by Morse, Jody
“It’s just that I feel like there’s so much tension between you and me since we got here,” he complained. “I know I promised that I was going to stay away and let you do your own thing, but…it’s weird. We’ve always been so close, so it’s just strange for us to not get along, you know?”
“Yeah…I know,” I agreed with him. I think it had been getting to me, too. Even though I wanted to do my own thing, it was hard to not have him around as my best friend anymore. Our relationship had changed so quickly, in ways that I wasn’t sure if I was ready for yet.
“So, I was just wondering if maybe we could find a way to move past this,” Thane went on. “Lately, it just feels like you hate me. And I really hate feeling that way.”
“I could never hate you, Thane. You’ve been my best friend for as long as I can remember. But you need to realize that the reason I came here is because I need to know who I am and what I want. I need to do that before I can ever decide what I want to happen with us…romantically, I mean.” There, I said it.
A look of sadness filled his honey brown eyes, but he nodded. “I know that, Skye. I’m not going to pretend to understand, because I don’t. It’s hard for me to get how you could feel this way, when deep down, I just know that you’re my mate. But I know that you have to do what’s right for you, and I promise I’ll try not to make things weird.”
“Thank you,” I replied, relief flooding my body. I hadn’t expected him to be so understanding; he was handling it better than I thought he would, and for that, I was grateful.
“But Skye…” He met my eyes. “I’m not trying to overstep boundaries or anything here, but do you really think that this Gage guy could be the one for you?”
“I don’t really know. I’ve only just met him. But what I do know is that I would like to find out.” I decided to leave out the part about how things felt so different with Gage. I was sure he’d already heard my thoughts about it, and I didn’t want to remind him of it again.
“I just don’t think it’s such a good idea for you to get involved with a human. The only way you could ever really be with him is if you bit him. Are you willing to take that risk—biting him and choosing his fate for him when you don’t even know for sure if he’ll end up as your mate?”
I held back a growl. His question irritated me more than just a little. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll decide that when the time comes.”
“If you don’t turn him, you know there’s an even bigger risk, right? You could hurt him, Skye. Humans are so much more fragile than you and I. If you turn into a wolf when he’s around…”
Feeling annoyed by the advice he was giving me, I said, “Listen, Thane. As much as I care about you and appreciate your input, you’re not my father. I never had a father, remember? I’ll make whatever decisions I feel I need to make when it comes to Gage, but you need to just stay out of it if we’re going to be friends, okay?”
Thane shot me an apologetic glance. “I know, Skye. I’m sorry. I just can’t help it. You don’t know what it’s like for me to constantly hear you thinking about him and talking to him.”
I glared at him. “Well, you need to find a way to keep your jealousy under control, then.”
Even as I said it, I knew that was a lot easier said than done, considering he was a werewolf. Almost all wolves were prone to jealousy—even when they didn’t want to be, and especially when it came to their mates. I wasn’t sure if he was my mate, but he was convinced of it—which was reason enough to make me nervous. He’d warned me that I could hurt Gage, but the truth was, I rarely had a problem with controlling my inner wolf or my temper. I was more worried that Thane would hurt him in a jealous rage.
I promised myself that I would do everything I could to keep the two of them away from each other. I knew I couldn’t change the fact that they were in the same class as each other, but I doubted that Thane would be stupid enough to turn into his wolf form right in the middle of gym class. That would affect our entire pack. Akar definitely wouldn’t be happy.
No, I was pretty sure that I only needed to worry about the two of them outside of school. That wouldn’t be easy, though. When Gage and I hung out, Thane would be able to figure out where we were if he was listening in on my thoughts. I didn’t think he would show up, but you never know what a jealous wolf might do.
Of course, this was all assuming that Gage even still wanted to go out with me. As it was, I wasn’t really sure what was going on between the two of us anymore.
