“I fucking knew it!”
“Alec.” Cam’s voice cut through the room like a whip. “You know better than anyone not to jump to conclusions.” Alec bristled but said nothing. For all that his instincts screamed Newell was behind this. Cam was right. “We prepare for the council meeting tomorrow as though nothing has changed. If or when Jason regains consciousness, we’ll reassess as necessary.”
Resting his head in his hands, Alec took a deep breath and tried to focus on what needed to be done. The idea of going to get Mark lurked at the back of his mind, but Cam was right. Again. He couldn’t march into another pack’s territory without provocation. No matter how strongly he believed something was badly wrong, unanswered calls and texts wouldn’t cut it.
They needed Jason to wake up. And fast.
“What do you need from me?” He looked up, meeting Cam’s gaze, concentrating hard on matching his alpha’s calm. He needed to be better than this. It wasn’t only about him and Mark.
Cam addressed both him and Gareth. “You need to ready your teams to go tomorrow with little advanced notice. I don’t have a definite time yet, but I suspect it’ll be early afternoon. Gareth, bring Nathan and Jared. Alec, you’ll need to escort Felix, bring whoever you see fit.”
“We’re taking him to the meeting?” He probably should have expected it, but for some reason it came as a shock.
“Yes. The council will deal with him first, most probably.”
The wave of sympathy was unexpected and unwanted. Felix had brought it all on himself. The feeling refused to go away, and he had to ask. “Have they said what they’ll do with him?”
With a sigh, Cam leaned against the wall. For a split second he looked tired, but it was gone in a flash, the smooth exterior back in place. “No. And it’s not my place to ask. I never promised him a positive outcome, but nevertheless, I feel a certain responsibility for him.”
“Felix attacked our pack. He deserves none of your concern.”
Cam raised an eyebrow. “And yet I sensed your worry a moment ago.”
Alec huffed. Protesting was useless, Cam knew him better than most people. “Fine. I don’t like him, and he deserves punishment. But… now we’re no longer fighting.” Glancing up at the ceiling, Alec couldn’t believe he was saying this. “I don’t wish for his death.”
“Neither do I.” Cam pushed off the wall and stood up straight. “I suggest we leave Tim to his work. He’ll call if he needs anything. I’m going to see Mike and Daryl about tomorrow.” He left with a nod, and Gareth and Luke left soon after him.
Alec sat on the edge of the sofa, head in his hands.
His whole world had turned upside down in a matter of days, and he hated the lack of control that came with it.
Is this what the promise of a bond is like?
In the rare moments Alec had imagined it, he’d pictured a thrum of excitement building in intensity as the bond started to form. Trust unequalled, connecting him and his mate.
Not this hollow ache lodged behind his ribs and the gnawing worry that accompanied it.
Jared’s scent hit him, and he looked up sharply to see him walk into the living room.
“Alec?” Jared stopped, and Alec was surprised not to see Nathan with him.When Alec’s gaze drifted beyond him, Jared smiled. “I told him to calm down before joining me.”
“Not taking it well?”
Jared laughed softly, already rolling up his sleeve. “You could say that.”
For the first time in a long while, Alec sympathised with him. In Nathan’s shoes, he wouldn’t want his mate giving blood to another shifter either. It left him uncomfortable and off-kilter. “Tim’s in the bedroom, go on through.”
Tim’s voice carried down the hallway. “Hey, Jared. Come on, I’m just about done with Keira.”
“Keira?” Jared mouthed.
“She’s the same blood type as you, and she was already here.”
“Ahh, okay.” As he headed toward the bedroom, he glanced back over his shoulder. “If Nathan comes up— Never mind.”
“What?”
Jared drew his bottom lip between his teeth, then said, “He won’t handle seeing me giving blood to another shifter, so I was going to ask if you could keep him out here until I’m done. But maybe that’s not—”
