Evil bastard!
The words echoed in her mind.
“We’re done here,” Emma snarled.
Brady normally gave the orders, as his position in the pack placed him second only to the Alpha, but at Emma’s command, he shifted focus, hoisting Leif to his feet to return the fallen wolf to his cell. “Good job. I think that means you’re not getting any new books.”
When he turned back around to face Emma, the ghost of a smile remained on his lips, but his eyes were curious. “You okay? What did he say to you?”
“Fine,” she lied. “Let’s get back upstairs. I have to file this report.” Emma already had the door handle turned, but it was locked, and in her haste to leave, she forgot Brady had the code.
“Whoa there. Don’t break it. Then the big, bad wolf might get out,” Brady joked, as he punched the code. He had no clue why those words made Emma cringe, nor did he seem to notice as he pulled the door open.
She rushed past him, not wanting to be anywhere near that disgusting old man any longer than she had to.
Before Brady had the chance to close it, Leif’s voice crept out, echoing in the stairwell. “Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf?”
The words caressed her ear as if he were whispering them so only she could hear, sending another wave of goosebumps prickling all over her skin. “How much longer do we have to deal with him?”
Brady locked the door and checked it twice. “Aiden is putting a call into the other regions to set up a place for the council. It will have to be on neutral ground since it’s an Alpha on the chopping block, and we can’t execute him ourselves.”
“Why not? You killed Charles. “ Emma would have rather dealt with him as a prisoner than Leif.
“I’m already in deep shit for Charles’s death,” Brady grumbled.
Emma caught the uncertainty in his voice, but couldn’t stand hanging around the prison any longer than she had to. And he had a mate to unload his problems on now, so there was no use in her trying to delve into his issues. She turned and took the stairs two at a time. “The sooner we can have this meeting, the better. And don’t ask me to come down here again.”
“What did he say to you?” Brady’s worried tone stopped Emma in her tracks.
She turned and allowed herself to look on his face. “Nonsense, really. But he’s got a creeper vibe like I’ve never felt before.”
Brady’s eyes narrowed and the curl of his lip suggested anger. His protective nature had always been one of his better qualities. Just being near him made her feel safe. “If all goes as planned, he’ll get what’s coming to him. Don’t you worry.”
2
Aeson Silverman
“This will not end well.” Ace slowly set down the phone, numb from the realization that life as a Regional Alpha was about to get so much more than real in the next couple of weeks.
Raised as the next in line to be Alpha of the Long Teeth region, Aeson Silverman had spent his formative years being grilled on the rules of law that wolves lived by. But nothing could have prepared him for what Aiden Whelan of the Olde Town pack had just asked him to do.
Aeson came from a long line of powerful wolf shifters. The office had been his father’s before him; and before his father, the great Orion Silverman had been Alpha. Grand portraits of his forefathers lined the walls to remind him of his legacy as a Silverman wolf.
Each had faced their own particular trials, but none as young as he – a huge strike against him as the newly appointed Alpha for the region.
A lucky twist of fate had awarded him the role instead of his cousin, Giselle. Being the daughter of Orion Silverman, she was the natural heir, but younger still than he, and had wisely passed on taking the reins of leadership before she was ready.
Youth, for a wolf, had many disadvantages. They could live as immortals if not for their sometimes violent instincts. Alphas in some territories had centuries or more of experience, whereas Ace had barely passed the legal drinking age when leadership fell into his lap.
Alphas were to be respected for their strength of mind as well as physical prowess. Proving himself to his territory and to the other Alphas of the high council was a herculean task that Ace struggled with daily.
His eyes traveled through the history of his family as he gazed upon the portraits around the room. Have they ever felt unworthy?
Such questions he could ponder in the privacy of solitude, but he dared not ever give them voice to even his personal council. To be Alpha was to wear the mask and never let any insecurity show.
The door to his office burst open and slammed against the wall as Jay, his twin brother, sauntered in. Winner of the birth lottery, being younger by mere moments, he had none of the pressure and responsibility of the Regional Alpha title crushing his sprit. Head held high with a cocky grin, Jay flaunted his position, perching himself on the edge of Ace’s desk, sending a cascade of unread documents scattering on the floor.
“So, I was thinking tonight we hit a club, and...” Jay’s words trailed off the moment he met his brother’s eyes. “What happened?”
The mess his brother had just created would have to be dealt with later. Of all the wolves in the Long Teeth territory, his brother was the only person he could truly speak to on the same level. He struggled with where to begin. Their territory had been in so much turmoil, first with their father’s corruption and execution and then with the breakdown of the Regional Alpha in the Midwest territories. They’d known someone was acting as puppet master, pulling the strings of important figures within their realm. But it was Aiden’s call that had finally revealed the truth.
Ace let lose a breath, trying to find the right words. “It was Leif and Charles this whole time.”
Confusion plastered a blank stare on his brother’s face. Jay rotated his hands as if trying to reel in more information. “You’re going to have to bring me up to speed here.”
“Remember what happened in Vegas with Giselle?” Ace slumped in his seat, all the anticipation of his big reveal ending with another rehashing of the drama they’d lived through.
