No Quarter by Anita Cox Page B

might have been the only time Nala would witness emotion in the eyes of her nemesis. The words had wounded her as evidenced by the large tears gathering in her eyes.
    “Get off my land,” Nala barked at them before turning on her heel. “What happened to you?”
    “Jake. Jake wanted me to let you handle this without me. We fought.” He threw his arms around her and pulled her in tight. “Damn I was so worried.”
    “I’ll escort them to the property line,” Prometheus offered with a slight bow of his head toward her.
    Having a Centaur warrior escort them made a clear statement. “Thank you.”
    “You look like hell. Did you two really fight?”
    He laughed as his head bobbed. “He’s strong as a bear, I tell you. You don’t have to ever worry about him losing a battle. He’d rip his own arm off to beat you with it if he had to. My brother is crazy.”
    As they made their way back toward the house, he described their fight in detail. It was less of a fight and more like Jake restraining Colin, insisting that Nala had to prove herself as Alpha. “He said that if I came to your rescue it would undermine you as Alpha.”
    “It would, except it was an ambush.”
    “That’s what I tried to tell him. But the others were on their way already and…let’s just say that we disagreed…strongly.”
    She spoke in a low voice so the others following could not hear. “I’ve never heard of abjure. What does that mean?”
    He turned his head to look her in the eye. The look was sad. “It’s how you disown your family permanently. It’s a very old tradition not used much anymore but it’s as formal as it comes—and permanent.”
    “Did he really do that? When? Were you on the phone with him?” When they reached the house, Nala took a seat on the patio, pulling her mate next to her as she examined his nose.
    “When you called out to me, Roman and Grace heard you. He sent the message telepathically.” He waved her hand away from his face. “My nose is fine. I healed already.”
    “I don’t understand,” she said as she leaned back against the table, “why didn’t he tell me?”
    His hand was wrapped around hers in an instant. “We sort of all talked about this when you became Alpha. We knew you’d face adversity and that your strength, both inner strength and perceived strength would come from your dealing with that adversity. We don’t want the others thinking you need our rescue to be Alpha, just as when I was Alpha.” He rubbed his face. “Since I was the Alpha of this pack, it is very important it doesn’t appear I’m a defacto-alpha. You earned your spot. It’s not a façade.”
    As she fought to digest what he said, anger welled up inside. How was it that everyone was privy to this discussion except the woman in question?
    “Because, it’s more effective when you’re allowed to act and make decisions without the outside influence of that knowledge.” His unexpected wink chilled the fire flowing through her veins. How could she continually forget he could now hear her thoughts?
    “I see.”
    “You just faced your first challenge head-on, without fear or hesitance. You did that because I wasn’t lurking. Jake was right to hold me back.” Large heavy arms wrapped around her as he pulled her in for another hug. “Bastards. Five-on-one? Who does that?”
    With a deep cleansing breath, she leaned back against the stone table. She closed her eyes for a moment, forcing herself to calm. “I saw this coming. I knew when I protected a Gnome and restrained her she’d get revenge. It isn’t hard to see her moral compass does exactly point due North.”
    Colin shook his head. “She’s always been different. Stephany never fit in here, which is why she migrated to Chicago. She wanted to be by the big city, not among the dirty forest. Roman suspects they have different fathers, though never had any real reason to think his mother was unfaithful.”
    “What?” She shook her head. “Weren’t his