The conversations in the dining hall quieted as I entered the following morning for breakfast. Heads turned to watch me, to see where I would seat myself. Most people lost interest when I chose to sit by Asa and Valorie and didn’t venture over to where the other pack was seated at their own separate table.

“I should have gotten up early to get here first,” I muttered, annoyed. I dropped a bagel onto my plate and grabbed the tub of strawberry cream cheese.

“Probably,” Asa said around a mouthful of eggs.

The back of my neck prickled. I ignored the presence I felt suddenly behind me, hoping the person would move on.

Of course, that didn’t happen.

“Why aren’t you sitting over there?”

Adam.

He was Bryce’s younger brother. Adam used to be a kind kid, but as he grew, he started taking more and more after his brother. I’d done my best to avoid interacting much with him. I wanted to remember Adam as my childhood friend who used to ask me to play hide and seek with him in the forests. And I didn’t want to remember that I was once madly in love with him.

I half-turned, looking up at Adam’s face. He seemed genuinely curious, head tilted slightly and eyebrows furrowed.

My jaw almost dropped. When had Adam grown so much?

Probably when you were purposefully not looking, my inner voice pointed out.

He was tall now, probably taller than Bryce now, and a dark stubble dusted his face. His shoulders had widened out, making him look like a man instead of the gangly teenager he had been when I decided I needed to start ignoring him and put myself first.

There’s was only a moment’s hesitation before I answered, but I knew that either Asa or Valorie would comment on it later. “Why should I be?”

He grinned at me as he pitched his voice low, “I heard you put on quite the show for them last night when you all but pissed in my brother’s face. They didn’t immediately fight over you?”

A blush crept over my cheeks, a splotchy red, and I hissed back, “How did you hear about that?”

Adam tossed his head back and laughed. The sound was richer, deeper now that we were older. “He told me himself. Idiot. He should have known his own strength—or really, lack of it—better. And he should have known you better than to try that nonsense. But I wanted to thank you for it.”

“You’re…why?”

“Why?” He stared at me then, meeting my eyes purposefully. I tried not to look away. But I could feel the pressure building, and after half a minute I had to. I blinked, repeatedly, shaking my head and smiling slightly. That clever dog.

Adam was stronger, more dominant than his brother, a fact that I just proved. “You going to make a move for it?”

Adam shrugged. “Not for a while, at least. I don’t think my father plans to step down for another decade, if he has his way, and I’m in no hurry. But I want to continue proving myself first, so there’s less of a chance of a fallout.”

“Maybe your father will arrange for Bryce to be married off, too,” I teased, easily. Adam smiled and the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly.

I turned away. I didn’t want to admit to myself that it hurt to talk to him like old times. “You’d better get going,” I encouraged. “Don’t want your brother to see you conspiring with the enemy and have a stroke.”

“Wouldn’t that be a sight?” I heard Adam take two steps and then pause. “You will be missed here, Eliza. Just…know that, okay? No matter what bullshit Bryce says.”

My eyes followed Adam’s retreating form for a moment before I remembered myself and turned back to my meal. I stared at my plate and dutifully started splitting apart my bagel, smearing it with the cream cheese.

Asa cleared her throat purposefully and I ignored her. Valorie kicked me under the table.

“Ow!” I yelped. “What the hell?”

“You’re still in love with that boy,” Asa said, quietly. “Almost as much as he’s in love with you.”

“We’re not in love with each other,” I shot back. Immediately, I regretted making that mistake. To my friends, they just heard a confession. I hastily tried to cover it up. “All of that is behind us. And we’re different people now, anyways.”

“Oh, please,” Valorie laughed. “Didn’t you listen to what he said?”

I paused, thinking back over the conversation. My eyebrows furrowed as I came up empty.

“He asked,” Valorie clarified, “why the two alpha’s sons didn’t immediately start fighting over which one would get to marry you. Which implies that he thinks they should be.”

“And,” Asa chimed in as she leaned close, “how did he know that was an option, anyways? He’s been asking questions.”

“Or someone told him? I mean, he is our alpha’s son.” My excuse was weak, even to me. Why would anyone care, as long as the alliance was secured?

I wanted to bury my head in my hands. But until I left, people would be looking at me. I had to keep up appearances until then.

It doesn’t matter, I tried telling myself. You won’t be here much longer anyways. Then you’ll forget all about him because you’ll be with a new pack. There will be so much to learn. You’ll be too busy to remember him.

Then why did I feel like the world was suddenly caving in on me?

***

I tried pushing thoughts of Adam out of my head as I searched the halls casually for either Jonah or Noah. To be honest, I already liked Noah more. He at least had acknowledged my existence and held a conversation with me. And at least we seemed to be on the same page about this entire situation. He was reasonable, and I felt fairly confident that he would be willing to try to come to an agreement of some sorts.

Hopefully.

But it was Jonah that I met on the stairs leading up to their rooms. I had the pretense of checking to see if they needed anything or had any questions that I could answer. Meeting on the stairs, in the main hall, was certainly not ideal. Too public; too many chances for someone to walk by and overhear a conversation that I did not want overheard.

