My father’s face turned purple faster than I could backtrack. “What I would have done is irrelevant.” He stepped into my personal space and I backed up instinctively, groaning inwardly when my spine hit the tree trunk. “I am your sire and your Alpha. I do whatever has to be done, in large part because whelps like you can’t remember to follow orders!”

“Okay, yes. You’re right.” Like he needed me to tell him that. I exhaled slowly, gathering my wits as I grounded myself with the feel of the bark beneath my fingers. “But what you would have done is not irrelevant. It’s imperative. You’re training me to take over for you one day, right? To be as good a leader to the Pride as you are now.”

I probably shouldn’t have played the successor card, especially coupled with a heavy helping of sycophancy. But if the ends justified the means…“How can I do that better than by emulating you?”

His scowl deepened. “You’re not going to get out of this with flattery, so don’t even bother.”

Damn. “Fair enough.” I sighed and made myself meet his angry stare. “But can you honestly tell me you would have let that poor girl—that child—suffer alone out of fear for your own safety, when you could help her and everyone else by simply showing a little courage and compassion?”

For a moment, my father only looked at me, and I held my breath in anticipation of his reaction, mortified to realize I was scolding my-Father-the-Alpha. Oh, shit.

Then, to my absolute amazement, my father crossed his arms over his chest and nodded, by all appearances conceding my point. “Well said.” His face showed no hint of a smile, meaning that while he might—by some miracle—be proud of me, he was far from happy. “I hope you can say it again just like that, because no matter how good your intentions were, they don’t excuse you disobeying a direct order. The tribunal is going to want a word with you.”

“Yeah, I figured.” I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking. When I opened them again, I found my father watching me, still in that same closed-off posture. “I’ll do whatever I have to do. Apologize, take another suspension, or even a night in the cage.” Since we both knew there was no cage here. “All I ask is that you protect Kaci.”

His brows rose in surprise, and his expression softened ever so slightly. “She told you her name?”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you. I was in there working, not goofing off with my girlfriend. We didn’t paint a single toenail!” Not that I’d ever done that in my entire life.

He actually smiled at that one briefly before recomposing his business face. “What did she say?”