Andreas’s eyes gleamed with a familiar malice. “Yes,oh.”
They were seated at a round table in the Alliance Landing, a building perched atop a deep red canyon that acted as neutral ground for all the shifter packs in the territory. Technically, the three capitals of the Shifter Alliance were neutral too, but in practice, each city belonged to one pack or another. Only in the glass-walled compound of Alliance Landing was the threat of violence truly at its lowest.
All but three of the ten shifters sitting around the table were predators, but every last one of them was an alpha — all of them dominant and proud, their rank unmatched within their own packs.
A lesser being might have lost his cool under the laser focus of so many powerful shifters, all of them older and more battle scarred than himself. Most sentient creatures would have wilted under the pressure of so much accumulated dominance in one room.
Viktor Hamilton, alpha of the Merced coyote pack, did not lose his cool and he did not wilt. Ever.
He met the eyes of Ruben Andreas, the alpha of the Aucilla cougar pack and nearly a hundred years his senior, squarely. The cougar’s age didn’t matter, and neither did the faint sneer that curled his lips when he went on to say, “Your friendship with the elves is unacceptable. We let you into the Alliance, we are effectively giving the elves and their stooge a foothold in our territory. Did you really think we wouldn’t care that you’re basically on Valen Yadav’s payroll — and have been since you were a weepy cub?”
Viktor felt every eye on him, watching for his response to the insult. This, like every moment since he initiated contact with the Alliance, was a test. Would he lash out with the famous shifter temper and demand recompense for the insult, or would he lay down and take it, hoping to get in their good graces?
He let his usual good natured smile curl his lips.Neither.
Casting an unbothered look around the table, he scanned the faces of the most powerful shifters in the UTA with pure, stubborn confidence. “I understand that many of you come from an era when the lines between our people were rigid — with good reason. Elves were the enemy.” He paused, thinking of soft lavender skin and a smile he hadn’t seen in twenty years.
Everything in him said that she wasn’t his enemy, that they could be so much more if only she’d let him near enough to coax. But longing for his elf took a backseat tonow,when he needed to be at his sharpest. For her, for his pack.
“But so were the orcs, and the dragons, and the fey, and everyone else.” He rapped two knuckles against the polished surface of the table. “That time isdone.Gone. The Great War shattered that world. This new age is going to be about cooperation and alliances, not suspicion and prejudice.”
Viktor held Alpha Andreas’s condescending stare when he continued, “If you can’t see why my formal,politically expedientrelationship with the wealthiest, most stable territory in the UTA would only bring benefits to the Alliance, then you are a fool. And if you recognize that fact but still refuse my pack’s suit on the grounds of prejudice, you are notjusta fool. You are a bad alpha.”
The cougar shifter’s eyes flickered between vivid, catlike green and dark brown. A subvocal growl vibrated the air around him as the muscles of his lean body tightened with aggression. The alphas nearest him, a bear shifter named Taisia and a wolf shifter named Asbury, turned their bodies slightly, preparing to restrain Alpha Andreas should he lunge across the table.
It was for his own good. Attacking another alpha in Alliance Landing — even one that was just visiting — outside of the bounds of a formal challenge would result in his pack’s immediate expulsion from the territory.
Killinganother alpha would end with him losing his head.
Nobody wanted that, but Viktor didn’t shrink under the reproachful glances thrown his way.
It was one thing to call someone a bad person. It was quite another to call them a bad alpha. One was a shallow swipe at character, while the other was an attack on the foundation of what made an alpha who he was. They were born with the need to protect and guide their packs, their loved ones, and questioning their ability or their willingness to do that was tantamount to spitting in their face.
A bad alpha wasn’t just an asshole. They betrayed a sacred trust. They got cubs and elders killed. They lost territory and they broke vows.
A bad alpha was worth less than dirt.
And yet Viktor did not take it back. He did not try to smooth ruffled feathers. He was right, and by the looks of some of the alphas assembled around the table, they knew it, too.
A baritone voice cut through the aggression thickening the air. “Enough noise, Ruben. We’re moving on.”
Lee Seymour, alpha of a mixed pack but himself a take-no-shit elk shifter, gave both Viktor and Alpha Andreas a hard look. He was a broad man with silver hair and dark skin, and although the Alliance recognized no official leader, he was as close to one as any of them could tolerate. “Your concerns have been noted, Ruben. For the Council’s awareness, Alpha Hamilton turned over all his correspondence with the Sovereign’s office yesterday. We will discuss the Merced pack’s connections with the Solbourne family in detail during deliberations, I’m sure.”
Lee’s eyes were a pale blue; a striking contrast to his dark skin and long, curling lashes. He was old enough to be Viktor’s father, though he doubted the two had ever met — unlike Andreas, who was an old, cruel drinking buddy of his father.
If ever there was a definition of a bad alpha, Dominic Hamilton was it. Never in a million years would he have thought to petition the Alliance for a slice of their vast territory. To him, it would have seemed like groveling, and he would have rather watched his pack shrivel away into nothing than debase himself like that.
Alpha Seymour, on the other hand, was keen and practical. He had a level head and despite being just as dominant and aggressive as the predatory shifters in the room, rarely let his temper get the better of him. He was not the official leader, no, but he was a key founder of the Alliance, and when it came to tie-breakers, his opinion was the one that weighed the most. Viktor was confident that if he could win over Lee, most of the alphas would follow.
Unfortunately, he really didn’t know if hehadwon him over.
Glancing around the table, Lee’s lips pressed into a firm line. “If there are no other questions for Alpha Hamilton, I am going to say this meeting is adjourned.” He leveled Viktor with a cool, impenetrable look. “We’ll deliberate and then call you to let you know what we decide.”
“And when will that be?” Viktor curled his fingers against his thigh, letting his tension out beneath the table, where no keen shifter eyes could see it.
Lee stood up from his seat. Broad shoulders straightened over a barrel chest. Sunlight streamed in from the glass walls, passing through the silvery strands of his tight curls to give him an even more intimidating look than normal. In his usual calm baritone, he answered, “When we’re ready.”
Nodding to the table, he didn’t glance back to see if anyone disagreed with him before he strode out of the meeting room. Utter self-assurance and all alpha. Following his lead, several other alphas rose and drifted away from the table. Viktor held in the urge to growl.