“Morning,” I said, trying to be friendly but not too cheery. Jonah seemed like a dark, stormy cloud from the way he held himself and refused to acknowledge almost everything. I offered only a grin, not a smile, in hopes that he wouldn’t think that I was trying to get on his good side. If he even had one.

His brief glance at me told me that I failed.

I tried again. “Everything going well so far? Do you need anything?”

“No,” was the gruff reply.

“If there’s anythi—”

“I won’t.”

And he stalked down the stairs without so much as a glance at me.

Prick.

I knew I wasn’t that repulsive. But it still stung a bit, and I spent the rest of the walk towards the guest suites that there decidedly was a problem with him and not with me.

I knocked on the door to James and Henry’s suite, whose names I had overheard earlier, to be polite. I wasn’t sure what was expected of me, being the beta’s daughter, and the only female in any sort of position to offer hospitality. Maddock had never truly married, no actual wedding with vows, but his mate had died when Adam was born. Not to mention that my own mother didn’t survive the change to wolf, when I was only a baby. There was a distinct lack of female leadership for me to learn from, and I was trying to figure it out as best as I could. I needed to make a good impression, considering that there was a decent chance that I’d end up with the brother who would become the alpha. What did being an alpha’s wife entail? I needed to figure that out, and fast.

A thousand questions regarding the expectations of being an alpha’s mate flitted through my mind as I waited for either of the wolves to answer the door. Would I be expected to entertain the guests? Would I go with my future husband on these yearly trips to the different packs, or be expected to stay and play house? Did the men do everything? Or were there women in leadership positions, too? It certainly seemed like my future pack was male-dominated; no women had come with them, after all.

It was getting harder for me to curb my tongue, not to mention my actions, if last night was any indication. If I was going to be expected to be a polite, submissive wife, I was going to be in trouble. I felt as though I had been waiting for something, waiting for an opportunity to spread my metaphorical wings. And if I tried to spread them now, only for them to be clipped…

I shook my head, clearing the intrusive thoughts. I had probably been standing outside the door contemplating all of the complications before I realized that minutes had likely passed. I moved on to Jonah and Noah’s door. My heart was hammering, but not as much as it probably would have if there had been a chance that sulking Jonah was in there.

Rapping three times on the door, I took a step back and waited.

And waited.

Figures.

I hung my head as I gave up. I’d have to come up with a new excuse to search for Noah now. Nothing immediately came to mind.

“You okay?” A voice sounded from my left.

I whirled, too caught up in my own thoughts to have even heard anyone approach.

Noah stood there, a mixture of concern and confusion on his face. At least, that’s what it appeared to be to me. I wasn’t an expert on his expression, not yet, but I was a quick study.

“Not really,” I answered too honestly. I mentally kicked myself, and rushed to change the subject. “But I was actually looking for you. I wanted to make sure that you have everything you need.”

“Jonah mentioned you had asked him, and he told you we didn’t need anything,” Noah answered, his brow furrowing.

Great. Now I was starting to look desperate, coming here to ask the same questions again.

“Can I be honest with you?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Your brother seems to be a man of few words,” I began. One side of Noah’s mouth quirked. “And he was very dismissive when I tried to ask. I wasn’t sure he spoke for himself or everyone.” I gestured to the other suite door.

Noah grinned fully. Not a smile. But I’d take what I could. “Yeah, he can be a moody bastard.” Now it was my turn to grin. “Thank you for checking on us. We do have everything we need, but if there’s anything that comes up, one of us will be sure to let you or someone else know.”

“Thanks for the straight answer.”

“Now it’s my turn to ask; can I be honest with you?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way. But…” I felt my heart sink. “This is a very… unusual situation our father, our alpha, has put my brother and I in. We both had different expectations, which did not include an arranged marriage for either of us. If he was doing this, as our father and not our alpha, we would have argued with him. But as our alpha, we can’t disobey him, although we still don’t like these circumstances.”

I interrupted. “Trust me, I’m with you on that.” I offered a wry smile, one that was, thankfully, returned.

“Right. You get it.” Noah nodded to himself. “That almost makes it both easier and worse, oddly enough.”

“This entire situation is odd.”

“Very.”

“Listen, I…” I hesitated. “It’s not great, for any of us. But I don’t think we’re going to get out of it. Would it be too much to ask to spend some time together, try to get to know one another? It is possible that we’d get along, or more than that, really.”

Noah turned his head, bringing up a hand to rub the back of his neck.

“I…what you say makes sense, but we’re here on business.”

“I think I can argue that I’m now a part of that business,” I pointed out, starting to get irritated. I had a valid point; I knew I did. But he was not making it easy. “Can we at least give it a chance, see what happens?”

He didn’t say anything, averting his eyes to look out the window. It was enough of an answer for me.

“Alright, fine,” I conceded, now seething. If he didn’t even want to entertain the idea, then fine. Some of my growing anger slipped into my voice as I spread my arms wide and said, “If you’d rather flip a coin at the end to see who’s stuck with me, then be my guest.”

I didn’t wait for a response before I stalked back the way I had come. A part of me regretted the words and the callousness with which I spat them out. But if one of them was to be my husband, they had better know ahead of time that I had an attitude when blatantly ignored or dismissed.

If they wouldn’t make it easy on me, so be it.

I was up for the challenge.