“I say females must not be allowed to risk our males’ lives for foolish escapades off territory. Last Pack will stop at nothing to restore their numbers. They don’t care if a female is mated. They just want bodies. Mark my words, they will attack, the human authorities will come down on us, and there will be war among the packs. And for what? What is so hard about the lot of a lone female with no pups to tend and everything provided for them?”
That’s an interesting complaint from a mated female with no pups and everything provided for her.
There is some rumbling from the younger females at the tables toward the back.
“Una Hayes—who has never won a challenge—wants to destroy our traditions and put our males in danger—put our very territory in danger—and for what? Her fucking hobby?”
This sounds nothing like Haisley. I’ve never heard anything from her mouth but purring and flattery. These are Eamon’s words.
I glance down and over. Una’s maintaining eye contact with Haisley, and her stance is solid. She’s clearly pissed, but she’s also uncertain. I can feel it all—including her wolf’s instinctive fear of an adversary who bested her. It pains me, and riles the hell out of my wolf, but I hold course.
Folks don’t fully understand this quite yet—Una doesn’t either—but my mate is the most powerful wolf here now. She can make her own calls.
And then Haisley adds, as if it’s an afterthought and not an obvious incitement, “Maybe the lone females need to spend a night back in the basement so they can remember to be thankful for what this pack allows them.”
The room was quiet, but now it’s absolutely silent. Not even the creak of a bench. You can hear the lights hum.
Una’s eyes seem wider until I realize the brown has changed. It’s a mellow cognac now, shining and alive. It’s her wolf.
She steps forward. “You shut your mouth.”
Haisley draws herself up and smirks. “Or what?” Now that sounds like her.
“I’ll shut it for you.”
The entire pack looks at me. They know. Even Cheryl’s starting to look green around the gills.
Haisley doesn’t give an inch. Whoever’s put her up to this has done a thorough job of messing with her head. Her instincts should be screaming, but instead, she laughs. “Don’t you remember my fangs in your neck, bitch? That’s what’s wrong with you and all your misfit friends up in the reject cabin. You think ‘cause Alpha pities you that you’re safe? Strength rules in Quarry Pack, and everyone knows your wolf is a sad, scrawny loser.”
There’s the sound of a hundred simultaneous drawn in breaths.
Haisley glances over to her brother, proud and high on her own audacity. There’s a shine in her eyes. I wouldn’t doubt but that she’s high on something else, too. I catch Cheryl’s attention and nod for her to come get her girl.
“He’s gonna breed you and leave you, and then you’re gonna be back on the bottom with Toddlers and Tiaras, weepy Annie, and the freak who doesn’t even know if she’s a boy or a girl.” Haisley jerks her thumb over her shoulder toward the kitchen door where Mari, Annie, and Kennedy are gathered.
Una snarls from the back of her throat, a clear warning, and I’m just about to step in when everything happens at once.
Una tugs the bond so hard I can feel it in my breastbone. Come on.
“I told you to shut your mouth. Now you’re gonna lose your teeth.” The words are garbled by Una’s lengthening fangs, but we can all make them out. The pack edges backwards, riveted. Dams hiss at pups to back up.
There’s another yank at the bond like I got a goddamn leash attached to my solar plexus. Come, mate. We attack.
I can’t stop the stupid grin. Good thing Una’s focused one hundred percent on Haisley. “Alpha doesn’t pity me. Alpha belongs to me.”
Hell, yeah, I do.
As Una’s body breaks, I become the wolf, and howl the truth to the rafters. Finally, the insolence in Haisley’s eyes dims, and her gaze darts around the room. Cheryl’s waving wildly, but Eamon and Lochlan are still standing, unbowed, so she hesitates.
Big mistake.
I bolt for Haisley. Females scream. Haisley abandons her skin to her wolf who promptly panics as she registers the enraged alpha leaping for her.
Haisley should thank freakin’ Fate that Una shifts slow as molasses, and I beat her wolf across the floor. If Haisley raised a paw to her, I’d rip her head from her spine.
As it is, all I have to do is snap my teeth, and Haisley’s wolf skitters backwards and crawls under a table, mewling for her mother. Cheryl has backed off to huddle beside her mate in human form. No help coming for those quarters.