Page 35 of The Wolf Queen’s Curse

“Did he do anything to earn your mistrust?” I press.

“He doesn’t talk.”

I glance at Bishop, but he doesn’t seem fazed by this.

“So what’s the plan?” Rufus asks. “Not taking on a cabal, I hope.”

“Not directly, and not with so few wolves. I’m hoping to renew alliances.”

When Rufus stops laughing, Bishop continues, unruffled, “While I’m doing that, Beryl Levine will have time to rethink continuing her persecution of the Albion Pack. She will realize she has proven her point and, when we return with the support of other Packs, she will allow us to rebuild.”

“She’ll need to be dealt with eventually,” Rufus says.

“Yes, but it will be on our terms, when we are prepared to meet her and persuade her to leave us be. We have reason to believe that her cabal inner circle would prefer to negotiate an ending to this conflict, once enough time has passed.”

“Does that mean giving her back the g—your mate?”

“Cordelia is not mine to give,” Bishop says, his voice cool. “She is a person, who makes her own choices, and I will support her right to make that choice.”

“Including fighting a cabal to keep her?”

“Including fighting a cabal to ensure she is not taken against her will.”

I lift my hands. “If it came to that, there are options besides me staying with the Pack or taking my place in the cabal. I can go into hiding. Or I could temporarily go along with my grandmother.”

“We’re putting the cart before the horse,” Julius cuts in before Bishop can respond. “Cordelia isn’t going to hide behind Bishop to escape her grandmother, and Bishop isn’t going to let Beryl exterminate the Pack to save Cordelia. They will find other ways. For now, the first step is visiting the Caledonian Pack and attempting to repair the damage Silas did. That’s why we’re here.”

Rufus’s eyes narrow. “I want no part of any Pack.”

“I mean, we’re here on our way through. To Edinburgh. To speak to the Alpha.”

Rufus stares from one of us to the other. “You two boys and your girl here?”

“The new Alpha of the Albion Pack,” Bishop says, each word clipped. “With his advisor and his mate.”

“And who else? You can’t just trot up…” He pushes back in his chair, arms thrust out. “Oh, no. I’m not falling into this trap.”

“What trap?” Bishop says.

“You’ve come to tell me your plans, and I’ll have visions of you two idiots lying dead on the Caledonian Pack’s rubbish heap, your mate sentenced to life as breeding stock, and—being a decent person—I will offer to accompany you.”

“We have Kenric,” Julius says.

Rufus’s mouth works. Then he scowls at Bishop. “Tell me he’s joking.”

“He is not,” Bishop says calmly. “We needed another wolf, preferably born and raised Pack, one who did not help my rebellion but now stands at our side. That is Kenric.”

“The wolf I just told you not to trust?”

“You gave no good reason. We hoped that time together would let us get to know him better.”

“And how is that going?” Rufus says.

“Not well,” Julius says. “He really does seem as unknowable as the Sphinx. But I’m sure it will be fine.”

“No, no, no.”

“Kenric was the best choice,” Bishop says.