Page 7 of No Honor Amongst Shifters (It’s a Psychic World #9)
ALCOTT WAS BEING LET out of his room, and he wasn’t sure it was a good idea. He stared at the open door, then back at Roslin, who stood next to it, waiting.
Alcott had thought they’d have the next few meetings in his room like the first one. It had been a tight fit, but it was better than letting a traitor out, right?
Apparently, wrong. Roslin had arrived a few minutes ago, and he’d left the door open when he’d walked in. Alcott had been surprised, but he hadn’t said anything about it. It wasn’t like he was planning on running.
Then Roslin had said that Elijah was waiting for them, and Alcott had been staring at him since then. It didn’t make sense.
“Are you sure you heard that right?” he asked.
“I am,”
Roslin confirmed.
“Elijah’s exact words were go pick up Alcott. We’ll see you in the conference room.”
“But we’d have to walk through half the house to go to the conference room.”
It was near Elijah’s office, while Alcott’s bedroom was with all the other bedrooms on the other side of the house.
“It’s not that far.”
Roslin looked Alcott up and down.
“I guess I could carry you if you don’t feel like walking.”
Alcott felt his cheeks flush and glared.
“That’s not what I was talking about. I can walk.”
“Then we should go.”
“I meant that people will see me. They’ll probably start freaking out because I’m out of my room, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Nothing will happen to me.”
Roslin crossed his arms over his chest.
“And if they try anything with you, they won’t be pleased with the outcome.”
Roslin was intimidating, but he was human, and Alcott didn’t want him to fight with anyone.
He was touched by the fact that Roslin was apparently ready to do just that, though.
“You’d fight a dragon for me?”
“I’d fight more than a dragon. I’m not saying I would win, but I’d give you time to run.”
Roslin relaxed slightly.
“You don’t have anything to worry about. Elijah gave his orders, and everyone will comply with them. If they don’t want to, they know where the door is.”
The clan couldn’t afford to lose more members right before a fight. They needed all the fighters they could get, and Alcott wouldn’t be responsible for sending people away. At the same time, Elijah was still his leader, and he’d given an order. If he wanted Alcott to go to the conference room, that was where Alcott was supposed to go.
He got up from the window seat and rubbed his palms over his thighs. He was nervous. He’d expected that the next time he’d see the outside of his bedroom would be when he was leaving the clan for the last time. He was sure that Elijah knew what he was doing, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder if the leader might have underestimated how much the clan members hated Alcott.
Alcott supposed he was about to find out.
Wasting time wouldn’t help, so he moved toward Roslin. Roslin nodded at him as if satisfied, but Alcott’s gaze drifted to the open door. How long had he been locked in his bedroom? It had to have been a couple of weeks, if not more. He hadn’t counted the days because they didn’t matter. Nothing did beyond what he’d done, but his bruises had started to change color and heal.
Alcott had promised Elijah that he’d help the clan, and that was what he was doing. He’d known he’d have to leave the bedroom to do that, but he’d thought he’d be quickly walked outside to a car, not that he’d have to walk through the house and have so many people see him.
He curled in on himself. He wouldn’t like what was about to happen, but he deserved it. He might as well get it out of the way.
“Everything will be fine,”
Roslin promised.
Alcott wasn’t sure he believed him, but he forced himself to put one foot in front of the other and leave the bedroom.
Nothing happened when he stepped into the hallway. There was no one there to yell at him that he was a traitor or threaten him. It was just him and Roslin, who gently put a hand on the small of his back and guided him to one end of the hallway.
“I’m on your side,”
Roslin murmured as they walked.
“And I’m not the only one. You have more allies than you think.”
Alcott wasn’t sure that was true, but it didn’t matter.
He wasn’t sure how they managed, but they reached the conference room without anyone saying anything to him. They crossed paths with several people, and even though one of the women looked like she wanted to kill Alcott herself, she stayed silent. Everyone did, which was odd because the house was usually noisy.
The noise Alcott had expected was present when they stepped into the conference room. Several people were sitting around the table, talking. Elijah and Terrence both looked up when they heard Alcott and, to Alcott’s surprise, they smiled.
“Terrence and I were talking about the cockatrices the two of you will approach,”
Elijah said as he gestured at one of the empty chairs.
“He had a few ideas about who to talk to, but he wants your opinion on it.”
Alcott still hadn’t wrapped his mind around the fact that anyone wanted his opinion on anything, let alone something so vital for the clan.
“I can tell you what I saw when I was with the coven,”
he offered.
Terrence nodded.
“Please. We also have to talk about where we’re going to do this. We can’t get into cockatrice territory.”
They’d talked about that last time, too, but it was good to go over everything again.
