18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The pack common room fell silent as Tristan and Greg walked in. Neither of them had shifted and both were starting to sport some interesting bruises.

‘What the heck?' Daniella exclaimed, clucking over them. ‘You should shift,' she told Tristan as she examined the slice where Greg had cut him. The wound had clotted but it was still red and raw, and the dried blood remained as a macabre reminder of the bloody battle the men had fought. And to think that essentially it had been a friendly!

‘I'm fine.' Tristan shrugged, but his eyes were on Elliott.

‘Men,' Daniella huffed under her breath, hands going to her hips. I met her gaze and gave an agreeing nod. Men!

My eyes moved on to Seren and Marissa. Seren was looking at Daniella, openly pissed off at her fussing over Tristan. I knew Seren was deliriously happy in her new relationship with Marissa, so I wasn't sure what her issue was with Daniella. It certainly wasn't jealousy; besides, Tristan was happily married to a seer.

The instant we'd walked in, Thomas Elliott had surged to his feet, fists clenched. ‘I challenge you to a tourney to the death,' he snarled at Greg.

‘Too late,' Tristan replied before Greg could. ‘I challenged Manners for his position as second. As such, under the new law laid down by our Queen, he cannot be challenged for another week.'

Elliott's nostrils flared. ‘This is an outrage.' He turned to me. ‘None of us ever stood a chance, did we, Lucy? You'd already made your choice when you arrived on my lands. Manners will be your mate.' His breathing was heavy, his words harsh.

‘I have yet to claim my mate,' I replied evenly.

He snorted. ‘That's not what I saw on your fucking lawn.'

‘Speak to our Queen with some manners.' Wakado's voice was low and dangerous. ‘Or I'll teach you some.'

‘I think she's already got quite enough manners,' Elliott spat.

Wakado sent him an assassin's smile. ‘ You haven't been challenged in a week, have you, Elliott?'

Elliott's jaw clenched and for a moment he looked at the large man with hostility. Taking in his size, his anger faded enough for common sense to assert itself. ‘I won't forget this – any of it.' He stalked out of the room.

‘Archie, Liam, make sure our guest leaves our lands with all his belongings,' I ordered. They followed him out with matching grim expressions.

Tarkers gave an exaggerated sigh. ‘Uninvited guests are the worst. Am I right?'

‘Well,' a dry voice said from the corner, ‘I hope my invite still stands then.' A man stood and made his way from where he'd been sprawled with some pups, including a giggling Bobby. He was a large man, almost seven feet in height and just as broad. I'd thought Wakado was huge but this guy made Wakado look small.

‘Richard Denby from Derby, my Queen,' he introduced himself, sinking to one knee in front of me. Even on one knee, he was taller than some women I'd met. ‘I am truly honoured to make your acquaintance.' His voice was full of fervent sincerity.

‘You're more than welcome, Denby. Please, rise.'

When the monolithic man stood up, his head was barely a foot from the ceiling. This was Kearns' alpha? I spotted the speaker of the Council sitting primly to one side; you wouldn't catch him sprawled on the floor with the kids .

‘If it pleases you, my Queen,' Denby said mildly, ‘my friends call me Debbie. I would be honoured for you to address me so.'

I grinned. ‘So I'd heard. Tarkers here has been filling me in.'

Debbie grinned. ‘You can't trust a word that man says, Your Majesty. He's a brigand and scoundrel.' But his eyes were laughing and the glance he shot at the other man was full of affection. I tagged them immediately as having a wonderful bromance.

‘Whilst I am very grateful for your presence here,' I started, ‘I have a small errand to run this afternoon that will keep me occupied. Perhaps in the meantime you, Tarkers and Wakado could run together on my lawns.'

‘I'd enjoy that,' Debbie said affably. ‘We'll be waiting at your pleasure, Your Majesty. As always.' He bowed.

I did so love a man with manners; he was going to fit right in. ‘Excellent. Finley, get our guests some cookies; the salted caramel ones.' I winked at Tarkers, ‘Only the good stuff for you.'

He flashed me a grin in return and doffed an imaginary cap. ‘Appreciate that, Your Maj.'

I turned to my pack, ‘Tristan, Seren, Marissa,' I called. ‘Join me in my office, please. '

The women had been sitting in a tangle of limbs on the beanbags near the games consoles but they immediately stood up to follow me.

‘Pack some bags,' I said quietly to Greg as we left the room. ‘Bring some weapons. You'll be the only one coming with me.'

Greg nodded and peeled off, no doubt to return more armed than Rambo.

In my office, David was at the security console looking like he'd rather be anywhere but there. I could relate; I hated security duty on the rare occasions that I did it. He looked more morose than usual as he watched the screens that flickered over the charred remains of his hard work. I winced internally. Poor man.

‘You can go,' I told him. ‘Why don't you start putting together a new planting schedule?'

He brightened. ‘I can compile a spreadsheet with costings.'

I grinned; right there was the reason we got on so well. Like me, he'd been a fish out of water – a gardener in a werewolf pack – and like me, he had a love of the fine details. ‘You could,' I said easily. ‘Maybe Daniella could help you?'

He flushed a little but didn't say anything else as he slipped out of my office .

‘Tristan,' I said, once David had shut the door behind him, ‘shift and heal. You're favouring one side when you walk, and I saw you clutching your ribs when you thought I wasn't looking.'

He grimaced. ‘I need to re-charge in Common,' he admitted unhappily, giving his arms a scratch. ‘The wife won't be happy,' he sighed. ‘We were supposed to have dinner out.'

