Although the walk back to our cabin was more than a little awkward, it's nothing compared to dinner in the farmhouse. Ten minutes in, and I can see that this dinner is going to be such fun. Not.
That the alpha thought to invite Leo hasn't helped matters. So I've had to get used to him sitting on the other side of the large wooden table, glaring at me.
As if the weird tension between Kier and the smirking alpha isn't enough, the large dining room isn't exactly warm. So, while the day was mostly sunny and mild, now that the sun has gone down, I'm a little chilly.
Sitting at a table surrounded by men-and only men-while dressed in a tank top that is now a crop top because of Kier's forceful nature isn't the time to be cold. Not when it draws attention to certain body parts that I'd rather everyone except Kier would ignore. But it seems my nipples have become a highlight of this dinner.
I know I'm no great beauty, not like Savannah with her long blond hair and big blue eyes. Still, guys have never seemed to have a problem with my dark brown hair, my large brown eyes, and my slim body. Getting a guy has never been a problem, keeping one is. Or should I say, keeping the right one.
"So, all the women busy today?" I ask as I butter my bread roll because there's only so much awkward silence I can take before I feel the need to fill it with something. Even if it's only more awkwardness, at least I'm not just sitting doing nothing.
The alpha, a guy with shaved dark hair and penetrating hazel eyes that look vaguely familiar, turns away from the staring match he's been having with Kier since we arrived ten minutes ago. "They have their place, and it's not at the table with the men."
So this is the kind of pack I've landed in. Fun. Such fun awaits.
"How nice for them," I murmur, as I butter my bread a little harder. A piece breaks off and lands on the table. I ignore it, just as I ignore Kier's hand closing around my thigh. In warning, I guess. "I mean, it's not like-"
"Why did you send the brothers after me?" Kier interrupts.
"We'll get to that," the alpha replies as his hazel eyes drill into mine. "Hallee, was it?"
I smile, though amusement is the very opposite of what I feel right now. "Yes. With a double L and a double E." Why I feel the need for him to know this, I couldn't tell you. But focusing on the spelling of my name seems a little safer than revealing my increasing rage at the way women are treated in this backwards pack.
"That isn't how you spell Hallee," Leo sneers.
I turn to him, still ignoring Kier's hand clamping even tighter around my thigh. "Well, Leo isn't how you spell stupid, but you don't hear me offering up my opinion, do you?"
His face turns a mottled red, and he shoves his chair back.
Before he can rise, the alpha snarls and Leo immediately lowers his head.
Wow, dude has these shifters on a tight leash. Frankie said it, but I never imagined it would be this short or this tight.
I turn my attention back to the alpha to find he still hasn't taken his eyes off me. "I'm Jaxon. With an X."
I nod. "Nice name. Unusual."
He inclines his head as if he's royalty, or as if I've just paid him the biggest compliment ever. This alpha is old enough-maybe mid to late thirties-that I thought he'd have outgrown the sense of self-importance younger guys can have, at least the types that think they're god's gift to women.
While not unattractive, clearly no one told this guy that having a big head can never be attractive to women. At least it never can be to me. I like a bit of modesty in my men.
"You and Kier aren't mates," he says, with absolutely no subtlety whatsoever.
I lower my bread knife and meet his gaze. "No, we're not."
He waits a moment as if expecting me to fall over myself answering a question he hasn't even bothered to ask me. When I don't respond, a dark smile touches his lips. "I'm curious why not."
"Well, you're going to have to stay curious because it's nothing to do with you."
The room plunges into silence, but Jaxon throws his head back and laughs. "Oh, I like you."
"Thanks." I take a bite of my roll before putting it to one side so I can turn my attention to my steak and loaded baked potatoes.
As Jaxon doesn't seem to think much of women, I'm guessing none of them think much of him either since no one thought to tell him that occasionally eating some veggies won't kill you. It can't always be steak and buttery, bacon-topped potatoes, as much as we'd all like it to be.
"You must be curious about us, at least a little," Jaxon says.
I steal a peek at Kier, who has finally given up on squeezing my thigh in favor of picking up his knife and fork. His expression is unreadable as he carves up his slab of medium-done steak.
A glance at Frank reveals a curiously blank face. I'm guessing he's been giving Jaxon a run-down of everything he missed with our arrival, as well as his belief that Kier has been keeping secrets from me.
It looks like Jaxon might be getting ready to tell me what those secrets are. "I'll admit that I am a touch curious."
