Chapter 12

The scent of motor oil was heavy in the air of the waiting room at the garage where Remy’s truck had been towed the night before. She was still hot under the collar about the tires getting slashed. Remy had cautioned her to be careful as they dealt with the situation, and she was having a hard time reining in her anger.

“I still can’t believe he did this,” she said as she stared through the plate glass window but didn’t really see the parking lot that lay beyond. All she saw was the slashed tires in her mind and all she felt was the vulnerability from having someone follow her and Remy on their first date.

Remy put a comforting hand on her shoulder and her cat let out a low purr. “We talked about this,” he said with a quiet voice. “We have to handle this carefully.”

Her fingers curled into fists at her sides, her nails digging deeply into her palms. She didn’t want to be careful or put a lid on her anger, she wanted to stomp over to Leif’s place and kick him in the balls.

She tore her gaze away from the parking lot and looked at her mate. “He wants me to be distracted. I think he’s planning more things, bigger and more dangerous attempts.”

“What would he gain by that? We’re marked and mated now and we’re next in line for the alpha position. Whatever promise he had to mate a female in the pride on his twenty-first birthday is irrelevant now because we’re ready to move forward.”

She let that roll around in her head. Leif was an idiot, but he wasn’t dumb. She’d always figured that Brilla was behind most of his terrible behavior, but it was equally as likely that he was simply an asshole and felt entitled to the alpha position.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that something else might happen.

“I just want us to be safe. Both of us,” she said finally.

“Trust me I do too. I just got you,” he said, hooking his arm behind her back and drawing her against him with a roguish smile. “I’m not planning on letting you go for the next eighty years or so.”

She grinned. “Just eighty years?”

“To start.”

A service tech pulled his truck up and parked in the spaces near the front door. Remy sighed. “Let’s go talk to Liam,” Remy said. “If nothing else, he will at least know that Leif’s causing trouble.”

She nodded in agreement. They headed outside and thanked the attendant for bringing the vehicle around. Remy got behind the wheel and she sat in the passenger seat.

They found Liam on the back patio of his home a few minutes later. He didn’t seem all that surprised to see them, and when she told him what had happened the night before, he was quiet for long enough she wondered if he’d even heard what she said.

“Liam?”

“Damn him,” Liam said. “I’ll reach out to Jacob, but I’m sure he’ll suggest that Leif wasn’t involved. It’s not as if the tires slashed themselves.”

“We’re going to be careful,” Remy said. “But we did mate each other last night, so the last barricade for Thyme to become alpha has been taken down.”

Liam smiled. “I can see the marks. Congratulations.”

“So when can we start the process for us to take over as alphas?” Thyme asked.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, the sleeves of his worn flannel rolled up to expose his forearms. “Friday. That gives us time to get everything ready. Have you chosen a town yet?”

“We’re going to scout today,” Remy said.

“Good. If you can figure that part out by the end of the week, we can make the announcement to the pride at the same time and make plans to take the heads of the families to explore.”

“Sounds good,” Remy said.

“Who will help you with the ceremony?” Liam asked.

Thyme grimaced. The tradition was for the mother to help with the planning and be involved in the actual ceremony. Hard pass on that.

“I’ll have Dana help.”

He nodded with a smile. “Keep me posted.”

They said goodbye to Liam and headed to her house to meet with Dana.

“I’m still angry about what Leif did, but I’m sure Liam is right and Jacob won’t try to rein in his behavior.”

“What do the laws actually say about challenging for the position of alpha?” Remy asked.

“Oh hell, I haven’t read them since I was a kid, let me think.” She thought over the pride laws she’d read as a kid at her father’s insistence. “I don’t ever recall reading anything about the younger one being allowed to bully the eldest. Honestly it doesn’t make sense.”

“Why not?”

“Because what would he gain by harassing us except to piss us off? I can’t just walk away and let him lead, even if I wanted to. I’m the rightful heir. There can be no other alpha unless I’m unmated on the next full moon, then I’d have to face him in an alpha fight, winner takes all.”

“The challenge is moot, right?” he asked. “You and I are mated.”

“It should be,” she said, “which is why I don’t get why he came after us last night. He had to know that we’d mark and mate each other, setting into motion us taking over as the alpha pair. I gave up trying to figure him out a long time ago. I’m ready to be alpha, I was just waiting for you. I’ve been preparing for this my whole life.”

She looked down at her hands and the scars on her knuckles from fighting before she was old enough to shift. Her dad had made sure she could defend herself in her human form and in her wildcat form.

His seatbelt unclicked followed by hers, and he put his arm around her. She leaned into him, inhaling his woodsy, masculine scent. “The good news is that you have me , sweetheart. I might have rescued you from the wolves that were chasing you, but you’re no damsel in distress. I’m sure as hell not going to let anything happen to you. No matter what he throws at us, we stand together. Period.”

“Okay.”

He snorted. “I said all that and all I get is ‘okay’?”

She gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “It was a good speech. Really. I’m just thinking. I’d like to get the pride history and law books to re-read them, and so you can read them too.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. You can read out loud while I drive us around to the towns after we chat with Dana.”

“Perfect.”

“Where are the books? Do we need to get them from somewhere?”

“They’re on the bookshelf.”

They got out and met at the front of the truck. He gave her a curious look. “The smutty bookshelf or the clean one?”

Rolling her eyes, she laughed. “The clean one.”

“Ah.” He winked and grinned at her.

That male was going to keep her on her toes, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.