Page 13 of Fighting Fate (Monsters of London #4)
Dax
I peer around at the other wolves Alpha Axel has called into his office. Patch is sitting to my right, his body language and his scent entirely at ease. Ryan, Flynn, and Luca are to my left, whispering to each other. Speculating.
Alpha Axel enters, and we all go still. Freddie is his second, but she’s not here, so instead Sage, another of his betas, follows him into the room. She leans against the back wall as Axel takes a seat behind his desk.
He smiles at us. I like Alpha Axel, all things considered, but we’re not close. It’s not necessary. There are a lot of wolves in a pack; an alpha can’t be close with all of them.
“I hope you’re all doing well?”
We all nod. Patch has been on me all morning to report Ricky and his friends to one of the betas, but I don’t want to cause trouble. As soon as Billy came off his break, I sent him to collect glasses, and he served them whenever they came back for drinks.
But this isn’t the time or the place. Or the person. I don’t need to bother my alpha with things like that.
“We have a potential new work assignment coming up,” Axel says. He glances at his phone and grimaces. “Well, a volunteer assignment. With Alpha Kieran’s pack.”
My wolf perks up in interest. I haven’t had the chance to meet our city’s newest alpha yet. When everything happened with Tamesis, I stayed behind to keep an eye on our otherwise unprotected pack members. Patch was there that night, though. I think Ryan and Luca were, too.
“What is it?” Ryan asks when no one else moves to break the silence.
“Alpha Kieran intends to set up some classes for the mages and younger wolves to learn how to defend themselves.”
Ryan scowls. “We don’t need to learn from some—”
Sage pushes off from the wall but doesn’t take a step forward. Ryan cuts himself off. His face flushes.
“Sorry, alpha.”
Alpha Axel sighs. “You would do well to keep your temper. We have younger wolves who I believe would benefit from this in some manner, but the mages we have… They certainly will. There may be vampires attending, too.”
“What’s the assignment?” Patch asks.
“Alpha Kieran has asked for volunteers. He has sourced the teacher himself. A human. They requested assistants to help manage the classes and to demonstrate different abilities.”
Patch nods. Excitement builds in my stomach. This sounds… fun. And like I might be useful. If I can help. If I might possibly be picked over the other wolves in here.
“A human teacher?” Ryan shakes his head. “What can a human teach us about how to fight? Why would he choose a human instead of teaching himself?”
There’s some other insult behind his words. I didn’t see Alpha Kieran’s challenge either, though I heard about it just like everyone else. He’s not human, even if the other wolves want to pretend he is.
“Why wouldn’t he?” Axel says with a shrug.
I frown. “I don’t understand.”
Ryan snorts. “You never do.”
I duck my head, heat creeping into my face. Patch is tense next to me, but when our alpha says nothing, neither does he.
Fuck it. I want to do this. Alpha Axel invited me here, just like the rest of them.
“How do we volunteer?” I ask.
Sage smiles faintly. Alpha Axel tips his head to one side even as the other wolves look at me in surprise.
“You tell me you wish to.”
“I want to volunteer.”
“And the rest of you?”
Patch might want it, but he nudges me with his shoulder—he’ll let me have this. Let me see if there’s somewhere I finally fit. Ryan, Flynn, and Luca all exchange looks, and Ryan shakes his head with a sneer.
“That does it, then,” Axel says. “Sage?”
“We’ll have someone cover your shifts at the café and pub if they clash with the times you’re required there,” she says. “You’ll be compensated for your loss of wages, too. You need to go to Alpha Kieran’s pack house tomorrow evening.”
I nod, trying to suppress the excitement I feel. My wolf spins in the back of my head, telling me that this is somehow right .
“Great,” I say. “I’ll be there.”
When I arrive at Alpha Kieran’s pack house the next day—a small flat that is flooded with the scents of his pack—it’s to find two wolves are already there. Cecile, I know, is from Alpha Levi’s pack, and she greets me with a friendly smile. Saoirse introduces herself with a wary look but shakes my hand all the same.
