“What the hell was that?” Presley demanded when the fire was out.

  “I’m guessing transmutation,” Isaac said.

  Everyone turned to look at me.

  “First on the docket,” I said, ignoring the fact that they all wanted answers I didn’t have, “I’ve asked Idrissa to continue as head of security.”

  “Nice.” Isaac high-fived his sister.

  “Next, we want to choose our betas,” Kai added.

  “Idrissa,” I said. “Would you accept the role of my beta?”

  Surprise then excitement lit her eyes.

  “Do I get to boss people around even more than I do now?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “You’d be enforcing pack law so, probably.”

  “Then I’m in.”

  I smiled, feeling a ball of relief unwinding inside me. For some reason, I’d actually been worried she’d refuse.

  “Isaac,” I said, turning to my other bestie, “we’d like you to be in charge of the restoration project for the town.”

  He looked skeptical. “What does that mean exactly?”

  “It means you’ll oversee, not just the construction but also the rehab of existing structures. Fresh paint. Updated renovations. We want to give the town a full makeover. And we’d like you to design it.”

  His eyes lit up, and I could see the moment he fully understood what we were asking. “Seriously?”

  I smiled at him, knowing how much this would mean to his little artist’s heart. “Seriously.”

  “This is so much better than selling penis sculptures on Etsy,” he breathed.

  Presley’s brows shot up.

  “Hold it together, brother,” Idrissa said dryly.

  But Isaac wasn’t even hearing her. The dreamy look in his eyes meant we’d lost him for now. Presley snickered, and Oscar muttered under his breath about modern art being way too raunchy.

  Kai turned to Silas, and the others fell silent.

  “Si,” he began, “I’d like to ask you to be my beta.”

  Silas didn’t answer immediately, and in his hesitation, I saw a hundred different emotions mirrored in his hard gaze. Finally, he shook his head, eyes flicking away as he said, “I’m good, thanks.”

  Isaac’s jaw dropped.

  “Si, don’t be a fucking idiot,” Idrissa hissed.

  Silas ignored her.

  Kai’s expression crinkled in confusion. “You sure?”

  “I’m sure,” Silas said quietly.

  Awkward silence fell.

  After another moment, Silas shoved to his feet, and the bench he’d been sitting on made a scraping sound against the floor as it slid away. “Listen,” he said, flicking glances between Kai and me, “I’m all in on whatever you need for this rebuild process. Any heads need knocking, I’m here for that too. But I can’t make any long-term commitments.” His gaze flicked to me then away again as he strode out.

  The door swung shut behind him with an echoing click.

  The others looked nervously at Kai.

  He looked at Presley, lifting one brow as he said, “Well? What do you say? Can I count on you for beta?”

  If Presley was pissed about being second choice, he didn’t show it.

  Presley simply grinned and reached out to offer Kai a fist bump as he said, “Ya damn right.”

  “Is that it then?” Idrissa asked, starting for the door Silas had just exited, but I stopped her.

  “Not quite. Kai and I have one more idea we’d like to discuss.” I looked at Isaac. “In fact, it’s not our idea at all. It’s yours.”

  “Mine?” Isaac’s brow wrinkled. “What did I say?”

  “Something about a party,” Kai began, and whether he intended to go on or not was irrelevant because Isaac’s screaming cut him off.

  When that finally died down, we outlined some basic direction. Isaac nodded enthusiastically to it all. It didn’t matter to him that we were adding and changing a few details. I just hoped he actually heard the direction we gave him and wasn’t already halfway to throwing some sort of Pretty In Pink-themed prom.

  After another fifteen minutes of planning, Idrissa rolled her eyes and mumbled something about “real work” to do and promptly left. Presley, surprisingly, remained behind and tossed a few ideas into the ring about how to make it an event everyone would want to attend.

  Silas’ refusal still bothered me, but at the sound of footsteps in the front office, hope surged. I looked up to see a guy I didn’t know standing in the doorway, and my heart sank as I realized it wasn’t Silas returning after all.

