“So your threats to harm them if they touched me have been for show?”
“Of course not.” My father spun around to face me, his eyes glinting with emotion. “All of my orders about your safety have been sincere, backed with my full power. Seeing you, of your own free will, fighting Mitch in the arena, an area off-limits except for Pack challenges, must be handled carefully. I cannot step in and kill a wolf during a challenge. It’s against Pack Law. But Mitch will be lucky if he survives. At any other time during your life, if I’d personally seen any wolf abusing you, I would have killed him instantly and without regret.” He ran both hands through his thick black hair.
“Recently, as the aggression increased, every scuffle was relayed back to me, and I made absolutely sure you weren’t hurt—that the outcome wasn’t severe, that Tyler or one of the other wolves had stepped in, or that the wolf himself had walked away. If that hadn’t been the case, or any of the fights had escalated too far, the wolf in question would’ve faced death at my hands.” He blew air out of his mouth, but this time it was with regret, not annoyance. “Jessica, you have to understand that violence is a way of life for us and always has been. We are animals at our core, and fighting one another for our rightful place in this world is natural. We can’t change that.” He sighed. “But if the goddamn wolves had followed my directives instead of letting a myth lead them emotionally astray, we’d all be coexisting just fine. Once you didn’t make a change at puberty, I sincerely thought the unrest surrounding you would calm. But I can see it’s only gotten worse.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand it.”
I hadn’t understood it either, but that didn’t matter. “You have to have faith in me,” I said. “That’s how we settle it. If the wolves won’t accept me, you have to let me go. I understand everything you’ve said so far, and I don’t begrudge the decisions you’ve felt you had to make for the good of Pack. In my heart I’ve always known that, and I’m not a blind innocent in all of this. I contributed in my own way, never able to walk away from strife. I will take responsibility for my mistakes, but that’s all in the past. Everything is blown wide open now. I blew it open when I challenged Mitch in the arena. I did it for a reason, and I hope he doesn’t die for my choices. He certainly would’ve attacked me at some point down the road. He’s a huge asshole, which goes without saying, but that fight was mine. Now you have to do your part. I can’t stay here. If I do, I die. The next wolf will be stronger and smarter than Mitch. You know that Pack is better off without me. Your wolves are better off without me. We can’t coexist any longer. You have to choose.”
No one spoke for a minute.
James interrupted the silence. “What Jessica is saying is true, Callum. The wolves will no longer stay quiet. She has opened up the right to challenge. It will take time to coordinate the details, of course, but we can begin to formulate a plan to get Jessica off Compound safely by giving her a new identity. It’s a place to start. Once she’s gone, the Pack will calm and we can reevaluate at a later date.”
“I will consider it.” My father’s voice held a finality that didn’t allow a rebuttal. He was finished with this conversation.
It was my cue to go.
I stood up, gripping the chair to steady myself. My painkiller haze was finally wearing off, which was a blessed relief.
As I left, I slipped James a smile. He was going to have his hands full convincing my father it was finally time to let me go, but I appreciated the effort.
For the first time, I finally had a chance.
Chapter Three
My brother sat at the center island in the kitchen eating his breakfast. It was still early, even though it felt like a whole day had come and gone. Food overflowed the counter like it did every morning.
Pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs. It appeared to be enough food to feed a dozen people, but it wasn’t.
Werewolves were constantly hungry. Their metabolisms ran crazy fast, so mealtimes were frequent and plentiful. The family ate in here; the rest of the wolves dined in the cafeteria.
“Hey,” I said as I pulled out a stool and sat. I grabbed a box of cereal with my good hand, sliding a bowl over with the forearm of my injured one. It was the least complicated of all the food choices.
“What happened?” Tyler asked between mouthfuls. “Has Dad finally gotten smart enough to send you away?”
I arched my eyebrow at him and grabbed the milk.
“What?” Tyler shrugged. “One of these times the answer is going to have to be yes. It could’ve been today.”
“It won’t be that easy, and you know it,” I said. “But he did end with a resounding ‘I will consider it,’ so hopefully he’ll come to his senses soon enough. He’s too worried about the rest of the world, especially the other supes, and he somehow still believes he can manage the wolves through their fear.
Were you aware he knew about all the other small fights? The ones we tried to cover up?”
“Yeah.” Tyler shifted in his chair. “I suspected. It would’ve been impossible to keep something like that from him completely. But I knew why he let us do it. I mean, what other choice did he have?
He can’t go around killing his wolves all the time. It would’ve been a bloodbath, causing too much damage to Pack. There would’ve been some kind of revolt.”
“It would’ve been nice to have known,” I grumbled. “We crept around like bandits, trying to protect those wolves.”
“The moment he admitted he knew about the fights, he’d have to kill someone for fighting with you. Did you want that?”
“No,” I said. “Obviously our goal from the beginning was no deaths. You and I agreed to that when everything started to change. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night knowing I was responsible for killing people because I refused to stay locked in my room.” No one had issued any orders to stay out of sight, but it would’ve been the only way to keep everyone from trouble. Jail wasn’t my style.
“Well, there you go,” Tyler said. “It wouldn’t have worked otherwise. Having Dad’s support would’ve led to dead wolves. We couldn’t have it both ways, and it was the right choice, if you ask me. The wolves are reacting to something they can’t control when it comes to you, something unreasonable and unstable.” He grabbed the orange juice and poured himself another glass. “You realize you’re going have to start using a bodyguard or something from now on. Things are too out of hand. You can’t challenge a Pack wolf and stay under the radar.”
“I was under the radar? I thought I was the radar. And there’s no way I’m doing that.” I took a bite of cereal and continued. “I don’t need a bodyguard following me around. That would only make things nine million times worse. The stupid girl can’t take care of herself; look at her go cry to her bodyguard. Plus, there are exactly three people who would sign up for that job—you, Nick, or Danny.”