Rise

by Heather MacKinnon

   “Do you really think he’d do something?” I asked.

   Abraham’s deep blue eyes were wary. “I don’t know, El, but I have a bad feeling about it.” His hands slid up my legs to my hips where he pulled me closer. “I need to do whatever it takes to protect you.”

   I wrapped my hands around his. “You will protect me. You always do.”

   He let out a deep breath and his shoulders hunched. “I think I need to call in a few favors with some other packs. Get some alliances going, so if Conrad moves against us, we won’t be completely outnumbered.”

   “What about the packs that came to the solstice party?”

   He nodded. “That’s who I’ll start with, but I’ll have to get in touch with other packs, too. Who knows if Conrad is making alliances of his own, building his enforcers to even larger numbers? I need to have as many North Carolina packs on our side when something happens.”

   I swallowed. “You said when, not if.”

   His hands squeezed me as his eyes searched mine. “I told you, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” He was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. “Besides, I’d rather fortify our numbers here and have nothing happen than to be caught under-manned.”

   “That makes sense.” I chewed on my bottom lip. “How are you going to get other packs on our side?”

   He sighed and leaned back again, dragging his hands down my legs and making me lose track of our conversation.

   “I’m not sure yet. I’ll start with our friends first, though, and maybe talk to some of their friends. Go wherever I can get an introduction.”

   “Go?”

   He winced and looked away. “I think it would be best if I met with all these packs in person.”

   I swallowed again and willed my heart to stop clenching in my chest. “How long do you think you’ll have to be gone?”

   He met my eyes again. “It probably won’t be for long and it probably won’t be for a while. Let’s not worry about it.”

   I didn’t want Abraham to leave. We used to have to spend tons of time apart, but now I couldn’t imagine it. I’d been practically glued to his hip since I moved in with him and I didn’t know what I’d do with myself if he had to leave for a few days.

   I shook my head and slid off his desk. I’d worry about that problem when it arose. In the meantime, we had a pack barbecue to host and people were probably already arriving.

   “You’re right. Let’s not worry about it. Let’s just go down to the cookout and spend some time with our pack.”

   He stood up and wrapped his arms around my waist before pressing his lips against mine. He kissed me for a long time as I slowly lost my senses and drowned in him. When he pulled away, my vision was hazy, but I could see he was smiling at me.

   “I love you,” he said, his words so quiet and sincere my heart squeezed almost painfully.

   He’d said the words hundreds of times, but they never failed to rock me to my core. I had the love of one of the most amazing people I’d ever known. How many others got that lucky?

   I reached up to cup his perfect face. “I love you too.”

   His eyes got really soft as he smiled. He grabbed the hand from his face and kissed it before twining his fingers with mine. “Let’s go get some deviled eggs before Jimmy gets here.”

   I laughed and let him lead me down to the first floor. “I asked, and he’s definitely coming, so that’s a legitimate concern.”

   He stopped walking and pulled me up next to him. “You talked to Jimmy? When? Where?”

   When I’d told Abraham about my interaction with Jimmy when I’d given him his fine, I’d purposely kept the details sparse. I knew the more Abraham knew, the more he’d want to go down there and wring Jimmy’s neck. I also knew I needed to handle the situation on my own and not let Abraham butt in.

   But I didn’t like being dishonest, so I’d given Abraham a general summary of what happened and left it at that. He didn’t need to know the specific names Jimmy called me. All he needed to know was that he wasn’t happy, and he was a jerk about it. Something that seemed to be pretty common with the men in this pack lately.

   “This afternoon. He came in to pay his fine.”

   His eyes widened. “He came to pay his fine already?”

   I shrugged. “Yeah. He dropped off a check that I gave to Evey.”

   He reached up to scratch his stubbled chin. “Well, shit. I never expected him to come around so easily.” He turned to look at me, the corners of his lips twitching with a smile. “I knew it would only be a matter of time before you had this whole pack eating out of the palm of your hand.”

   I scoffed. “They’re hardly eating out of my hand, Abraham. In fact, one tried to fight me yesterday.”

   His whole face fell, anger twisting his features. “I remember.”

   Damn. There I went with my big mouth again.

   “But, yeah, Jimmy came by to pay his fine and apologize to me. He said he talked to Fran too and said sorry to her as well. He also asked about hiring someone to clean his yard for him.”

   Abraham nodded slowly. “His property is a goddamn wreck.”

   “Well, that was something else I said to him while I was down there. I told him he had a month to clean his yard or there’d be more fines.”

   His eyes widened again. “You did?”

   I shrugged. “Was that wrong?”

   He laughed and pulled me into his arms. “No, it’s not wrong. I’m just surprised. It seems like you’re always one step ahead of me,” he murmured in my ear.

   I shivered in his hold. “That’s because your mate is a smart, capable woman.”

   He nodded against my face, his stubbled jaw tickling my sensitive skin. “Hmm. Smart, and capable, and strong, and so fuckin’ sexy I can’t think straight.”

