Kay had just poured herself a third cup of coffee when she heard Gideon’s voice in her mind, assuring her that the fight, short as it had been, was over and no one had been hurt.
Greta looked at her and frowned. “What are you grinning about?”
“It’s over! Our men are dumping the bodies outside the Green Mountain compound and then they’ll be home.”
“Brett?”
“He’s fine.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” Greta sagged in her chair.
Kay nodded, her relief short-lived as she realized that they’d only won a battle, not the war.
Greta looked up, her expression suddenly grim. “It isn’t really over, is it?”
“No. It won’t truly be over until Rinaldi calls a truce. Or …”
“Or you defeat him,” Greta said, finishing Kay’s thought.
“Or he defeats me,” she said, and saw the truth of it in her aunt’s eyes.
Kay tried to put the thought out of her mind when Gideon, Brett, Tyler, and Hatten came into the kitchen, laughing and grinning and high-fiving each other.
“Where are the others?” Kay asked.
“I thought it best if we keep watch the rest of the night,” Brett said. “Hatten and Tyler and I will go out and relieve some of the others as soon as we clean up.”
“Good idea,” Greta remarked, noting the blood stains on their clothing.
Gideon sat at the table, listening as the men bragged about their kills. Greta poured coffee for everyone, including Gideon. She grinned sheepishly when he lifted one brow in amusement.
When Tyler and Hatten finished their coffee, they excused themselves and went to get cleaned up. Brett and Greta followed a few minutes later.
Gideon remained silent as he watched Kay rinse the dishes and load the dishwasher. She wiped off the counter and the stovetop, emptied the dregs from the coffeepot, and refilled it with fresh water.
“Kiya.”
“What?”
“Sit down.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked anxiously.
“Just come and sit down.”
She dried her hands, placed the dishtowel on the towel rack, then sat across from him, her hands tightly folded on the tabletop. “What?”
“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?”
“Nothing’s bothering me.”
“You can’t lie to me, Kiya.”
“Then why ask? Just read my mind.”
“You’ve got every right to be worried, and no one would blame you for being afraid. It’s not easy, making decisions that affect the lives of people you love, people you’re responsible for.”
“They could have been killed tonight. All of them. How could I ever face Greta again if Brett had been killed?”
“If your aunt was Alpha, she would have made the same decisions you did.”
“How do you know that? Did you read her mind?”
“No, I read Brett’s.”
“We need to end this now. I don’t want it to drag on, never knowing when Rudolfo will strike again. And now that we’ve killed three of his men, he’s going to want vengeance more than ever.”
Gideon shook his head. “Don’t even think about it.”
“It’s the only way to end it.”
“Dammit, Kiya, you can’t challenge Rinaldi! There’s no way you can beat him. He’s older than you are. He’s got years of experience. And he’s twice your size.”
“Have you got a better idea?”
“Just one,” he muttered. But she would never forgive him for it.
As it turned out, they didn’t have to wait long. Rudolfo Rinaldi sent a message to Kay the next night. The message was brief and to the point. Either she would fight him to the death on the night of the next full moon, or she would surrender leadership of the Shadow Pack to the Green Mountain Alpha.
Kay read the message three times. She told herself it was what she’d wanted, that if Rinaldi hadn’t contacted her, she would have contacted him before the night was out whether Gideon approved or not. But now, seeing the words in print, she knew she wasn’t ready to face Rudolfo in a battle to the death. She hadn’t planned it ahead of time when she defeated Victor. When she knew that her aunt’s life was in danger, instinct had taken over. She had been as surprised as everyone else that she had won the battle. But this, meeting Rudolfo at an appointed time … knowing only one of them would survive the fight … it was scary beyond words. She wasn’t ready for this. She wasn’t sure she would ever be ready. Gideon was right. She didn’t have the skill or the knowledge to defeat an Alpha werewolf.
“Kiya?”
She looked up to find Gideon watching her. Wordlessly, she handed him Rinaldi’s message.