Page 26 of Puck of My Life

What I hated the most was how my lies got increasingly more prevalent as I traveled. Archie would text me and ask what my day was, how work was, and I’d say fine, even though I hadn’t been to work. He’d ask me what I was doing, and I’d say working on a surprise, which I was, but he was probably envisioning me making a bookshelf or painting a room or something equally domestic, not going to his pack. The more we talked, the faster the lies rolled in.

I was beginning to second-guess my judgment when I finally got into town. The driving part of the trip took a lot longer than I’d calculated. I didn’t know why my default assumption was I could go seventy on all the roads. It wasn’t like I’d never been to the area.

As I passed the hardware store on my way to the pack lands, it reminded me exactly why I was here. I was here for Archie. All that came before it was worth it to make that happen.

I didn’t know exactly what I expected of a shifter community. Bunches of wolves running around and maybe a compound like you saw in shows about cults, I supposed. But it looked like a normal place to live, with homes, roads, and people tending gardens or walking down the street. Small-town vibe, sure, but nothing that said they turned into wolves, which was good, because I might not know wolves, but I knew people. I understood how to have conversations with strangers and to control said conversation thanks to work. And I was pretty good at persuading people in that setting. Fingers crossed that skill set carried over.

I parked my car, unsure exactly where to go to find Garrick. I didn't need to worry about that. I was instantly recognized as not belonging and someone came out and asked if I needed help. It was like a neighborhood watch but intense.

“I’m looking for Garrick.”

He stared.

“Alpha Garrick.” I wasn’t sure if that was how to refer to him, but his name alone hadn’t gotten me anywhere.

“Does he know you’re coming?”

“No, but you can tell him I’m Walter, Archie’s mate.”

He looked at me like I had six heads. Then the man’s jaw tightened, and he sniffed at me and stared at the collar of my shirt.

“Stay. Here.”

I expected him to come back. He didn’t, but someone did. No one needed to tell me he was Garrick. There was a presence about him that emanated power. The man was fucking terrifying. In my head I’d seen him as a little old man who liked to knock on doors and get votes for his run for mayor, but he was a million percent not that.

“Explain yourself.”

He skipped all introductions.

“Hi. I’m Archie’s mate, Walter, and I wanted you to know I’m not a threat. I’m not gonna, like, tell people about you guys. I would never do anything that could hurt Archie. I love him, and I know you wanna protect his pack, and I do too.” I was talking a mile a minute, but I knew that if I stopped, I’d never get it all out. Gone were all the conversational skills I learned in school and through experience. In their place was rambling me that was a teen. “I want him to have his family back. And I know you don’t like humans, and I don’t care if you don’t like me, but I want you to accept that I’m Archie’s mate. I want you to make it so that he can come back here and see his friends and his family.”

Garrick didn’t speak the entire time, his eyes turning an odd color that I could only assume was his wolf being present. Archie had mentioned that could happen sometimes, but seeing it in real life was freaking horrifying, at least from this man.

“So basically, that’s why I’m here.”

“If you want to challenge my decision, then challenge me,” he said, his voice not hiding the undercurrent of a threat.

Wasn’t that all I was doing? Challenging his decision?

“Okay. What more do you need from me? What details? I’m an open book.”

Garrick laughed, but it wasn’t like he thought something was funny. More like he’d won.

“The challenge is set, and if you lose, you lose everything.”

Shit. He wasn’t talking about me explaining myself. He thought I meant that kind of challenge, the ones I thought were book fodder until my conversation with Truman, and then it was all hypothetical and what I assumed was outdated.

I couldn’t fight against a human who had their eyes closed and one hand in their pocket. How was I going to fight a wolf? I should’ve talked to Truman about this plan. He would’ve told me what to say, what not to say.

And what kind of a freaking alpha would be willing to taunt or trick a human into challenging him? No wonder Archie had left. Gosh, I was a fool.

“Are you saying this challenge is to the last breath?”

He growed.

Great. Garrick meant dead-dead, back then and now. And here I was serving myself up to him.

Garrick scented the air. I was getting kinda used to people doing that around me, but then he turned and scented in the other direction. Something was happening, something I didn’t understand. He turned and scented me again.