To Jason he typed,Need to talk to you. Please call me back when you’re done with the council.He pulled up Will’s number and hesitated. Wes had warned him not to tell anyone, but Mark was already keeping enough from Will as it was. Surely he could tell him this? Will wouldn’t tell a soul if Mark asked him not to, and he doubted that knowing Wes was the arsehole they both thought he was would put Will in danger. Still, probably not something he wanted to send in a text.
He dialled Will’s number; it rang once and then went to voicemail. Had Will just refused his call? Mark checked his watch, four forty-five. No way would he be at work. Maybe some of the council had wanted to talk to him? The thought made Mark’s heart rate pick up. Neither of them had anything to hide, but he wasn’t looking forward to being questioned by them. He sent Will a vague text instead.Call me when you get chance, need to catch up.
That done, he went to set his phone down, but Wes’s words ran in his head.Expect a meeting with him tomorrow. I doubt you’ll be seeing your fuck buddy after that.
Whether it was morally acceptable for an alpha to use his power like that, Mark didn’t know, but he had no doubt Newell would do it if he thought it would benefit him, and Mark would have to obey or risk banishment if found out. The thought of not seeing Alec again hurt. It unsettled his wolf to the point Mark had to get up and walk around to cope with the sudden restlessness.
If only it was easy to change packs. Mark would leave in a heartbeat after the last few days. But that was all kinds of complicated. He’d need a bloody good reason. He had friends and family here, though. With any luck, the council would get rid of the problem for him.
And if he only had one more chance to see Alec, he was going to try and make the most of it.
Can you meet tonight? It might be the last chance I get for a while.
Maybe a little overly dramatic again, but desperate times….
CHAPTER TEN
Alec made no effort to hide Mark’s scent on him. When he arrived back at his building, he made his way straight up to the meeting rooms—the focal point for the next few days while the council was there. The other three betas came and went as their jobs permitted, but someone was usually there to update whoever came in next.
Cam came in when not with the alpha council, and Alec walked in to find him pouring a coffee. “I’d offer you one, but you smell like you’ve already had your fix today.” He turned, mug in hand, and gave Alec a dry look. “You do like to push boundaries, don’t you?”
Alec walked over to him and grabbed a mug off the tray anyway. Cam laughed when he started to pour himself a coffee.
“Ahh, so you didn’t actually go for the coffee. I was hoping it was a fortunate coincidence.” Cam sighed and turned to look out the window. “I’m honestly happy that you’ve found someone to take away that haunted look in your eye.” Alec scoffed but didn’t interrupt. Cam ignored him anyway. “And I’d be the first to say you should grab this chance with both hands, Alec.”
“But?” Because Alec could feel the ‘but’ coming a mile away.
“But you need to be careful.Weknow what Newell’s capable of, but Mark Appleton is young, and—”
“He’s not that young.”
Cam shot him a glare, his next words heavy with his alpha authority. “Listen to me.” Alec nodded, contrite. “Mark is young. He didn’t live through the pack wars like we did. He hasn’t seen how shifters can turn on each other or how alphas get so greedy with power and revenge that they cease to behave with the good of the pack in mind. Newell is his alpha until the council decides otherwise, and for all our sakes, I hope they do, but until then your recklessness could well be putting him in danger.”
Alec’s gaze was drawn to the window and the trees outside, their leaves just starting to turn. “I know.”
“You said it was a one-off.”
“I know, and it was supposed to be, but—”
Cam walked up beside him and nudged his shoulder, no trace of his alpha power now. “But you like him. You don’t want to stop seeing him because he brings out something in you that you’d forgotten existed. Your wolf approves, and that makes it all so much easier.”
“Stop it.” Alec sighed because Cam was right. It couldn’t go where he was suggesting Alec take it, though. That sort of vulnerability wasn’t what he wanted.
But I don’t want to stop.
Cam studied him, then nodded. “Okay. But try and keep an eye on him.”
“I will.”
They drank their coffees in silence for a minute, then Alec remembered something he’d meant to bring up that morning. “Has anyone asked about Kelly?” Seb’s sister had been kidnapped by the rogue shifters on Wes’s orders, according to Felix. She was human, but Cam hadn’t involved the police. At the time it had been far easier and quicker to get the information they needed from Felix and take care of it themselves. They’d saved Kelly, everything had turned out all right in the end, but would the council see it that way?
Cam set his mug down. “I met with Curtis just after you left. I told him everything from Nathan biting Jared, to Seb being attacked and then asking for the bite.”
“Oh?” Alec glanced up to meet his gaze. P-pack might have got Karin, but Curtis wasn’t exactly a pushover. As second in command, he was almost as intimidating. Guilt seeped in. “I should have been here. I’m sorry.”
Cam waved him away. “It wouldn’t have mattered. They want to see us all individually anyway.”
“Where are they now?” The room was suspiciously empty. He’d expected to find at least one of the other betas in there. “And where’s everyone else?”
