“I haven’t seen them all day,” Mary Beth says. “Tessa usually hangs around for awhile in the mornings, but she wasn’t around when I got up.” Mary Beth lives in the same hall as Tessa. They aren’t roommates, but they live close by one another.
“No, they left early this morning to go on a walk,” someone says.
“They told me they were going for a swim,” another wolf adds.
“Tessa!” I growl. “Show yourself!” I yell into the woods. My voice echoes loudly in the silence of the forest. She can’t be far. She wouldn’t. If she wanted to challenge me, today was the day. It’s not common for a female to challenge an Alpha, but Tessa has never just been a normal female.
I shift then and let out a long, low howl. One by one, the other wolves follow suit. It’s the middle of the day, so anyone walking by is going to know right away that something weird is going on. Humans might believe wolves howl when there’s a full moon, but no one believes we howl during the middle of the day.
Why would we?
We howl over and over, calling to our lost pack members, calling to Tessa and Lex, letting them know that their time is now.
It’s time for them to face the consequences of their actions.
It’s time for payback.
“What a warm welcome,” I hear a shrill voice say, and I immediately shift back to my human form. It might leave me naked and vulnerable, but I can’t speak when I’m a wolf and there is quite a bit I have to say to fucking Tessa. Tessa is standing at the edge of the crowd and the wolves slowly move to make room for her as she comes to the center of the circle.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” I growl. She’s been planning this for weeks, maybe even months. It grates on me that we’re doing this on her terms. She’s the one who wants to be the Alpha or at least the Alpha’s bride. She’s the one who tried to keep me so busy and chasing my own tail that I wouldn’t have time to prepare for this.
She’s the one who tried to scare off my bride so I wouldn’t have the courage to face her.
She’s the one who tried to make sure Red broke my heart.
My heart does, in fact, hurt. Knowing Red ran off kills me. I know Red better than most people, though, and I have the feeling my little Scarlett is going to be coming back sooner than we think. It’s why I haven’t told anyone she left.
She’ll be back.
I can guess there are a million reasons why she might have run off. Maybe she thinks she’s no good for me. Maybe she’s worried I want a shifter bride instead of a human. I don’t know. All I know is that no matter where Red is, she’s going to come to her senses and she’s going to come back to me.
My darling bride always does.
“What do I have to say for myself?” Tessa spits and strips her shirt off, tossing it to the ground. She enters the circle and starts walking around, pacing. The rest of her clothes follow and soon she’s standing in front of me in the nude, ready to shift at any moment. I watch her clench and unclench her fists, careful to keep an eye out for her claws.
I’m not under any impression that Tessa plans to play nice when she fights.
“I could ask you the same question, Nash. What the fuck did you think you were getting into when you took over this pack? Did you really think you’d get anyone’s respect by choosing a human? An ugly one, even?”
“Leave my mate out of this.”
“Your mate is the whole fucking point of this, Nash! Can’t you see?” She keeps walking, pacing, wringing her hands, but I know what she’s doing.
She’s talking, keeping me busy while Lex comes to join her. I can smell him. I’m not an idiot. He’s close and he plans to attack me when I’m not looking. Then she’ll attack at the same time and go for the kill, then take over the pack.
It’s a great plan, really, but they forgot about one little thing.
My Red is a spitfire.
And then I smell her.
I smell Red.
I smell Red almost as strongly as I smell Lex. I know she came back. She’s here. She came home to me. Oh, we’ll have some words later about the fact that she ran away without talking to me first, but I’m so thrilled she’s back I just ignore everything Tessa is saying.
Red pushes her way to the front of the crowd and Tessa is so busy talking that she doesn’t notice Red slip into the circle, walk up, and slap her in the face.
“You bitch!” Tessa growls, and reaches out to hit Red back, but I grab her wrist.