Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

B leak winter sunshine bathed her bedroom in shades of blue the next morning. Sonya shuddered as she put her bare feet on the cold floor. She searched for the thick socks she’d worn when she went to bed and must have pulled off in her sleep. Slipping them back on, she yawned big.

She and Bayden, or Bay, as he’d told her to call him, had talked late into the night, or more like early morning.

She’d explained how she and Karim were related and what Dale said was required for her to keep guardianship. Bay had asked her a bunch of follow-up questions, and then he’d gotten a lawyer named Nora on speakerphone.

Nora practiced pack law and was married to an immortal Viking. Bay said the latter wasn’t important.

Sonya had many questions about the Norse man, but she would put them aside until they sorted out how to protect Karim.

She’d learned about Nora’s husband because a man with a Scandinavian accent had grumbled in the background, demanding to know who had woken up his wife. Apparently, he couldn’t sleep unless she was in bed beside him. He’d repeated that detail several times.

Finally, Bay had told the Viking that the quicker he got off the phone, the quicker their business with Nora would conclude. When Sonya asked who the man was, Bay called him, “that immortal Viking.”

A little more than an hour after that, Bay and Nora had decided they had all the information they needed from Sonya. Bay had sent her to bed and left for his motel. He’d promised her he would present a solution for her problems, or at least get a continuance, at the next day’s—same day’s?—pack meeting. Nora had said she would call Dale and convince him to call a meeting. The tone of voice she’s used sounded more like she would force Dale to do what she wanted. And after being exposed to Nora’s brilliant legal mind for only a few hours, Sonya had no doubt that Dale would do as Nora demanded.

She did however, have doubt about what the future would bring. How could she be sure that Bay and Nora would find a solution?

Sony eyed the drawer that held her bag of Runes. She walked over and pulled out the velvet sack.

If they never spoke to her again, she would be devastated, but she had to take the risk. A single cast instead of a spread wouldn’t dispel as much energy.

Holding her breath, she put her hand in the bag. One rock vibrated intensely against her palm. She’d pulled it out.

The Rune Gebo was inscribed on the small stone.

The marriage Rune.

Tears welled up in her eyes. Marrying Dale couldn’t be the only solution to her problem.

She bit her lip. The pain distracting her from panicking.

Gebo could also mean balance or gift. Yeah, but also partnership and relationship , her irritating internal voice whispered.

A partnership with Dale would not be balanced or a gift.

The sound of Karim bounding up the stairs made her abandon her depressing thoughts. He stuck his head in the door. “Are we going or not? You’re not even dressed yet.”

“Did you eat?”

He waved his hand. “Yes, let’s go already.”

It didn’t take her long to put on jeans and a sweater. They pulled on coats and boots and stepped out into the winter landscape. New snow had fallen overnight, but the road was plowed and it didn’t take them long to reach the community center.

The sign on the wall declared the maximum capacity of the main room to be 125. By Sonya’s estimate as they stepped into the room, at least fifty extra people clamored for space. She’d never seen the entire pack in one place. Not even when she was little.

She and Karim made their way to the two seats held for them in the front row, just below the dais where Dale perched behind a long folding table. Two elders and Mandy flanked the alpha, all of them in deep discussion with him.

Too short for his feet to fully reach the ground, her brother swung his legs back and forth, scuffing his toes against the floor. She thought about asking him to stop, but it didn’t really matter if he damaged his boots. He grew out of them so quickly she’d have to get him new ones soon, anyway. Another item to add to her ever-growing list of expenses.

The truth was, she kind of wanted to swing her own legs to relieve some of her anxiety.

Karim tugged on her sleeve to get her attention. “Where is he?”

She was wondering the same thing, as was everyone in the room, probably. “I’m sure he’ll be here soon,” she told Karim. He’d better be.

“At least this is better than reading lessons.” Karim smiled up at her, flashing his adorable dimples. A powerful wave of love rushed through her, and she ruffled his hair. She winced when he ducked aside to avoid her touch, but at least that way he wouldn’t see the tears welling in her eyes.

She couldn’t lose her brother. Her heart wouldn’t survive it. She’d do anything to keep him in her life…even if that meant marrying despicable Dale.

Blinking rapidly, she reached into her bag. “Well, I brought your e-reader so you can do your lessons while we’re here.”

Karim groaned. “I won’t hear the reading voice with all these people talking,” he argued, gesturing toward the rest of the room, where the background noise of conversations swelled as the crowd grew restless and grumbly. Her brother had dyslexia and the listening to a synced voice while he read helped him decipher the letters.

She fished out his headphones and held them up, one eyebrow quirked.

Karim rolled his eyes and sighed loudly, but put them on and plugged the cord into the e-reader.

A commotion in the back of the room announced Bay’s arrival. Finally.

Sonya turned around and watched him stride up the aisle. The pack members threw unfriendly, some outright hostile, looks his way. If he noticed them, he didn’t show it. His blue-gray eyes sought hers, and as their gazes met, a deep calm filled her.

“Hey,” he said as he reached her.

She glanced at the folder he was carrying. “Did you find a solution?”

