Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“They will never have any right to hate you, no matter how many reasons you might give them. You are the most important thing in the world to me, and this is my pack. You are the center of my world, and by default, the new center of theirs. You have authority and power. They will prostrate themselves at your feet. They will treat you with the utmost respect, or they will suffer.”
The way he growls the word suffer makes me think he might be capable of very terrible things. Cain and I are strangers who have been deeply intimate, but still strangers. This situation we find ourselves in is like an arranged marriage. We’re stuck with each other while wondering who the other person even is.
This time, I ask the question, even though it scares me. “How?”
“How what?”
“How will they suffer? What will you do to them?”
“It depends who it is, male or female, rank or age.”
I look at him with reservation. “But what does that mean? Is anybody going to be hurt?”
“I will do what it takes to defend you, and your reputation.”
He’s not answering me. He’s also not spanking me, though. I feel sleepy right now. A yawn overcomes me, in spite of my efforts to stifle it.
“You need to rest,” he says immediately.
I am happy he is predictable that way. As annoyed as he was with me, he was even more annoyed at his pack for calling me names. I hope he’s forgotten about my misbehavior.
Cain
I have not forgotten about her misbehavior, but I want her in bed. Asleep. I am starting to feel as though she is only under control when she is unconscious. It is not as though she is trying to be bad. She is simply prone to engaging in unfortunate events.
“Get into bed,” I tell her. “And stay there. No going to the window, no getting into the moonlight. Sleep and sleep alone. Understand?”
“Will you sleep with me?”
Her request is so sweet. She has a way about her that makes me want to forgive her every sin. I can’t let her get away with what she did tonight, though. It was one thing to shift, but the series of decisions she made after that were calculated. Even asking me about that awful phrase was probably designed to distract me. My pretty mate is already learning how to get what she wants from me. I can feel myself starting to become wrapped right around her littlest finger.
A light tap at the door calls me over to it, but not before I point my finger at her and issue a very firm command.
“Stay.”
She salutes in response, a slightly sassy retort that she should be far too sorry to indulge in right now. God. She’s already spoiled.
I open the door to reveal the kindly, slightly concerned face of one of the pack’s elders.
“May I have a word, my alpha?”
Linus has served the pack for longer than I have been alive. He presided over the ceremony in which my parents were married. He is gray now, his long hair streaked with whiter shades in between darker lines that hint at the long raven locks he used to have. His face is lined, and his eyes are deep set, seeming to grow deeper every year.
This might be the man I most respect in the world.
“Of course. My mate needs to rest. Let’s go to the alpha’s lounge.”
I lock the door, though it didn’t do me or Kira much good last time, and hope that she will obey me. I am trusting her in a way I probably should not. She has a talent for trouble and only just demonstrated her complete lack of interest in doing as she is told. But I also have pack affairs to attend to, and I cannot babysit her every moment of the day. My mate will have to be able to moderate her own behavior.
“Stay in bed,” I tell her before I leave. “If you so much as move from that place before I get back, your introduction to the pack will be a public caning.”
Her gasp of horror in response makes me hope the threat will be effective.
Linus and I go to the alpha’s lounge, a quiet, refined space where every alpha in the pack has conducted private business since Denholm was founded. There are armchairs, and there’s always a roaring fire. Bookshelves hold the leather-bound records of our pack. There’s more information here than I’ll ever be able to absorb. That’s why members like Linus are so important. You could take all the information in this room, double it, and he’d still have more in his head.
“What can I do for you, Linus? Would you like something to drink?”
“Not at the moment, my alpha,” he says, his tone respectful, bordering on obsequious. “I have matters of some importance to discuss with you. I am pleased you have found your mate. Unfortunately, she is not listed in any of my files. As you know, I maintain records for generations. I do not have any Kira Smith. Smith is not a wolf name. If I could speak to her about her parentage…”