Page 98 of Pack Rage
“His shifters have one. What they need is a kick in the ass,” Glen suggested, placing a few blueberries on his mom’s plate.They were her favorite, and she eventually picked one up and ate it. But only one.
I knew Finn’s runaway shifters might be some of the worst pack members, but I kept my mouth shut. It wasn’t like they could hide from the boogeyman, and if any of them had hurt the maids here, or Finn’s sister, I’d let Grigor take a field trip to hunt them down.
Grigor wasn’t in the porch with us—he was off looking for magic stuff in the Mansion and on the grounds. If Elina had made one evil magic wand, she’d probably made a dozen, according to him. He needed to make sure her influence was completely gone from the earth as well.
But he spoke into my mind.Time to speak up, my queen. Step up into your rightful place.He sent an image of me wearing some fancy crown and holding a scepter, on a throne I was almost certain was made of the bones of my enemies.
I rolled my eyes mentally.I was no ruler. I was areject. His laughter when I reminded him of that went on for far longer than it should’ve.
Finally, I got tired of listening to the others farting around. I stood abruptly, and the room went silent.“So, we need a Council Head, right? For tonight. We need to meet before or after the funerals, right?” Everyone stared, but I went on when they all took deep breaths to argue. “I mean, the Council meeting never was adjourned, or whatever. So who’s the leader now?”
For some reason, that shut them up. But why the fuck were they all blinking at me?
I tried to keep my patience. “You could vote, I suppose. Heck, all the Alphas could. The smaller packs, and the four main Alphas. Luke, Glen, Finnick, and Brand. Choose one of y’all to be the leader.” I waved at Finn and Glen, who were both already shaking their heads.
“I’m not planning to stay Alpha here,” Finn said quietly. “I won’t leave just yet, but… there are too many bad memories. Too many years of pain. I’ll need to find someone else to take my place.” The others didn’t seem at all surprised, and I didn’t ask what he planned to do, or who he might be able to sucker into stepping in here. If it was up to me, I’d bulldoze the whole place, and rebuild somewhere else.
“Maybe when it’s safe, you could bring Tana to Mountain?” I suggested. “I’d love to meet her.”
“She’d love you.” Finn’s smile was a flicker, there and gone in a blink.
“I’m turning Northern over to Patrick,” Glen announced softly. Margarette flinched, but he went on. “It’ll take some time to get him up to speed, but I want to move to Mountain, spend every night in Flor’s arms, and get fat off Ida’s cooking.”
Brand grumbled about having no peace, and tossed his napkin at Glen’s head, but he winked at me.
“Okay, not you two. So, Luke or Brand.”
“Nope,” Luke said. “I don’t even think Southern should remain a recognized pack. I think Tenebris and Southern should be folded into one, and Sergeant should lead.” Everyone turned to him in shock, but he was already nodding to Sergeant, who didn’t seem surprised. When had they talked about this?
“That’s kinda drastic. Sergeant, would you lead a combined pack?” His chin dipped once. Curiosity itched at me. “What would you do, Luke?”
“Be with you,” he replied instantly. “Stay at your side, wherever you are.”
“Gonna need to build a bigger bed,” Brand muttered.
I blushed. “Yeah, but like… for real. What do you want to do? At my side.” Glen laughed and started to say something rude, but Margarette pulled herself out of her stupor for long enough to snap him with her cloth napkin.
Luke grinned. “I was in charge of Southern’s investments, and Sergeant has no desire to take over that. I could still take care of the accounts, as a friend of the pack. But I’ve heard you talking about the library at Mountain, Flor. I want to see it, and I’d love to read all the pack laws I never had a chance to. Callaway brought me over here as a child, and made sure I never knew what rights and responsibilities I had as an Enforcer, or even as an Heir.”
He fiddled with his own napkin, looking down. “I’d want to study the old ways in depth. I think I’d like to learn all I can, then teach the younger members of any of the packs, or ones like me who should know better, but were kept from the truth. We’re going to need to unravel the mess Aidan and Callaway made.”
“I love you too damn much,” I said, wiping my eyes. I turned to Brand before I got any more emotional. “So, looks like you’re it, Bearman. You’re the strongest Alpha left in this Mansion, at least—” I shut up when the slight scent of a lie filled my nostrils.
My own lie. A chill ran up my spine. “What? Wait, who’s a stronger Alpha than you?”
Brand’s mouth twitched. “I’m pretty sure it’s you, wildflower.”
“Fuckno.” I shoved away from the table, silverware flying, my empty coffee cup tipping over. “That’s impossible.” Nobody argued, but they all stared with varying degrees of patience or pity, or so it seemed. “Okay, sure, I had powerful relatives. And I know I got a level up, or whatever, when we all bonded. But that’s not my power, that’s yours—it was you guys. I’m just the?—”
The guys all spoke at once. “The center.” “The throne.” “The focus.” “The heart.”
The queen,Grigor whispered.
I swallowed, my heart pounding somewhere close to my throat. “The fuck.”
“Why are you so shocked?” Brand asked. “Your Del taught you all about strength. You know it’s more than a powerful body, or wolf. Strength comes from within.”
“Not that much strength. Not Head Alpha power!”
