Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,63

you?” I said coldly.

“Like you wouldn’t have demanded the same—” His surge in temper might have aggravated another man, but not me.

“I wouldn’t, actually.”

“That’s because your father, while a prick, was nothing like Rainford. You have no idea, no possible means of even beginning to understand what it was like being under his thumb.”

Because he wasn’t wrong, and because I was happy to test Choi’s control to see where his strengths were, I replied, “Daniel isn’t Kingsley.”

“There’s nothing to stop that from happening, though, is there?”

“In a human foster home, no. Here? Around people who care for him? Yes.”

“One day, he’ll come and seek what he believes is his,” Choi rasped, but his tone shifted.

“Not if you treat him well now,” I told him firmly, needing him to listen.

Nothing was set in stone, not unless he began bricking Daniel into a corner.

“It’s been almost two years, and I still can’t gather a pack circle on a full moon night. Everyone’s too scared. Rainford’s memory casts a heavy weight,” Choi argued.

“Daniel isn’t his father. He was scared of him too,” I said, my tone softer than it might ordinarily have been.

I got the feeling this wasn’t Choi making the demands, more like he was a spokesperson for the pack.

That meant I could convince him.

I hoped that was what it meant, anyway.

When Choi didn’t reply, I rasped, “If Daniel could best you in a challenge, then he deserves to be alpha, Choi. But I’ll do everything in my power to help forge him into the kind of man you want as a leader. He’s a good boy. He was as oppressed as you. Scared of his own shadow for far too long. If you want to sow the seeds of bitterness into him, then make him hate the Rainford, soon-to-be Choi pack.”

I sensed the tension in him, and though it wasn’t my place, I knew I was asking a lot of him, so I reached forward, gripped his shoulder and gently shook him. “You avenged your parents’ deaths on the man who rightfully earned it. Don’t waste bitterness on a boy who still piddles on the floor every time he shifts.”

Choi cleared his throat, but I saw the whisper of amusement flash in his eyes, and it gave me hope. “I hated that phase.”

“Me too.”

He snorted. “As if the mighty Eli Highbanks did anything so—”

“I did. Father was so ashamed, I was held back from school for an extra two months until I managed to reign it in. Daniel’s different. He isn’t as secure. He still does it, and we’re trying to get him to stop. We both know it’s easier said than done.” Just like a human child might pee the bed until he was eleven, newly shifted pups might make a mess when they first turned.

Choi scrubbed a hand over his face. “My pack is scared of him.”

That confirmed my earlier supposition, so I advised, “Then maybe they should meet with him, and see they’re vilifying a child.”

He twisted away from me, stunned me by showing me his back as he stared out over the terrace and onto the forest in the distance, remarking, “I can feel your totem’s power all the way from over here.”

“Yes. It’s more powerful than ever since Sabina became the omega.”

“Why?”

“We nourish it.”

He cut me a look that told me I didn’t have to spell out how. “The old tales are true?”

I shrugged. “Yes.” Not that we’d been doing much nourishing since Knight’s birth.

Damn, I was looking forward to Sabina’s milk moon being over.

Choi scraped a hand over his jaw. “Rainford alphas let the path to the totems become overgrown. Trees and brush even entered the circle—”

That had my eyebrows soaring. “The circle has been sullied?”

“Yeah.” He blew out a breath. “I’ve no idea how to save it.”

“You need an omega,” I told him flatly. “I never spoke to Sabina about nourishing the circle, she just knew to do it.”

“Lara might not be an omega. Why would she be? I’m no alpha.”

“Your pack says otherwise,” I told him calmly. “Were you granted a mate at your covenant?”

His eyes shifted away from mine. “No. I didn’t have one. The totem circle was sullied, remember?”

I pursed my lips. “Well, I had a covenant and I wasn’t granted a mate so I know how that goes.”

“Lara is more of a blessing than she even knows,” he agreed softly. “I truly come here with no harm in mind. I just wish to speak with her. Make sure she is