Page 51

Marcus was the last to step out of his car. His dress shoes slipped against the loose gravel of our driveway, and he frowned at the ground. When he looked up, he scanned until his gaze came to rest on me. “I thought you owned a construction company.”

“And?”

“Must not be doing well,” he said, kicking a larger rock aside.

“Why do you say that?”

“Seems you would have paved your driveway if you had the funds to do so.” He shook his feet as though to get the dust off them and strolled toward the group.

I didn’t answer. Instead, I greeted the others warmly. Marcus wanted to piss me off, and he did, but I wasn’tabout to show how easily the big cat could push my buttons. A fight would make the alphas declare sides and effectively do the opposite of what I meant to make happen.

Besides, alphas weren’t supposed to hurt each other without cause, and an alpha could be deposed if they attacked another. It was the way it had always been, and it would always be that way.

No matter how hard Marcus worked to get me to punch him in the face, I wouldn’t give him the pleasure.

Probably.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

logan

“So, why are we here?” Torbin, the bear alpha gruffed with a trace of a Scandinavian accent still.

“I have news,” I answered.

“What news?”

“I’d like to wait until everyone is here.”

Torbin nodded. His people had been in Louisiana for centuries, working as trappers and trackers, and most alphas deferred to him as the oldest and most experienced. Bears valued size over speed, and their alpha was largest among the large. His shaggy white hair hung nearly into his hazel eyes. Handmade beads had been braided into his unkempt beard.

Before I could speak, Phil appeared around the corner of the manor in his dark gray wolf form. His ears swiveled back and forth before he darted away with two other wolves in tow. My thoughts drifted to Rachel. Iwould be searching, if my bigger responsibility wasn’t here at this moment. If Acheron had her or had injured her in any way…

I addressed the group. “We’ve had a development which is safer to discuss inside and in person. Please follow my beta.”

Olivia stepped forward. “This way.”

No one spoke as we marched toward the training room.

Olivia discreetly punched her code into the keypad and pulled the door wide, directing each shifter into the building. Dr. Wise would be in a small, adjacent room where she could record the proceedings without impacting them. The alphas agreed with her purpose of recording our history. It helped that Dr. Wise had agreed to a death sentence if she was ever identified as an information source in the human community.

I ushered Olivia in with the others then scanned the surroundings before stepping inside the building myself and pulling the door closed until it clicked. When I entered my code, the door latched, making it impossible for any shifters outside of our pack to enter. Yes, it was dangerous to speak of the emergence in an unsecured location, but it was equally dangerous for all of us to be collected in one place together.

We numbered thirteen alphas, and we each had hundreds of shifters in our packs, some closer to four hundred, some with only one hundred. Between us, we represented a couple thousand magical beings and an incredible amount of magic.

We didn’t have much time before the gathering would be noticed and targeted, and I had no way of knowing which of them had heard about our mysterious arrival. Mincing words wasn’t an option, and my opening remarks would be direct and concise.

“Please find your seats so we can begin. Food is available, if you like. Plates there.” I pointed to the stack at the end of the folding table.

Phil and Olivia had organized everything else as a buffet line. Each could serve themselves, so we wouldn’t have extra sets of ears to hear what was said.

“I’d rather know what you have to say before I decide whether or not I’m hungry,” Torbin announced. He pulled out a large chair and dropped into it. The chair groaned beneath his weight.

Marcus looked as though he smelled the stench of something foul. “Well, I, for one, already suspect what this meeting is about, and none of the food looks worth plating. Please get down to business.”

A ripple of agreements ran through the others.

What an asshole.He couldn’t say anything without taking a swipe at our pack.