Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 95748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 479(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 479(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
In the corner sat the single armchair that had belonged to his mother, its dark leather soft from age. It was the only thing of hers he’d ever known since she’d passed when he was a baby.
Jackson glanced at Emily, her face pale in the firelight. “Would you like something grander?” he asked.
Her gaze shifted toward him, distant as if she’d forgotten he was there. After a moment, she blinked. “Grander than this place?”
While he loved the home, he’d give her whatever she wanted. “We could build something else.”
“No,” she murmured, her voice soft. “I like your home.”
“Our home,” he corrected, crossing over to sit next to her. Her unique scent, all female and wild berries, calmed him. Completely. “I’m sorry about your pack.”
She swallowed and looked at him, composed as usual. He could feel her unshed tears since they’d mated, but he doubted Emily Nightsom cried very often. “I’ve been thinking,” she murmured. “There has to be a way to combine the packs under you.”
He’d tried to reason out the possibilities as he flew them home through the light storm. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the one from the day before, but it was enough to force him to focus. “We don’t have the numbers to defend more territory yet,” he admitted. “One-fourth of my soldiers were poisoned by the Ravencall pack five years ago.”
She sat back, her eyes widening. “What the hell? You never said a word.”
“Of course, I didn’t.” His voice remained smooth. He didn’t blame her for being irritated. “The second your father discovered the Copper Pack was vulnerable, he attacked. It was only because Erik Volk took over that they survived.”
Her head dropped. “Yeah, you’re right. I know. So, wait,” she said, her brow furrowing. “You’re down members. Is that why you work the mine?”
“It’s one of the reasons,” he replied. “I actually like getting my hands dirty. But yeah, we’re waiting for the next generation to come back. We’ll be better off once they return from college and other training programs. Until then, we make do with who we have, and we keep building.” His fingers brushed hers, grounding them in the moment. “We’ll figure this out, Em. Together.”
“That’s why you’re also bringing in new packs and new wolves,” she murmured, the firelight casting shadows across her face.
“Affirmative,” he said. “I’m glad I am, especially after learning the cause of your illness. All the packs need new blood.”
Damn, she was pretty. Tall and classy with that unreal hair. He’d thought of it before as spun gold, but that wasn’t right. The strands were like moonlight on frost, cold and luminous. Shit. He’d only been mated a day, and he was already waxing poetic. He wasn’t a guy who believed in love, not really, but he believed in family. In this connection between them.
Sorrow darkened her eyes. “It sounds like Victor is going to stop any programs to bring newcomers into the Slate Pack. We need new people. All the other packs are bringing in outsiders.”
Jackson wasn’t entirely sure about the Silver Pack, since Seth Volk was one stubborn bastard, but with his brother succeeding in the Copper Pack, maybe Seth would come around. Jackson didn’t give a shit about that right now. What mattered was Emily’s pack.
“I can’t reason with Victor,” Jackson said. “I could reason with your father and find an agreement, but Victor will challenge him. Your father won’t win. We could go to war, but we’d both lose too many soldiers. Neither pack can afford that. It would leave us vulnerable.”
Emily dropped her gaze to her hands. “I’ve been trying to think of a way to combine the other three packs to take him out, but the territories are too spread out.”
Jackson had already done the math. “If my pack was twice its size, or better yet, three or four times larger, we could combine our territory outside the other two packs with the Embervault Mine dead center.”
“It would be perfect,” she breathed.
Jackson shook his head. “We don’t have the numbers, Em. I’m willing to consider it, will even go to war, but you have to understand how many wolves would die.”
Her shoulders slumped. “That’s not what I want.”
He had to fix this for her now and not in thirty years. “We’ll figure it out.”
She swallowed hard. “Are you hungry?”
“No.” His eyes darkened. “Not for food, at least.”
Before she could respond, he pulled her onto his lap, his hands threading into her hair as he kissed her. Her heart stuttered against his chest.
“Tell me you’re feeling better,” he whispered against her lips.
“I’m feeling better.”
His brow lifted slightly. “Are you lying?”
“Yes,” she admitted, laughing softly. “I’ll call the doctor tomorrow and see if there’s any way to—”
He silenced her with another kiss, slow and consuming as if he could chase the sickness from her body through sheer will. Finally, he slowed down, knowing she needed rest. “I want you to call the doctor first thing tomorrow.”