Unease prickled the back of Sage’s neck. She’d heard words like that before. Suffered under them. Other alphas cradled their control in softer words like safety and protection.
“And after?” she asked softly. She rubbed her palms against her thighs. “What then?”
Lindley’s eyebrows shot together and he crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” she paused to swallow the lump in her throat. Something curled up her spine and helped straighten her shoulders. “I mean, what about jobs? Trips to the grocery store? Wanting to go see a movie or take a stroll down Main Street? What then? How long will this go on?”
Kyla shook her head, pity welling in her eyes. “Oh, Sage...”
She jabbed a finger at her friend. “Don’t give me that. You were there! You know how it began. How many families were ripped apart? How many went missing because they questioned orders or looked at Roland and his enforcers funny? They told us we had to give up jobs we loved and plans for the future for our protection. Our ‘protection’ was our imprisonment!”
Her chest heaved with harsh breaths when she was done. Her lioness swished her tail back and forth. Not a single word broke the silence.
Slowly, it dawned on her what she’d done and who she’d challenged. She braced herself for retaliation. At best, her father would have sent her to her room. At worst, he’d have popped her across the mouth for daring to speak out of turn. Jasper would have done so much worse.
Her fingers twitched, but she didn’t raise them to her throat.
“You think I’d do that?” Trent growled, turning a golden-eyed look on her. “After all these months, that’s what you think of our hospitality?”
Sage froze under the weight of his stare, hardly even daring to draw breath.
Rhys snarled and took a step forward. “Don’t fucking snap at her when all she did was ask a question.”
A muscle jumped along Trent’s jaw as he switched focus. “You’re not making the calls here.”
“Back off,” Hailey told her mate. “We can talk about this. There has to be some way—”
“This is the only way!” he snarled. “Or have you forgotten what happened the last time I left you alone while we had enemies at our fucking door?”
“Have you forgotten that you made me your queen?” Hailey swept out an arm to include the entire room. “They are just as much my responsibility as yours, and I’m telling you to back. Off.”
Trent regarded her with an inscrutable look, then turned his attention back on Sage and dipped his chin. “I have no intention of becoming an alpha like my uncle or your father.”
Sage ducked her face. Embarrassment flushed her cheeks. Fuck. She should have kept her damn mouth shut. Trent wasn’t her father. He wasn’t Jasper, either, despite their shared blood. He was a good man and a good alpha. He didn’t deserve to bear the brunt of her obviously unresolved issues.
She should leave. She’d only caused problems by staying, and now the pride was being stalked once more. They all knew who was behind the tracks. She knew the relentless nature of her father and Jasper. She also suspected what they wanted, and nothing would put them off the hunt. She didn’t want to stand around and wait for it to happen.
The offer sat on the tip of her tongue, but her lioness stabbed and slashed at her middle to keep them locked up tight.
They wanted her, she silently insisted, but the cat snarled her objections.
The tense silence made her fidget. She glanced up and found Kyla still watching her with pity in her eyes. Lindley looked utterly defeated, which didn’t surprise her. What big brother wanted to admit he couldn’t help his little sister?
Across the den, Rhys canted his head and watched her with curious eyes. His look was the only one to send a shiver down her spine.
Another rumble of tires on dirt brought her shoulders to her ears, but no one seemed concerned. That made sense, too. No one expected the consortium lions to double back so soon.
“That’ll be the bears,” Trent muttered, scrubbing a hand down his face as he confirmed her suspicions. His eyes bounced over the males in the room before he jerked his chin toward the door. “Let’s get tonight’s patrols figured out.”
One by one, the Crowley pride filed out of the den, until only she, Hailey, and Rhys remained.
Deep blue overtook the silver of his eyes, but his fists stayed clenched. “I’ll stand with you,” he swore.
Sage cocked her head at that. Her lioness, too, perked with attention. The words were different than the typical, macho bullshit of saving and protecting. Those made her feel small and weak. Even worse, the man saying them admitted it. Why else would she need to be sheltered by the wall he wanted to erect around her?
Not Rhys. Those four little words, five if she wanted to get technical and count the contraction, those words put her on an even footing. He wasn’t a blockade at her front. He didn’t guard her back, ready to spring into action. He stood with her.
Her cat purred at the idea. Strong man, powerful beast. He didn’t need to make her small, and instead, made her an equal.
He made her sit up and pay attention for the first time in months.
Chapter 9
Sage stuck around even after Rhys shut the door behind him. She couldn’t help outside with a lioness who refused to make an appearance. Even if she could shift, the odds of being put on the roster were extremely slim. She could be hurt, and Lindley still worked his fool idea of turning her life around by the end of her year with the pride. He wouldn’t risk her to a fight.
She could be useful inside. No one was coming back for a meal and good company. Plates needed to be put away. Ice needed to be dumped from the cooler holding extra drinks. Hailey had
