Excerpt:
Rafael stepped off the silver and glass elevator and into another
world. He'd made a point of changing the look and feel of his pack's floors.
They were darker, warmer. They were still surrounded by glass windows from
floor to ceiling all around, as wolves didn't like to feel contained, but their
design was different. A large, dark, wood round table took up the center
of the meeting room. Around the table were plush black leather seats, with the
largest belonging to him, at the head of the table. As beta, Gregori would sit
slightly behind and to the right of Rafael. There were chairs set up just
behind their alpha's all around the tables. The carpet was a deep
chocolate, and thick, thick enough to keep their shoes made from making a
sound, as they moved around the table to take their place. As Rafael had
requested, none of the other alphas or betas would have left their floors to
come to the meeting until they smelled him pass their areas. It was his way to
gauge them as they came in. It was a power move, yes, but one he relished. He
would have an alpha bitch soon, and not only did he have to find out what the
hell that bitch of a woman who attacked their kind knew, but also how the other
packs would feel about Camden's pack losing Theana, and
the Ulric pack gaining her.
"They are coming up," Gregori told him, and Rafael
turned to greet them. This meeting meant more than any of them thought.
"Alpha," a slender man said, his tawny hair cut short
and barely touching his ears. His green eyes scanned the room quickly before he
relaxed and looked slightly to the right of Rafael's face, respectfully.
"Thomas. How fares the harvest?" Rafael asked.
"Looks like we are going to do good this year," Thomas
answered.
"Good, take your place."
Thomas did so obediently, sitting down across the table. The other
alphas and their betas came in and greeted him much like Thomas. Only two were
different, one he expected, and the other...well he did, but didn't think the
cub would be stupid enough to actually do it.
"Son," Walter said, and Rafael inclined his head in
respect. Walter turned to Gregori and greeted him the same way before then
greeting the rest in the room by rank. As he was the father of their mate his
interactions with them, by definition, would be much more relaxed from here on
out. Rafael had known this would happen, but hadn't expected the sense of pride
he would feel, or the warmth in his chest. He'd been so focused on the planning
of claiming their mate, that he hadn't actually
thought of lovingher, or what he would gain with her at his side. A
mate meant more than just the claim. Cerebrally he knew that, but to feel it
was another matter. He cleared his throat and looked over at Gregori, who
nodded in understanding. They would give this back toTheana a
thousand-fold.
"Son?" a wolf snarled, and Rafael's hackles rose. He
curled his fingers into tight fists at his side, hiding the deadly claws that
sprouted. Camden. The blond haired Adonis upstart who thought he
had some sort of claim on Theana.
"Mine," Rafael thundered, his body vibrating with
power. He could feel the urge of his alpha wolf pushing the edges of his power,
eager to strike out, to kill a threat to his claim on Theana.
"Mine," Gregori choked out as he stepped up
behind Rafael. Rafael felt something he had never felt before. Like two halves
of a whole the aura of Gregori’s and Rafael's wolves meshed, the
scent, feel, and power blending and magnifying. Rafael never looked away from
Camden's eyes, but he felt as if it were his own body as Gregori thickened,
hardened, his muscles growing. Part alpha and feeding from me,
Rafael thought then, dazed. A low threatening grumble, directed at Gregori,
snapped him out of his momentary calm where the man took over. Once again the
wolf pushed to the surface.
"Back off, beta," Camden warned. He dared! The bastard
dared to speak to Gregori, as if he were beneath him. Even Gregori being a beta
didn't affect his strength. Gregori would always be stronger because he was the
beta of the strongest wolf clan.
"Make me," Gregori snapped.
"You are beta," Camden said, tensing, his canines
exposed, gleaming pearly white.
"A beta that can kick your ass and chew on your
intestines. Play with me, little boy, and I'll rip your fucking head
off," Gregori roared.
"You won't have to," Rafael promised, and then shot into
motion. He slammed into Camden with a sickening thud, but didn't stop. He raked
his claws across Camden's chest, drawing blood, even as he swiped with his
other hand and tossed him across the room. He heard Gregori's battle
cry and knew that Camden's beta had come to his alpha's aide. Gregori would eat
him alive. The other alphas and betas moved out the way, but didn't interfere.
Rafael leapt in the air, soaring through the air and then landing on Camden's
back. He had had enough, Enough of this bastard challenging him, of
him bucking the system.
"Say she's mine," Rafael ordered, grasping the back of
Camden's head and slamming his face into the ground with each word. Camden
refused him, and Rafael pounded harder.
"She is...yours," Camden gurgled out through blood.
Rafael stood slowly, still grasping Camden by his hair and then tossed him back
across the room. As Rafael walked back to his place at the head of the table he
spoke.
"I will say this now. Though she is not marked
yet, Theana of the Dolphus clan is the mate of me and my
beta. She is protected, and, as such, Dolphus clan will be combined with
the Ulric clan. Moreover," he added, straightening his suit
jacket and glaring at Camden as he slumped in his chair, his beta cleaning his
face of blood as it healed, "my beta is now also mate to my alpha bitch,
so he is more than just some beta," Rafael growled.
