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Elias slowly stood to his feet. “This is why we go through documents point by point. It helps to make things easier to digest.”
For some reason, I could feel his wolf underneath his skin. For a moment, I wanted to look away from him, but something inside me forced me to stare his down. “I don’t give a shit about digestion,” I practically growled.
Elias simply shrugged his shoulders, like that damn shrug would release him from whatever role he had in this debacle. “The alpha of any pack has a right to claim their successor. Your father has claimed you as his rightful successor, and he’s sealed it with magic.”
I furrowed my brow tightly. “Show me.”
Elias reached down to a drawer at his right and shifted through papers. The rustling and the crinkling quickly got on my nerves, and everything inside of me wanted to reach out and rip his fucking hand out of that drawer. I crossed my arms over my chest. I tried putting barriers between us as my emotional disposition kicked up stronger than it ever had before in my entire life.
Even now, my father was attempting to manipulate me.
But it wouldn’t work.
“Here,” Elias said as he dropped a faded blue file onto his desk, “it’s all right here.”
I furrowed my brow. “Is that a wax crest on the front of it?”
He nodded as he flipped the folder open. “It’s your pack’s crest.”
“It’s not my pack.”
“It is now.”
“Just show me the damn magic paperwork.”
He flipped all the way to the back page, and the second he pulled it from the pile it shimmered to life. Rainbow colors streaked across the page as if it were glass reflecting sunlight, and the second that lawyer handed it to me, I snatched it out of his hand. The rainbow reflection ceased to exist, making the words readable on the page. And as my eyes quickly scanned the document, I got all the way to the bottom.
Where I saw my father’s signature in blood.
“That’s his blood, isn’t it?” I asked.
Elias simply clasped his hands behind his back. “Your cousin Brody—”
I tossed the piece of paper onto the desk. “I can’t be alpha. I have a life to get back to. Sorry.”
He stepped out from around his desk, positioning himself between my body and the door. “As I was saying, your cousin Brody, is still with the pack. He’s ready and waiting to train you and educate you in all of the Ironcrest Pack ways.”
I slowly turned to face him. “If you think you can stand between me and that exit, you’re sorely mistaken. Understood?”
He leveled his eyes with me before he signed with frustration. “Your lack of knowledge of pack details and dealings is concerning, but Brody will—”
I rushed him, getting into his face. “It doesn’t work this way. Nothing works this way. I will not be forced to live a life that I cast off my shoulders when I was a child.”
“You should also know enough to know that it doesn’t work that way. Not with us. Yes, you’re only half wolf, but you still have a wolf within you. And I know you’re not stupid enough to forget that when an alpha makes a declaration such as this one, everyone follows suit.”
I grinned. “Watch me.”
I stepped around the man, ready to make my way toward my car. I wanted to book the next flight out of this God forsaken hellhole, but a tight warmth wrapped around my wrist. I looked down and saw Elias’s hand attempting to root me in my place, and all of the memories of my father attempting to do the same with me came rushing back.
Causing me to snarl as I ripped away from him. “Lay a hand on me again, and I’ll leave you bleeding on the floor.”
His smirk was positively devious. “Once you sign those papers, you should head to Bend to finalize things with the pack.”
I balked. “Are you not listening to me? I’m not taking over anything, Elias.”
He shrugged. “You really don’t have a choice, and should you attempt to leave Portland and head home, your wolf side is going to fight you every step of the way. The human side of you wants to run, but your wolf side is ready to step up to the plate. You’ll feel it, even if you don’t wish to believe my words on the matter. So, when you finally come to your senses and sign those papers, know that Brody is waiting for you in Bend.”
“And if I make it home anyway?”
