He made the walk across Upper Senate Park last as long as he could, the same way he’d dawdled when dropping off his case at the apartment. If he’d moved faster, he might have had time to replace the phone he’d somehow left behind in Colorado, only realizing it at the airport, where he’d had to dig out his tablet to check in. He probably should have cared more about it, considering the kind of stuff it contained. But right now, he couldn’t spare the energy. Not with this meeting hanging over him.
He tossed the empty coffee cup into a handy trash can, and headed for the building and Councilor Steadman. She’d agreed to his request for a meeting as soon as he returned, so he could fill her in on details he couldn’t risk imparting over the phone.
That told him how much she’d prioritized the whole Argent thing, because some weeks getting even an instant of her time was impossible.
Now, all he had to do was break it to her that he, a lowly minion, was accusing someone, most probably the Leader of the National Council, of being a cold-blooded murderer several times over. He didn’t think they’d covered this in any of theprofessional development courses he’d attended, unless it had been one marked “career suicide” that he’d somehow missed.
And if he screwed this up, if he told the wrong person, another pack could end up like Jesse’s.
Sighing, he straightened his necktie, squared his shoulders, and walked out of the sunshine and into the cool shadow of the Council building, toward whatever came next.
BRYCE
“You know that asking Tom was our best option.”
Matt moved as silently as ever, his voice the first warning of his presence that Bryce had as he glared at the coffee machine.
“Still doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Bryce’s voice was tight, the way everything inside him had been since Tom had left. He yanked the jug out and slammed it back down after filling two mugs, sliding one toward Matt without looking at him.
“I don’t like a single thing that’s happened around here lately,” Matt said. “But there’s nothing we can do about that except deal with it. Instead, you’ve turned into a walking hornet nest.”
“You damn well know why,” Bryce said, feeling betrayed that Matt would pretend otherwise.
“I know what you’ve decided,” Matt said, pulling out his usual chair at the table and sitting down in it. “But I still don’t understand why. Not really.”
Bryce lowered his head and let out a long breath. He was still staring at the coffee machine, and maybe that was what allowed him to say it. Or maybe it was knowing that Matt wouldn’t let this one go, not till he got his answer.
“I don’t want to be in a relationship only because it’s written in my genes or however the hell the mate thing works,”he said to the coffee jug, which made no answer. He sighed again, gripping the edge of the counter. “I don’t want someone to love me only because of that.”
The coffee jug remained silent, but after a while Matt spoke. “Did you choose to love Tristan when he came to live here?”
Bryce turned around, frowning.
“Or maybe you chose not to fall in love with Dave?”
“What the fuck, Matt?” Bryce was tired after a night when he hadn’t been able to sleep because of his worry about what Tom might be walking into. He didn’t need to deal with Matt’s riddles right now.
“You can’t choose who to love, just like you can’t choose not to love someone,” Matt said. “Whether it’s our genes, or fate, or some angelic little asshole with a bow and arrow, the reason we fall in love is out of our control. That doesn’t make it wrong. It doesn’t mean it’s forced on us the way you seem to think.”
Bryce opened his mouth, ready to trash Matt’s easy, smug opinion. But every single argument that rose to his lips faded before forming into words because Matt made sense. Heknewthere was a flaw there somewhere in his argument, and if he had long enough to think about it and weren’t so tired, he’d find it. But right now he couldn’t, and something uneasy stirred in the pit of his stomach. Because what if he’d sent Tom away, had hurt him, for no reason?
As the seconds passed and he still found no answer to Matt’s argument, uneasiness turned into the beginnings of sick horror. He remembered the expression in Tom’s eyes when he’d pushed him away.
But no, Matt was wrong. If Bryce gave in to this, how could he ever know if it washimTom loved? He couldn’t go through life always wondering. He didn’twantto.
He closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to make sense of it all, and then the kitchen door banged open.
Riley rushed in, clutching his laptop desperately and out of breath as if he’d been running.
“It’s Councilor Steadman,” he babbled, shoving his laptop toward Matt. “Her father was Jax’s commanding officer, and his recommendation got Jax the post with Council security. And there’s payments going out of her PAC account that tracked through so many proxies I lost the trail, but they match deposits in his account. Ithasto be her.”
“What?” The room whirled around Bryce as he grabbed at the laptop.
He could hardly read the words on the screen through his panic. He certainly couldn’t make sense of the highly classified military record of Master Sergeant Duane Jaxom.
“Tom,” he said, despair cracking his voice. “He’s going to tell her that he knows. We have to stop him.”
There was nothing like stating the really fucking obvious, but he didn’t know what to do. Terror had taken hold and he couldn’tthink.
