by Lisa Oliver
Kyle couldn’t resist a strut, either, when he came to introduce Teric to Steel, Levi, Roger, Phillip, Ace and Farren, who were all waiting on Pearson and Dante. If any of the men were surprised that he had a cat shifter as a mate, none of them were rude enough to say so, although Steel did make a few comments under his breath about Fate and the fickle way in which she worked. Levi was a little more open about his comments.
“What happened to the suit, man, you looked really sharp in that,” he said with a grin.
To Kyle’s surprise, Teric blushed, which he thought looked totally adorable. “I don’t wear a suit all the time. Just for Alpha meetings.” Teric said carefully. “I am a lot happier in jeans.”
“I’m sure Kyle doesn’t have a problem with you standing out and making the rest of us look like hoods,” Levi grinned.
“Teric would stand out no matter what he wore,” Kyle said, returning the grin, but keeping his hand firmly around Teric’s waist. He remembered that Teric had said that his work prevented him from making many friends, and he wanted his mate to feel comfortable enough with his enforcer buddies, at least, to make some friends of his own.
“So you’re the Council troubleshooter we’re supposed to keep out of trouble,” Ace said in his gravelly voice. His blatantly dismissive sweep over Teric’s body set Kyle’s nerves on edge and he growled a warning.
“I know how to do my job. You just need to watch my back,” Teric said calmly. “That’s all you have to worry about.”
“Seems to me that the job would be a lot easier if we left you at home, sitting on Kyle’s cock, while us big boys took care of the Council business. I can’t believe the Council was dumb enough to send someone like you.” Ace had stood up and was doing his best to intimidate Teric. What the man had against cat shifters, or Teric, Kyle had no idea, but he didn’t like the way Ace was behaving.
Ace was a big shifter – not quite as tall as Kyle, but definitely just as wide. Whereas Kyle had shape in his broad shoulders and trim waist, Ace was built like a tank and was almost as broad around his waist as he was across his shoulders. His black eyes were set in an unremarkable face, his one redeeming feature was his long chestnut hair. It was thick and hung in waves around his face and down his back.
It was that hair that Teri suddenly grabbed hold of, twisting it around one hand and forcing Ace’s head back, knocking his center of gravity off balance. With one sweep of his leg, Teric had Ace on the ground, his head still tilted at an angle that Kyle figured had to hurt the bigger man. Teric’s knee was on Ace’s chest.
“I have been the Council’s top assassin for ten years,” Teric growled. “It would be a huge mistake to underestimate me.”
“I think you can let him go now, Teric,” Kyle said with an equal growl in his voice. He didn’t like the idea of his mate touching anyone else, even if there wasn’t anything sexual in it. For all he knew, Ace could get off on being manhandled, and Kyle hadn’t been with Teric long enough to have him smelling of other shifters – especially ones from his pack.
Teric astonished him by letting go of Ace immediately and almost skipping over to Kyle’s side, slipping his hand into Kyles’ and leaning on his chest. Kyle felt a lot calmer the moment he touched his mate and ignoring Ace, who was still laying on the floor, probably wondering what the hell had happened, Kyle nodded to Farren instead. “Do you have a problem with my mate too?” He asked.
Farren laughed. He was six foot three and unlike a lot of shifters he was a real bear, both in looks, and the fact that he had a lot of body hair, which was rare for a wolf shifter. His blue eyes twinkled in a pleasant face and his blond hair and beard made him look like a colorful Santa Claus. “No my friend. I think you have done well, and I have no problems with our little job tomorrow. I am happy to follow your mate’s lead.”
Kyle nodded his thanks and pulled Teric into the chair beside him, nuzzling in Teric’s curls. “That was a pretty impressive move you pulled there,” he whispered in Teric’s ear.
“Too much?” Teric asked just as quietly, tilting his head so that Kyle could lick up his neck. Kyle shook his head, and moved in to give his mate a kiss, but Pearson and Dante chose that moment to come into the office. Kyle took one last sniff of Teric’s hair and sat back, prepared to be attentive.
