Page 31

Cole

I look at General Amir evenly, holding his gaze.

“I want Nadia to have full access to all the information I have. I want her in on meetings, debriefings, planning, all of it. She’ll have a vote in the proceedings of this operation – even just a minor one.

I’m going to tell this to my father, and I want you to support me on it. ”

General Amir raises an eyebrow. “Well, that’s a terrible idea.”

I gape at him.

“What?” he asks, smirking at me and lacing his fingers together as he leans further back in his chair. “My girl throws a temper tantrum, and you reward her with unprecedented access?”

I scoff. “I am not giving her rewards – and I’m not responding to her temper tantrum like I’m her indulgent father or some-“

“Damn right you’re not.”

General Amir’s tone surprises me. I sit taller in my rickety chair.

“You’re being impulsive, Cole,” General Amir says, his voice low, words swift. “You’re eager to please her, which I understand, but she is a student nurse . She is clever as anything and a leader amongst her peers, but her clearance in this operation is precisely what it should be.”

“She is –“

“On probation , your highness,” he cuts in, smooth as hell, studying me. “And yet you let her boss you around? Demand to be included on expeditions she does not need to attend? Shout at you in earshot of your subordinates, who all absolutely heard her tonight?”

Slowly, General Amir shakes his head.

I collapse a bit, my will evaporating on a sigh. Suddenly, I miss my father’s guidance very, very much. Even if he is being a jackass about Nadia’s humanity.

“What the hell am I supposed to do, sir?” I turn my hands palm up, completely without answers.

General Amir laughs gently and breaks out of his steely demeanor, leaning across his desk toward me.

“Cole, if anyone understands how tempting it can be to simply let Nadia have her way to keep the peace, it is me. Or perhaps her younger sister, the only person who truly stands up to my girl and wins.”

I raise my eyebrows at this, surprised anyone has that honor.

“But there is absolutely no reason for you to give her that kind of access. Not to appease her. Not to give her information she wants, perhaps deserves. Not to satisfy your own guilt.”

I hold General Amir’s gaze, slowly beginning to shake my head. “She’s a nursing student now, General Amir, but one day she’s going to be Queen – a position that is fully entitled to all of the clearance that I have. That I will ever have.”

General Amir tilts his head in mock surprise. “Oh, have you asked my daughter to marry you?”

I narrow my eyes.

“Has she said yes?”

My eyes only get narrower. “She barely lets me talk to her, sir. You know this.”

“I do,” he murmurs, smiling softly, I think deciding to go easier on me. “Can I speak to you plainly, Cole?”

“Sorry, is this…not speaking plain?”

Amir huffs a laugh, smiling genuinely at me now. “As you’re aware, my boy, I have long studied wolf history. I understand your culture and your traditions. I would venture to say that I understand the Children of Solace far better than you do as well.”

I nod, agreeing to it. General Amir is an expert – I’d never counter that.

“But,” he continues gently, “I am a human . And so is my girl. So, you’ll forgive me if I proceed through the rest of this in quite…human terms.”

“All right,” I say, growing wary.

“If you want to date my daughter, Cole,” General Amir says quite softly, “I will support you. But you’ve got to play by human rules, which are harder.”

I feel a blush rise to my cheeks – because even if I’ve already declared in this conversation that Nadia will be my Queen, this feels, somehow, so much more intimate.

General Amir watches me as he speaks. “We don’t have mating bonds in our world – don’t have bonds at all.

We don’t understand them in the visceral way that you do.

When you walked down those steps and declared to everyone that Nadia is your mate, everyone in the room except Nadia understood how serious, important, and true that is to you.

Even those amongst you who do not have mating bonds remember, on some level, the ties between parents and their pups. It is real to you.

“Amongst us humans?” he continues. “Love, relationships – they’re all faith. And I don’t expect Nadia to accept upon faith alone that she belongs to you in some way because some ambiguous deity who means little to us has marked her as such.”

My face reddens and I shake my head. “I don’t believe she belongs to me.”

“In a way you do,” General Amir says quietly, frowning slightly.

“It is part of your words, between an Alpha and a Luna, yes? You are mine? I claim you? Fated mate? There is…a belonging there which is more intense than that we refer to when we say ‘my husband’ or ‘my wife.’ There is an element of choice in those that is different than a mating bond.”

“She is free to choose,” I whisper. “Of course she is.”

“Yes,” the General snaps, rather loudly, making me jump as he leans forward.

“She is, Cole. And if you wish my daughter to love you, you will have to earn her heart. If she finds you unworthy, I’m not going to try to talk her into respecting your claim.

To me, a human father, you are precisely like every other good-looking young man who has come knocking at our door. ”

I freeze at these words.

