“No,” I said flatly. “She’s not ready.”
“She’s going to hate you for it.”
“She already hates me.”
Killian gave a low chuckle. “That’s got to be some kind of record. Married a few days and already at war.”
I didn’t answer because he wasn’t wrong. And because a part of me—one I didn’t like admitting even to myself—likedit.
Rowen didn’t kneel. Didn’t flinch. She challenged,clawed, snapped at the bit, even when her body was against her and the bond between us was thrumming like a live wire. She was still fighting.
And I was falling. Too fast. Too deep. Too fucking sure of her.
I turned from the ridge. “You coming?” I asked Killian as I started to walk back to the pack.
“Where we going?” he asked carefully as we left.
Time to get the pack to acceptthe alpha bond.I saw his look of surprise.What, you think I was going tonotclaim my pack?
I thought you’d maybe wait…His tone was careful.
The quicker I have this pack under my Will, the quicker I know if there’s a traitor in our midst.
Killian sniffed. “Well, when you put it like that…”
“Exactly,” I growled.
As I got closer to the Hollow, I didn’t need Killian to deliver any message to Brand; I was close enough for the mindlink to work. I would never judge my betas, but the speed with which he agreed to scout and stop shadowing my mate would have been amusing if it wasn’t so fucking depressing.
My guys were loyal to me, fiercely, and also the most outspoken, contrary bastards I’d ever met. If they disliked Rowen, then the rest of the Stonefang Pack would be even more unwelcoming towards her. I didn’t want that.
I’d need to talk to her. Talk to her about fitting in. I may as well discuss the possibility with that tree over there.
Rowen was exactly what this pack needed her to be.Respected but distanced.She was a living relic of pack tradition and a threat to anyone who underestimated her. She was theone who was never meant to lead but everyone still looked to when things fell apart.
I respected the hell out of that, knowing that the very thing I respected her for was what she resented most about her life. There had always been a quiet rage in her—the kind that comes from a life of being told “you can’t” and deciding to prove them wrong ineverythingthat she did.
She believed in loyalty above law. Honor above hierarchy. But I knew never to mistake that for softness—she’d protect what’s hers with teeth.
I knew all this and still had absolutely no idea how to introduce her to my pack. The Goddess better be enjoying this clusterfuck she put me in, I thought.
At the edge of the packlands, I stopped. Killian paused with one eyebrow raised. “Shifting?” he asked.
“Quickest way I know to get them all,” I told him grimly, pulling off my shirt and handing it to him. “Try not to drop them in a puddle this time.” Because that’s what he did when I did this at Stonefang, he “accidentally” dropped my clothes in the muddiest puddle he could find, and then when I shifted to get dressed, the pack had laughed at the look on my face as he handed me muddy dripping clothes.
“You never know, Wolfe,” he murmured as he stooped to pick up my boots. “You may welcome the icebreaker.”
They don’t want the ice broken, Killian…they want it smashed.
My wolf was big. I knew it, everyone who saw it knew it. I would not blend in a pack of ordinary wolves. Hell, I didn’t even blend in a pack of shifters. The size of my wolf had been described to me asmonstrous.
My fur was deep charcoal gray, like a shadow under moonlight, and I needed no introduction as I walked theland of the Hollow. I moved silently over the ground, but not unnoticed. My eyes shone pale silver and I opened myself up to the pack of Blueridge Hollow.
I am your alpha, submit.