“What’s Ace doing on the floor,” Pearson asked, looking around at the enforcers.
“Teric was just showing him the problems he could have leaving his hair loose like he does,” Kyle said with a smirk. “Health and safety messages from the Council, you know.”
Pearson smirked, but said nothing as he and Dante took their seats, waiting until Ace had got up from the floor with a barely repressed groan. The big man obviously wasn’t used to being put flat on his back, especially onto a hard floor and as Kyle watched the man move carefully into a seat, he had to wonder at how effective Ace was going to be at protecting his mate’s shapely ass.
It seemed that Pearson had the same idea. “You going to be okay about going out into the field tomorrow, Ace, or should I get someone else?”
“I can do my job. I won’t have anyone saying otherwise,” Ace snarled, glaring at Teric. “Don’t see why we are so busy trying to protect a cat shifter’s scrawny ass though. We should be taking Favo out by ourselves, leaving the bloody cat at home. Kyle’s mate has no place taking our kill, or being in this pack. Fuck, Kyle had no business claiming a fucking cat in the first place.”
Kyle couldn’t have stopped the growl in his throat if he had tried. While he and Ace had never been close friends, they had been around each other enough to be civil to each other. They had worked together as enforcers many times, and Kyle had even saved the guy once when Ace got caught in an animal trap. He would never have pegged Ace as being someone who would get all antsy with his mate – cat shifter or not. Teric’s hand on his arm helped some, but Kyle was sorely tempted to rip Ace’s throat out and dance on his fucking bones.
Pearson showed no such restraint however. Standing up he loomed over Ace, a growl deep in his throat. It was at times like this that Kyle knew why he respected Pearson as an Alpha. The man was intimidation personified when he wanted to be. His Alpha power swept the room, and Kyle instinctively tipped his head, as did the others in the room – except Teric and Dante.
“Are you questioning my judgment, Ace?” Pearson snarled. “Do you know what will happen if we kill Favo? His fucking followers will come after us. Followers that belong to other packs. Do you want a fucking pack war? Is that what you want? Do you want to put this pack in the position of having to take retaliation from at least a dozen other packs? Lose damn good men, for the sake of one fucking shifter with a grudge against us. Are you that fucking stupid?”
“No….no…Alpha,” Ace stuttered, clearly never being on the tail end of Pearson’s wrath before.
“This cat shifter that you malign so quickly,” Pearson continued. “The one you think is too small, and too fucking insignificant to matter, is the one fucking person that can stop what Favo is doing to this pack with the least amount of people being hurt. The fact that he is mated to one of my top enforcers should be enough for you to show respect. They’re true mates. True mates. Kyle didn’t claim him on a fucking whim. So you’re questioning the Fates as well.Explain yourself asshole, or get out of my fucking pack.”
“You can’t mean that, Alpha.” The horror on Ace’s face would have been funny if it wasn’t so real. Ace was terrified of losing his position, and no wolf did well without a pack to call their own.
“You really are stupid,” Pearson yelled. “I don’t believe it. I can mean anything I fucking want. I’m the Alpha here and I won’t have any type of bigotry in my pack. Teric would already be a pack member, except he wants to do this job first. As a representative of the Shifter Council. Which means any fall out goes to him personally, not our pack. Because of that he’s owed the loyalty of everyone here. Kyle too, for letting this happen. Do you know how fucking hard it is to let your mate go and do somethi
ng that could get him killed? You should be on your knees kissing the feet of the cat you hate for no reason except what he is.”
Pearson was ranting now, and Kyle sure hoped that Dante would step in soon, or there was going to be blood on the floor. What had started off as a sort of joke, well Kyle hadn’t taken Ace to seriously the first time he slanged off Teric, especially when Teric had handled himself so well, had now set the Alpha off in a hell of a rage. Kyle wasn’t feeling much better though. Every wolf knew the importance of a mate, and because Kyle had claimed Teric, it meant that the cat had a permanent place in any pack Kyle belonged to. It was wolf tradition for fucks sake, but Ace seemed to have forgotten everything he had ever been taught as a shifter. Because going against the Alpha, unless you really meant it, was another dumb idea.
