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And there it was. The sweet feel of victory.
Holy shit. You were right. I am more alpha than my brother. This was epic. It was like the dawn had just come, and I felt amazing. He couldn’t order me to do shit anymore. No more training at ungodly hours. I could sleep in every day if I wanted.
This was beyond epic.
I rolled off Max and lay panting on my back. It wasn’t the easiest win of my life, but it was a win. In the end, that was all that mattered. “No. Remote goes to the winner. Loser makes the popcorn.” I gave him a good kick in the ribs. “In case you were wondering, that’s you.”
The lights flicked on. “Okay. You can leave the house.” Dad’s voice startled me. I’d been so caught up in the fight that I’d lost track of my surroundings. Rookie mistake.
I rubbed my eyes as they adjusted. “What? You were in on this, too?”
Don’t be too hard on your da. Proper battle training is a big part of becoming a leader among Weres… And it’ll come in handy with my pack.
Right. Because your pack is filled with assholes. I figured my family was proud of me because of who I was mated to, but also scared for me because I was going to have to join his notoriously unfriendly pack. I appreciated both but could do without the constant lectures and training.
Donovan let out a pained sigh. I wouldn’t say they’re all assholes, but my pack is selective about who they allow in. I’ll help you as much as I can, but it’s best if you show your strength to them early.
Oh boy. That sounded like fun.
And I still couldn’t believe that Dad was in on this whole test Meredith twenty-four seven until she goes crazy plan. “Really, Dad? Was all of this necessary?”
He shrugged, but he didn’t seem the least bit sorry. “It was your brothers’ idea to get you ready for the Irish pack and whatever else might come up, but I supported it. If you’re not careful, you’re going to be in over your head. That’s a fact.”
Great.
“That said, I think you’ve more than earned a break. A day away from this house is all yours. Wherever you want to go, your brothers will take you.”
My father had kept me confined to the property because of how much I’d been on the news lately. I’d traded my hot pink streaks for electric blue, but I knew the color change wasn’t going to fool anyone. The rest of my hair was still jet-black. I could go back to my trademark Pettersen hair—the white blonde from my mother’s side that all of my siblings shared—but that would make my mother happy. I couldn’t have that, even if it got Dad to lighten up on his fears about me getting recognized. Under no circumstances did he want someone following me back to the house.
Reporters climbi
ng our gates? Yeah. No. He wouldn’t handle that very well.
All the workouts, sparring sessions, and training with my brothers had kept my days packed full, but getting out sounded wonderful.
Dad walked to the wall and ran a hand along the Meredith-sized dent in the drywall. “Damn it. I told you not to break anything.” I nearly squealed with delight. Payback was a bitch. “One of you boys is fixing the drywall in here, and we’re going to have a serious talk about following orders.”
There was a chorus of groans from my four brothers.
I tuned them out as I thought about where I wanted to go and who I wanted to go with me. The only non-Wayfarer I knew in Denver was Cosette, but she wasn’t answering her phone. No one had heard from her since Santa Fe. I was sure I didn’t need to worry about her—she could more than handle herself—but I was worrying anyway. I was pretty sure she’d gotten in a lot of trouble for helping us take down Luciana. We couldn’t have done it without her, and I felt like if there were some way to help her, I owed it to her to try.
I brushed my sweaty hair away from my face. “I’m going to take a shower, but I’m making plans for tomorrow. Wherever I want.”
“Within reason. I’m not going on any spa days.” Micah threw me a towel. His white-blond hair was cut short against his scalp, and the tattoos he sported along with his battered combat boots and torn black jeans gave him a serious don’t-mess-with-me vibe. Which was completely planned. As the youngest brother, he had the most to prove and was the hardest to get along with. Not that I didn’t love him, but sometimes he made it more work than I wanted.
He still wasn’t over the time I made him get a mud bath. For a tough guy, he didn’t like to get dirty. “You need to relax. A massage could do you good. Or a hot soak in some—”
“No way. I smelled horrible for days. Pick something else.”
Dad put his hands on his hips as he stared down at me. He wore a pair of pants that looked like slacks but had enough give that they could be qualified as workout pants. His button-down had panels on the sides so that it wouldn’t rip whether he was throwing punches or shifting. As our pack Alpha, he was tougher than all my brothers put together. “I just don’t want to hear about any shenanigans. No showing up on TV again. Are we clear?”
“You end up on the news a couple of times…” I muttered. True, the whole supernatural community had gotten outed, but give a girl a break. We’d been hunting a demon-summoning evil witch. How were we supposed to know the cop cars’ dashboard cameras would auto-upload to the police station server? And I couldn’t exactly help that there’d been reporters around as we left the chapel. There’d been a ton of cops there getting their asses kicked before we even showed up. The battle was already so loud, it must’ve woken up half of New Mexico. There wasn’t any way anyone could’ve shoved it under the carpet with the humans.
I chewed on my lip as I replayed the horrible scene in my mind. The memory so sharp I could almost smell the sulfur…
I shook it off, but my mind went to my friends—specifically Cosette. She’d had my back and was probably in the area. If I was getting out of here, I had to call her. At least try and get her to meet up.
“I think I’m going to call Cosette. See if she wants to go shopping.”