“We don’t have to. I wasn’t allowed out of cockatrice territory without Damien, but I know where the cockatrices went to complain about the coven.”
Alcott sat forward.
“There’s a bar just outside cockatrice territory. It’s called the Red Rooster. I went there a few times, and while I didn’t talk to anyone, I noticed things and people.”
Terrence snorted.
“The Red Rooster? Really? Do you think that’s where we should go?”
“I know that’s where the strongest opponents of the coven go to talk. I don’t know how much power they have, but I’m pretty sure they’ll agree not to fight for the mages. They hate them.”
And with good reason.
“How do you think they’ll react to seeing you?”
“I can’t know for sure, but I think that most of them pitied me.”
Terrence grimaced.
“I’m really sorry about what happened to you.”
“It was my own fault. I should’ve known better, and I’m willing to deal with the consequences of what I did.”
He glanced at Elijah.
“I’ll help any way I can.”
Alcott still wasn’t completely sure what he’d do once this was over—that was, if he was still alive when it was—but that was something he wouldn’t compromise on. He’d put the clan in danger. It was his duty to help get the clan out of it.
ROSLIN STAYED SILENT for most of the meeting. He didn’t have a reason to be there beyond wanting to stick close to Alcott. Elijah hadn’t told him to leave, and he wasn’t planning to, but it was hard not to snap at the leader when he was putting Alcott in danger.
All of them were in danger. Alcott wouldn’t be going to talk to the cockatrices alone, and that was what Roslin clung to. He’d be as safe as any other clan member when they left the house, of not more.
Besides, Alcott might be younger than Roslin, but he was an adult. He knew what he’d done and what he was doing now. He wanted to do this for the clan, and Roslin couldn’t take that away from him. He couldn’t lock Alcott up the way Elijah had. Alcott might feel like he deserved it, but he didn’t, and Roslin was willing to tell him that until he believed it. He was willing to do a lot of things to get Alcott to let him in.
In the middle of a fight with a mortal enemy wasn’t the right moment to do that, but at the same time, Roslin didn’t know if he’d get another opportunity. He didn’t think he had much to offer Alcott, but if anything happened to either of them, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to live with the regret of not saying anything.
He still hadn’t made his decision when he walked Alcott back to his bedroom after the meeting. It felt less like a jail cell now that Alcott had been out, but he’d still be locked inside. Roslin wasn’t happy with that, but at the same time, it would help keep Alcott safe. Not every clan member agreed with what Elijah was doing and the opportunity he was giving Alcott to redeem himself.
“Do you really think we have a chance of getting most of the cockatrices to stand down during the fight?”
Alcott was asking, seemingly unaware of the fact that the people they walked past were staring at him.
It was a good thing. He’d been too nervous on the way to the conference room, to the point where he’d jumped when a few people had walked past him. Roslin had glared at all of them, just in case they got any strange ideas. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt Alcott.
It was a strange feeling. Roslin had never felt quite so overprotective of anyone, not even any of his boyfriends. It wasn’t that he thought Alcott was fragile—far from it since he’d survived spending time with the coven and the cockatrices—but he still wanted to protect him.
Alcott had a wounded heart. It had been broken several times, but Alcott had put it back together every time. Roslin wanted him to do the same this time around, too. He didn’t want Damien to win.
Roslin understood wanting to be loved, and he’d been loved his entire life. His parents, his brothers, and his brothers’ partners all loved him. Even when he didn’t have a boyfriend, he’d never felt alone the way Alcott had.
What Alcott had done was stupid, but it was understandable, and Roslin would fight anyone who said the opposite. Hell, he’d fight anyone who looked at Alcott in a way that made him feel guilty. Alcott was beating himself up enough. He didn’t need other people to do the same.
“Thank you,”
Alcott murmured as they turned into the hallway where his bedroom was.
“What are you thanking me for?”
“For not being weird. And I’m pretty sure that your presence is what kept most of the clan away.”
“You keep talking as if you think that three-quarters of the clan hate you, but that’s not the case.”
“How can it not be? I betrayed them.”
“You did, but most people would do that for someone they loved. Besides, we all just want this mess to be over. I think that most of the clan is ready to accept anything as long as it means the fight won’t continue for much longer. They’re more than ready to go back to a normal life.”
“Are they ready enough to accept a traitor’s help?”
“People are afraid for their lives and for the people they love, Alcott. I think they’re ready to accept anything if it means putting an end to this.”
Roslin hoped it meant they would also accept that Alcott wasn’t going anywhere once this was over.
He had no doubt that some people would have something to say about that, but he was positive that most of the clan wouldn’t care once they realized how much Alcott was helping them and that it might be the one thing that caused them to win this fight. If they didn’t, Roslin would make sure to change that. If there was any way for him to help Alcott through this, he’d do it.