“Is there a problem here?” A werewolf came up behind the man at the door. He glared at me, all growl with the hint of teeth for a bite.
“No problem, I’m just trying to talk to someone about Trish.” I pulled my hand back and held both palms up. “We’re looking into her death—”
“Yeah? Well, tell the prince that until he’s willing to take responsibility for killing the Jennings’ heir, no one in this house will sayanythingto him,” the werewolf snapped. He grabbed hold of the door, slamming it.
“What the—” I started forward, but Jay grabbed my arm.
“Don’t.” He kept his voice calm, even though I could feel the tremble in his hands.
As soon as I turned away from the door, he dropped his hands. “They’re one of the families who believes in the old ways. They won’t talk to you anyway.”
I remembered how Leon had spoken the night before, wolves giving their last drop of water to their mage. If they saw wolves as nothing more than slaves, I’d need to come back with Cade to see if he could smooth the feathers I’d ruffled. Jay led me back to the cart, and we were on our way again.
“How many people hate Cade the way they do?” I asked.
“That’s where Isaac and I live,” Jay said loudly, ignoring my question. He pointed at a modest two-story house set back under a canopy of trees. Further down the road, he pulled the golf cart to a stop in front of the massive gates that Cade had driven us through.
“You can’t get out of here, not without permission. The mages can, but we—and the humans—can’t. It’s not a big deal—Leon will give you permission if you need it.” He turned the cart along a small dirt road and drove further into the forest. “If you follow the main road past the king’s house, you reach the lake. There are a couple of houses out there and one larger hall for communal gatherings. Some of the families prefer to live out there rather than closer to everyone else. Here, though, in the forest, this is our territory.”
“Werewolf territory,” I said immediately.
“Consort territory.” Jay pulled the car to a stop when the road disappeared and got out.
I followed him, rolling my shoulders back and sniffing again, enjoying the smell of the forest. Jay started walking, and I followed him. We passed through a break in the trees, and a wide, enormous garden spread out in front of us.
A tall man with a graying beard was crouched over some sort of lettuce. He pushed back his wide-brimmed hat and waved when Jay stopped at the edge of the field. This must be where they got most of their vegetables. I was no farmer, but I had grown up around farmland, and I recognized a good-sized field when I saw one.
As he approached, he took off a pair of gloves and slapped them against dirt-stained jeans. The collar around his neck was dark brown and old enough that a groove was worn into it where it latched shut.
“This is Jesaiah. He runs the farm and does some of the gardening around the main house.” Jay grinned openly. “Jesaiah, this is Miles.”
“Good to meet you.” Jesaiah’s white teeth gleamed, and the smell hit me immediately. He was an alpha. An old one. The part of me that wanted to assert dominance reached up, clawing at my throat. Jesaiah immediately said, “We don’t play those games here. Ride it out, boy.”
I tamped down the part of me that wanted to stare him down, wanted to have a fight like I had with Tyson. Everything I had seen so far told me that if I tried to play games like that here, tried to make it clear that I was the alpha, I was going to lose any chance I had at winning the mice over with cheese.
Not to mention, it reminded me that I couldn’t shift. My heart hammered in my chest, the desperation to grow claws and fur. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.
“Nice to meet you,” I said when I had my voice under control.
“You already met Tyson, but I asked Jay to bring you over so I could give you the lay of the land.” Jesaiah smiled at me, the wrinkles deep around his eyes. “We all come from different places when we become consorts. No matter what’s happened to you in the past, once you’re a consort, you’re bound bythathierarchy. I didn’t want you to take Tyson’s aggressiveness as the way the rest of us will be treating you.”
“Yeah, he was quite the welcome wagon,” I said.
“He can be at that.” Jesaiah chuckled. Reaching into his pocket, he drew out a handful of rocks and offered them over to Jay. They were small, barely larger than pebbles. “Found some more for your collection.”
“Thanks.” Jay ducked his head. “You ready to head back, Miles?”
“No. Don’t worry about him. I’ll take him back with the delivery for lunch.” Jesaiah waved Jay off. “I have a feeling he and I have a lot to talk about. Don’t we, Alpha?”
ChapterFifteen
Jay shook his head, looking at me. “No. I brought him here, I should bring him back. I agreed he should meet you because he’s like I was when I first arrived, but now you’ve met…”
“You were a scared little rabbit when you first got here, Jay. This boy is no rabbit. This is an alpha. He’susedto being an alpha. Why don’t you let us talk?” Jesaiah glanced at me, a small smile wrinkling his eyes again. “I promise I’m not dumb enough to hurt the prince’s own consort. Go on now.”
Jay looked at me again, and I saw his shoulders shift, his feet planting. It surprised me. Jesaiah wasn’t wrong. I could see the nervousness that still lingered in Jay, the fear. This was a man he had wanted to introduce me to, someone he trusted.
Both Jesaiah and Jay might say that they didn’t play pack hierarchy, at least not like those of us in the rest of the world did, but it was very clear who was the alpha here at House Bartlett. And I was very curious about what the alpha had to say with me coming into his territory.
