“What?” Rick turned on me, anger flashing bright in his eyes. “You hired my daughter?” “You had no right—”

“Hold on a minute,” I growled as fire surged through my veins in response to the challenge from a fellow Alpha. I had no intention of fighting Rick Wade, but my body didn’t know that. I had no idea what Abby was taking about, but there was a reason conflicts between Alphas escalated quickly—we were hardwired to exert our dominance whenever it was challenged. “In fact, I do have the right. Abby isn’t yours anymore. She’s mine.”

Abby’s eyebrows shot up and her flush deepened.

Damn it. “I mean, I’m her Alpha, and I don’t need your permission to hire her.” I would only need his blessing if I tried to hire a member of his Pride. Which Abby no longer was.

Shock rippled across his angry scowl, and I could see the brutal realization as it dawned on him. Abby was an adult and a member of someone else’s territory; he no longer held any authority over his own daughter.

That had never happened before, because in the history of the US Prides, Abby was only the second tabby to leave home, and she was the first to actually transfer into another territory.

True, her membership in my Pride was intended to be as temporary as my leadership of it, but that didn’t change the fact that she was now under my sole authority. Just like all the male members of my Pride.

“I...” Rick struggled to finish his sentence, while everyone else looked on in the tense silence. I almost felt sorry for him.

“There’s really no need to get worked up,” I said, when his mouth just kept opening and closing. I turned back to Abby with a scowl, silently demanding an explanation for why she would pit one Alpha against another. “I didn’t hire her.”

“The hell you didn’t!” But the indignation in her voice didn’t match the desperation in her eyes, which practically begged me to just go along with...whatever she was up to.

She should have known better.

Karen quietly closed the office door. Our council meeting had just gone into extra innings, and nobody wanted to miss a single pitch.

“First of all, don’t ever curse at your Alpha,” I growled, only slightly mollified when Abby lowered her gaze and took a small step back, accepting my rebuke with none of the resistance or hesitation she’d shown in the past, when we weren’t in a room full of Alphas. Normally, I wouldn’t have cared about her language; that particular courtesy was antiquated, in my opinion. But by shouting at me, she had challenged my leadership, and letting anyone get away with that would erode my authority. “Second, you do not work for me.”

“I apologize.” Abby still stared at the ground, yet her voice was neither soft nor weak. “But if you’ll recall, after I freed my roommate from those ass—” She stopped abruptly for a rephrase, and one corner of Faythe’s mouth twitched. “After I took out those hunters over fall break, you said there’d be a job waiting for me if I wanted it.”

My eyes fell closed. Son of a bitch! I’d forgotten all about that because I hadn’t intended it as a real job offer. When she’d gone back to school without even mentioning it, I’d assumed she’d taken the offer as the simple compliment I’d intended. As evidence that her Alpha had noticed and appreciated her abilities.

I scrubbed both hands over my face, stalling for time to think. “I meant for that offer to apply after you graduate.” I hadn’t thought she’d take it seriously, because she was supposed to marry Brian right after graduation.

“But you never said that.”

Irritation narrowed my gaze at her. “You never accepted the offer.”

Her brows rose. “I’m accepting it now.”

Damn it. I’d walked right into that one, and I couldn’t get out of it without going back on my word.

A good Alpha never goes back on his word, and Abby knew that.

She’d just thrown me under the bus in front of half the territorial council.

FOUR

Abby

My heart thumped so hard, I felt the jolt of each beat in my bones. Jace looked like he wanted to kill me, and I couldn’t blame him; I’d just made the council’s junior-most Alpha look like a fool in front of his peers.

That hadn’t been my intent, but if desperate times truly justified desperate measures, my conscience was in the clear.

At least, that’s what I tried to tell myself.

For one long moment, nobody spoke or moved. Ed Taylor—who’d paid for the ring his son gave me—looked like I’d just ripped his heart out and handed it to him, still dripping blood. As guilty as I felt, I made myself look away from him so I could keep my eye on the goal.

Thoughts rolled across Jace’s face like cards in a slot machine and I could hardly breathe, waiting to see where they’d settle. I knew the moment he realized I had him trapped, and his visible anger leached the warmth from my body.

Jace was pissed. He would make me pay for forcing his hand, just like he would if I were one of the toms. I was about to find out just how committed to feminism my Alpha really was.

“Fine. We’ll swear you in tomorrow.” His eyes narrowed and he crossed both bulging arms over a sculpted chest that strained against the material of his shirt. “But this is a full-time commitment, and you will give it everything you have.” He marched toward the office door, and a path opened in front of him as everyone moved out of the way. “I’ll expect your school withdrawal forms on my desk first thing Monday morning.” Jace stepped into the hall and slammed the office door at his back.

I jumped, startled, and only once all the stares had settled on me did Jace’s declaration sink in.

Withdrawal? I’d have to quit school, one semester shy of graduation?

Whether or not I had to quit, he had the authority to make me quit—especially if he thought that would change my mind. But it wouldn’t. It couldn’t, no matter how badly I wanted to graduate.

This was more important. Even if I couldn’t explain that to anyone else.

“Jace, wait!” I threw open the office door and ran after him, heedless of the stares and whispers, but the back door was already closing behind him. I followed him onto the lawn stretching between the main house and the guesthouse out back, where he’d lived as an enforcer. “Please, just...wait.”