   I laughed, but it was breathy and needy. Abraham had this way of turning the mundane into something extraordinary. We were just talking about fining pack members, and now I was in his arms, ready for him to pull me into an unused room and make us even later for the barbecue.

   The barbecue.

   Right.

   I gave him a swift kiss and then reluctantly pulled myself from his arms. He gave some resistance, but eventually caved, and I took a few steps back to separate us further.

   “We have a pack dinner to get to,” I said, still a little out of breath.

   His eyes were heated with promises of what I had to look forward to later. I shivered again.

   “That’s the only reason you’re still dressed,” he said, his voice deep and rumbling across the space between us.

   Clearly, a few feet wasn’t enough of a separation because I was about to launch myself back into his arms.

   I cleared my throat and shook my head. “Let’s go, McCoy. Save your bedroom eyes for the bedroom.”

   I turned away from him to head toward the back of the lodge while he laughed loudly behind me. He caught up as I made it to the kitchen.

   As expected, it was in chaos, but also seemed to be under control. I checked in with Ms. Elsie to see if she needed anything before heading out back.

   To my surprise, it looked like almost every pack member was already there. There hadn’t been this many people at any of these cookouts since my first one. And that one was only popular because rumor spread that I’d survived an attack by the serial killer that had been haunting their woods for months.

   I turned to Abraham who slung his arm over my shoulders. “It looks like everyone’s here.”

   He grunted. “They better be.”

   I turned in his arms. “What do you mean?” He looked away from me to study the lake in the distance and my stomach turned. “What did you do?”

   He sighed and pulled me closer. “I just called a mandatory meeting before the pack barbecue.”

   I glared up at him. “And what kind of mandatory meeting a
re we having and why wasn’t I told about it before now?”

   He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “El, something has to be said. I know you want to handle this all on your own, but what happened with Tom was unacceptable.” I opened my mouth to argue, but he continued, “And before you try to fight me on this, know that if he’d attacked any other member of this pack, I’d be doing the same thing.”

   I raised the most incredulous brow I could, and he had the decency to look away again.

   “Okay, so maybe I wouldn’t have called a mandatory meeting about just any pack member, but I would have addressed it.”

  I sighed and turned away. Clearly, I wouldn’t get through to him and he’d have this meeting no matter what I said. I just hoped he’d be able to rein it in enough to not completely discredit me.

   I felt like I’d been doing a pretty good job of finding a solid foothold in the pack. If Abraham came along and negated all that, I was going to be really irritated.

   The kitchen staff began bringing out tray after tray of food as Abraham grasped my arm.

   “I promise I won’t do anything to jeopardize the respect you’ve gained with this pack so far. But, El, you can’t expect me to not address this. It would make me look weak if I didn’t.”

   I did my best to see it from his perspective, and unfortunately, he had a point. If he just let this slide, it would make him look bad. Like he didn’t care that I’d been attacked by another pack member.

   So, I’d go along with this pack meeting and let Abraham say what he needed to say, but when he was done, it’d be my turn.

  Chapter 23

   “Can I have everyone’s attention?”

   I tried to slink away from Abraham’s side, but he held on tight. The last of the kitchen staff had just made their way outside and, apparently, it was time to start the pack meeting.

   We were still on the raised back patio with the entire pack on the grass below us.

   “It seems like we’ve had a miscommunication between us somewhere, and I want to rectify that today.” He paused while he looked at every wolf and tightened his arm around me.

  “Elizabeth is my mate. It doesn’t matter that we haven’t had an official ceremony yet. She is my mate, and that means she is your alpha. I’ve heard of far too many instances of her being disrespected and defied and that all stops here. She has as much authority in this pack as I do, and what she says goes. If you can’t respect her, you can’t stay here. The same goes for me. You respect me, or you get out of my pack. That’s the way it is because that’s the way it’s always been.”

   His words rang through the clearing and I watched the different pack members take in his proclamation. It seemed like most of them agreed, but there were a few that didn’t look happy at all.

   “As for yesterday,” he continued, and I turned to look at him again. “Violence against your alpha is an excommunicable offense. However, violence against my mate is a death sentence.”

   If I’d thought the clearing was quiet before, it was nothing compared to now.

   “Elizabeth has my full protection and I will not hesitate to defend her in any way. You’ve all been warned.”

   No one spoke, no one moved. I wasn’t even sure if they were still breathing. Everyone looked shocked silent and still as his words settled around us.

   I looked up at Abraham and saw him staring down his pack as if daring them to make a move against me right now so he could prove he meant business.

   I needed to speak up.

   Stepping out of Abraham’s hold, I cleared my throat. “I’d like to say something too.”

   “El?” Abraham whispered, but I ignored him.

   I took a step closer to the railing and wrapped my fingers around the wood. “I know change is difficult.” I chuckled softly. “I’ve had more of it in the past few months than I’ve had my entire life. Turns out, I’m a pretty stubborn person, and so I fought against all those changes.”

   Abraham chuckled behind me, but I ignored him again.

   “The things I fought against the hardest wound up being the greatest changes of all.” My eyes drifted to Abraham, and I gave him a soft smile. “But I’m not a change you need to fight against. I know I’m new here, but I’m learning. Every day, I’m trying my hardest to be the very best alpha I can be for you. If you give me a chance, I promise you won’t regret it.”

