“So, is no one going to say it?” Naomi blurted. “Why we’re all risking our lives like this is some war or something. We still have no idea what will happen when this is all over. Do you expect us to just do whatever you say without question?”
“I will,” Micha declared before taking a bite of bread.
Naomi shot him a quizzical look before she squared her chin. “The point is I don’t know anything about what’s going on. I have school. A life. My friends.”
“You agreed to come here,” Bill pointed out. “But you’re right. All you need to know is that you’ll get your answers when you can better understand them. We’ll stop for tonight. Tomorrow we’ll pick up again. Micha, you should work on your stamina. Naomi, you need to hone your instincts.”
Loren noted that he avoided her altogether as he headed for the door.
“I’m going to patrol—”
“Again?” Loren croaked. It was her turn to cause an outburst. “You haven’t even slept.”
And they hadn’t talked the way he promised they would.Three days.She clung to that deadline like a mantra but still. She couldn’t ignore the feeling that he was putting off being alone with her at all. Longer than to dish out his orders anyway.
“I’ll be back tonight,” he grumbled. By then, he was already bounding onto the front porch, taking off toward the west fields.
“Let’s get everyone settled in,” Sonia said cheerfully.
“And where do you fit into all of this?” Naomi demanded. Loren didn’t know whether to be annoyed or relieved that someone else seemed just as disgruntled with this situation as she felt.
“I’m an old friend.” Sonia’s beaming smile never wavered. “I won’t be here for much longer. Just visiting. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t tell you some things Bill hasn’t.” Suddenly, her blue eyes took on a serious gleam. “He probably glossed over it, but what he’s done for you—all of you—has basically ruined any chance he has of ever returning to our pack. His pack. I know it doesn’t make sense to all of you, but trusting him is the only course of action available.”
Naomi scoffed. “What does that even mean?”
“It means we’re a pack now,” Micha declared. “Even if it’s not for long. We need to have each other’s backs and watch out for Bill.”
“Exactly,” Sonia agreed. “The time for doubt is over. Bill may not have admitted this outright, but I will—if he loses this challenge, Lukka won’t let him go unscathed.”
“What do you mean?” Loren asked, though a part of her already suspected the answer before Sonia voiced it.
“It means that if he fails, Lukka will decide his punishment. What that means, I can’t say. Nothing good, I’m sure.” That bothered her. Her blue eyes shone with a frantic desperation she couldn’t disguise. Suddenly, she turned to Micha. “Can I speak to you for a moment?”
He shrugged. “Sure.”
Sonia led him outside, out to the barn, and Loren could only watch from the window while Naomi grumbled beside her.
“She moves fast,” Naomi said disapprovingly. “Looks like she wants all the men wrapped around her finger.”
Loren didn’t waste her breath replying. For what it was worth, Sonia and Micha’s conservation didn’t seem romantic in the slightest.
He looked tense, and Sonia…
She looked devastated.
12
Sonia’s warning cast a grim pall over the rest of the evening. In a strained silence, Loren and Naomi showered and occupied the living room, while Micha prowled the kitchen for leftovers before eventually taking up vigil by the window, watching them both.
“I have to admit,” he said once the sky darkened, and they turned on the lamps throughout the house. “This is the strangest pack I’ve ever been a part of. To be fair, I was born into the first one, and not really a member of the second. Still. This is really freaking weird.”
Naomi looked up from the screen of her cell phone—the only fixture of the room she’d paid any attention to for the past few hours. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Micha shrugged. “My pack… Mydad’spack was really old-fashioned. We did things by the book. Rogues weren’t tied to the pack like they are here. They’re driven out. As far away as possible.” His grimace revealed that he had experienced that personally. “If I ever wanted to go back, I’d have to do what he’s doing—” he jerked his chin toward the woods where McGoven prowled. “And make a challenge. To do that, you need to face the leader out in the open and get a witness to vouch for you. Someone who will oversee the fight, so to speak. It’s a tall ask of anyone.”
Naomi set her phone aside. Grudging interest flitted across her gaze before her lips pressed into a thin line. “If your dad was the leader or whatever, why didn’t you take over?”
Micha winced. “I was too young. When the Alpha dies without naming an heir, the law dictates that those eligible fight for the right to lead. Otherwise, you grovel for acceptance or get driven out.”