Leo went to open his mouth but I gave him a swift glare and he shut it.“If I become Alpha, I won’t be able to see her. The Elders would be up my ass and they wouldn’t approve of a human mate. Faith agreed to be my chosen mate for show because her mate died when they both were young. I gave her a safe place and a name for herself, whereas I was covered in regards to a mate.”Rubbing my forehead, I sighed. “Does your mate know about you? What you are?”He shook his head and I groaned. “She doesn’t know. She just knows she loves me and has a pull to me. We can be apart for longer periods of time because she is human and it isn’t as strong but…Uncle, I can’t reject her. I love her.”“How long have you been seeing her?”His head fell. “Three years.”Sighing, I leaned forward, putting my elbows on the desk and placing my head in my hands. My eye contact being lost with Leo seemed to make him feel that he was free to speak.“Are you fucking kidding me? Are you stupid? You not only didn’t re

I grimaced and looked back over at the beautiful wolf that was my Beta. Moving, I wiped my eyes and carefully reached out to Leo. Hector tried to help but I growled. I needed to do this. He was my Beta, my friend, my family. His body was heavy but I made sure that his head rested in the crook of my arm. I didn’t want it to look like his neck was snapped. Pulling him close to my body, I tried to get up but I stumbled. Hector’s hand went under my arms and pulled me up, as though I weighed nothing, even with Leo in my arms. I looked over at Lucy, who was sitting on a root, looking at the forest floor. She was lost in whatever she was thinking. Her eyes met mine but she looked away quickly. “She blames herself because the wolf got past her post.” Hector said quietly. Tears threatened again, but I didn’t say anything else. My arms tightened around Leo’s body and I started to walk back towards the pack territory. It was slow going but neither Hector, nor Auri, pushed me to go faster. Hect

Owen turned to the table. His wolf still forward. “I hereby instate Kaden Locke as my Beta and Cory Thomas as my Gamma.” His voice was gruff and I smiled, happy that he took my advice in bringing Cory in as his Gamma. They would do well for the pack. Bringing the pack into more modern times, just as my older brother wanted to do.“Cory, you should go to Rose. She would have felt the Luna power be removed.” I looked at Owen, his eyes had gone back to their normal color. “If that is okay with your Alpha.”Owen nodded and Cory came forward, holding out his hand to me. Smiling, I shook it. “You were the best Gamma I could have asked for over the years. Take care of Rose. Make sure she has everything she could possibly want and take care of that kiddo of yours.”“I’m sorry…what?” My mother’s voice rose.Cory turned and headed out of the room. The whole group still seemed to be in shock over what had just happened. The Elders were sitting in their seats, staring at each other. My mother and

We lapsed into a silence except for Vale’s occasional sigh after putting a mouthful of food in his mouth. I took the opportunity to eye-fuck my mate. He was so young and still had a light in his eyes that came with being younger. There was also a hardness and an understanding of the world I knew that Bryan had been trying to drill into me since we got here. Vale saw and heard a lot from the High Council, I was sure. Both bad and good. He definitely took after Auri, though. There was a smile in everything she did, even after all the things I had heard she went through. Even after everything the previous Alpha King had done to force her out of her pack. Vale seemed to carry that same smile. “Little Alpha, are you lost somewhere in your thoughts?” I chuckled. “You know, I’m not an Alpha anymore.” Vale rolled his eyes, settling down his plate in the sink. “You will always be an Alpha, Ezekiel. Whether or not your leading a pack. You are an Alpha. My Alpha.” The last two words he growl

“She just doesn’t get it.”I didn’t say anything as I stood next to him.“Ugh!” Vale threw up his hands. “She just expects me to take on the whole world and that’s not my job! I’m the Alpha King. Alpha. Werewolves. You know, our own people. Not everyone else.”He started to pace on the edge in front of me, walking back and forth as he continued. “That’s what the High Council is for. They need to deal with their own kind and make sure that shit does hit the fan! It’s not my fucking job to check on the witches or the vampires or the fey! I don’t care who starts this fucking war but you bet your ass I’ll be defending wolves!”“What if the wolves start the war?”He stopped to look at me. “I have an obligation to my kind to protect them. I’ve done my best to try and stop the spread of the drugs. Trying to get them to see fighting isn’t the answer. But at the end of the day…”“Even if a pack murders innocent lives and starts the war you’ll back the wolves?”His eyes snapped to mine. “What?