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“I’d like your permission to leave the pack.”
“I’m sorry?” He’d told her to spit it out and she’d take the suggestion so literally, that he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly.
“I’m asking your permission, Alpha Wilde, to leave the pack.”
He arched a brow at her formal tone. No one in the pack had ever called him Alpha Wilde.
Ryan blinked twice, trying to bring her into focus. “No.” He looked down at the ledger in front of him waiting for her to leave, trying to ignore the wave of emotion her request caused.
“Why?” Desperation colored her voice.
“Because I said so. That’s why.” His gaze snapped back to hers and he turned the full force of his stare on her.
“That’s not good enough.”
“You have a responsibility to this pack.” He said, thinking of the schooling she’d recently completed. Studying science and the environment with a major in genetics, in the hopes that they could help find answers to their population decline.
“I haven’t forgotten. That’s part of the reason that I want to leave. The other packs have had experiences that ours haven’t and they need to be documented. Questions that we need answers to, but we’ll never get them unless we send someone to collect them. I can still help this pack and belong to another at the same time.”
Ryan sighed and set aside the book. “I’m your alpha you’ve asked and I’ve denied your request. This discussion is over.”
“It’s not. I’m twenty-seven. Long past the time when I should have taken a mate. There isn’t one who wants me in this pack. It’s time that I find one elsewhere.” She was choosing her words carefully. Ryan’s eyes narrowed at each explanation that she gave, and his stomach turned as she talked about leaving and finding a mate. He felt the rejection as keenly as he had when Hayley abandoned him leaving their pack. “No.”
He watched her jaw drop and knew he was being an asshole. He had little right to deny her request. What she’d said about investigating the other packs to get the answers they needed made sense, but he couldn’t stop the denial from exploding from his mouth, barely resisting the urge to spit at the bitter taste left on his lips the thought of her leaving caused.
“I’ll go to the council and petition to leave then.” Her eyes nearly shot sparks at him as she raised her head and stared him down boldly.
“I know your rank within the pack has slipped somewhat recently, but you are young you’ll understand in time that the ranks among the women tend to fluctuate especially in a large pack like ours.” He fiddled with the pen in his hand, his gaze fixing on the wall over her shoulder. He couldn’t drop his gaze because he was her alpha but he couldn’t maintain eye contact with her.
“You’re a moron!” she growled, gnashing her teeth at him before storming out of the room and slamming the heavy wooden door behind her.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Brother, what have you done to have one small female wolf so angry with you?”Jace's amused tone came to him not long after Kelly had left.
“You will vote ‘no’ when she petitions to leave the pack. The council can not permit her to leave.”Ryan demanded, wanting to strangle his younger brother when laughter filled his mind on their shared channel for communication.“I’m serious Jace, you owe me.”
“Ryan, I can’t interfere like that if she wants to go you need to let her.”
“No, I can’t. Please do this for me. Please Jace, at least give me time to change her mind. If she still wants to go after that then I won’t try to stop her.”
***
Those male chauvinistic bastards, they’d voted six in favor three against and a decision like leaving the pack had to be unanimous. It had been two days since she’d taken her request to Ryan. They hadn’t even debated long enough to be fair. Who were they to decide if a female wolf should be allowed to mate or breed? Why were there no women on the council? Was their race so archaic that the men still felt it was their right to speak for the females in the pack?
Part of her could understand, lycans weren’t fully human, and their instincts often demanded things that their human counterparts balked at. They weren’t solely animals though either, and it was long past time that the council considered that.
Desperate for an escape, she waited until dusk to shift into her wolf form. It took several tries, and she was ready to weep with frustration.
Come on damn it!Kelly pleaded with her wolf, and when that didn’t work she put as much force into calling her as she could manage. Finally, she was standing on all fours on her back step. She ignored the muted scents that should have been vibrant around her and padded off into the forest.
She couldn’t run. There wasn’t a pack in existence that would allow her to join them without the permission of her alpha, to do so would be an insult to Ryan and would start a war. Leaving her family would tear her heart out. Heading towards the lake Kelly traveled carefully, her eyes not what they should have been. The night was like dark ink swallowing her when normally she’d be able to see as if it were the middle of the day.
She needed to seek medical advice. She had put it off long enough. Her symptoms were progressing rapidly and she knew she wouldn’t be able to hide them for much longer.
Fear pumped into her bloodstream as she skirted around to the far side of the lake, wandering further from home than she’d dared in a while. Not wanting to draw attention to herself she’d slipped into the woods as quietly as she could, but now that she was away from everyone she was less careful about the noise she was making.
The lake was her favorite place in their territory and she missed the normally calming effect it had on her. Now no matter where she went she just felt trapped. She struggled to shift back into her human form and retrieve the clothes she had stashed.
