2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Elders chuntered amongst themselves for a ridiculously long time. I stopped myself from pacing by sheer force of will; if I'd had a chair I would have lounged on it indolently, but I didn't have one so I couldn't. I remained standing, waiting impatiently for their verdict.

‘We thank you for your attendance,' one of the male Elders finally said to me, as if they'd had any choice in the matter. ‘You may now leave.'

I gritted my teeth. They'd made me wait for more than twenty minutes and now they were chucking me out without letting me know the results of their deliberations? Motherfuckers.

A small smile curled Geneve's lips and she looked triumphant. Even without the announcement, I was suddenly sure that this verdict wouldn't go Emory's way. Fools, I thought again .

I felt sick to my stomach but I couldn't do anything about it for now. I would support him through this, which was all a good friend could do: stand by their friends in their darkest hour. Geneve's smirk made me feel sure that this would be Emory's darkest hour; the jealous, vindictive bitch would see to it.

Well, I refused to be chucked out like a customer who hadn't paid his whore so I took my time leaving the hall. First I walked over to Emory and met his dazzling green eyes with a smile. ‘Thank you,' he murmured softly. ‘I appreciate your efforts.'

His tone was low, for my ears only. I reached out and squeezed his wrist then took my own sweet time walking back through the crowd. Finally I left the hall ... before the temptation to pipe the Elders became too strong to ignore.

I could end this in seconds if I reached out with my magic and forced them to let Emory resume his position as Prime Elite. But that would be wrong; it wasn't my place to control their actions, even if they were about to make a huge mistake. Giving people free will meant letting them choose their own fate, no matter how unwisely. But God damn it, it was hard to walk away.

I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other and pull open the double doors. With an effort, I left as dramatically as I had arrived and slammed the doors shut behind me. The force sent reverberations up the wall.

The brethren soldier who'd let me in raised his eyebrow in silent question. I shook my head. ‘I tried my best,' I admitted. ‘But it's not looking good.'

His mouth tightened and he took a step to his right, freeing up space for me to stand by him if I wished. I joined him to stand silently with the others to await the dreaded outcome.

Twice the hall broke out in noise – and the third time it was deafening. It raged on and then cut off abruptly like a switch had been thrown. Moments later, the double doors swung open and out strode Emory with Jess by his side. He was no longer wearing the cuffs and his head was held high but his eyes were sad. I didn't need to be an empath to feel the waves of fury that were rolling off Jess.

My own rage increased in response; at first I thought it was natural anger, but then I felt the urge to punch the man next to me in the face. Shit – Jess was an empath. ‘Jess,' I snapped. ‘Lock it down. You're projecting your rage. You're going to start a brawl.'

‘Let them fight among themselves,' she snarled.

‘It won't be the poncey dragon Elders fighting,' I pointed out as calmly as I could through the fog of pulsing red anger that was pouring through me. ‘It'll be the ones around you and your rage – the brethren. They don't deserve your ire.'

The soldier next to me was opening and closing his hands, clenching them in fists of rage and then trying to push away the urge to fight.

Emory reached out to Jess and laced his fingers through hers. He raised her fingers to his lips and kissed them softly. ‘Easy, tiger,' he murmured. ‘We'll ride this wave just like all the others.'

The fury left me as abruptly as it had arrived and I sagged with relief. Jess's eyes softened a little as she got a handle on her own anger and locked it down. She nodded tightly to the man she loved. ‘We will,' she agreed. ‘Just like the others.'

Next to me the brethren soldier relaxed his fists and then he knelt. ‘Elite,' he murmured. Every brethren soldier lining the walls did the same, and emotion caught in my throat at their devotion. I could only dream of inspiring such loyalty in my wolves; yes, they had knelt to me but they didn't look at me the way the brethren looked at Emory.

‘I'm the Elite no longer, I'm afraid,' Emory said, true regret colouring his tone.

The soldier shook his head. ‘Regardless, I will follow wherever you go.'

It seemed it wasn't only the dark seraph that were fanatically loyal to Emory; he had a powerful charisma that made even me want to kneel before him. I was sure he could do a better job of leading the werewolves than I could. He had been born to lead but now he'd been ousted from his crown; it was all kinds of wrong.

