“Tell me,” Hillary said.
He examined her over his beer as he took a drink. He’d come here to check on her, make sure she and the girl were good. The evidence was pretty clear that she was more than good. And it was obvious to him that she had invited him here to make the same judgement on him. Probably she wasn’t so easily convinced on his state of well-being.
Still, there was nothing that obligated him to open up. And yet, his reticence seemed more habit than actual reluctance to talk to her. He couldn’t deny that he felt a connection, a sense of rightness that she was happy. That was unexpected. He’d really just hoped to not feel too guilty.
He took another drink while she watched him patiently. Glancing at Zach, he saw only amused understanding.
“You know about Arizona. Nothing much to say about that. I got shot, I made it out, I stayed low, kept to myself. Ended up in Montana. I knew where the local pack was, watched them enough to know they weren’t up to anything bad, stayed out of their way until these shitheads decided that poisoning the wolves to create trouble in town and get themselves a license to kill was a good idea.”
“And you met Myra,” Hillary said after a moment.
He could see that she’d heard the story, figured there was no use pretending otherwise. “Yeah, I’m not gonna lie, it was a shock to have someone put me down like that. I don’t love knowing that there are people out there that can still do that to me. Even though it was necessary, and a good thing she was there.” He cleared his throat, drank more beer.
“Hmph.” Hillary set her drink down on an end table and pulled her other leg in front of her so that she could face him fully. “You do know that according to Myra and Michael both, the very fact that you hesitated, didn’t attack them right away, was a pretty amazing bit of strength on your part. If you’d met up with a human or a weaker wolf, instead of them, you likely would have scared them away.”
A little ball of sickness that had been sitting in his gut, mostly unnoticed, dissolved. “Maybe.”
She nodded. “Likely. But they couldn’t take that chance, so Myra stopped you.”
He nodded. “She was right to do it.”
“And you do know,” Zach chimed in, “that Myra didn’t stop you just on her own. She had to draw on power from some other alphas. From us. She needed to go hard and fast because she couldn’t sustain that draw from us for long. Or at least, we don’t think so, it’s not something that’s happened in our generation, and not something we want to play around with or test.”
He sat back. He hadn’t known that. It should have made him feel better. Did, a bit. But it also made him even more grateful that it had been Myra to find him in the woods that day.
“Is that something you guys do, too? Draw power from your pack?”
“We can. Again, it’s rare.” Zach paused, seemed to consider his words. “You’re probably aware that physical challenges for position are also rare in packs. But it does happen on occasion. I don’t think the power draw would work in that situation. I don’t know if it’s the magic that stops it, or the collective will of the pack, or the stubborn will of the alpha. I don’t know, I just know, instinctively, that I wouldn’t even try, but if for some reason I did, it wouldn’t work. The bond is most usually used in the other direction.”
Adam frowned, not sure he understood. “You send power to your wolves?”
Hillary chimed in. “Sometimes. Usually it’s like sending a burst of strength to a wolf that needs help changing, because they’re sick, or exhausted. Or sending comfort, or even love, to a pack member that needs it.”
He sort of understood. But not really. If he thought about it, which he tried not to, he could identify a little piece of himself that was connected to Myra. He could imagine sending something along that piece, back to her. Wasn’t particularly comfortable with that thought, especially if he considered that it was reciprocal.
Finishing off his drink, he set the bottle on the table next to him. “Good to know.”
“Actually, that reminds me of something,” Zach said, looking at Hillary. “In a couple of days, Myra will hand the National Presidency over to Marco Hernandez, in Elk Ridge.”
Hillary’s eyebrows drew together. “Where’s Elk Ridge?”
“Northern California. The reason I mention it is that you might feel something, during the transfer. Maybe not, since you don’t know Marco, but I do, so you might get some echo through that, as well as your friendship with Myra.” He looked to Adam. “You might get something too, so just be aware.”
Great. He was trying to forget the woman, but she just wasn’t cooperating with that, at all.
CHAPTER SIX
Myra wasn’t sure how forgettable she was or wasn’t, but she was sure having a hard time forgetting Adam. Her body was reminding her of him constantly, sending her flashes of memory along with warm pulses of need. His hands on her hips, his lips on hers, his growling voice in her ear. All of them served to make her wet, make her skin tingle in need, make her lose track of what she should be doing, instead of thinking of that sexy loner wolf.
She’d returned to St. Louis only days after having left her pack, and yet part of her felt like she was a whole new wolf. She’d tried to shake the feeling, but everything just felt…off. Her firsts, Kendra and Deacon, had kept things moving smoothly. The idea that they didn’t even need her at all was pathetic and she pushed it aside. One of the reasons she made a good National President was that if she actually needed to act, as she had this time, she could comfortably do what was necessary without a single worry about her own pack’s needs.
It had been ten days, and she still didn’t feel like she had before she’d left. She felt like she was just a visitor in her own life, somehow.
Her father gave her a hip check, and she nipped at him playfully. Leave it to Dad to snap her out of her brain and remind her that she was part of a pack. She looked around her. Her wolves ranged through the woods, Dario scratching his back against a tree, Alisha bowing down in front of him to entice him to play. They’d decided to go for a long run together, those who weren’t stuck at work, to enjoy a beautiful, sunny morning after a week of rain and gray.
It was a decent-size group and they’d run far before coming to a rest near a creek. A creek that Zavi was about to push Kyle into, if he didn’t watch himself. But Kyle wasn’t fourth for nothing, and just as Zavi was about to connect, he stepped out of the way and she splashed into the creek, scrabbling but unable to stop herself.
Her father huffed in amusement. Frank and her mother had retired as firsts three years ago, but he was still her most trusted advisor. Kendra and Deacon, once mated, had surged in power, and her parents took the opportunity to slow down in life. Rosa, her mom, preferred to mother the younger wolves and leave the rest of pack business to the new hierarchy.
