The pack melts into the trees, until only Luka remains, hovering at the edge of our conversation.
“I wanted to ask if you could do something for us,”Kai says inside my head.
“I’m not staying,”I say before he can ask.
I’ve been afraid of this request since the moment it became clear they desperately need an alpha—been dreading it every time Kai gives me that appraising look.
I’m technically an alpha, but I never expected to lead the pack. Partly because I’m half Fae, but mostly because I’m uninterested in power. I like my role as the commander of the army in Vernallis—it gives me exactly as much authority as I need without the burden of running an entire kingdom or a pack.
Being back here feels better than I expected. Over the last several decades since my banishment, I’d convinced myself that everything about life in the camps was horrible, but now I remember the good parts too. Still, I miss Vernallis. I spent far more of my life with Kas, Daemon and Jett; and they’re my real family. If forced to choose between the wolves and them, I’ll choose them every time.
“I wasn’t going to ask you to,”Kai says, startling me.
“You need a true alpha,”I say. It’s not a question.
“I know,”Kai mutters.“Between you and me, I think Finan is one.”
It takes me a few seconds longer than it probably should to understand who he’s talking about. Then, I remember the twelve-year-old boy who walked Aurelia and I to our tent the first day we were here. I don’t remember noticing whether Kai’s son was an alpha or not, but it wouldn’t be that surprising. Kai is a dominant enough beta to have run a pack alone for years, and given that she seems to get along with Aurelia, I doubt the boy’s mother is a shrinking violet.
“You sure?”I ask.
Kai nods.“I’m really just trying to hold this place together until he’s old enough to take over.”
“You’d take orders from your own son?”Lukaasks, falling back to join our conversation.
“‘Course,”Kai says.“I don’t care about that shit.”
“Which is why it’s clear you’re not an alpha,”I grumble.
“You should be glad about that. If I were, I wouldn’t be able to stand your moody ass.”
I bite back a growl, knowing it will only prove his point, and change the subject.“So, if you don’t want me to run the pack then what do you want?”
Kai’s eyes narrow.“There’s only a few days left until we’re scheduled to report to the palace. I assume you’ve got a plan?”
I do have a plan. Keep Aurelia from doing something that will get her killed. That’s the entire plan.
“Sort of,”I mumble, avoiding his gaze.
“I don’t need to know what it is, but I picked up that your mate wants to talk to the queen herself.”
“She’s hoping to, yeah,”I growl, feeling my shoulders tense.
“And you’d go with her?”
“‘Course.”
Kai’s eyes gleam and he suddenly looks excited. He leans closer to me, his breath fogging in the cold air between us.“If you get the chance,”he says, each word deliberate,“I want you to kill the queen.”
“What?”I jerk back, surprised.“I can’t. You know I fucking can’t.”
“Are you sure?”Kai asks, his eyes never leaving mine.
“‘Course I’m fucking sure,”I snap.“What is that supposed to mean?”
“When you went to Dyaspora you were completely banished.”
My jaw tightens.“So?”