Slowly, General Amir smirks at me. “What?”

I frown, shifting uncomfortably in my chair. “ Other …young men?”

He laughs, low, I think mildly entertained. “That’s a question for Nadia, Cole. Not me. But yes, you’re not without competition. And certainly, there are some against whom she has less prejudice.”

I groan, leaning back in my chair, covering my face with my hands and tilting my head back, trying to collect myself as my wolf races off into the darkness of my soul in a complete panic.

Why?

Why didn’t I ever bother to ask if Nadia was seeing anyone?

But surely – surely Shayne would have told me –

“Cole.”

With an effort, I collect myself, lifting my head back up and slipping my hands down so I can meet General Amir’s gaze.

“She’s really putting you through your paces, isn’t she?”

I sigh, nodding, dropping my hands into my lap. “She’s just…holding me to such a high standard, General Amir.”

He raises his eyebrow at me as my wolf comes skulking back, no less panicked but wanting to listen. “Is that what you want, Cole? For my daughter to lower her standards so that you can continue to act as you have without any discomfort?”

I slump, seeing the trap now, a little groan slipping from my lips.

General Amir laughs a little, I think starting to be genuinely entertained by my torture.

“You’re putting me through my paces too, I think,” I murmur, glaring just a little bit. “Like father, like daughter.”

“I am,” General Amir says, nodding. “As is my right.”

I nod, conceding the point. It’s what my father would do too. There are several young Alphas who have fared very poorly against dad’s high standards for Iris.

“Look, Cole, you’re a good man,” General Amir says, his face softening now.

“And if anyone is aware that Nadia is a contentious young woman who lets her temper lead her into argumentative extremes…it is her mother and I. But the height of Nadia’s standards is not the problem.

Where ethics are concerned, Nadia is rarely wrong.

Methods – yes, frequently. I’m well aware that she’s something of a loose cannon.

But where her heart is aligned?” He shakes his head.

“She’s a good woman. She tries with everything she has to fight for everyone who might need her.

Sometimes to the point where I worry it will break her. ”

“How do you manage that?” I whisper. “As someone who cares for her, how do you protect her from – from everything? From the things in the world that would take advantage of her – from the fact that she would probably rather see herself hurt before anyone else?”

“I work very hard,” General Amir says softly, “to ensure that she listens to me. And to do that, I earned her trust.”

“Easy, when you’re her father,” I say, a bit bitter.

General Amir shakes his head. “Fathers are in the terrible position of having far too much power over girls who love them from the moment they first open their eyes. So, so many men don’t deserve that unconditional faith.

But there comes a point when a father must earn his daughter’s trust as much as it’s freely given.

He must demonstrate to his girl that he’s worthy of it.

If he doesn’t, she will come to understand that it’s always been empty – and the realization will break her heart.

” General Amir shrugs, a silent admission that it’s as simple as it is terrible.

Tears quite suddenly prick my eyes. I can’t put words to why.

“There are five people in the world,” General Amir says quietly, “at whom Nadia never shouts. At least not really - not the way she did at you tonight. To expect Nadia to never lose her temper again would be…foolish. But she holds back with me, her mother, her sister, Grace, and Shayne.” He counts them off on his fingers.

“Why?” My question works itself around the tightness in my throat.

“Because she trusts us, Cole. Trusts that we listen to her, that we have faith in her strengths and her abilities, and that we’ll hold our boundaries with her. My girl, for a reason that eludes me, was born with the least credulous soul of anyone I’ve ever met.”

I smirk a little, believing it.

“But her trust, once earned, is absolute. Work on that before anything, Cole, and your road will be…possible. If not easy – never easy where Nadia is concerned.”

I drop my eyes to my hands, guilt surging through me again.

God, I used to think I was…good at this. At dating . Understanding women, being nice to them. But what General Amir’s saying…

I realize that I didn’t trust Nadia tonight – or maybe ever.

I didn’t trust her to be able to get on that ferry or come on this mission alone.

And tonight, I didn’t trust her to handle the information about the humans in the basement, or to face Rose, or to be able to make her own choices about how to respond.

I took all of that from her because I wanted to protect her – but also because it would just be easier for me to do it all myself.

I didn’t trust her. God damn it. I didn’t.

No wonder she doesn’t trust me .

My wolf whines, begging me to run to her now, to try again. To make it better.

“So,” General Amir says, snapping my attention back to him.

He leans back in his chair, his fingertips steepled against each other as he studies me.

“Back to this question of Nadia’s access.

Should we call your father now? Let him know that Nadia is officially a high-ranking member of his military with open access to information and a vote in the proceedings simply because she shouted at you and you want to appease her? ”

I frown, looking away at the door, weighing my options.