I roll my eyes. “No. Are we about ready to go?”
“Yes,” Alpha Bridger announces. “I'll take point.”
As if anyone would challenge him for it in his own territory.
I need this run. I've been shadowing my father for the past few years and these runs with the other alphas are a way for us to work together a few times a year. They remind us that we are more than just territories and packs. Each Alpha has his Second with him, except for my father. He has me.
“Stay near me, Drew,” my father says quietly as we're stripping to shift. “Alpha Barrett has a look I don't like.”
I nod without responding. I noticed the tension in Alpha Barrett as soon as I walked around the side of the house, and I'd have to be blind to not see the hard eyes of his Second. Nothing will happen. Not during this run or the Summit. But, like they say, it's the thought that counts.
Chapter Eight
Parker
This has been one awkward moment after another with a few disasters thrown in to keep it spicy. None of the women we've met or talked to have pricked Cross's interest. Every single one of them have been beautiful, intelligent, kind. They aren't the problem and Cross's frustration with himself is already starting to weigh on us.
I hope the alpha run goes long. Cross is so wound up and there are only two things that help in this situation. Neither of us have felt like fucking since we got here, so the only other option is a run. Running on another pack's territory is tricky because wedon't always know where we aren't allowed. We'd need an escort and I doubt any of us would be comfortable in that situation. Cross needs this run, his wolf needs it, and I hope he doesn't get back until this big ass bonfire is nothing more than cold ashes.
I've been wandering from group to group since I got here just talking and making connections. We've been here for a few days and I haven't seen or smelled any sign of Eugenia, or Genie as everyone but Cross and I seem to call her. Hopefully she's holed up in her cabin and so busy being courted that we won't see her the entire time we're here.
I don't know how it's going to work for her. She can technically choose a beta as a mate. It's happened before. But a pack won't follow a beta, even a strong one. Eugenia is in the same rickety boat full of holes that Drew is. Choose someone or be the reason the world ends. The world might not end, but peace will. Our two packs will bicker and fight and take offense until war breaks out between us, and then other packs will take sides. Then the peace we have all lived in for generations will crumble around us. And it will be because Cross rejected Eugenia because of me.
This is unbearable. The wait and anticipation of coming face to face with her is so heavy. I still hope it's me that runs into her first. Cross would be blindsided. He has no idea what to look for, and if he doesn't catch her scent before she's right in front of him, who knows how he'll react. I can just imagine it. He could actually come onto her without realizing who she is. It's unlikely, but not outside the realm of horrible possibilities. The embarrassment he would endure would never dissipate if he tried to proposition the very female he rejected. We really would have to leave. He'd never be able to show his face in any of the territories here again.
A group of people comes laughing into the firelight and I know she's with that group without seeing or smelling her. I can feel her presence like a splinter. A fiberglass splinter. Theydescend upon the fire and immediately start pulling out bags of marshmallows and bottles of whiskey. My nose twitches and my lip draws up in a snarl. Eugenia isn't even old enough to drink. At least I don't think she is. She was seventeen. Seventeen... eighteen... nineteen... twenty... twenty-one. No, she's old enough, but she shouldn't be drinking in a situation like this. She's an un-mated, un-marked female heir. She needs to be more respectful of … Well, she needs to be more responsible. Just because she's technically old enough to do something doesn't mean she should be out here doing it.
Goddess, I can't believe I'm going to do what I'm about to do. Eugenia Barrett is none of my business and Cross's rejection should make her none of my concern. But he's the very reason I have to do it. Anything could happen to her sober, but worse could and probably will happen to her if she's intoxicated. She's the only female in that group, for fuck sake.
I pop my neck and start moving.
By the time I get to the group of males she's surrounded herself with, silence has fallen across the clearing. The very air seems electrified in the very worst way. One spark is all it would take for chaos to break out, and I'm about to brandish a blowtorch.
“What do you want, Merrit?” one of the males sneers.
I look around him and between the two males behind him to glare at Eugenia. “Come on. I'll escort you back to your family.”
She snorts.
“I'm serious,” I say flatly. “You shouldn't be in the position you're in. It's inappropriate and unacceptable.”
Her eyes narrow for a moment and then she laughs. It's more than a laugh. It's a cackle.
“Fuck off, Merrit,” a brave beta says. “You shouldn't even be here.”
“Eugenia,” I persist, stretching out a hand. “Let me take you back before something happens to you.”
“Leave me alone,” she says coldly. “Nothing will happen to me.”
My eyes move around the group from male to male, holding each gaze just long enough to get an idea of what their intentions might be. I might not want her anywhere near Cross, but I don't want anything a few of these guys have in mind to happen to her even more. I'm a dick, but not an ass.
“Does your father know you're the only female running with this group? Does he know you're unattended?”
“He knows exactly where she is,” another one says. I don't know who he is or what pack he's affiliated with, but the possessive way his hand snakes around Eugenia's waist tightens my throat with a low growl.
“I doubt that.” I stare into her eyes when I say it. She has to know the position she's put herself in.
She meets my gaze with a hard one of her own. She squares her shoulders, raising her chin. Then she leans into the male's body.
