Chapter 33
Jax
I’d never been in the habit of physically exerting my authority over any member of my pack, but especially those who were most likely to take offense to it.
Yes, usually the men.
My presence as alpha was meant to provide comfort and support to those I cared for. When that wasn’t how I was sure it’d be taken, I refrained from leaning in.
The last thing I wanted was for any member of the Crescent pack to shrink themselves to assuage my ego.
But there Kent was, shrinking.
It was all I could do to bite back a sigh.
“Challenge me.”
He startled, blinking fast. “What?”
“If you think you can lead this pack better than I can,” I said, dropping my heavy arm by my side, “challenge me. Prove it. Let’s work this out.”
Dakota made a sharp sound that said the very last thing he wanted was for Kent to have a chance to work this out, but I couldn’t be the kind of alpha who didn’t give my people the opportunity to change things.
Maybe Kent was the only one who felt this way—I hoped Kent was the only one who felt this way—but he deserved the chance to work through it.
Kent scoffed. “What the fuck are you talking about? I’m not fighting you.”
His voice had gone high pitched. The scent of his panic spread through the room.
Dakota was right.
“Kent . . . ” I didn’t know what else to say. His name felt heavy.
But I couldn’t make him fight me. I wouldn’t force this.
So what next? I brought the law down against one of my oldest friends? I let the pack decide what to do with him?
I was supposed to do that, but I couldn’t stomach it. I couldn’t be the one to send him away.
So we were stuck, me staring at him and Kent sweating and looking around for an ally.
He found none. It should’ve heartened me, but nothing could make this moment feel like anything but a sick betrayal.
A minute passed like that without anyone stepping in to change anything. It was going to be down to me to decide what to do next, and my head was buzzing. I didn’t have a single clear thought.
Shit, my palms were sweaty.
Then, my sister spoke up.
“I challenge you.” Jillian stepped in and shoved Kent back by his shoulder, moving him away from me.
Kent reared back, staggering further away from Dakota and the couch and me. “What the hell are you talking about? You can’t challenge me.”
The smile Jill sent him was sharp, flashing too many teeth.
“The fuck I can’t. Law says that if two wolves are in conflict and can’t both stay in the pack without it coming to violence, one can challenge the other for the right to stay.
I promise you, while I’m part of this pack, there’s no space for you in it. ”
Jillian stepped into his space. Her tongue flashed across her teeth in a way that sent a shiver down my spine.
Kent gulped.
“Now,” she went on, “if you want to challenge my brother, that’d take precedence to my challenge. But then you’d have to fight him, and I’ve got a sneaking suspicion you don’t want to do that, do you, Medson?”
I could see the whites all around Kent’s pupils.
“You’re crazy.”
Jill laughed. Right then, she just might be. “Me or him, big guy. Your choice.”
Kent hissed. “I don’t want to fight a woman.”
“You don’t want to lose to a woman, more like.”
And he would.
Kent didn’t have half the spine my sister did, or he wouldn’t have been moving in the shadows, resorting to poison rather than challenging me outright.
Proving himself a coward, Kent threw his hands up and stepped back from my sister. “You know what? Fine. You idiots want me gone so bad, I’m gone. Good fucking luck in the challenge, Jax. I hope it goes so great.”
He marched toward the door, but he had a little bounce in his step that made it look more like he was fleeing than he was making a reasoned retreat.
The door slammed behind him, and all the air went out of me—not just my breath, but whatever it was that’d kept me standing. It was all gone. I sank heavily onto the couch and stared at my sister’s hip, her fist clenching beside it.
Kent hadn’t admitted to anything, but it was clear enough what had happened. He’d poisoned me. He’d wanted to take me out of Grant’s challenge.
But why?
It didn’t make sense. Getting me out of the way wouldn’t clear a path for Kent to take over the pack. If Grant won, it’d be him.
If Grant lost, there were plenty of people who’d take over before Kent: Jill, Seth, Dakota, even Maia—though she was the youngest of the wolves who’d come with us from Idaho.
It’d been a hell of a thing, getting her started at a public high school when Jill and I were only eighteen ourselves.
But Kent didn’t have the kind of leadership ability that anybody would turn to him first. Or second. Or tenth.
I knew for a fact he got on Jillian’s nerves well before this incident. There was just no way.
So why the fuck would he risk it? What could Grant possibly offer him that was worth risking his life with us here?
What hadn’t I given him that he wanted so badly?
While I was staring into nothing, trying to make sense of it, the oven went off. The timer was shrill and louder in my head than I thought it was in reality.
It was blaring against my nerves. I needed to get up and grab the tray. I’d been making dinner.
Dinner was—
Dinner was good to eat. We needed to eat.
All I had to do was get up, and we’d eat dinner.
The pack and me and . . . and not Kent.
Kent was gone, because he’d betrayed us.
Before I could force myself to stand, Maia bounced into action.
“I’ll get it!” Her voice was so bright it sounded unnatural.
Whatever tension I’d summoned up to force myself to stand, disappeared. Dazed, I sat there with empty hands.
While we listened to Maia bustle around in the kitchen, turning off the beeping oven and shifting around plates and utensils, the living room remained quiet.
Jill had paced to the window to watch Kent leave.
At the corner of the couch, Cash shrank back even further.
Dakota was exchanging quiet words with Seth, and if I’d paid attention, I probably could’ve figured out what they were saying, but it all sounded like buzzing to me.
“Dinner’s ready,” Maia announced as she came back in. “Serve yourselves if you want any. There’s loads and it smells so good.”
I felt the warmth of her smile when she turned my way, but I couldn’t meet her eye.
Who cared if I made a decent macaroni and cheese if I was this much of a fuckup?
“This is for you,” Maia whispered, holding out the bowl she’d brought in. I’d presumed it was for her, but when she offered it to me, something in my chest squeezed and ached fiercely. “Jax, I’m so—”
I shook my head, but after a deep breath, I was able to meet her eye.
I couldn’t hear it, not right then. Couldn’t have her feeling as sorry for me as I felt for myself.
I needed to keep my shit together, for the pack if for nothing else. They couldn’t see me crumble.
“Thank you, Maia.” If my voice was strained from the force of holding back my hurt, neither one of us acknowledged it.
I took the bowl from her and forced myself to take a bite, even though macaroni and cheese had just become the most unappetizing thing on the planet, just to show that I was fine. As I chewed, I smiled up at her.
Maia smiled back, though her eyes had gotten glassy and strange.
I was fine.
We were going to be fine.