“We need to show my pack how serious we are about our alliance,” I suggested. “That you’re someone Itrust with my life.”
Joanna chuckled uneasily, stretching out her arms. “Whoa. Slow down there, cowboy. How about you buy me dinner first?” When my smile broadened, she dropped her arms, placing her hands in her lap. “What do you have in mind?”
“How would you feel about making a blood pact, Miss Sullivan?”
Her eyes widened. “I’m not a werewolf, Blackwood.”
“But you are supernatural. From the day you officially became a hunter. Your magic—your power—is one of the strongest I’ve ever felt from a human. My pack won’t be able to deny that.”
Joanna leaned back on the couch, considering. But when her eyes met mine, she smirked. “When do we start?”
My grin widened, the wolf inside me howling with anticipation. “Tonight. We start tonight.”
Chapter Ten
Joanna
As the day wore on, Marcus spread the word of the blood pact among his wolves. I could sense their curiosity, their excitement, their unease. Something big was about to happen between their pack… and a hunter.
I shuddered. James could not find out about this.
Marcus moved quickly with the preparations. He was a natural leader, his authority unquestioned as he barked orders with an eloquence that made even the men eager to obey.
From the safe distance of the guest room window, I watched as werewolves headed to the place they called the Den—normally off-limits to outsiders. But at sundown, I would step inside and pledge my allegiance to the pack.
The ceremony was a bigger deal than I’d realized. Whispers of gowns and new suits made their way to the guest room where I waited. It wasn’t lost on me how much more luxurious this room was compared to the one from our first night under the same roof. But when I teased Marcus about it, he simply claimed it was all for the ceremony.
I admit, I had a moment and demanded the whole thing be called off. My braids were almost three months old.
Marcus did not understand.
… Men.
He sent Maya to calm me down, and the next thing I knew, three young shapeshifters were helping me take down my hairstyle.
It felt… normal. A reminder of the sisterhood I’d lost when Toya was taken from me. And what would’ve normally taken an entire weekend to do by myself was done in a few hours. Now, rollers prepped my freshly washed hair.
Footsteps sounded outside the room.
Lucas knocked on the cracked door, entering cautiously. “Marcus asked me to give you this,” he said, holding out a garment bag.
I retreated from the window. “Is it ugly?” I asked, making sure the belt of my bathrobe was secure. I took the bag from his hands and unzipped it, revealing a stunning red dress.
The fabric was silk, the color a deep crimson that shimmered in the light. It was sleeveless, with a plunging neckline and two slits that would reveal a scandalous amount of leg.
“He wants you to wear this to the ceremony,” Lucas explained, his eyes darting from me to the dress.
I held it up, the silk cascading like liquid fire. “It’s beautiful,” I said in awe, running my fingers over the fabric. Then I frowned, realization dawning. “Does it come with a clutch or something?” I shook the garment bag. “There’s no place to hide any weapons in this thing.”
Lucas shifted, his eyes darting off to the side. “Marcus said you’d say that. He also said that attacking someone during a blood pact is treason. And that you have nothing to worry about.”
I sighed, resigning myself to the fact that I would be unarmed. It went against every instinct. But I had to trust Marcus. If he said I would be safe, I believed him.
“Fine,” I said, laying the garment bag over the back of the armchair. “But if I get killed because I’m defenseless, I’m blaming you.”
Lucas paled, swallowing hard before nodding. As he left, I felt a pang of guilt for making him nervous. He was just following orders, after all. In fact, every time I saw Lucas, he was waiting on Marcus.
He was tall, the way most of the werewolves were, but his adolescent frown betrayed him. He couldn’t have been over twenty.
