Page 38 of The Night Calling

He had rejected me when it snapped.

Despite the intense attraction I felt toward him, I wouldn’t give in. If he'd had a choice in this, I knew he wouldn’t have chosen me. I wouldn’t force him to be with me. Besides, he had always been a jerk to me, to everyone in the pack. I didn’t want him as a mate either.

I took another step back. “It’ll be hard to resist it, but don’t worry. We can do it.”

“What?”

“Enough about mating bonds,” I said before I broke down in front of him. “You said you came back to help and that you went out to find help. So, how did that go?”

Shane tilted his head, his eyes narrowed. He stared at me for a while, and I felt like squirming. Thankfully, he spoke before I snapped at him again. “In the last six months, I’ve made some friends and I know they will come when I send word. And yesterday, I talked to Delco and he said he’ll help. I need to tell him when, and he’ll send wolves to us.”

That was the alpha of the Ironfang pack. “So when do we attack?”

“That’s the problem I’m encountering. I can cross the barrier, probably because this is still my pack, but I’m not the alpha. I can’t order the barrier to let the others pass. We can’t attack with our army outside the pack lands.”

Damn, I hadn’t thought about that. “There has to be a way around that. You were the alpha heir. Didn’t your father explain to you how the barrier works?”

He nodded. “My father said that once I was alpha, the barrier would do exactly what I wanted, no effort on my part. All I had to do was think about it and it would happen.”

Just like magic. In school, we had also learned about the barrier—it had been created hundreds of years ago, by the first alpha and a coven of witches. The witches owed him a gift, so they created this paradise and put a magical barrier around it, and only the alpha had control over it.

However, that control was supposed to be a secret.

“So … if you kill Conri, you become the alpha and can get the barrier down.”

“True, but if I kill Conri, his demons will attack. I can’t fight them all, and protect everyone by myself. By the time my friends and our allies are here, we’ll all be dead.”

“Damn it.”

Shane nodded. “We need to come up with another plan.”

I frowned, remembering something. “Speaking of plan, I think Conri has one too.”

“What do you mean?”

“A couple of days ago, I heard him questioning some of his demons, asking if they have found it yet. I have no idea what it is, but that wasn’t the first time I heard them talking about it. It seems Conri is searching for something in the pack lands.” Shane’s jaw popped and his eyes darkened. “Do you know anything about this?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, his voice low.

“If I could find out about it. Maybe I can eavesdrop on him again, or maybe I can change tactics. Instead of always pushing him away and yelling at him, I should pretend to turn to his side and—“

“No.” Shane loomed over me again, his nostrils flared and his eyes lethal. “Do not get close to him.”

I crossed my arms. “Is that a future-alpha order?”

“Raika, I’m serious.” He wrapped a hand around my lower arm and held tight. “We know what he's capable of. Look at everyone he killed in our pack. If you pretend to be on his side and he finds out, he’ll kill you.”

And then he would kill Minsi and probably Rue too. Damn, Shane was right.

“Promise me you won’t do anything stupid.” He tugged at my arm. “Promise me.”

The desperation in his gaze hit me hard, but I forced myself to remember he was probably as affected by the bond as I was. He didn’t want it, but he couldn’t control the pull toward me. Besides, I was the one taking care of his sister right now. He wouldn’t want anything happening to me until she was safe.

“I promise,” I whispered.

He stared into my eyes and held my arm for longer than necessary, the air tense between us.

After several minutes, he dropped my arm.