Page 3 of His Place in the World (Legendary Shifters #9)

Angela didn’t confirm or deny, so neither did Angus. He didn’t need to, anyway. They’d have been fools not to check out who Ryland was and why he had an interest in this situation.

Cam led the way toward his office. It wasn’t the first time Angus had visited, although this definitely was the most serious time. They were finally getting somewhere with the auctions and finding rare shifters, which was their focus.

For Angus, it was a matter of life or death.

He was a rare shifter himself, so he knew what it was like to be hunted and hurt because of that.

He still wasn’t quite sure what Angela’s motives were, although he suspected that just like she had when she’d welcomed him into the Wakefield pack, she wanted rare shifters to move in so she could use them.

She wanted the Wakefield pack to become bigger and stronger, so she needed more people.

Wolf shifters would have been fine, but rare shifters would be better.

Angus swallowed. Angela always followed logic rather than her feelings, but that didn’t mean she didn’t like him.

She’d always protected him and any other rare shifter who wanted to live with the Wakefield pack.

Still, Angus couldn’t imagine many would want that when the Rosewood pack was right there.

“Here they are,” Cam declared as he walked into his office.

Angus followed, quickly looking around for an empty chair. A few people were still unfolding chairs so there would be enough for everyone.

One of them caught Angus’s eye. He stared as the man unfolded one of the chairs he’d been carrying, set it against the wall, then set out a second chair.

The guy was cute. There was no denying that for anyone who had eyes.

He was young, possibly in his early twenties, with dark hair and eyes.

His focus kept jumping around the room, never stopping on anyone for more than a few seconds.

The guy was nervous, and Angus could understand why.

He wanted to tell him he shouldn’t be, but that didn’t feel like a good idea, considering he felt just as nervous as the guy looked.

“Thank you,” Cam said to the guy as he and another guy who looked like him moved closer. “I’d like the two of you and Kyle to stay, since you’re already here. You should eat with us once we’re done talking, and besides, you’re involved in this.”

“We can just go home,” the second guy said.

“Didn’t I just tell you to stay?” Cam asked as he arched a brow.

The guy’s cheeks flushed. “All right. Sorry, Alpha.”

“Call me Cam. How many times will I have to tell you?”

“Sorry, Cam. We’ll stick around.”

Angus couldn’t say he was sorry. He wanted to watch the other guy for a bit longer, but that wasn’t why he was here. He and Angela had a job to do, and he was ready.

“Everyone, this is Angela, the Wakefield pack alpha,” Cam declared, getting the attention of the people in the room. “The blond with her is Angus, a member of her pack.”

Angus raised a hand and wiggled his fingers, then felt like an idiot for doing so. Cam wasn’t introducing him to his kindergarten class, for fuck’s sake. With a huff, he flopped into one of the chairs and started taking out his computer.

“Angela, Angus, this is Ryland Young. As I already mentioned, he owns a private security company.”

Angus peered at him, curious. He’d found out why Ryland was interested in helping them, so he trusted the guy as much as he could trust someone he didn’t know.

Ryland Young had been in the military, and it showed. He still held himself as if he were a soldier, and he wasn’t the only one. The guy with him behaved the same way.

“And this is Remington,” Cam continued.

The guy with Ryland Young cleared his throat. “Remi, please.”

“Of course.” Cam looked around. “The other people here are Doyle, Del, and Kyle.” Cam pointed at everyone as he introduced them, and Angus’s heart accelerated when he learned that the name of the guy he’d noticed was Del.

“And this is Everly,” Cam concluded, pointing at the man in question. “Is everyone ready to start?”

They sat on the chairs settled around the room.

Angus felt he shouldn’t be part of this meeting, and really, he was here only to help Angela.

She wanted him to record everything and take notes, which he could easily do.

He’d worked with Everly and knew his way around a computer, but nothing like the griffin shifter.

“Can you tell us more about your brother?” Cam asked Ryland.

Ryland and Remi exchanged a glance. They seemed to be close, and as he listened, Angus decided to look more into Remi. He wanted to know everything there was to know about everyone involved.

“We can go over it again,” Ryland agreed. “Pembroke is my half-brother. We share a human father, but his mother is a shifter.” He paused. “A rare shifter. I didn’t realize it was odd until recently,” Ryland said. “But then Pembroke was in my life for years. It was normal to me.”

“He’s not in your life now, though.”

“He hasn’t been for two years, since someone kidnapped him.

I’ve been doing my best to find him, without success.

We came close a few times, but every single one of those times, Pembroke disappeared again.

I need to find my brother, and I don’t care how it happens.

I’m ready to deal with anyone who stands in my way, and I hope that’s not a problem for you.

You need help with these auctions and the people buying shifters, just like I need help finding Pembroke.

That’s why I believe we should work together.

On our own, neither of us has had any results.

Together, we could make a difference, and not just for Pembroke. ”

Angus leaned forward. He hoped Ryland was right. Pembroke and many other rare shifters needed help, and they could provide that help.

But only if they managed to work together.

* * * *

Del had no place here, but since he was staying, he decided he’d make himself useful in any way possible. Right now, his only job was to listen to the information being shared, and he was more than happy to do that. He was having difficulty hiding the horror and disgust from his expression, though.

He wasn’t surprised that human beings could be assholes. He’d had to deal with his fair share of those, and he’d have to do so again. He also suspected that, just like humans, some shifters were good people while others weren’t.

But right now, in this situation, shifters weren’t the ones behaving like monsters.

He already knew most of what was being said around him.

He hadn’t been involved in it, but Doyle was, and it was impossible not to be aware of it.

Doyle had kidnapped Everly, a griffin shifter, because he’d been forced to.

