Right then wasn’t the time to wake her up to ask. Apparently, I had business with the Alliance, which was the message I received moments ago. They summoned me and all of my betas up North. That wasn’t how I wanted to fucking spend my day.
I chose not to wake Reese because it would be too damn hard to leave her. I exited her bedroom and ran directly into Henry. I let out a huff of air as I stooped low and chuckled. I’d been jealous of her damn dog.
“Shush,” I quieted when he lifted his head, making a noise. “Take care of my mate while I’m gone.” He bowed his head in understanding. I patted his head before standing to my full height.
My wolf called me all manners of pansies and idiots as I walked out of the door. Once I reached my truck, I texted Reese to tell her that I had an early meeting with a client. My chest tightened at the lie, but until I could tell her the truth about who and what I was, I wasn’t free to share my comings and goings with her.
Before I started my truck, I received a message from Chance, followed by my other betas, Raffa, Mike, and Ben, letting me know they were all on their way.
The three men were all mated and settled in various parts of New Mexico and Texas, and Nevada, but they were part of my pack.
I drove for hours, wondering what the hell this summons was about. More importantly, I grew pissed off that it had pulled me away from my mate before I could even see her eyes open that morning.
Thoughts of her caused my mouth to water. I had tried damned hard to show restraint the night before, which was why I told her to go to bed after our kiss. It wasn’t fair of me to take her and make her mine without her knowing the truth. I was trying to do us both a favor.
I could smell her arousal even after she left. My thinking was that it would at least die down as she fell asleep, but it grew stronger. I could smell her growing hotter, her body burning for me, and I couldn’t remain on that fucking couch any longer. When I reached the door and saw her there, her body covered with a blanket, her knees bent, and her legs splayed, I was too weak to walk away.
“This is bullshit.” I punched my steering wheel, almost breaking the damn thing. That frustration sat with me during my entire drive up to the Alliance’s estate.
When I finally arrived, it was well after dark, but I spotted the trucks for all of my betas parked outside of the massive iron gate.
“We waited for you,”Chance told me.
I lowered my window and nodded at them all to follow me inside. As soon as my truck turned toward the gate, it started to pull open. I drove cautiously through, allowing the hidden cameras to scan my face for identification. It was silly since the wolves, among the other types of shifters, could scent me as soon as I was on the property.
We parked and climbed out, my packmates following me up to the ivory doors. They opened before I knocked. I sniffed the tall figure dressed in a black and white servant’s uniform. He narrowed his eyes before nodding.
My wolf growled.
This man was a bear shifter, and my wolf tended not to be too fond of bears. The natural predator competition between bears and wolves spilled over into the shifter world also.
Calm down.I told him.
“Right this way,” the servant said.
I glanced back at Chance, who nodded. We followed him to the back part of the mansion and down a winding metal staircase. The staircase opened up to a sizable domed basement lined with books on one side and a giant movie screen on the opposite wall.
In front of the bookshelves sat a semicircle of twenty desks with shifters from various packs around the country seated. All men. All of them were at least a century older than me.
“Chael,” Lupine, the eldest of the werewolves on the Alliance, said as I walked into the room.
I dipped my head in respect.
“I see your betas arrived with you,” another shifter said. This time it was Jeremiah, one of the tiger shifters.
“You summoned them as well. Did you not?” I cut my gaze in his direction. “Besides, their allegiance to our pack wouldn’t let them not join me.” Loyalty was always the order of the day when it came to my pack. I peered at my betas, and they all nodded at me.
“Yes, commitment is strong among you wolves,” Amadeus, the oldest of the vampires, hissed, displaying his incisors.
The nasal tone of his voice grated against my nerves, making my wolf growl. I clicked my tongue against my teeth, ignoring him. Vampires were sneaky fuckers, and I didn’t have much to say to them. As it stood, the National Shifter Alliance was a tenuous association. Most shifters stuck to their own.
One of the only things we did agree on was that humans were a threat to and threatened by our existence. Most humans, at least.
“I assumed you had a justifiable reason to call me and my betas up here?” I looked into the faces of the men who sat on the board of the Alliance. I didn’t hate the Alliance. The Alliance managed a peace of sorts among the various shifter communities and kept our identities concealed from the larger human population, which has aided in increasing the volume of shifters all over the country.
However, our history was one born out of war and mistrust. That shit didn’t become erased easily. Plus, there was the fact that this Alliance’s ruling now stood in the way of my ability to claim my mate. My thoughts shifted back to Reese and how I abandoned her just that morning, sleeping in her bed, because of this Alliance and whatever they wanted.
My wolf growled again, growing agitated at being in the presence of so many other shifters and angered that we had left our mate.
