Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 95748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 479(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 479(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Chick? Emily wouldn’t like that. “I have no fucking clue what I’m doing.” Jackson leaned back against the battered rock, the rough surface biting into his shoulders.
Leroy wiped some dirty sweat off his chin. “I’ve seen a picture of Nightsom. You should enforce the agreement you had with her father.”
Right. Forcing Emily to mate would lead to death. Probably for them both. Plus, he genuinely liked her. Always had. She was so proper and composed that he wanted nothing more than to shake her up a little. Catch her off balance. To catch her, period. “Politics makes our mating impossible.”
“Fuck politics.”
If only it were that simple.
“You haven’t told her father about the attacks here, right? Or the fact that we’re down workers…and soldiers?”
“Of course not,” Jackson growled. He refused to show weakness to any other pack. “Emily knows about the attacks, but that’s not a concern. She has no idea we lost so many pack members to the poisoning five years ago.”
It turned out the Ravencall Pack had also poisoned some of Erik’s pack five years ago, as well as more recently. They’d tried a similar attack against Jackson’s, and the Granite Pack had lost members. Too many. At least the bastards specifically responsible were now dead. Jackson owed Erik Volk for that.
Now, Jackson just had to rebuild.
Adding new members to the pack would strengthen their numbers. Hell, this ridiculous speed-dating circus might actually serve a purpose. The three females he’d met that day had all been sweet, intelligent, and intriguing in their own ways. Any of them would make a suitable Alpha female. They were logical choices that would help secure the pack’s future.
But none of them unsettled him the way Emily did.
The damn woman drove him crazy.
Part of him liked it, the other part wanted to tame her. Just a bit. The best path for her, the safest, was to mate him. But how could she turn her back on the Slate Pack?
Regardless, he might add one or two of his prospective mates’ packs to his. It would give them numbers and strength, as well as new blood. They needed that.
Even now, surrounded by rock and silence, he could still hear the sharp edge of Emily’s voice, see the spark in her eyes when she challenged him. It wasn’t just her beauty, though that alone was enough to distract any male. It was her fire and refusal to back down. She stood her ground like a true Alpha, even when she had every reason to walk away.
“You got something there.” Leroy nodded to the rock, grabbing a pry bar and tossing it to him.
Jackson caught the heavy steel instrument and wedged the tapered end into a narrow fissure in the granite. The colors tempted him. Good thing he had wolf sight. Leaning his weight into the battle, his muscles burned with the effort as the dense stone resisted.
Sweat trickled down his back, the heat from the surrounding rock pressing against him. The crack widened with a low groan, the vibrations traveling up the bar and into his arms. Fighting nature, he shoved. The slab shifted and came free with a sharp crack that echoed through the tunnel.
“Excellent,” Leroy noted.
Jackson staggered back a step, his boots scraping against the rough stone floor as the slab tumbled to the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.
The foreman crouched and ran a gloved hand over the granite’s rough, speckled surface. “Nice job, Jackson,” Leroy said.
Jackson studied the slab. The mineral flecks caught the dim light of the overhead lamps, a mixture of quartz, feldspar, and mica gleaming beneath the dust. The quality was excellent. Dense, clean, and with minimal fractures. This load would fetch a good price, especially for construction and monument work.
Wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his arm, Jackson straightened and glanced toward the tunnel’s distant entrance. The hum of machinery echoed from somewhere above, the heartbeat of the mine pulsing around him. It was easy to focus on the work down there, surrounded by stone and darkness. But no amount of labor could erase the lingering heat that Emily stirred in him.
Leroy stepped beside him. “You know, Jackson, the council’s been in serious talks with Blount. They’re eyeing his grandsons.”
“I know.” Jackson’s jaw tightened.
“They want to keep control, same as always. But you’ve got support. More than you think.” Leroy patted some dust from his gloves and glanced sideways. “You need to secure that support, though. Mating Emily...it’d lock things down solid.”
Jackson shook his head. “For our pack. Not hers.”
“We’d become her pack. Want to, in fact. I signed the petition, you know.” Leroy’s radio dinged from his belt, and he lifted it, pressing the side button. “Lakeland.”
“It’s Dickie up in the office. There’s a problem.”
Of course, there was a problem. “Another attack?” Jackson asked.