Something tugged under my ribs, and I covered the spot with both hands.
What’s that?
My wolf answered, It’s him.
The tugging pulled taut, like an elastic band drawn tight, and I sucked in a breath.
Oh my god. Sascha was on the other end.
I had a Sascha beacon.
Now we can find him anywhere, she said quietly.
That’s not what worried me.
Apparently, I just accepted the Luther a little bit more.
17
The sister is coming, my wolf said.
She’d reduced Rhona to the sister in the last two days.
I glanced behind to see that indeed, Rhona stormed our way. I managed nearly a whole day without any antics too.
“I’ll meet you there,” I said to the head team.
Roderick walked towards the van, but Valerie pointed over my shoulder. “Is Rhona coming too?”
Fucking. Valerie.
I turned. “Rhona. Can I help you with something?”
“I’m coming to pack lands.”
Put her in her place.
“We’ve been through this,” I said, ignoring my wolf again. “You must remain at the manor in case something happens to me.”
She grinned and hurt spliced me at what the grin implied—if only we were so lucky.
“The Luthers have shown themselves to behave on two occasions,” she countered. “I have a right to see pack lands as a Thana.”
I tilted my chin. “Every steward in this tribe has a right. And yet I see none of them here. Would you leave them leaderless?”
“Not at all. You stay here. Just like last week when I took your spot.”
Trixie broke the leaden silence. “What?”
“Andie and I swap places sometimes,” Rhona lifted a shoulder. “Sometimes, she’s too scared to give public speeches on Tuesday nights. And she needed a break last Sunday, so I stepped in for the grid announcement.”
Wow. She went there.
She really hated me that much.
I scented the subtle shift in scent of those at my back. Facing them, I nodded. “Rhona’s right. Twice, we’ve switched position. I’m afraid my confidence was lacking in the first week. Last weekend, I learned what happens when duty and health aren’t balanced. I apologise for myself and for Rhona for not informing you of the switch. The first instance was last minute, and I admit, I was too ashamed to tell you the truth. The second, well, there’s little excuse for that except health.”
“And that theory we were testing,” Rhona piped up behind me.
My stomach lurched. “My main objective was to recoup, but perhaps we can present our theory to the head team after the meeting on pack lands. We’ll be late if we don’t leave.”
“And I’m coming,” she said.
My gums ached, but I stepped in front of her, tilting my chin. Her lips curved, and I didn’t hesitate to let her see my sadness and pain.
“Because I care for you and this tribe, my answer is no.”
“Perhaps we could put it to a vote,” Valerie said, the sneer evident in her voice.
I glanced over my shoulder. “If you want every decision to be a group vote, Valerie, we’ll soon suffer from gross lack of efficiency.”
“Even so. Given the circumstances with Herc,” she simpered.
My wolf was bursting under the surface to take charge of the situation and put Valerie in her place way at the bottom. For a furious moment, I considered letting her do just that.
Tightening my hold, I focused. “I’m disappointed at your lack of confidence and trust in my decisions, Valerie. Some of that is on me too though. Something I’ve done has clearly made you feel that way. In the future, I hope you’re able to support your head steward.”
Her cheeks flushed.
“Those who believe Rhona has a right to visit pack lands on this single occasion, raise your hand,” I said in a ringing voice.
Yep, I already knew the answer.
The majority of hands rose, including Rhona’s.
“Damn selfish, I think,” Stanley said, glowering at the others.
Bile rose in my throat at the sickly sweetness of Rhona’s vanilla glee. “Rhona will come to pack lands. The two of us will meet the rest of you there.”
“I’ll ride with the head team.” She shouldered me on the way to the driver’s seat.
No one missed the blow.
Valerie smirked, and I turned away before my wolf decided to chomp through her jugular.
“See you all there.” I moved toward Ella F.
Wade was coming down the stairs to make up Rhona’s position on the head team. I waved him away, mouthing, “Not today.” His grey gaze shifted over my shoulder to Rhona, and he stopped short.
