“We’ll sleep here tonight,” he says. “It’s an emergency place some of us stay sometimes.”
“Okay,” I say, wearily eyeing the cave. It’s not very big at all. It’s really more of a ledge beneath the stone. I can’t even stand up inside. Once I crawl in there, I’ll have to lie down. I’ll be okay because Nash and his friends are here, but I’m still a bit nervous and a little scared.
“Tomorrow, at the gathering, I’ll challenge Jeffrey,” Nash says.
“What does that mean?”
“How do you not know what it means?” Thorn says. “Your brother is a shifter.”
“Half-brother,” I whisper. “And he didn’t grow up in a pack. He grew up with me and my parents. My dad wasn’t a shifter. Jeffrey didn’t even know he was different until he hit puberty.”
Thorn’s mouth hits the floor.
“He went through his first shift alone?”
I nod.
“No won
der he’s so fucked up.”
“Baby,” Nash says, gripping my shoulders. He looks in my eyes, strokes my cheek, and silently promises me that it’ll be okay. “It means I have to fight him. It means I’m going to kill your brother in front of the whole pack and then I’ll be the Alpha. I’ll be the one in charge.”
“And you can…do that?” I’m in awe. “You can beat him?”
Ryder and Thorn look uneasy, but Nash nods. “I can beat him, baby. You better believe it. I’m going to beat him, I’m going to win, and we’re going to live happily ever after, you and me. Got it?”
“Got it,” I murmur. He kisses me then and the rest of the world fades away as I’m wrapped up in his arms.
“Dammit, dude, get a fucking room,” I hear one of the guys say, but I’m too far lost in the kiss. Nash can do it. It’s a simple plan, but it’s the only one we have. It has to work. It just has to.
19.
Nash
There’s no way it’s going to work.
I can’t tell her that there’s a good chance I’m going to die tomorrow. I don’t want to. Don’t get me wrong. It’s just that Jeffrey is Alpha for a reason: he plays dirty. In order to win, I’m going to have to be just as bad as he is.
Ryder and Thorn know what’s up. They exchange weary glances as we settle in to camp for the night. I know they’ve got my back. They always have. Still, the idea that I might be letting them down stings. Part of me wonders whether there’s any chance at all of me succeeding. When I look at Scarlett, though, I know I’ll do anything to make sure I get just one more day with her.
She’s amazing.
How have I lived so long without her? I want everything this girl has to offer. I love everything about her. There’s a part of me that’s completely focused on tomorrow, on conquering the Alpha during this battle. There’s another part of me, a better part, that just wants her.
It feels too soon to be thinking about a future, but what happens after tomorrow?
Would she stay with me?
Would she be by my side?
Would Scarlett run the Silent Canines with me?
Would she be willing to help me with the pack?
It’s going to be a huge responsibility, but oh, it would feel so much sweeter with her by my side. Things would be so much better if she would just stay with me. I picture her being part of pack meetings, of helping with the cubs, of raising our own.
Holy dragons, we could have our own little cubs. I’m holding Scarlett, and it’s all I can do to keep from rubbing her belly as I imagine it big and swollen with my baby inside. Would she want to?