Alpha Brent sat in his chair, leaning forward with his elbows resting on the top and fingers steepled as he listened to me. “I understand, Nicole, but the laws are very clear. Challenges are made from alpha to alpha, meaning alpha males only. It’s an outdated thing going back to the days where our women died so often in childbirth before passive silvering rose the survivability rate.”I wanted to growl and slam my fist against the desk. Dean laid his hand on my knee and gave it a quick squeeze. I let out a breath and forced myself to focus on finding a solution. “There has to be something. We have women leading packs fine or is it until some guy decides he wants to be alpha and since women don’t count for crap, they have to step down?” Hell, his niece by mateship was leading her pack alone for a whole year before she mated Mike Howe.

After my training and shower, I sat on the front porch of Alpha Brent’s pack house, despite the chill, letting my mind process everything that had happened when Dean found me. “Hey,” I said, running my hand over my head, vowing to cut my hair. It was getting too long for my tastes. “What did your dad want?”“The usual. What about you? Anything new?”“No luck with the laws so far, but Sadie has an idea. What is the usual? Does he want you to convince me to be a good girl and stop making waves?”Dean gave me a half-smile. “The usual is him complaining I’m not like my brother. He isn’t against you leading, Nic. He believes it’s going to be impossible.”“So does everyone else, it seems.

Dean pulled me over to the couch. He sat next to me, his arm laid around my shoulders, and tucked me right against him. Again, I found myself struck by how nice this was. “Nic, we have to talk about this,” Dean said, sounding serious. I didn’t like him so serious.“Dean, there is nothing to talk about. I don’t even understand why you’re insisting. This should be good news to you,” I said, letting frustration enter my voice.“Is that what you really think?”I shrugged, not sure why he seemed so upset.“Okay, come with me,” Dean said, standing. I stared up at him, confused. “What?”“Come with m

When Dean joined me on the front porch, we walked back to the pack house. Something had been bothering me since I spoke to Harry. This plan for a better pack wasn’t something Harry just came up. It’d been something he’d been working on for a while. So why was Dean only telling me now?“Well, what do you think?” Dean asked after we’d been walking for a few minutes.“It’s a great idea. Something like this should’ve happened long ago,” I said and with some hesitation added, “Harry didn’t seem to like me too much. Is that why you didn’t tell me about this before?”Dean scoffed and gave me a sidelong glance. “You’re kidding right?”I frowned at him. “No, I’m not.&

“So,” Dean said as we sat down on one of the couches in the small room. “What is it you want to talk about?” He sounded almost nervous.I chuckled to myself. He was nervous? Dean had nothing to be nervous about. “Well, I told you I appreciate what you’ve been doing for me since I arrived and well, I wanted to let you know that I, uh, am ready to accept you as my mate,” I told him then added, “And, I understand if you aren’t. We know little about each other, so it’s okay if you’re not sure or if you’re not ready.”When he said nothing for a moment, my nerves ratcheted up, and I ran a hand through my hair. Perhaps I was doing this wrong? Perhaps I misread things. When he asked, “You’re kidding right?” I stared back at him, not sure what he meant. He scooted over closer