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We walk through the line of vehicles and Silas moves into step beside me, a blonde female with a blonde ponytail mirroring his position on Zeke’s side. Her eyes narrow on me in suspicion, her lips pursing almost imperceptibly. I glare back at the woman and she shifts her gaze once she notices my attention, her hair may be different tonight, but recognition sparks almost immediately. She was the woman that offered herself to Everett, Elise. Did they have some sort of connection? Has she been with Zeke? I will rip that blonde mane right from her head if they’re still sleeping with her, that is for fucking sure.
My gaze flicks back to the path as we pass two of the containers, nearing the third.Snap out of it, Sky,I scold myself.Get your head in the game. And why do I even care if she was with them? I’ve only been near this man for a couple of hours and he’s already making my thoughts a jumbled mess.You wanted to sever these bonds just yesterday, Sky, don’t you remember?But I can feel myself weakening to the pull of the connection with every moment I spend with him.
Zeke approaches the door, his knock echoing out through the silent night. The door opens almost immediately, and I stiffen, readying to launch myself into the fray at a moment’s notice. I’d rip anyone to shreds that laid a hand on him before they could even take their next breath.
“Welcome, please come in,” a deep voice says, as the door of the container opens a fraction. I glance over at Silas and nod slightly. The plan is for the two lead betas to wait outside. Given the nature of their makeshift buildings, we had to account for the possibility of them attempting to lock us inside.
I step up behind Zeke, following him into the steel building. The mountainous man takes a step back, the candlelight gleaming off his midnight black hair. This man looks like a bear even in his human form, he towers over even Zeke who is relatively tall himself, definitely over six feet.
Two other figures stand on each side of a desk in the far corner, and to my relief, no one attempts to close the door behind us. There would be no way anyone who reached for that door would keep their hand, civil conversation or not.
The room seems to be minimally decorated, a thin wall separating it in two. I can only assume Aldric’s personal quarters rest behind there. They must have found some way to insulate the steel and put up drywall as the interior almost looks like a typical office.
“Please take a seat,” the man, Aldric, I can only assume, says, gesturing to the two mismatched chairs on the side of the desk closest to us. He moves to the other side sitting between his two guards in his frayed seat.
“I’ll stand, thank you,” I say in a clipped tone, angling my back to the wall so that I can see both them and the door clearly. Zeke settles in at my side nearest to the three imposing men spread out behind the desk.
“Very well.” He chuckles, and I breathe a sigh of relief that he doesn’t take it personally. I mean, I would be insulted if he didn’t do the same thing if he’d come to visit me.
“I apologize for skipping over pleasantries, but I’m sure we’re all very aware of who we are. We wouldn’t be meeting here today if we didn’t,” Aldric says, clasping his hands atop the table, the gesture meant to placate us. “Now, should we jump straight into the matter?” He leans back in his chair as he cocks a brow in question.
I force myself not to glare at the pompous prick, the audacity this man has. He’s launching attacks on our people, yet he has the nerve to act completely nonchalant when confronted. I pull in a long breath through my gritted teeth, needing to calm myself before I explode on this male. I can tell from the tension radiating off of his two guards that would not start this meeting off on the right foot.
“Let’s cut straight to the chase then,” Zeke says, his expression calm despite the anger I feel through the bond. Our connection is wide open now that I’ve tugged on it, letting me read him like an opened book, which could be a very bad thing. Later—I’ll worry about that later. “The attacks need to stop. We’re willing to work with you, but we can’t allow this to stand any longer.”
“Allow this?” Aldric laughs, clutching his stomach in a gesture way too over the top. My teeth grind at his blasé attitude towards our wolves getting attacked and injured. “It really doesn’t seem like you have much of a choice at this point. You haven’t been able to stop us yet, so I don’t think the ball’s in your court.”
Aldric swings his feet up onto his desk, the move done to antagonize us more than anything, I’m sure. Zeke stiffens beside me, his hands clenching at his sides almost imperceptibly. I tamp down on the urge to soothe him, to place an arm on his shoulder to calm him, but I know I can’t. Not only would that be a sign of weakness, but that would also betray a weakness I can’t let our enemy exploit.
“You’ve clearly already decided, so why don’t you tell us instead of attempting to make us perform like dancing monkeys for you,” I grind out, speaking before Zeke can respond. I honestly couldn’t give less of a fuck if he thinks I’m rude right now. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of playing his games.
“If you insist,” he says coyly, eyeing me up and down and lingering on my curves.
Bile rises in my throat at his leering, my skin crawling in disgust. My lips lift in a sneer as a soft growl slips past them. I feel Zeke’s rage through the bond and I silently tug on it, reminding him to remain unfazed. I can more than take care of myself, and we can’t give them any ammunition.
“I like you, so feisty,” Aldric drawls as my teeth lengthen. I hold my mouth shut, reminding myself that we still need to hear what he has to say. We still have a chance to resolve this peacefully. “I’ll tell you what, you make us a deal that we can’t refuse, and we’ll call off the attacks.”
“What would you even consider a deal that you can’t refuse?” Zeke grumbles, his patience wearing thin now. Despite their agreement to have a civil conversation, it seems their goal was just to waste our time.
“Uh-uh, I can’t tell you that. You’ll have to think of it yourselves.”
“Aldric,” I growl.
“Mmm, I do enjoy the sound of my name on your lips,” he says, licking his own suggestively, his eyes rolling back in his head dramatically as he groans. The bond between Zeke and me bristles. I control my own urge to rip Aldric’s throat out, knowing it will do no good. I can’t endanger my pack and the Whitlock’s just because I let this bear get under my skin.
“Why are you even doing this?” I ask. What was the point of bringing us here, of not bothering to even negotiate with us?
“The point, Skylar, is to make you feel just as powerless as you’ve let us be.” He swings his feet off the desk, standing from his seat. My hand twitches at my side, readying myself for an attack, but it doesn’t come. Instead, Aldric paces before us in the open space behind the seats where he’d wanted us to sit. “You see, for far too long, they have forced us bears to live off the scraps and odd jobs you wolves have deigned to throw our way. Now that wasn’t always your fault. We were unorganized. If we lived in sleuths, there were only a handful of us. Easy enough for you to pick off, for you to control.”
He taps his chin thoughtfully, letting that sink in. It’s true, wolves have never thought of bears as much of a threat in the past, and they were treated poorly because of that. Our parents told us they were too uncivilized for the human world, that they chose to remain on the outskirts of society, and they liked the simple life of the forest.
“What was your fault was the thought that due to our circumstances, we were savages. For thinking we enjoyed being at your beck and call, that we wanted to be homeless and live off the land as our only means of survival,” he continues. I shift uncomfortably, the rage and disgust transforming the greasy lustful expression he’d had before, betraying his true feelings.
Unease tightens my chest at both his words and the anger wafting off of him. I never knew the true circumstances of the bears, and I’m sure many wolves had no idea. But that didn’t give them an excuse to endanger our packs.
“Do you know that we begged for jobs, trying desperately to find a place amongst a shifter society? But time and time again, we were turned away. The few people that even agreed to meet with us only brushed us off, not wanting to take a chance on a bear. We’re too wild, they said, too dangerous. Well, look at us now,” he says smugly, a smirk creeping across his face.
“What do you want? There’s enough room for us all here. I can assure that,” I say. “I take responsibility for my pack, but I know we can move on from this, that we can help to make a society that all shifters can co-exist within.”
