I smoothed my slacks for the fifth time and shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Sunday brunch with Dad was normal. Being summoned for it in his office along with Charlie and Sheridan and Thill—that was not. If Dad thought it was weird, he hadn’t shown it last night when he’d told me to be here by ten. Which meant quarter ’til in alpha speak.
But rather than go in early, I waited on the porch, shifting my weight, looking out for Charlie. She came up the path a few minutes before our scheduled meeting time, her footsteps slow. She was dressed in slacks and a simple blouse, too, but the expression she wore with it made it clear she was as thrilled as me to be here.
“Am I late?” she asked, climbing the steps even slower when she spotted me.
“No, I thought we’d go in together,” I said.
Charlie stopped on the veranda to face me. “Why?” she asked and the bluntness threw me off. This wasn’t the polite, placating Charlie I’d met a few weeks ago.
I sighed. She wasn’t going to make this easy. “Look, I’m sorry about our fight last week,” I began.
“Two weeks,” Charlie said.
“What?”
“It’s been almost two weeks since our fight. Both of them,” she said and I stalled to do the math. Heat rose to my face when I realized she was right. I’d been a crappy sister lately. But since that day, the pressure from Dad and the rest of them had only built. I’d spent every spare moment with Carter. After our kiss, it had been beyond awkward to try and work out together, but I’d put it aside. I needed to find a way to win without killing Charlie. It’s all I thought about anymore.
I was terrified I’d lose her.
“Two weeks,” I echoed, forcing myself to meet her eyes. “I’m sorry for that. I’ve been distant and pre-occupied and … that’s no excuse,” I said when Charlie only rolled her eyes.
“Can we do this later?” Charlie asked dully. “I don’t want to keep Dad waiting.”
“Yeah.” I pretended it didn’t matter and even rolled my shoulders back to cast off the rejection. “We’ll talk later,” I said, but it didn’t matter.
Charlie was already walking inside. I barely caught the door before it closed behind her.
Inside, the main area had been set up for a breakfast meeting. The table and chairs we normally used for pack meetings had been set at one end with pastries, danishes, and fruits of all kinds. Coffee and juice were laid out and Dad, Sheridan, and Thill were already seated at the head of the table.
“There you are,” Sheridan said when she spotted us—as if we’d been hours late instead of right on time. Her blonde hair shone even without proper lighting and, as usual, the first word that came to mind when I saw her was slippery. “We’ve been waiting,” she added.
“Have a seat,” Dad said, looking at Charlie as he patted the chair next to him.
I veered off and hid a scowl, taking the seat across from her—next to Sheridan. I immediately went for the coffee, pouring myself a mug and then dumping an armload of creamer before meeting anyone’s gaze.
“Easy there, Regan. Too much dairy isn’t good for your skin,” Sheridan said and I glared at her. I caught sight of Thill on her other side. He looked up from his tea long enough to glance at me. Our eyes met and there was so much unsaid in his aged gaze framed in wrinkles, but it was impossible to tell if it was in my favor, or Sheridan’s. Probably hers. She was his granddaughter after all.
My dad cleared his throat, cutting off my reply. Probably for the best. I would have undoubtedly gotten myself into trouble. “We’ve asked you girls here today to discuss the upcoming challenge for alpha,” Dad said.
Charlie stopped buttering her pastry roll and set her knife down. Her hands went to her lap and I could see the tension in her as she looked over at him. I sipped my coffee if only to spite Sheridan but it felt like bricks in my stomach.
“I’d been giving you both time to acclimate, to the idea of this contest and to the pack now that your family dynamic has changed,” Dad said and I almost flinched the way he made it sound like he wasn’t a part of the family. I hadn’t seen him make any effort with Charlie, though, so maybe it was accurate.
“We appreciate that,” I said, with a pointed look at Charlie. But she ignored me.
Dad went on, “Sheridan insists bright girls like yourselves don’t need time. That what you need is resolution. She insists you’re ready and after reviewing the case she’s presented here, I think she’s right. You’re ready, both of you,” he said, turning to Charlie again.
Her head snapped to his, eyes wide. I looked back and forth between them, a thick layer of dread coating my tongue. “Ready for what?” I asked.
“The council has been a little … impatient to begin the competition,” he said, his words slow and deliberate—and I knew exactly where this was headed. “I’ve dragged my feet because of my grief over your mother, but it’s time.”
I shook my head, fighting panic. “No, Dad. It’s too soon. She’s—we’re not ready,” I said, throwing myself under the bus in an attempt to stall the inevitable.
Dad shook his head, clearly his mind already made up. “Charlie is more prepared than you think.” He gestured to the file in front of him, as if all the answers were there. And if Sheridan cooked this up, I bet all the answers were. I wondered when she’d gone from protesting our arranged marriage to hurrying it along.
I refocused on Dad’s argument, hoping to find a weak spot. “She took down a doe nearly the size of your buck,” he said to me. “Both are easily the largest kills made in months,” he said. “And she runs every day without being told. She’s in impeccable physical shape. You both are. There’s no reason to keep putting this off.”
I stared at him, too stunned and panicked to appreciate that he’d been putting them off at all. “We can’t…” I began, but I had no idea how to finish it. What could I say that would make any difference now?
“Your father is right,” Sheridan said, turning to me and I recoiled from her manicured nails as they reached out to pat my hand. “Pack law dictates this must happen before a new alpha can be selected and we need a leader.” Her eyes flicked to my dad’s, full of secrets that sent a ripple down my spine. “There are things to be dealt with … that only an alpha can do,” she murmured.
Charlie made a noise of protest and Dad turned to her.
“I’m sorry,” he told her, and to his credit, he sounded like he meant it. “But we’ve already delayed it in order to let you acclimate to Paradise. To the pack. The law says time is of the essence. Alpha competitions are held within the moon cycle of the previous alpha’s…” He trailed off and cleared his throat and his grief was suddenly the elephant in the room rather than the impending battle between Charlie and me.
No one spoke. Beside me, Sheridan sipped her tea, unaffected. I wanted to stab her with her own nails. She’d never shed a single tear for my mother. I wondered how they’d ever been friends in the first place.
“When?” I asked finally, hearing the anguish in my own voice.
“Three days,” Dad said quietly, unable to meet my eyes.
“What?” My eyes widened. “That’s crazy. Charlie isn’t—”
“It’s settled. There’s nothing more to discuss,” Dad said roughly. He pushed back from his chair and loomed over me across the table. “Whoever wins, you’re a Vuk, Regan. Act like it,” he hissed and then he stalked out.
A beat of silence passed. I blinked furiously at the burning in my eyes, staring into my coffee until my vision cleared. Across from me, Charlie didn’t move.
“Can I go now?” she asked quietly.
“Just a couple more things to go over,” Sheridan said, her tone evilly chipper. “You are entitled to know the name of each test as it comes. This first one will be the test of strength. If you’ve read the history books, this isn’t new information, but it is all I can tell you. There will be three tests in all. The one with the highest scores at the end will be the champion.” She smiled and it looked plastic and cutting on her painted face.
Sheridan stood and pushed back from her chair, heels clicking as she headed for the door. At the threshold, she turned back, still smiling as she regarded Charlie and me a final time. “May the best Vuk win,” she said as she slipped out.
Her words echoed in the silence. Even old Thill shifted uncomfortably at being left in the midst of this moment. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Charlie. Mostly because I was afraid she’d see what I was thinking. That Sheridan’s parting words had hit their mark. In a few days, one of us would stand victorious over the other. There would be no going easy or backing down. No losing, not for an alpha like me.