Almost to the huge granite island counter of the kitchen, I hurried with the hope of snacks. “I just want to grab a bag of microwavable popcorn and some wine,” I said. “I’ll be gone in a second.”
A few murmurs escaped the great room, and then a voice lined with power called out to me. “Pip, join the meeting.”
Greyson—like all Alphas—had a unique set of powers. He was intimidating and more physically advanced, obviously, but he also had a presence that made others pay attention to what he said, and he could even order wolves to do things that they would compulsively follow. Most Alphas had weak abilities at best, but Greyson could wield his like a weapon—if he wanted to.
I felt the thrum of Greyson’s power. But while I could feel it wash over me, and the compulsion to obey Greyson was a brush of silk at the back of my neck, I could easily shrug it off—unlike all other shifters and humans.
Another score for hunter powers!
“No thanks!” I made it to the cabinet above the microwave and got a whole box of popcorn—a full five satchels were inside! “Wouldn’t want to impose on you all. I’ll just—” I swung around and walked face first into Greyson’s rock-hard chest.
Greyson smiled at me—not the polite one he took pains to show the Pack, but one that was a little too concentrated in his eyes and showed a touch too much teeth.
Time to abandon the wine—when he looks like this it’s never good for me.
I shook my box at him. “Thanks, I’ll be leaving now.”
Amelia will just have to live without snacks—or I’ll give her a bag and she can make it at her parents’ cottage.
Greyson dropped an arm over my shoulder and spun me around with him. “There’s been a change in your plans, Lady Hunter,” he said. “You get to suffer with the rest of us.”
I tried to dig my heels in, but Greyson towed me along to the great room as if I weighed as much as a doll. “This is why I don’t like you,” I growled at him.
Greyson laughed—a low, throaty sound that was almost musical. “I’ve always known not everyone will recognize my genius.”
“I hope you get sprayed by a skunk at the next Pack run,” I grumbled.
Greyson’s grin grew, and he tapped his fingers on my shoulder.
As soon as we hit the entrance, however, he removed his arm and his playful smirk morphed into a serious expression worthy of an Alpha.
Meanwhile, I tried to find some place I could sit where I could sink into the background—and maybe duck out early.
The great room was two stories high, with a fireplace big enough for me to stand in, and huge windows that I knew personally were a pain in the butt to clean as they stretched from the floor to the ceiling. The base floor was crowded with chairs, and there was a large balcony with wooden banisters that was thick with werewolves—all in their wolf form.
As I stepped into the room, all the werewolves sitting on the ground floor turned around to stare at me, making an intimidating sea of yellows, ambers, greens, and blues as their eyes glittered in the summer sunlight.
“Pip! Over here!” Wyatt called.
I scanned the crowd of werewolves sitting in the chairs, and it took a moment before I spotted Aeric wildly waving to me before he gestured to the empty chair next to him.
No leaving early from that spot. But sitting with friends is a good substitute.
I awkwardly waved my microwavable popcorn box at him, then started picking my way through the rows, making my way toward the duo.
“Why should she attend this meeting?”
I glanced up, not at all surprised to recognize my personal naysayer, Rio.
Rio was Hector’s younger brother, but he and I had never gotten along well. He’d been wary of a hunter getting adopted into the Pack, and in his defense I hadn’t made it any easier on him, as I’d ripped tufts of his fur out of his wolf coat when I was first told I had to practice fighting against wolves and he was my fighting partner. (The Northern Lakes Pack was big on training like Spartans, which could be semi traumatic to a twelve-year-old hunter and the unfortunate wolf she learned to fight on.)
Rio was also big on absolute loyalty to the Alpha, which also made us natural adversaries.
“I actually agree with him,” I said. “Why am I here? Isn’t this meeting for Pack business?”
Rio’s nose twitched—likely he didn’t know if he should be pleased or disgusted that we were on the same side for once. “If you agree, why did you come in here?” He bared his teeth at me as I scooted down the row, heading in his direction.
I stopped halfway down the aisle, awkwardly hovering over the knees of another wolf. “You’re right. All I wanted was popcorn.” I swung around, but Greyson was waiting at the entrance of the aisle.
“Not today,” he said. His power filled the room in a warm blanket, and all the wolves on the main floor slumped a little deeper in their chairs.
There goes that argument.
I’d oppose Greyson, but when he was really set on something, even I knew enough to roll with it. The guy was ridiculously overpowered—I had no chance of winning if he felt strongly about something.
“Okay then.” I resumed scooting down the aisle, smiling extra wide when I reached Rio. I made sure to pat him on the knee as I passed.
It would aggravate him later, but at the moment I could tell my puppy pheromones had him because he was trying—but failing—to scowl, and resorted to stiffly shaking his head to hide the instant relaxation my pheromones provided.
His girlfriend, Aspen, nodded to me as I scooted past her, a slight quirk of amusement in the tilt of her lips. “Hello, Pip.”
“Hey, Aspen. Still with this jerk, huh?” I asked.
Rio glared at me, but Aspen chuckled, her voice low and pleasant. “I promise you he’s actually quite charming.”
I snorted. “Yeah, he seems like a dead ringer for the princely type. But as long as you’re happy!” I winked, and Aspen gave me one last smile before shifting her attention back to Hector.
Aspen had been a member of the Pack for about two years. She was actually the niece of Harka, the Midwest PreDominant, a.k.a. the top wolf in the region. She’d come to the Northern Lakes Pack to be turned into a wolf, however, because the Pack apparently had one of the best survival rates in the country.
It was fairly rare that a werewolf was born—most of them had to be changed, like vampires. Changing was a painful process that involved multiple werewolf bites, and supposedly only a fourth of the applicants who tried it survived, and only a fraction of them actually became wolves.
(I say supposedly because I’d never seen the Northern Lakes Pack lose someone in the process. They didn’t always become werewolves, but they’d always survived. But, whatever. Maybe the water here was magical or something.)
Harka had asked the Pack to take Aspen on and change her because of this survival rate. She was supposed to stay with the Pack for a year or so while she learned how to control her werewolf strength and all the perks that came with her supernatural status, but then she and Rio started dating, and she’d decided to stay with the Pack.