Paul hadn't pressed me for an answer, and I hadn't given him one. Life decisions should not happen as a knee-jerk reaction to the bigger picture. I sighed through my nose with a smile, barefoot in the kitchen with a ring on my finger mere months after meeting. Mother. Wife. Was this my identity now?

Munching my way through the bowl of cereal, because it was all my stomach felt like tolerating, I spotted an intense gaze from Luke across the counter, making it harder to chew and swallow. Paul sat right next to me.

It only lasted a fraction of a section, but they darted to my lips with a pained hunger. The beat of my heart increased of its own accord, and Paul paused, giving me a side-eye. Was there nothing that happened internally that this guy didn't pick up on?

Time slowed the longer I sensed the unwelcome, wistful stare. My heart all but stopped beating, and before I realized it, I was looking back, tracing the line of Luke's lips, fantasizing about the feel of them biting me.

Paul did a double-take between us. "Oh, Hell no. Do you even mind, brother? I'm sitting right here, and you're not even asleep! Neither of you." His expression became marred by annoyance with a side of torture. One I suspected we were causing.

"Sorry, it's not in my control. It's getting worse." Luke rubbed his eyes and blinked, as that would erase the thoughts that had snuck in without invitation. "Even with the two of us avoiding each other. When I do see her, it's... full on."

Nothing Luke had said was a lie. Despite the distance, the intensity of our dreams clouded my mind whenever he was in reaching distance. And I still didn't know why.

"Awesome." Paul stood, his chair kicking back. "Fucking awesome. I'm going for a walk, a run, or perhaps a murder spree. I'm not quite sure which. You guys cool off. Alone. Please."

"Rain is forecast," Luke objected.

The burden Paul carried was as obvious as the rattle now in his hands. He kissed my temple before standing. "Then I'll take a jacket."

"You need to stop it," I warned Luke not just with my mind but with my eyes.

"Can't," was all he said. "It's not me that needs convincing it's the Alpha in me. There is something about you that it wants, that it sees that I have never come across before."

"Try harder. I can't sit here locked in lusty gazes with you while my boyfriend overhears every elicit detail I've conjured up to do to you with my mouth!"

Luke groaned, his eyes becoming amber pools as his canines descended.

"What is it now," Paul asked, looking back at him.

"I need to get out of the kitchen," Luke replied with urgency.

"Your wolf needs to calm-the-fuck-down." Paul's eyes developed their own amber tint. "And get your—what do you call them Dana—fangs, away from my girlfriend and our unborn child."

Luke nodded in quick succession, and if he'd had a tail right about now, it would surely be between his legs as he took the stairs two at a time. Three minutes later, we all heard the shower running.

I ran a hand down Paul's back but he smiled tightly. "With Antoine around, Luke's arranged security detail, Carter and Carlyle. They will be positioned outside of your room. Sit tight, we need to start getting back to the shop, but you'll both be safe here." His eyes dropped down to my belly. "And I'll come and relive them when I get back. Please, do as I say, and just stay safe." The warmth of his palm rested on my abdomen, his fingers splaying protectively.

Carlyle appeared in the doorway, observing the two of us. He proceeded inside and sat on the edge of the bed.

My response came as a silent nod. But as the door clicked shut behind him, sealing me in the soft glow of the lamplight. the walls of my own room would have to transform from a sanctuary into a cell I had to slip past, despite the watchful eyes of Carter lurking just beyond if I was going to track down Lucille. I shuddered. If Paul returned and I wasn't here, I worried about what the demons in his head would make of that.

The door closed with a quiet click behind Paul, and I turned to Carlyle, his eyes already questioning. "I need to see Lucille. Tonight. Without Carter knowing."

Carlyle's gaze flitted towards the hallway before settling back on me, understanding passing between us. "There's an old trick," he murmured, "a slight pressure behind the ear, just so. Carter won't see it coming. He'll be right as rain in an hour or so."

"Can you do it?"

"Trust me."

I nodded. The plan was set in motion.

Minutes later, Carter stood by the door, his posture relaxed but vigilant. Carlyle approached him casually, engaging in idle chatter. As I watched, Carlyle's hand shot up, swift and precise, pressing against Carter's neck. Carter's eyes rolled back, and he crumpled to the ground.

"Put him on the bed," I said.

Carlyle dragged Carter's limp frame across the wooden floor and up onto the bed.

"Quickly," he hissed, "we don't have long," and we darted through the door, slipping into the embrace of the woods.

Once secluded, we paused, our breaths coming out in ragged pants. "Ready?" Carlyle asked.

"Ready," I confirmed the familiar sensation of shifting already tingling my skin.

Time stretched; we searched with noses pressed to the ground for any smell distinctly Lucille—lavender and spring flowers—until I caught a scent. Her scent.