“How could I forget?” Jay’s lip twitched with a snarl of disgust. “It’s not every day you have to take part in the execution of a Regional Alpha.”
Nearly a century of peace between the major territories of North America had begun to unravel a few months earlier when it had been discovered his cousin Giselle was the long lost daughter of the once-proud Alpha of their territory, Orion Silverman. And at that same time, their own father, Orion’s brother, had been corrupted and was executed right before their eyes.
The corruption and death had not ended there. Seeds of discord had been sown by some unknown conspirator, and just as Giselle had been discovered and her rightful title awarded, the leader of the largest territory, Misha Noels, had been found guilty of breaking wolf law and had been executed as well. As their trial by fire, Ace and Jay had both been forced to take part in each and every execution of pack justice. But through all the corruption and death, no one had located the source, the force behind it all.
“We knew someone else had to be pulling Misha’s strings,” Ace reminded his brother. “Two long-standing and very well respected Alphas dead in as many months! Misha had always been the strictest of followers of our laws. To abandon them was just... wrong.”
Jay flopped down into the office chair with the weight of what he’d just learned. “If what you’re saying is right, Leif and Charles were implicated in this mess too?”
“According to the phone call I just got from the Olde Town pack.” Ace locked eyes with his brother. “Leif was the puppet master.”
“Wait...” Jay began counting on his fingers. “That’s two more territories involved. Half the country is trying to destroy our fragile system. How did this happen?”
“Million-dollar question.” Ace sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Three territories leaderless. The Midwest, the South, and now the Canadian provinces will be left leaderless if the execution o
f Leif is ordered by the council.”
“Is Charles not being put on trial? What was his involvement?”
“As I understand it...” Ace hesitated before speaking the words out loud. “Brady has already executed him.”
“He’s got some balls,” Jay snorted.
Under better circumstances, Ace might have shared in a laugh with his brother, but the situation was far from funny. Execution of a normal wolf was a tragedy; this was a Regional Alpha. The highest level of wolf in the country. Charles was the Regional Alpha of the southern territories, dubbed the Reds. Brady would have needed a serious reason to do that, and plenty of witnesses to back up his story or he himself might end up next to die.
“Brady claims to have witnesses,” Ace assured his brother. “And Leif is one of them. For that reason, they’re holding him in prison until a council can be convened to decide his fate.”
Jay’s feet slid of the corner of the desk, landing with a muted thump on the ground as he sat fully erect in the chair. “You’re fucking with me, right? We are to order the death of the Canadian Alpha?”
“Even better.” Ace’s face contorted into a painfully forced smile. “We are to host this council.”
“No. No. No.” Jay’s head looked as if it might fly off his neck, he shook it so hard. “Why us?”
“Because aside from the Olde Town pack, we’re the last remaining North American pack that’s not at war with itself.”
“We’re not up to speed here yet. We can’t coordinate and host another council meeting. What about the Lobos?”
“We have to. This happened in our country. It has to be dealt with on neutral ground, and we’re the only pack remaining that’s stable.”
“I’d hardly call us stable,” Jay scoffed. “We’re not at war, sure, but you haven’t even completed your first tour as Regional Alpha. Half the territory you represent hasn’t had a chance to meet you and pledge their allegiance.”
Jay’s point was one Ace had tried to make to Aiden when he’d called, but the crafty Alpha had spun that into a way to show his new territory his effectiveness in a crisis. Ace had been powerless to say no, despite wanting no part in condemning another wolf.
Jay took advantage of his brother’s silence. “Just call the Lobos and see if they can arrange a meeting in New Mexico rather than actual Mexico, and you can get around the red tape.”
“Damn. I wish I’d had you on the line with me. Want to trade places, and you can be the Alpha, brother?”
“Oh, hell no. I’m not the Alpha. Never wanted to be one. Never will be one. That’s your job, big brother.” Jay winked.
If only Ace had been born seconds later! Being Alpha was not the glamourous life others imagined it to be.
“What’s done is done.” He sighed, resigning himself to his duty. “We will of course call the Lobos up for the council meeting, but don’t count too highly on them showing. Recent human politics has been causing them trouble. Their ties to the U.S. might be cut off if the current president continues on his path of anti-immigration.”
“And here I thought we were finally seeing things settle down. Should we put our Uncle Orion on alert?”
“Yes. Gather the council, but be careful what you say to Orion. Giselle just got her father back, and I don’t want to stress her out about losing him again.” Ace winced at the thought of tearing father and daughter apart so soon after their reunion. Seventeen years Orion had lain in a magical coma under the care of his family while Giselle had been lost in the human foster care system. Only when they were finally reunited had the great Alpha of their territory finally come back to life. Ace had never learned the full story of how Giselle managed to wake Orion, but he knew she’d risked something very big to bring her father back from the abyss. “She needs to finish school before we fully embroil her in the political arena.”
“A little late for that,” Jay snickered. “We’ll be lucky if Giselle doesn’t come holding Orion’s leash.”
“Don’t joke about that,” Ace snarled at his brother. Having just lost his own dad, he could understand why Giselle was hesitant to let her father out of sight.
“Sorry.” Jay hung his head shamefully. “How long do we have?”
