My phone is in my hand before I realise it. I really should go to bed. Maurice has agreed to let me join him again tonight, and I know I must be well-rested if I am to face any of the fae.
But I need to make progress on this, too.
At first, I am surprised by how quickly Deacon answers, but I shouldn’t be. He is not truly nocturnal, even if Vasile is.
“Njáll. To what do I owe the pleasure?” His words are clipped, tone cold, and I bite back a sigh.
“Deacon. I trust you are well.”
“I’m not budging on the challenge.”
I tip my head back and stare up at the ceiling. Perhaps Vasile had the right idea, not speaking to him for a century. Chaya must have been far easier to deal with.
Sadly, she is up north, and Orion is notorious for never answering his phoneunlesshis alpha is the one calling.
“Is there another compromise we can come to?”
“I told you, and I’ve spoken to Kieran since. He’s happy to face your vampire himself. There’s precedent for it.”
“For a challenge in the case of a murdered partner?”
“Youknowhe didn’t mean to do it.”
“I do!” The words burst from me, tinged with my own frustration. “But the fact is that it happened. There are consequences.Thisis a consequence.”
Deacon’s only response is a growl, low and dangerous, and I sigh again. I shouldn’t have lost my temper. Still, neither should he. He has far more experience than I do.
“Apologies, alpha,” I say after a few silent seconds. “Do I need to loop the Council in on this matter?”
Deacon is silent, too, though I can hear him breathing. “No,” he says after a minute or so. “They won’t be any help.”
“Why not?”
“They already spoke to Quinn and came to a decision.”
I’m not surprised, though it’s not a fact I knew before now. “Which was?”
“That he had been manipulated by Tamesis into acting against his own best interests and those of his pack. That would be enough to excuse his acts, but he also risked his own life to get away and then assisted us in bringing Tamesis to his end.”
“And that’s enough,” I say. I’m not asking a question, but Deacon still takes it as one.
“Of course it is,” he snaps. “You know what Tamesis was capable of. He sent members of Quinn’s own pack to kill him, and if he’d been alone, they would have. I just… I don’t know what else to say to you, Njáll. You don’t have an obligation to this vampire if he’s not a member of your clan.”
“Who does, then?”
“What?”
“Who does?” My grip on my phone tightens. “You had Kieran create a pack because you said there was room for it, that ourtreaty has failed to protect those outside of wolves and vampires and hunters. Who has an obligation to this vampire? Kieran? Are we to shelter anyone who comes to us and then close ranks, say that they have no right to their own justice?”
“No, of course not. But we don’t offer up our own to be killed because a stranger thinks they have that right.”
“I won’t allow Augustine to kill him,” I say. “Butsomethinghas to be done. What would you do if more wolves came to you? You already sent your second to help some resettle. What is she doing up there with the surrounding packs?”
Deacon lets out his own heavy sigh. “You’re not entirely wrong,” he says eventually, begrudgingly, and for the first time since Augustine stepped into my office, I feel some weight leave my shoulders. “Quinn can’t face a challenge, Njáll. Even if the vampire doesn’t kill him, he won’t survive it.”
“I’ll do what I can,” I say, pushing down a flare of irrational anger. There has been no such consideration for the clan. I haven’t even heard Deacon this concerned about Adam, never mind about Elle… or me.
Tamesis held us for several days, and Elle and I did our best to protect Adam from the worst of it. We succeeded. I truly believe that.
