Broken Bond - Callie Rose Page 0,57
moment you left.”
Fury emanates from Ridge like a living thing. He paces away, breathing deeply as if he’s reining in his anger before he speaks again. “That asshole,” he growls, returning to us and swiping a hand through his hair. “I knew he’d pull this. Cowardly piece of shit.”
I can’t help but agree with him. His brother is an idiot and an asshole, and even I know Lawson wouldn’t do fuck-all for the good of the pack. The only reason he would try to usurp Ridge’s station is because he’s selfish and wants more control and power.
And that’s a problem in our world. Young pups get this diabolical idea in their heads that the alpha is equal to supreme power, when that’s not even a little bit true. The alpha isn’t a dictator—he’s a leader. These kids grow up equating power with the alpha role, and they’d never make it in the real world, leading a pack. Alphas can’t be selfish, not if they want their packs to be safe.
“I have to go back,” Ridge says, putting a halt to his pacing as he returns to our group. “I’m so sorry… I can’t let this stand.”
“Of course,” Sable soothes, her small hands sliding up his arms. “The pack has to come first.”
I’m thinking of Sable’s bravery this morning as she stood up to me and called me an asshole. I’m thinking of how I push people away and never consider other people’s points of view. So before I can change my mind, I speak up. “We’ll go with you. All of us. As a team.”
Archer and Ridge both turn to stare at me as if I’ve started exhibiting symptoms of witchcraft. Even Dare looks taken aback. Sable, however, just gives me a knowing smile and a proud nod.
“We’ll all go,” she agrees, kissing my cheek so that my entire body runs warm from her affection. “As a team.”
Ridge is a mass of tension and fury, so I offer to carry Sable on my back this time. He tries to argue—like he has some kind of claim on carrying her—but she pulls him off to the side and soothes him in that special way she has.
After we strip and shift, I lean down on my front legs like I’ve seen Ridge do before, giving Sable a better angle to climb up. It takes her a few tries to get a grip, but then she swings up and over my shoulder blades and settles in for the ride.
It’s… weird. I’ve never carried anyone on my back before. It’s not something we do. We aren’t horses or pack mules. But Sable feels warm and comfortable clinging to my fur, like she belongs there. Belongs with me.
We fall into a sprint with Ridge and Amora leading the charge back toward North Pack lands. I think it’s pretty telling how the female shifter came all this way to retrieve him—how she watched out for him in his absence. I do a lot of judging about the other alphas, but somehow, I gloss right over the way their packs are loyal to them. Ridge must be doing something right to have such a staunch supporter.
When we arrive, the windows of the council house radiate light in the early evening. It’s strange to be here again. The last time I set foot in the place, my wolf claimed Sable. It feels like a million fucking years have passed since that day.
As we near the council house, I can see through the open windows that the whole pack seems to be milling around inside. Someone’s yelling incoherently, while a number of other voices are arguing, and even more voices are attempting to soothe troubled waters.
Sable slips from my neck to the ground, and I immediately shift back into my human form. She’s already passing out our clothes from her backpack.
“I brought you pants and a t-shirt, too,” she tells Amora, holding out the bundle. “Since you didn’t come with clothes. And, well, these are yours, after all.”
Amora accepts the items, her eyes widening a little. “Thank you, Sable. That’s sweet of you.”
I smirk and tug on my own shirt. Welcome to the Sable fan club, I think. My girl’s a hell of a woman.
Ridge pulls on his clothes with harsh movements and stalks into the meeting house, slamming the door into the metal facade to announce his presence. The rest of us pile in behind him, backup and moral support for whatever’s about to go down.
“What the fuck