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“I’m not the one beingobstinate.”
“From where I’m sitting,it’s entirely you. Dad is your alpha, and his word is law. If hesays you’re not mated and you need to come home, then that’s whatyou need to do.”
She let out a growl of her own, but itwas sharp and angry. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, Chris.You’re my little brother, not my alpha. I’ve made my choice andit’s Kash. You can fuck all the way off.”
With a hard press of her finger, sheended the call.
She returned to thekitchen with a snarl. “It’s not at all satisfying hanging up onsomeone on a cell phone. My grandpa has a house phone that you canslam down in the cradle. Very satisfying.”
“I’m sorry your brother’sbeing an ass,” Kinley said, standing and giving her a hug. “Can Ido anything to help?”
Bella gave her a hug back. “I’m okay.I mean, I’m not okay, but I will be.”
“Let’s finish your nails.You’ve got dinner with Kash’s family tonight. Maybe your familyjust needs time to come to terms with things. Parents can bestubborn.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
Bella wasn’t really sureif things would ever be settled, but there wasn’t anything shecould do about her parents’ feelings on the subject of her mating.If time was a healer of all things, perhaps they’d get on boardwith her mating at some point. If not? At least she still hadKash.
* * *
Kash had just reached the guardstation after walking around the perimeter of the community when hesaw Alpha Jason speaking to Drake at the station.
Jason gave him a headjut.
“Alpha,” Kash said as heapproached.
“I came to speak with you.Were you going to do another pass around the wall?”
“I can,” Kashsaid.
“Good. I’ll walk withyou.”
Kash and Jason walked away from thestation and took the path along the outside of the stone walls thatsecured the retirement community.
“I wanted to tell you abouta conversation I had with Jake Sullivan.”
Kash glanced at his alpha. “Bella’sgrandpa?”
“Yeah. I reached out to himafter you and Bella left, because I got the impression from you twothat Brett might not welcome a call from me.”
“How did your chat withJake go?”
“Not great. Well,actually, talking to Jake was like catching up with an old friend,you know? We always got along well. He’s my dad’s age, but he nevertreated me like I was too young to be alpha when I took over, eventhough I probably was.” They walked for a few moments in silence,then Jason said, “When Chris went after Cades, I wasn’t willing togo easy on him for Jake’s sake. I cared for Jake and Renee, theywere like family, but Chris went off the deep end. I knew thatkilling Chris was going to destroy the goodwill between our packs,but getting vengeance for Cades was all I was interested in. Inever knew they were in Rhone, and I didn’t know that Renee waskilled by a hunter’s stray bullet and Brett had to take overbecause Jake lost the will to lead the pack without her. Honestly,I didn’t really care where they ended up or what happened to them.Alphas can’t carry everything, we have to focus on our own familyand pack.”
“Out of sight, out ofmind?” Kash offered.
“Definitely.” Jasonstopped walking and peered into the woods that surrounded thecommunity. It was sunny, the light streaming through the thickcanopy of trees dappling the ground like string lights. “I didn’tknow that Brett harbored such ill will toward me. Don’t get mewrong—I totally get it. If Chris had killed my brother, no matterthe reason? I wouldn’t get over that. But the situation between youand Bella shouldn’t even factor into any kind of historical feudbetween our packs. Brett’s pack may not want a non-wolf as a mateand member, but he shouldn’t be demanding that Bella walk away fromyou and mate some random male in his own pack.”
Kash frowned. “Random male? What areyou talking about?”
Jason looked at him, brows raised.“You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Before she was able toshift when she came here, Bella was considered a non-shifting wolfwithin the pack. Jake said she was treated pretty badly by the onesin her age group.”
Kash knew that from what Bella hadshared. He still found it hard not to drive down to Rhone and beatthe hell out of everyone in her pack.
