Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 62997 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62997 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Instead of inviting me in, she steps out on the porch and shuts the door in her mom’s face.
“What do you want?” she demands, folding her arms over her chest. She’s two feet shorter than I am, but apparently lost any fear she might have had for me in the past. Bailey did that for her. Gave her the confidence she’d been missing.
I shove my hands in my pockets to appear less threatening. “Advice. I need your advice. Or your help.”
She raises a brow. “You need my help?” Her tone drips disbelief.
“How do I win Bailey back?”
Her mouth opens in surprise. Some of the hostility leaks away. But she says, “Don’t you think you should just let sleeping wolves lie? I mean, you can’t be with her anyway. It’s forbidden.”
I kick her front step. “I don’t give a shit if it’s forbidden. Garrett Green married a human,” I say, referring to our alpha’s own son. “A bunch of his pack members mated humans. Why is this pack so damn old-fashioned I can’t even date one?”
Rayne shrugs. “I don’t know. Are you willing to go up against the alpha on it?”
It’s a test. I realize she wants to know how far I’d go for Bailey before she tells me anything.
“Yes,” I say with total and complete clarity. “I’d go up against Green. My dad. My friends. Whatever it takes. I’m willing to fight for her. Is that what you want to know?”
Rayne shrugs. “That’s what she needs to know.”
I stare at her, trying to assimilate what she’s telling me.
“You made her feel like she wasn’t worth claiming publicly. Like you were ashamed of being with her. If you want to fix this, you’d better show her you’re proud to have her as your girlfriend.”
My heart rate picks up speed. What she’s saying makes sense. I humiliated Bailey by talking that way about her in front of my dad and the alpha. She may have understood I was lying, but she couldn’t forgive the lack of respect and honor I showed her.
“Thanks, Rayne,” I mumble. “That makes sense.” I back down her sidewalk, my brain spinning on problem-solving. How do I prove myself to her? How do I show her I will always defend her—publicly and privately?
Chapter 17
Cole
In wolf culture, the biggest and strongest always wins. It’s survival of the fittest. Dominance and pack order. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve been bigger and stronger than my dad. It happened some time this past year.
I knew it before the neighbor Lon suggested it was time I fought back, but I wasn’t willing. Before my dad became an alcoholic. Back when he was a good father, he taught me respect for my elders. Even now, when he’s no longer worthy of my respect, it’s hard for me to break that pattern.
But it has to be done.
My dad is toxic to this family. I’m not going to blame him for what happened between me and Bailey. That’s on me. My bad choices. But I’m sure as hell not going to use him as an excuse to not have the one good thing that’s shown up in my life.
And I’m not going to let him ruin my sister’s future, either.
After practice, I walk through the house, picking up empty bottles and tossing them in the recycle bin. Some time in the last month, my dad switched from beer to Jack Daniels. There are four empty bottles in the kitchen. I find three partially full ones around the living room. I pour them down the drain.
“Hey!” my dad hollers from the living room, where he’d been snoozing in front of the TV. “What in the hell are you doing?”
“Getting rid of your liquor, Dad,” I explain calmly.
Casey appears at the top of the stairs, a wary witness.
“Like hell you are. Put that down, Cole! Put it down, now!” My dad surges out of his chair and comes stumbling at me.
It takes all my concentration not to react in the usual pattern of fear or defensiveness or avoidance. I’m the alpha now. I can take him if I have to. “You’re done drinking yourself to death. I’m not allowing liquor in this house,” I say, like I’m the parent and he’s the child. “And you’re going to start AA meetings and clean the fuck up, or you’re out.”
My dad swings at me.
I duck and punch him in the gut, hard. Really fucking hard. The quicker this goes down, the better.
He doubles over and falls to his knees.
“This is my fucking house,” my dad slurs, still clutching his stomach on the floor. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Watch me.” I channel Alpha Green. I put no anger in the words. Just the calm, firm confidence of a leader. “You have two kids in this house who need a stable environment. You’re going to provide it for them. You’re going to clean up and get a job. And if you don’t, you’ll be out on the street.”