Chapter 1 #3
She nodded, stunned at his trust, despite the witch blood running in her veins. Between her and Parker, they were the poster children for weird family trees within the Pack. But she would not betray her family’s trust and dishonor them by saying no.
She wasn’t sure she could say no.
“Quinn, one of my lieutenants, will round out the council,” Gideon said.
A lieutenant. That made sense. While the Redwoods had enforcers, lowercase e, to protect the Alpha, the Talons had lieutenants. They were strong wolves, loyal to the core, and would put their body in front of a claw or bullet to protect their Alpha.
Gina swallowed hard and looked at Quinn.
He didn’t react. Instead, he stood there, his gaze on her intense, and for some reason, she felt anger…
or something akin to it rolling over him.
She didn’t know what she’d done to cause that kind of reaction, but she didn’t like it.
The two of them would now have to stand side by side in order to find a way for the Packs to work together more than they already were.
They had to prove that the Packs could have faith in one another.
Her lusting after him and him looking like he wanted to growl at her for something or another wouldn’t help anyone.
“So that’s six people, three from each Pack,” Kade said finally. “We don’t know what’s coming, only that we need to stand united.”
“We can’t move on unless we know that we can help every person within our Packs, even those who feel they don’t have a voice,” Gideon said softly.
“Our jobs as Betas mean we look for those,” Jasper said, his eyes on Mitchell, who nodded.
“But that doesn’t mean we can help everyone,” Mitchell added.
“If we have an outlet for people who want the Packs to work together, then we’re one step closer,” Gina said, her wolf growling in approval.
Quinn narrowed his eyes. “Talking won’t do much, but action will, even if that action is showing that we’re in agreement after all these years.”
“The Packs fought together in the war that almost killed us,” Kade put in. “Now we need to show that, in times of peace, that collaboration is still needed.”
“Agreed,” Gideon said.
With that, they finalized their plans to tell the other new members of the council, and Gina stood up, her wolf needing to run.
There was too much energy in the room, too many dominant males.
She was a dominant wolf in her own right, but in this room, she knew she was most likely the lowest rank.
That didn’t mean she was weak. That just showed how much freaking power was actually in the room to begin with.
“Gina? You and Quinn go for a walk along the neutral perimeter,” Kade ordered. “Get to know one another since the two of you are the leaders of this experiment.”
Gina stood, forcing her knees not to shake. If her father knew about the very dirty, sweaty images rolling through her brain right then, he probably wouldn’t have ordered her to undertake such a task.
“Come with me,” Quinn said then stalked out of the room.
She raised a brow at Jasper. “Bossy much?”
Her uncle snorted then shook his head. “He’s not a submissive wolf, that’s for sure.” He grinned. “Well, even submissives have a strong drive.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re thinking of your mate, and now I’m going to tell Willow you called her submissive.”
Her uncle narrowed his eyes. “Do that, and I’ll tell Finn you’re the one who stole his favorite shirt.”
She held up her hands in surrender. “I won’t mention it then.” She grinned, knowing Jasper was only teasing. “I’d best be off to find Quinn since he’s probably brooding or something outside.”
“Watch yourself with that one, Gina,” Gideon said, and she froze, surprised the Alpha would say anything like that.
“Excuse me?” she asked.
Gideon sighed. “He’s a strong wolf. A good wolf. But he’s not the same wolf he once was. It’s not my story to tell, but don’t antagonize him.”
Kade growled, and she did the same.
“Don’t threaten my daughter.”
“Alpha, he didn’t threaten me,” she said, her voice cool. “He only warned a council wolf about a wolf she will be working with in the future. That’s how I’m taking it.” If she didn’t, there might just be bloodshed, and that was not a good idea in this small room with no real escape.
Kade tore his gaze from Gideon’s and met hers before giving her a nod.
Their family relationship was a slippery slope.
She was the oldest of her generation, and therefore, the first to blend into the roles that suited them as adults, rather than children.
It wasn’t easy finding a balance. Finn might be eighteen and older than his years, but he wasn’t allowed to be a part of many of the Pack decisions.
That would be changing soon. Finn was, after all, the Heir to the Redwood Pack. His time would come.
With one last glance at the others, she left the room and looked for Quinn.
She didn’t have to go far since he was right outside the main door.
He probably had heard everything, but his face didn’t show it.
Maybe he didn’t care that his Alpha felt the need to warn her about him, but she didn’t want to think of that too much. She had enough to worry about.
“Ready?” she asked, trying to keep her wolf at bay. For some reason, her wolf did not want to stay calm. Instead, the damn thing wanted to rub up against the man in front of her.
This was going to make for an interesting council.
Quinn nodded then started off toward the border.
Apparently, he wasn’t much of a talker.
Well, too bad because she was.
“So, what do we need to discuss?”
Quinn shrugged. “Anything we need to discuss can happen at the meetings. We can have the first one tomorrow at the place the Alphas choose. I’ll send you the information when I receive it.”
Gina stopped in her tracks. This domineering side of him wasn’t sexy. Well, not when he treated her like his secretary or something. Domineering in other places…
No.
Focus.
She held up her hand. “Whoa. Wait. The whole point of this council is to show cooperation and the good that came from the treaty. If you’re going to act all growly and rude, that’s not going to help.”
Quinn glared. “You are a young wolf, and this is your first real assignment I suspect. You’ll learn that not all things need to be done with roses and smiles.”
Of all the arrogant things... Okay, so this wolf had already pissed her off and they hadn’t even had the freaking meeting yet.
“You can’t be that much older than me,” she spat.
“Your wolf doesn’t feel as old as the others, so watch it.
I’m not a submissive wolf who needs protection or to be told what to do.
I’m a dominant. I’m the one who does the protecting.
So if you have this false sense of who I am, then you should back up. ”
Quinn didn’t say anything.
“Fine then. We’ll meet at the place the Alphas tell us. Us. Get it? I won’t need you to tell me anything. Now since this isn’t doing anything but making me want to claw your face off, I’m going back. Thanks for the meeting, Quinn.”
She stomped away, pissed that she’d let herself be baited.
The wolf clearly didn’t trust her for some reason, and that was the inherent problem in the Packs to begin with.
She’d have to nip that in the bud and fix it.
She would not let her Pack get hurt because one dumbass male didn’t understand his place in the world.
It was a shame that he was such an asshole though. Her wolf liked his wolf.
A lot.
Thankfully, she listened to her brain, not her libido or her wolf when it came to her decisions because there was one thing for sure—she would not be spending much time with Quinn.
No matter the whimpers her wolf made…or Quinn’s sexy bedroom eyes.
She was stronger than that.
Mostly.