   I looked around the clearing again, trying to decide if there were more happy faces than angry. Realizing it didn’t matter, I pressed on, “All that I ask is for some time for me to become an alpha worthy of a great pack like this.”

   I finished my speech and did my best to meet the eye of every pack member standing there. Their facial expressions varied so much from person to person, I couldn’t get a good feel for how my words were being received. That was until Jimmy started clapping.

   It started out slow and as just one person, but it grew and swelled, and soon it sounded like a hundred people were applauding.

   My smile stretched my cheeks while my heart thumped extra fast. Abraham slid an arm around my waist and kissed the side of my head. “You’re a great alpha already.”

   His words settled deep within me. I turned to say something, I’m not even sure what, but when I saw the loving look on his face, I had to kiss him. Not caring that the whole pack was watching, I grabbed Abraham’s face and pressed my lips against his.

   Soon the clapping was rhythmic, and the catcalls were too loud to ignore. I finally pulled away from him and stared into his eyes.

   His lips curled into a smile. “What was that for?”

   I shrugged. “For loving me.”

   He pulled me close again. “I really do. So much.”

   He held me while the noise died down and the pack members dispersed. To my surprise, almost everyone stayed past the end of the meeting.

   I finally pulled out of Abraham’s arms only to entwine my fingers with his. “Let’s get some food while we still can.”

   When we’d filled our plates, we wandered down to the picnic tables and found an empty one. I knew it wouldn’t be long until his sisters found us and took the remaining seats.

   “Oh my God, Ellie, I loved your speech!” Evey’s voice preceded her. When she finally made it to the table, she plopped her plate next to mine and slid onto the bench. “I mean really, you sounded amazing. So alpha-like.”

   I rolled my eyes. “It’s not a big deal, Evey.”

   Callie, Del, and Beatrice filed in the other side of the table.

   “Actually, I think it was a really big deal,” Callie spoke up.

   I always thought of her as the least dramatic of the sisters. The one I could count on to not exaggerate or exacerbate a situation. So, if she thought it was a big deal, maybe it was.

   “What’s so special about my speech?” I asked as I popped a deviled egg in my mouth.

   “Ellie, you were a total boss up there. Hell, I was about to drop to a knee,” Bea said before stuffing half a dinner roll in her mouth.

   I rolled my eyes again. “You were not.”

   She nodded, her icy blue eyes wide. “Honestly, I can’t imagine that speech not affecting the whole pack. You did good.”

   I tried not to let it show, but Beatrice’s compliment meant a lot to me. It was a bumpy road that led us to this place in our friendship. There’d been times I never thought we’d get there. And never in a million years did I imagine Beatrice giving me compliments or defending me to others like she’d done with Aubrey today. Things had really changed between us and I loved it.

   “You really did good, baby. Trust us,” Abraham said softly in my ear.

   Maybe they were right. Maybe I actually had done a good job. Honestly, it was the most half-assed speech I’d ever given. Usually, I’d prepare for months for something like an opening or closing statement. Today, I’d only decided to speak once Abraham insisted on
addressing the issues I’d been having.

   That gave me no time to prepare, so I winged it. I dug deep and spoke from my heart. I didn’t want to lead the pack out of fear, I wanted it to be out of mutual respect. I just hoped that was attainable.

   I’d just eaten the last possible bite of food I could hold when Sophie walked up to our table.

   “Hey, Ellie. You got a minute?”

   I barely suppressed a groan. It wasn’t her fault I’d stuffed myself too full on Ms. Elsie’s pecan pie and could barely move.

   Instead, I gave her a grim smile and heaved myself off the bench. I heard Abraham snickering from beside me and jabbed an elbow into his ribs. Honestly, my elbow lost that fight hands down.

   I followed Sophie away from the crowd until we had a bit of privacy. “Is everything all right?” I asked.

   She had a look on her face I couldn’t place, and it was starting to bother me.

   She sighed and shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans. “Well, yes and no.”

   “Tell me what’s going on.”

   Her shoulders fell with a deep exhale. “Well, we’re all glad Tom and Daisy are gone, but we’re having trouble replacing them.”

   My stomach fell as the problem swam to the surface.

   I was an idiot.

   I fired the farm manager and didn’t bother to replace him. I’d gotten so caught up with my fight with Tom and my subsequent fight with Abraham that it completely slipped my mind.

   I took a deep breath. “Okay, so you need a new employee, but Daisy wasn’t doing much to begin with, so it’s probably not that different from before, right?”

   She nodded. “Yeah, we’re getting by without her. It’s really Tom’s job that we’re having trouble with. The team needs direction or we’re pretty useless.”

   I wracked my brain for a solution to this problem. I needed a farm worker, and I needed a farm manager. Part of me wanted to run back and ask Abraham for his opinion, but I knew I needed to work this out for myself.

   And then it came to me.

   “What about you?”

   Sophie raised a dark brow. “What about me?”