22. Jace

When Kirsten called to say she was on the road, I left for her cabin. I'd rather wait two hours there. That way, I'd know when she arrived. She'd terrified me the day before when she hadn't called or been home when I went to check on her. A thousand ideas had bounced through my head, from a wreck on the highway to Eren's men running her off the road and kidnapping her. When she'd finally called, I'd almost pissed myself from sheer relief.

The car pulled in, and I had to force myself not to sprint forward to meet her. Instead, I stood from where I'd been sitting on her steps and took her in my arms when she walked up to me.

"I missed you," I said.

"I was only gone a day," she said, smiling up at me.

"Still too long. How'd it go?"

Kirsten reached into her purse and pulled out a jar of some sort of greenish liquid. "We made a cure for Eren... er, sorry, Eren's friend. It should fix his little problem once and for all and hopefully get him off my back. We just need to get it to him."

The thought of her venturing into Eren's pack lands was not something I could bear to think about. A growl rumbled in my chest. "No way in hell are you going anywhere near him."

"Thanks for that, but I'm not a damsel in distress. I'm also not an idiot," she said. "The guy's bad news, and I've got no intentions of delivering this to him by myself. He might want to keep me locked up or something. I'm sure he wouldn't want me spreading the word about his little problem. Speaking of, did you know he was having trouble making a baby?"

"I know he doesn't have an heir yet or a mate. Not terribly surprising at his age, though. He's only seventy. That's young in shifter years. It's quite common for them to not have mates or children yet." I thought for a moment and grunted in irritation. "Me, on the other hand? I'm a couple decades past when I should have had an heir. The questions have already started. Some of the pack elders had been pushing me on the subject before you showed up."

Kirsten eyed me warily. "Am I gonna have to worry about popping babies out soon? I'm not quite sure about that."

"Don't worry." I chuckled. "I'm not planning on knocking you up anytime soon." I raised an eyebrow. "Practicing? Sure."

She punched me lightly in the stomach. "Smart ass."

"You still look tired," I said, brushing my thumb over the dark circle under her left eye. "You should take a nap. After that, you and I and Waylan will head up to Scottsdale. We can kill two birds with one stone. I need to officially challenge Eren."

"Challenge him? What does that mean?" She frowned and bit her lip.

"He's overstepped too many times. His threats and aggression toward you was the last straw. I'll challenge him. It'll be official, with witnesses. He'll have to accept. If I win, I'll take control of Scottsdale. If he wins, which I'm not worried about, he'll get Crestwood."

She was silent as we headed inside, not speaking again until we were on the couch with her head nestled against my chest. "So, you guys will fight?"

"Yup."

"Sounds really macho and"—a long yawn muffled her voice—"silly." A moment later, she was asleep.

As she dozed, I texted Waylan, letting him know to meet at Kirsten's house in about an hour. He agreed. Too nervous about what was to come to nap along with Kirsten, my mind wandered. She was sleeping deeply, and that was after apparently napping the previous afternoon and getting a full night's sleep the day before. Whatever she'd done with that witch in the city had wiped her out.

My whole life, I'd resigned myself to hating witches, but in all that time, I'd never really thought about how much magic they carried and the effects that would have on them. How tired it made them to do these spells. How exhausting it must have been in past centuries when witches were constantly doing things for shifters. Protections, strengthening spells, wards, healing… it went on and on, and the wolves had taken them for granted and tried to enslave them. It made me appreciate them in a way I never had before. That was something I never thought I would say.

When she woke up, I shared my thoughts with her, wanting her to know how I felt about not just her, but all of her kind as well.

"Seriously?" she said. "This from the guy who hates witches with a fiery passion?"

"Yeah, okay, maybe I was bitter about the whole curse thing. I guess, until you, I was never able to see witches as real people. I had this image in my head of wicked ladies running around, cursing and ruining lives."

She smiled at me. "If there's one thing good that came out of all this, I'm glad it gave you a new perspective on witches."

One good thing? Wasn't there more than one good thing happening here? Her choice of words nagged at me. Was she saying that she didn't want to be with me after this? Or, even worse, was she thinking she was being forced into a relationship she didn't want?

I wanted to press her on what she meant, but a horn honked from outside, ripping me from my thoughts. Waylan was here.

"You ready?" I asked, pushing my worries aside for now.

"Sure. Let's get this over with." She grabbed the jar with the potion, and we headed out to meet Waylan.

