Page 21 of The Return
Who was I kidding? I would still be freaked. Things weren’t at all like they had been in the books I’d read. There it was all sexy fun and games, but this wasn’t that. A headache formed behind my right eye, and I reached up and pushed my palm into it.
But hadn’t Jonas warned me? Don’t make eye contact. Don’t run. Did I listen? No, of course not. I’d thought I knew better, but I wasn’t a wolf. Would never be a wolf. How could I understand?
And that circular thinking made my headache flare.
JONAS
Corey flopped backagainst the seat, his face set in a hard sneer. “Y’all have some fucked-up ideas. I never knew it was like this.”
“Do you regret knowing?”
His emotions flitted across his face, but then his features softened. “No, I don’t.”
“There are other things you don’t know yet. Some of them might not be so easy for you to deal with.”
He slid down a bit. “Might as well tell me now. I mean, can’t exactly jump out at fifty-five. I might scuff my shoes.”
He joked, but I could hear the tension in his voice. What I had to tell him would either send him running, or…. No, I knew Corey. He was smart, but also tenderhearted, so it probably would send him running. The thing I had to decide was whether I could abandon the pack for my mate. Which was more important to me?
That’s such a dumbass question. You know it’s Corey.
Of course I knew. The problem? This would follow us no matter where we went. An unaffiliated Alpha would have to deal with a lot worse from most wolf packs. No one would take me in, for fear I’d try to move in to make the pack my own. Corey would be fine, of course. Any Alpha Mate would be revered and allowed to settle on pack land. Likely they’d be viewed as an elder, with wisdom to share with the younger generations.
“In a pack, there are sometimes challenges. Normally, when the more dominant wolf puts their opponent down, they will submit.”
“But not always,” Corey guessed.
“No. There are some wolves who think they’re strong enough to come back from that and will fight tooth and claw. In those instances, there might be only one survivor.”
I heard Corey gulp. “You’re saying you’d kill another person?”
“No, I’m saying I’d kill a wolf.”
“You’re the same thing!” he shouted, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “You’re talking about murdering someone.”
I sighed. “Not really. I’m not sure how to explain this so you’ll understand. In moments like that, our beast rules the body. Logic is pushed back, because if this becomes a kill-or-be-killed scenario, overthinking it has the potential to be deadly.”
“I can’t do this,” Corey muttered. “I can’t watch another person die.”
“And I’d love to say you wouldn’t have to, but as my Alpha Mate, you’d be expected to be there. If I lose, you’d have to make the transfer of power to whoever wins.”
He swiveled his head in my direction, his eyes wide and full of anger and disbelief. “Fuck that! So you’re saying I’d have to sit there and watch you kill someone or die yourself? Then what? After I do that, they’ll kill me too?”
“No. Mates are sacrosanct. Once you’ve turned over the power of the pack to the winner, you would be escorted from the packlands. No one would hurt you. I know a few packs who would gladly take you in, so it’ll be something for us to—”
“Shut the fuck up!” he screamed, shocking the hell out of me. “Don’t talk to me like this is all commonplace. Because where I’m from, people aren’t murdered in a fight.”
“It’s rare,” I hastened to tell him. “We haven’t had it happen in, God, twenty years?”
“That makes it so much better,” he snarked.
“My dad always believed there’s a better way. In fact, during two fights I can remember, he stopped, his jaws locked around his opponent’s throat. They struggled, unwilling to submit, but Dad wouldn’t finish it the way everyone expected. He shifted back and demanded they submit or leave the pack. Remember, wolves need each other. To be forced out? That’s a horrible fate. Finding a new pack, especially when they ask why you left your old one, sucks.”
The silence between us stretched on for at least three miles. I needed Corey to say something. Even if he was angry. His silence was worse than not knowing. We pulled up in front of the pack house about ninety minutes later.
Corey’s eyes went wide. “Where the hell are we?”
“Welcome to the tri-county pack house,” I replied as I waved a hand toward the enormous structure. “This is where my dad sequestered me after he took me away.”
