That’s not a full mate bond, and the males making trouble aren’t going to accept it. First off, because there’s no indication in the scent he left behind that you marked him back. And second, because Logan Hunter isn’t a member of this pack. Only a member can mate a female alpha. He’d have to petition to join the pack before your bond would be recognized, and if you think the morons gunning for you are gonna let that happen at this point in the game, you’re out of your pretty, stubborn head. They’d kill him to keep that from happening.”
“Logan could take on any male in this pack and win, even in his human form. With his hands tied behind his back.”
“What? You think they’re gonna come at him head-on? One at a time?” Hamish snorted. “Sweetheart, I don’t know what fairy tales you’ve been reading these days, but fair play has no part in games like this, not when an alpha position is part of the stakes. They’d take him together, if they thought that was the only way. Or better yet, they’d just put a bullet in him. No fuss, no muss. Then he’s out of the way, and the female alpha is still unmated. Only now, she’s too damned shook up to think straight. Makes her more vulnerable, easier to take down.”
The words struck like strands of a whip, cutting through her already pessimistic view of the future and leaving nothing but bleak, ragged shards. She struggled to breathe.
“They can’t do that,” she choked out, her throat threatening to close on a mix of anxiety and mindless fury. “I am
Hamish leaned forward in his seat. “I think you need to pay attention to some very important points, sweetheart. Ones that I came out here to remind you of. You’ve been acting like taking over for your daddy was a guaranteed home run. Sure, a couple of idiots tried to give you trouble, but the first one was too young and too dumb to pose a real threat, the second one underestimated you from the start, and Paul … well, he just didn’t have his heart in it. That boy’s been half in love with you for three quarters of his life. If you hadn’t taken his hand, he’d’ve gnawed it off himself when he realized he’d hurt you. But from here on out, things are different.
“First off, you need to wrap your mind around the idea that this Howl is not going to be some sort of rubber-stamp act where the only thing standing between you and making this job as alpha permanent is a few words from you and a round of applause from the crowd. A lot of the members of this pack respect you, sweetheart, but there are a few bad apples in every barrel, and the ones in yours are just crawling with worms. They
“And second, you obviously need to brush up on your knowledge of Lupine traditions, or none of this would be coming as a surprise.” He shook his head at her. “You made this pack a good beta, Honor, and I doubt anyone telling the truth would be saying any different, but a female beta who’s the daughter of a strong, dominant alpha is a hell of a lot different from a female alpha who half the pack can remember seeing in diapers. Even those who respect you, those who like you, they might still have doubts about your ability to lead. You ought to know that Lupines are never wild about change, kid. Progressive thinking isn’t one of our strengths. You should remember that an unmated female alpha has never gone over well with our kind.”
Honor swore. “What did you really come here to say, then? That I should just give up and step aside and make way for a man to come forward and do my job for me? If that’s what you’ve been trying to tell me, uncle, just go ahead and say it. I’m a big girl. I can take it.”
Hamish swore right back. “It doesn’t really sound like you can, Honor Strength. What part of what I’ve said sounded to you like I’d rather have some hotheaded, loudmouthed asshole for an alpha than you? Was it the part where I called them morons? Or later, where I compared them to wormy apples? Hell, girl, I’m on your side, but I’m trying to tell you, you need to open your eyes and see what’s coming for you. I know your daddy taught you never to walk into a challenge circle unprepared, but you’ve been walking around here like you’ve already won all the battles. Did you really think you could get away with it being that easy? That someone wouldn’t dig up all our oldest and ugliest traditions, no matter how you—or the rest of the pack, for that matter—really feel about them? Admittedly, the Alpha Mating Rite isn’t the prettiest of our legacies, but it exists, and I guarantee you it’s going to come up at this Howl.”
Now that was an understatement to end all understatements. As proud as Honor might be of her heritage at the best of times, the Mating Rite did not qualify as the best of times. It qualified as one of those times when it sucked to be a female in a culture where masculine traits like strength and speed and stubborn stupidity were valued above everything else. It qualified as something out of her worst nightmares.
“It’s archaic,” she felt compelled to point out, but the protest sounded weak even to her own ears. She knew her uncle was telling her the truth, and she knew she had no hope in hell of preventing the future he’d just described. “No one in their right mind could think we should still be carrying on a tradition of condoned rape in this day and age.”
“I hear that the Silverback Clan ran a mate hunt just last year,” Barney threw in, careful to keep his gaze from meeting those of the others. “The alpha and a bunch of other prime males chose mates that day, by running them down in Central Park and fucking them where they caught them. And these were city wolves. It might seem archaic when we talk about it, but I bet that when the males carried their mates out of the woods over their shoulders, it just seemed real.”
Honor shivered. Her arms wrapped around herself as if warding off the cold, but she still hadn’t noticed the ambient temperature. This chill came from the inside.
“This is the modern world,” she said. “Our females are allowed rights equal to those of the males in the pack. They get to vote on issues where the opinion of the pack is weighed. We educate them alongside the males. They live in a world outside their homes, have lives and careers of their own. They’re treated as equal members of our culture. And yet you say that when a female alpha calls a Howl to assume her rightful place at the head of the pack, that pack will refuse to grant her their obedience unless she has a mate to protect her in case she turns out to be too weak? That’s just frickin’ asinine!”
“It’s the truth,” Hamish said.
She pushed out of her chair to pace the length of the small room. She hated to be still when she needed to think. She had to pace and prowl and roam around. Lupines always thought best on their feet. “I don’t agree. I think that things are changing all around us, and it’s time this pack kept pace with the world we live in. We need to change, especially when this is the alternative some of our males come up with. We can’t keep clinging to the old ways like this, especially when the old ways are so entirely repulsive. I won’t let it happen.”
“You won’t have a choice.”
She stopped and met that assessment with a fierce glare, fists clenched on her hips, chin lifted high in the air. “I’m the alpha here, and I lead the pack. When I make a decision, it stands. If I say there will be no Mating Rite, there will be no Mating Rite.”
“If you say there will be no Mating Rite, there will be a riot,” Barney spat out.
Honor turned on the old man, prepared to rip him a new one, but her uncle moved slightly to the side, drawing her attention away.
“It’s not like you to kill the messenger, sweetheart,” Hamish said. “Don’t start picking fights with the man for speaking the truth. Saying no won’t change anything. The pack’s been working itself into a state since Ethan died. They’ve had too much time to be uncertain by now. You’ve been challenged repeatedly, and you may have won those battles, but everyone knows the war isn’t over. They know this Howl is big, and having the Silverback sniffing around and asking questions about you and the pack is only ratcheting up the tension. Everyone knows tomorrow night isn’t going to end without blood spilled, but most of them don’t want to see you dead. They’re hoping—
“So what is it that you want me to do, uncle?” she demanded. “Go along with this stupid, bass-ackwards tradition and let myself be raped? Because I can’t do it. I’d sooner step aside and let the Silverback Clan name Bozo the Clown the alpha of this pack.”
“And you see? That’s why you need to start thinking this thing through.”
“What are you talking about?”
“About the fact that the male sent here by the Silverback Clan is now a great big variable in an already complicated equation.” Hamish braced his elbows on his spread knees and clasped his hands together between them. “Setting aside the fact that he’s already marked you for a minute, it hasn’t helped shut any mouths that Graham Winters felt it necessary to send one of his men here to judge your fitness to lead. It made some folks in