“Council must be held before the end of the month.” Ace picked up his cellphone and opened the calendar app. “That leaves less than two weeks to get organized.”
3
Emma MacBride
“Please tell me we’ll be rid of that wolf soon,” Emma said, as she filed into Aiden’s office for the latest of yet another small council meeting. She pressed in close to the desk to make room for the others who were taking their seats. Wall-to-wall bookshelves with almost every reference to werewolves and supernatural creatures lined the room, making it feel more like a library. The huge mahogany desk, however, sitting almost dead center, grounded the room in business. As an office, it suited the Olde Town Alpha well enough, and like his father before him, Aiden kept the tradition of intimate closed-door meetings in his personal space.
“That is precisely what we are here to discuss, Emma,” Aiden responded. He, unlike many Alphas of their day, respected the thoughts and opinions of his closest advisors, a fact that earned more loyalty and respect from Emma than she’d previously given their father when he’d been the Alpha.
Elbow to elbow, the small council packed in around the desk as Aiden explained the need for the Regional Alphas to meet on neutral ground, and how their decisions would ultimately shape the fate of the North American regions.
Construction had begun to repair the damage Charles’s recent attack had brought upon them, and the wolves from the fringe packs had all finally returned to their homes. The Olde Town, being the oldest of the Regional territories, ran as far south as Virginia though their home base was in a nature preserve in Massachusetts. Normally at this time of the year, the small council would be heading back to their home turfs to work with their local packs, but because of recent events, none had been allowed to leave.
Aiden looked to his wilderness expert and longest surviving council member Jackson. “You and Stephen will need to remain here to oversee the rebuilding projects and ensure any wolves who need shelter are taken care of.”
Emma chuckled to herself. Jackson was the closest thing to a true wolf as they came. He’d once spent an entire month in his wolf form, living off the land. If not for his position as caretaker of the nature preserve, he’d probably stay a wolf full time.
Not that there was much difference in his appearance either way: wild unkempt hair and beard. The only real giveaway he was in human form was the horrible flannel shirts he wore.
Jackson might have looked pleased, but Stephen, the opposite of a mountain man in every sense of the word, all the way down to his hipster skinny jeans, clicked his tongue with annoyance.
Aiden didn’t miss a beat in responding. “Not ideal, I know. I’m sorry for that, but you are exceptional in organizing and budgeting. Without you here to manage the contractors, I’d worry what kind of a mess I might return to.”
A sucker with a huge ego, Stephen ate that kind of praise up, and Aiden knew just how to feed into it. The recognition of his true importance wiped the frown straight from the paperwork Nazi’s sour puss. “Of course, sir. It’s my pleasure to keep this place running shipshape.” He sent a side-eye sneer at Jackson.
Sensing an argument could break out between the two wolves, Emma lifted her hand. “I volunteer to go with you.” No way in hell was she going to stay back and play referee for those boys while the Alpha was away.
As if he knew exactly what she’d been thinking, Aiden quickly agreed. “Absolutely. With Brady possibly leaving us in the next few months, you’re my right hand.”
Of all the things that had hurt her over the last few months, hearing Aiden confirm that his brother was on the way out clawed at her scarred heart. Holding onto the smoldering ember of unrequited love was unquestionably the stupidest thing she could do, but painful as it was, she ju
st couldn’t let go. She might not have him to herself, but at least he was around. She could still be close to him and enjoy his company. Part masochistic, part desperation, the loss of his presence completely somehow felt even more unbearable than the constant reminder she was not the one for him. She just wasn’t ready to rip the bandaid off yet, though it was necessary to begin the healing process.
Emma stole a glance at Brady, trying to hide the emotion in her expression, covering the pain with the no-nonsense tone she was famous for. “He’ll still join us in council, correct?”
“Of course. His bid for Alpha has to be accepted by the Regional council,” Aiden responded. “And there will be the matter of Charles’s widow to deal with while we’re there too.”
“I don’t want to take the south,” Brady grumbled, confirming what Emma had already assumed: this decision was being forced rather than bestowed. She held on to a faint glimmer of hope that the council would not confirm his claim and Brady might stay with the Olde Town.
Aiden fixed his brother with an angry glare that shocked the whole room. His tone carried all the weight of Alpha with it, demanding compliance. “We’ve discussed this.”
“I will always do my duty. Of course,” Brady responded in kind. An Alpha in his own right, he was worthy of the title. The natural power exuded by both the Whelan brothers was enough to choke the oxygen from the room. Thankfully they had both chosen to aim their anger at each other. “If it were up to me, I would stay with my people here in the Olde Town.”
“The Reds are leaderless and have been living under a regime of antiquated ideals.” Aiden quieted his voice to nearly a whisper, forcing the room into silence as he made his point. “They need someone to bring their territory into the new era and free the poor women who’ve been forced into broodmates.”
Brady’s eyes flitted over to his mate Rachel the moment Aiden uttered that terrible word. That statement more than anything else held weight with the Alpha-to-be. Rachel had lived a terrible existence before she’d come to the Olde Town. Forced into a marriage as a broodmate, she’d gone through the worst of it.
Being Alpha_Olde Town Pack Page 2