Page 60 of Broken Bonds

“Chaz, this isn’t only vampires. It’s also witches and fae. We’ll have them here as well, and they’ll help ensure no one is harmed on either side. Once we deal with the threat, then they can leave. Kids, Chaz. Not to mention the people murdered among the witches and fae. That they are all banding together and out for blood with a common enemy in their sights should tell you something.”

He spits in the dirt. “Yeah. Tells me shit’s fucked up. An even better reason it’s none of our fucking business.”

“I’m not asking anyone to like this. I’m asking, as pack Alpha, for cooperation and acceptance. If you don’t want to help guard them, I accept that. But if we don’t help them and shit comes to our land next, puts our pups and mates and loved ones in danger, who will we be able to turn to for help?”

He grumbles and spits again, and I don’t speak.

Sometimes, the hardest part of being the pack Alpha is sitting back and listening to my packmates and hearing them out, letting them know I hear them and understand them.

That can go a long way to smoothing things over.

Especially pills this bitter to swallow.

“Davis and I aren’t fucking that pup,” he finally says. “If shit gets real and you need us to pick up arms, okay, yeah. And if we’re giving them sanctuary, as long as they behave themselves, fine. Don’t like it, but I won’t raise public objections. But I draw the line at fucking that pup, now that I know he’s Sterling’s. I might change my mind by initiation but I doubt it. I don’t care how nice a pup he is, I don’t want Sterling’s goddamned scent anywhere on me or mine. That asshole’s a toxic fucker and depending on what shit goes down, the last thing I want is more of his scent mixed with ours than is necessary.”

I marginally relax. “That’s fair.” Although disappointing, because I was hoping he’d volunteer to help with the process of fucking Mal after triggering his mating heat. A tiger Alpha would be perfect to help mask Mal’s scent.

I hold out my hand to shake. “I appreciate your honesty, Chaz. I know this is difficult, but I wouldn’t be here if it was easy.”

He slowly nods and then reaches out and shakes with me. I feel the tension thrumming through him—the not-good kind—and process exactly how upset he is with all of this.

And that he’s doing a damned good job of holding back as much as he is.

“I won’t require you guys to participate in his initiation,” I add.

Chaz slowly nods. “Might be okay doing the final part. If you ask me to do it today, though, it’s a hard no.”

“Understood.”

My next three stops are met with reluctant acceptance and another refusal by a non-canine to participate in the initial fucking, although they said they’d fully participate in initiation once we get Mal through his mating heat.

By this point it’s nearly four in the afternoon, I realize I’ve worked through lunch, I’m starving, and I have no texts or emails from Shawn.

About anything.

Dammit.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit a huge part of my wolf wants me to go home, scruff him, make him submit, then fuck him senseless and tell him how much I love him.

And he’d likely let me do exactly that.

I have dropped a massive ball with him and I feel horrible about it.

Yet I still have at least four more Alphas I need to talk to today. That’s not all of them, but it’s all of them I know are close by right now. Some of them work elsewhere, so I’ll have to either wait until tonight or call them. The ones who don’t live in the compound, I’ll call them tomorrow.

To be clear, I’m not just talking to non-canine Alphas; I’m talking to all our Alphas, about everything.

No one is “happy” about the vampires’ pending arrival, obviously, but I have secured each one’s agreement to either help with guard duties or at least not object to their presence.

Surprisingly, a few of them volunteer to join the attacking party whenever that happens. Each one’s rationale is it’s better to make it safe for the vampires to leave than to try to keep them safe here long-term.

So what do I do?

I text Todd to see if he’s around and can spare some time to talk.

Alone.

It’s an affirmative to both. Ten minutes later, when I pull up to his house he’s sitting on his front porch with a cold beer in hand and offers me one when I walk up.