I bounded forward, Carlyle following the trail behind me. until there she was. Lucille's form materialized from the shadows, her fur a silver gleam in the moonlight. I paused. When I had last stood in front of her, she had a look that could kill, yet from my window the night before, that hostility was absent.

Lucille now paced with urgency, back and forth, until she clocked me.

"It's me, Grandma, Dana."

Lucille bared her teeth with an angry growl until Carlyle stepped by my side. Her head tilted, a curious look on her face as if she recognized Carlyle but didn't at the same time.

"It's not working," Carlyle said. "God knows I've tried this with her before."

She padded towards me. The hair on my arms remained calm, heckles refusing to rise. I didn't feel any sense of danger. The opposite. Our eyes never left one another's. I held firm and waited. Waited for her to remember me.

"It's me, Grandma, Dana. I came home to help you."

Recognition flashed once in her deep brown eyes as she took a steady inhale, tipping her nose upward toward the night sky.

"You don't need to run anymore."

Lucille proceeded with caution and Carlyle moved impossibly close to me. "Sorry, but I'll be in a world of pain if I don't bring you back in one piece."

When she reached me, she did the first and most surprising thing of the day, she nuzzled my belly gently, an acknowledgment of the life within me. Then she lifted her head, and I heard her voice inside my mind, for the first time, clear and unfazed.

"I knew you'd come, my baby." She looked at Carlyle. "And I knew if it was unsafe, Carlyle would keep you safe or keep you out of town."

"What are you running from, Grandma?"

"Luke cannot be trusted, " Lucille's thoughts entwined with mine. "He is the uprising. And so far, he's winning."

Carlyle's head dropped like a dead weight. "I should have pieced it together..."

"He wanted to ascend. You can only do that by challenging the existing Alpha or being of blood. Luke orchestrated a challenge, but not a fair one. I was circled by his advisors, and rather than submit, I ran. I've been running for so long now I don't think I can ever come back."

"It was Luke that day in the woods, wasn't it, not me?"

Lucille's head bowed and nodded.

"He will be drawn to your bloodline—the scent of power, the scent of an Alpha."

"Scent on an Alpha?"

I sensed Carlyle's amusement and cast a glance his way. "How did you not know, Dana? With Lucille gone, you are the next Alpha by the bloodline you share with Lucille. I suspected for a while, for it doesn't always pass on. Your father certainly never had it as he wouldn't have been able to leave Benton."

How did I not know? It's not like I grew up with any knowledge of wolves and Benton, to begin with, never mind the intricacies of pack ascension.

Lucille continued, her gaze piercing. "You must claim it in my absence. Save the pack. Or he will make you submit to him as his mate."

"How?" I projected back, desperate for her guidance.

But our connection shattered as a beam of light sliced through the woods. Carter's flashlight bobbed in the distance, his silhouette growing clearer as he approached. Lucille's eyes met mine, a silent signal, and we knew it was time to flee. With one last glance at the place where Lucille stood, I turned and ran alongside Carlyle until it was safe enough to shift back.

We made fast work of putting our clothes back on and getting me back to the cabin. Carlyle was steps behind me and I urged him to hurry up.

"I can't, Dana. You're the Alpha, you could be, there is an order to these things, and I need to walk in my rightful place."

"Don't be so stupid. We've got more pressing problems at hand. I mean, fuck, Luke? This whole time. Does Paul know? How could he not?"

"I don't think he does know, but I think he has susceptions about you. We all did."

Suspicions? "How exactly?"

"First, there's the way you smell. Second, the Alpha bloodline was always a potential but even I disregarded it because your father never inherited it. Third, that day in the compound, you forced Paul to shift against his will. Only an Alpha can command a shift. I thought you gave him permission, turns out, you incited it. Oh, and third, Luke wants to bite you..."

"That means nothing, I've wanted to bite Paul for as long as I.." I shut my mouth.

Carlyle began to chuckle. "And four, an Alpha wants to claim her own mate by the looks of it. Just better do it before Luke does it for you instead."

"Ew. And no."

"Don't disregard the fact that he could. The pull between Alpha's mating with Alpha's is something I've only read about, never seen it myself, until now. There is still a danger that it could overwhelm your senses before you even know what happened."

"So, I could end up mated to my boyfriend's brother? Like, whoops, accident. Sorry, Paul? What did Lucille mean I need to claim it in her absence. Save the pack?"

"You need to challenge the existing Alpha."

"How can I do that when I can't go near him through fear I'll accidentally mate with him—for life?" What is Paul going to think about this!

Carlyle ran a hand through his hair. "Beats me, Dana. But we don't have long to figure out how. First, you need to get back into your room. I'll handle Carter, he's gullible enough to buy that we were out walking by the lake. He'll be more worried that he fucked up and lost you so won't want to explain that one to Paul.

I nodded. "Okay then, then tomorrow, we figure out a new plan."