Shifting parameters and soft apologizes.
Ifiddled with the radio stations, finding it to be one of those moments where everything was an advertisement or a catchy but irritating jingle. Hudson reached down and turned it off, leaving us in the awkward silence I’d been trying to avoid. ‘We need to talk’, was never a good sign.
“This has to stop,” he said as his hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“What has to stop?” I asked carefully, because if he’d reversed his decision to be my mate, I wasn’t sure Indigo would let him go unscathed.
“The constant running off into danger without me and without back-up.”
My shoulders relaxed. “I had back-up.”
He glanced at me as we shot past the sign wishing us a safe journey onto the main road connecting us to White Castle. “I’ll rephrase, you need adequate back-up.”
“I’m a terrifying Nephilim with unearthly power, what is it you think is going to happen?“
“You offering your throat to the vampire for starters. That could have been avoided.”
“It was my wrist and would you have bled for him? Maybe Dave has a crush I’m not aware of?”
“If I’d been there, I would have had control of the shifters and he would have never been injured in the first place.”
Huh, well, I couldn’t argue with that.
“Thirty minutes, that’s all I needed you to wait and we could have met these threats together.”
“Robert was insistent.”
“And you’ve just pointed out who you are and what power you hold. Try to keep your line of argument straight.”
He was using my words against me and I was losing. He was right. I should have waited.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Pardon?”
I glared daggers into the side of his head as his lips twitched. “I’m sorry, and you are correct.” Damn, that hurt.
“You are forgiven, and as long as the vampire doesn’t develop a thrall bond, he’ll be safe—this time.”
I sucked in a breath, held it, and then let it out slowly, along with all the anxiety in my stomach.
“Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about what’s happening in the pack that has you and Dave worried.”
His thumbs tapped on the steering wheel as I waited for him to tell me it wasn’t any of my business. Then I’d be the one wrapping his words in knots around him.
“There’s unease,” he started.
“You command thousands of beasts with their own conflicting priorities and agendas, I imagine unease goes with the territory.”
He cast an amused glance my way as I twisted in my chair to face him. “True enough. However, this is more serious—an organized coup. And in my absence, I’ve allowed it to gain traction.”
“I thought the alphas supported our mating?”
“The majority do, but while they can instruct their members, it doesn’t account for the idiots that enjoy dissension and chaos. They will exploit a weakness and use it as a springboard to claim their own alpha status. You have to understand, we walk and talk, just like you, but underneath… the urges that drive us are entirely different. Shifters will always look for a weak link and strive to climb the ladder.”
“Not sure how different we actually are.”
Guilt gnawed at me, I was the reason he’d not been with the pack. In my selfishness, I’d distracted him from his people, and in return, they’d turned against him.
