In the barn, I hand off his clothes so he can re-dress and then join Archer, Dare, and Trystan in the corner while Ridge stays front and center, greeting the members of his pack as they arrive.
Before long, the barn is packed to the rafters. The few times I’ve seen a meeting take place here, there wasn’t even half this size crowd—not even at the all-pack summit Lawson dragged me into the first day I woke up in Ridge’s house. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that every single pack member has shown up for this. Word of what happened during the challenge has spread far and wide, and even those who weren’t present to see me use witch magic and then shift into a wolf were clamoring for answers.
“Looks like everyone but Lawson and the men guarding his cell is here,” Ridge murmurs under his breath to us. “Never seen the place so full.”
“That’s a good thing,” Archer says, although I get the feeling he’s trying to convince himself as much as us. “If people came, that means they want answers. Hopefully they’ll be willing to listen.”
I try to let his words bolster my confidence, but the knot of anxiety in my stomach doesn’t ease all that much. Most of the pack saw magic leak from my fingertips yesterday, and if I hadn’t shifted into a wolf shortly after that, I don’t know what would’ve happened. Would my mates have been able to defend me? Would Ridge have been able to talk his pack down like he did after I shifted?
If I let myself dwell on those questions too long, I’m worried my breakfast will come back up, forcibly ejected by my nervous stomach. So I shove the thoughts away, focusing on surveying the crowd instead.
Most of the elders are gathered in a small group across the room. Elder Jihoon meets my eye and gives me a small nod and a smile that I can’t read. He was the one who predicted that I had a wolf inside me. He was also the one who suggested we go to the mating cabin and wait for my wolf to choose her mate.
I wonder what he thinks of me now.
With the barn so full it feels like it’s bursting at the seams, Ridge walks out into the center of the room and holds up his hands in a silent bid for everyone to cease talking. The roar of conversation peters out quickly, as if they’d been waiting for the signal, and then an uneasy silence spreads over the crowd.
“Friends and pack mates,” Ridge says in a strong, unwavering voice. “Welcome. Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice. I know you all have things to do today, so I promise I won’t keep you long. As you are all now aware, something strange happened at the alpha challenge yesterday. I know you’re eager to get answers. I’m here to give them to you.” He pauses, his gaze sweeping around the room. The silence is absolute. “Sable, my mate, does in fact carry both witch and shifter blood.”
A ripple of whispers and gasps rushes through the gathered shifters, but it dies away almost instantaneously. Probably because no one wants to miss anything Ridge has to say.
“Many of you witnessed the release of her witch magic when she was worried my life was in danger,” he goes on. “And then moments later, you witnessed her shift to wolf form when Lawson and his friends were attempting to take over the pack. We sought out the man who raised her last night after the challenge to find answers.”
I swallow hard and lean against Trystan, thankful when he wraps an arm around my shoulders. I feel faint, and quite frankly, I’m terrified to sit here and listen to Ridge air all my dirty secrets, even though I know it’s the right thing to do if I ever want to be accepted here. Plus, I don’t want to do anything that might threaten my mates’ rights to be alphas of their packs.
Lawson’s challenge was bad enough, as petty and self-serving as it was.
Ridge walks in a circle in the small empty space left in the center of the room, his gaze moving over the crowd. “Sable was purposefully bred by a witch. He brought together a witch and a shifter and forced them to breed. We aren’t clear on the details—whether they were imprisoned and forced, or bribed, or whether they acted of their own accord. This man’s goal was to create a hybrid witch-shifter. As you can see, he was successful.”
“Is she dangerous?” a voice calls from the crowd.
“She’s not dangerous,” Ridge says, a note of warning entering his tone. “And she is not responsible for her heritage. The witch who created her was a cruel and evil man. He spent most of Sable’s life torturing her. The night she came to our pack was the same night she ran away from him. She was terrified and seeking safe haven, which we gave her. It just so happened in the process that she was found to be the mate of myself, Archer, Trystan, and Dare.”
Another ripple of concern flashes through the crowd.
“Four mates is unacceptable,” a voice snarls. I can’t place the speaker, but Ridge seems to find him in the crowd, his gaze narrowing furiously. “It goes against everything we believe. One man. One woman.”
“Would you like to question the magic that is the mate bond?” Ridge’s voice is hard. “Do you think yourself above the bond?”
The man doesn’t reply.
“How do we know she won’t hurt us, even accidentally?” another woman asks. I cringe, because that’s my worry too, but at least she sounds apologetic about asking.
The ripple of murmurs in the barn kicks up a notch, and Ridge has to raise his voice to cut over it. “Sable is not a danger to you. All four of us are here to help balance her powers.”
My heart slams against my ribs, pounding so hard and fast that it feels difficult to breathe. The noise level is going higher as more questions are shouted at him. Everyone is trying to talk over everyone else, and I turn away from the chaos, burying my face in Trystan’s shoulder and wishing it could all be over.
“That witch bitch doesn’t belong here!” a man roars.
I push down a sob, clinging to Trystan’s shirt. He’s right. That stranger is right, I don’t belong here.
Then there’s another sound, and magic ripples across my skin. Not my magic—the sensation of someone close by shifting. I straighten abruptly, craning my neck to see who shifted.
I don’t have to search for long.
Dare’s massive black wolf leaps into the crowd with a vicious snarl.
5
Dare
My paws connect with the asshole’s chest, and in the same instant, the sneer vanishes from his face. He goes down hard, his body slamming against the floor as I land on top of him, and I snarl, letting him see every sharp tooth in my muzzle.
Fuck this guy. Fuck his shitty attitude and the way he’s judging my girl without knowing a fucking thing about her.
Nobody is allowed to do that. Not on my watch.
I growl in his face, letting all my weight bear down on him as my jaws ache to snap open and closed.
Fury has taken up residence in my mind. It’s like a murderous inferno blazing through me, blurring the line between animal and man inside me more than ever. There’s not an asshole in this room I’m going to let even look at Sable the wrong way, much less call her “witch bitch” and get away with it.
Yeah, it’s fucking hard to look past the witch in her. I see it every time I close my eyes—the scars on her body turning black, the slender swirls of magic dancing up her hands and arms. But I’m getting better at dealing, at finding ways to understand and cope. Because I know Sable. I know how much goodness is in her heart. I know she’s a fucking saint compared to pretty much everyone in this barn, and not a single one of them is worth a hair on her head.