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“Like hell!” Kira’s father shouted. “The Eleventh Pack doesn’t need any disloyal wolves.”
I raised my voice to be heard over him. “If you all prove yourselves and can fend for yourselves and your families, my unofficial pack will take you in.”
A ripple of unease went through them at my offer. Many appeared disgusted and distraught at the prospect of joining an unofficial pack, but a surprising number of them seemed open to the prospect.
“Who’s the alpha of the unofficial pack?” one of them called out.
“He is!” Camilla shouted from across the battlefield, pointing at me.
“Yeah, that’s our alpha!” Darius called out from where he stood beside a few Eleventh Pack warriors.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered to myself, rolling my eyes. I wasnotthe alpha. We didn’t evenhavean alpha leader.
Kira looked at me, a sardonic grin on her face.
With a sigh, I said, “If anyone wants to join the pack, I’ll talk to them shortly. Until then? Sit your asses down. That way, we don’t need to worry that the fighting will start again.”
The group settled down while members of our forces surrounded them to make sure no one got any ideas about going back on their word.
Gavin ran up to me and Kira, a shit-eating grin on his face. “I can’t believe we did it.”
“Do we have you to thank for this?” I asked, my voice monotone.
He nodded eagerly. “Once word went through the pack that I’d survivedThe Reject Projectand returned home, a lot of them looked at me with more respect than they ever had before. They all thought I was dead. Seeing me come back was, like, a miracle or something. They treated me like a hero.” Gavin grinned wickedly. “That really irked Jayson.”
I was not in the mood for Gavin’s grandstanding and self-congratulations. “Get to the point, bro. How did all this happen?” I gestured toward the defeated army.
“Right. Once I explained that the Seventh Pack was behind my father’s murder, a third of the pack voted to go and attack the Seventh Pack directly. Jayson flipped out because they refused his direct order to stay and prepare to fight you guys. They more or less said fuck off and went off to do what they wanted. Another offshoot group told Jayson they had no intentions of fighting you guys and wanted to stay put and defend the borders against attack and to let you be.” Gavin tilted his head and made a face. “That…also pissed Jayson off. By the time it was said and done, all he had was a third of the pack who agreed to come out here, and even then, I was already working behind the scenes to get most of them not to attack. That’s why only a few dozen actually fought.” The smile on Gavin’s face grew even wider. “The Ninth Pack is done. It’s splintered into three different packs, and I don’t see them ever getting back together.”
His giddiness at the dissolution of his pack rubbed me the wrong way. It was for the best, yes, but there was no need to be so happy about it. I was with Kira that everything was falling apart, but that didn’t mean it was something to be celebrated. Families and friends would split up, and the emotional carnage would be devastating. Older, more traditional shifters would be heartbroken and distraught. This would all be like a forest fire—devastating at first, but afterward, a healthy new growth would spring up. That didn’t mean you needed to cheer on the fire while it was burning, though.
Kira looked pleased with the outcome, but there was a focus and intensity in her eyes that I’d seen many times before. “You know what this means?” she asked.
“I’m sure you’re gonna tell me,” I said.
“Now that the Ninth Pack isn’t a threat, we’re free to hunt down Simon and Heline.”
“That’s not the vacation I’d anticipated, but okay,” I said.
The next hour was a blur. Medics were brought in to remove the wounded and dead—thank the gods, there weren’t too many of the latter, and most of those were from the Ninth Pack. As awful as the work was, I couldn’t stop glancing over at Kira. I wanted her again. After the mating bite, my inner wolf had become even needier and more possessive of her.
Back at the camp, we were hydrating and munching on some trail mix when me dirty thoughts were pushed aside by Mika and Zoe popping up out of thin air less than three feet from me. I jolted in surprise, dropping my water bottle.
“Holy shit, don’t do that,” I gasped.
Zoe grinned. “Easy, big guy. I know I’m hot, but you don’t have to fall all over yourself. I’ve already got a date, anyway.” She pinched Mika’s ass.
“Ow, hey,” Mika yelped.
Ignoring him, Zoe rushed over to Kira, squealing when she saw the claiming mark on Kira’s neck.
“Holy shit! Yes, yes, yes! I knew you two crazy kids would figure it out. Come here,” Zoe screamed.
The two women hugged each other and launched into a rapid chatter about what had happened to them in the time they’d been apart. Mika and I looked on.
“You’d think they hadn’t seen each other in weeks,” Mika said, amusement tinging his tone.
“I know. Anyway, how was meeting the fae family? Everyone safe and sound?”