He’d needed the money for their family, and while Del was horrified by what Doyle had been ready to do, he understood where his brother had come from.

He disagreed with Doyle’s decision to kidnap Everly, but he’d already decided not to hold it against his brother, especially since, thanks to it all, their entire family was now safe.

Besides, Everly was fine. The pack had rescued him, and through the second man who’d kidnapped him, they were hoping they could find more about the auctions where Everly would have been sold.

That was what those people did. They found and captured rare shifters, then put them in an auction.

Del could only imagine the kind of people who bought those shifters.

He didn’t want to get to know them or to find out why, and he didn’t have to.

The only people who would buy human beings, shifters or not, were monsters.

Del wanted to help, but he had no idea how.

He was only human, and he hadn’t been with the pack long.

He wasn’t sure there was anything he could do.

He didn’t understand why he was attending this meeting, but since he was, he decided to do everything he could to help.

Maybe it would help him feel like he belonged.

For now, it didn’t. It did make him feel like he had a purpose, though, which was something else he’d been looking for. Maybe this way, he’d be able to help the pack. That was all he wanted.

“What do you know about the auctions?” Cam asked.

Ryland looked pissed, although not at Cam’s question.

“Too much, yet at the same time, not enough. We’ve only been able to identify a few of the people involved.

They were all small fishes, and none of them talked or gave us the names of the actual buyers and sellers.

They know what they stand to lose, and they’re not afraid of us.

I think they believe that since we’re human, we’re not going to hurt them.

” Ryland swallowed so loudly that even Del could hear him from where he was.

“Most of these people view shifters as little more than animals. That’s why they have no problems with rich people buying and selling them.

They treat them like animals, too. We’ve seen the places where some of the auctions are held.

There was no one left behind, because rare shifters are too precious, but we saw the cages, and in some cases, the blood and everything else. ”

“But you don’t agree that shifters are barely more than animals,” Angela said.

Del didn’t know what to think of her. She was an alpha, but she was nothing like Cam.

She’d seemed pissed when she’d first walked in, and her expression hadn’t changed.

Hopefully, it just had to do with their situation, not with the people she was surrounded with.

Del might not know her, but he could tell she wouldn’t be easy to deal with if she got angry.

Ryland glared at her. “How can I think that when I raised my brother?”

“I don’t know anything about you. How can I know what you feel about shifters?” Angela asked.

Ryland licked his lips. “I’m older than my brother by fifteen years.

I was almost an adult when he was born, and unfortunately for him, neither of his parents were great.

Our father was always more interested in his job than he was in his children, and Pembroke’s mother preferred to travel than to spend time with him.

I was the one who raised him, along with his nannies.

He’s the reason I decided to stay close by for college.

I lived at home, and more often than not, it was just the two of us.

I was there for him when he graduated from high school.

I was there when he got his college degree.

” Ryland looked away. “But I wasn’t there for him when he was kidnapped.

He was twenty-three at the time, and that was two years ago.

I haven’t seen him since then, and it’s like losing a limb.

Some days, I can barely breathe through the pain. ”

Del’s eyes burned. He felt sorry for Ryland, and if it was up to him, he’d agree to help right away. He wanted Ryland to get his brother back, and not just because of what might be happening to Pembroke.

There was no way to know what the people who bought rare shifters did with them. Del could only imagine it and disliked every option his brain gave him.

Cam cleared his throat. “We’re sorry you and your brother had to go through that, but we’ll find him.”

Ryland cleared his throat. “Remi and I have been trying for the past two years, but we haven’t been able to. With you, we will.”

“We’ll certainly do everything we can to make that happen. Now, tell us what you know about the auctions and the people involved. You got no details out of the people you found?”

“They’re more afraid of their bosses than they are of us,” Remi interjected.

“They know we can’t do anything to them.

We’re not involved with law enforcement, and so far, I managed to keep Ryland from doing something drastic.

We might have to do just that if we don’t make progress, though.

” He looked around. “We need to know whether or not that’s something that will stop you from helping us. ”

Del couldn’t be the one to answer that, and if he were in Cam’s shoes, he’d be torn.

He understood the need to do everything they could to find Pembroke and the other rare shifters being bought and sold, but he was pretty sure that Remi was talking about killing people.

Could they really do something like that?

Thankfully, it wasn’t his job, and it never would be. He was ready to help if Cam needed something, but not by killing anyone. He wouldn’t be able to hurt a fly even if he tried, anyway.

“I can only talk for myself and my pack,” Cam said.

“But we’ve been in this fight for some time now.

We’ll do what we must to protect our pack and any rare shifter we find.

I don’t care if we’re faced with other shifters or humans.

No one deserves to be treated the way they’re treating rare shifters. ”

Del had held his breath through Cam’s speech, and now he released it.

He wasn’t surprised, and he couldn’t say he disagreed with Cam’s decision.

He doubted there was any other way to solve the situation.

These people, whoever they were, were rich and powerful.

When it came to shifters, human law enforcement didn’t seem to care much.

They wouldn’t step in and help, which meant Cam and the other shifters needed to do this on their own.

The thought of having people die over this made Del’s stomach churn, but he could accept it.

Ryland nodded, clearly satisfied. “That’s good to know.”

“The same goes for the Wakefield pack,” Angela added. “We’ll help any shifter who needs us, and we won’t hesitate to strike humans if we have to.”

She sounded fierce, and while Del was glad that she was on their side, he couldn’t help but wonder why she was doing it. Cam and his pack were involved because of Everly, but why was Angela?

Del wanted to believe she was doing this out of the goodness of her heart, but something told him that wasn’t so.