“And Maverick?” I countered.

“Maverick is not the Alpha. Nobody cares about his take on the whole thing because he has to accept my father’s opinion.”

And that was exactly the problem. I would not submit to some bossy Alpha whom I then had to obey without resistance. It might be that as long as we lived here, we had to abide by the rules of the witches. But it was still better than belonging to a group where one’s own opinion did not count. I didn’t need a manipulative pack. End of discussion.

“My dad already knew why he left,” I murmured.

“Everyone needs a pack, Julian. That’s where you’ll get help if you’re in trouble.”

Her voice sounded calmer now. More insistent. I knew what she was trying to say.

“But I’m not in trouble, and I don’t need you,” I drove at her a little too harshly.

She looked hurt. I hadn’t meant for that to happen. Then again, what did it matter? Maybe, at some point, she’d finally let it go.

Pretty quickly, she managed to hide her emotions again, which was unusual for Emely.

“You’re cocky, Julian. Has anyone ever told you that?”

I was cocky, then. If it kept me from wanting them to keep me around, I was just fine with making them beg until they finally realized they might as well have been talking to a fucking wall.

“And you shut yourself off completely. When was the last time you let anyone get to you?” she added.

My expression darkened, and I clenched my hands into fists.

I didn’t need to let anyone get to me. That was exactly what had made me bleed. If you let other people get close to you, you became controllable, vulnerable... It was probably the pack’s ploy to keep members from suddenly disappearing. I wouldn’t fall for that.

Emely took a deep breath as if it was me who was causing trouble right now.

“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t always ask you. My father just wanted you to know that we always have a place for you.”

“Then tell him I don’t need that place,” I growled, turning around.

I was sick of Nickolas’ offers. If they needed newbies, they should go recruit others. Maybe some wild wolves who roamed the woods and purposely harmed others. That scum needed a pack much more than I did.

“What did she want?”

My father’s voice startled me.

I looked around quickly. Emely had disappeared.

Annoyed, I looked back at Dad.

“The usual.”

“What did you say?”

He looked at me with concern.

“Don’t act like you weren’t listening, Dad. I’m not going to be a part of this bullshit.”

My dad didn’t say anything about it, but I knew how he felt about the pack.

“Any news?” I asked, not in the mood for small talk, but my dad knew what I meant and quickly got to the point.

“Just some hikers I stopped from going into Fogs Forest.”

I nodded pensively.

While I wanted nothing to do with that town, these missing people cases had caught my attention. Because if the pack had anything to do with more and more people disappearing in the woods around here, it didn’t look good for my family either, even if Dad was the town’s police chief.

“You shouldn’t throw away your friendship with Emely.”

With those words, Dad turned and went back into the house.

Once again, I clenched my fists. Something sharp was digging into my skin.

I remembered that the blue stone I had found a few minutes ago was still in my hand.

I opened it and looked at it more closely. Only now did I see that the charm dangled from a subtle silver chain. The stone, a crystal, was about the size of my thumbnail but not particularly heavy.

It must have fallen off the Adams girl earlier when she had tried to lift the suitcase out of the trunk. That strange girl.

She was Ms. Adam’s daughter, but she didn’t smell the least bit like a witch. Maybe I was just mistaken, but nothing like this had ever happened to me before. The sharpness of my senses must really have reached a drastic low point.

The thought of earlier made me grin again.

I put the necklace in the pocket of my jeans.

She would get it back—just not today. She had made me understand that I had gotten on her nerves, and that was something I had to get over first. Usually, girls would run after me unasked. I hoped that would change on campus.

This girl here was different, not my type, though, and way too stubborn, even though she looked really cute with her different-colored eyes.

“Are you coming in, little brother?” Mia’s asked from our porch.

According to Dad, my little sister was much more mature than me at the age of 15. To be exact, she was the complete opposite of me. I was the stubborn loner, while she owned the role of the responsible angel in the family and gathered a bunch of friends around her in high school. And even though she drove me crazy sometimes, I loved her. Without her, I probably would have been screwed.

“Yeah, pain in the ass,” I grumbled, the corners of my mouth automatically moving upward.

Mia grinned back. “First one to the table!”

I didn’t need to be told twice.

Chapter 4

Emely

How could Julian be such a stubborn ass? It wasn’t like we wanted anything wrong from him. Actually, he also knew that my father would never force him to join the pack. On the contrary. He had given his word to the Bardots, and the word of an Alpha was a rare gesture of generosity.