“Don’t worry, sis,” she told Monica. “I’m not going to give him the clan.”
“But you swore it. You can’t go back on your word. He’d still win.”
“I didn’t say I would give him the clan. I said I would give him a chance at rightful rule. Which means, he has to win a challenge against the alpha if he wants to take our people from me.”
“Luke can’t challenge him. He’s a wolf shifter, not a bear.”
“I’m not talking about Luke.” Quinn smiled. “The rules state that only a bear shifter can challenge for leadership of a clan. It doesn’t state that the bear has to be a man.”
“You can’t be serious,” Luke protested. “This is your plan? You’re going to challenge Trey Steele to a death match?”
Luke’s words stung for a moment, but she took into account his fear of losing her. Fear often made people say stupid things, especially to those they loved. She looped her arms over his shoulders and clasped her hands behind his neck.
“How is the ass feeling, honey?” She clawed him pretty good earlier. The thought of her marks, the one on his chest and the grooves in his buttocks made her feel alive. “Have you ever heard the expression, grower not show-er?”
“I don’t think I like where this is going.” Even so, he wrapped his arms around her. He dipped his mouth to her ear. “Don’t make me bite you again.”
“Oh, but I want you to, again and again. I’ll never beg you to stop.”
Luke chuckled.
“Oh, for the love of all that is merciful, could you two stop long enough for Quinn to tell us how she’s going to fix this,” Monica said.
Quinn disengaged her arms from Luke. She had been feeling surges of strength all week long, and until Trey had ruined a perfectly perfect evening, she hadn’t known what it was all about. She’d been coming into her power, her own true self.
“I am alpha,” Quinn said to Monica. She turned so everyone in the room could understand.Can they see the energy pulsing through my body, she wondered.
She heard Luke’s voice answer.I see it, my love. You are magnificent.
“Some people, like Steele and his minions, believe an alpha rules from a place of fear. That an alpha is someone who takes what he wants and expects everyone to bow to his whims. It’s easy to mistake a bully for someone who is strong, but really an alpha is just the opposite. A true alpha is someone who puts the needs of his or her people before his or her own. A true alpha loves, protects, and most importantly serves. I know this now. Trey Steele will know it tomorrow. He is not a true alpha. He is a coward disguised an alpha.”
“You really think you can beat him?” Monica asked.
“She will beat him,” Luke said. He put his arm around Quinn. “She will kick his ass to Alpha Bootie and back.”
