“You are one ballsy chick,” Everestmurmured.
“Anyone else?” the elderasked.
I raised my chin and scanned the faces surrounding me. So many of them were still looking my way. So many still whispering. Amanda and her two besties were smirking. Would they have smirked if they’d been werewolves or would they have supported a sister’sendeavor?
“I will convene with the elders to discuss the rules of this competition. After breakfast, we will deliberate with the four contenders in the conference room. But before we leave, we need to collect a drop of your blood to guarantee yourcandidacy.”
Bushy-Eyebrows crooked a finger. I handed my mug to Everest and joined the other three who’d already approached the white-hairedelder.
“Wrists.” His nail had lengthened into aclaw.
Liam, Matt, and Lucas extended theirarms.
“Ness?”
I jutted my handout.
“With blood, you will bind yourselves to me so I may know your whereabouts and keep track of your vitals during the contest. Once an Alpha rises, your connection to me will besevered.”
He slashed his wrist, and then slashed all of ours in turn. I gritted my teeth at the shock of pain. Bushy-Eyebrows pressed his blood toours.
“Well, that’s sanitary,” Imumbled.
“Wolves don’t carry disease, Ness,” the elder reassuredme.
The wolf in me knew that; the human still saw blood as a vehicle fordisease.
Almost instantly, the edges of the boys’ skin knittedtogether.
Lucas snorted at my still-gaping nick. “Not healing very fast, are you? Want a bandage for your boo-boo?”
Shooting him a glare, I returned to the table set with desserts and grabbed a paper napkin, pulse pounding against the torn skin.Heal, I instructed my wrist; it didn’t. That wouldn’t help my street cred. I pressed the napkin to my wrist and watched the white turncrimson.
“We will meet in the morning to discuss the contest.” Trailed by four other elders, Bushy-Eyebrows walked off theterrace.
Amanda tore away from her friends and strutted over to me, her heeled booties clucking against the hardwood floor. “Hun, hun, hun. Going against our boys is one dumbidea.”
“Yourboys?” Iasked.
“Yeah,ourboys. We grew up with them; we stuck around; we were there to comfort them when they needed someTLC.”
My fingers cinched around my wristtighter.
“We are as much part of this pack as you are. Actually, that’s not true. You’re not part of thepack.”
“Enough, Amanda,” Liamsaid.
So engrossed was I by her pettiness that I hadn’t seen himadvance.
She twirled, and her curls fanned out around her, littering the air with the aroma of apricot. It blended with the smell of the coffee cooling in my discarded mug, the scent of the blood drying on my wrist, and Everest’s evergreen cologne. My stomach swished from the sensorialassault.
“I was just voicing everyone’s thoughts,” Amandachirped.
Liam’s lips were pressed so tight that when he said, “Leave her alone,” I thought it was Everestspeaking.
Liam was defending me? Surely I’d heard him wrong. Or he had an ulterior motive. After being a bastard, the only reason he’d act kind would be to confuse me. “I can fight my own battles,Liam.”
“I’m sure you can, but we don’t talk down to each other. Other packs might, but not us.” He sounded so freaking noble. I understood why no one challenged him. He spoke like he was already an Alpha. But if he’d learned that from Heath, then I could only imagine the rest of what Liam had beentaught.
