Chapter 18: Second

Under the old rite, a ward who is challenged names a second, who stands at her back in the ring.

I didn't know that until Joss told me.

He said it at the cabin table with a plate of eggs in front of him.

"Second," I said.

"It's a person who stands behind you and takes the blow if somebody cheats. It's an honor."

"What's the catch?"

"They might get hit."

"By Brant?"

"By anyone, Bri. It's a ring."

I looked at my oldest brother.

He had a beard full of crumbs and the Alpha's silver pin hanging off his collar on a loose thread.

"I want it," he said.

"You're the acting Alpha. You can't leave the pack to stand in a ring."

"The pack's fine. It's been fine for a week. Nobody's attacked it, and the roof is fixed."

"It's my roof."

"It's the pack's roof, because I fixed it."

"I held the ladder," said the youngest from the stove.

"He held the ladder," Joss agreed.

The door banged open, and the other three came in with a sack of potatoes between them.

"We heard," said the second eldest.

"Heard what?"

"That Joss is trying to be second."

"I'm not trying. I'm asking."

"It should be me," the second said. "I'm next in line."

"Next in line for what?" said the third. "The Alpha's pin? You can't lift a ladder."

"I can lift a ladder."

"You can't lift a ladder, you carried the quilt."

"The quilt was heavy."

"It was a quilt."

"It had a lamp in it."

"Okay, stop," I said.

Nobody stopped.

The fourth, who had been quiet, set the sack of potatoes on my table and cracked his knuckles.

"I did kickboxing for two years," he said.

"You did one class," the second said. "You cried at the sparring."

"I cried because the instructor was rude."

"Everybody cried. He was a wolf. He bit a man."

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