The Pack Girl's Retribution (Sequel to The Pack's Girl)

The Last Argument

"Vanquish..." I said worriedly.

"No, Vanna Rae. If that's who he is, we may have a very real problem."

"I don't think he'd have done that."

"He did."

"But there had to be a reason..." I reached for Vanquish but he shrugged from my grip.

"What reason could there be to turn on the people that once served you?"

Vanquish's deep wolf loyalty demanded outrage in this instance.

I understood but I still felt the yearning to fix this. To make him meet my brother on fair terms. This is not how I wanted it to go.

"Stop walking away from me!" I cried out. Finally catching his arm. "Please!"

"Just...can we...will you just-"

"Just what?" He cut off my muttering.

"Just meet him. See for yourself who he is."

"And if I don't like him? Don't trust him?"

My hand fell away, and I was sure that the hurt was plain to see in my blue eyes. I swallowed hard. "Then we decide from there."

"Decide what?" He said viciously. Eyes narrowing. "Who you'll be loyal too now?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" I demanded. Feeling like he'd just slapped me.

"Let's face facts, Vanna. You ally with whomever best suits your needs at the time."

"Is that what you think?"

"Isn't it true?"

It was true.

But hearing it put like that, made me sick to my stomach.

It made me sound like the worst manner of creature.

"Listen, I've always known this about you. You're an exceptional survivor. I'm not saying I judge you for it. It'd just be nice to hear some kind of reassurance that you aren't going to drop us all like rocks in the river when your big brother gets here."

He's scared.

"Vanquish?" I softened my tone.

"Yeah?" He snapped harshly.

"You have to come up with a better way of telling me that you're scared of losing me. Because jumping straight down the center of me is not helping us become closer."

He reared back as though I'd slapped him.

Nice that I can have that effect on him too.

His jaw tightened and he was staring down that straight nose with those aqua green eyes. "It's different for you females."

"How do you think that?"

"With us males, we can feel to our core when we come across a potential mate. Our interest in them borders on obsession. Our need for them is almost breathtaking, our desire is bone deep and urgent. Our chosen mate will trigger every animal instinct within us. From aggression, to dominance, to an overwhelming sense of protectiveness. Until we've a mate, we feel almost none of those things. We walk around in a cold, boring haze. Then we find one. And she becomes our light, our warmth and the reason our heart keeps beating in our chests. I can't imagine letting something take all that away. I don't know how many ways I could tell you the same thing."

He drew a steadying breath. "You females...You walk around with no idea the effect you're having. I imagine there's some lust, some animal response, but I've never witnessed any that compare to what we go through...And the way things were before you...Just Racer, Hunter and me. Then it was the Asara Pack and always we were sort of on the outskirts of the pack. You became our center and the most important part of our family. We've grown into very different adults, and you're our lynchpin. I suspect that without you, we'd likely not get along at all."

I don't know about that. Sometimes I think I cause more damage than good.

They seem to always be fighting either over me or because of me.

If we're going to go raid the camps before nightfall we need to get moving. He caught my arm and guided me back in the direction of the others.

***

We were moving toward the next camp. Hunter, Vanquish, and Magus with me in the center in an effort to mask my scent. Mary trailing behind to watch our backs. Looking the fiercest I'd ever seen her. Her gaze fixed with rage. Jonathan moving alongside her with a few of the larger more ferocious males from the camp we'd just invaded. In total our numbers were around twenty.

Not much.

But a hell of a lot more than what we began with.

I glanced up at Vanquish on one side of me. Hunter on the other. Looking nearly like mirror images, save that Hunter was perhaps an inch taller and Vanquish had green eyes rather than blue.

Things in these woods were beginning to unravel. Far more than even I knew.

We were travelling to the next camp hell-bent on taking it over and collecting more fighters.

I'm done wasting time with arguments.