Emory smiled at the soldier but shook his head. He spoke loudly to those who were still kneeling in front of him. ‘I fear that dark times are coming. I need you all to be here, serving the dragon court as you should. They will need good, honest men and I know I can rely on your continued service even in my absence.' He reached out and pulled the nearest man to his feet. ‘My honour to know you, Geraint Flynn.'

‘My honour to serve you, Emory,' the other man choked out. The omission of Emory's ‘Elite' title stung.

Emory clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Good man,' he murmured. He tugged Jess down the hallway and I followed, at a loss.

Emory's right-hand man, Tom Smith, fell into step next to me. Emory might be making some of the brethren stay to serve the dragon court but I was pretty sure he'd be able to move the sun before he could stop his devoted second from following him. I knew that because, up until very recently, Greg had felt the same .

Oh God, this sucked. Poor Jess. Poor Emory. What were they going to do now? I had no idea how to make this better and I hated feeling so helpless.

Sometimes it is enough to be there, Esme murmured quietly.

Every now and again she floored me with her wisdom. Esme was literal, brash and violent so often that when she spoke a deep truth it hit me like a bomb. She was right: I would be there for them until they didn't need me.

At Jess's tug on my arm, I followed them into Emory's private quarters. ‘This is bullshit,' she snarled when the doors were closed.

‘It is done.' Emory shrugged philosophically and gave his fiancée a smile. ‘Think of all the time we'll have together now.'

Jess smiled back faintly. ‘Well, it's true – that is an upside.'

‘I have plenty of business ventures to keep myself busy,' Emory said lightly. ‘And I'll be able to work out more. This is going to be a good thing.' None of us were convinced, but I gave him points for trying.

‘We can totally do the war thing,' I said into the silence. ‘I'm Queen of the Werewolves. I'm more than willing to wage war on your enemies.' Especially that snooty bitch Geneve .

Emory grinned. ‘I appreciate the thought, Lucy, but I don't want harm to come to my people.'

‘What about just the pig-headed ones?' I compromised.

‘Not even them.'

I sighed. ‘I'm the worst ally ever. If I can't bring war, what should I bring? Wine? Do you need wine?'

Emory laughed. ‘Lucy, you're a brilliant friend and ally. You came running to help me, you told the truth and you stood by me.' He hugged me. ‘I won't forget it.'

My phone rang: Greg. I gave Emory an apologetic smile as I moved aside and swiped to take the call. ‘Hey.'

‘Thank you,' Greg said straight away. ‘Thank you for trying to save him. I'll never forgive my mother for this. It's madness.' He had a network of brethren spies, but I was still surprised at how quickly he'd learned the verdict of the kangaroo court.

‘I hear you – it's insane. I'm actually with Emory just now. You want to speak to him?'

‘Please.'

I passed over the phone. As Emory walked off to the other side of the room to talk quietly with Greg, I hugged Jess. ‘I'm sorry. This sucks.'

‘I don't care for my sake,' she admitted. ‘I don't give a fuck about being the Queen of the Dragons, but for him… Being the King is all he's known for the last decade or more. It's something he uses to define himself. I know we're all more than our jobs, but being King is more than a day job, you know?'

I did know, more so with each passing day. The crown lay heavy on my head, too.

Jess continued, ‘He's putting a brave face on it but I can feel his anguish and betrayal through our bond. It kills me. I want to fix it but I can't. What is he going to do?'

I shook my head, speechless for once, and hugged her more tightly. ‘It's going to be okay,' I said finally, though I couldn't quite see how.

She drew back and looked at me wryly. ‘Sometimes being a truth seeker sucks,' she sighed.

I winced. Her radar had undoubtedly pinged when I'd said it was going to be okay. ‘Sorry,' I muttered.

Emory walked back to us and held out the phone to me. ‘Manners has sent a car to pick you up. You're required at the mansion. Your guests have arrived.' Of course they had. Bloody perfect timing.

‘Guests?' Jess asked.

I grimaced. ‘I invited some werewolves who aren't totally awful alphas to come and hang out with me at the mansion. They were friends of Lord Samuel.'

‘Getting more allies.' She nodded. ‘Smart.'

‘Thanks.' I certainly needed allies; since my triumph over my challengers and my success in ‘taming' the seat of power, things had been eerily quiet.

I was certain it was the calm before the storm.