Before I had the chance to contemplate it any further, I spotted Akar strutting towards us with his head held high and his shoulders pushed back. Four other wolves followed behind him. Even in the darkness of the night, I could see that two of them were gray and the other two were black. My stomach twisted into a nervous knot.
As Akar approached our circle, he said, “Thanks for coming, everyone. Koto pack, I want to officially introduce you to the Shondi. Please step forward as I call each of your names. Thane Blackwood,” he announced and Thane took a confident step forward. He called us off one by one—I went next, then Ashton and, finally, Chance and Hunter. Once we had all moved forward, Akar turned to the wolves behind him. “First, I would like to introduce you to Oliver Turner.”
One of the black wolves stepped forward. I might have been over-analyzing it, but the look in his brown eyes seemed nervous, and the way he carried himself made him seem unconfident. I also noticed that, of all of the four Shondi wolves who stood in front of me, he also appeared to be the smallest.
“Hello, everyone,” Oliver said, and I noted that his voice sounded like he hadn’t quite hit puberty yet, even though he was already sixteen years old. Perhaps he was just a late bloomer. Elijah, the new Koto Alpha back in Alaska, had been the same way. He had hit puberty late, which also made him a weaker werewolf from the beginning. He’d never turned out to be a great protector, and I think it was because he put so much pressure on himself to be better—stronger—than the rest of us.
“Next, I would like for you to meet Jade Williams,” Akar said after we’d all greeted Oliver.
The gray wolf with the lighter fur stepped forward. “Hey, guys.”
“Hello there,” Chance cooed at her, tilting his head to the side in a subconscious show of affection. Glancing over at him, I noticed the starry-look that he had in his eyes already.
“What’s up, cutie?” Jade replied, pacing in front of him. I pictured her batting her eyelashes at him.
The sparks were definitely flying between those two, but I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Kyana had told me she thought that she was going to be mated to this guy, Josh Masterson, because the two of them had such great chemistry with each other initially, but when she initiated into his pack, she ended up being mated to another guy, while Josh didn’t get a mate at all.
Even though Josh didn’t turn out to be who she expected, it had made me sad to think about how it had affected him at the time. He’d lost his mate a few months earlier, and Kyana was the first girl he’d had feelings for since. It must have been such a shock to think that you were going to be mated to someone, only to have that ripped away from you and given to someone else, instead—someone who you were close to, no less.
Of course, it shouldn’t have been such a shock to everyone. When a werewolf’s mate died, he or she typically never found another mate again. They often found companions, instead. There had only ever been one case where a werewolf had gotten a second mate, after his first mate had died. Kyana’s pack member, Colby Jackson, had been mated to Emma Taylor even after his first mate, Meagan, had been killed during an attack. He’d gotten a second mate because of a sacrifice he’d made, but werewolves rarely ever got two mates. That was another one of those weird things that had happened because of Joe McKinley.
Then again, fate had been doing a lot of crazy things lately. Samara McKinley had been given the choice between two mates, when she was faced with the tough decision of choosing between two packs. She made her choice, a
nd then when the two packs later decided to merge, she still had to choose which of the two mates she wanted to be with.
She was a lucky girl. I didn’t even think I had been given one mate yet, and somehow, she’d been fortunate enough to get two. It didn’t seem fair.
“The next member of the Shondi pack I want to introduce all of you to happens to be Oliver’s sister. Her name is Charlotte Turner,” Akar said, interrupting my thoughts about mates.
The other black wolf from the Shondi pack stepped forward and gave us all what, to me, felt like a death glare. “Just know that my name is Charlotte. If any of you call me Charlie, I’ll bite you. I hate that nickname,” Charlotte said, a bitter edge to her voice.
I knew that I couldn’t possibly be right, but something about her voice sounded so…familiar to me. It felt as though we’d met before, but I was sure that wasn’t possible. She must have just sounded like someone I knew from back home.
“Ooh, feisty. I think I’ll take my chances and get bitten by that sexy vixen,” Hunter joked quietly to Chance, and then asked, in a sing-song voice, “How you doing, Charlie?”