He leaned down and quietly spoke right next to her ear. “Do you trust me?”

She shook her head. “No,” she whispered.

He flashed a wicked grin, grabbed her hand, and pulled her out of her seat. Electricity ignited her nerve endings, just like when he’d touched her in the kitchen. But this time, heat also flooded her body and pooled low in her abdomen. What was it about this man? Why did she react so powerfully to his touch?

From Bay’s quick inhale, she knew he’d felt it too.

“Now that you’ve finally arrived,” Dale said from the dais, “maybe we can start the proceedings that you called.”

“Absolutely.” Keeping her hand in his, Bay stepped up onto the dais.

She had no choice but to follow. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Karim take off his headphones. E-reader forgotten in his lap, he focused on her and Bay. So much for keeping him out of grown-up business and getting at least part of his lesson done. She’d been homeschooling him ever since he’d been old enough for kindergarten. She didn’t mind, since it was the only way she used her hard-earned teaching degree. But her college instructors had not covered how to keep her brother’s butt in the chair to do his lessons. Or how to keep him from shifting into a wolf when he grew bored.

Bay tugged on her hand, and she turned around to face Dale and the elders. “I’m sorry I’m late,” he told them. “I had to use the motel’s ancient printer for the legal forms. It had a bad day.”

Sonya stared at the folder in his hand. Had he found a way to circumvent pack law and give her guardianship?

“What legal forms?” Dale growled.

Bay’s eyes flashed as he focused on the pack alpha. “The ones that give Sonya guardianship of Karim without having to mate with a Sunbeam wolf.” He opened the folder he was carrying and placed a sheaf of papers in front of each person sitting behind the table.

The noise from the crowd escalated. From what Sonya could make out, Dale had not shared his plan of her mating with a pack member. And it was apparently not a popular idea.

She glanced at Mandy. What would she say when she found out Dale considered himself the top candidate? The woman watched her boyfriend with a frown on her face.

“Silence,” Dale roared, and he must have put some alpha compulsion behind the command. The air felt heavy and clammy, but the crowd quieted down. “The law is clear,” Dale said. “Only a pack member can raise a shifter pup. Sonya is not related by blood or mated to any of the Sunbeam wolves. Therefore, she’s not pack. She can’t take the place of a parent.”

A cry from the front row made Sonya turn around. Karim had jumped off his chair and torn off his shirt. She took a step toward him, but he quickly shed his pants, underwear, socks, and boots. Running down the aisle, he shifted in record time and disappeared through the open door in the back before her lips formed the word stop .

Bay stared at the entry through which the wolf pup had disappeared. “That’s one determined little dude. I’ve not seen a young wolf shift that fast before.”

“You could have been gentler,” Mandy chided Dale. “Karim’s father just died. Finding out he’s about to lose his sister as well is devastating.”

“Not my problem,” Dale stated, staring at Bay. “Sonya knows what her options are.”

Bay’s fists clenched, and he took a step toward the alpha. Sonya grabbed his arm and pulled him back. A brawl wasn’t a solution. She felt his muscles relax under her touch. He shot her a look she couldn’t interpret. Grateful, but also confused?

One of the elders, whose name Sonya hadn’t learned, cleared his throat. “It’s been a while since I practiced law, but these documents seem in order.”

Dale looked away from Bay. “What are you talking about?” he sneered at the elder.

Mandy and the other elder flinched, but the man who’d spoken sat still, meeting Dale’s gaze. He tapped a finger on the stack of papers in front of him. “I’m talking about this guardianship document that the out-of-pack wolf presented.”

Dale opened his mouth, but Mandy held up a hand and he swallowed whatever he’d been about to say. “Please, honored elder and learned attorney, share with the pack what the papers state,” she said.

Approval glinted in the man’s eyes as he glanced at Mandy. He cleared his throat and addressed the room at large. “The lawyer who drafted these documents argues that the law gives Sonya Berg,” he shot Sonya a smile, “guardianship of her stepbrother, Karim Berg, because she has had an instrumental parental role in his life from the age of two, thereby covering many of his formative years. Furthermore, changing guardians while the pup is still young, and so close to the event of losing his father, would be detrimental to the child’s mental and emotional development.” Hope bloomed in Sonya’s heart, but then the elder continued, quickly killing it. “Therefore, the law clearly states that if Ms. Berg mates with a wolf and becomes pack, she will retain guardianship of Karim Berg until he reaches adulthood?—”

Dale banged his fist on the table. “Exactly. She has to marry someone in the pack.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Bay growled.

“She doesn’t,” the elder agreed.

Sonya’s head throbbed. She rubbed her temples. “I don’t understand. Am I or am I not Karim’s guardian?”

Bay took her hand in his. Since she expected the sizzle this time, she didn’t flinch. His blue-gray eyes watched her solemnly. “You are,” he said.

“As long as you mate with a wolf,” the elder added.

Dale threw up his hands. “Like I said. She will marry someone in the pack.”

“No,” Bay said again, pulling her closer. “She will marry me.”

What?

The throbbing in her head grew to full pandemonium, or maybe that was the noise coming from the rest of the pack behind her.