  His face was familiar, though. After a beat, I recognized him from the last pack meeting. The one who’d tried talking Byrn down from the idea of challenging an alpha. His messy blond hair and piercing blue eyes weren’t something I could forget.

  “Who’s this?” Oscar asked. Not unfriendly, per se, but not warm either. He’d sat in the back the entire time, not participating but sort of just…guarding. Now, he looked ready to pounce.

  “Adan Landry.” The guy held out a hand and offered Oscar a shake.

  “He’s okay,” Kai added.

  Oscar grunted, eyeing him suspiciously. “Do I know you?”

  “Not yet, sir. I’m from Hawley pack. Been working with Idrissa on security.”

  “You here to report a problem?” Oscar grunted.

  I rolled my eyes at the hard time he was giving the guy, but I held my tongue. Oscar hadn’t said much about what had happened to me, but I knew from the way he hovered and enforced curfews that hadn’t been there before that he was scared of what the magic might do next.

  Scared and helpless was a feeling I knew well.

  “No, sir,” Adan told him. “Came to see if I can help.”

  “Does Idrissa know you’re here?” Presley asked.

  “Saw her on the way in,” Adan admitted.

  Presley chuckled. “I bet you did.”

  Adan ignored him and turned to me. “Ash, it’s nice to officially meet you. On behalf of the Hawleys, I want to apologize about the other night. Byrn and his friends aren’t great with change, but there are some of us who look forward to a different kind of leadership.”

  “Not great with change, huh?” I snorted. “You are a born politician with that kind of understatement.”

  He laughed and held up his hands. “No way. Don’t put me in the spotlight. And definitely, don’t put me down for paperwork or red tape.”

  “Okay, Mr. Stick-to-the-Shadows, what kind of help are you offering?” Isaac asked.

  To Adan, Isaac probably looked suspicious, but I knew that look for what it really was: assessing. Isaac was already trying to figure out where Adan would fit into our little group.

  Adan shrugged. “I figure you need some volunteers to help bring people together. A Hawley security team leader wouldn’t hurt.” He hesitated before adding, “Assuming that’s your plan.”

  “What’s the alternative?” Kai asked, amused.

  Adan leveled a matter-of-fact look at him and said, “Starting over from scratch.”

  Kai’s half-smile vanished. I blinked, making sure I understood Adan’s words correctly. Then I shook my head. “We’re not those kinds of alphas.”

  Adan held up his hands. “No offense meant. But you should know that’s what my kind expect.” His gaze flicked to Kai. “And your words at the meeting didn’t diffuse that expectation.”

  “That asshole crossed the line,” Kai snarled.

  I put my hand on his arm, and he quieted. It was a trick I’d noticed. Our wolves might not be in sync, but our human sides were. And it would have to be enough until we were ready for me to force my wolf out.

  “We want to bring everyone together,” I said. “To show them we plan to lead fairly and that we don’t have any interest in more violence, especially against one another.”

  “You want them to know you’re not Reed Hawley.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “We’re planning something that will hopefully show them the future will be different. Better.”

  “What do you have in mind, exactly?”

  “For starters, a pack run,” I said.

  He nodded. “Not something the Hawleys have done for a while, but I like the unity it offers.”

  “And a party,” Isaac added, excitement taking over again.

  Adan listened while we filled him in. When we’d finished, he looked up from the notes Isaac had made with the Hawley pack’s traditions.

  “This is a good start,” he said. “Really good.”

  Something inside my chest unwound a little at that. Outside opinion went a hell of a long way. Especially since Adan came from the very pack we were trying so hard to bring around.

  “Now, all we need is Asheville to agree,” Presley said.

  “They’ve already pledged their loyalty,” I said, remembering how many of them had taken a knee at that pack meeting. You know, before I’d nearly brought them to their knees through force.

