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“We didn’t even talk about what happened to you.”
“What is there to say? You were right, it didn’t bother me; at least, it hasn’t yet. Nothing surprises me anymore. After what my mother told me, I just can’t bring myself to give a f**k about most things.”
“But it’s you who wanted to talk about this,” he sounded a little confused by her sudden change of heart, “aren’t you mad at me for what I did? Don’t you have anything to ask me about where we are going or the people we have to talk to?”
“I just think we should get wherever we’re going sooner rather than later. I’m sure we can talk about it on the way.”
“You’re probably right.”
Sawyer hesitated before getting up. He wasn’t looking forward to getting back into the car, and he had rather hoped she would want to stay overnight when he finally relented and got the room for them.
“What’s keeping you, then?”
“We still have another three hours or so to go when we leave here. I think you should get back over here so I can make sure you are absolutely satisfied before we leave.”
“That is very generous of you, and I am sure your motivations are entirely selfless and not at all because you are avoiding getting back in the car. But the longer we wait, the worse it is going to be.”
“It is hard to believe the woman I had to carry downstairs yesterday is turning me down today.”
“Yesterday was yesterday; today is today.”
“Very philosophical of you. Come on then, let’s go.”
He rested his hand on her lower back as they waited for the receptionist to get to them so they could check out. He was trying to persuade her to stay a little longer without actually asking it, but she managed to resist temptation.
“Alright,” he started the car and immediately opened blasted the AC even though it was still absolutely freezing outside, “I know there are things you want to ask me that I don’t want to talk about. Let’s just get it all out of the way now.”
“Where are we going? What’s it like? Is it just another city? Is everyone there a wolf? How many people are in your old pack? How long will we be there? What do we tell them about Tobias? Are we supposed to keep lying to them about Selene? How do we explain what happened to Gabrielle? What if she had told some of her friends? Does this mean you are their Alpha now?”
“Wow… not even out of the parking lot yet, you are coming hot out of the gate with those questions.”
“You told me to get it all out of the way.”
“I suppose I did. The actual place… it’s an hour or so from the nearest city. It was originally a large mansion built in the 1920s when one of my ancestor’s moved our pack. There are other buildings around it which aren’t quite as old; those were built at a later date when there were too many of us to love in the main house. The newest buildings were built when my father took over and decided he wanted the house to be off limits to most of the pack. They are all wolves, and there are probably about sixty of them – I don’t know if anyone has moved away or joined them in the past four years, I didn’t want to talk to my sister about them. There are other pack members who live a little further away, too. I think there’s about a hundred of them in total. I don’t know how long we’re going to be there, but I don’t want to stay any longer than we have to – Constance is going to have to stay at our house until we get back to care for Lily, which she will definitely do without complaining because I made sure she knew she would be paid well for doing so.”
“What about the other stuff? What are we actually going to tell them?”
“The truth. Do you have any other questions?”
“You didn’t answer one of the ones I already asked. Does this mean you’re their Alpha now?”
He obviously regretted the fact he hadn’t avoided the question.
“Honestly, Elizabeth… I don’t know. In theory, yes. But it isn’t that simple. I don’t want anything to do with them, but when Francesca killed Tobias it created a power vacuum that they will naturally gravitate to me to fill, but there will likely be others who want that role.”
“Tell them they can have it, then.”
He laughed, “you’re charmingly naïve sometimes. It doesn’t work that way. I can’t just tell someone they’re Alpha and every other member of the pack just agree with it.”
“That’s what Tobias did. He told them you were going to take over from him, and they accepted it.”
“That is because I am an Alpha. It’s in my blood. I can’t run away from it, no matter how hard I try.”
“What if there isn’t another person who is suitable?”
“They will end up fracturing into smaller groups. Some of them will move to live with other packs – which would be easy enough to arrange for most of them given where they are coming from. There may be one or two who try to act as Alpha and they will either prove their worth and gain more members again, or fail and those who chose to follow them will die or move away.”
“This is all really complicated.”
“I did offer to stay overnight at that hotel to talk about this with you, it’s not me that insisted we should get back on the road. If I had it my way, you would be riding me hard for like the fifth time tonight right now, not stuck in a car with my dead father.”
“Sawyer?”
“You sound serious again. What is it?”
“Can you tell me about some of these people, so I know what to expect? I know you can’t give me a detailed biography of every single one of them, but there must be some of them you think I should be prepared for? What about the woman who gave you that scar over your heart, should I be scared of her?”
“You… I don’t…”
She was surprised how flustered it had made him and pressed him further.
“You can tell me about her, or you can tell me exactly what made you decide that making me feel like absolute garbage on the off chance your plan would work seemed like a reasonable thing to do without warning me.”
“I did that to you because I had a feeling it would work.”
“Well, that was perfectly rational then.”
“I’m sorry I did that to you without explaining why. I know that it was wrong, and unfair, and cruel. I wasn’t thinking properly, and I won’t be smug about the fact it worked, or tell you to be grateful to me for unlocking that part of you, because I still feel like garbage about it. But I wasn’t thinking clearly. I had to kill Gabrielle, and my father was on the way and… Elizabeth, I am sorry. I truly am. Please forgive me.”
“I’m not mad about that, Sawyer. Honestly. But if you aren’t going to tell me about any of the people I am about to meet, you need to drop me off somewhere else. I need to know what I am up against.”
- Writer
