Page 33 of Pack Ruin
“He wasn’t strong enough,” I corrected. “You were. You and me and him together.”And Grigor,I thought to myself. I would have sworn I’d felt him, sensed him at the end, reaching out.
Glen ducked his head, pressing a kiss to my shoulder. A few shifters around us began whispering, and a couple even moved away. One of them hissed, “Shame.”
Instantly, Brand was there, facing them. “No,” he announced, and everyone went quiet, responding to the Alpha power that rolled off him in invisible waves. “Flor is your Alpha Mate. You will treat her with the respect you promised to me.”
A tall male, one I’d met at Southern in the Enforcer Games, pointed out, “She wears the mark of another shifter, Alpha. Glen’s mark. How can she be your mate, and his as well?”
His tone was not disrespectful, and that may have been why Brand only snarled. “You dare?”
I wasn’t sure why he was shocked. The looks I got weren’t all that different from the ones I’d faced at Northern. At least no one had yelled whore or witch this time. Of course, the night was still young.
Glen leaned down and murmured, “They’ve seenmymate mark? Have you been running around in a bikini, Dream Girl?” I elbowed him hard in the gut, glad for the distraction, though his mention of the hidden claiming bite made my inner thigh pulse slightly.
Brand held up his hands, and every shifter who’d arrived for the challenge sank down, listening. Then he nodded to me,though I stayed right where I was, holding Glen’s hand. I didn’t need to be in the center of the pack.
“But youarethe center, Flor,” Brand said, obviously reading my thoughts again. I glared at him and thought very hard about the maggot-filled squirrel I’d once found outside my dorm room door back at Southern. He snorted a laugh, before he addressed the gathered pack.“The moon has made it clear to us that our packs have run down a path that leads only to death,” he said quietly, though his voice carried as if he was using a microphone. “Fewer wolves find their true mates every year. Almost no children have been born at the other main packs in the past decades. Even our own is dwindling, though our adherence to many of the old ways has kept us strong.”
My heart was swelling with pride, when I heard something. A whisper, a humming.
I need you, little one. Come to me.
Who was that? I concentrated while Brand talked about what needed to change at Mountain. The insularity that had led to the current mess. The isolationism that had allowed corruption to infect every pack.
The voice interrupted again, pleading.He needs you.I had a vision of Luke, in a bed, alone. Unconscious.I need you.Dark eyes, gleaming with red fire, flashed.Come to me.
“But you and her… andhim.Those aren’t the old ways,” someone in the crowd shouted at Brand.
“No, they aren’t,” he agreed. “And my eyes are not my old eyes.” Those bright twin moons flashed. “The world we live in is not what it once was. For some reason, my love has been given more than one true mate.”The crowd burst into chatter, until he sent out another wave of dominance to silence them. “I am in her heart, in her very thoughts, and I tell you, there has never been a shifter born who was as brave and strong as this small female. If you do not accept her as my mate because her heart was madeto hold more than one bond… then I will leave this pack, and you may find a new Alpha.”
A few shifters looked to Samuel, who shook his head. “I no longer have the force of an Alpha in me. My son did what no other shifter has ever done, a feat that always takes the power of death, or the power of the entire Council, a gathering of strong Alphas filled with the connection to all of their pack’s wolves, to effect. The moon has blessed him in many ways, the greatest of which is Her choice for his mate, who is more than worthy. If he leaves, we are all rogues. Packless and lost.”
He stood and walked to his son, then kneeled on the ground in front of him. “Before the moon, I vow to serve the true Alpha of the Mountain pack, Brand Becker.” Then he bowed his head to me. “And I vow to protect his mate, Florida Wills, from anyone who would dare to question her place at his side.”
All the grumbling stopped. I wiped my face, pretending to be annoyed at my tears. “I think I’m allergic to something up here. Pine trees, probably,” I grumbled when Glen handed me a handkerchief from somewhere.
Brand went on. “Mountain, I must warn you. The Council will not accept me, or my mate, or even the moon’s judgment that was made today. They have grown used to holding the power of the pack, ofourpack, on their own leash.”A growl rose from the crowd, and Brand roared back. “I willnotaccept the collar of a corrupt Council leader, who has already imprisoned the Alpha and Alpha Mate of the Northern pack. Who has placed their deranged Head Enforcer, Torran, as a figurehead at Southern. Change is here, whether we are comfortable with it or not. War is coming, and we must be prepared to protect our home, and to shine the moon’s light on all the packs.”
The crowd burst into howls, shouts, and cheers, and as one, they rushed toward their Alpha.
Glen pulled me closer to Samuel, who shook his head at the raucous, fiercely joyful scene. “He’ll be the best Alpha we ever had. I’m so damned grateful I’ll be here to witness it.” His dark eyes speared me. “Brand needs to stay in the Den for the next few weeks at least, gathering our forces, preparing for the battles that will come.”
“Patrick is already doing the same at Northern,” Glen murmured. “How soon can Mountain be ready?”
“Normally? Months,” Samuel replied grimly.
“What… What do you mean, months?” We didn’t have time to wait. Luke needed me. Grigor needed me.
Samuel shook his head like he was clearing away cobwebs, and answered slowly. “Every pack member must travel to the Den and pledge their loyalty. The ritual must be completed before they go to war.”
“Shifters need a leader to fight effectively in a pack this large,” Glen explained. “Once the ritual is complete, Brand will draw strength from the pack, and the pack from each other. We may not even need Patrick’s army. Mountain will be unbeatable.” He sighed. “Even if they hurry, though, this pack is enormous. It will take weeks.”
Samuel grunted. “Good. That means we have time to read.” I blinked at him, until he explained, “I’m taking you back to the library.” He set his cup down and stood, but I didn’t take the hand he held out. I couldn’t.
“I can’t stay.”
Samuel frowned.
“I can’t stay here. Luke is dying.” I pressed a hand to my heart. “I can feel it inside me. He’s being kept alive by machines, but his spirit’s connected to mine. He’s draining all five of us.”
