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Once we’re back in Accalia, Ryker will make sure the rest of the Alphas know what happened. Even if we didn’t disband it now, the Western Pack would never survive once news of the challenge got out. Might as well do something about the situation before we head home again.
Depending on their loyalty to the Wicked Wolf, the shifters in the Wolf District could take their chances and follow him, they could join other packs, go lone wolf, or create their own, new pack. They’d have to leave the district to do so; the territory is free for any alpha to claim, but the Western Pack as it once was will never be allowed to form again.
With the terrifying visage of a naked, bloody Ryker giving them their options, I wasn’t even a little surprised that not a single one of them choose to pledge their allegiance to Walker.
The both of us stay in our skin longer than we normally would when we have an audience. I barely realize that I’m naked, but it finally dawns on me that Ryker is. The possessive part of me then goes on to pick up on the fact that other females can see him.
I grab the arm of the shifter nearest to me. “Do me a favor?”
It’s a teenaged girl with wide hazel eyes and a spattering of freckles across her button nose. I can’t tell if she’s impressed or terrified that I’m talking to her, and she goes immovably still as soon as I touch her.
At least she answer me.
“Anything for you, Alpha.”
Ah, Luna. This was exactly what I was hoping to avoid. It’s bad enough that my packmates in Accalia wanted to call me Alpha. Here? It makes me want to snap my fangs again.
Ugh. Maybe Ryker’s right. Maybe we need to get the hell out of Dodge as soon as possible.
Not yet, though. And for what I have to do next, I definitely need to cover up…
“Can you go and find a change of clothes for us?”
“Yes, Alpha. As you say.”
She immediately darts off. Before I know it, she comes back with a pair of jeans that barely fit Ryker. She offers me a dress that’s a size too big, but I don’t complain. I just shrug it over my head and wait for Ryker to finish addressing the crowd.
There is so much we still need to do. The Alphas won’t meet again until next summer, but Ryker will need to report what happened here. He’ll do that once we’re firmly in our own territory again and, when he points that out a second time, I don’t argue.
Yeah. I’m ready to go home.
But first—
I take his hand, squeezing his fingers with mine. I see blood smeared past my knuckles and scowl. “I’m gonna get my stuff together. Pack up.” I flash him my bloody claws. “Scrub the dickhead out from under my nails. Why don’t you go get Trish and Duke? Then we can figure out our next step together.”
“You sure?”
Honestly? I am. If there’s one good thing that comes out of this disaster of a family reunion, it’s how I can finally accept that my bonding with Ryker is absolutely unbreakable. My own jealousy kept me from truly believing that this—what we had—would be for life, that we were forever mates. I know better now.
Besides, now that I also know about Duke’s feelings for her, I’m not worried about her trying anything funny with my mate.
Fate finds a way, after all.
No one knows that better than me.
* * *
I figure that,in the uproar of everything that went down following the challenge, the last thing on anyone’s mind would be the captive vampire who has every reason to want revenge.
As I cross to the south side of the district, I’m wondering how I’m going to convince the shifter on guard duty to give me the key to Aleks’s cell. One thing’s for sure: I’m not leaving without him. If I have to pull rank, I will—and I don’t mean playing the “Alpha’s daughter” card like I did a couple of times. At the moment, my wolf and I are in complete agreement. If we have to howl and make another shifter obey us, we will.
Turns out it’s not necessary. As if the guard had sensed his Alpha’s failure, he already abandoned his post when I reach the jailhouse.
The air outside of the structure stinks of fear and piss, the dirt covered in plenty of bootprints. Someone had paced here, and I follow the prints behind the jailhouse. There, I find the tattered remains of clothes and a line of wolf prints running away.
I search through the scraps. Way I see it, either I’ll find the key or I’ll wrap my hands in the clothes and protect my hands from the silver bars that way. Whatever I have to do, I’m breaking Aleks out.
Luck is on my side. I actually find a keyring that has a single key on it. Hoping it’s a master key for the jailhouse, I grab it out of the dirt, then dash inside.
