Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-one
Cross
Genie's pack isn't as different from mine as I thought it would be. They take care of each other the same way we do. Each family inside the pack is important and visible, and they all help to make the pack run better. Being here doesn't feel all that different than being home.
Except the majority of these people hate my guts.
Oh, they hate Parker's guts, too, but he isn't getting even a portion of the glares and secret, disgusted snarls that I'm getting.
I get it. I do. I don't blame them. I was selfish.
I was stupid. They have every reason in the world to think the worst of me.
I'll prove myself to them, though. No matter how long it takes.
I will prove to Genie and her pack that I'm worthy of her.
I don't have to. It's a done deal at this point.
I've claimed Genie. She wears my bite. She's mine and I'm hers.
It's done. I don't have to prove anything other than I will be their ruling alpha once our packs merge, whether they like it or not.
One of them would have to challenge me for the title and I don't think any of them hate me enough to do that.
They'll give me a chance. It might take a while, but they will.
I can feel it. They want peace and stability as much as I do.
It's going to be alright. Besides, they can't ignore the fact that Genie has so thoroughly accepted me. That goes farther than anything else.
I wish we had time to ease into it, but her father got word this morning that two other packs are joining together to challenge both my position and Genies. We aren't even the ruling pair yet and we're being forced to prove ourselves.
Unsurprisingly, it's Pack Reeves and Pack Steele who are coming for us.
Bella still wants Genie's place and she's using Jonathan and his pack to give strength to the inevitable attack.
They know we're on Barrett land and they're making their way here at a steady pace.
I'd rather they rush into it. Genie is going to go into heat in what feels like any second.
I will be at my most dangerous when she's in heat, it's true, but I won't be thinking about defending the entire pack if I'm lost in rut.
They know that. That's their entire plan.
If I could rush her heat, or delay it...
No. No, I wouldn't. I want this heat with her.
I've spent the past several years trying to get to her when she was in heat and I won't give it up now, not when it's so close I can literally smell it.
I want it. I want this heat. I need it. And so does she.
I can feel her reaching for me along our bond, I can feel her. She wants this heat as badly as I do.
“How long do you think we have until they get here?” Parker asks Danner, Genie's dad's Second.
We're all standing around Alpha Barrett's huge desk, pouring over territory maps and old hunting trails that we're supposed to forget exist. Danner plants a thick finger on the foothills of the closest mountain range.
“They will come from here. There's no other way for them.
The falls are here, the lake here, and cliffs here.
They have to come from that pass. And then they will move through the forests until they get to ours.
It's not a straight shot, but it's the way they'll go so they can hide their presence.”
I shake my head. “Why would they care about hiding? They know we're expecting them. They'd do better to run straight at us before we have time to make a plan.”
“They won't,” Alpha Barrett says. “If they come straight at us, they risk being stopped by other packs out in the open before they get to this territory. They won't want to come out into the open without having control of this pack and yours. They aren't strong enough, not yet.”
I look up from the maps and meet his steely eyes. “That won't happen.”
“You know,” Parker hums, staring at the map, “I think I'm going to enjoy watching Genie embarrass Bella again.”
“What do you mean?” Alpha Barrett asks.
Parker looks up. “She didn't tell you?” His eyes flick to mine for a beat before settling back on the map.
“She said she fought with another female while she was there, but she said it wasn't a big deal.”
Parker shrugs. “It wasn't. Bella Reeves never should have challenged Genie. When I say it was embarrassing, it was embarrassing.” He glances at me again, pride evident in his expression. “Bella never stood a chance.”
“Do you know why she challenged her?”
“Bella wants Cross,” Parker answers flatly.
Alpha Barrett closes his eyes to let out a heavy breath. When he opens them again, he gives me a hard look, but continues to address Parker. “It seems Drew is a hot commodity. What do you think about Bella's challenge?”
Parker barks a laugh. “Hot commodity. Sure.
Bella doesn't want Cross because of Cross.
She wants power and that's it. If she bags Cross now that our packs are officially merging, she gets to run her own pack plus this combined one since she would take Genie's place as Luna.
