Jacobs shot to his feet at the sight of her. His eyes were bloodshot and his hair was rumpled. “Triskele,” he saluted, bowing his head respectfully when he caught a glimpse of her. Those fatigued eyes of his widened at the sight of the male he’d hadn’t already seen in this office, Theo.
“My mates,” she explained, encompassing them all in the one label. They were so much more than that, but in these circumstances, they each had their role to play.
When she was leader of the Pack, they would be TriAlpha. When she was the Queen of the Fae, they would be her Kings.
For now, they were her mates.
And for now and forevermore, that was all she wanted.
Them, to be hers.
“Greetings,” Jacobs rasped. “May I ask why you’re here, ma’am? So shortly after…”
When his words drew out on a long hesitation, she had to smile. “Nothing you’ve done wrong,” she assured him. Truth was, she didn’t know if he’d been doing a good job or not. It took more than ten days to figure out if someone had the guts to rule a decent sized pack such as this one, and she’d had no intention of keeping her eyes on him so intently that she didn’t allow him to make even the most basic of mistakes.
She was young but not an idiot.
The last thing she expected was perfection in a new leader.
“Then, to what do we owe this pleasure?” It was a very well-spoken lie; credit where credit was due.
And, though it was a lie, she found herself further amused as she took a seat opposite him.
Last time, she’d taken Stevenson’s desk chair, and had made the old Alpha stand. Jacobs seemed to calm at the place she’d chosen, taking it as a sign she wasn’t displeased with him as he’d originally feared, and he, in turn, seated himself.
“You might be aware that I was shot recently?”
His eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
“Shot,” Mikkel bit off. “With a gun. You Texas boys like your guns, don’t you? Recognize the word?”
Jacobs’ jaw clenched. “I’m aware what one is, yes, sir.” He hissed the word ‘sir,’ imbuing the respectful title with anger.
“I was targeted by a group of human hunters on pack land that is close to my grandfathers’ property in Florida.” She propped her arms on the rests of the seat, then folded her hands neatly over her belly. “After some investigation, we’ve managed to learn that the disgruntled Alphas in this Pack were behind the shooting.” She smiled sweetly at him. “I’ve decided if they’d like to take me down, they can do so in the arena. Please arrange for Stevenson, Haraldsson, and Kinnock to—”
“You’re challenging them?” he blurted out, cutting her mates a look. “Not sentencing them to death?”
“Oh, she’s sentencing them, all right,” Mikkel growled. “Just not in the usual way.”
She didn’t have to see Rafe to know that he was elbowing Mikkel in the side. Not that she minded his words; it proved that, to him, she was badass, and when wasn’t that sexy? When a decorated soldier praised her accomplishments? When she’d really accomplished so little in her days too? It was wonderful to know he was at her back.
“My mate is right,” she informed Jacobs softly. “I’d like to gather them tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Is he hard of hearing or something?” Mikkel grumbled.
Jacobs cleared his throat. “It’s short notice.”
“Tough,” she retorted. “As you can imagine, I don’t appreciate being shot at by humans on a Full Moon Run. It was cowardly. It was weak. It was underhanded. Those are not things we wish to promote in the North American Pack, do we?”
He swallowed and shook his head. Reaching for the landline on his desk, he dialed a number and put it on speaker. “Tristan?”
“Yes, Alpha?”
“I need you to collect Stevenson, Haraldsson, and Kinnock and have them at the arena.”
“Sir?” Tristan, whoever the hell he was, asked.
“You heard me.” Jacobs’ cheeks flushed as he peered over at Mikkel who was, undoubtedly, grousing about how everyone was repeating themselves.
Her mate was such a prickly pear sometimes, she thought drily.
“But why? They won’t come without a reason, Alpha,” Tristan argued, but not with enough fire to seem like he was challenging Jacobs.
“The Triskele is here for them. They’ve been accused of attempted murder.”
Tristan’s swift intake of breath was very good for her ego. “What time do you need them at the arena?”
