Page 114 of Wolf's Reckoning
The mindlink snapped open.
It was like a door blowing off its hinges.
Multiple presences bloomed into my mind—familiar and unfamiliar—startled wolves blinking into awareness as the connection surged through them. Some reached back instantly, relief thick in the bond. Others hesitated, testing the waters.
But they allfeltme.
I walked the worn paths to the pack hall, paws silent, head high, the ancient roots beneath me thrumming with recognition. The land had accepted me. The wolves were beginning to.
It wasn’t love that poured into me; it was their gratitude. Raw. Fierce. Laced with a quiet desperation they hadn’t dared voice—not until now.
They hadn’t needed a ruler. They needed ananchor. A protector. And whether I’d planned for it or not, I’d just become the mountain they leaned on.
I see you.I sent it through the link, low and sure, my voice a tether of steel across the pack’s collective pulse.I claim you. I will bleed for you. And I expect the same.
Wolves responded. Some with a hum of acknowledgment. Others with a mental bow of their heads. Even a few howls cracked across the mindlink like sparks catching fire.
Not all had submitted. Not yet. But enough had. I was no longer a visitor in Blueridge Hollow.
I was itsrecognizedalpha.
I shifted back as I reached the rise before the pack hall, the ground slick with morning dew under bare feet. My skin steamed in the cold air, muscles humming with the power still riding my spine.
Killian handed me my clothes. He didn’t say a word. He’d felt it too.
“Let’s hope they know what they just invited in,” I muttered, pushing open the doors.
Because being alpha wasn’t about dominance. Not really. It was about burden, and I’d just agreed to carry theirs.
“How many didn’t accept?” he asked, low enough that only I would hear.
“Enough,” I murmured back. My eyes fell on the chestnut braid of the female with her back to me. “I’ll fix that.”
“I hear Cody—” Killian was already gone before he finished.
Chickenshit,I sent to his retreating back.
I headed to Rowen, letting my Will precede me. The three pack who were with her instantly accepted the bond, and almost as quickly as Killian, they made their excuses and left my wife looking around in confusion.
Our eyes met and I saw her realize what was happening at the same time. I closed my Will off.
“Bullying into obedience?” she asked with a sweet smile. “That’s new. Or is it?”
“It’s called submission,” I said lightly. “You should try it. I would love to see you on your knees…again.”
Do you remember the last time you were on your knees in front of me, princess?
Her eyes flared at my taunt, and I felt her presence across the bond like a hot ember in a fire gone cold. Not acceptance, not quite. She didn’t bend that easily.
But she felt me and she didn’t shut me out. That mattered more than I wanted to admit.
Her grief was raw. Her rage was louder. But she was still part of the link—and I felt her in the same way I felt every wolf that had trusted me to be their alpha.
What I felt from her wasnotlove.I wasn’t sure I would ever earn that from her. But there was something solid. Something dangerous.
I welcomed her, and she didn’t meet me with silence.
My mate,she purred, the alpha with the adolescent brain.
