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Chapter 4
Dorian
Afraid of being late for the meeting, I rushed home with the dogs I’d been walking. I almost ran into a woman standing across the road from our front gate. She had been openly staring at the row of houses. One of the dogs growled, and the woman, looking startled, turned to leave. I crossed the road and entered our land, glancing over my shoulder to catch the woman looking back at me.
The encounter felt so random, it had me thinking about it while I fed and watered the dogs. Did I know her? I didn’t think so. I headed towards the shed when Perdita called out for me to wait for her. I turned to look at her in surprise, the woman forgotten.
“You’re going to the meeting?” I asked when she caught up to me, strolling to accommodate the limping dog next to her.
She nodded. “I thought I should keep myself at least a little involved.”
“But you hate the meetings.”
She nudged my arm. “I’ll be with you, so it’ll be fine.”
I stood taller, ready to protect her if things got rough. Not that they would, but still, I liked to feel ready.
The shed was a massive building behind the houses that we used to train dogs and hold pack meetings. Inside was a little cold. Somebody had turned the heaters on too late.
“Smells like wet dog in here,” Perdita said then laughed when she realised what she’d said. “I mean from the actual dogs.”
“Always gets that way at this time of year,” I said. “It’s probably worse now that business is better. People have been coming from all over to train their dogs. Kinda crazy how many dogs there are in this country.”
“We do love our pets.” She patted the head of the wolfhound lying by her feet. He was still recovering from the attack on Perdita. His legs had been broken to prevent him from protecting her, and he might never be the same again. Nathan wanted a new dog to protect her, but she wouldn’t hear of it.
A couple dozen pack members hung around the room in groups, allies and enemies alike. Some, like Perdita, were humans, but they still counted as part of the extended pack. Others lived with Byron’s son Jeremy abroad. Some werewolves had decided they didn’t want to follow an alpha. There were probably others out there whom we hadn’t discovered. I often idly wondered how many werewolves existed in the world, if we were growing in numbers or dying a slow death.
We watched a few stragglers file in. “It’s easy to forget how many of us there are,” Perdita murmured under her breath. I had purposely kept us a good distance from the others so she could speak freely. She shoved her hands into her coat pocket, stamping her feet a little. A couple of pack members looked back at us then moved away.
“Good,” Perdita said, loud enough for them to hear.
I laughed, but I had tensed. The atmosphere around the pack was strange lately. Unnerving. Everyone was waiting for something to happen. I didn’t know what.
Some of Dom’s old allies had gathered in one corner, looking dissatisfied as always. None of them had stepped in when the rest of the pack took their justice from Dom. They weren’t as vocal as they used to be either. When one of them dared to look in Perdita’s direction, I was able to hold their gaze until they dropped their eyes first.
I huffed softly with some satisfaction before realising Perdita had noticed the interaction. We exchanged a knowing look. Whatever about the pack, we were family, and we stuck together.
Then came the big entrance, the most important members of the pack. Ryan arrived first, and the crowd parted. Byron followed, striding in a relaxed manner towards a chair at the front of the building. There were more empty benches up the stairs to the half level where Perdita and I had chosen to sit. Most of the pack stood somewhere in the middle of the lower floor, trying to be close to the alpha. I wondered if Byron ever sensed a target on his back when he walked through a crowd of werewolves. Not that he would ever show it.
Nathan and Amelia followed their uncle inside. Perdita made a sound with her tongue as soon as she saw Nathan. When I glanced at her, she shrugged sheepishly. “I was thinking how handsome he is.”
“Gross,” I teased, earning myself an elbow in the ribs.
Byron took his seat. Nathan and Amelia stood by his shoulders, the wolf witch murmuring something to both of them. Nathan scanned the crowd, doing a double-take when he spotted Perdita, unable to hide a warm smile. Perdita shot back with a goofy wave, forcing Nathan to look away, his lips twitching with barely contained laughter. It took him a moment to restore his composure.
They were both dorks, and I loved them for that.
Ryan had taken to pacing a couple of feet in front of Byron, making sure nobody got too close to the alpha. The red-haired werewolf wasn’t dominant, but he was a hard worker and a tough wolf, making him a perfect enforcer. If anybody had a problem with Byron, they’d have to go through Ryan first. He’d always treated me well, but ever since there had been a murderer in our midst, it had been harder to trust anyone.
The air seemed to tingle with electricity. The Evans family had a presence that didn’t exist elsewhere. I couldn’t understand how anyone thought they deserved to lead us more than Byron. Dom had lived amongst us and still thought he was owed power. He really had been crazy.
“Your crowd are looking a little agitated,” Perdita whispered.
I noticed the other teens in a far corner, huddled together in a tight group. Victor seemed relatively calm, but the others fidgeted. Maybe they weren’t as eased by the alpha’s presence as most of us. “Nervous, maybe.”
Nathan cleared his throat at the top of the room, and everyone fell silent.
Byron rose to his feet and looked around. “This isn’t the typical monthly meeting,” he said. “I called this meeting as a precaution—and a warning.”
