The Challenge (The Pack 2)

“You really need to explain this whole Pack bond secret keeping thing a little better,” I muttered as she swallowed hard.

“He hit on you.”

“He’s confused and upset,” I tried to say when Anna interrupted.

“And I’m tired of making up excuses for him.” She attempted to smile, her eyes glossy. “I just need to accept that he doesn’t feel that way toward me.”

“I don’t know if that’s true or not, Anna,” I said a little desperately.

“It doesn’t matter. I have more pride than that.” She stood up, her smile more a grimace.

“Please, Anna, wait,” I called after her as she went back through the window. “Stay, talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” she said with a shrug, jogging backwards toward the forest. I raised my hand to call out a warning but it was too late as she collided with Trent. He caught her as she stumbled and she shook him off angrily, dirt kicking up as she ran to the trees.

“Should I go after her?” He asked, pointing where Anna had disappeared. I shook my head tiredly. “She does seem to be in a hurry whenever she leaves here,” he said, trying to lighten the mood. I glared at him and he smiled. “Too soon?” He pulled a sucker out of his pocket and offered it to me. I declined and he pulled off the wrapper and popped it into his mouth. “I don’t guess you’re going to pay a visit to Sam this evening?”

I raised my eyebrow. “Wasn’t planning on it?”

“Perhaps you should.”

I sighed and hoisted myself up on the windowsill. Trent hurried over to help as I half tumbled out the window. “Damn,” I grunted. “Anna made that look way easier than it was.”

“Shifter strength,” Trent said knowingly as he helped me stand. “Easy to underestimate.”

“So why do I need to visit Sam?”

“Well,” Trent pulled the sucker out of his mouth with a mischievous grin. “I haven’t gotten a chance to do my daily checkup yet.”

“Oh, waiting for me? You know it’s not very manly to hide behind a girl.”

“I consider it a well-developed sense of self-preservation,” he countered loftily. “Plus, she might have gone a little overboard with your girl power speech yesterday.”

“Girl power? Speech? I just told her to quit hiding.”

“She’s organizing a march on the Pack.”

“What?” I punched his shoulder as I raced for the stairs. “Why didn’t you lead with that?” I yelled over my shoulder.

He jogged to keep up, not even out of breath after going up the stairs while I had to stop and gasp. “It’s not today.”

I glared at him as he shrugged carelessly. “I overheard a few of the woman talking.”

“You were eavesdropping?”

“No. I just happened to overhear while patrolling,” he corrected without an ounce of shame.

“Uh huh.” I waved my hand for him to proceed.

“It seems their independence is reasserting itself.” He frowned worriedly. “Their feeling seemed to be that if the Navarre pack refused to accept them then so would anyone else.”

I groaned. “It’s not about accepting them. They need to slowly acclimate into the Pack.” I paced in front of him. “Sam knows this. She told me this. Why would she organize a march?”

“To prove she’s no longer afraid?”

“God, you say one little thing and people go nuts.” I scratched my eyebrow and started down the hall, banging on doors as I went.

“Whoa, what are you up to?”

“Setting them straight.”

Trent dogged my heels as doors started opening and heads peeked out while I continued all the way up to Sam’s room. As soon as I saw her, I pointed. “No one is marching anywhere.”

“How did you?” She trailed off, glaring at Trent, who attempted to hide behind me. I elbowed him.

“You can tell Dom that when you saw her, she was fine,” I muttered to him.

“That sounds ominous.”

“You can go.”

The women had started to gather closer as Trent shifted restlessly behind me. “Now.”

“You’re definitely perfect for Dom,” he grumbled before jumping over the edge of the railing and dropping lightly to the parking lot below. “He’ll expect her in one piece, you know.”

I waved him off as I glared at Sam pointedly.

“We weren’t going to march right now,” she muttered defensively.

“You’re not going to march at all,” I told her, my gaze going over all the women there. “None of you. That’s not how this works.” I leaned against the railing as I stared at them. “They will accept you, but you have to give it time. You have to try first. Give a little.”

“We’ve given enough.” Someone cried and there were a few mutters of agreement. Sam looked torn but she didn’t disagree.

“To the Hanleys,” I answered honestly. “You’ve given everything to the Hanley’s but this Pack isn’t the Hanleys. They owe you nothing.” Stunned silence met my words as I straightened up. “I owe you nothing. But I offer you shelter because you are human and in need. Not all of you will stay here when this is over. Some have already left.” A few shifted, glancing at one another. “The rest of you have nowhere to go and you’re scared. Scared of the Hanleys and scared of the Navarre Pack. You don’t need to be. This is a new experience for all of us. But we will find a way to coexist. To mingle. To not be afraid.”