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The back of his hand brushes against mine, a soft caress that rips me out of my wallowing and pulls my attention back to where it counts: Ryker. As soon as I shift my head, looking up at him, it’s so easy to forget about Aleks if only for the moment. And then he takes my hand in his, fingers entwining together, and the only soul I’m thinking about is my mate.
Maybe we decided to do this as one big F-U to Wicked Wolf Walker and his plans for me. Ryker told me from the beginning that I would be his, that I wasalwayshis, but he wanted me to choose him for him, not because I didn’t want to keep looking over my shoulder for Shane or any other of my sperm donor’s goons.
Just like how I wanted him to choose me for me, not because we were fated, or because I’m an alpha, too.
None of that matters, though. Not anymore.
Here and now, watching the moon bathe Ryker in her light, I know that every moment—starting from when I was fifteen and I looked at an older boy and saw forever—has led to this point in time.
So let’s do this.
The actual “acceptance” part of the ceremony is very simple and, if I’m being honest, not worth all the effort that the Mountainside Pack has put into it; if it wasn’t for the fact that they’re using this as an excuse to have a pack-wide party, I might’ve pushed against turning our mating into a spectacle. All we have to do is stand together beneath the moon, and make a heartfelt promise to accept each other. That’s it.
I already saidyesto Ryker, but now I have to do it in front of the rest of the pack so that they know that I’m choosing him and he’s choosing me.
After that, we’ll head inside the Alpha cabin to finish the ceremony alone while our packmates celebrate having a brand new Alpha couple over at Audrey and Grant’s. That requires marking and mating and hoping that, after all we’ve been through, the Luna blesses our mating with an unbreakable bond.
Claws crossed.
Ryker squeezes my hand. Without words, he’s asking if I’m ready.
A teensy, tiny nod tells him that I am.
Ryker opens his mouth—and that’s when, out of nowhere, an unholy howl rips through the night’s sky, drawing the attention of every shifter in the vicinity.
Including me. My head jerks toward the sound, my hackles immediately rising as I realize thatI know that howl.
The reaction from the crowd happens just as quickly. While some of the more submissive wolves go frozen, the dominant shifters take control. Four males jump from their seats, surrounding me and Ryker; it’s my personal guard already getting their first chance to prove themselves to both me and their Alpha.
Three others, including Audrey’s mate Grant, tear off toward the edge of the open space, bodies hunched, poised to shift as they create some kind of line between the rest of the pack and whoever is approaching from Accalia’s far borders.
I remember being told once before that an Alpha’s cabin is always secluded to give the pack leader some privacy, but also because he’s the first line of defense against any threat to his pack. Anyone who wants to get to the heart of Accalia has to go through Ryker first.
Tonight? The heart of Accalia is right here, with every packmate gathered just beyond the Alpha cabin—and that’s exactly where the threat is coming from.
* * *
Shane Loup isa Luna damned bastard. He uses his howl to announce his presence, then has the nerve to fuckingstrollup to the ceremony as if he had an invitation, but he’s just a little late.
Then again, considering we haven’t exchanged a single vow yet, maybe he’s right on time...
I’m not the only one who wants to tear him to shreds as soon as I see him. At my side, I can sense that Ryker is conflicted. Part of him wants to know what his former Beta is doing here, while his alpha side sees the threat to his pack and wants to destroy it.
The same with his pack council. Shane was one of them, then he betrayed them. I know Jace would gladly go for his throat, and I doubt he’s the only one.
It’s Grant who makes the first move. Totally get it, too. For two months, he had to comfort a mate who was torn between her brother and her pack. If anyone deserved first blood beside me and Ryker, it’s definitely Grant.
However, before Grant can finish lunging at the smirking Shane, Shane calls out four words that can stop nearly any shifter in their tracks:
“I challenge the Alpha.”
Oh,hellno.
An Alpha challenge.
Once that gauntlet is thrown, there’s only one shifter who can answer it: the pack Alpha. Anyone interfering would only work against Ryker, and I definitely wouldn’t put it past Shane to twist that to make it so that he won the challenge.
How could I have forgotten? How could I have been such an idiot? Sure, Shane’s convinced himself that mating me will turn him into the alpha he wishes he’d been born as, but there’s one small loophole in pack law that I should’ve remembered.
