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“I brought you pants and a t-shirt, too,” she tells Amora, holding out the bundle. “Since you didn’t come with clothes. And, well, these are yours, after all.”
Amora accepts the items, her eyes widening a little. “Thank you, Sable. That’s sweet of you.”
I smirk and tug on my own shirt. Welcome to the Sable fan club, I think. My girl’s a hell of a woman.
Ridge pulls on his clothes with harsh movements and stalks into the meeting house, slamming the door into the metal facade to announce his presence. The rest of us pile in behind him, backup and moral support for whatever’s about to go down.
“What the fuck is going on here?” he snarls, his voice cutting through the noise of the crowd. Immediately, the room goes silent.
A crowd of elders near the back corner are circled up around a smugly grinning Lawson, their faces twisted in irritation.
So it seems even the elders aren’t happy with this turn of events.
That speaks volumes about Ridge too. When I challenged my father and won, the entire pack rallied around me right away, including all but one of the elders—a man who’d been close friends with my old man for years.
Lawson steps away from the circle of elders and puffs his chest out as he addresses his brother. “It’s time for this pack to have a true leader. Someone who watches out for the good of the wolves and not just for themselves.”
My lip curls. What a load of shit.
20
Sable
“You’ve put yourself first one too many times, Ridge,” Lawson goes on, malice in his words. “That ends now.”
Lawson’s statements ring so blatantly untrue that I feel like everybody in this room has to disagree with him. I’ve never known a man more likely than Ridge to put someone else first, ahead of his own needs and wants. Surely, someone will argue that point? God knows I can’t, since I’m the one who dragged Ridge away from his pack these few weeks. Anything I say would probably give Lawson fodder for tearing into his brother, telling everyone ho
w Ridge is off fucking his whore when he should be leading the pack.
But the room remains silent. The scuffle of feet on the concrete rises up into the quiet air, yet nobody speaks up. Nobody argues. Not even the group of elders, all of whom are giving Lawson looks of irritation.
Ridge, though, looks stricken. He’s staring at his brother like he’s lost his way, some expression that looks entirely too close to guilt on his face. I’m dying to know what he’s thinking. He can’t buy into what that asshole is saying, can he?
Then Ridge seems to pull himself together. He straightens, his fists at his sides as he exudes power and strength. Even though he’s physically a little smaller than Lawson, he takes up so much more room with his personality and loyalty.
“I fulfill my duties to this pack,” Ridge says calmly.
“Your words mean nothing,” Lawson replies with a callous shrug. “Put your strength forth. I challenge you to a fight for alpha status.”
The word “fight” calls up a sick feeling in my stomach.
Pain flashes over Ridge’s face, but it’s so fleeting, I’m sure I’m the only one who saw it and recognized it for what it was. He’s hurt. I can hardly blame him. It’s not like I have much experience with family, but I know the gold standard is for family to look out for one another, to take care of one another, the way these men do for me. Lawson, his own brother, has ignored the blood they share in favor of getting a little power and knocking Ridge down a peg.
I can’t imagine how much that hurts.
“I accept,” Ridge says. It’s only two small words, but the power they carry feels immense.
Tears spring into my eyes and I cover my mouth, shaking my head over and over. Archer puts an arm around me and guides me out of the way as the North Pack begins to leave the meeting house for the twilight outside. I watch Dare and Trystan follow the crowd, their faces resolute.
“We can’t let him do this,” I hiss at Archer, gripping his arms and trying to stay on my feet. My knees are weak at the thought of Ridge going up against Lawson. What if he’s hurt? What if he dies?
“We have no choice,” Archer whispers, pulling me farther from the sea of exiting shifters so that no one will overhear our conversation. “No one does. This is how pack life works, Sable. All we can do is watch. He has the right to defend his place, just as Lawson has the right to challenge him.”
My old panic rises inside me. I’ve worked so hard to tamp it down and work past the fear I lived with for so long. Ridge was a big part of my healing process. All of the men were in their own ways, but Ridge was the first to step outside his comfort zone and make a promise to me—long before he knew I was his mate.
“I can’t,” I say, my throat clogged by unshed tears. “I can’t just watch this happen.”
“You can. I’ll be with you. And he’ll be all right.” Archer wraps his big hand around mine, then leads me out into the cool evening.