Yep.
I just lost that round big time. Rhona wasn’t just coming to pack lands. She’d won a powerplay with the head team.
No sooner had I pulled out of the manor gates, waving at Cameron, when my phone buzzed.
“Oh my god,” Wade said. “What happened? The tension was crazy.”
“You know how Rhona and I switched a couple of times? She just told the head team.”
He swore long and hard, then turned his ire on Rhona.
“What she’s doing is mean, yes,” I said, sighing. “She’s only doing it because I hurt her so much.”
“You don’t have to call her what she is, but I certainly will.”
I shook my head. “I’ve got a bigger problem. She also told them about the theory she had.”
“The one where Sascha had the mega hots for you?”
“She’s trying to make me sweat. More. I’ve delayed discussing the theory until after meeting the Luthers, but it will come up as soon as we’re back. She could be telling them about it right now.”
The line was silent. “Baby girl, I don’t mean to be a butthole, but you need to stick up for yourself.”
“Nothing she’s saying is untrue. We did switch places.”
“Exactly,” he exploded. “We.”
“Only one of us is head steward.”
“This fight has to end or the tribe loses. You need to make her back down.”
Didn’t he understand? I couldn’t do that to my only remaining relative. My sister. She grieved for a father and mother who’d lied to her. She grieved the loss of a position she’d always believed would be hers. She felt alone and adrift. Me fighting her just proved to her that family wasn’t forever—that the term sister didn’t mean anything.
I refused to do that. “No.”
“You cannot be hearing yourself.”
“I am, Wade. Fighting or not, I lose either way. If push comes to shove, I choose to lose the head stewardship over my family.”
“Alright,” he said just as I wondered if the signal had dropped out. “I don’t think that’s best for the tribe though. Moving on, what will you tell the head team about Rhona’s theory? She’s trying to raise their suspicions about a connection to him without telling them outright.”
“Why though? That’s what I can’t figure out. Why not tell them what she knows?”
Wade hummed. “No idea on that front. My advice would be to state the facts and to include Rhona in the conversation. There’s no doubt the team will watch you after this. Don’t suppose you happened to complete all three remaining meets last night?”
I groaned. “He’s holding out.”
Wade’s voice darkened. “You’re kidding me. He was the one working so hard to convince you to keep going.”
I couldn’t repeat Sascha’s explanation about the kissing. It felt too personal. “I know.”
“What did you guys do out there for two hours?”
Erm. “Argued, pretty much. It’s a shame there’s not a meet for that.”
He snorted.
I tilted my head, picking up sounds ahead. “I’ll need to say goodbye. Meet at mine later?”
“Deal, baby girl. I know this is shit right now, but it’s going
to work out, okay? I love you.”
My chest squeezed. No one had said that to me in so long. “I love you too.”
I wound down my window when Grim stepped from the bushes. “Hey, Grim.”
He bowed slightly. “Andie.”
The van pulled up behind me. “Listen, can you make sure Sascha knows my sister, Rhona, is here? There’s a chance she’ll stir trouble up—not with violence, but she’s angry with Sascha and with me. Could you let him know to be on his guard?”
Grim nodded and melted back into the bushes. He was a strange one, but I liked him for some reason.
I drove on, collecting my thoughts as I directed the team to the largest bungalow. This time Sascha waited outside.
“Head Steward,” he greeted.
“Pack Leader,” I replied, deciding to drop the Luther routine. It was fucking rude, and I was better than that.
The team piled out of the van behind me.
“Welcome to our territory,” Sascha said.
Rhona scoffed, “Your territory? This is our land.”
“The land belongs to itself,” Sascha said mildly. “Or has your tribe changed its mind regarding ownership?”
“Don’t mince words, Luther,” Rhona spat, coming to my side.
“Rhona.” I cut her off. “While here, we have a very easy and specific job to do for our tribe. How about we get to it?”
