“Then I guess he got the message, didn’t he?” Rhodes grinned at her unabashedly. He turned his attention to Katy. “Fine. I’ll stay with Larkin. They can have my house.”
“Actually?” I cut in. “Why don’t you guys stay here? It’d be good to have you nearby.”
“My parents would give my room to someone who needs it,” Larkin agreed sweetly, smiling at the idea.
Rhodes shrugged. “Works for me. Now we don’t have to worry about being loud at night and Lark’s parents hearing.”
“Rhodes!” Katy groaned as Larkin let out a squeak and turned crimson.
Dante shook his head. “Dude. Come on.”
“I’m being honest,” Rhodes insisted, rubbing his side when Larkin elbowed his ribs.
Michael snorted. “God, I don’t miss being a teenager.” His eyes found mine. “We have a couple of buses that will meet you at the airstrip. They’ll transport people to their new homes.”
“I’ll send you the list of who is going where,” Katy told him as she scrawled another name on the map.
Michael nodded. “Sounds good.” Again, he looked at me. “I’ll see you tonight before the challenge starts, okay?”
I nodded. “Thanks, Michael.”
He gave me a steady look. “Your dad is my best friend. It’s the least I can do. And for what it’s worth, most of the betas are pulling for you tonight, too. Lodge never should have issued this challenge. It’s not what the pack needs.”
“Thanks,” I repeated, genuinely meaning it. It did mean a lot that I had their support. We would need it moving forward.
Michael left the room and a few minutes later, the front door shut as the fire alarm started blaring in the kitchen.
“Ugh,” Katy groaned loudly, her head falling back. “I told you they couldn’t be trusted with cooking anything outside a microwave.”
“I’m on it,” Larkin said quickly, moving from the room. A few seconds later, the alarm went silent.
Dax appeared in the doorway after a pause. He winced as he leaned against the wall, scuffing a toe into the floor and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. The front of his white shirt was stained bright red with tomato sauce.
“So, Sam and I are going to pick up a pizza for Mom. Anyone else want anything?”
The plane taxied to a stop on the tarmac at the small airstrip on the edge of the pack property. I glanced at Dante next to me. He was practically vibrating with energy, his dark gaze locked hard on the side door of the plane.
One of the guys who worked at the airstrip wheeled a large staircase to the door and locked it into place as a crew member opened the door. Once the stairs were secure, the first person was out and heading down the stairs.
Dante stepped away from me, breaking into a light jog to meet Ryder as his feet hit the ground. They reached for each other at the same time, crushing each other in a jarring hug that made Ryder rock back on his heels.
Katy leaned her head against my bicep. “I’m happy for them,” she said softly.
I nodded. I was, too, but I was also jealous as hell as Dante grabbed Ryder and kissed him hard.
“We’ll find her,” Rhodes said from my other side.
“Damn right,” Larkin agreed from where she was tucked against his side.
Dante let Ryder go to talk to his pack as they slowly came down the stairs, their eyes wide as they looked around. Most of them had never left Alaska before now. Brooks Ridge was an isolated area and the pack was extremely tight-knit.
The plane was only big enough to transport a third of their pack. The flight crew would refuel and switch out to retrieve another group. The last ones were coming on a cargo flight we had chartered with the majority of the pack belongings. A few had declined coming to Blackwater, mostly older shifters who had lived, and would die, on their pack lands.
The people headed towards me only carried backpacks and small carry ons with necessary items. They had only been given hours to pack their belongings. They were tired and exhausted, and the kids looked terrified.
Dante and Ryder stepped away from their pack as they approached us, coming to stand with me. Ryder gave me a quick hug and whispered, “Sorry, man,” as he fell in with our friends.
“Welcome to Blackwater,” I said to the rest of the group, hating the formality in my tone, but not sure exactly how to address these people who had agreed to follow me. I had visited Brooks Ridge a few times, and I knew a lot of these people, but this whole situation was new.
It had been decades since a pack absorbed another, and usually it was because one pack was about to die out.
Not because a war was coming and people were picking sides.
“We have your temporary housing assignments,” I continued, making eye contact with as many people as I could before their gazes dropped in submission. I wanted to offer them reassurance and hope, even if I was running on fumes of those emotions myself.
“Take your time to get settled. If you have any questions or concerns, please bring them to Dante, Ryder, or Katy.”
I glanced back at Dante in case he wanted to say anything to his pack.
Squaring his shoulders, Dante stepped forward. “I know this is hard on all of us. We’ve lost our Alpha. We’ve lost friends. People we know and … love.”
Several heads lowered and a few sniffles carried on the air.
“Our pack can’t continue as it was,” Dante said solemnly as he moved between his pack and me. “We have to evolve, which is why I’ve decided to cede my Alpha position. I recognize Remington Holt as my Alpha.”
I knew what came next, but it still rocked me to the core when Dante went down on one knee in front of me, his head lowered in submission.
I had met Dante when I was a kid. We had grown up, both sharing the knowledge we would be Alphas. I never expected a day to come when he would bow to me.
Barely a second later, the Brooks Ridge pack did the same. Men, women, and children dropped to a knee, head inclined down as they accepted Blackwater as their pack and me as their Alpha.
“Whoa,” Rhodes mumbled next to me as his gaze swept the crowd.
Katy let out a long breath, her shoulder nudging mine. “Here we go.”
7
Skye
“I don’t know where to start,” I confessed, twisting my fingers together in my lap.
I had spent hours imagining meeting my father one day, cataloging all the questions I would ask him. Questions Mom always evaded or outright shot down. But now that he was sitting a foot away from me, my mind was blank.
“I suppose that makes two of us,” he replied with a hint of a smile that made his eyes sparkle. “I’m sure we both have a lot of questions.”
I nodded in agreement. “How long have you known about me?”
“Less than two days,” he answered. “Dimitri told me when he found proof.”
I frowned. “Proof?”
A grimace twisted his lips, giving him a feral look. “He found the file the doctor kept on you. He ran a DNA test that showed I was your father.”
“How the hell did he get my DNA?” I racked my brain to figure out when Elias could have gotten a sample from me. “The accident.”