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What?
“But we’re bonded,” I try to explain.
Joey’s not hearing it. Already shaking his head, he interrupts with a quick, “And Bishop’s the Alpha.”
He’s also my brother, but Joey has a point. Before now, West would’ve been able to get away with disobeying a direct order from Bishop so long as he had a good reason; Beta’s prerogative, unless it’s a challenge. Me? I could pull the Omega card or the little sister one. Either way, Bishop would give me what I wanted.
Do I want to test him right now? After everything that’s happened since I saw him last?
No. I don’t.
Neither does my mate.
Huffing out a breath, he nods. “Fine. You’re right, Joey. Alpha’s word is law.”
“You taught me that,” Joey points out.
“Yeah. I did, didn’t I…”
CHAPTER16
FLOWERS
It’s a little strange, being treated like a pack enemy while surrounded by the hickories that have watched over me my whole life.
And maybe that’s being a little melodramatic. Their wolves reach out to me, welcoming me home, even if their human halves are acting a touch more apprehensive.
That’s not because of me, though. It’s the Beta.
It doesn’t matter that we’re mated, or that we’re wearing each other’s mark. All my packmates know is that their Beta went rogue, running off with the Omega, and something like that is enough to shake the stability in any wolf pack.
So I go with Joey. West is taken in another direction by two deltas: Kevin and Philip.
Hoping to get this over with, I expect Joey to lead me straight to the Alpha cabin. To the den. He doesn’t. On another of Bishop’s orders, I’m taken straight to Ginnie, our pack healer. Only after she looks me over and assures Joey that I’m perfectly healthy does he escort me to the Alpha’s den.
To my surprise, when I enter, Bishop is alone.
Bishop is rarely alone when he’s in the den. There are official reasons why, of course. And the fact that, when he’s in the den, it’s usually because he was a line of packmates who need to meet with him.
But the biggest reason? He’s so protective of his mate, he prefers to keep Sofia close by as often as he can.
I don’t blame him. What happened with our parents… it affected our lives in so many ways. Bishop grew up with an insatiable urge to protect those who are important to him. My dad failed to protect my mom. He never forgave himself for it, and in one attack, we lost both of our parents. He died shortly after she did of a broken heart, leaving Bishop to pick up the pieces.
It affected me, too. For as far back as I could remember, all I knew was that, if I couldn’t protect myself, I would need someone to do it for me.
And I did. In a Beta who destroyed a feral threatening me, I found him.
But where is he now?
“Where’s West?”
The look on Bishop’s face tells me that I should know the answer to that question.
If I could, I wouldn’t have asked.
As his mate, I should be able to follow him through our bond. The echo of Rafael’s bond tripped me up. Closing my eyes, when I reached deep inside of me, I saw the shadowy Darkwoods on the other side. Unless West went back to Gravetail territory without me, I was picking up on Rafael.
But no matter how many times I tried, he was all I could find. At first, I wondered if the Luna took back her blessing. Panicking a little, I ran right to my bathroom, swooping my hair out of my face to get a good look at the mark on my throat.
