AARYN

Reth stared at him across the living room, bristling. After a lifetime of seeing him as the Alpha of all, everything in Aaryn was urged to submit, to drop his eyes, roll his shoulders forward and make himself less. And Reth knew it.

The hair on the back of Aaryn's neck rose. He didn't break the eye contact. He would not submit. "You are a good father, Reth. And you were a good ruler. But this is not your battle to fight anymore. What happens between my mate and I will happen without your oversight. And what we decide—what she decides—for Anima will occur whether you get your way or not."

Reth grunted, a warning in his eyes. "She cannot make a decision on an issue she is not aware of."

"She also can't carry everything. This is something I can—and have—carried for her for years. I keep them in line, Reth. You think they aren't strong enough to have caused you problems before now? They are. They didn't, because I made sure they didn't."

"They?" Reth asked, sitting back in his chair, eyes still locked on Aaryns. "You lead them, Aaryn. Are they yours, or not?"

"The Outsiders belong to no one. I lead within. Someone has to. But no matter what you think you heard, we are not a Kingdom, Reth. We are just people who need someone to stand behind them. And we choose each other."

"In an organized hierarchy."

"Yes."

"And if you gave an order that conflicted with Elreth's? Who would the Outsiders listen to?"

"I would never do that," he said.

Reth raised his eyebrows skeptically. "Humor me, Aaryn. If you gave an order to the Outsiders that flew in the face of any ruler, who do you think the Outsiders would follow?"

"I'm guessing that depends on the individual."

"Don't play games with me, son."

"I'm not. You're the one who's been aware of this and not told me. If you thought it was such a problem—if you really believed I would shift power against you—why didn't you ask me sooner?"

"Because I knew I was strong enough to kill you if you did," Reth said, his voice low and puttering into a growl at the end.

Aaryn's entire body tensed.

There had been only two times in his life that Reth had ever challenged him as a male, rather than treating him as Elreth's friend, or a surrogate member of the pride. The first time Aaryn was sixteen and, in a rage, had been disrespectful to Elia, Elreth's mother.

Reth had dominated him so swiftly, Aaryn had cowered and almost wet himself.

The second time though…

Two years earlier, just weeks after Aaryn took dominance among the Outsiders, he'd hit a rough patch. The stress of his role and the secrecy around it, along with the frustration of his adolescent love for Elreth blooming into something deeper—and still completely unnoticed by her—had put him in a fierce mood. He'd been snarling at people for days.

Elreth had brought him home to help her move into the Tree. She was about to turn eighteen and had decided if Gar was younger and already out of the cave, she didn't want to share it with her parents anymore either.

She'd teased him about his foul mood, so he'd already been tense. Then when he'd helped her move the last of her things to the Tree and they'd stood there together looking at her new place, she'd suddenly dissolved into tears. It took him by surprise. Elreth was usually so steady.

It turned out she was just emotional about being alone and apart from her parents for the first time. But she'd thrown herself into his chest and he'd been able to hold her—really hold her for the first time… well, ever, really.

His entire body tingled.

And when she looked up at him, tears in her eyes, and begged him not to tell anyone that she was such a pussy, he'd promised her. Of course.

Then Reth walked in without warning—they really didn't ever knock, these Royals—and he'd seen Elreth's horror and embarrassment.

Everything in him had resisted the male's presence.

Aaryn had turned on Reth instinctively, putting Elreth behind him to hide her, and half-crouching as if he would leap.

It had shocked Reth more than it shocked him. But his own challenge trigged Reth's dominance and the two of them stalked each other while Elreth snapped at them both to grow up.

There had been a moment between them, though, before Elreth got between them, and Reth blinked, and Aaryn backed down, when he'd thought felt the same thing he sensed now. He'd pushed it aside at the time but now…

The Reth sitting across from him, challenging him, regarded him not as father to son-in-law. Not as ruler to citizen.

Reth swelled in front of him—and watched, alert, his entire body poised in recognition from one Alpha of another. The desire to dominate was prominent. But so also was the respect.

Aaryn had to hold himself in check. An Alpha of Reth's stature didn't resist a challenge from a weak male. He dismissed it. Entirely. Just as Aaryn had done when Dargyn got in his face. The challenge was laughable. An Alpha might put someone in their place, but there was no fear. No caution. At times, they might even turn their back to show how little they cared.

But a true threat?

When an Alpha sensed a challenge from any male he saw as a genuine threat, he brought everything he had to bear against them.

As the seconds ticked away and neither of them moved or backed down, Aaryn had to ask himself, if Reth challenged him for the Outsiders, what would he do?

It was a question that had never occurred to him.

But as soon as it entered his head, he knew the answer.

No way was he giving his pack to someone who had threatened to banish them from the Tree City.

No. Fucking. Way.