  “That was before they started brawling with the Hawley who spray-painted slurs against them on the highway outside town,” Presley said.

  “We’ll get ’em there,” Kai said.

  “How?” Presley asked.

  “A representative from their ranks would help,” Adan said.

  I nodded. “I think I know someone.”

  “Great,” Isaac said brightly, snapping his notes shut. Either he hadn’t noticed the downturn in morale after that last statement or he didn’t care. “After that, all that’s left is to convince every single wolf in this town to actually show up.”

  I winced. Maybe he hadn’t missed it after all.

  “We’ll meet here again at the end of the week,” Kai said as the meeting broke up. “To finish putting this together and get started on the other systems and procedures. We want to have everything ready and rolled out by the full moon pack run.”

  Presley nodded skeptically as he left. Isaac was too lost in party-planning mode to be worried about a deadline of only three weeks. Adan hung back, chatting with Kai about more permanent housing for the Hawley who wanted to stay in town.

  I wandered over to Oscar. He looked bored. The fact that he still hadn’t left told me he didn’t so much want to be here as felt the need to be.

  “Hey,” I said, sliding onto the stool next to his.

  “Hey, yourself.”

  Definitely in a sour mood.

  “You don’t have to stay for these if you don’t want to,” I said. “We can lock up when we’re done.”

  I’d approached him earlier, asking if he’d like a spot on the council, but he’d immediately turned me down. He’d done his time, according to him. Still, it felt strange without him officially part of things.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said, which only left me wondering which part he thought was ridiculous. “This is my shop, and you’re my niece. Least I can do is show up to support you.”

  I swiveled the stool so I could face him. His eyes were hard—and a million miles away.

  “I’m not him,” I said.

  His frown deepened. “Who?”

  “My father.”

  “Of course, you’re not. Why would you say that?”

  “You think if you’d just been there for him more, paid more attention, he wouldn’t have taken it all on his shoulders and then left the way he did.” I watched as Oscar’s expression turned from a scoff to a scowl. But he didn’t deny it either.

  “None of what happened is on you,” I added when he didn’t reply.

  I grabbed his arm and squeezed.

  “None of it,” I repeated.

  He dragged his gaze to mine, and this time, he didn’t bother to hide the fear and regret. “You don’t know that,” he said gruffly. “Maybe it would have been different.”

  “Would you have gone with him?” I asked.

  He blew out a heavy breath. “No. I had the shop to think about. I couldn’t just… Dammit, he should have at least told me.”

  “You would have stopped him.”

  “Damn right I would have.”

  I leaned back. “See? It’s not on you. It was his choice to keep it a secret, especially from the one person he knew would beat some sense into him.”

  Oscar snorted, and a look of wistful fondness softened his features. “I always did win our little scrapping matches, you know. Caleb made me swear not to tell anyone. An alpha getting his ass kicked by his older brother is bad for business.”

  I grinned at that. “I bet he hated it.”

  Oscar flashed a quick smile. “Every time I’d win, he’d get back up and say ‘rematch.’ And then we’d go again. Over and over.”

  My smile softened. “He was stubborn as hell,” I said, eyes blurring with tears as I remembered the wrestling matches he’d started with me when I’d been young. He never hurt me, but he was also not overly gentle. Looking back, I could see it was his way of getting back what he’d lost with Oscar. And preparing me for a world where fighting for my life would be a necessity.

  For the first time since learning his part in this curse, I felt gratitude toward my father.

  When I looked at Oscar again, he nodded at me knowingly. “You’re so much like him. Smart. Strong. And you don’t do things the way people expect. When there isn’t a way, you make one.”

  “Is that what has you so worried?” I asked. “That I’ll end up repeating his legacy? Because I won’t fail this pack. No matter what it takes, I’ll protect them.”

  “I know you will, kid. I’m just worried that what it will take is you.”

