“They are trying to exterminate us! But thanks to my vitamins, we’re stronger than ever. We’ll punish them for hurting us and the city we love.” All around them, people were clapping as they got caught up in Raoul’s enthusiasm. He turned to her. “So sister, are you with us or against us? Are you one of the pack, Frankie? Or a bear lover?”
She winced at his phrasing since it was true. She was well on her way to being a bear-lover and that would not play well with the pack. “I have spent my whole life supporting the pack, and everyone knows it. I built this center for us.”
“Yes,” Raoul said gently. “You helped Father a lot with that. A pretty face always gooses the fund-raising.”
She was a hell of a lot more than a pretty face, but his supporters took their cue from him. They looked like they wanted to pat her on the head and send her off to play with dolls. So she looked away from the men to see the women. Surely, they knew her worth. They remembered the times she’d babysat their kids, fought for improvements in the neighborhood, made sure the walk to and from school was safe.
But when she looked to the women, they weren’t saying anything to help her. Some flashed her a brief smile, but most were occupied with their children who were getting stir crazy in this confined place. Some were taking care of food, others helped with diaper changes, toddler fights, or reading to sick kids. And wasn’t that the problem in a nutshell? Even in this day and age, the men still had time for politics while the women—many of them working professionals—spent all their spare time managing food or the kids. They might remember when she lent a hand, but they certainly didn’t have time to support her in the middle of pack politics. They just wanted to get home and get back to a normal routine.
“Where is Father?” she said. She was losing the public opinion battle, so she had to focus now on their father. He certainly saw some of Raoul’s faults, assuming he wasn’t too addicted to the serum to hear reason. If she could convince her father to publicly throw his support to her, then she’d have enough power to end the madness.
“He’s trying to get the bears to see reason.” He rolled his eyes. “Personally, I think it’s a waste of time. They’re stupid and aggressive.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped. “The bears are as logical and sane as—”
“Your pal Detective Kennedy?” he interrupted. “The one who didn’t give a shit about our wolves getting robbed? It wasn’t until I got involved that the crimes stopped.”
She stiffened. “You didn’t do a thing!” She’d been the one who followed the case, who reported…Oh hell. Raoul had been there when she reported all the details to her father. He would know everything about the case and be able to twist it.
“While you were strutting around fund-raising, I was working with Detective Bell. I helped him find the thieves—”
“He never once mentioned you,” she interrupted. “He said that Detective Kennedy did all the work in solving the case.”
Raoul snorted. “If he did, then why didn’t Kennedy arrest the thieves? That didn’t happen until he was off the case.”
Damn it, when did he get this good at twisting words around? She gritted her teeth and headed for the exit. “I’ll take this up with Father. You go ahead and strut around making yourself look important while I—”
“I’ll tell you one thing the bears did,” he interrupted, his voice loud. “They helped bring shifters out into the sunlight.”
Frankie spun around. Here it was. The main purpose of everything Raoul had done. “People are dying, Raoul. And shifters need to stay in the shadows.”
“Why?” he challenged. “Look, I’m not saying what the Griz did was right—”
“They didn’t do it!”
“But have you seen the YouTube videos? People are recording the shifts. We’re getting video. It won’t be long now—”
“Until magic is exposed? And how well has that worked in the past? Are you asking for a volcanic eruption? An earthquake to rip apart the city?”
Raoul stared at her in pity. “You don’t understand science or magic. It’s not your fault you’re not as smart as I am.”
Had he really just said that? “You have got to be kidding—”
“Magic isn’t alive any more than static electricity or gravity.” His smile was condescending. “Come out of the Dark Ages, sister dear. Magic isn’t some demon or God. It’s just a force that we didn’t understand.” He turned to everyone and held out his hands. “Imagine if we began to study magic like we do electricity or cold fusion. We’re magical creatures. Imagine the power we could harness if we only stopped hiding. If we stopped pretending we didn’t exist. Isn’t it time we came out into the open?”
“There are more of them than there are of us. You want our children rounded up and studied in some lab?” She hated bringing the kids into this, but that was one of her biggest fears. It was every mother’s fear. Hell, hadn’t that happened just a few miles away in Gladwin? Some asshole had grabbed the teens just before they shifted and started experimenting on them.
“Of course not!” Raoul cried, looking indignant. “That’s why we need to get strong! That’s why we need my serum to fight for our children! So they can stand in the light as they really are. Werewolves! Proud and strong!”
Oh hell. The men were really loving that. Especially the ones already hopped up on Raoul’s serum.
“And what if you’re wrong?” she pressed. “What if everyone for the last few millennia had it right? That magic fights back. It doesn’t want to be found.”
He sighed. “Only children believe such foolishness.”
She shook her head. “This is not for you to decide. This is something all the alphas must decide together.”
He chuckled low and sweet, and for the first time, she saw true evil in her brother’s eyes. “I didn’t decide this,” he said. “The Griz did. I’m just playing the hand that was dealt.” He spread his hands open as if it was the most natural thing in the world to poison a city then use it to expose shifters to the world. God, did no one else see what he was doing?
