Three people scrambled to obey.
His wolf paced restlessly in his chest. This was Harper’s territory, her domain. Here, surrounded by humming servers and flickering screens, she wasn’t the small, vulnerable human he wanted to wrap in his arms and protect. She was a general commanding her troops, and every person in this room deferred to her authority without question.
She belongs here.
The thought sent an uncomfortable twist through his gut.
“She’s something, isn’t she?”
Derek appeared at his shoulder, holding two cups of coffee. He pressed one into Adrian’s hand, and he accepted it without looking away from her.
“She’s brilliant.”
“That’s not news.” Derek sipped his coffee, watching the controlled chaos with the calmness of a man who’d built an empire. “What’s bothering you?”
His jaw tightened. Of course his brother would see right through him. Derek had always been annoyingly perceptive, even when they were pups scrapping in the dirt behind their father’s lodge.
“Nothing.”
“Liar.” Derek moved to lean against the wall beside him, keeping his voice low enough that only werewolf hearing could catch it over the din of keyboards and urgent conversations. “You’ve got that look. The one Father used to get when Mother talked about visiting her family in the city.”
He flinched at the comparison. Their mother had been a gentle soul, more comfortable with books than pack politics. She’d loved their father fiercely, but she’d never quite fit in the mountains. The distance between what she needed and what pack life offered had worn on her, year after year, until the cancer had finally claimed her.
“Harper agreed to be my mate,” he said quietly.
Derek only raised an eyebrow, apparently not surprised by the announcement. “Tonight?”
“Right before your call.”
“And you’re already second-guessing it?”
“No,” he snapped. “Never. She’s mine. That’s not in question.”
“Then what is?”
He watched her bark another order, her pink ponytail swinging as she pivoted between monitors. One of the technicians handed her a tablet, and she absorbed the information in seconds, already issuing new directives.
“I don’t believe most of the Elders will ever truly accept her,” he admitted. “Howard’s already tried to challenge her authority every time they’ve met. And the traditionalists—they’ll see her as an outsider. A human who doesn’t understand our ways.”
“Since when do you care what the Elders think?”
“I care about the pack’s stability. A Luna who isn’t respected undermines everything.”
Derek was quiet for a long moment before he sighed.
“Julie wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms either, you know.”
“That’s different.”
“Is it? A human woman from the city, with no understanding of pack dynamics, mated to an Alpha?” Derek’s smile held a bitter edge. “You weren’t exactly enthusiastic, were you?”
“No,” he admitted. “But it was because I wanted you back with the Pack rather than because she’s human. And the situations aren’t the same. You’re not living at the compound. You’re not leading an isolated pack that’s been resistant to change for generations.”
“No. But I know what it’s like to love a woman who doesn’t fit the mold everyone expects.” Derek turned to face him. “And I know what it’s like to watch her struggle to find her place. The question isn’t whether the pack will accept Harper. The question is whether Harper will want to stay.”
The words landed like a punch to the stomach.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