I didn’t wait for her answer.
Sascha stood aside to let me enter and gave Rhona his back as he filed into the bungalow after me.
Dipping my head at the row of already seated Luthers, I missed my chance to take my seat. Rhona slid into the middle chair which Sascha had adorned with antlers between times. My lips twitched despite Rhona’s move.
I took the seat next to her.
“Thank you for welcoming us to your territory,” I said as Sascha took his throne.
He held up a hand. “Excuse my interruption, Head Steward, but I believe your sister has mistaken the seating arrangement.”
“There’s no mistake,” Rhona said, smirking.
“Rhona,” Stanley hissed under his breath. “Not here.”
She ignored the old man.
“It’s Luther custom that the leader sit in the correct chair,” Sascha said in the thick tension.
Bullshit.
At least someone cares about establishing order, my wolf muttered.
You don’t recognise the concept of pack or family, I replied, who are you to judge me?
I don’t judge. I merely care.
“Then I see no reason why we can’t proceed,” Rhona said.
I really didn’t need to say anything. That was a pretty clear declaration of her motive. Gasps rang out from my head team.
“Rhona,” Valerie hushed. “I thought you came here for… well…”
To face her father’s murderer in his own home? That’s how I once looked at this meeting and playing Grids—as a standoff and a show of strength for Herc.
More and more, I saw that Herc wasn’t exempt from blame. He drew a gun on Sascha too easily. Something happened to Murphy, and I was willing to bet Herc had a hand in his death. I saw the disgust in his eyes when I screamed at the idea of Sascha dying. It was the same disgust I’d directed at myself when I didn’t kill Greyson. Things between Herc and me would never have been the same after that moment. Maybe he would have hurt me eventually. His own daughter.
And for what?
Because I was reacting to a magical bond I knew very little about? Because I was tainted by association? Because I didn’t hate the Luthers enough?
Maybe what Sascha was scared me really bad at first. That fear had generated a cold contempt that Herc’s death strengthened to loathing.
In hindsight, allowing my fear to condemn an entire race seemed so…
Ignorant.
The Luthers were trapped in this valley. And that evening in Sandstone, Greyson protected me, just like Sascha was doing right now against Rhona.
I could admit that now.
I couldn’t hold Sascha or Greyson to that sad, regrettable moment anymore. I couldn’t use Herc’s death as another shield for the feelings and thoughts I wanted to avoid.
Because those things weren’t going away.
I wasn’t sure I wanted them to.
“When you’re ready to assume your proper seat,” Sascha was saying, “the meeting can resume.”
Rhona ignored him.
“Would you like to swap?” I asked. “You know it doesn’t matter to me what seat I lead the tribe from, but it would be rude to ignore the customs of our hosts.”
I met her blazing emerald gaze and sadness filled my heart.
“I refuse to talk with dogs.” Rhona burst to standing.
“That’s the only language I speak,” Sascha said. “Woof.”
He didn’t. Oh my god.
I rubbed a hand over my mouth to conceal my traitorous grin as Rhona stormed out.
Inhaling, I noted the sudden muting of the head members’ scents. They were trying to hide. Embarrassed?
Correct, my wolf said.
I rose. “On behalf of the Ni Tiaki tribe, I sincerely apologise for my sister’s behaviour. She finds it difficult to be in Luther company after her father’s death.”
“We found it very difficult to be in steward company after her father threw a landslide at us, but we managed.” Mandy glowered. “Children have no part in the managing team.”
Oddly, I gathered that she was trying to help me.
Valerie scoffed. “You had it coming.”
Just like that, my good mood expired. “Valerie. Please join Rhona outside.”
Her jaw dropped. Beet red, she stumbled from the bungalow.
I surveyed the wolves and bowed this time. “Another apology is needed. You can be assured that violence against your kind will not be condoned under my leadership, as per the rules of Victratum.”
