“You’re surrendering your pack?” Chris asked, amazed.
Alphas never gave up their pack. It was taken from them either by a challenge or from the Council.
A Council that was now bits of bone and dried blood staining the grass of a destroyed resort. None of them had survived.
“I’m surrendering my position for the survival of my pack,” Dante replied curtly. “It’s a position a lot of packs will be taking.”
“What’s left of the pack is arriving here in a few hours,” I added.
“And where the hell are we supposed to house these extra people?” Vick spoke up again, looking around the room.
“We have the space.” I glanced at Katy, nodding for her to speak up.
“The weather is nice enough right now that it buys us some time,” she jumped in without missing a beat. “People can use tents and camp out. We have plenty of space and resources and people to build new houses. The Eastern ridge had already been zoned for more housing since our population is on the rise. We’ll fast track production of those houses. For the interim, we’ll ask people to house some of the displaced, especially families with children.”
“You expect us to provide housing for refugees?” Vick demanded, incredulous.
“I expect this pack to step up,” I snapped, growing more and more pissed off that these people who so readily supported my father couldn’t see this is exactly what Dad would have done. “Brooks Ridge is our oldest ally, and they need us as much as we need them.”
It was more than that, though. Brooks Ridge had always been a notoriously small pack, but they were also notorious. They were strong and known as some of the best fighters in our world. There was a reason the small pack had survived so long in the barren, northern part of Alaska.
If a war was coming, having Brooks Ridge as part of our pack was only an asset, and one that we desperately needed.
“How many packs do you think we can reach?” Chris asked.
“As many as we have to,” Michael answered, spreading his arms. “Remy’s right; we can’t just pretend that what happened at the Summit isn’t an act of war. And not just against all packs, but against ours.”
Lodge glared down the table at me. “I would feel better about this if we didn’t have a kid leading this pack.”
“If you think you’re the man to lead this pack, then challenge me.” I stood up, bracing my hands on the table. “I’ve never once backed down from a challenge, and I sure as hell won’t now.”
Michael grimaced, spreading his hands out flat on the table as he tried to sway us towards peace. “No one is—”
“Fine.” Lodge stood up from his end of the table.
I straightened my back, lifting my chin. My wolf stirred, hungry and ready to devour.
“I, William Lodge, challenge you, Remington Holt, for Alpha of the Blackwater pack.”
I craved the rush of adrenaline that rocketed through my system. Rage and fury flooded my veins. I filled my lungs with a deep inhale, feeling as muscle and tendon stretched and burned back to life.
There was no denying the grin on my face as the beast I kept caged in my chest awoke. I met Lodge’s gaze, my smile growing when his resolve flickered for a second. It was barely the length of a heartbeat, but there was no denying it.
He wasn’t entirely sure he could beat me.
I leaned forward and grinned. “Challenge accepted.”
5
Skye
My heart was beating as fast as the blades over my head were spinning. I tried to enjoy the gorgeous views of the snow covered Ural Mountains, but my brain was too busy short-circuiting over what Dimitri had said.
I was barely suppressing the well of hysterical laughter bubbling in my gut, but the last thing I needed were Dimitri and Alexei thinking I was crazy, but I was seriously starting to wonder how hard I had hit my head in the explosion.
Magic was real. Elias had betrayed us. I had a brother. Oh, and I was a freaking princess and the heir to the first pack of shifters ever.
I bit down hard on my lip to keep from giggling. The sudden, hysterical urge caught me off guard and I was barely able to stop myself before it all spilled out.
Maybe I was still unconscious and this was all a dream. I would wake up any minute, next to Remy, and tell him about this batshit crazy dream.
Because if this wasn’t a dream? I was so far out of my comfort zone it was terrifying.
My head was killing me again. I rubbed my temples, feeling the prickly gazes of the two men sharing the cabin with me as they watched closely.
I looked up, my eyes catching on Alexei’s arctic blue stare. I gave him a half-hearted, thin-lipped smile.
Mollified, he gave me a nod and then cast his attention on the unconscious girl beside him. During one of the turns the pilot made when we were taking off, Tate had slumped against Alexei, who had made no move to lift her head from his shoulder. He had watched her with rapt fascination for several minutes until I cleared my throat.
At some point I was going to have to tell him the girl he was clearly crushing on already had two boyfriends and wasn’t looking to add to her harem.
My hands tightened on my thighs as the helicopter began its descent. I twisted in my seat to see out the front window, stunned when I saw we were headed straight for the tallest peak in sight.
Air whooshed out of me as the helicopter closed in on the mountain, and Dimitri must have sensed my panic because his hand touched my knee, grabbing my attention.
He was grinning like this was a ride.
Clearly, my brother was a psycho because we were about to crash all over the frozen Russian mountainside.
He held up a hand, his fingers splayed, and then he started counting them down.
When his hand closed into a fist, I looked back to see a portion of the mountainside was opening up. Snow fell in a cascade from the doors as they rolled open wide enough for the pilot to maneuver the helicopter inside and set it down.
“What the hell was that?” I shouted as the blades slowed and the noise lessened.
Dimitri removed the headset he had used to communicate with the pilot and set it back on the hook above his head. “You should have seen the look on your face.”
“That look is called panic because I thought your crazy ass pilot was going to fly us into a mountain!” I snapped. My head whipped around to the pilot, who was shutting down the controls. “No offense.”
His dark gaze flickered to Dimitri, his mouth flattening into a thin line, before he turned around and ignored me.
“Relax,” Dimitri snorted, rolling his eyes as he unbuckled. “Dad would kill me if anything happened to you, and Petyr is one of our best pilots. He’s made this landing a thousand times.”
“A little warning would have been nice,” I muttered, searching for how to unhook the harness that belted me in place.
Alexei reached across and unhooked my buckle. “Your brother likes to play jokes. Not everyone gets them.”
“Who’s side are you on?” Dimitri asked him, shaking his head.
“The printsessa’s,” he replied with a shrug of his massive shoulders.
“Don’t call me that,” I said with a deep sigh.
“Kiss ass,” Dimitri grumbled. He lifted the lever on the door and pushed it open. He jumped down and turned to help me.