"Understood." The other wolves in the room
acknowledged, as Rafael reached the front of the room. He sat down in his chair
with a sigh, and Gregori stepped up behind him. He didn't ask if he was okay,
as to do so would make the others think he were weak, so he simply took a deep
breath, drawing Gregori's scent in to check for blood. All he smelled
was the beta's blood from Convel. Gregori was fine.
"Back to
business, gentlemen, and I am sure I will not be so interrupted again. Where is the woman?"
"She is waiting just the floor below now for your
summons," Thomas answered.
"Where was she found?" Gregori asked. It was a testament
to Rafael's power that Thomas didn't stop to question why Gregori was the one
to ask him. Rafael figured they had gotten the fucking message now.
"Just outside a casino in Tulsa. She was hidden there in
a shelter for women, but had a penchant for heading out at night to go to bars.
We very nearly didn't catch her. She has no scent," Camden said then,
respectfully for once.
"No scent?" Rafael asked, incredulously. Human couldn’t
mask scents, or at least they couldn't before. But for all of
Camden's faults, he was one of the best they had in tracking and security. If
he said the woman had no scent, she didn't.
"She had a scent, but it was not what you
would expect. She smelled like nothing, blankness. Nothing like a human should
have, and nothing like what permeated the hotel where we found the injured
wolf. Until she started sweating. Then the scent leaked through, and
we were able to follow it."
"Then she had something on topical then to hide her scent.
Humans are finding more ways to come at us. Bring her in," Rafael ordered.
Thomas reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone. He made a quick call,
and the elevators opened soon after. Between wolves of
the Convel clan a small light-skinned woman, with pixie short brown
hair, walked into the room. Though he could smell fear seeping out of her
pores, she held her head high and clasped her hands demurely in front of her.
Her eyes were hazel in her heart-shaped face. She was pretty, in a
the-more-you-looked-at-her sort of way. They made her stop next to Rafael, and
he looked over her for a moment before speaking.
"What is your name?" he asked, and she lifted her chin,
not answering.
"Speak, woman," Camden grumbled, his face now healed.
The woman shook her head.
"So be it," Rafael said and motioned for Camden to come
over. Faster than the human eye could follow Camden was at
her side, and her fear permeated the air. With no mercy in his touch,
Camden gripped her head and slammed her into the table.
"Zaria," Rafael said then, and the lone alpha bitch in
the room stood. Soon there would be another when Theana joined them
in meetings. Rafael would make sure she was included. Zaria stood slowly, her
willowy frame as graceful as a dancer’s. She pushed her thin rimmed glassed up
her nose as she walked towards the woman.
"This won't hurt if you don't fight me," Zaria said when
she reached the woman. She placed her fingers on the woman's temples and nodded
at Rafael. "She's ready." Something that most didn't know about the
Beowulf clan was their extra powers. They were of the mind, and had control
over it in a way that was nigh impossible.
"What is your name?" Rafael asked again.
"Lacey," Zaria answered.
"Why did you shoot my wolf?" Rafael continued.
"He deserved it," Zaria answered again.
"So you did target him?"
"No. He was a monster, and I shot him."
"How did you know to use silver bullets?" Rafael asked.
"They told me to," Zaria answered, swaying. She wouldn't
be able to hold the connection for much longer.
"Who are they? Names," Rafael said.
"General Josiah White," Zaria said, and then left the
woman. She gripped her head, and Thomas gripped her arms to steady her.
"Come. I'll take you home," he said then, after he
looked to Rafael.
"Thank you for your help," Rafael said. He signaled with
his hand, and the security wolves removed the woman from the room.
"We can't let her leave," Walter said then.
"Of course not. And it seems the government is against
us now."
"Maybe, maybe not," Gregori stated. "We've had
a treaty with them since we went public. They wouldn't be too quick to move
against us so blatantly. This could be a small group."
"Or a large one," Camden added. "Either way we have
military personnel who are gunning for us."
"What do you want to do to her, Isaac?" Rafael asked
then.
"Give her to us. We will see if we can find out more for
you," Isaac answered.
"Agreed. We will need to find out all we can. My people,
it seems we have dangers brewing on the horizon that we hadn't been privy to
before. We will have to prepare for this. We always knew that there were humans
that didn't like that we existed, for good or for ill, but they hadn't had much
opportunity to harm us. But if military trained combatants are now to be our
enemy things can change. We must be careful," Rafael said then.
"I will let you decide how you want to safeguard within your
respective areas, but,
however, Convel and Rendall clans, I want you to
coordinate a twenty-four-seven perimeter around Seurri until we have decided
otherwise. It may just be important that we prepare to make Seurri a compound
to keep us safe. Camden, get me schematics on what that would take and how
long."
"On it," Camden said, popping his jaw.
"As for now, the meeting is dismissed."
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