Dante must have been doing something with the mind link however, because seconds later Pearson took a deep breath and moved away from Ace. He went and sat in his chair and took Dante’s hand. In a calmer voice he said, “I don’t tolerate fools, or bigots in my pack, Ace. If you can’t accept Teric in this pack then you are gone. It’s that simple. Teric is mated to Kyle, and he is doing this pack a huge favor. All I am hearing from you is hatred and discrimination against another type of shifter, and I won’t have it. Explain yourself or get out. I can’t be clearer than that.”
If anyone wanted a picture of the definition of shattered, then Ace would be it. The big man seemed to have collapsed in on himself. Eyes wild and hair now in complete disarray, the man’s mouth was working, but nothing seemed to come out of it. Pearson had literally thrown his Alpha power at Ace during his tirade, and Kyle knew that Ace’s wolf would be cringing and whining in the man’s mind. It would take a while for Ace to recover.
Pearson seemed to have come to the same conclusion. Sighing heavily, he motioned to Phillip. “Take Ace down to one of the holding cells. I will go and talk to him later. And ask Sebastian to come in, will you? I still need another enforcer to go with Teric and Kyle tomorrow.”
Silently Phillip did as he was told. Ace couldn’t walk on his own, and Phillip, being shorter, was just about buried under the man’s weight, but he took it staunchly and led the man from the room. The office was silent for a moment, as if no one knew what to say. Then Pearson said to Roger, “Go order some coffee for everyone, would you? We’ll try and start this meeting again once everyone is here.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Roger said, slipping from the room. He still looked pretty intimidated, and Kyle guessed he felt a bit like that too. No one came out feeling good when the Alpha went on a rampage. The fact there was no blood spilt was a testament to Pearson’s control. A lot of other Alphas, lost in a rage like that, would shred skin first and ask questions later.
Pearson then fixed his gaze on Kyle. “I’m sorry Kyle,” he said sadly. “I have done my best to create a pack where every gay shifter is welcome. Not just wolves. If I had known of Ace’s prejudice, then he wouldn’t have had a place in this pack.”
“I thought he just didn’t like Teric personally. I didn’t know he hated all cat shifters,” Kyle said, because he honestly couldn’t think what else to say. He was as stunned by what had happened as everyone else in the room. He longed to pull Teric onto his lap and just hold him, but because they were supposed to be in a meeting, he contented himself by putting his hand on the man’s thigh instead. He was pleased when Teric moved one of his hands, to cover his. Obviously the need for touch in that moment, was something they both shared.
“It’s not me personally, Alpha,” Teric broke in. “You should probably know that Ace has a record with the Council. He’s a wolfist.”
Pearson snorted at the term. “Wolfist? Okay, Teric, you’ve got me. What’s a wolfist? I’ve never heard that term before.”
“It’s a Council term,” Teric explained. “A wolfist is a wolf shifter, who hates all other kinds of shifters, and other paranormals. They believe that wolf shifters are superior to everyone and anyone else. In most cases, like Ace, they are fine in a solely wolf pack situation, unless they are confronted with the idea that another shifter type might come into their pack. I’m guessing that is what made Ace so upset. When you ordered him to go on my mission and basically protect my ass, he cracked.”
“You know Alpha,” Steel said breaking into the conversation for the first time. “We might have to seriously considering a liaison with the Council when we are considering new pack members. I did the background search on Ace when he was accepted into this pack, because Roger wasn’t here then. There was nothing that came up in his informationthat suggested he had a problem with other shifters.”
“And humans,” Teric said. “That’s why he came to the attention of the Council. His behavior was in danger of outing shifters to humans. That was before he came here.”
Pearson swore under his breath, but Kyle had a more immediate concern. “Why did you accept Ace as one of the enforcers to come with us tomorrow, if you knew about his attitude towards other shifters?” He asked Teric.
