Kate tries to keep a stern face, but the second Pru touches her shoulder, Kate breaks down in tears. Pru lets the woman sob against her, holding onto her as she does, and never looks away from Hallie’s body as she tries to soothe the distraught mother.
“You remind me of her,” Kate chokes out after a couple of minutes, then she pulls back from Pru so she can look at her face.
“Of Hallie?”
“No, Genevieve—your mother.”
Tears form in Pru’s eyes, but she quickly blinks them away. “Thank you. I’m sure Hallie was a lot like you too.”
“She was always stronger than me,” Kate sniffs. “I don’t know how to be strong for her.”
“I’ll help you,” Pru assures her.
We all stand around my father’s office later that day. Everyone has been pretty quiet since we found Hallie’s body. No one knows what to say to each other or how to make the situation better. It’s never easy when a pack member dies. Even though they weren’t your blood, they were part of your family, and they’re still important to you.
Avery and Remi aren’t here since they volunteered to be one of the other patrol teams. Since the attack this morning, we decided to have multiple teams working at one time. I hope Avery and my sister are keeping their cool around each other, both of them have such strong personalities, and I can see them clashing.
“How are we going to stop him?” Pruitt questions from where she stands, leaning against my father’s large desk.
“We could always challenge him,” Ranger suggests. His usually carefully styled hair is wild and sticking up in odd directions on his head. He looks a lot more like Ransom right now because of it.
“What does that mean?” Pru asks the group. Sometimes I forget she isn’t accustomed to pack law.
“It’s a fight to the death between two challengers,” Dad explains. “It’s used most often between two wolves vying for the alpha position of a pack, but it can be used in other situations as well.”
“Does someone always die? Or can they tap out?” She sits up straighter as she listens.
“The fight isn’t over until one of the wolves is dead,” I tell her.
“Well, we aren’t doing that.” She shakes her head. “Nicolai is strong. There’s no guarantee we could win.”
“Ryker could beat him,” Ransom tells the group. “He could challenge Nicolai.”
The growl that rips through room has everyone turning to look at a pissed off Pru. She’s no longer standing in front of the desk. Somehow, she moved across the room so quickly no one saw it. She stands in front of Ransom and is glaring down at him.
“Don’t ever suggest that again,” she snarls at him.
The look of fear on my brother’s face has me moving toward them. When I take hold of her shoulders and pull her away from him, her skin is burning hot to the touch.
“Pru,” I whisper, “it’s fine.”
“I’m sorry. It was j–just a suggestion,” Ransom stammers.
Pru keeps staring at Ransom as we back away together, then takes a big breath after a couple seconds.
“I need a minute.” She slips out of my grasp and stalks out of the room. The door slamming behind her makes us all jump.
“Her wolf is a hothead,” Ranger says after we listen to her stomp down the hallway.
“Yes, she is,” I agree.
28
Pruitt
I pace in front of the fireplace in the living room, trying to figure out how my life has come to this. People are being killed to protect me, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to come to terms with that. How am I ever going to look at these people, knowing a young girl died because I needed protecting?
And her mother…
I don’t think I’ll soon forget the gut-wrenching scream that came from her when she saw her dead daughter. It still echoes in my head as I stand in the quiet room. How is she ever going to forgive me for her child’s death?
She was right when she said the pack was safer when I was away. My mind starts going through different plans that could draw Nicolai away from the pack. I don’t think if I left like my parents did, he would leave the pack alone. He would just continue to hold their lives over my head until I returned.
I wish I could go home and see Addison, but everyone agreed it would be safer for both of us to stay where we are. She’s in good hands with Noah, I know, and I have almost the whole damn pack protecting me. I wish she were here so I could cry on her shoulder about Hallie’s death and the whole unfair situation.
“Are you okay?” Ryker leans against the wall, watching me with his intense blue eyes.
“No, I’m not fucking okay, Ryker.” I don’t stop pacing as I talk to him. “How long are we going to be able to protect the pack from Nicolai? We can’t keep this up forever, and he won’t give up.” I spin on my heels and switch directions.
“We’ll do this as long as it takes because you going to him isn’t an option.” He scowls. “We’re doing everything we can to keep everyone safe.”
“Maybe we should send everyone away,” I suggest. I’m just throwing options out at this point because the pack lockdown and patrols aren’t going to work forever. “We buy plane tickets for everyone, and we just send them away. Far, far away from here and Nicolai.” I wave my hands around me as I speak.
“We can’t send them away from their home, Pru,” Ryker sighs. “Besides, we’re stronger together and as a pack. It’s in our blood. We’re pack animals, and we need each other.”
I stop in my pacing and throw my hands up in the air. “Then what do we do!”
Ryker’s expression softens as he walks over to