“I would request that your sister is absent from future meetings between our people,” Sascha said.
Smelling his fury, I could only marvel at the lack of it in his voice.
“The head team will take that into consideration and deliver our decision by Monday evening.” I sat in my antler throne.
His honey eyes bore into mine. I’d have thought the shorter distance would make the elastic band sensation under my ribs better, but it was almost worse to see and not touch him.
“Your choice for this week’s grid?” he murmured.
I rubbed the area under my ribs and saw his gaze dip to the movement. His eyes widened slightly, and his attention snapped to my face.
“Clay,” I said. “We’ll see you in Clay.”
The head team didn’t look at Rhona as they filed into the van. Stanley took the driver’s seat while Nathan took hold of Valerie’s arm and dragged her to the vehicle.
They drove off, and I waited by Ella F.
“Are you coming?” I asked Rhona.
Her options were to come with me, walk, or stay here. She approached the car and gave it a swift kick.
“Whatever you may feel toward me right now, don’t ruin my possessions because of it. I happened to work hard to buy this car, and if you can’t respect that, walk back to the manor.”
“You’d probably like that, wouldn’t you, dog lover?” she hissed, wrenching open the door.
Growls rose around us, but I highly doubted she heard.
“They’re your legs, not mine. Be my guest, if that’s what you’d prefer.” Forest forest forest.
Let me out, my wolf growled.
Not the time.
If you don’t respect my needs, we will die, Andie Thana.
I just need you not to burst out right this second, I snarled.
That’s not how this works. Sascha was right. I do not care for the confines of your pack.
Too bad.
“Do you feel like a whore when you let him inside you?” she hissed.
The growls ramped up.
Her words wer
e for Sascha’s benefit as much as mine, and his growl inside the bungalow was about the most menacing thing I’d ever heard. “I wouldn’t know. What I do know is that you’re embarrassing yourself.”
It was the wrong thing to say, and I knew it before uttering the words. Yep, she’d officially gotten under my skin.
Her fist clenched as I gunned the engine.
“Hit me if you like, Rhona. It may make you feel better for a little while.”
“Perhaps,” she said. “Except there’s nowhere to wash my hands after.”
“You can say what you like to me,” I directed us away from the bungalow. “I’ll be here through it all. I won’t say goodbye to you.”
She laughed as we left the buildings behind, but I knew every wolf in over a kilometre radius could hear us.
My phone rang, and I fumbled to grab it.
Rhona swiped it up and turned on speaker. “Hello?”
“Hey,” Wade said. “How did she go?”
Ah, shit nuts.
Thunderstorms closed in over Rhona’s face. “She went fine.”
Inaccurate. I’d tell Wade the truth later.
“Oh, heeey, Rhona.”
I coughed. “Wade, Rhona is driving back with me.”
“Apparently.”
“You know everything,” she said.
“Huh, what?”
She gripped the phone hard. “Don’t fuck with me, steward.”
Wade was silent for a beat. “Yeah, Rhona, I know. And guess what? Andie made a mistake, but you’re being a massive bitchhole about this.”
I groaned inwardly, squeezing the steering wheel. “Thanks so much for the input, Wade. I’ll see you later.”
Now she’d think I was bitching about her. He’d just made things ten times worse.
Wade squeaked and hung up as we rolled past the harvest fields.
“When did you tell him?”
“He came across me in a down moment a few weeks ago.”
I hadn’t thought she could be angrier at me, but yep, it happened before my very eyes to a startling degree. The rage spilling everywhere was methodically tucked in and frozen until a chilled shell remained in the passenger seat beside me.
“Rhona, I’ll always love you,” I whispered. “I know this doesn’t make sense, but we can survive what’s happening. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
She glanced out the window. “Love from someone like you doesn’t mean much when all you can do is love others. I mean, you could hardly love yourself.”
Moon Claimed: Supernatural Battle (Werewolf Dens Book 2) Page 18