“In some ways, yes.”
“In many ways. I’ve been watching.” He took another sip of his drink. “I’ve spoken to my sisters and then chastised them for not telling me how serious this mage problem is. They didn’t want to worry me, apparently. They want me to get on with my life. They’ve had mage visits. Many, it seems, in groups and once in a crowd. So far, they’ve been able to run those mages away. This was before the attack on Kingsley. The visits have totally stopped since that battle. They get the feeling the mages are regrouping.”
A shock of adrenaline coursed through Austin that made him tense. Niamh would want that information.
John gave a tiny nod, reading Austin’s thought. “My sisters are highly intelligent and excellent at their jobs. But they are shifters. Rather than reaching out to Kingsley to comparenotes or contact you—both strangers—they collected their pack friends. They thought more numbers than Kingsley had would be enough.”
“And they’d be annihilated.”
John took a deep breath. “I’ve realized that. My sisters are going to talk to our pack and explain why I really left. I’m sure most of them suspect. Once that is smoothed over, I will use what pull I still have to help you. On a few conditions.”
Austin kept from widening his eyes. Having Golden Fang as a backer would be huge.Huge. It would push this thing in leaps and bounds. Unlike that cairn leader, Austin was prepared to offer him the absolute world.
“Which are?” he said evenly, not giving anything away.
The other man took a sip. “I will not join your pack. If I tried to fit myself into your hierarchy, inevitably I’d have to pit myself against Sue.”
That was true. John had ten times more experience, and he was raised to be in a leadership role. He didn’t come to it late, like Sue had. He’d fall into the role without thinking, and eventually people would turn to him rather than Sue. Eventually, they’d have to battle for dominance, and John would win.
“Sue is exceptional in his place,” John went on. “He’s a better fit for this convocation. He understands it, and he wants it. I don’t want to get in the way of that, even if I wanted to be in a pack at all.”
It spoke highly of John’s sense of responsibility and overall regard for the people that he recognized that and had acted upon it. It was clear what had made him such a good leader.
“But I do want to be in the convocation,” John went on. “Just like that cairn leader, and everyone in your crew, I believe in it. I can bolster it. I can add power and might and fit within the chaos. The stint in the bar told me that.”
“Except you can’t fly. You’d have to be in the ground crew. Don’t get me wrong, John, I want your help. Only an idiot wouldn’t. But you’d still be able to undermine Broc—Sue.”
“And that’s my next condition. To have a place, I ask that you give me a specialized force. Find me more rogues. Give me the wild shifters that have a hard time existing in a civilized pack. Send me the lost causes. You and Sue will be busy managing the bulk of the shifters. You won’t have time for the troublemakers. Give them to me. Let me shape them into your overall battle image. And let me work under Jessie and with her people. You can call me a special unit, part of the convocation. I can work with the basajaunak, also a ground crew. I know you might worry that I’d use that force to?—“
Austin held up his hand, knowing where John was going with that. “I told you before, I’m not worried about you taking over this pack. My relationship with Jess, and how my life has been shaped, makes me uniquely suited to handle my role here. You wouldn’t be able to. No one would. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to.”
John laughed and took another sip. “Fair enough and true. Very true. People who try to challenge you for this pack are mad.”
“As to the special force, that’s a good idea, and I might just claim it.”
John laughed again. “Fair enough,” he repeated.
“Give me a week to check in with efforts here and make sure things are running smoothly?—“
“I’d like to shadow you, if I could. No one needs to know who I am, yet.”
Austin hesitated. This guy was really on board. He wasn’t just helping, he was re-emerging. He was stepping back into the world of the shifters, and he was doing it under Jess and Austin’s umbrella. Holy hell. The little Barazza black sheep, thekid who would never amount to anything, was currently having a meeting as an equal with Yazanth Golden Fang.
Was this real life?
“Fine,” Austin said, playing it cool “We’ll go with the special force and say you need to be brought up to speed. It’s true, after all. Your power and posturing will make that a no-brainer. You can tell people who you are in your own time.”
“At the Alpha Conclave,” John said in a firm voice. “Armendale is going to be gunning for you. He won’t like the power you are amassing. He won’t like someone trying to take his place as the king of the mountain, a position he only has because no one is contesting him.”
“My brother doesn’t have the power.”
“No, your brother doesn’t have the wildness to attempt it, and in so doing, upset the status quo. No one does. Except me. And now you. My time is done. It’s your turn to knock that jackass down a peg. But it won’t be just brawn. It’ll be political. He’s going to amass his followers and throw his weight around.”
“He was always going to do that. I never thought he’d join, but I have always intended to shove my power in his face and give people a new voice to listen to.”
John nodded, his eyes twinkling. “I can help. I will step forward as part of the convocation and Jessie’s team. My sisters and former pack will step forward with me, and by then, so will their pack friends. I’m going to fly one of them out to meet the team and give them some talking points. You’ll have me, my old pack, and their network. Plus, what you’ve already amassed. We’ll give Armendale a little shock and some much-needed opposition.”
“And I assume you’ll get even for how he’s treating your sisters.”
