“So this-you entering the contest-it’s a personal vendetta?” Jeb asked.
“Not only.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Liam is not like his father.”
Gosh, how many people were going to tell me that? I gave a sharp nod and went to find Everest. Crossing the deck was like walking past a firing squad. Even though the slanted gazes pricked, I raised my chin and pretended to be unaffected by the petty glares.
“I’d forgotten how friendly Coloradans were,” I muttered once I reached my cousin by the stainless-steel drinks dispenser.
He poured coffee into a mug, then handed it to me. “Did Dad try to talk you out of it?”
“I didn’t give him time to.” I took a sip of the charred-tasting beverage. “He knows I know. About Mom.”
The clink of metal against glass interrupted our quiet conversation.
The bushy-eyebrowed elder stood from his Adirondack. “Usually pack matters are discussed among the pack, but since the choice of Alpha affects all our lives, not only our fellow members but also our partners, we decided to discuss the subject with all of you. As you’re all aware, Liam Kolane offered to replace his father as Alpha, but he’s been challenged.” The elder’s gaze slid to me, but then it skittered toward the beefy blond beside Liam. “Matthew Rogers”-next, the elder tipped his head toward the lanky boy with the mean white scar and mop of black hair-“and Lucas Mason have decided to go up against Heath’s boy.”
My shoulders pinched together. I bumped my arm into Everest’s. “Did you know?”
My cousin shook his head.
The elder’s gaze returned to me. “I believe they aren’t the only contenders, though.”
Silence entrenched the patio.
While Matt and Lucas leered at me, Liam’s face was blank, calm. Too calm. Too blank. If anything, his expression bothered me more than theirs. And then it hit me that he must’ve orchestrated this, asked them to enter their names in the contest to dissuade me from entering mine.
Smart.
If I hadn’t spied them talking, I would most probably have been swayed to drop the charade, but I could bet anything Lucas and Matt were going to suddenly back out and leave Liam in charge.
The elder’s gaze was cemented on me. “Anyone else interested in the role of Alpha, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
August was standing on the opposite end of the deck next to his father. Both had their arms crossed tightly, but only August scowled. His father kept wetting his lips, nervous, concerned. For the briefest of moments, I shut my eyes. When I opened them, determination chased away the hesitation.
I stared at Liam, and in a clear voice I said, “Sign me up.”
Intakes of breaths traveled through the women, followed by breathy exclamations. No one looked more surprised than my aunt, though. Her face, which she already kept out of the sun, had become as white as the sheets I’d spent all morning ironing.
Jeb downed the dregs of his whiskey in one long gulp.
Contempt was stamped in many a gaze. And then there was the look August shot me. Disappointment. If I’d learned one thing about life, it was that pleasing everyone was impossible.
I lowered my gaze to the black liquid rippling inside my mug, rippling because my hands were shaking. I tightened my grip.
“You are one ballsy chick,” Everest murmured.
“Anyone else?” the elder asked.
I raised my chin and scanned the faces surrounding me. So many of them were still looking my way. So many still whispering. Amanda and her two besties were smirking. Would they have smirked if they’d been werewolves or would they have supported a sister’s endeavor?
“I will convene with the elders to discuss the rules of this competition. After breakfast, we will deliberate with the four contenders in the conference room. But before we leave, we need to collect a drop of your blood to guarantee your candidacy.”
Bushy-Eyebrows crooked a finger. I handed my mug to Everest and joined the other three who’d already approached the white-haired elder.
“Wrists.” His nail had lengthened into a claw.
Liam, Matt, and Lucas extended their arms.
“Ness?”
I jutted my hand out.
“With blood, you will bind yourselves to me so I may know your whereabouts and keep track of your vitals during the contest. Once an Alpha rises, your connection to me will be severed.”
He slashed his wrist, and then slashed all of ours in turn. I gritted my teeth at the shock of pain. Bushy-Eyebrows pressed his blood to ours.
“Well, that’s sanitary,” I mumbled.
“Wolves don’t carry disease, Ness,” the elder reassured me.
The wolf in me knew that; the human still saw blood as a vehicle for disease.
Almost instantly, the edges of the boys’ skin knitted together.
Lucas snorted at my still-gaping nick. “Not healing very fast, are you? Want a bandage for your boo-boo?”
Shooting him a glare, I returned to the table set with desserts and grabbed a paper napkin, pulse pounding against the torn skin. Heal, I instructed my wrist; it didn’t. That wouldn’t help my street cred. I pressed the napkin to my wrist and watched the white turn crimson.
“We will meet in the morning to discuss the contest.” Trailed by four other elders, Bushy-Eyebrows walked off the terrace.
Amanda tore away from her friends and strutted over to me, her heeled booties clucking against the hardwood floor. “Hun, hun, hun. Going against our boys is one dumb idea.”
“Your boys?” I asked.
“Yeah, ourboys. We grew up with them; we stuck around; we were there to comfort them when they needed some TLC.”
My fingers cinched around my wrist tighter.
“We are as much part of this pack as you are. Actually, that’s not true. You’re not part of the pack.”
“Enough, Amanda,” Liam said.
So engrossed was I by her pettiness that I hadn’t seen him advance.
She twirled, and her curls fanned out around her, littering the air with the aroma of apricot. It blended with the smell of the coffee cooling in my discarded mug, the scent of the blood drying on my wrist, and Everest’s evergreen cologne. My stomach swished from the sensorial assault.
“I was just voicing everyone’s thoughts,” Amanda chirped.