“In two hours,” she told him calmly, breaking into the conversation. “Gather everyone. We have some lessons to teach.”
Jacobs’ eyes shuttered at her comment, and Tristan mumbled, “Yes, ma’am. Sir. Bye.”
He cut the call, and Thalia caught Jacobs’ attention. “Your Beta?”
“Yes. He’s my brother.”
“Is he good?”
“Very. He’s not the strongest in a challenge, but he’s smart and he’s quick. We need both. Stevenson has been running this place into the ground. He should have asked for help from the State Pack a while back. Why he didn’t…” Jacobs shook his head, then rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s been twenty-hour days since I beat his ass in the arena. Trying to figure out how to sort this mess out.”
“Was he incompetent or stealing?”
“It’s hard to say. My gut says incompetent. The man is too proud to steal. But, equally, I’d have figured that only a moron could run this place into the ground like he’s done. The pack isn’t poor. We have four different factories that employ members of Summerford. Then, we have a construction firm, and about twenty years ago we even established a law firm—Tristan was one of the head lawyers there. We shouldn’t be strapped for cash, but we are.”
“Asset rich, cash poor?” Theo asked, his words curious.
“No, I don’t think so. I have a forensic accountant trying to figure things out.”
“If he’d been stealing, wouldn’t he have absconded by now?” Rafe questioned, and his voice was low, quiet.
She wondered if he’d been silent thus far because, in this place, he’d always been the lowest of the low.
Such a stigma was hard to break. Even with supportive, and powerful, mates at one’s side.
“He doesn’t really…” Jacobs grimaced. “The bastard wouldn’t cede in the arena, ma’am. I tried. I really did. I didn’t want to hurt him, but he wouldn’t stop until I’d put him through the wringer.”
She held up a hand. “No need to apologize. He knew your challenging him was a token to his pride. He’s the fool if he tried to make you suffer when I gave him an out.”
Jacobs blew out a relieved breath and she was, she realized, amused to note how on edge he was around her.
Was she really so scary?
Whenever she looked in the mirror, she saw the same Thalia as she’d always seen. Too slender, even if that slenderness was muscled, too petite for her own good.
She wasn’t frightening, and yet Jacobs, a powerful Alpha from a state renowned for breeding male chauvinist asshole Alphas, danced around her like a fly did a stack of pancakes that were dripping in syrup.
“Thank you, ma’am. I wasn’t sure if you were here to reprimand me for that.”
“That why you’ve been on edge?” she asked, cocking a brow at him.
“There might not be much left to challenge,” he admitted, his mouth pulling down to the side. “He’s got two casts on his legs for a start.”
She hissed out a grimace. “Why hasn’t he shifted? That should have handled the majority of his injuries.”
“He refuses.”
“He refuses to heal?” Rafe questioned, his voice high from surprise.
“Yes.”
“Rafe can heal him, make him better right before I make him pay for being a double-crossing son of a bitch.”
“Gladly,” Rafe growled.
“But, wouldn’t he have tried to run if
he’d been embezzling?” Theo questioned, his focus obviously elsewhere.
Jacobs shrugged. “I don’t know. I really don’t know what game he’s playing. As I said, my focus has been on keeping the Pack afloat. Tristan’s helping me with that.”
“What about the Gamma situation?”
“I cut the ranks of all the new Betas Stevenson appointed since his tumble from that horse he was riding last Fall. That was when he started surrounding himself with them. His brood of Betas… using them like a fuc— army.” Jacobs pulled at his shirt collar. “Excuse me, ma’am.”
“I swear too, Alpha,” she told him softly, a smile tugging at her lips. “I’m glad to hear that you’ve been handling the Betas. But the Gammas?”
“They’re taking longer to come around especially as…” His gaze darted behind her, and his frustration was evident as he stated, “They really only trust you, Raphael.”
She turned around to Rafe who seemed discomfited by that news. “You can’t blame them, love. You were their voice when no one else was willing to listen.”
