“You’d be looking at him,” Josh replies, eyes narrowing on the three of us in blatant animosity. Understandably so, since his predecessor and ten othersweremurdered in our backyard and we hijacked his beta.
After a few moments, I realize why he looks so familiar, and can see why the pack elected him to the position; he’s an off-brand version of his replacement. Giving him a second look, I scan him head to toe. Dark hair that connects to the scruff of his jaw, he could pass as Victor’s son if I didn’t know for a fact the man had never acquired a mate. The eyes are different, though. Where Victor’s were cruel, Josh’s are softer, more leery and nervous to prove himself than anything.
Weak. Unworthy of concern, let alone respect.The thought gives me pause, the voice of my other half teasing along the fringes of my mind.
Shaking it off, I hone in on Slade’s response. “We have a proposal for your consideration, if you could spare a few minutes to hear us out.”
Debating, he remains a silent blockade. Eventually though, he gives a curt nod, opening the doors wider and stepping back for us to enter. The marbled foyer is as luxurious as I remember, with a set of twin staircases directly ahead. This time, though, we veer to the left, into the posh version of a living room. Everything in this place makes me uncomfortable, the wealth spread around in an obnoxiously blatant effort to flaunt in anyone and everyone’s faces. The series of couches practically scream that they cost more than I make in six months, making me reluctant to touch a single thing around me.
Damian, though, carries no such unease, flopping onto the nearest loveseat without a single bit of remorse to his rain-soaked state. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
Hesitantly, I ease into the space beside him, Slade perching on the arm in a partial seat and leaning the umbrella beside his leg. Joshua sits on the couch across from us, a few men appearing out of the woodwork. One lights the fireplace to my right, another brings out a bottle of wine and several glasses without once making eye contact before they disappear without uttering a peep. Another four appear, gathering loosely behind their temporary leader in a show of support, though the only thing that I see in their eyes is disdain. Whether that’s at the man they’re backing, the situation, or at us, is yet to be decided.
“To what do we owe this unexpected visit?” Josh asks, attention never lingering on one of us for long before flitting to the next and back again on repeat.
Clearing my throat, I take the lead. Not that I’m trained for it in the slightest, but if he’s already this distrusting, nothing that comes out of Slade or Damian’s mouths will set him at ease. Skittishness requires a gentle touch, and though it makes me feel oily, I offer a timid smile.
“We were discussing it, and since you’ve found yourselves in a position where you’ll be without an alpha for over a decade at least, and well, we seem to have more than enough to go around, we thought that it may be worth discussing merging our packs. It might make it easier on everyone. Numbers for us, alphas and a boost in finances for you; safety in numbers. It’s only a matter of time before the other families decide to capitalize on your lack of not only an alpha, but beta as well. We could use Thane as a bridge to help manage things here, since I doubt any of us have any illusions that that would go well if any of us attempted it. It would take some back and forth to find a solution that works for everyone, but I really think it could be done. The other packs will be setting their sights on both of ours now, so it makes sense to consider uniting forces. A perfectly matched alliance, don’t you agree?”
All eyes fall on me, and I carefully file away the expressions I see there. Curiosity, disdain, and distrust are at the forefront, so I focus my efforts on those that see the wisdom in my words, have an open mind, even if they don’t particularly like it. Those are the ones that are more interested in survival than petty feuds, can see the bigger picture. If I can win them over, it’ll sow enough discord to give us an opening, if nothing else.
Josh leans forward, one arm resting on his knee, the other gesturing at the men flanking me. “And why areyoupitching this idea? Not Slade, or hell, this guy?” He gives it a second before the light clicks on and he laughs. “So that’s what crawled up Jackson’s ass. Those foreign alphas haven’t been shacking up in Hawthorne Manor for some political dance with the Slaughters, they’ve been shacking up withyou.”
Licking my lips, I release a nervous breath, pulling back my shoulders to look him in the eye. “I’m pitching the offer because none of us are idiots, and we realize the position we’re currently in. A decision of this magnitude requires give and take from both sides.”
I let my meaning hang heavily in the air, not wanting to put words to the insinuation. The intrigue is enough, though. A slow, malicious smile spreads across his face that makes my stomach flip, but I keep my reaction tightly under wraps.
“They’re willing to share you in a last-ditch effort to bolster their numbers.” It’s not a question, but a smug statement of fact.
Not ‘you’re willing to take another mate’. He thinks us women are nothing more than bargaining chips, a means to an end. Something to be used without being allowed a choice in the matter.
Damian’s voice is darker than usual as he clenches his fist, but manages to keep himself in check as he grits out, “We’re open to considering it, should it prove to be in our best interest to do so.”
Joshua becomes quiet, turning to silently discuss with the men behind him. Despite my desire to punch him in the throat, I keep myself the picture perfect image of a well-behaved mate. A bit nervous, leaning on my men for comfort and support, but still maintaining eye contact with anyone who attempts to catch it in order to appeal to their animalistic side, the one that rises to a challenge with glee. I hold the stares only long enough to capture their interest, then cut my glance away, instilling the desire to chase. It’s a careful dance, one that I didn’t even realize I had picked up on by watching Emmy, but one that serves us well right now.
Eventually, Josh straightens in his seat with a smug grin. “We’ll agree to merge packs, but seeing as you clearly need us more than we need you, we have a couple of stipulations.”
Slade’s voice is bored, as if he expected nothing less and was already playing out this entire meeting in his head. “Go on.”
Ticking off on his fingers as he goes, Josh says, “First, it’ll retain the Alodia name, or if it’s hyphenated, ours will be first.”
A single shrug from Slade. “Fair enough, I have no objections to that.”
“Next,” he continues, his gaze cutting to me, leisurely looking me up and down as he speaks. “She takes those of us currently in the room as additional mates.Allof us, or no deal.”
A slow death is too good for the likes of you. Yours should be dragged out over days, brought to the brink again and again, the mercy always pulled back at the last second. Anguish the likes of which you can’t possibly fathom until it saturates your very being, something only Cinjin could imagine. Torture turned into an art form, all of the pent-up chaos inside of him unleashed on the poor, unsuspecting soul-
“Deal.” I hear the word come out of Slade’s mouth, but it doesn’t really register right away.
“Agreed,” Damian supports with a scowl, sizing up the men in the room with appropriate disdain.
Josh’s smirk isn’t the only one facing me now, and each of them sends another sense of dread through me. The headache I’d managed to dampen before our arrival returns with a vengeance, and each lascivious face smiling back at me causes it to throb harder than before.
Their voices fade into a monotonous drone around me as they carry on hashing out some of the finer details, the faces across from me shooting leering glances my way blurring until they’re indistinguishable from one another. No personalities, nothing noteworthy about them. A faceless sex blob; that’s all they think this situation is, anyway. They don’t give a damn about who I am, or a single thing about me. They simply expect me to trip over myself to please them and be the perfect mate that they’ve fantasized about for years, nothing at all like my men.
My men fear mebecausethey love me. They’re smart enough to acknowledge that I’m a threat, have gotten as close to me asI’veallowed them to, because they respect me enough to let me take the lead on what I’m comfortable with. They’re so attuned to my body language and behaviors that they know when to give me space, support, or to push harder.
Hunter was right, I haven’t shifted because I didn’t want to push Reid past the point of no return. If he was already afraid of me when I was doing everything that I could to keep myself together, how could he possibly bear to look at me if I let go? If I turned into the sort of monster he hated more than anything?
