“Tyler and Danny have to submit to you as their Alpha.”
“What?” I held the phone away from my ear and looked at it like it had sprouted fur and fangs. I slowly brought it back to my ear. “I don’t think I heard you correctly. I’m not an Alpha. We’ve already covered this. I don’t even feel Alpha-inclined. I don’t understand what you’re saying. It won’t work.” Panic welled in my throat as my wolf growled and paced, her eyes sparking violet in my mind.
“It’s only a temporary Alpha placement,” he said calmly. “I need you to relax. It will be remedied once you all return home.” If we returned home is what he really meant. This decision to make me acting Alpha meant he wasn’t giving us good odds. “In the Old Country, wolves built their own hierarchy on extended journeys. There was always a lead wolf, and he functioned as the working Alpha. He could talk to the other wolves internally when they were in their true forms and unite them and infuse power when needed. It was a necessary precaution to ensure survival of our race. We had many of them back then. A temporary Alpha doesn’t have to be the most dominant wolf in the entire Pack. He just has to be the most dominant in the group.” He exhaled. “Jessica, I’m unable to get through to you in your Lycan form. I can’t help you, and I can’t give you my power. I’ve tried. This is the only way. It’s also the only way around the oath Tyler and Danny swore as Selectives. As of now, if they don’t submit, they can’t shift to protect you.” Or to save themselves. “If they swear to you, all their previous oaths will be broken. This is the only way I will give this journey my blessing. If you intend to face creatures of the Underworld, you need an army. Two wolves is all I have to give.”
My stomach thundered and I felt dizzy. This was too much. “Um, that might work for Danny”—he’d already submitted to me in rank—“but not Tyler.” I swallowed. Hierarchy and Pack status was all a wolf cared about. “He’s not… I can’t ask him to do it. Tyler should be the working Alpha, not me. I’ve been a wolf for only a week. His status is clearly above mine in Pack.”
“It’s not that cut-and-dried,” my father said firmly, growling in my ear. “Tyler’s wolf might have status above yours in a working Pack, but you and he share a bond that goes beyond anything I’ve ever seen in siblings—something unexplainable and utterly unique. If you are the one the Prophecy speaks of, it’s you who has the power. Tyler will know. He should feel it too. This isn’t about status or ruling wolves; it’s about something we don’t completely understand. I’m certain this will work and once it happens they will be bound to you.”
My voice quavered. I could defeat Underworld beasties, but asking my brother to submit to me made me queasy. “How… do I do it?” I knew there was a ritual and once it was done it was binding—until the wolf swore a new one.
“It’s similar to a Blood Oath. Tyler will help you.”
“They have to take my blood?” Interference started in earnest on the line. I talked loudly over the buzzing. “Dad, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Listen, my blood is unpredictable. Remember the Blood Oath for us didn’t work and I think there might be a problem—”
“Jessica, I’ve made my decision,” he shouted thought the static. “This is the only way. It’s the only chance you have to succeed. Once it’s over I will know. My connection to Danny and Tyler will be severed. We will not speak until then.”
“But I still don’t think—”
The line went dead.
I had no idea if he’d hung up on me or if the phone had stopped working.
“Dad?”
There was nothing but dead air.
14
I threw the phone down in frustration right as Danny and Tyler trotted back into the area carrying more supplies. My father had known that if he’d stayed on the line he risked my complete cooperation. I’d somehow talk him out of it. So he’d left me no room for further discussion, which had been his sole intent. If I tried to call him back he wouldn’t answer.
Shit. My wolf growled and showed us as the Alpha. That’s not helping! We aren’t the Alpha. I don’t even feel like an Alpha. She flashed me the box and showed us glowing with power. I know. I get it. I felt it. She barked and showed me the picture again. I squinted in my mind’s eye, but what she showed me wasn’t the Alpha; it was something else. I could feel what she was projecting, but there were no words behind it. Before I had a chance to examine it better, Tyler rushed up to me.
He grasped me by the shoulders. “Glad to see you’re awake. That was crazy and awesome at the same time. But don’t scare me like that again. Seeing you in those situations is like watching someone murder a puppy. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.”