“My place isn’t here anymore,” Rafe rasped. “It was never supposed to be here, but how can I leave them?” He ran a hand through his hair, disheveling the locks, making her want to get to her feet to flatten them down again.
“We can stay until you’ve reassured them,” she offered gently, even though the notion of staying on this realm overlong filled her with dread. “There is much work to be done here.”
He shook his head, then in a tone that surprised her, and probably stunned the shit out of Jacobs, murmured softly, but with enough steel to bite, “We need to speak in private.”
Jacobs’ eyes widened, then he looked back and forth between Thalia and each of her mates. “I-I’ll just wait outside.”
“Don’t listen in,” Mikkel ordered, making Jacobs glower at him.
“As if I would,” he gritted out, barely managing because his jaw was clenched so hard it had to be painful. To Thalia, he bowed his head and mumbled, “Ma’am.”
When the door closed behind him, Theo murmured, “Well done, Rafe. That took courage to make dictates in here.”
Her mate shrugged as he headed for the desk directly in front of Thalia. Perching on the edge, he folded his arms across his chest. “What do we do?”
“Will your endorsing Jacobs help the Gammas trust him?” Mikkel asked, his question surprisingly on point.
“It couldn’t hurt,” Rafe replied, but he didn’t look happy. “What am I endorsing though? Only time will tell if he’s a decent Alpha. We’ve only had him in place for less than two weeks on this realm. Who’s to know if he’s not as big a schmuck as Stevenson?”
Thalia frowned at him as she pressed her hand to his knee. “Rafe, you thought he was decent before.”
“They usually are until they get some power. That’s when they turn into tyrants,” he stated gruffly, his gaze trained on his gleaming black leather shoes.
As she took him in, took all of him in, she had to credit Theo’s ability to glamor up clothes that would do a tailors on Savile Row proud, as well as the beauty that was this mate of hers.
He looked like a model who’d just stepped off a Brioni catwalk. The three piece suit fit him like a glove, and the body beneath was one she could swoon over. The dark charcoal fabric contrasted deliciously with his onyx hair and olive skin, and the faint pinstripe, thin and tasteful, made him look all the more dapper when paired with the vest he wore beneath. The contrast of a white shirt and a black tie just made him more handsome thanks to the monochromatic coloring.
Beneath her hand, the silk blend was soft to the touch, but the muscles beneath weren’t. He was tense and uncomfortable, and she hated that.
She would, she knew, always feel faintly protective toward this mate of hers.
Even though he wasn’t Gamma, even though he was a gifted creature in his own right, one who was finally coming into his powers, she would always remember him as the male of that first day. An unusual Gamma, with a degree in medicine, and enough strength to speak up about a wrong that so many were choosing to ignore, while beaten, cowed by a Beta who believed might was right.
He’d come a long way since then. Leaps and bounds in truth, but she’d fallen for the Gamma, and was in love with this male who defied rank, and probably always would. He was a study in contrasts. Soft in some ways, strong in others. He pushed and pulled, a constant tug of war that didn’t feel like a battle because they weren’t fighting one another; they were, she realized, at one with each other.
Not that she didn’t feel that way with her other mates. Her relationships with them were all unique and individual, just as hers was with Rafe. It would be weird to think she’d have identical connections with each of them. It never worked that way. She’d seen that with her parents and grandparents.
Elena snuggled up to Damien, would rest her head on his shoulder when she was tired or weary, then she’d clash with Luca, butting heads until, Thalia had seen it too often to count, they’d kiss through the madness. Adam, she’d sit and read with, usually the pair of them in one of the libraries at the palace. She’d have her feet on his lap while they sat together, united and connected in their own unique way.
