Page 75 of Wolf's Reckoning
“The death of a loved one is always unexpected, no matter how well we prepare for it.” We stood in silence for a moment. Lewis turned to look at me, and I raised a brow in question. “What?”
“Do you want me to leave?”
I stared at him, genuinely confused. “Leave? Leave this conversation or Blueridge Hollow?”
He flushed. “Leave the pack.”
My face must have shown my surprise because his ears got redder. “Lewis, you knew me when I was a scrawny kid sleeping in the pack hall; why would you ask if I wanted you to leave? For fuck’s sake, this is yourhome.” I hesitated. “Isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he mumbled.
And that pissed me off. “You think so low of me that I would kick you out?” I demanded softly.
Lewis shrugged. “You hear that new leaders want to clean the slate…and youdidjust say you’d break me.”
“Ifyou disrespect me in front of others.” I pushed my hand through my hair. “Fuck, I was going to ask you to be an advisor…”
Lewis looked surprised by my admission and hopeful, if only slightly, but it was something. “You would ask that of me?” he asked carefully.
I shook my head ruefully. “You’ve been a beta, an advisor to Malric foryears. Who else knows this pack’s history, the factions, the allies, the adversaries, as well as you?”
He dipped his head slightly. “Well, all that’s true…” He looked back up at me. “Rowen does.”
“Does she?” I challenged him softly. “Does shereally, or does shethinkshe does?” I held up a hand when I saw his eyes harden. “I’m not saying she doesn’t know her shit, but does she knoweverythingyou do?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “She may not know it all,” he admitted grudgingly.
Why would she? Half the shit would have been done before she was even born. I didn’t say that, I simply nodded. “Think about it. Killian, my second, chats a lot. You’d be a welcome balance, if you chose to take the position, that is.”
I turned and left him there. A small test. A bigger message.
Back near the central clearing, Killian was waiting with a rough-cut list of pack assignments in hand. He raised itlike a peace offering. “They’re trying to adjust. You know that, right?”
“Adjustment is for children,” I muttered, taking the list. “This is survival.” I ran over his list and glanced at him. “This reads more like a cry for help.”
“They need a lot of work. I need help.” Killian hesitated, then said, “She still hasn’t come out of her rooms.”
“She will.”
“Because she wants to or because you’re making it impossible to ignore you?”
I gave him a look that made him laugh.
“Fair enough,” he muttered, then handed me another note—this one with the druid’s sigil pressed into the wax.Wax. Fuck me, I hated theatrics.
“They want a word.”
Of course they did. Old ways and older politics. Couldn’t burn one without invoking the other.
“Fine,” I said, tucking the parchment into my back pocket. “But if they start preaching fate again, I’m going to ask if the Goddess left us a manual—because right now, it feels like I’m writing one blind.” I cast a casual glance across the pack, seeing no one was close to us, but I still opted for safety.
I asked Lewis, the old beta, to be an advisor.
Killian nodded, his look one of appreciation.Nice. Clever. Keep them close.
Yeah, and plus, he knows this pack better than us.Whichwas a true and valid point.
And he doesn’t say much,Killian added.
