“This will be the last break before we get to the Kerry Clan,” I informed the beta when I stepped out of Shaede’s beaten down sky blue truck, “Tell the others, bathroom breaks, pick up snacks if they want to, there’s a gas station across the street. We’ll pick back up in half an hour.”

“Understood.”

When he walked off I turned and reached over the bench-like seat of the car and unbuckled Rebel so he could slide across the seat and jump into my arms, clinging to my neck as I stepped back and shut the door, a smile on my lips as I brushed the black hair at the nape of his neck. The smile faded fast when I heard footsteps behind me, turning to see Priscilla walking towards me.

“Why are we stopping?” she asked in a dull voice, and I sighed.

“We’re taking a quick thirty-minute break so the pack can refuel, go to the bathroom, and stretch their legs. We’re wolves, remember, we don’t do well in cramped spaces.”

“We don’t do well when we’re forced to pick up and leave a home where we’d been setting down roots for god damn decades,” Scilla hissed, and I carefully set Rebel on his feet before ruffling his hair.

“Can you go pick me up some snacks with Uncle? Daddy has to discuss something.”

Rebel frowned and clung to my leg as he glared up at Priscilla, I could sense his anxiety and wariness, he didn’t want to leave me with her, but eventually he let go of the grip he had on my jeans and ran over to where Shaede was standing looking around suspiciously.

I turned back to Priscilla, “You’ve known this would happen since you were a kid, Amos was very open about discussing the union of the Kerry and Paige Clans to prepare his pack. The entire reason I was raised to be an ambassador was so I could move to the Paige Clan and help Amos with the transition. You were fine with this before, why are you suddenly so against it.”

“Because I thought when we moved we would have an alpha,” Scilla explained with a snarl, “I figured my father would be leading us.”

“You have an alpha,” I growled lowly, and Priscilla sneered at me.

“Do you really think the pack respects you? A wolf who broke customs and had a bastard child?” she reached up and grabbed my chin in her hand, “Maybe if you got rid of that runt, dropped to your knees, and begged for your chosen mate’s forgiveness with that naughty tongue of yours, then the pack would follow you, but that thing is no heir. Even if the clan respects you, no one will follow that tainted heretic as their alpha. Assassination of faulty leaders is not entirely heard of. Someone will step up to challenge him, and none of us will be willing to defend him.”

My stomach jerked and my hand flew out at Priscilla, slapping her hard across the face and making he stagger a few steps, eyes wide as she grabbed her throbbing cheek, “You can threaten me all you want,” I hissed lowly, stalking towards her, “I don’t care if you send rogues after me, I’ll rip them to fucking shreds, but if you ever threaten my son again,” my hand shot out and she squeaked as I wrapped my fingers around her throat, squeezing just enough so she understood I wasn’t joking, “I will fucking kill you.”

Her dark brown eyes widened considerably, lips parted and tiny choked noises leaving her throat as she gaped up at me. I could see through her gaze that she was utterly terrified, and that gave me a kind of rush. My wolf was snarling in fury, scratching at the inside of my skull, making my ears ring, but I ignored it. I didn’t care if he was pissed I was hurting our mate, the bitch was threatening Rebel, and I would not stand for that.

“Daddy, we got chips and Gatorade!”

I yanked my hand away from Scilla’s throat and stepped around her to meet Rebel as he scrambled over to me hugging a brown paper bag, Shaede walking behind him with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

“Did you get me my favorite color?” I asked with a slight strain to my voice, and Rebel dug around in his bag before yanking out a bottle for me.

I pulled Rebel against me as Priscilla stalked past, glaring at her until she was far enough away that I felt safe letting my son go, smiling at him at taking the drink, “Thank you little man.”

“What was that about?” Shaede asked me quietly as Rebel ran back over to the truck and scrambled to pull himself into the car.

“Nothing,” I lied, twisting the bottle cap open, tensing when Shaede touched the back of my hand to stop my movements, making me sigh, “She threatened Rebel,” I explained, and he hummed.

“So, you choked her?”

I looked up at him, startled, “You saw me?”

“No, but her throat was red when she passed me. There might be a bruise left over, which would put you in a bad position with the rest of the pack. If they think you’re abusive-.”

“I’m not,” I snapped, yanking my hand away from him, “How is it no one ever thinks through the possibilities? I would never hurt anyone for no reason! She threatened my son!”

“I know that, Scott, but these wolves will be looking for any reason to go against you. It could be dangerous for the alliance if the ambassador was assumed to be abusing his Paige Clan mate.”