It's hilarious that she thinks she has a chance in the first place, but to come here to have her ass handed to her again in front of even more people? Hilarious.”
Alpha Barrett's lips threaten to twitch into a smile. “I didn't want her to have to fight for her place. No one from our pack would challenge her, and I doubted anyone from Pack Cross would, but it will be good for her to demonstrate to the pack that she is their Luna by birth and by strength.”
I straighten and stretch, pushing my fists into my bowed back. I don't care what Bella wants and it doesn't matter where they come from. Bella is weak and Jonathan is weaker. “Do we know how many?”
“Maybe twenty,” Danner says. “Thirty total as far as we can tell.”
I nod. “We can handle that many, but I'll call my dad later and he'll send people.”
“You're not worried?” Danner asks, brows high.
I shrug. “Yes, obviously. But strong packs follow strong leadership.
Bella is leading this charge with Jonathan and some of his pack mates.
I'm sure if they were to actually win against us that their respective alphas would be thrilled with the additional lands and resources, but neither Bella or Jonathan are strong enough to lead a pack. Bella might get there one day, but Jonathan never will.”
“So you think it will be an easy win for us?” Danner asks, crossing his arms in front of his wide chest.
I shake my head. “I would never assume any win would be easy.
There is always a risk. I am completely confident that they will attack.
We will fight. But I am also completely confident that they will fall before they ever get solid footing.
They don't know the lands and they are angry. Anger leads weak people down the road to stupidity. They will follow their anger into this fight and they will lose.”
Alpha Barrett smiles at me. “You're going to do just fine.”
“So, how long?” I repeat my question, looking between the alpha and his Second.
“If they come through the forests? Two weeks. If they come straight through? Four days, maybe six.”
My eyes clash with Parker's and our shoulders rise and fall in a tandem sigh.
“Let's hope for the forest route,” Parker says, and I nod.
*
“This can't be happening.”
Genie scrubs her cheeks with her palms and falls back onto her bed.
Her tiny bed. We need a solution for this bed.
Maybe. The past few nights have been cramped, but I have enjoyed all three of us squeezing together to sleep.
We haven't had the opportunity or, or energy, to do more than sleep, but I've been thinking about it. A lot.
“I can take a suppressant,” Genie suggests dismally. “It could work. Just enough to make it through this. I can't be in heat when our pack is threatened. You can’t go into rut. It's unacceptable.”
I thought about suppressants. I really did. But ultimately, it won't work. The most they would do at this point is dull the symptoms of the heat, not delay it. Genie would be even more miserable and still at a disadvantage. Then there's the other thought I had...
“What if we speed it up? Based on your scent – you're killing me, by the way – you're due any day.”
She eyes me warily. “Speed it up?”
My hand goes to the back of my neck as I flick a glance towards Parker. “Kind of bring it on. Convince your body, or your instincts, that it's the perfect time to go into heat right now – “
“Right now?” Her eyebrows climb towards her hairline. “Now?”
“Or soon.” I rub my jaw as Parker's expression mirrors Genie's. “Before Bella and Jonathan get here. They're still at least a week out.
Parker's hands go to his hips. “Her heats last at least four or five days. They could get here in that time, and then what, Cross? The future leading pair holed up somewhere, handling the tail end of her heat, while the pack suffers the attack? And that's if she goes into heat literally tonight.”
I raise a brow. “As opposed to her going into heat right before they get here?”
“And then there's the other thing...”
We both look at Genie, waiting for the rest of the sentence.
She rolls onto her stomach and rests her chin on her crossed arms. “If Bella approaches you while I'm in heat, neither me nor my wolf will tolerate her presence anywhere near you. Either of you. It would be dangerous.” She lets her eyes close in a long blink. “For her.”
Parker drops down onto the bed next to her and starts trailing his fingers up and down the back of her thigh. “If she's brave enough to attack our pack, then she deserves what she gets.”
His touch on her body is mesmerizing. I'll never get tired of seeing it.
“How would you even do it?” Genie asks. “I won't take any enhancers. Those things are dangerous.”
Parker walks his fingers up her spine and she sighs as he sinks them into her hair. “There are ways.”