Relief calmed the snakes in my belly.
“Thank you by the way.”
I frowned at Liam. “For what?”
“Not jumping on theAlpha is heartlesswagon.”
I pressed my lips together. “I don’t know you well, but well enough to realize you aren’t a heartless tyrant.” I fiddled with my seat belt. “I’m sorry you had to hear that.”
“I’m not. I like to know where I stand with my shifters.” After a beat, he added, “Ignorance isn’t bliss, Nikki; it’s ruin. One of the main causes of a leader’s downfall.”
I thought about what he said for a moment. Turned it over in my mind. “You’re quite wise for someone so young.”
He grinned. “Here I thought I was old and crabby?”
I slanted him a half-smile, using the opportunity to steal another long look at his chiseled profile. Why had I agreed to turn down a second-night stand again? Oh, right . . . because I was starting to have feelings, which he surely couldn’t reciprocate, since he wasn’t on the market for a mate and I was.
Before he caught on to my invasive lovesickness, I changed the topic. “You think we’ll be able to fix the vampwolves?”
“No.”
“You don’t think the blood will work?”
His easy disposition waned. “I think it’ll work, but I’m afraid it’ll only mitigate their shifting and thirst, the same way Lori’s blood has been doing. I don’t think it’ll cure them. If Sillin were as common a commodity as aspirin, then it could be a viable, long-term solution, but it’s rare and the quantity required to keep three halfwolves in check would deplete our reserves in a matter of months. As Alpha, I can’t allow that to happen.” He spun the wheel, merging onto the sinuous road that led toward the piece of Boulder land not confined within our fence. “I’m sorry if this disappoints you, but the pack comes first.”
“I’m not gonna lie; it’ll definitely hurt if the solution is death, but I’d understand, Liam.” I propped my elbow on the armrest and cradled the side of my head on my fingertips. “And I wouldn’t hold it against you.” Pushing away thoughts of lives ending sooner than they should, I asked, “Do you have any idea who you want as your new Beta or are you really waiting to see if anyone comes up with a cure?”
“The only thing I have an idea about is who Idon’twant as my Beta.”
“Let me guess. Any shifters with the last name Freemont or Hollis.”
His eyes drifted over my face. “I’m not against taking on another Freemont, but I doubt any of you want the job.”
I smirked. “Thanks for including me in the lineup, but I’d make a terrible Beta.”
His eyebrows dipped. “You’d make a great Beta, Nikki.”
“No. I make my decisions with my heart more often than with my brain. That wouldnothelp the pack.”
Liam decreased his speed even though we were still a good mile away from our destination. Since the car hadn’t skidded, I ruled out black ice. Maybe this conversation was making it difficult for him to concentrate on two things at once.
“Ness makes all her decisions with her heart. In my opinion, this would’ve made her a great leader.” There was an edge to his voice—anger and regret, and perhaps even a little grief.
“She’s really nice.”
I waited to see if he’d nod, or add that she was the greatest female in the pack. He’d said he wasn’t in love with her, but he certainly acted like she meant more to him than he claimed.
“She said the same thing about you.” After a beat, he added, “Which is quite an endorsement coming from her.”
That forlorn expression crimped his features, cementing my belief that he was still pining for her. It would certainly explain why his relationship with Storm’s mother hadn’t worked out. What could you give someone when your heart already belonged to another?
Thankfully, the bunker came into view then, interrupting my sorrowful contemplations.
Inside, four shifters were present—Avery, his copper-haired sister Apple and her mate Reese, a black-skinned shifter with peroxided hair shorn close to her scalp, and Doc.
On my way to Darren, I waved hello to the others, who seemed a tad perplexed by my presence. I wasn’t a kid, and yet as long as I had the wordteenattached to my age, the pack wouldn’t see me as an adult. Where in the human world, twenty-one was the age you graduated from child to adult, in the pack, that magical age was twenty.
I came to stand beside Darren. “Hey, Doc.”
