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Having watched the trauma unfold with Emerson, he would take precautions. Stella didn’t realize it yet, but they were about to becomereallyacquainted with each other.
He knocked on Axle’s office door as he ran his other hand over his scalp. He was pretty sure Axle would agree to his plan. It was Crush that was going to be the problem, but that was above his pay grade.
“Yeah!”
At Axle’s acknowledgement, he opened the door and stepped into the room. Pike was sitting in one of the visitor chairs, so Trick took a seat in the other one.
“What’s up? Who is watching your mate?”
Trick sighed. “Brute.” He crossed his arms over his chest, uncomfortable with being vulnerable with someone who wasn’t Brute or Rock, then explained, “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to take her away from here. She’s agreed to tell me everything she knows about the academy and help gather intel on them.”
Axle nodded, but Trick saw the concern in his president’s eyes. It was confirmed when, in a low voice, Axle said, “There’s hope, Trick, for the two of you, but keep your guard up. Want me to send Brute to watch your six?”
Trick shook his head. “Building a relationship with my mate, who isn’t too fond of me at the moment, might be awkward with my older brother in the room.”
Pike chuckled quietly and reached out, giving Trick’s shoulder a squeeze. “I know you can handle yourself, but we’re here. You need anything, we’re a phone call away.”
After a nod, Trick asked, “You’ll handle Crush?”
It was Axle’s turn to sigh. “Yeah. We voted, as you know. Let her live but watch her. That’s what you’ll be doing. The added fact of her not being around the family will help.”
Trick stood. “I hope… someday, that will change.”
“Hey.” Axle stood as well and met Trick’s gaze. “You are a Howler. You are my brother. That won’t change.”
After some nods and male hug-backslap combos, Trick left the room and set about packing up for their trip.
Ordys
As the lead champion of Raghnall, the God of Wisdom, Ordys had seen a lot of nonsense throughout his life. In his thirty-four years, the Black Forest Academy wasn’t the first of its kind. It wasn’t even the first academy that he’d had to infiltrate in order to take it down from the inside out.
The difference between BFA and the others was that BFA was more organized and better trained hunters. That also made them more dangerous. After their latest stunt, he knew he needed to gather as much information from them as he could before he figured out how to dismantle the organization.
As he ran through his daily training with the other hunters in the backfield of the academy, between the dorms and the armory, he watched the commanders out of the corner of his eye.
There were three commanders — West, Cox, and Levin. Over the weeks that he had been there, he had learned that Levin was the weak link. West fully believed everything he preached, and he was willing to do whatever was necessary to take out every shifter in the world. Cox had been a newly promoted commander, so he was eager, and there was a giddiness for cruelty in him. Levin questioned everything, and when they discussed the actual killing of shifters, the man got quiet and looked like he was having trouble stomaching it.
Ordys shifted into the next battle stance and made the decision to take a chance and try to turn Levin. If he could get a commander to funnel information to him, it would make things a hell of a lot easier.
His inner dragon puffed out smoke and hunched, ready to take out all of them if Ordys would just let him out. His control was constantly being tested by the assholes around him.
Ordys waited for Levin to be alone in his office before he slipped in and shut the door behind him. The commander was sitting behind his desk, working on paperwork, and turned his head to look in Ordys’s direction.
“I need to speak with you,” Ordys said and took a few steps into the room. “Do I have permission to speak freely?”
Levin’s brows pulled together in concern. “Of course, Hunter Belnak. You may come to me with anything. I do wonder, though, why you’re coming to me instead of your commander.”
It was still odd for Ordys to answer to the name Otis Belnak, but it was getting easier the longer he did it. Shaking that off and deciding to use that as his in, Ordys cleared his throat and looked down at his feet as he folded his hands behind him. “Well… Commander West is… very committed to the cause. And, well, I don’t feel that my questions would be looked upon favorably.”
“Lock the door, and have a seat,” Levin ordered, sliding the paperwork he was working on into the top drawer of his desk.
Ordys did as he was instructed, then he waited for Levin to continue their conversation.
Levin took a drink from the water bottle on his desk, then he looked at Ordys. “What questions do you have?”
“Why are we not questioning the validity of these videos? Why are we not investigating exactly where they came from? Why are we assuming shifters are monsters that need to be eradicated, when there are plenty of fucking humans who we can prove shouldn’t be breathing? I just… Taking a life is serious, and I feel like we might be going about it with a seriousness for combat and technique, but not a seriousness in verifying the need.”
Just as he suspected, Ordys watched relief grow on Levin’s face with each word he spoke. When he was done, the commander nodded. “Between you and me, I’m struggling with this as well. And you were right not to go to West or Cox with this. I don’t think you would enjoy the outcome. Now I have a question for you.”
