I had forgotten how quickly werewolves could move. Before I had opened my mouth to reply, Chase was hustling Keith down the corridor out of danger and Wolfie had taken the beta’s place by my side. And despite my mixed feelings about Wolfie, I was glad to have the backup because Milo, not I, had been the terror when we were kids. My cousin had been one of those boys who enjoyed tearing wings off butterflies, and now he looked like the adult version of that aggressive child—dark suit, glistening leather shoes, and the bulge of a gun under his dress jacket all adding to the image of a mob enforcer. Or, more likely, the Chief’s enforcer.
I could feel the hackles of both male wolves rise as they eyed each other, even though they were still clothed in their human skin. “Wolf Young, pack alpha,” Wolfie growled, forcing my cousin into a bone-crushing handshake, and Milo’s eyes narrowed in response. This was only the third time I’d seen Wolfie use his alpha dominance, and the effort turned him into a completely different person. Gone was the jovial wolf who would let a kindergartner maul him, replaced by a ruthless alpha like my father. Only, instead of being terrified of Wolfie, this time I was glad to have him at my back. “You’re on pack land,” Wolfie continued ominously.
“I’m here to speak to my alpha’s daughter and grandson,” Milo replied, his tone nearly as gruff as Wolfie’s. But my cousin couldn’t quite pull off the alpha persona, and after a moment his eyes shifted to the side, which made Wolfie huff out a canine laugh. Milo ignored the taunt, and although his jaw tensed, he held his physical ground.
“Proper protocol would have been to seek out the alpha of their new pack first,” Wolfie said, and I could have sworn the wolf behind his eyes was having fun. I’d heard my father pull rank so many times, the move should have been familiar, but it felt different coming from Wolfie, as if the younger alpha was playing the system rather than being swept up by werewolf machismo. Father had always been on a power trip, requiring interlopers to go through him first to prove the alpha’s dominance, but I had a feeling Wolfie didn’t usually greet intruders in this manner. He was only being surly because of the potential for danger to me and Keith.
“A pack leader doesn’t have to ask permission to speak to his heir,” Milo shot back, his eyes locking onto Wolfie’s. As much as I hated to admit it, Milo had a good point. Werewolf society was dressed up with all kinds of complicated social rules, the point of which was to keep bloodshed to a minimum. The relevant guideline in this situation was clear: no matter where a pack leader’s heir wandered, the heir remained under the alpha’s protection and control.
I shivered, imagining my nephew being dragged back to Haven by my blood-thirsty cousin, and I could feel Milo’s wolf rising in the extended silence. My own wolf responded by pushing against her bars, but Wolfie didn’t seem affected—his wolf had already been rampant, so there wasn’t much further for it to go without fur sprouting out of the alpha’s ears.
Instead, the young alpha seemed perfectly calm as he responded for both of us. “Keith isn’t Wilder’s heir,” Wolfie replied. “He’s mine.”
***
Milo and I both stared at Wolfie as if he were crazy, and the alpha’s lips curled up into a grin. Yes, the bloodling really was enjoying this.
“Brooke and I had an understanding when she brought the boy onto pack land,” Wolfie explained, and I realized with a jolt that the man beside me was lying through his teeth. Wolfie’s pack hadn’t lived on the mountain when Brooke first moved here—Wolfie had been the one moving into another wolf’s territory, in part, I was now guessing, to protect my nephew.
But my analysis of the situation simply didn’t make sense. Although our animal side was cunning, werewolves couldn’t tell outright untruths when our wolf was in charge, and I couldn’t quite figure out how Wolfie could be both the most wolf-like person I’d ever met, and still hold onto the human trait of deception. No matter how Wolfie pulled it off, I hoped Milo wouldn’t have enough facts to realize the alpha was lying. If my cousin twigged to any inconsistencies, hopefully he’d get caught up in the same mental tangle I was currently pushing my way through.
Wolfie ignored both of our shock as he kept spinning his enticing lie. “The grandson of an alpha would present a threat to my status if the boy wasn’t clearly kin, so Brooke and I took a blood oath and I accepted Keith as my heir.” He raised a challenging eyebrow at my father’s enforcer. “As you probably know, that supersedes any claim your pack leader may have on the boy. So you can go home.”
Milo moved as if to obey the outright command, his face turning red at the involuntary reaction to another pack leader’s order. Then, with an effort, my cousin turned his attention away from Wolfie to speak directly to me. “I don’t know what the deal is with Keith, Terra, but Chief Wilder said to tell you these precise words: ‘You or him.’“