I gave him a sympathetic glance; I hated that itching feeling. ‘No help for it. She'll understand, I'm sure.'

‘We were supposed to be going to a bagpipe concert.'

I blinked. ‘Bagpipes?'

‘My dad was Scottish,' he explained. ‘Candice likes to make sure we're embracing our roots.'

‘What are her roots?' I asked nosily.

‘She's of Irish descent. She enjoys anything Gaelic really. She enjoys the bagpipes as much as me. She'll just have to take a friend instead.'

I nodded. I didn't suggest he attend the concert whilst he was in Common. The political landscape was tense, it was far safer for him to be tucked up in Rosie's, and I found that I truly wanted him safe. He'd really grown on me of late.

Tristan scratched again at his arm.

‘Go on with you, we can't have you scratching half your skin off. Go with Maxwell when he leaves. Catch up with him – he's on the front lawn. Let me check if anyone else is due a re-charge.' I fired up my laptop and opened my re-charging spreadsheet. ‘Finley and Ethan are due, and Xander from the Devon pack. Take them all with you.'

Tristan gave me a bow with no hint of animosity or hesitation. ‘Yes, my Queen.'

‘Good man,' I said.

He graced me with a rare smile and left me alone with the women.

‘I'm glad to see that things seem to have settled between you,' I started, making both women blush a little. ‘Stability is important within a pack, and that's why I've asked you both here. I'd like you to start cultivating friendships.'

‘Friendships?' Marissa asked, leaning forward. ‘With whom?'

‘I'd like you to start with the loners, and I'd like you to get friendly with Rae, Wakado's … third.' I caught myself before I admitted she was his beta; now wasn't the time to reveal that information.

‘Speak to Daniella,' I continued, looking pointedly at Seren. ‘She and Finley have been here a while but she hasn't found her place yet.' Unlike Finley, who had settled into the pack like a duck to water. ‘I want you to work on that. She's part of our battle thirteen and she should be brought into the heart of the pack properly.'

‘Yes, Alpha,' both women chimed, though Seren looked surly.

‘Spit it out, Seren,' I said briskly. ‘What's your issue with Daniella?'

Seren huffed, ‘She's always fussing over people's minor scrapes and bumps. It makes us look weak, especially with guests here.'

I sat back in my chair and debated how much to share. In the end, I went with a lot because Seren needed to be shocked. She was still very young and very privileged, though she didn't know how much.

‘You know Daniella is a nurse and you know that she was lone. She comes from an abusive pack. Her alpha ordered her to train in medicine so he could hide the true extent of the abuse he was putting his pack through. She bandaged up women and kids until she couldn't do it any longer. Daniella's self-worth is tied up in helping others and redeeming herself for her perceived failure in putting a stop to the abuse. She didn't report it, didn't put a stop to it, she just went lone and she lives with that guilt every day.'

I paused. ‘To be clear, I don't think any less of her for her choices. It's easy to sit here in my safe house behind a large desk and say that I would have done otherwise, but being raised in those circumstances no doubt inures you to them. That Daniella left at all is a miracle. I think she's very brave. But yes, after all she's been through she's eager to help with every bump and scrape because every bandage on you is another one on her wounded soul.'

Seren gaped. ‘I didn't know,' she said finally.

‘No,' I said mildly. ‘You didn't. You don't know any of the loners' stories but just accept that they are all dark. Nobody goes lone for frivolous reasons. Each of them – all of them – deserve kindness from you, nothing more, nothing less. So extend it.' I steepled my hands. ‘Dismissed, ladies. Ask Elena to see me, and ask George to come and man the security desk, please.'

When the women slipped away I took the time to Google Clark Farrier, the man Pollyanna had told me to find. Not much information came up, save for a few articles about his death. The Common realm had put it down to a mugging gone wrong but no doubt the Other realm knew otherwise.

Elena knocked on the door. ‘You asked to see me?'

‘I did. Come in.'

She came in, sat and looked at me curiously. ‘How can I help, my Queen?'

I leaned forward. ‘I'd like you to start a newspaper.'

She blinked. ‘What?'

‘A newspaper. An Other one, with Other news. It needs to be runed so that to a Common realmer it looks like an advertising leaflet or something. I've been learning woefully slowly that information is power in this realm. If we want to change the Other, we need to start sharing some cold, hard truths. Too much of this realm is cloaked in secrecy, and without honesty we can't begin to trust each other. Without trust, there are no allies.'

It was a credit to Elena that she didn't balk at the tall order. ‘What do you want me to write about?'

‘Inequalities, Elena. I want you to find them and report on them across all the species – even within the Connection. I want to shine a light on issues that we should all be looking at. But to start with, I suggest an in-depth article on the depravities of the Black Tourney.'

Elena started to smile. ‘My Queen, you are talking my language.'

‘Good, because this is going to be a huge undertaking for you. I will pay you a salary, so you won't need to freelance any more. I will pay your expenses – cash – so you can get the publication printed and runed without leaving a paper trail. And you'll have to write under a pseudonym. It's time you got your very own pen name.'

‘You want me to stay anonymous?'

‘I need you to stay anonymous.' Because if I was going to flush the Domini out of hiding, I wasn't going to paint a target on Elena's back whilst I did it. ‘Everything must be done with utmost secrecy. Get vows of silence from everyone you work with – the printers, the witches. Do you understand?'

She grinned. ‘Perfectly. We're going to rattle some cages.'

I shook my head. ‘We're not going to rattle them, Elena, we're going to tear the fucking things down.'