“You’re an asshole, you know that?” Noah didn’t even spare me a glance. “You’re causing more problems than you’re solving.”

“From your perspective, perhaps. But that just goes to show how in the dark you’ve been kept all your life.”

He turned down to another hallway. I struggled to keep up with him, his long legs easily out-striding my normal-length ones.

“Then enlighten me,” I demanded. I jogged a bit and nearly tripped over my own shoes in my haste. I jumped in front of him and stopped, forcing him to either halt or plow right into me. For once, he took the gentlemanly option and stopped.

I jabbed a finger into his chest. I almost hurt my finger doing so. Not fair. “You told me that I could trust you. And yet you’ve done the exact opposite, without even bothering to explain things to me. Sure, I’m probably ignorant of a number of things, but that doesn’t give you permission to dismiss me like that!”

He crossed his arms, the navy fabric of his shirt straining against his biceps. Not that I noticed, of course.

“Since you insist. I don’t care about keeping your trust. It is my job to make sure that my father is as fully informed about everything as possible, and that includes letting him know that none of the women here have undergone even the most basic of training. You got lucky with the vampire, and you might have decent instincts, but that won’t matter in a real fight. It makes you a liability, one that my father needs to be aware of.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off as he stepped around me and started walking. “Being a pack leader means that you have to be willing to make sacrifices for the well-being of the pack. And losing your trust is a cheap price to pay to ensure that this vampire problem gets solved with as few chances for death as possible.”

He stopped two doors down, and I realized we had reached where his father’s temporary office must have been set up. He knocked, two quick, sharp raps, and glanced back at me with an eyebrow raised.

That insufferable jerk.

“Enter,” a quiet voice sounded from the other side of the door. Noah opened it and stepped through. He left the door open behind him, a clear invitation to join.

It would be better to go, to know what was said to be able to do damage control. But my heart didn’t want to. It wanted to go back to my room, curl up with a book, and ignore the problems around me.

Well, shit.

I took two deep breaths, stepped forward, and shut the door behind me.

Noah didn’t turn to look at me when I entered, but his father met my eyes, surprise flashing across his face for a moment before he masked it with a calm, open expression.

“Eliza,” he greeted, warmly. It made me relax imperceptibly. He gestured to the open chair next to his son. I hesitated a second before taking it.

“I have to say,” he began, “I am impressed with the pack’s finances and ability to afford such a place as this. It truly is remarkable.”

I didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t cause issues, so I kept quiet and nodded my head. Tobias looked at me, really looked at me, as he leaned forward towards me.

“Can you provide any insight?”

I hesitated. This was another touchy subject, just like the training issue, that I didn’t want to touch. But I also didn’t want to refuse to answer my future alpha. Father-in-law. I considered the best way to answer, and eventually came up with an option that would have to do.

“Everyone is highly encouraged and motivated to work for the pack’s company,” I finally said. “It’s been a generational endeavor, and our own compound here shows to the customers the quality and longevity of the work.”

“And everyone lives here?”

I nodded. “Almost all of us. There are a few who left to pursue specific degrees. We’re a small enough pack, compared to others, and it helps to keep everyone together.”

“I understand.”

That simple sentence worried me. How much of what I didn’t say did he actually understand? Definitely more than he was letting on.

“Father,” Noah interjected, before his father could ask any more questions. “There’s a serious problem that I believe needs to be immediately addressed.” Tobias turned his gaze back to his son. It was the only permission Noah needed to continue. “The women in the White Fang pack have no training. Seeing how Eliza here and Valorie handled the reconnaissance mission has me worried that the women can’t even defend themself.”

I stayed silent, picking at the hem of my shirt. I digested how Noah spoke to his father. It was respectful, but I felt that he didn’t blindly follow Tobias like Adam and Bryce followed their father.

Tobias leaned back in his seat, touching the tips of his fingers to his lips. “Mmm. That does pose a serious risk if the fight is brought here. Which we hope it won’t, but we’ll need to figure out a solution. I’m assuming you have an idea or two?”

I saw Noah nod from the corner of my eye. “I see two main solutions. First, the women who will not or cannot train should be offered an alternative place for the time being until this is resolved. It puts them out of harms way. Those who are willing and able to train should begin immediately. I was thinking that there should be two sessions a day, one morning one afternoon, about four to five hours long each. This way they can still do what they want or need to, and they can pick when they’d prefer to train as well.”

Glancing up for a moment, I noticed the pride in Tobias’s eyes at his son’s suggestion. Noah imperceptibly straightened under the unsaid praise.