Charlotte let out a low growl in response.
Akar shot the twins a warning glare, and I knew that they must have embarrassed him. Instead of saying anything about it, though, he moved onto the next introduction. “And, finally, I’d like you all to meet Johnny Votelli.”
The second gray wolf, the final wolf in the pack, stepped forward. “Everyone calls me Johnny V., so I’d appreciate if you all did the same,” he said, his voice deep. “And, for the record, Charlotte is my mate. So, all you guys who want my girl need to back the fuck off. You’re fronting if you think you’d make a better Alpha than me, but even if you were Alpha, she’s happily taken.” As he spoke, he glared in Hunter’s direction.
“Sorry, dude. I didn’t know,” Hunter apologized quietly. Even though I think he was trying to play the incident off coolly, I was pretty sure that he was actually intimidated by Johnny. And, to be honest, I couldn’t even blame him. Johnny’s shoulders were almost as broad as Akar’s, and he stood pretty tall, too. His light gray fur looked mangy, almost as though he had recently been in a fight with another wolf. And those amber eyes... they held so much anger.
As Johnny stood protectively beside Charlotte, still glaring at Hunter, Akar turned to the rest of us. “The Shondi and I have already decided that, unless there are no objections, we’re going to begin with the initiations now.”
“Actually, I have a question for the Shondi first,” Ashton interrupted.
Akar glanced over at him, unsurprised. Ashton was always the one who interrupted these sorts of things. “Go on,” he replied with a small sigh.
Ashton glanced over at the Shondi pack. “What is it, exactly, that made you want to join packs with us? I don’t really understand why you would be so willing to give up the Shondi pack.”
“We have no Alpha,” Oliver replied matter-of-factly, as though the answer should have been an obvious one.
“I understand that. But when a pack lacks an Alpha, wouldn’t the strongest and most dominant wolf take control?” Ashton questioned, glancing over at Johnny, who would have been the most obvious one to fit the description he’d described.
Johnny shrugged. “That was what I always hoped would happen, and it sort of did. I have most of the say in this pack, so I’m pretty much Alpha. But it’s hard to convince them to go along with what I want sometimes, when there’s nothing to actually prove that they have to listen to me.”
“That’s because you’re not Alpha. You need to get that through your thick skull already,” Jade shot at him defiantly. Her gray eyes darted over in his direction angrily, and he let out a low growl.
I had a feeling that Johnny and Jade fought a lot over whether he was truly Alpha. In fact, it seemed like Jade wanted to be Alpha, too.
“I’m sick of Jade—who’s my best friend—always fighting with my mate,” Charlotte admitted and, yet again, her voice sounded so damn familiar to me. “It’s really hard sometimes to not feel like I’m being put in the middle.”
“But that’s not the only reason we want to be a part of the Koto,” Johnny explained. “We mostly want this for the same reasons your pack wants it. Together, the two of our packs have the potential to become one of the most powerful in the area. It certainly doesn’t hurt that you guys have McKinley blood.”
“Well, technically, Akar is the only one who’s actually biologically related to Joe McKinley,” Thane said.
“Hey, that’s enough for me,” Johnny replied. “With Akar’s powerful ancestors and the rest of you to help us increase the size of our pack, there’s no doubt that we’ll be stronger with you guys than we could ever be alone.” He wagged his tail happily at the idea.
“That’s for damn sure. No one ever feels threatened by a pack that only has two girls and two guys,” Jade replied.
“Yeah,” Oliver agreed. “Now, we’ll have seven guys and three girls. That’s way scarier than just the four of us.”
“Okay, I get it,” Ashton replied, seemingly satisfied with their answers. He turned to Akar. “We can continue.”
“Actually, wait,” I protested, rising to all four paws. “I have a question, too.”
Akar looked really frustrated with me. “What is it, Skye?”
Turning to the Shondi pack, I asked the question that I knew was on all of our minds. “Did one of you kill Vinny?”