Kirsten and I drove in my truck, Waylan following behind. For the third time in the last ten days, I arrived at Eren's security gate unannounced. The same guy from the other night stood at the gate. He saw me and blanched. He stammered, unsure what was worse: my wrath or his alpha's. Finally, his shoulders sagged, and he waved me on.

"Pathetic," I muttered. "Eren's guys are so undisciplined."

Again, Eren met us outside, his face purple with rage. "Stone, you're a real piece of shit," he said, stomping toward us. "Are you looking to get your ass killed?"

Three of his men flanked him as he stalked toward us. Waylan hurried to my side, the two of us keeping Kirsten behind us.

"Suck it up, bitch," I snarled. "I'm here because you've given me no reason to believe you'll treat my mate with proper respect. She's here to give you that thing you asked for. For your"—I shot him a sarcastic grin—"friend?"

Eren's eyes bounced from me, to Waylan, then behind me to Kirsten. His movements were always so furtive, rat-like. In all the years I'd known him, he'd never struck me as having the powerful and commanding presence of an alpha, even though he was one.

"Really?" The pissy tone had gone out of his voice. Now, he sounded like a greedy man snatching a dollar up off the ground.

"Yes, really," Kirsten said, and stepped forward. She held out the jar to Eren, who reached for it, but Kirsten pulled back at the last second, a parent pulling a treat away from an unruly child.

Eren's eyes flashed. Even I could see it made him look stupid to his men. Nothing but a little boy reaching for a glass of milk, only to have it yanked back at the last second.

"You need to watch yourself," he hissed.

Kirsten only smiled. "You need to drink half of this at midnight, the other half at dawn. The next night, you need to set an alarm and only sleep between six and seven hours. Once you do that? You'll be good to go in roughly forty-eight hours."

Eren glanced back at his men before turning to her again. "I think you mean my friend will be good to go? This is for him, remember?"

Kirsten handed the jar over, rolling her eyes. "Whatever."

"You're positive this will work?" he asked again, the greedy smile returning as he cradled the jar.

"I'm not a liar, but magic isn't foolproof. There's only a ten percent chance it won't work, so your odds are fantastic—oh, whoops! I mean, your friend's chances are good."

"Good," Eren said, and the smile changed. Less greedy, more of a sexual leer. "I can't wait to give this to my friend." His gaze slid up and down Kirsten's body. "He's gonna be excited to try it out. Really get the pipes clean, you know?"

Waylan growled and I snarled, stepping forward and pulling Kirsten back, blocking her with my body. Eren saw me getting close and snapped his fingers. His three henchmen hurried to his side. They looked like generic bodyguard muscle, the members of his pack who were most loyal and the most intimidating. At least they weren't cracking their knuckles.

"Easy, everyone," Eren said, putting a hand on his nearest beta's shoulder. "All a misunderstanding. I'd never touch another alpha's mate. We all know what kind of man I am."

"You and I have business, too," I said.

"And what is that, might I ask?"

"You've been warned to stay away from Kirsten. You didn't. You disobeyed me."

"I… what? I what, motherfucker?" Eren stepped forward, his lips peeled back and a vein in his temple bulging. "I can't disobey someone who holds no fucking sway over me."

"You fucking heard me," I said. "I told you what would happen, and then you cornered Kirsten in the city. You have your piece-of-shit betas watching her house. You send that fucking dress. All of it. This ends. With my beta and yours as witness bearers, I officially challenge you to the death for control of your territory and pack."

Everyone in attendance other than Waylan held their breath. Kirsten, standing behind me, dug her fingers into my shirt but didn't say a word. I scented her, and it was easy to know what was going through her mind. Pure terror and fury emanated from her.

"You've got thirty days," I said, jabbing my finger into Eren's chest. "One month to prepare. Those are the traditional rules, and I'll abide by them. You may shit on rules and laws, but I'm a true alpha, and I'll do what's right. So you get thirty days to get ready to die."

The muscles in Eren's jaw worked as he stared back at me. There was surprise in his eyes, yes, and fear, but he wouldn't back down, not in front of witnesses. He spat on the ground at my feet.

"Fine, then. Don't worry. When this goes down? I'll make sure to make it quick. Now, get the fuck off my territory."

The three of us backed up to our cars, keeping Eren and his men in sight. Once in, we drove away fast.

