Bracken accepted Will’s bond before they left Tyler. Ryan didn’t like the idea of leaving a whole pack of wolves with that kind of pain, but there was nothing to be done. They would need a new alpha bond, and there was no way they would pledge themselves to Bracken. Not that any of the Trewitts would want the Quades around now.

This was war.

Ryan lay in the back of Bracken’s truck, his head cradled in Kate’s lap. She’d insisted on using the first-aid kit in the tack box in the back, and he was at least bandaged. They’d need a new kit, though, because it had taken all their supplies to clean and dress his wounds.

Beau had offered to go with Will and Dee, partly to give the alpha time with his brother, and partly because they had to make sure the new couple made it to Oklahoma—that they didn’t try to go back.

The pull of the Quade family was real. Ryan didn’t get it, but it was real.

He glanced up at his mate, who had her fingers in his hair. She hadn’t stopped touching him since the fight was over. He could understand it, though. He didn’t want her to stop touching him either.

They’d pulled back onto the road toward Durant.

“I’m gonna have to call Aaron VonBrandt,” Bracken finally said, breaking the silence.

Ryan cringed at the words. They were falling back into their old way of communicating. Bracken talked to Ryan about everything he did as alpha. Training. But Ryan couldn’t take over as alpha anymore.

“Yeah,” he said, anyway. Their old pattern.

“He’s gonna want to know about what happened to Phillip.”

“Yeah.”

“There will be a new alpha in that Quade pack.”

“Yeah.”

“They weren’t able to figure out anything else about this un-bonded wolf business, at the summit, and now I wonder if Quade knew more than he was saying about that,” his alpha continued, pulling out onto the main road and hitting the cruise control. Bracken sat back and Ryan could feel his presence shift in the vehicle.

“They didn’t tell us anything about that,” Kate piped up, easing some of Ryan’s tension about whether or not to engage her in the conversation. “Is that why we were all gathered for the summit?”

“The VonBrandts found an unbonded wolf in New Orleans.” Ryan reached his right hand down to stroke her calf, just to be able to touch her. It made his side ache, but dammit, it was worth it.

“Like, her alpha was dead?”

“Like, she was raised without a pack,” Bracken said.

Kate’s intake of breath was sharp. It mimicked the shock Ryan had felt upon hearing about the same thing from his alpha. Un-bonded wolves were basically unheard-of among the Moonbound packs. The lack of an alpha bond would torment a wolf, unless that wolf had never experienced such a bond. Unless that wolf had never had a pack.

Ryan couldn’t imagine it.

Kate’s fingers tightened in his hair, like she could feel the frustration swirling in him. He gazed up at her face, but she wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were fixed on her new alpha, and for good reason. Bracken’s magick was swirling around them in the cab, and he probably didn’t even know it. He’d been thrown off by this visit to Somewhere.

Big time.

“How could she have been raised without a pack?” his mate asked, curling her fingers against his scalp and scratching. This was something she did subconsciously, when she was tense, like she was scratching a dog’s neck for comfort. He liked it, but it was turning him on a little too much. Or turning his wolf on. Or both.

“She doesn’t remember her family. Her mother apparently dropped her off at a church in New Orleans when she was a baby, which also suggests that there was something wrong with the mother.” Bracken’s magick tightened the air and made it harder for Ryan to breathe.

“Hey, Brack,” he said in a low voice. “Your magick.”

The air calmed again and both Kate and Ryan let out long breaths. Her fingers relaxed, back to her normal stroking. He was gonna get hard at this rate.

“So what happened at the end of the summit?” Ryan pulled his mate’s hand onto his chest so she’d stop lighting up all the nerve endings on his big head, making his little head think it was time to dance.

“Aaron called things off on account of Phillip’s display this morning. We were already starting to realize that we’d need to call a bigger summit together,” Bracken said. “Francis and Aaron have some business contacts with other packs. Adam and I know a few more packs who have wolves that are regularly on the rodeo circuit.”

