Page 8 of Wishes in the Moonlight (Rocky Mountain Wolves #4)
~Troy~
Not since my very first shift as a teenager had I felt so close to losing control of my wolf. Hunter clawed against the barrier in our mind every time Kalo spoke, desperate to take over and neutralize the threat the stranger posed to our mate.
The fact that he was a threat, I didn’t doubt for a second. Everything about the man screamed danger, and the fact that Amanda could sit there so calmly, carrying on a conversation with him as if nothing out of the ordinary were happening, defied my understanding.
When he at last left the room so that the rest of us could speak freely, I could barely stop myself from blurting out what seemed obvious to me: we should throw him in our basement cell and interrogate him until he gave us some straight answers about who sent him to us and why.
However, I managed to restrain myself until my Alpha asked for my opinion. I owed her that sign of respect.
“Do any of you have any idea what he is? What species?” was her first question, and on that point, I could only shake my head mutely. I’d never encountered anyone like him before, from his almost-glowing eyes to his old-fashioned clothing and distinct lack of any scent.
Jasper also shook his head, but Savannah immediately pulled out her phone. “I don’t know off the top of my head but if anyone has a clue, it’ll be Felix or Calista. Let’s ask them.”
She tapped at her phone screen, sending a message to the members of her former pack who she thought would have some insight. Amanda let her finish before continuing.
“What does your gut say, Savannah?”
Hunter growled in my head, frustrated that she didn’t ask for our opinion first, and I clenched my jaw tight to keep from speaking out of turn.
“I don’t trust him for a second,” the Beta stated as she got to her feet and came over to stand in front of Amanda’s desk between me and Jasper, facing the Alpha straight-on.
“However, I don’t think we should piss him off either.
Whoever he is, he knows a lot about the situation here and has some unusual abilities.
He could do a lot of damage against us if he chose to.
I say we keep him close until we figure out exactly what’s going on. ”
That time, I couldn’t entirely hold the growl in, and Amanda narrowed her eyes at me before turning to the other man in the room. “Jasper?”
“I’m with Savannah,” he said, unsurprisingly.
The man clearly adored his new mate. “He’s holding back a lot of information but if his intentions were simply to cause harm, I don’t see why he would have approached us this way.
Something else is at play, and we need to figure out his motivation before making any firm move one way or the other. ”
Amanda nodded thoughtfully before her eyes finally flicked over to me. “Troy?”
Swallowing down my protective anger, I stated my opinion as calmly as possible.
“He’s trespassing on our territory mere hours after a threat was issued against us by another pack. It’s too risky to give him the benefit of the doubt. We should put him in the prison where we can keep an eye on him while we get some answers.”
“We have no idea what powers he has,” Savannah immediately argued.
Despite barely coming up to my shoulders, she had no problem standing her ground.
“We don’t even know if we can hold him. He doesn’t register on our sensors.
How did he get to the pack house? Maybe he can teleport or turn invisible.
There’s too much we don’t know, and if we respond too aggressively, we might lose our chance to negotiate with him at all. ”
“Good,” I shot back. “We shouldn’t be negotiating with anyone who won’t give us a straight answer. As for holding him, we just need to figure out what he is and we’ll know how to do it. Every species has a vulnerability, and you can bet that’s why he doesn’t want to tell us what he is.”
“We have the right to hold him temporarily under our pack laws,” Jasper conceded, clearly attempting to take the middle ground between my position and Savannah’s.
“However, not being a werewolf, he might not understand all the intricacies of our border security. Simply refusing to answer questions isn’t a crime.
Technically, we could do it, but if we want to act in good faith, he hasn’t done anything to warrant incarceration. ”
“So you want to wait until he commits a crime?” I snarled. “Until he puts this pack, our Alpha , in danger?”
“Enough.” Amanda’s firm voice silenced the room immediately and we all turned to her to await her decision.
Sitting there in her chair while the rest of us stood, she appeared poised and completely in control.
“I agree with Savannah. There’s too much we don’t know to make an enemy of him.
Finding out his species is our top priority, and once we know that, we can reevaluate.
In the meantime, I’ll speak with him again to try to find out more about why he’s here. Alone.”
My growl rattled the mugs still sitting on the table where we’d abandoned our earlier meeting.
Amanda shot me a warning look. “I mean that our conversation will be private, but naturally, there will be security in the room. Since I already know you’ll insist on being there, you can choose one other guard to join you.
I’ll meet him in the library where we can maintain a little privacy but still be watched.
Savannah and Jasper, you work on figuring out his species. We’ll reconvene here for lunch.”
I still didn’t like it, but being able to keep her in my line of sight quieted my wolf and my protective instincts enough that I could nod.
In my head, I reached out to Devon through mind-link. I wouldn’t trust this to anyone else. How quickly can you be at the pack house?
His reply came instantaneously. Less than ten minutes. You need me?
As fast as you can get here. Meet me in the library.
Out loud, I confirmed the arrangements to Amanda. “Devon can be here in ten minutes.”
“Good. I’ll use that time to review my father’s files and see if there’s anything I might have missed about unusual visitors in the past. Maybe Kalo is even someone my father knows. I’ll run a search through his records.”
Just hearing her speak the stranger’s name aloud stung at my chest like a red-hot poker. This man was bad news, I could feel it in my bones, but until I had the proof everyone else seemed to want, I’d have to satisfy myself with keeping Amanda safe.
If Kalo wanted to harm my mate, he’d have to do it over my dead body.