Before we'd even gotten to the end of Eren's driveway, I could feel something was wrong. Kirsten sat beside me, arms crossed, staring out the passenger window, her magic sizzling through the air. It had the scent of ozone, like lightning had just struck. She was pissed.

"Hey," I said, squeezing her thigh. "What's wrong?"

Kirsten swatted my hand away and glared at me. "What's wrong? What's fucking wrong? Are you being serious right now, Jace?"

"Is it about the challenge?"

"Of course it is!" she shouted. "Were you just going to leave out the part where a challenge is to the death? I thought it was gonna be something where you two beat the shit out of each other until one of you said ‘uncle' or something. You guys are really going to try and kill one another?"

I swiveled my head toward her. There hadn't been a discussion about it because I'd assumed she knew. Perhaps some parts of shifter culture weren't as well-known in the human world as I'd assumed.

"And what happens if you lose, Jace? Huh? Will that give Eren free rein to fuck with me? Harass me until I have to go home?"

"That's never going to happen," I said, finding my voice. "Never. I'm not going to lose. I promise that."

My words weren't enough to calm her, though. She was still hot about it all and raged for several more minutes about how inconsiderate I was being, how dumb the whole thing was, and how I wasn't thinking ahead.

"Kirsten, you're overreacting. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. I understand this is a lot for you to handle right now, and I apologize for that, I really do. For now, until this is all over, it's not safe for you to leave Crestwood. With me challenging Eren, you may become more of a target."

There was pure ice in her eyes as she regarded me. Shit, that was not good.

The rest of the drive was spent in dead silence. Kirsten sat, glaring through the windshield until we pulled back into her driveway. Waylan didn't join us, thankfully, and sped on along the road into town.

Kirsten was out of the truck before I'd even put it in park, slamming the door hard enough to make the interior rattle. I banged my head against the steering wheel. How bad of a shitstorm had I just stirred up? I'd have to find out sooner or later, so I got out and went inside.

Cabinets banged as Kirsten slammed them. She turned to the sink, picked up a dirty pan, looked at it, grunted in disgust, and let it crash back into the sink.

"Okay," I said. "I get the point. You're mad."

"God!" she shouted. "Yes, I'm mad." She slapped the counter. "Look, Jace, I get it. Your culture has all these rules and shit. I understand, but wouldn't it have been a good idea to at least tell me? No? Oh, and then, after you challenge a guy to a death duel, you tell me that I'm a target and can't leave town? As a partner, as a mate, neither of us should be forbidding anything."

All I could do was shake my head. "I'm sorry." It sounded trite, but it was all I could manage. I'd totally fucked this up.

Kirsten sighed, shoulders relaxing. "If we're going to be partners, mates, then I should be your confidant, your sounding board. The person you discuss things with. Did you talk to anyone about this, or did you come up with this on your own?"

I winced. That was a kick in the balls, and it was only going to get worse. "Um, I did have a meeting with my council. We took a vote on whether I should challenge Eren."

"So, they were worth your time, but I wasn't?"

"No! No, that's not it at all. I just…" Fuck, what did I mean? Why hadn't I talked to her about it? Shit.

Something about this had triggered her. I'd touched a nerve on something deeper, something I hadn't been aware of, and now I was dealing with the fallout.

"Let's talk now," I offered.

"There's nothing to talk about. It's already done," she said, crossing her arms.

She was shutting down, putting up a wall. I had the feeling I wouldn't be getting anywhere right now. Not today. I needed to give her some space. Backing toward the door, I said exactly that.

"I'm sorry, Kirsten. I didn't do this on purpose. I'll give you some space. I wanted to say—"

"Yes? What?" She gave me yet another icy glare.

"I've never been in a relationship before. I'm not entirely sure how this should work, not really. I went into this with a shifter mindset, and I see that I need to view it from a different angle. Honestly, I'm not even sure what kind of mate I'll be, or if I'll even be a good one. What I do know," I said, giving her a pleading look, "is that this goes both ways. I can't help heal the broken parts of you if you keep it all locked up and throw up walls at the first sign of trouble. Just like you can't help me if I don't tell you everything that's going on. I'm not your enemy, Kirsten. Hopefully, you'll let me in and help you heal soon."

The look on her face was unreadable as I closed the door behind me. There was some sadness, some regret, and a flicker of worry in her eyes. I hoped she was taking my words to heart. I'd only known her a short time, but I'd come to the realization that I wanted to be with her forever. I didn't want to lose her.