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Not while I could help it.
We rounded the lake, making sure to keep enough distance between us and the water so we wouldn’t be trapped if suddenly surrounded. I could see the others moving behind us and across the lake. Elizabeth and Jessie were quick, going from house to house, stopping only for Elizabeth to check to make sure each house was empty before moving on.
It took nearly ten minutes before we joined up again on the northeast side of the lake.
Elizabeth was staring up at the largest house, prowling before it, a low growl in her throat.
The wolves looked confused. The Omegas were shifting from side to side. The other Alphas were snarling quietly, lips pulled back over their fangs.
I knew why.
I felt her too.
I stepped toward the house. Kelly tried to stop me, but I shook him off as his brother and the timber wolf came to stand on either side of him.
“Michelle!” I shouted up at the house. “Come out now! You’re surrounded!”
Nothing happened.
I balled my hands into fists. “You fucking come out!”
Still nothing. I was about to storm into the house and drag her out when Ox put his hand on my shoulder. I glared at him, but he was serene and calm, sending waves of it washing over me.
He squeezed my shoulder before dropping his hand. He turned to the house and raised his voice. “It’s over, Alpha Hughes. Or at least it soon will be. This has gone on long enough. This can end peacefully. Surely even you want that. Your people have suffered enough. You are an Alpha, and an Alpha always puts their pack above all else.”
I thought it wasn’t going to work.
I thought she would ignore us.
Instead, the door opened.
Michelle Hughes stepped onto the porch.
She wore a long, flowing dress, the hem swirling around her bare feet. Her shadow stretched behind her in the morning sun. Her hair rested on her shoulders, and her eyes were red.
I felt a pull when she looked at me, quiet and soft. A whisper of what once was and would never be again. She frowned at all of us, taking us in. The porch creaked underneath her. Her mouth twisted at the sight of humans. At Carter and Mark, their eyes flashing violet. She glanced off toward the trees, a complicated expression crossing her face.
“Alphas,” she said as she looked back at us. “You came.”
“You knew we would,
” Joe told her.
“I did, little prince,” she said. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from the Bennett pack. Always sticking your noses in the business of others. You never learn from the past.” She shook her head. “Thomas understood. He would never have—”
Carter managed to stop his mother as she rushed forward, teeth snapping, eyes ablaze. Michelle barely flinched as Elizabeth snarled at her, claws creating divots in the grass and dirt.
“I seem to have struck a nerve,” Michelle said mildly. “My apologies. I never….” And for a moment her countenance split. She seemed lost. Confused. But then it was gone. She squared her shoulders, and regardless of what else she was, regardless of all she’d done, she was still an Alpha, and a powerful one at that.
The Alpha of all.
“Stand down,” Ox said, voice even. “Stand down now and this can all be over.”
“If only it were that easy,” Michelle said. “You shouldn’t have come here. You could have stayed in Green Creek and we would have—”
“Jesus Christ,” Jessie said. “Lady, I don’t know what kind of power trip you’re on, but if you think we’d just let packs be destroyed, then you don’t know the first thing about us.”
Michelle cocked her head as Jessie glared defiantly. “Human. I never understood the attraction. What could you possibly bring to a pack of wolves? You’re so… breakable.”
