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“I’ll be fine.” Kodiak twisted his arm to get out of Olcan’s grip. “If we fight, I’ll win. We both know it.”
“Then maybe you won’t get a chance to fight.”
He shifted, closing the gap between them as he put his face in Olcan’s. “I think you’re old-fashioned and times have moved on, leaving you and your ways in the dust.”
“Insolence.”
“But,” he said, ignoring the taunt, “I don’t say it. I never have. Until now. You’re the alpha and I have no need to challenge that. Yet. But push me, old man, and I will. We need new blood, fresh blood, and you know it.”
“I’ll have you ousted first.”
As his wolf stirred, he ignored him. No, Olcan wouldn’t do that. If he was only going to go for Kodiak, he’d walk. He liked having a pack, but he didn’t need one. A lone wolf had options. But he also owed the pack.
“If you want me to walk, say the word.”
“And have you come back like a coward and seek revenge?”
“I’m no coward.”
This was spiralling; Olcan kept shifting the goalposts. He wanted something from Kodiak. A promise he’d never challenge him? Christ if that got out, this pack would crumble. If he backed down, then what of the others?
“Do you really want to risk the others? What about Channing? A young pup like that would be your responsibility. Can you really help him tame his wolf side in a human world?”
Kodiak narrowed his eyes, struggling to keep calm. He clenched his fists. “It won’t come to that.”
Olcan wanted a promise. One that Kodiak couldn’t give. He wanted his loyalty, wanted him to promise never to challenge him, wanted him to sacrifice everything. The man wanted to twist the knife to protect his position. One that would never remain his.
The challenge might not come from within the walls of the pack, but it might come from an outlier. And that was dangerous.
The game Kodiak needed to play was one of layers and careful moves, of thinking ahead.
“You sure about that?” Olcan’s expression remained dark.
“What is it you want from me here? If you want me to leave, you need to ask. But you fear me. We both know it. And I haven’t stepped up to take what’s for the taking. And right now, I’m not doing that. I’ve got bigger things to do. And I made you a promise. I’m going to bring you the opal at that meeting.” He paused. “And yes, I understand the consequences if I fail.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Olcan’s knowing eyes made Kodiak’s skin prickle.
He might not be willing to say the words, that if Kodiak failed, Olcan would sentence him to death. He might not even be thinking that.
But Kodiak was.
If that happened, then he would take the pack as his.
“Yes, I understand,” he said to his leader.
“Your team better have made progress tonight.” Olcan stepped closer to Kodiak, pushing out his chest and deliberately bumping into him.
Kodiak refused to take that schoolyard challenge. His wolf growled low, baring teeth. But this was nothing more than a pathetic test, and Kodiak, hot headed as he could be, wasn’t about to give in. So he stood there, bore the humiliation Olcan’s move showered over him.
“We have some information we’re working on.”
“I need you to find out why a vampire was so close to our sanctuary.” Olcan seemed to retreat but the threat was still there.
At least his alpha could step back to the bigger picture, the bigger threat: the vampires.
