Total pages in book: 202
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
His expression goes tight before he jerks his chin up at her in greeting.
I hear the growl leave my mouth before I’m able to get a lock on it.
A lot of heads turn our way and I’m sure the majority of the room reads the situation because Malachi takes one look at me and immediately tilts his head slightly, enough to submit, casting his eyes off to the side.
Brody clears his throat and says my name, so I tear my eyes off Malachi and rein it in for the sake of the proceedings here.
“Good, Grey?” Brody checks.
“All good,” I reply while I pull her closer and caress her mate mark with my thumb, again watching Malachi, silently daring him to look over here again.
A long silence stretches on until Eloise breaks the silence by asking, “Um… so… when will we vote on who our new pack alpha is?”
Brody answers, “Me and Malachi have talked a little so far but not about that. Do you want to address this, Malachi? Thoughts?”
He clears his throat before answering, “I actually think we should deal with Wyatt first. Maybe we should…” He looks at Brody and seems lost for words.
The silence feels awkward. He’s shaken up, probably because of me, but he’s also looking like a fish out of water here, as far as I can tell.
He's already looking to Brody as his leader and they would’ve only met a couple hours ago.
“Maybe take a bit of time with things as is while we…” He shakes his head. “Honestly, who am I kidding? As much as the idea of campaigning for your votes is an opportunity I appreciate, I can already see this is a huge undertaking without us having usable land. We can’t go back there. I know I don’t want to. With what Brody is offering us, I think it’s probably in our best interests to go ahead with his plan. I don’t think I have the experience to lead us when we’re starting with nothing. No resources or money or connections like Brody has to make essential things happen. And we all know how sheltered our lives have been – I don’t know that any of us have the diplomacy experience to go to the SCC on our behalf to request aid. Everything Brody told me so far … I think him leading would be good for us. He’s also related to the council here, has access to their construction company for things we’ll need. He’s a trained and experienced construction project manager so can handle all that himself. The money needed to fund building a village for us… it’s… a lot. Though I’d be more than happy to help however I can, perhaps as one of your lieutenants, Brody?”
“I’m not building an army, bud,” Brody states. “A pack isn’t that. But yeah… if it’s me that leads I’ll need plenty of help. I’ll need the whole pack to kick in.”
“We don’t know him,” a man I vaguely recall from the barracks calls out. “Should we just appoint some stranger our alpha when we only just met him?”
“He saved us. Pulled us out of that shit hole. Literally,” Adelaide snaps from the back corner where she’s sitting with several other girls. “You think he’s doing it because he’s got a scheme in mind? What could he possibly gain from taking all of us on?”
Brody’s eyes zero in on her I can feel the crackling energy between them.
They’re in an eye lock for a long moment and the electricity is such that no one seems to want to interrupt.
He’s still got that edge about him. And I see no mating mark on her throat. So they still haven’t officially mated.
Fuck, Brody. How?
“Do we need to lock them up in my cabin next?” I hear Ty mutter to Riley. Riley’s shoulders shake with silent laughter. And because you could hear a pin drop in this place and Ty isn’t exactly soft-spoken, everyone would’ve heard.
It’s obviously more than just me that just noticed the lack of claiming mark on her throat.
“Does someone else want to put their hat in the ring?” Brody asks. “I want you all to have choices. You all, every one of you… deserve that,” His eyes are still on Adelaide.
“What about a trial period?” Patsy calls out. “If we have a trial run with Brody and set a date to make our permanent decision?”
A blonde female sitting beside Adelaide who was rescued from the massage parlor speaks up. “This alpha is willing to put all his own money into a property and develop it for us, saving us from the literal shit show back home and we’re what… going to take him up on his generosity but not commit to anything? He’s going to make a place for us and we’re going to just use him and maybe change our minds later? How is that fair?”