“There are the McConnells, in Kentucky,” Ryan said. “The Gallaghers and their Proulx cousins in Colorado and Wyoming. The Vegas pack.”

“Falcon Scott’s little pack in Kansas,” Bracken added.

Kate’s fingers momentarily tightened around his, like the mention of the Manhattan pack had dredged something up for her. But she relaxed her fingers back against his chest, steering clear of his wound. It would take time for that name not to bring up emotions for her, but he tried not to show that he’d noticed her response.

“Francis Dubois is connected to the Rangers,” Ryan said, continuing like there was nothing strange happening.

“And he’s planning to ask his nephew, Rainier, who’s a Ranger, to join us in Vegas.”

“Vegas?” Kate and Ryan repeated at the same time.

“Yeah, Aaron wants to call a big summit in Vegas in a few weeks. The week before the next moon, so we’re not stuck shifting in a completely unfamiliar place. He’s offered to pay transportation costs for all the alphas. He knows some hotel that will basically give us a wing of the place, and he wants to convene as many wolves as he possibly can. He’ll get in touch with all the alphas he knows, and so will Francis, and so will we.”

Kate looked down at him. She could hear the expectation in Bracken’s voice just like Ryan could. Were they really going to ignore the fact that he was mated? Again?

“Uh, Brack…” Ryan started, not quite sure where he was going with this.

“Yeah, I know. We’ve got to talk about this alpha stuff.” His big shoulders went up and down, against the seat in front of them. Ryan could feel the magick swirling again.

“Yes, we do.” Kate’s fingers returned to his hair, absently. She might as well have wrapped her hand around his dick.

Ryan pulled himself up into a sitting position, wincing at the pain. Once he’d slid against Kate’s side, he wrapped his arm around her back. He’d rather be in a little bit of discomfort than get a full-on erection in the truck with his alpha.

“You mated her, and that’s your choice.” Bracken shook his head. “I wasn’t going to stop you, if that was what you wanted.”

Not like I stopped myself, Ryan imagined him saying.

“That was what he wanted,” Kate said matter-of-factly, slipping her hand onto Ryan’s thigh.

He pulled his arm off the back of the seat and grabbed her hand. That wasn’t going to help his half-mast dick either, but it was probably just a permanent problem around her.

“It’ll take us some time to find a new candidate for alpha,” Bracken said. “I can stay on until we can find and train a new one.” There was a drop in his voice, like the mere thought of losing Ryan gave him pause.

But he was giving as much of his blessing as he could give. If that was the best he could do, then Ryan would take it.

Outside the vehicle, Ryan could see the early glow of Dallas in the west, like the sun was setting in the city. It would only be a few hours until they were back in Durant, and then everything would be new.

For the first time in his life, Ryan wouldn’t be the next alpha or the almost-alpha. He’d just be Ryan.

He wasn’t sure what that would feel like.

Maybe the rodeo thing had come out of his mouth with Phillip Quade for a reason. Maybe he’d get back to bulldogging. Or start training the younger guys who needed some mentoring and were fresh out the chute.

He knew they’d start a family. Ryan moved his hand to Kate’s thigh, feeling the soft material of the borrowed jeans under his palm. Hell, they might have already started a family, with all the sex they’d had. That thought calmed and excited him, all at once.

It hadn’t struck him until now, until he and Kate had bonded, that the alpha was a father in role only. He was never a dad.

After meeting Kate, Ryan wanted to be a dad. In his heart, he knew, he would love his children more than he’d ever imagined loving his pack.

---

Kate snuggled against his shoulder and he put his arm back around her so she could settle right in. It felt pretty damn perfect, having her pressed up against him like this. Having her in his life and at his side and in his corner. He was one lucky son-of-a-bitch.

“Let’s get through the pack meeting first. I don’t want to jump any guns,” Bracken said from in front of them. But Ryan had drifted off for a second, daydreaming about getting Kate back to his bedroom so they could get started on those babies.