~ RIG ~
I took a deep breath and prayed, then lied to my father through my teeth.
“I’m thinking… I’m thinking I tell him that you want me to establish the pack before the matebond. That he’s going to be my second, and not to tell the others, because they all want it too. Not to tell Charlie, because he’ll be mad. I’ll tell him I’m going to spring it on the others that we’ll do the vows when we get back from our trip. He won’t want to submit to me, Dad. But he won’t want me out of his sight either. So if he’s planning to challenge me, he’s going to solidify his support while we’re gone. Charlie will sniff it out. If he does, I’ll kill Mack and his little human… whatever she is while we’re gone. We come back and no one has to think about it again.”
Everything went very still in my head for a moment—as if I stood on the edge of a cliff and had lifted one foot out, over the plummet to certain death.
Which, I supposed, in a way I had.