Wade came to a stop a little ways from her, lifting his hand in a casual wave. “I’m Wade. Sorry I’m late. I had to check in to my hotel first. Sage said you were contacting her on a secondary phone, and I didn’t want to call it.”
He didn’t state what god pack he was from, not out there in the open. Ella’s eyebrows arched over the rims of her sunglasses. “I was expecting one of your alphas.”
“They’re busy, and so is my dire. You get me instead.”
Ella pursed her lips. “Well, I suppose you have rank enough to help us.”
“Trust me, I can handle whatever problem you got.” Wade glanced around at the groups of people scattered across the square. “Did you want to talk out here, or do you have somewhere else in mind?”
Ella put her phone away in her purse. “Not out here. It’s too open. I only wanted to meet here because it’s not anywhere they’d expect me to be. I hate the tourist areas of this city.”
“Then where do you want to go?”
“We’re getting an early lunch.”
“Great. I’m hungry.”
“You smell like you already had donuts.”
“Eh, those were a snack. I could do with a solid meal. Lead on.”
She led him barely half a block away to a restaurant that served up a menu full of fancy bar food. The interior was all dark paneled wood and a long wall of windows overlooking the street and the square they’d left behind. The place was casual enough, and since Ella didn’t take off her sunglasses, they had no hassle from the hostess about being seated.
Ella requested a table as far in the back as they could get and away from the windows. Since it wasn’t the weekend, the hostess was able to accommodate them, and they had at least two empty tables between them and the next group of diners. It probably wouldn’t last, but it was fine for now. Wade took the menu he was handed and gave it his undivided attention.
Neither he nor Ella spoke, not until the waitress came by to take their orders. Ella got a Crab Louie salad and a hamburger, while Wade’s order of a burger, two lobster rolls, a bowl of clam chowder, and two sides of fries could’ve fed at least three people. The waitress eyed them warily after taking their order but was polite enough when she brought back their drinks. Ella’s fruity cocktail was rimmed in sugar, while Wade stuck with a beer.
“So,” he said in a low voice. “There aren’t any other werecreatures within hearing distance, and there’s no active magic in here. You ready to tell me what’s going on?”
Ella narrowed her eyes. “How can you be sure? You don’t smell like a magic user.”
Wade knew he probably didn’t smell like anything to her except a mundane human. He’d learned to hide his soul and what he was years ago, able to pass as human when he wasn’t. “Look, you asked for our help, and I’m helping. You gotta trust me if you want us to work together. You weren’t forthcoming on the phone to my pack, but I’m here now, so what’s going on?”
After a few moments of silence, Ella forced her shoulders out of the hunch they’d settled in and leaned forward, dropping her voice so low it was barely a whisper. Wade still picked up her words as clearly as if she’d screamed them. “Our alphas were taken hostage two weeks ago by a local mobster during a meeting over territory borders. We weren’t willing to move our boundaries, and Niall took offense to our rejection. So he took our alphas and bound the rest of us who’d come along for the meeting from talking about what happened or from asking for help from those within the city who call it home. He said we had a month to accept his terms, or he’d kill our alphas.”
Wade leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “But you were able to reach out to us?”
“Yes.” Ella managed a fleeting, strained little smile, there and gone in a second. “The terms didn’t say anything about asking the enemy for help, and I know my pack wasn’t on good terms with yours before my alphas took over. You technically counted as the enemy for this.”
Wade’s eyes never left her face, seeing his own visage reflected back at him on the lenses of her sunglasses. “That sounds a lot like the fae.”
Ella shrugged, fiddling with her fork before reaching for her drink to sip it. She didn’t confirm or deny his statement, which made him wonder if the binding wouldn’t let her talk about what this Niall was. “Niall didn’t smell like fae. The people with him were mundane humans and a sorcerer. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Except for how he got the drop on you and your alphas and kidnapped them.”
Ella set her drink down with a grimace. “Yes.”
“I hate to ask, but are you sure they’re still alive?”
Her jaw worked for a moment before she finally answered. “No. We haven’t seen them. But I’m not willing to say they’re dead until I see bodies first.”
“You’re dire. Why not take over as alpha?” Cold rage wasn’t a comfortable scent to breathe in as it poured across the table to him, stinging his nose. Wade hastily held up his hands. “Whoa, okay, I didn’t mean to piss you off. I’m just saying, if you took over the Boston god pack even temporarily, that might break the spell he’s got on you so you could talk about this problem with your allies. But I’m not a magic user. I don’t know if that would work.”
“I’m not—” Ella cut herself off, swallowing her anger and schooling her face into an expression of calm neutrality as their waitress returned with her salad and Wade’s clam chowder. Neither moved nor spoke until the waitress had walked off. “I’m not taking the position that rightfully belongs to my alphas. Not when they aren’t here to defend it. That’smyjob.”
Her hissed-out statement actually made Wade relax a little. Loyalty was something he understood, and he didn’t think she could be all that bad if she wasn’t gunning for the role of alpha of a god pack. But then again, it could all be a ruse.
Ugh, he was thinking like Patrick.
