Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 48567 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48567 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
“M?” My new therapist gives me a wave and winks at my mate. I move in front of her.
“You don’t get to wink at her.”
“He’s possessive.” Gabe steps in.
“I think it worked.”
“The hell is wrong with you!” I roar at Gabe.
“You’re my brother! My best friend, you’re kidnapping us?”
He shrugs.
“Everything I’ve ever done is for the good of the pack, and they need a leader. All of the kids that were sent off and scattered are adults now, and we need a leader, so now, before you go back to the boring board meetings and real life, you’ll go to the forest and fight on our behalf.”
“For what?” I’m truly trying to grasp what’s happening.
“For what!” I roar.
Xavier steps forward.
“Me. You’ll fight me for the right to run the new pack and trust me when I say it will be an honor to kill you and take your mate.”
I lunge toward him, but Ava grabs a hold of me and pulls me back into her arms.
“What the hell!”
Gabe shrugs.
“They need an alpha, and I provided one, my job here is done, the rest is up to you. You can go back to your penthouse and pretend this isn’t a thing, or you can battle, go to war. A different sort of war. You see, a pack always needs an Alpha, and we have none and while we’re scattered, we’re powerful, and it’s time to stop hiding, to rise up, so yes, you will need to fight.”
Xavier grins.
“It won't be much of a fight.”
"You?” I point at him.
“You’re a werewolf.”
Gabe laughs.
“He’s your long-lost brother and no, I’m not doing this to torture you, it’s just the hierarchy of the pack, kind of like how I introduced you to your assistant knowing that you’d have zero control. It worked so well. So give us something, fix what’s been broken, this pack has been broken for years and you might be the answer, or maybe it’s Xavier. In the end, we need leadership from blood, and we need to reestablish ourselves. So…what will you do, Eli? Will you walk away, will you run? Or will you do something real for the first time in your life, will you fight for your mate?”
I open my mouth only to have Ava shove me aside.
“No. He won’t. But I’ll fight for mine.”
"You?” Xavier laughs.
“Wow, seriously? You think you can beat me? Me? You know, I really liked you at one point, wanted to help you, pull you away from that guy and now you want to fight me? Me?”
She lifts her chin.
“I’ll destroy you.”
“How do you know?” Xavier laughs.
“You’re a woman.”
She grins.
“Exactly.”
Chapter 32
Protect What Is Mine
AVA
It was a bad idea, challenging him, maybe I was still dealing with a concussion, but I didn’t want to back down.
I wanted to protect Eli.
Protect the boy from the forest.
The one that protected me.
That promised me.
I stare down Xavier.
"So, it’s come to you and me fighting all because what? You want power? You want what?”
"Everything,” he says clearly, his blue eyes focused on mine.
“Eli was born into the pack but had a human mom, he’s not worthy, and he knows it, and yet he still was able to rise to where he’s at now, and honestly he doesn’t deserve to be Alpha.”
I laugh.
“Wow, have you ever thought that he really doesn’t care?”
Gabe chimes in.
“It’s in his blood, it doesn’t matter, eventually he’ll get called back and eventually he’ll have to challenge the new leader. It’s how this works, so whether we kidnapped you or brought you here on your own—this has to happen, there has to be a winner and a loser and I say this as an adoptive brother who loves him. It was time.”
“Wonder why he had so much anger management therapy?”
M steps up and raises his hand.
“An Alpha who hasn’t met his mate goes slowly crazy, an Alpha that could eventually lead his pack will lose everything if he doesn’t fight for it. So, at the end of the day, as they said, it’s inevitable. Fight, get it over with, go back to your lives.”
I look around the forest.
Tons of people are watching us, like at least two hundred.
Was I part of this?
I think I was.
No, I know I was.
Am I something other than human?
I look down at my hands. I see no claws. I just see. Human.
Somehow, I’m able to shove Eli away.
“Me. I’ll fight him.”
Xavier laughs again.
“You realize this isn’t a normal fight and even if it were, you would lose?”
I take a deep breath.
“I’ve run my entire life. Lost memories. People. So many precious things, what’s one more fight after a lifetime of darkness? What I do know is that I’m a mate, and what we do is protect what we love.”
Eli groans.
“Ava don’t—“
“Shut up!” I yell at him.
“Let me have this.”
“Let me have you!” he roars.