Her grandparents were no different. Rosa and Louis were aggressive with one another, and that twinkle in her grandmother’s eye sparkled uniquely for him—it was a twinkle Thalia seriously didn’t want to know what it represented. With Adrian, she was soft, gentle. Affectionate. They were creative together; painted and explored the finer things in life. She knew they’d gone traipsing through vineyards several times in France together, leaving the other mates back home to do that as a couple. And with Matthew? There was a smile on Rosa’s lips only he could bring to the fore. It was a mixture of softness and warmth. Desire was there for all of them, but it took on a unique form that had always intrigued Thalia.
And now she understood.
She could and would knee Mikkel in the balls if he was being a bastard. She felt no compunction in doing it. He wanted her like that. He wanted her fire, her heat. He wanted to burn alongside her and, after he’d gotten over it, he’d grin at her and call her ‘ballsy.’ But his eyes would sparkle and shine at her standing up to him.
Would she ever dream of hurting the others that way?
Never.
Rafe was her Damien, her Adrian. She didn’t have to be strong around him. She didn’t have to be Triskele. She could be that softer side of herself that didn’t often know how to come forward, but he wanted that. He wanted to see that side of her, and she loved that he needed that from her.
Of them all, her relationship with Theo was the most strained, she supposed. She knew what she wanted from him, but for whatever reason, he was holding back.
Oh, she knew he wouldn’t think so. Hadn’t she seen the longing in his eyes before they’d bonded? Hadn’t she seen the desperate need to be one with her? There was no mistaking that, but equally, he’d been alone for twelve thousand years. Maybe not alone, but not with his fated. They should have had time to grow together, to become a unit… but time wasn’t on their side considering their current situation. He wasn’t distant, he was just used to acting as an individual, and now, he had three people at his side.
It was overwhelming for everyone.
She knew, however, that someday, they’d explore the world together. He’d let her be free in ways Rafe and Mikkel didn’t even know she needed. Together, they’d fly (literally) and be adventurous together. She’d be safe with him, protected, but free to be herself and see a world that he wanted to show her.
Her lips curved as she squeezed the space just above Rafe’s knee, and she murmured, “Think I’ll become a tyrant? You sound so certain anyone with power will go mad…”
“We won’t let you,” he told her drily, but he grinned at her, and considering where they were, she knew how large a concession that was.
This place represented his past failures. He might have dominated his sphere in the
human world, but here? He’d been the weakest, the lowest. That he could smile here at all was a great boon.
“How will you stop me?” she whispered, looking into those deep coffee eyes even though she knew that dangers and perils none of them understood lay within.
“Oh, we have our ways,” he teased, and she couldn’t stop herself from chuckling as she climbed to her feet. He parted his knees to let her get closer and when she pressed her hands to his chest, he peered down at them as he covered hers with his. “You’re not like that. You’re not interested in power. It’s different.”
She blinked. “I’m not?”
“You have the power of two kingdoms at your feet and you’re more concerned with our baby girl who’s currently wrapped up safe and warm in your belly.” His lips twitched. “No. You’re our mate first and foremost, then you’re whatever the Gods have cooked up for you.”
She liked that he knew that about her, because genuinely, she couldn’t give a fuck about her place in this damn world. She was happy with her position at the center of the circle her mates captured her in.
Pressing her belly against his, she ignored his erection—the three of them were usually hard when she hugged them—and instead, whispered, “For our child, I would bring the Earth to its knees.”
Her soft words had his pupils dilating. “I know. I just wish that wasn’t a necessity.”
Understanding his meaning, she nodded. “Let’s hope it won’t be required.”
“Hope is a dangerous thing,” he said on an exhalation, as he pressed his lips to her mouth.
“Do you do it on purpose?” Mikkel’s voice cut in.
The question had her scowling as she turned to Mikkel who was glowering at Theo.
“Do what?” she demanded.
“When he makes pants for you, he does something that makes your ass fuckable,” Mikkel complained. “I’ve got a perfect view of a butt I want to fuck again, that’s got my flag on it just waiting for it to happen once more, and you’re talking the sexiest shit about bringing the world to its knees to protect our kid, and he just makes it worse by putting you in clothes that make me want to cum down your throat.”
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