Kieran claps me on the shoulder and waves at one of the two armchairs in the room. There’s a sofa, too, but it’s clear that this is only a pack house in name.
I take one armchair and Saoirse takes the other. When I breathe in, I catch the scent of vampires, humans and another wolf. Kieran takes a seat next to Cecile and smiles at me.
“I know this isn’t the best place to meet, but technically, it is our pack house. We’re in the middle of trying to work out logistics.”
Saoirse frowns. “You do not need to explain yourself to us, alpha,” she says. I think Cecile is younger than me, but Saoirse is clearly older than all of us. She’s from Alpha Rhea’s pack, so her stiffness has me a little unnerved. Alpha Rhea is known for having a pack full of more casual, demonstrative wolves, which is saying something.
Kieran doesn’t seem to mind it, though. I breathe in deep again. His scent is familiar, though I’m certain we’ve never met before. Maybe I’ve crossed paths with someone he knows. It happens.
“Makes me feel better,” Kieran replies with a grin and a shrug. He settles back on the sofa. “Your alphas told you what we’re planning, I guess?”
We all nod.
“We’ve been trying some self-defence in our own pack,” Kieran says. “But we’re having some trouble with some of the wolves who really ended up close to Tamesis. They’re talking to professionals, all of that, but something concrete like this I think could really help them.”
“You can fight, can’t you?” Cecile asks and drops her eyes when Kieran looks at her. “You could teach them?”
“We tried that,” Kieran replies, smile turning rueful. “Turns out I’m not so good at defence . That’s why I’ve asked a friend of mine to help out. Plus, I figured him being human might help anyone who’s especially traumatised, but that’s also why we need you.”
“Us?” I ask.
“Yeah. For the vampires and the mages, you’re going to help demonstrate how wolves fight. How best to defend against them. For the wolves, you’re there to support them. To show them that you’re not scared and they don’t have to be. There’ll be some evening classes, and we’ll have vampires demonstrating at those. I’ve also got mages who can help, though that will be limited—our pack’s coven is still training the mages from other packs, and that’s really their priority.”
I nod. It makes sense, I suppose, and part of me is excited, too, to see how vampires fight. The treaty has been in place since before my parents were born. We’ve never been at true odds with the vampires since I’ve been alive.
Saoirse purses her lips. “You mean to show mages and vampires… and this human how to defend themselves against us?”
Kieran’s expression is mild when he looks at her. I think I know what she’s saying, though she’s not saying it directly. What if we turn against each other? Who has the upper hand?
“Several alphas were much more direct about that issue when I brought up the idea at the last meet,” Kieran says and waits until Saoirse meets his gaze before he adds, “including yours. But I reminded them, as I’ll remind you, that the treaty is in place for us all. We are all allies. We all work together. If we learnt anything from Tamesis, it is that we need to remain united.”
She swallows hard and drops her gaze. “My apologies, alpha.”
Kieran shakes his head. “Not necessary. I get it. But my pack was created to bridge the gaps the treaty doesn’t reach, so if you can’t wholeheartedly back the idea of us all working together, then I need you to seriously think about whether you want to help here or not. I won’t think badly of you if you don’t.”
“No,” Saoirse says quickly. “I want to stay.”
Kieran smiles. “Good. Then we’ll just—” His phone buzzes and he pulls it out of his pocket. “Ah. He’s here.”
He crosses to the door and presses the buzzer that will presumably let the teacher into the building. Kieran wanders back over to us. “We’re just going to do a few classes at first, which is why there’s only the three of you. If it works, we can expand things, get wolves from other packs…”
He doesn’t stop speaking, but his voice fades into the background as I pick up a familiar scent. My wolf howls as my heart picks up, thudding against my ribs.
It can’t be.
He can’t possibly be—
The door opens, and Vince steps into the room. He grins at Kieran—and I realise, then, that I first saw Kieran at Bite six months ago, that I winked at him and tried to pick him up—but the expression drops from Vince’s face when his eyes land on me.
He didn’t know. I’m so sure he didn’t know about wolves six months ago.
He must know now.
Surprise and hurt flood his scent.
Oh, he knows. And he’s not happy about it.