Chapter 9
Akar looked like he wanted to pounce on me. It made him angry that I’d asked them so bluntly if one of them was a killer, but, frankly, I didn’t care. If he expected me to trust these wolves, then I needed for them to be completely honest with us. I was giving them their chance to admit the truth to us.
Johnny gawked at me. “Do you really think I would kill my own cousin?”
“I didn’t know he was your cousin,” I replied. Now that I knew—as horrible as it sounded—it only made me even more suspicious of Johnny. Now that I’d met them, he was the one I’d suspected was the most capable of killing Vinny. He just seemed so much stronger than the rest of them, and his desire to become Alpha radiated from his body. As sad as it is, there have been many wolves throughout history who were killed by a family member that wanted to take their place as Alpha.
“Well, he was, and let me just tell you this. We Votelli guys stick together. I’m not a killer, but if I ever find the guy that murdered my cousin, I will be. I’ll shred him to pieces.” He let out an angry growl, and I wasn’t sure if it was aimed at me for accusing him or if it was directed at whoever had ended his cousin’s life.
“Or girl,” Charlotte said, narrowing her eyes at him. She took a few steps forward, her bright green eyes, which looked like they should have belonged to a cat, lingering on me. “We all loved Vinny, and we looked forward to having him as a member of our pack. It’s insulting that you would even question whether one of us could have killed him.”
“I agree, Charlotte. This girl doesn’t have very much respect for us,” Jade said, shaking her head with attitude and sitting down on the ground. “You’re not being very sensitive to our feelings.”
“Yeah. In fact, I’m so upset that you would even suggest something so ridiculous that I don’t think I can go through with this initiation tonight. It’s just made me too freaking emotional,” Johnny said. Even though he was claiming to be upset, the monotony in his voice made me think otherwise.
“We understand,” Akar said, trying to sound sympathetic. One look at his face, though, told me that he was livid.
“I’m done here. Come on, guys,” Johnny commanded before he headed off into the woods behind our townhouse.
His other pack members stared at us. It was like they didn’t know if they should follow him, or if they should stay. Maybe they thought he would change his mind and return.
Finally, Charlotte spoke up, “Look, Akar. I’m sorry my mate acted that way just now, but I think you need to put a muzzle on that one.”
She glanced over in my direction angrily. “If we’re going to be a part of the Koto, then all of you should know that we don’t speak of Vinny. It upsets Johnny too much. If you decide that you still want us to be a part of your pack, that’s something you need to remember.”
Then, she darted into the woods after Johnny.
“We’ll let you guys know when we’re good to go through this whole initiation thing again. Don’t call us. We’ll call you,” Jade said dismissively, before following after Charlotte. Oliver only nodded his head at us before following after her.
Once they were out of the yard, I watched as bright green clouds of smoke filled the trees in the direction they’d headed in.
“Damn, did you see the way Jade stared at me? I’m pretty sure she likes me,” Chance said, sounding excited.
“Don’t get your hopes up. We don’t even know if they’re going to be a part of our pack now,” Akar said, glancing over at me. “This pack meeting is dismissed. I want all of you to go inside…except for Skye.”
I gulped, knowing that Akar wasn’t happy about my outburst. A part of me knew that it was wrong, but at the same time…I just had to see what their answers would be.
Even though Johnny acted so emotional in response to the whole thing, a part of me wondered if it was just that—an act. But it seemed like his pack members really bought into his whole act. He must have really had them fooled—unless one of them knew that he hadn’t done it, because they had.
“Ooh, somebody’s in trouble,” Chance announced in a singsong voice.
“Shh. Don’t get us in trouble, too,” Hunter said, bumping into him with his shoulder.
Each of my pack members shot me a sympathetic look before changing back into their human forms, the orange clouds of smoke whooshing around them.
Akar paced in front of me, waiting for them to go inside the house. I wished he would sit down. He was making me nervous.