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Mikkel of FrostFangare had a passing resemblance to Sterling, which I could see now that I knew the relation. I hadn’t seen it before, or at least, it wasn’t strong enough to make a connection unprompted.
The pack’s heart was not a single large house, but instead a cluster of a dozen (perhaps more) small houses of varying ages arranged along a groomed gravel path (perhaps narrow roadway) several miles off anything that passed for an actual road. It occupied an impossibly lush, rolling green hillside dotted with evergreens, all tucked in the shadows of grey, looming mountains. The air smelled of mountain and ocean and forest and warm sunlight all at the same time. Clouds clung to the mountains, obscuring their tops.
The interior of the house was open, with large windows, and seemingly no secrets or anything to hide. Many scents clung to the surfaces, and there was evidence of many pups, over the years, from the look of the repaired scratches in the hardwood floor.
Demetrius had brought a gift, which he had presented to the Elder Luna of FrostFangare, Kaarina, upon our arrival to the heart. It had been in a large box in a large plastic bag kept in an even larger box of ice in the back of the plane cabin. But now that it had been unboxed and unwrapped, the citrusy scent mingled with something like licorice (wasit licorice?) and also held hints of something else: Cye.
The gift was an assortment of three dozen tiny cakes in several shapes, each one beautifully made and the pale color of ice, with a single sugar snowflake crowning each one. One of the cakes had been cut into two slices, revealing a marbled white and pale blue interior, with stylish stripes of jet-black frosting between the three slender layers.
AmberHowl had taken a hint fromSnowFang’s playbook! That was cheating.
In fact, they’d done more than that.
Kaarina took one, pulled it in half, and ate one of the halves. After a second, she paused, and looked at Demetrius, then her mate. She passed him the other half. The scent of lemon and licorice wafted through the room.
Cye.
Mikkel took the box from Demetrius and carried it to the kitchen counter while Kaarina licked her fingers of the frosting—a high compliment. She gestured for us to sit. We took up seats on chairs and couches by large windows that overlooked the lush greenery, trees, and mountains in the distance.
I folded my hands in my lap and caught myself from glaring at Mikkel. Mikkel hadn’t been the Alpha who had overseen Sterling’s debacle. That had been his uncle. But Mikkel, who was pushing fifty, and Malte’s older brother by two years, definitely knewexactlywhat had happened with his brother. He’d inherited the mess, even if he hadn’t participated in it originally.
At any point over the past eighteen years of his reign, Mikkel could have re-written history. He could have told his brother,no, you know what, you need to go do the right thing. You need to go find your mate and your son and bring them here, and we will deal with it.It wasn’t like they didn’t know about the hybrid rumors, or the stigma, or the ostracization. It wasn’t like they didn’t know what those IceEar in New York had done to Sterling because of the rumors about Sterling’s pedigree.
Cerys owned some of the blame, but Mikkel and Kaarina were the Elders. Cerys had been a she-wolf without pack, family, money, or influence. And after she’d been thoroughly railroaded by the Elders, I didn’t blame her one bit for refusing to go back to the mat. Gaia only knew what she might have lost the second time.
Searle sat next to me on the small couch made of wood and padded with lovely cushions. We weren’t masquerading for anyone here, but he still sat with his knee touching mine and his hand on my thigh. I tried not to notice. Demetrius took the chair to my left, while Mikkel and Karina sat on the matching couch. Between us was a low table that wouldn’t have done more than make someone trip over it in a fight. No drinks were offered.
“You know,” Mikkel told me. His English was perfect, his American accent nearly flawless.
I only nodded.
“How long have you known?”
“Five years.”
Mikkel permitted himself a small sigh of aggravation, while Kaarina looked supremely annoyed. To Demetrius, Mikkel said, “This farce of yours is exactly that.”
Demetrius told him something that sounded rather insulting.
Mikkel responded with something else equally insulting.
Demetrius pulled the necklace box out of his coat pocket and tapped it on his thigh. “Your role in this is to facilitate our arrival at the Archives. I am here strictly as a courtesy. I can become impolite at any point.”
“You know the level of secrecy around the Archives, and you are violating it.”
“Rodero violated it five years ago when Winter ‘stumbled’ upon the knowledge. We both know Rodero would never make such a critical mistake.”
“What would Rodero’s purpose be in permitting his teenage daughter to have this knowledge?”
“You knew him better than I did. You surely have thoughts on it.” Demetrius curled his upper lip.
Demetrius had only been an Elder Alpha for ten years and had not shared inanyof the drama surrounding Sterling.
Mikkel held out his hand.
Demetrius passed him the box.
Mikkel and Kaarina leaned close together to look at the necklace. Kaarina carefully picked it up and held it to the light. It obliged her by changing colors.