“Eliza,” Tobias addressed me. “What are your thoughts on my son’s plans?”

I blinked, surprised to be asked my opinion. My mouth opened and closed twice before I was able to formulate my answer.

“There will definitely be pushback,” I admitted. “If the women are sent away, that leaves very few who can handle domestic tasks, like the cooking and washing and cleaning.”

“Many of those things can be worked around,” Noah interjected.

“Also,” I continued, ignoring the interruption, “the majority of the older women work for the pack’s company, doing finances or interior design, jobs that will not be so easy to work around when our servers and devices are here in house. I know there are several in-progress projects right now that are being handled. It would be poor business to delay these projects, and push future ones already under contract back.”

I glanced over at Noah to gauge his reaction, and felt a bit smug when he did not immediately have a solution.

“Your pack’s company is fairly up-to-date in terms of technology, then?”

I nodded. “It allows us to stay a bit ahead of the curve. We can render 3D models for clients that they can access online, anywhere.”

“Must be a big investment,” Noah commented.

Deciding not to address Noah, I simply looked at Tobias as he considered my words.

“We will need figure out who is staying and leaving first. Perhaps we can find some laptops for those who will leave.” Tobias stroked his short beard as he continued thinking. “Maybe even a temporary job change for the ones that have to be in-house. There’s some options. But I do think we need to start addressing this right now.”

Tobias stood, and Noah and I naturally followed his lead.

“I’ll meet with Maddock and let him know of the changes. Eliza, can you find a space for training? One big and open. The dining hall will do if there’s nothing, but if we can find a different space, I’d rather that.”

“I’ll see what I can find,” I answered. Tobias nodded at me once in dismissal. I turned, making sure to give Noah a look to convey my displeasure, and left.

I shut the door behind me took a few steps away. Pausing, I waited a few extra seconds before carefully trekking back to the door and pressing my ear against the seam.

“…not right. Look into that for me,” Tobias was saying.

“Of course,” came Noah’s muffled voice.

“If you see Jonah before I do, let him know the plans.”

I heard movement, a shuffling of feet over carpet, and quickly backed away from the door. I took a dozen steps down the hall before stopping and leaning against the wall, arms crossed. If Noah came this way, then I’d say my piece and leave. And if he didn’t, I’d save it for later.

As fate would have it, he immediately spotted me when he left the room. It only took him nine steps to reach where I leaned against the wall. He went to ignore me and keep walking.

“You’re no better than Maddock,” I said quietly. He hesitated. “You know that, right?”

He didn’t answer, didn’t move, didn’t even breathe. It was like the calm before the storm.

“You think you know what’s best for everyone when you don’t even know them. You came up with your plan at the drop of the hat without knowing or seeming to care how it will affect the pack.”

I turned around and braced my hands on the windowsill as I stared into the south courtyard.

“Especially me. Do I know that there are things I don’t know? Yeah. But that doesn’t give you, or anyone for that matter, the right to make decisions for me. You say being a leader means making sacrifices. I get that. But being a leader also means that you care about each and every pack member; you know your people, and you consider what they want and need individually, too. You can’t tell me that you know my pack, even on the most basic level. I do. You also can’t say that you know me, either. Which means you have no idea what level of hell I will be living through for the next week and a half because of that stunt you just pulled.

“You acted as though I didn’t think things through, either. But do you think calling out everyone’s weaknesses in front of the entire pack will get you any respect? All I needed was for you to train me. I would have handled the rest. Let my friends in on what I was doing, offering them to join me. Then gradually spreading it through the rest of the pack, and letting people voluntarily choose to train instead of giving them an ultimatum. Was it a perfect plan? Probably not. But was it more sensitive to my pack’s dynamics? You bet your ass it was.”

I waited a few breaths, wondering if he’d reply. It was so silent that I had to turn to see if he was even still there. He was, and he was looking at me with an unfathomable expression. I had no idea if I was about to get my ass handed to me or not. So I figured I might as well put the nail in the coffin.

“You never gave me the chance to explain this to you earlier. You just bulldozed right over me. You told me to trust you, and so I tried. And you immediately betrayed that trust. I probably could have said something to make you stop and listen to me before you ran off to dear old dad, but I was panicking. And I also shouldn’t have to resort to begging and fancy words to get an alpha to listen.”

I held his gaze for a fraction of a moment longer before I turned and stalked off on shaky legs. That had felt good, but I also had no idea what consequences I might face for it later.