He wasn’t used to waiting on others for permission. Even though he was the one who initiated this infuriating process, he couldn’t say he enjoyed it. A year into negotiating the Merced pack’s move to the Alliance and he had begun to scrape the bottom of the barrel once full of patience.
An alpha was by nature decisive. They had to trust their gut and know when to act. Viktor made his choice, with the input of his pack, and he’d see it done. The only issue was that thiswasn’tthe pre-war days, when anyone with enough might could take a territory whenever they decided it was theirs. The very institutions that made their world safer also chafed at his instincts.
Other things did, too, but at least in this he finally felt like he was makingsomeheadway.
Standing up from the table, Viktor met Alpha Andreas’s eye and inclined his head. A small gesture of respect the man didn’t deserve. In response, the other alpha scowled and leaned an elbow on the table, saying, “Your father is turning in his grave, welp.”
“Considering I’m the one who put him there, I don’t really give a damn,” he answered.
Andreas clenched his jaw. Speaking through his teeth, he said, “He should have put you down when you were a weakling cub. Would have saved me the headache of dealing with you myself.”
Viktor raised his eyebrows. “Are you threatening me,Ruben?”
“You’re lucky I’m not challenging you to meet me in the fucking circle. You really think a coyote could beat acougar?”Andreas planted his palms on the table and stood, his eyes locked on Viktor’s. “I don’t need to threaten you, welp. There is no way you’re getting any Alliance territory. I may not have been able to take your head for Dominic, but I can neuter you.” An ugly smile, so very much like his father’s, creased Andreas’s cheeks. “Politically speaking, of course.”
A lifetime of dealing with his father’s rage provided Viktor with the experience to know that the conversation should end there. If he continued to tolerate Andreas’s vitriol, they would end up spilling blood right there in the meeting room where the Alliance was founded.Not a good look.
“We’ll see, I suppose.” Viktor smiled a bland, cordial smile. “Lovely talking to you, as always. Enjoy the vote.”
Even if the vote came out in his favor, Viktor was certain that Alpha Andreas would be an issue in the future. Even without the ugly history between them, the man had a notorious temper and a vocal dislike for anything that smelled even remotely like inter-territory cooperation. He ruled his pack with an iron fist and was rumored to have cast out his own daughter, Lana Andreas, for insubordination.
He was hungry for a fight, and the kind of man who put his own desires before his pack’s needs would not put aside his aggression just because the majority approved of Viktor.
It was just as well that Viktor didn’t mind a good fight.
Saying his goodbyes to the alphas, who looked on with keen eyes and grim expressions, he buttoned his suit jacket and finally left the stifling air of the meeting room behind.
Alliance Landing was blessedly equipped with special air filters that worked to scrub most scent from the air, but even that could not entirely eliminate the aggression and dominance that hung around every single one of them. It was an energy, not a smell, and it was the exact reason Alliance Landing and the pageantry of this whole process was necessary.
If they went back to the old ways, he would have already been forced to tear out Alpha Andreas’s throat. Viktor would have won his pack’s place with might and fang, not with his nice, uncomfortable suit and his sprawling investments and his alliances. A simpler time, to be sure, but not one he wanted to raise cubs in.
And he wanted to raise cubs. He wanted a family with a keen yearning that cut deeper every day. The only problem was that the only woman he wanted to sink his fangs into, finalizing that beautiful, agonizing process of courtship, was the same one who wanted to disembowel him.
He would be lying if he said that wasn’t a turn-on.
ChapterSix
Runninga finger under the constricting collar of his crisp white shirt, Viktor headed toward the main floor and the security desk, where he could reclaim his phone from its assigned blackout box, as well as his second in command, who waited with the other alphas’ seconds.
Benny was sitting on a white lounge chair, his brawny arms braced on his knees and his face turned toward the incredible view of Alliance canyon. As soon as Viktor stepped out of the elevator, his head turned. If Viktor thoughthelooked silly in a suit, it was nothing compared to Benny. The man was as big as an orc. In a suit, he looked like a trussed up turkey on steroids.
He was on his feet instantly, though Viktor waved a hand to let him know he didn’t need to rush over. Walking to the reception desk, Viktor asked the neatly dressed, lushly figured fox shifter for his belongings. He felt more than heard his second come up behind him.
“You good, Vik?” His gravelly voice was pitched low, though there was no chance of really escaping shifter ears.
Always, Benny read Viktor’s emotions like an open book. It was part of the reason they worked so well together. An alpha had to know that his command structure understood him implicitly. If they didn’t, trust eroded.
And where there wasn’t trust, there was no pack.
“Yeah, Benny,” he answered, giving the receptionist a quick smile as she handed him the small blackout box. She flushed, her pretty green eyes sparkling, but he didn’t feel anything more than mild gratitude for her quick professionalism when their fingers brushed.
Using his ID chip and a quick scan of his thumbprint to unlock the box and retrieve his phone, he winked at her and said, “Thanks for taking care of it for me, fox.”
She blushed a darker, pretty pink. She smelled nice, like soft soaps and something earthy, but she wasn’t for him. He wanted wildflowers and honey, razor sharp fangs and a pretty, pretty pout.
“Of course, Alpha Hamilton.” The fox looked at him shyly, perhaps wondering if he would ask her for her number or, in the shifter way, simply invite her for a tumble somewhere private.
Viktor could only offer her a smile and a friendly wave. Everything else he kept for Camille.