I sighed in frustration and ran my hand back through my hair, pushing it out of my face and looking over to where Rebel was sitting patiently in the car, a little bag of Bugles in his hands. I had to put up with Priscilla, for his sake. Even if she was psychotic and would probably try to overthrow me or at least strike at Rebel, I had to put up with it.

I promised Amos I would unite the packs, I promised alpha Wade as well. I couldn’t let them down. Which meant I had to sacrifice my own happiness to keep everyone happy, including Priscilla. Being an alpha means a lot more than having power and commanding the warriors beneath you. It means sacrificing things, sometimes things you really want, for the good of the entire pack, and the good of the customs…

I swallowed hard to get the thick lump down, closing my eyes and inhaling slowly before turning towards the truck and stepping over to it, leaning against the open door, “Rebel, baby, we need to talk.”

He looked up at me with wide gold eyes that reminded me so much of Malcolm, pulling a half-eaten bugle from his lips and frowning, “Did I do something bad?”

“No, sweetie,” I assured, pulling myself into the car and shutting the door, putting an arm around Rebel’s shoulders and holding him close to my side, pulling the silver locket from around my neck and running my thumb over the crescent moon carving, “I know you want to meet your papa, and you’re going to, but baby he can’t know about you.”

Rebel pouted a little, “What do you mean? Will he not like me?”

“Oh, sweetie, he’s going to love you!” I laughed softly, lifting the hand on his shoulder and pushing his messy fringe out of his eyes to kiss his forehead, “But, baby, adult issues are complicated. Papa can’t know you’re his, okay? I want you to promise me you won’t tell him. I’ll tell him when the time is right, I promise you that, but you need to trust me. Okay?”

Rebel was scratching at the bandage on his cheek, looking down with heavy uncertainty in his eyes for a moment before lifting his head, “I can’t tell papa he’s my papa?” he asked, and I nodded, struggling to contain the ache in my chest.

“He could get in trouble. We may end up becoming burdens to him, and people might yell at him, like Priscilla yells at me. We don’t want him to be yelled at like that, right?”

Rebel shook his head, “But I can tell him later, right?” he asked hopefully, “When no one is yelling at him, I can tell him and we can be a big family!”

I pushed my face into his hair and nodded, “Yea, baby, one big family. You, me, your papa, Shaede, your grandma and your grandpa. But until then promise you won’t tell. It’s our secret, okay?”

“I promise,” I assured me, and I sighed, rubbing the single tear away from my eye before pulling back and smiling at him, stroking his cheek with my thumb.

“I’m proud of you, little man. You’re my little alpha.”

I looked over my shoulder when Shaede knocked on the window of the car, feeling grateful that he’d given us both some privacy. I reached over and rolled the window down using the creaking handle on the door, smiling at Shaede when I got it down.

“How can we help you?” I asked, and Rebel giggled as he climbed over my lap and leaned against the door.

“Do you want fries with that?”

A rare smile broke across Shaede’s lips and he shook his head, raising his arm and propping it against the roof of the truck, “Garlic fries with real garlic, none of that garlic salt crud.”

“We have bugles!” Rebel said, holding the little bag towards Shaede.

He just chuckled and reached out to ruffle Rebel’s black hair, the smile turning a little as he looked at me, “Are you okay?

“Yea,” I breathed, clearing my throat, “We should head out now.”

“Right,” Shaede turned and called over to the beta, who nodded his head in understanding and called for a fifteen-minute head’s up.

Shaede got back in the truck and drove it across the street to the gas station to fill up the tank, and I watched the rest of the pack getting back in their cars as Rebel settled back in the seat next to me and buckled himself in, kicking his feet in excitement.

We were on the road for maybe twenty minutes before Rebel snuggled against my side and fell asleep, my arm wrapped securely around his shoulders to keep him close as I watched the sky out the front windshield, idly letting my thoughts wander.

Shaede has owned this truck for longer than I’d known him. It was old and dusty with cracks in the glass and chipping paint, and it sputtered horribly when he turned the engine over, but he seemed to be really attached to it. It was like me being attached to the silver locket Malcolm had given me. Whenever he had free time he was working on his truck to keep it working, I couldn’t even name all the personal modifications he’d put into it to keep it running.

Being in the truck with Rebel asleep against me was nostalgic in a way, remembering how I’d first met Shaede, how he’d essentially saved my life before driving myself and Rebel the rest of the way to the Paige Clan. I couldn’t thank him enough with just a few words, so I was happy he was still with us. I could repay him a little at a time by assuring him he always had a home with us. I’m sure Wade and Cecilia would agree.