She Stole My Wolf, So I Rejected the Alpha novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Father and Son

Merrick didn't flinch from the flames.

"I'm not four years old, Father," he said.

The word went through the yard.

Garth swung the torch again.

Merrick stepped inside it. The fire passed over his shoulder, and he caught his father's wrist in one hand.

For a moment they stood chest to chest, the same height, with the same pale grey eyes a hand's width apart.

"Kneel," Garth said.

It was the Alpha's voice, full strength, the voice that had made two hundred wolves go down on the frozen grass.

I felt it in my own knees.

Merrick did not move.

"Kneel."

"Silver can't be leashed," Merrick said. "You told me that yourself, the morning you threw me out."

Garth snarled, and wrenched his arm free, and the torch came down.

Merrick ducked under it and drove his fist into his father's ribs.

Garth grunted. He backhanded him across the face with the hand that held the torch, and sparks flew off Merrick's cheek.

I started forward.

"Stay back," Torin said, catching my arm. His face was grey. "It's his, Briony. It has to be his."

I stayed.

I have never stood so still in my life.

The two of them circled each other in the orange light. Garth was older, but he was heavy and quick and mean. He fought like a man who had never lost to anyone he couldn't command.

Merrick fought like a man who had spent nine years alone with a grudge and a pair of boots.

Garth swung. Merrick took the hit on his scarred forearm, and the old marks split and bled.

He did not make a sound.

He hit his father in the mouth.

Blood ran down Garth's chin. The Alpha stared at it, and for the first time he looked startled.

"You were never supposed to come back," he said.

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