  Chapter Ten

  The next few days marked small improvements. Corbin agreed to be our Asheville representative. He still looked pretty broken up over losing Baron, but he didn’t blame me for the loss of his alpha like the Hawleys did. As a whole, the Asheville remained mostly secluded, grieving in the customs of their pack, but the ones I met weren’t hostile, at least.

  Using Vinny as our scouting agent—which he complained about incessantly—we found permanent housing for the Asheville and Hawley who opted to stay in town. Although, one look at the proposed neighborhood, and I was on the phone to Isaac to prioritize this area for his next rehab project. Low rent housing was one thing, but I wanted quality and cleanliness to be universal. No one in my pack was ever going to live in a broken-down trailer like I had ever again.

  That thought alone sparked an idea that I was pretty sure everyone would deem crazy. But I tucked it away, vowing to make it work somehow. If I could find a way to ensure everyone’s livelihood, I could do what needed to be done next with a clear conscience. Even leaving them would be easier.

  So, I waited, and I planned.

  Strangely enough, the day after the Hawleys were given keys to their new homes, no new graffiti had been painted on the shop windows downtown. Each day, there was one less brawl that sent injured wolves to Cherise’s office. And the magic inside me remained mostly quiet so long as I took the herbs on a regular schedule. Okay, it might have been a higher and higher dose each time, but I wasn’t going to ruin the upward slope of progress by telling the others about it.

  And through it all, Cohen remained silent.

  His absence did nothing to quell my fears, though, especially since Kel was also missing. Every night, I stayed up late after Kai had gone home and Oscar had gone to sleep—working on my crazy-ass plan for the pack’s future. And trying like hell to think of an idea better than simply “triggering my wolf and hoping for the best.”

  Leaving was still an option, but it was a last resort. For so many reasons, running didn’t seem like the answer anymore.

  “When exactly am I fulfilling the other part of our deal?” Vinny asked one afternoon on his way out for the day. We’d set up our alpha headquarters in Kai’s living room, and Vinny always looked relieved when it came time to leave for the day.

  I wasn’t sure whether Kai made him nervous with his constant outbursts of temper or if the bloodstain Baron had left on the hardwood never let him forget what would happen if he screwed this up. But today, he stayed behind to ask the question I knew had to be on his mind.

  In fact, he looked eager as he said the words.

  I lifted a brow. “The night of the pack run,” I said. “So calm your tits.”

  “I don’t have tits.”

  “You also don’t have information,” I pointed out. “You’ve been on the job for days, and you haven’t found anyone plotting against Kai and me?”

  “No one trusts me now that they know I’m working for the enemy.”

  “You say that like anyone trusted you before.”

  He glared at me.

  “Don’t look so pissed, Vinny. For a guy who tried to kill me, you got a pretty sweet deal out of this whole thing. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to let you take that bite.”

  He stomped out and then shifted for his run home. I smiled to myself as I watched his wolf struggle to pick up the clothes he’d shed so he could carry them home. His car was still parked out back of the Throttle, booted just in case, and chained to the fence.

  Idrissa said it was evil genius to leave it out there so he could see it every morning when he showed up to accompany me to Kai’s for the day. I had to agree. But it wasn’t punishment I was after. Not anymore. Maybe the first few days felt like justice or vengeance, but now, Vinny’s constant presence as we created a new pack structure meant something else. I knew if I could bring Vinny around, I could win them all.

  He was the barometer.

  “That asshole only took this job so he could sink his teeth into your throat,” Kai said, staring angrily after Vinny.

  I walked to where he glared from the open doorway and put my hand lightly on his shoulder. He relaxed and turned back to me, his expression clearing.

  “You’re getting good at that,” he said.

  My lips curved. “I hadn’t realized you’d noticed my trick.”

  “I notice everything about you,” he said, his voice going husky as he crowded himself into my personal space.

  My breath hitched as our eyes met, and desire curled in my stomach. The magic slithered in along with it, and I did my best to clamp down against its effects. I was most vulnerable to its control when my emotions took over—herbs or not.