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Hudson snickered. “I think the least we all need right now is some time to digest what’s happening. I mean, come on. A female Alpha? Since when the hell has that ever happened around here?”
I slowly looked over at Hudson and shook my head. “Not now. Not with the jokes.”
Hudson shrugged. “Who said I was joking?”
“Great,” I murmured.
Levi furrowed his brow. “Should we tell the pack?”
“No,” I said quickly. “They’re dealing with enough right now. Most are still reeling from Colin’s death in a human hospital instead of dying with honor surrounded by his pack. When the time is right, I’ll let everyone know.”
“And if she shows up before you can do that?” Hudson asked.
I shrugged. “Then, we’ll deal with it as it comes. But now isn’t the time.”
Levi eyed Brody carefully. “Aren’t you supposed to be getting dinner together?”
Brody chuckled. “All I had to do was divvy out responsibilities.”
I glared at him. “Which is why Colin didn’t deem you as interim alpha.”
“He didn’t deem me interim alpha because I wasn’t his beta, not because I divvy out responsibilities in order to make the pack feel as if they have a say in shit that happens.”
“All right, all right,” Levi said as he stepped in between us. “We running or not?”
And just like that, I shifted back into my wolf form and headed into the dark bleakness of the woods.
Anything to remove me from the idea that some half-human, uneducated woman was about to take over the largest pack on the West Coast.
4
RAVEN
“Honey! Get your things! We’re leaving!”
Mom rushed into my bedroom and threw my things into suitcases and boxes. Trash bags and book bags. I watched as she swirled around my bedroom, picking up my stuffed animals and jamming them into a suitcase filled with my underwear and socks.
“Leslie!” Dad bellowed.
“Mommy?” I asked softly as I walked over to her side. “What’s happening?”
She got down onto her hands and knees and cupped my cheeks. “Remember when we were talking last night?”
“Leslie!” Dad roared.
Tears rushed my eyes. “Why does he sound so angry?”
Mom blinked back tears of her own. “Focus on me. Remember when we were talking last night and I said that we might have to leave for a little while?”
I sniffled. “Yeah.”
“Well,” she said as she stood to her feet, “we’re having to head out. Grab the things you want to take with you.”
“But are we coming back, Mommy?”
“Leslie! We need to talk! Now!” Dad exclaimed.
As I stood in front of my father’s house in Bend, the memories bombarded my mind. I remembered the anger in my father’s voice as he searched the house for us. I remembered the fighting and the cursing that came from both of them as Mom rushed me out of the house. I even remembered clinging to my father’s leg as Mom tried to get me into the truck, coaxing me softly and telling me that we’d be back soon once we had settled into our new home.