Teric squirmed uncomfortably under his hand. The man looked positively embarrassed and Kyle couldn’t work out why. With everyone in the room looking at him, Teric fidgeted again. “In my job at the Council, if I have to go into a pack, or a pride, or a herd situation – any gathering of more than a few shifters – the Council gives me a rundown on all of the shifters in that group who have come to their attention. It’s so that I can potentially isolate and take care of any problem that might come up in the commission of my work.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Teric continued, “because firstly it would be unprofessional of me, and I knew I could deal with Ace if I needed to. Secondly, it was the Alpha’s command and it is not my place to go against that.”
“So how many shifters were you ‘informed’ about, before you came here?” Pearson asked. Kyle was pleased to see that the Alpha had calmed down, a lot, but Pearson still wasn’t happy.
“Fifteen,” Teric said, “including you Alpha, Dante, Steel, Roger, Ace and others who are not on your enforcer team.” He saw Pearson narrow his eyes, and quickly added. “I wasn’t told anything that could be perceived as an issue in this pack, about anyone on your enforcer team, except Ace. A couple of your other pack members though, could cause you problems, if they haven’t already.”
“What were you told about me?” Dante asked.
“Your unfair kill, which Kyle explained to me incidentally. I can get that cleared for you and did plan on discussing it with you and Pearson, in private, at your convenience.”
“Roger?” Pearson asked.
“Computer hacking to the point where it could cause problems in the human world,” Teric said. “The Council have him on their watch list, but he’s not considered a threat unless he taps into a human organization that might trace him back to here.”
Pearson nodded. “Steel?”
Teric looked at the big shifter who was sitting silently, Levi now almost on his lap. Kyle could see that Teric was weighing up the situation and he had to admit, to himself at least, that the curiosity about what the Council might have on Steel was overwhelming.
When Teric spoke, Kyle was surprised at what he had to say. “Nothing that impacts this pack,” Teric said firmly. “If you wish to discuss it, in private, with Steel present, then I am happy to do that later.”
Again, Pearson nodded and Kyle remembered that Pearson and Steel were old friends and went way back. Chances are Pearson already knew what was on Steel’s file. Kyle had known Steel for quite a few years – enough to know that when the man came back from the war he was a changed man. Maybe the Council file had something to do with that.
Roger came in with a large tray full of coffee essentials and all conversation stopped for a while, so that everyone could get themselves a cup. Kyle nudged closer to Teric and whispered, “What did you learn about me?” Teric just grinned and winked, but he didn’t say anything. Was that a good or a bad thing, Kyle wondered.
Chapter Ten
&n
bsp; It seemed that Steel and the others were no closer to working out who was spying on the pack, than they were that morning. The only two clues were that whoever it would be wasn’t likely to be gay after all, and the listening devices, that Phillip had found in Pearson’s office the day after Grier had been killed. The little units were small, had no identifying numbers on them, and from what Steel could tell, operated on a radio frequency which suggested that whoever was monitoring the units was fairly close by. Steel had done some research and said that most long range listening devices worked with a SIM card and the units found in Pearson’s office were too small for that.
“You know, it’s a shame you didn’t leave these in place, at least for a little while,” Teric said, turning the bug over in his hands and studying it carefully.
“Why’s that?” Pearson asked.
“Well if you could find one of these that was still sending out a signal, then you could use a radio frequency tracer to literally walk you to whoever is receiving the information,” Teric said, handing the item concerned back to Steel.
“You mean like tracking the radio wave it’s sending out?” Steel said. Teric nodded. “We haven’t checked the rest of the club,” Steel continued, with a thoughtful look on his face. “If we could find one…”
“Have you got a sweeper?” Teric wanted to know.
Steel looked at Levi, who nodded, excitement plastered over his face. “Yes, we have, in that latest batch of gadgets I got for your office. I ordered one after the bugs were found in this office, in case we needed them in the future.”
“Well I can have a frequency tracker here within the hour,” Teric said. “If you can find a bug, then I can track it.”
Both men looked at Pearson for approval. This was the best idea anyone had come up with in trying to find out who had infiltrated the pack.