"We Stones are a hard bunch, but we're not unfriendly. Wouldn't you agree, Savage? Yeah, I heard that's what you're calling yourself now."
Wait. Stone? He can't mean…
"Stone?" I ask, hoping I sound merely curious because I know two brothers called Stone, and I'm hoping that this is just a coincidence.
Given what little my former packmates, Regan and Savannah, have told me about Jeremy and Jackson's former life, I hope I haven't landed right in the middle of the pack that threw them away like yesterday's trash.
"Yes," Jaxon says, "Stone. Is the name familiar to you?"
The spark of amusement in his eyes tells me he knows why the name would be familiar to me.
I shrug. "Just heard it around. I'm guessing you or someone here was responsible for the shifters attacking my packmates?" I ask instead, because why else would Kier come straight here after what happened with Jenna and Marshall if this alpha didn't have a hand in it?
Jaxon shrugs. "I cannot always keep track of everyone in a pack so large."
Given his snarling at Leo, and the screaming Kier and I heard on our arrival, I doubt that very much. "Right. So, these… brothers wanted to kill Kier?"
Kier still hasn't spoken a word. He's quietly eating his steak and potatoes as if he doesn't have a care in the world, which is… odd, to say the least.
He didn't want Frank telling me anything when we were in town, and now he's happy to let Jaxon fill me in on everything? If I wasn't the sneaky one, I'd suspect he was up to something. But what?
Jaxon shrugs again as if it has nothing to do with him. "Perhaps. Who can say?"
He's lying. Everything in me is screaming that he's lying.
"And I'm guessing this… vendetta might be something that continues?"
Jaxon smiles, looking pleased. "Perhaps. Kier left a lot of enemies behind."
"Enemies you can't control because there are too many of them and there's only one of you?" I cut my steak and take a bite, chewing slowly as I appreciate the tender meat cooked to perfection.
"Being an alpha is a lot of responsibility. It isn't easy to keep on top of every little thing."
I take a bite of my loaded potato next and, after chewing, I swallow and reach for my glass of water. "Oh, I get it. My alpha would be up at the crack of dawn sometimes and be working right until midnight. It's a tough job. Really tough. I couldn't do it."
Although Kier keeps his gaze fixed on his plate, I'm suddenly conscious he's paying more attention to what I'm saying than he is to his meal.
I ignore him in the face of Jaxon's widening smile as he reaches for his glass. "Not everyone understands."
"It seems to me…" I frown. "You don't mind me offering my opinion, do you?"
Jaxon shakes his head. "Not at all."
I cut another piece of steak and chew thoughtfully before swallowing. "Well, it seems to me that this"-I wave my fork around-"vendetta situation will keep on going without end. I mean, Kier will lose his patience, well, I guess he must have already for him to be here to confront you about it. And you will get annoyed at being blamed for something that wasn't your fault."
"I agree, Hallee. This situation, the way I see it, will continue without end. Or until Kier is dead, most likely. As I mentioned before, Kier left a lot of enemies behind. I can't always be on hand to rein them in."
I nod in agreement. "That's what I thought. So, there's really only one way to put an end to it. A permanent end."
Kier stops eating. By now I can feel everyone's eyes on me, as if sensing I'm building up to something. The only person who doesn't seem to get it, funnily enough, is Jaxon, who is leaning relaxedly with his elbow on the table and his chin resting on his hand. "And that one thing is?"
I go back to cutting my steak. "A challenge, of course. You and Kier have to challenge for the position of alpha. To the death." Finished cutting my steak, I fork a piece and glance up at Jaxon.
His glass of water is at his mouth, but it's as if I've shocked him not only into silence but stillness as well.
"I mean, that's the only permanent resolution I see. Why did Kier leave in the first place? Maybe that might be a better way of resolving the issue."
"He killed my brother, the alpha," Jaxon says in a flat voice.
I frown. "I don't understand. Then why isn't he alpha? Why are you?"
No one responds, and that's when it hits me. The reason for Kier leaving, and the reason Jaxon doesn't care about the pack going after him.
When Kier killed the last alpha, he should've been the one to take over but left instead, leaving a void that Jaxon filled in his absence.
"Oh, that's…" My voice trails off.
"Messy. Yes," Kier says, as he places his knife and fork down beside his empty plate. "A challenge does sound like the best way to resolve this. Permanently. What do you say, Jaxon? Will it be tonight or tomorrow?"