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I pressed my fingers to my temples, trying to ease the returning headache. This time, I don’t think it was a result of the witch in my mind. It was probably from the stress of this situation. I wanted to push past them, run away, break free. But I knew with a witch who could dig inside my brain and that huge shifter who took up most of the doorway, I didn’t stand a chance.
With a sigh, I dropped my hands. “Listen, I need to get back home. Whatever the fuck this was, I’ll tell my dad it was a misunderstanding. In fact, I won’t even tell him about it at all. It’s not like I talk to him if I can help it.”
Luke crossed his arms over his chest. I couldn’t help but notice how well the gray tee he was wearing fit him. His broad chest filled out the shirt quite well. The sleeves were taut around his large biceps. Tattoos covered his entire left arm. Black outlines of symbols and natural elements. I caught what looked like roses and mountains along with a stylized sun. I frowned, hating how good those stupid tattoos made him look.
“Your dad’s the reason you’re here,” Zoe said.
“What?”
“He traded his life for yours,” Luke said with a shrug.
“Now you’re just spewing crazy. That doesn’t even make sense,” I said.
“He challenged Luke, he lost,” the witch clarified.
I blinked a few times as her words sunk in. If that was true, it means that Luke was an alpha. Maybe the alpha of the rumored Lost Pack, maybe some other pack. Either way, if my dad had challenged him, and lost, he should be dead. There were no survivors in an alpha challenge and you absolutely couldn’t show mercy. “I don’t understand.” I mean, I got it, in theory, but it didn’t make sense.
“What is there to understand?” Luke asked. “Life for a life.”
“I know how it works,” I spat. There were rules in our world that no pack violated. “I don’t get why he challenged another alpha in the first place.”
“I told you she didn’t know anything,” the witch said.
Luke’s mouth twisted to the side. I could almost feel his disappointment. “You don’t think she’s hiding things from you?”
“Nobody can hide things from me,” she replied.
“Stop talking about me as if I’m not here,” I said. “And explain this whole thing. Start from the beginning.”
“Zoe, take care of her, I don’t have time for this shit.” Luke turned and left.
My jaw dropped at the absolute dismissal. Gritting my teeth, I lifted my arm and flipped him off.
“I saw that,” Luke called, throwing me a reciprocal bird in response.
“Good. I meant it.” I rolled my eyes. This shifter thought he could just hold me here because my dad lost a challenge? I didn’t give a shit if that was how things could work. They shouldn’t work that way. Luke’s form vanished as he turned down a staircase. “You’re not going to keep me here!” I shouted.
“Watch me,” he called.
“Fuck you!” I yelled.
The witch, Zoe, giggled.
I glanced toward her, surprised to see a smile on her face. It was an odd contrast to the clothing she wore and the power I knew she possessed.
“It’s nice to see someone stand up to him for a change,” she said.
“Did you just approve of me talking back to your alpha?” I asked.
“Oh, he’s not my alpha. That’s a shifter thing. I’m no shifter,” she said.
“True. So tell me, how can I get out of here?” Maybe she could help.
“You can’t,” she said simply. “The whole town is warded. Nobody in or out without approval.”
“But you said my dad challenged your Luke.” I couldn’t bring myself to refer to him as the alpha again. He wasn’t in charge of me and I wasn’t particularly fond of any alpha at the moment. My dad, who was alpha of my pack, was why I was here in the first place.
She burst into laughter. “Oh, sweetie, he’s notmyLuke ormyalpha. But he does hold your life in his hands.”
