51. The Power of Pride

“Yes.”
Sona obviously already knew that, but to hear it confirmed still stung. But it was nothing to what Taos felt.
But she couldn’t say what was going through his mind. There was little known about the former Redbone Alpha Serkin. He kept Redbone completely sequestered from trade with all other packs, and rarely showed up to Alpha meetings—when he did, he was covered in blood from a freshly killed stag slung around his shoulders. He flaunted, bluffed, threatened, sneered, and panicked.
His worst crime was decimating the Silvernight pack when he was just twenty-two years old. They used to be neighbors, but rumor claimed Serkin wanted to expand Redbone’s territory by seizing their exports—the livestock and game that they raised.
And he did so savagely.
Silvernight had no chance. They were smaller, newer, its Alpha young. They certainly weren’t ready for a full-scale attack…and within hours, there was nothing left of Silvernight but decimated homes, mangled bodies, and frightened livestock.
Well, that was his second-worst crime. Nothing and no one could compare to the devastation he caused to the Leto pack almost twenty years ago now. An unprompted, bloody, chaotic butchering.
The true story, much less Serkin’s motive, was still unknown. Some would say all that mattered was that the ruthless leader died in the fires he started. It could be confirmed by Edom and Conri’s trade.
But why would Leto give up a spoil of a lost war?
That was only one question of many tumbling around Sona’s brain.
The point was: did Taos care at all about his father? Would it be closure to have his remains returned to his birthplace? Would that outweigh the deceitful way Edom was able to achieve this horrible accomplishment?
Or…did Sona somehow impossibly become more important—enough that devotion to family and pack took lower priority than her life?
Taos snorted. “Do you regret it?”
“I answered your question, my Alpha.” Somehow he was able to speak relatively well with a broken jaw.
“And I’m asking you a godsdamned next one. Answer or say goodbye to a body part.”
“Taos, please,” Sona begged. “This is counterproductive.”
He glared at her. Gods, he looked so deadly… “You want him to go unpunished for being traded to that sick bastard in exchange for fucking *ashes*?”
“I…” Sona looked between him and the injured Gamma. She’d never seen such anger before; it confused and scared her. She was a Goldwater healer—sworn to heal in a pack that treasured peace and harmony. Redbone could make fun of her by calling her a pacifist; she didn’t give a shit. Solving violence with violence just wasn’t always the answer.
She took a deep breath. On the exhale she looked Taos straight in the eye and said, “An apology can be considered punishment.”
Taos considered. She sensed a flicker of his annoying charm return with the prodigy of his cheek with his tongue. “That is true. It’s incredibly painful to admit fault when all you have left is pride.”
“Then I’ll make it painless,” Edom said briskly. When Sona looked at him, she found that he strode up to her, looming over her, a deeper shadow than all the others, limned in the faint blue of the glowworms. “Sona Mai, I apologize for the ill-intended deal with my own enemy. Pride produces pettiness. Being half a century old, I should know better.”
Sona blinked at the confession. Though blanketed in shameless dislike, she could still hear a smidge of regret. And it was in her nature to forgive.
She offered the smallest of smiles. “I apologize for intruding upon your and your packmates’ lives. I never mean ill-will. I only want to help and save other wolves where I can. Here’s my promise: to prove myself worthy of being Taos’ Luna. I want to care for your pack as my own. I will bear responsibilities and duties. I will offer and accept guidance. I will teach and learn. I will protect and defend.
“And,” she continued, a little breathless, “I will forgive you if you let me fix your jaw.”
Both males were stunned speechless, though Edom’s expression was still neutral.
“Fuck,” Taos breathed. “Isn’t she fucking incredible?”
The Gamma cleared his throat, still staring at her. “Your words mean nothing until they are enacted.” A pause. Then he lowered himself onto his knees before her.
Sona inhaled sharply. It was a gesture of surrender. Of yielding to a stronger opponent. Of respect. Of pleading.
Or it was just him kneeling so she could heal him.
Without thinking too much into it, Sona took Edom’s face between her hands—and jerked. A sharp crack had his jaw back in place. He grunted a curse and rubbed at it as if to scrub off the pain.
“There,” she sighed. “All better?”
Though she had released him, Edom made no move to get up and away from her. She figured he’d want to put as much distance between them as possible. But just as they confounded her, she confounded them.
“How,” he said. “Why? Why are you forgiving me?”
Sona couldn’t help her quiet laugh of wonder. “Because you came back. You saved me from our enemy.”
Edom’s expression still didn’t change, but she couldn’t miss the brief catch in his breath.
Taos’ arm snaked around her waist to pull her against him; she barely noticed. “None of us are worthy of forgiveness, Sona.”
“I don’t believe that,” she murmured, tearing her gaze away from Edom’s to Taos’. “Can we go back, please?”
He seemed to be easing back into his normal obnoxiously cocky attitude. She never thought she’d be relieved—only a little, she snapped at herself—to see his smirk. “Back…home?”
Relief dimmed. She opened her mouth to say, *Not yet*, but she wasn’t sure if that could be true—yet.
Her silence was answer enough. Taos jerked a nod. “Clarify: *my* home. Yes. Let’s go.”
With Edom a few feet behind, Taos led Sona back through the cave in silence. Questions kept piling up in her mind and her tongue burned to ask them. It didn’t help that Taos was taking his good old fucking time. After a minute of walking, she realized he was waiting for her to start blurting words.
Sona shrugged him off; he didn’t seem miffed about it. He just asked cheerily, “Don’t hold back, trinket.”
“What did Edom do? How did you find me? What was—”
“My gift?”
“It’s a gift?”
“Of course it is, trinket. What else? I’ll answer them in one go.”
“Well…that’s all I’ll ask for now.” She paused sheepishly. “So…what’s my gift?”
Taos chuckled. His sharpened teeth glinted white in the glowworms’ light. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” he purred as they finally reached the cave’s exit tunnel. “How about another trip tomorrow?”
“I sense that I don’t have a choice.”
“In this, of course not, trinket.”