“Idocare, I don’tsay,” I snapped at him.
“Yeah? Well, one thing a leader does islead, even when it isn’t what they want.” He took a step back. “Be the leader you keep telling us you are.”
I didn’t know how to respond. He had quite literally struck me dumb. It took me a moment to find my voice. “You came to tell me to lead my pack?”
He shook his head as he looked away from me. “No, I came to tell you to suck it up and stop being a petulant child”—he glanced at me—“but I thought I’d try a subtler approach.”
I blinked. “Thatwas your idea of subtle?”
He shrugged. “Would you prefer if I picked you up and took you there myself?” He once more scanned me from top totoe, and I took a step back. Killian actually looked like he was contemplating it.
“I can walk by myself!”
“Then what are you waiting for?” he asked with narrowed eyes. “You don’t have to say I’m right, you just have to walk home.”
I really,reallywanted to keep walking to the pack hall, but his words had resonated with me. He was right…in a way. The pack was still very much identifying as two packs because Wolfe and I were firmly on two sides. My whole life, I’d concentrated on bringing my pack harmony, and now I may be one of the reasons they were struggling.
But I was also my father’s daughter, and I didn’t want to admit he was right,especiallyto Killian.
“I don’t see your feet moving,” he grumbled.
Can I kill Killian?
Wolfe answered me immediately; he sounded faintly amused.I’d prefer you didn’t…what’s he done?
He’s…I sighed. What did I tell him? He served some home truths I didn’t want to hear?He’s infuriating.
I could feel the rumble of laughter through the bond.If I killed him for every time I felt that, he’d be dead at least twenty times by now.
Killian was watching me, arms crossed like I was a disobedient puppy and he was one step away from carrying out his threat of carrying me to the house. I saw his eyes narrow, and I knew Wolfe must be talking to him; he gave me a look of such disappointment I felt chastised.
“Can’t live with him, but no problem running to him when you don’t like hearing the truth?” he growled as he walked past me, narrowly missing shoulder-bumping me. “You’re not the shifter they told me you were.”
He left me standing there in the dark, wondering what the hell the last five minutes had been.
I told him to leave you alone.Better?
I jumped at the sound of Wolfe’s voice in my head. Was I better? No. I think it was worse.
Thanks.It was all I sent, but a few moments later, checking over my shoulder several times, I turned and made my way back to the house.
Wolfe was slumped low on the couch when I went in. Shirtless, with his belt unbuckled and jeans sitting low, I could see the deep V even as he stretched his long legs out in front of him. His messy dark hair hung over his forehead, almost in his eyes, and those stormy blue eyes tracked every inch of me as I walked through the door.
The bond tightened a little as I met his hooded gaze. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
I hovered near the door, and he didn’t move at all. My throat was dry, and I was at a loss for how to break the tension.
“You changed the patrol route,” he said simply. There was no anger, no rebuke, just a simple statement.
I nodded, guilt swelling inside me. “I did. I looked at the plans in Dad’s—your—office, and the patrols were too deep from the ridge. They passed them, but they needed to be a wider sweep. I made the change.” I straightened my back as I told him why I had done what I had. The loss of life was my fault, no one else’s.
“You changed the midnight patrol, but not the one that was currently out there. They never knew they weren’t being relieved.”
I nodded. A stupid,carelesserror. I knew better. I’d beentrainedbetter. “It was a stupid mistake,” I told him, not looking away, accepting the blame entirely. “I…”
Wolfe slowly stood from the couch, and I took in the impressive sight of my husband. Broad-shouldered, his pecs as tight as his abs, and that V pointed straight to a place my body wanted to learn intimately.
