Untamed: An Alpha's Promise (Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance) by Evelyn Glass

effects. This time she knew he couldn’t be so lucky. She sank into the bench, too overwhelmed to weep, while both Scottie and Parker paced back and forth. Their constant need for motion puzzled her; all she wanted to do was curl up in a little ball and sleep until someone told her that her father was going to be okay.
     
    “Did you hear what Christopher said to her today?” she heard Scottie ask Parker in a low voice. “Any truth to that?”
     
    “She didn’t, and I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Parker sounded genuinely confused.
     
    Shit, I didn’t tell him! She had planned to call her mother after dinner, but they’d never made it that far.
     
    “He threatened her. Gave her an ultimatum. Said it was you or him, because you’re planning to kill him.”
     
    “That’s ridiculous and completely untrue.” His reply was calm but indignant. “I wouldn’t kill Charmaine’s brother.”
     
    “That’s not the word on the streets.”
     
    “Says who? Christopher?”
     
    “I may have heard something myself,” Scottie challenged, and when Charmaine turned to look at him she was pleased to see him turn red under Parker’s steely gaze. He’d heard no such thing, and it was unfair of him to say that he had. Jealousy .
     
    “I doubt that very much.” Parker was completely self-assured as he answered the other man without taking the bait. “And I promise you, this will all be history soon enough.”
     
    Scottie looked at him incredulously. “Our packs are sworn enemies. You can’t possibly make that promise.”
     
    “I just did. I’ve petitioned the Council to renegotiate the treaty between our packs, and the next step is to have a meeting with Christopher. No one needs to get hurt.”
     
    Scottie shook his head. “Christopher will never go for that, dude. I’m sorry to tell you this, but that’s not happening. He’s been talking about re-engaging the border scouts. If he had his way he’d bring things back to how they were a century ago. He still thinks there’s only room for one pack here.”
     
    “Respectfully,” Parker replied, “if that was the case, my pack was here first and we have territorial rights.”
     
    “ Respectfully , I doubt he gives a shit,” Scottie retorted. “He already told Charmaine that she had to make a choice between you or her pack, and he all but threatened war. The guy’s always been an asshole, and now he’s a powerful asshole, which makes it worse.”
     
    “There are other factors he might care about.”
     
    “Such as?”
     
    Parker hadn’t expected Scottie to ask that question, and it caught him a bit off guard. “Well, for one, we’re Mates. We didn’t choose this. The treaty clearly forbids inter-pack fraternization unless approved by Elders, but there is a special exception for Council-recognized Mates.”
     
    “You say you’re Mates,” Scottie scoffed. “Who’s to say if that’s even true?”
     
    “Any Council Elder can peek in my head, or hers, and see the visions that prove it’s true,” Parker reasoned with him. “I wouldn’t make that up; it’s easy enough to call me on it, and that’s a punishable offense. I’d lose Alpha status for that, or worse.”
     
    “Okay, so you’re…” Scottie forced the words, as if the very taste of them was unpleasant, “ Mates .”
     
    “And interfering with officially Mated couples is a punishable offense.”
     
    “Except when done by an Elder or an Alpha,” Scottie countered. He’s not as disinterested in pack law as Charmaine seems to think he is , Parker realized. He actually knows his shit. “Which means Christopher can do what he wants.”
     
    “There’s an exception to that, actually.” He hadn’t wanted to say it like this, but it might as well come out.
     
    Scottie frowned. “I mean, yeah, if you count Article Seventeen…” He and Parker stared at each other for a moment before Scottie broke eye contact and fell silent. His Adam’s apple worked