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She didn’t want to lose him because of some stupid fight.
“Honestly, I just don’t get it.”
“It’s the pack’s way,” Ash said, drawing her into a quick side hug.
“I mean, I get it. I heard what was said. But after everything that happened, I don’t get it. Haven’t enough people been injured? Died?”
“It’s a pack thing.”
Tamaska sighed. “Let me guess, it’s something I wouldn’t understand as a human.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” Ash guided her over to some logs arranged around a fire pit behind the clubhouse. “Just it’s how things are done. Shota has made an official challenge and Olcan died before he could announce, officially, his choice.”
“But Kodiak’s meant to be the alpha. I got that.”
Ash shrugged and half smiled, though no smile reached her eyes. They blazed, dark and shadowy. “He’s the beta, and yes, it’s his place to take over. Olcan picked him. He just didn’t do it once more before he died, as in emphatically say Kodiak is to be alpha. And Shota’s gone and challenged him.”
The other pack members were heading inside. There was still a lot of cleanup to do.
“Kodiak can’t back out of it without looking weak or opening up to more challenges. What he’s doing is nipping it now.”
“And if something happens?”
Ash didn’t look at her. “Then it does. But he’s strong. Stronger than Olcan, and stronger than Shota. He’ll be okay.”
But worry laced her words and Tamaska couldn’t help but think maybe she was trying to soften things, make her feel better.
She didn’t voice that though, instead she looked up, seeking out the man she was falling for.
Kodiak currently talked intently to a few packmates. New creases lined his face, and her heart squeezed. The crown as they said, was heavy, and this one must be heavier than most.
All that death. That carnage. And her. A human.
An interloper.
She sucked in a breath. Did it even matter that members of the pack were welcoming, that they wouldn’t do a thing to her—except maybe Shota and even then, she wondered if that was angry hubris on his part. She didn’t belong here, even if she wanted to belong. This wasn’t a club or a secret society.
This was about supernaturals, and the fact she wasn’t anything more than an ordinary woman. Albeit one who’d been singled out by the vampire leader in Sydney for some evil purposes that had to do with the opal.
And Kodiak must be thinking that, too. Trying to balance everything, including his emotions for her.
He had them; he’d told her, and she…she hadn’t said them back. Everything had been overwhelming for her at the time, and now…was it even her place to muddy waters further by telling him how she felt?
“Hey, Tamaska, I need to head back in to do more focused research shortly. Do you want to help?”
She looked at Ash. “I’m happy to help, but I don’t know what you need. I’ve told you everything I know.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “Are you trying to make me feel useful?”
The other girl laughed. “Guilty.” She patted her arm. “I’ll get you if I need you, so don’t go far.”
And where would she go? Or maybe that was Ash’s way of telling her not to run.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Tamaska said. “We have to see this through. I have to. I…”
“It’s not your fault.”
She tried to smile. “Tell that to half the people out there.”
“It’s not. And you’re with Kodiak, so…”
