Instead, Meg shifted into her human form. Lydia thought she might be even younger than she’d realized at first, maybe only twenty-one or twenty-two.
“I got in some trouble in my last pack,” she said, a soft Southern accent coloring her words. “I liked the alpha’s son, and I wasn’t good enough for him. They kicked me out, and I didn’t know where to go. Reeve said that this town was dying like it was, and it needed somebody strong to take charge, and if I’d help him, I could stay.”
It didn’t even sound like Reeve had assured her that she’d be his co-alpha, even though being his mate would have usually put her in that position automatically. Lydia could have kicked him for taking advantage of a lonely, hurt young woman with nowhere else to go.
“You’re strong,” Lydia said, as calmly as she could. “Plenty of wolves don’t survive being exiled from their pack, even when their pack is full of assholes, and it sounds like yours was.”
Meg’s laugh seemed to startle even her. “Yeah, it was.” She breathed in. “Okay. I surrender.”
Reeve’s growl tore through the air, reverberating like thunder. Lydia, to her disgust, knew exactly what he was thinking. Meg was supposed to be his pawn! How dare she make a decision of her own, for her own well-being, when she was supposed to swallow his plan hook, line, and sinker?
All around them, the pack applauded.
Lydia knew what Reeve was hearing. Their embrace of Meg made their rejection of him clearer than ever.
Once upon a time, the town had quaked in terror when Reeve had threatened to make life hard on them, and they’d comeclose to saying that Lydia should give him whatever he wanted to smooth out the transition. Now, with Case’s belief in them, with the knowledge that they could stand up for themselves, they weren’t giving an inch. Now they were throwing down the gauntlet:You thought you’d make our lives hell? Buddy, we’ll makeyourlife hell.If we’re your prize, we’re going to make sure you choke on it.
For a second, she felt the wild hope that Reeve would give up. The second she shifted back to wolf form, the battle would be two-to-one. He would be outnumbered, and even if he somehow defied the odds and killed them both, all he would get for it would be a pack that wasn’t afraid of him anymore. That couldn’t be a very satisfying victory for a bully.
But she was underestimating Reeve’s anger. At this exact second, he wasn’t thinking about his long-term plans at all. The only thing inside his head was pure, vicious fury.
It gave him the strength to sink his teeth into Case and twisthard, tearing into his flesh and flinging him aside at the same time.
“Case!” Lydia cried.
She barely registered Reeve springing in her direction, but her wolf did, and it took over. She had at least partially shifted by the time he collided with her.
This is a pattern of his, she thought dizzily, as his greater weight knocked into her and sent her flying.He did the same thing with Case when the fight started. Only Case survived it, and I’m not sure I will.
But she had to. Sheneededto live, because if she was dead, she couldn’t make sure Case was back on his feet after that awful ripping sound Reeve’s teeth had made. She couldn’t protect the pack that didn’t need her protection but deserved it all the same.
And I need to live because Case is going to take me to meet his family, dammit, and we’re going to see the world and haveadventures. I didn’t finally realize that life was possible just to die in my own backyard.
She summoned all her strength to snarl into Reeve’s chest, and then she used her smaller size against him to wriggle out between his legs. He snapped at her ears and the scruff of her neck, but she had no problem ignoring those little flare-ups of pain. She had to make sure Case was okay.
And he was—
He wasright there, barreling into Reeve before he could take another nip at her. He was covered in blood, both fresh and drying, but it wasn’t stopping him. Nothing would, Lydia realized, as long as his mate and his pack were in danger. He would fight until his last breath.
She would never let him fight alone.
She joined him in his onslaught on Reeve. It wasn’t slanted as far in their favor as it could have been, given the odds: Case’s last wound had really hurt him, and she was too small to offer too much support. But they still fought together, moving in sync almost effortlessly to assail Reeve from both sides. He was a strong fighter, so he was keeping up with them, but Lydia’s wolf burned with white-hot, diamond-bright certainty that they would overcome him.
Surrender, surrender,she mentally chanted.Accept it already! Even if you win, you’re not going to get what you want, and you know it. Back down and leave us alone!
It was like he heard her—and that idea made her shiver. She didn’t want him inside her head. He retreated a little, looking at them with hungry eyes. Saliva dripped from his jowls.
It would be an understatement to say that there was something in that look she didn’t like. There was nothing in him shedidlike, and there never had been.
She watched him transform, not letting herself feel anything more than guarded hope.
The damage from the fight carried over to his human form but not to his clothes—Lydia would never understand how that particular bit of magic worked—so even though his shirt wasn’t torn at all, fresh patches of blood soaked through the second he shifted. It was eerie, even though she was sure she’d had the same effect whenshehad shifted back, and even though she hadn’t even noticed it on Meg. Everything about Reeve gave her the creeps.
She didn’t trust him, no matter what form he took. She especially didn’t trust the smile on his face.
“I guess this is it,” Reeve said, causing more cheers to erupt from the crowd. His smile twisted even further, turning in on itself and becoming a horrifying grimace. He met Lydia’s eyes. “I offered you the chance to be my mate. And you turned me down, all stuck-up and smug. Right now you’re probably thinking you made the right decision.”
Well, she wouldn’t necessarily have rubbed it in of her own accord, but sincehehad brought it up ....
