Maximus takes the chair at the near end. I take the chair to his right. The glasses sit untouched.Not yet.You don’t drink until you know the terms.
Erik doesn’t sit.
Of course he doesn’t. Standing while everyone else sits. Oldest power move in the book.
“Your problem is becoming my problem,” he says. “I don’t like sharing problems. Costs too damn much and the other party always gets the better end.”
“Then let’s solve it,” Maximus says.
Erik pulls out the chair at the far end and sits. Pours himself a glass. Doesn’t offer it to us. Doesn’t withhold it either. Just pours, sets the bottle down, and looks at Maximus.
"Six weeks," Maximus says. "Tripled in the past seven days."
He lays out the rest. Birmingham. Savannah. Jacksonville. Three southeastern territories with feral counts that don't match anything we've seen. Vampires turn feral over time. Not in clusters. Not on a schedule. Someone is making it happen. We think Konstantin's blood supply is how.
I’ve watched him brief a room before. The voice drops half a register. The sentences get shorter. Every word load-bearing.
Erik listens without interrupting. His expression is fixed. His hands, when he’s not using them, lie open on the wood.
“My trackers have been logging incidents,” he says when Maximus finishes. “Three months of data. Every location. Every timestamp.” He takes a drink. “The pattern’snotrandom. I’ll show you at the end.”
Three months. He’s been sitting on three months of data.
He sets the glass down. Turns it once on the table. Stops it.
“You understand what invoking the Accords costs me.”
“I understand what it costs both of us,” Maximus says.
“Not equally. When the Accords activate, my wolves go on your territory. Hunt your ferals. Handle what you can’t.” He leans forward. “My pack’s credibility runs on what we don’t do for free.”
“What are your terms?” Maximus asks.
“Expanded territory recognition. The northern buffer zone has been disputed for forty years. I want it settled. Formal boundary. Iron Claw, acknowledged.”
Maximus says nothing.
My fingers reach for my throat again. Nothing there. I drop my hand back to the wood.
Stop reaching for something that isn’t there.
“I want access to your intelligence network. Real access. Feral movement, supply chain disruptions, Konstantin’s operations. Not summaries. Primary data.”
“On a case-by-case basis,” Maximus says. “Reviewed by my people before it transfers.”
Erik considers this for half a second. He’s leaning forward. “Reviewed within twenty-four hours. And nothing gets cut before I see it.”
“Forty-eight hours. Two reviewers on my end. Nothing withheld.”
A pause. “Accepted.”
“When this escalates, you’ll want a seat at my war council,” Maximus says. “It’s yours.”
Erik’s face closes. He sits back.
“You’re not here because of credibility,” I say.
Erik holds my eyes.
