43. Jax

43

Jax

"You're asking me to share secrets of my pack within the first month of my leadership," Elonso said with narrowed eyes. "You must not think very kindly of my intelligence."

I schooled my features. The video chat was going about as well as could be expected. London was, as always, on my side. After everything he'd seen and experienced recently, I knew he would be, but he also had reservations. I could tell he hadn't forgiven me for Lunessa, but it wasn't my fault the witch hadn't stayed.

Elonso, to his credit, hadn't immediately decided to clutch at Maeve like a lifeline. Whether he liked it or not, Emerson would have influenced him. I just didn't know how much.

"I am not asking you to reveal the secrets of your leadership. Simply what you know of Emerson. You were not under his spell. I'm sure you've gleaned a few things."

"And how are Cindy and Janelle?" he said casually as he leaned back in his chair and stared at the camera.

"Cindy is welcome to leave whenever she wishes. I am not holding her against her will. As for Janelle, I won't send her back to her death, and you damn well know that's exactly what will happen if I return her," I said in some frustration. "Maeve will take your pack, Elonso. She will take all the packs. She wants absolute rule."

Elonso did not bat an eye. "So says you. I've learned enough under my predecessor's rule to know that we alphas are not always honest with each other. Having said that, I will concede that Emerson had hoped to co-rule with Maeve, so there was some plan under way. At least, until Emerson had his hands on Anna again. If the whole plan hinges on her, my vote is to kill her and be done with it."

"I will not let one crazed wolf take my mate," I snarled.

"And I won't let your feelings sacrifice thousands of wolves," Elonso snarled. "You want to be allies, Jax? Stop thinking with your dick. I'll send whatever information I think is relevant shortly."

The screen went dark, and London blew out his breath. "If I had to wager a guess, I'd say that Emerson did a number on him," my friend said slowly. "He is not wrong."

My body stiffened. "I won't let anything happen to her."

"I know, and I'll help you with that, but I'm just saying that I understand where he's coming from. I also know that Maeve has had enough time to solidify her plan. I'll wager if we kill Anna, she has a plan to resurrect your mate from the dead."

That was an unpleasant thought. "If you're right, we should just wave a white flag now."

"I didn't say we just roll over and give her our bellies," he muttered sourly. "I'm saying that the road ahead of us is going to be difficult, even if we all ally against her. She might have found things easier with Emerson's help, but I suspect her whole plan doesn't back on it. Even with Emerson dead and Elonso on our side, we need more. We need to know what she's planning. That's the only way we can counter it. We need someone on the inside. My contact within her territory went radio silent months ago. I suspect she's dead."

At that, I raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a contact in my territory?"

"Yes, just as you have one in mine. As long as you aren't planning anything shady, I doubt we'll have a problem," he said without missing a beat. "I will admit that my contact didn't exactly give anything away. Either she didn't know, or my flow of information was filtered very carefully. What about yours?"

"I have two contacts who proved long ago to be unreliable. They kept giving conflicting information, and I became too distracted to do anything about it," I admitted. The traitors in Emerson's camp were also just as useless, and they also went dark, probably about the same time Janelle cast her spell on the wolves.

"Finn is her son."

My head jerked around at that, and I narrowed my eyes. "I will not send him to die, and that is exactly what will happen. Maeve isn't sentimental enough to believe that her prodigal son has returned with no secret agenda."

"I don't know. She was sentimental enough not to kill him the first time."

"She didn't keep him alive out of sentimentality. She wanted him to find Anna." A thought occurred to me. "She thought her mate was feeding information to someone. That's why she killed him."

"You don't think she was being paranoid?" London asked with some interest. "Trying to figure out who he spilled his secrets to be damn near impossible. Especially considering he died to protect them."

The Crone might know. She might be the only one who did. All of our current information came from the fractured memories of a scared little girl. I couldn't put too much fair in what Anna thought she knew, especially considered how many memories had been manipulated by magic.

But Katherine and Dirk ran for a reason. Both of them were dead, but there was a good chance they told the Crone. I needed that witch to stop dancing around and give us the truth.

And if she wasn't willing, it would be even more fun for me.

I ended the call with London, both of us promising to brainstorm ideas, and let Finn in. For the past ten minutes, I'd felt him hovering anxiously outside of my door.

"Jenson isn't giving me reliable information. The Crone is here, and I had to hear it from Anna?" Finn spat in disgust. "If he isn't going to keep me in the loop, I will challenge him for his spot."

"That's up to you," I said easily, knowing damn well Finn wasn't ready. "But Jenson wasn't told about the Crone, although I assume he'll find out shortly. He'll be checking on Irene shortly, and he'll find her there."

"Oh." Finn tucked his chin a little. "Okay, then."

This rivalry between him and Jenson would come to a head one way or another. Finn had the more powerful wolf. They both knew it, but they also knew that Jenson had long held the respect of the pack, and Finn was the new kid who'd immediately thrown his weight behind Anna. The pack might have forgiven Anna, but they would still be slow to trust Finn, and Finn knew that.

He still had a lot to learn about being in a pack, and I was ready to teach him. There were no guarantees in this fight. If Jenson and I didn't make it, the pack would be Finn's. Kenzi might try to take it, but Finn was born to be an alpha.

"I heard what you said to London," Finn admitted.

"My office is soundproof."

Finn shrugged. "I might have cracked the door open."

Someone couldn't leave his messenger, or should I say spy, days behind him. I glowered at him.

"I could convince her that I want in. I could make her believe that family is more important than anything."

"No, you couldn't, and even if you could, it would destroy you. Anna would never forgive me, and neither would Amelia."

"Neither have a say in my life."

I rolled my eyes. "You're an idiot if you truly believe that. They would both follow you. Amelia would get herself killed trying to save you, and Anna would get herself captured. Or, more likely, Maeve would use you until Anna just walked into her arms. My mate has already proven what she would sacrifice to save those she loves. You'd only make the mountain fall faster. How do you feel about hypnosis? Magical hypnosis."

"You think I know who my father was talking to?" Finn frowned. "I was just a kid."

"Exactly. Adults tend to be careless around children. We need to know what Maeve is planning. London is working on getting a reliable contact back in her pack, but I doubt that he will succeed. We may be able to go get the answers from the past."

After some hesitation, Finn nodded shortly. "Fine. Whatever you need."

"It may be painful."

"So was bleeding out at the hands of Maeve's pack," Finn snapped. "This, I can handle."

He hadn't taken his almost death lightly. I knew how he felt. There were some nights, plagued by fears that Anna wouldn't awaken this time, then I could still feel my soul trying to escape me. Hear my wolf saying his goodbyes.

Of course, this wasn't the first time Finn had almost died. I peered at him closely. What made this one any different?

Finn's eyes slid away, and for a moment, I thought I saw them flicker from silver to gold.

"Tomorrow. Rest for tonight. I'll speak with the witches and make a plan. Perhaps we'll get lucky, and it won't even be necessary. Maybe the Crone will tell us everything that we want to know."

"When is it ever that easy?" Finn said darkly. He nodded his head and left the office.

I stared at the open doorway for several minutes. I'd never seen Finn's eyes flicker gold before. If he was hiding power from me, my own position as alpha wasn't safe.

Finn had saved my life and Anna's life. I had no reason to distrust him.

And yet, not for the first time, I couldn't help but wonder if he was just biding his time before he tried to take my pack from me.