4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I was just about to go back into the mansion when a foreign mind touched mine – no, not one foreign mind but several. The corvids on the roof were panicking. Danger!

‘Anyone around, on me!' I hollered as I ran through the mansion and pelted up to the roof. I repeated the call. Doors opened and my wolves poured out of the pack living room: Archie, Thea, David, Tristan and Elena.

‘Intruders on the roof!' I barked. More men came out of the room: Greg, Thomas Elliott and those whom I recognised as my newcomers, Lord Samuel's friends Tarkers and Wakado. I was surprised to see Elliott; he had hosted the ball where I'd been crowned but what was he doing here? He hadn't been invited to this soirée. I dismissed the question and focused on the intruders who were the more pressing concern.

‘Shift!' Tristan barked at the others and, just like that, their clothes fell onto the floor as they pounded up the stairs and overtook me. Tarquin and Wakefield joined the fray, transforming into their impressive wolf forms as they also pelted up the stairs. I very much appreciated an ally who was willing to muck in; fingers crossed these two gentlemen were allies and not surprise enemies at our heels. It was notable that Elliott stayed where he was, leaning indolently against the door frame whilst the rest of us ran up the stairs.

We burst onto the rooftops ready to fight – only to find it wasn't an enemy that had freaked out the poor corvids but several more allies. The dark seraph looked at us in surprise. ‘Were we ever that fucking excitable?' one of the five remarked, looking at the host of panting wolves at the door.

‘You still are,' another shot back with a snort. She was a dark seraph; unlike her male counterparts, she was wearing a little more clothing on the top half of her body. She was dressed in a black crop top that contrasted with her pale skin, and her flaming red hair was tied back in a high plait; she looked ready to kick ass and take names. Apparently she had sass, too, and wasn't afraid to use it. I liked her already.

‘Hello,' I said, a little more calmly now. ‘Apologies for the … excitement. We were notified of intruders on the roof. '

Greg joined me. Unlike many of the others, he was still in his human form; he was a weapon on two legs or four. He didn't need his claws because he could kill you six ways with his bare hands. Probably more.

‘It wasn't them that caused a stir,' a droll voice spoke out of the shadows. ‘It was me.' Bastion stepped out of the darkness.

My jaw dropped as I studied him. He looked exhausted ; I could only imagine that pure strength of will was keeping him upright. ‘Bastion! You look like shit,' I said as I flew into his arms.

‘I killed the last person who said that to me,' the assassin grumped, but nevertheless he hugged me back.

‘Come on, let's get you all inside,' I said.

‘If it pleases you, my Queen,' said Jacob diffidently, ‘Alfred and I will remain to keep watch on the roof.' He gestured to the dark-skinned seraph to his left.

‘Doesn't Alfred want something to eat and drink?' I asked dubiously. Presumably he'd travelled from Caernarfon so he must have wanted some refreshment.

Alfred smiled and flashed his gleaming white teeth. ‘I'm fine, my Queen, but I thank you for your hospitality. I will stand guard with my brother. We have much to discuss.'

‘I'm Sara,' the female introduced herself. ‘And this is Mack and Robin.'

‘My honour to meet you all. Please, come on in.' I turned to my wolves. ‘ You can go for a run if you like, or you can shift back. As you prefer.'

The wolves yipped amongst themselves before shifting back into butt-naked humans. Tarquin and Wakefield made the same call and I carefully focused my gaze higher. ‘Lovely to meet you, by the way,' I said to them.

Wakefield grinned. ‘You appear to have us at a disadvantage, Your Majesty.'

I smirked back. ‘I do, don't I?' I swept down the stairs in front of them with Greg by my side. ‘Sort them out with clothes,' I murmured.

‘Got it.'

‘I'll take the seraph to my office then join you in a minute in the pack common room.'

Greg grinned. ‘Letting Thomas Elliott cool his heels?'

‘He wasn't invited,' I complained. ‘And I noticed he didn't come and help when I called.' I paused. ‘Has he given an explanation for his presence?'

Greg's expression soured. ‘He says that you have not yet announced a mate. The full moon rises soon and he wishes to press his suit.'

‘Bugger.' That was probably the one reason he could give that would tie my hands: I couldn't get rid of him until I'd announced the name of my mate. I slid a sideways glance at Greg but now wasn't the time to talk about it. We had visitors, and plenty of them, and my focus had to be on ascertaining who was friend and who was foe. Easy.

Xander caught up with me, ‘Shall I prepare tea for you and your guests?'

‘Thank you Xander.' I shot him a warm smile. ‘That would be excellent.'

He ducked his head and all but ran away, eager to assist and serve.

I swanned into my office whilst Greg outfitted the others with spare pack clothes – our laundry bill was wince-inducing. I contemplated the best way forward: I could meet the alphas in my private lounge or I could call them one by one into my office.

One by one, Esme suggested. Wakefield first.

Why him first?

His pack is the largest.

Then Elliott, then Tarquin?

That would be proper, she said slowly. But we wish to signal to Elliott that he is not our preferred mate without causing insult. Make him the last.

Greg knocked once and came in. ‘How do you want to play this?'

I grimaced. ‘We don't have a lot of time. I want to go with Grandy to his duel, but I'll still try and meet them one on one. We can talk more openly then. Can you get me Wakefield first?'

‘He has brought two wolves with him. Do you want them to attend as well?'

I blinked. ‘Two? I told each alpha that they could bring their beta.'

Greg nodded. ‘When he brought two wolves, I did some digging. His official beta is Joseph Snow and his third is a woman called Rae Donnovan. He has brought them both.'

I bit my thumb as I wondered about Wakefield's motivation in bringing the two of them. Was Rae his mate, perhaps? Wakefield ran the Norfolk pack and it had a sterling reputation, but it was worth checking whether any of our new loners came from there. I couldn't recall Elena saying any of them did, but Greg had the latest reports and he might know more.

‘Are there any loners from the Norfolk pack?' I asked him.

‘None that we know of,' he confirmed.

I nodded: that was another good sign. With all the loners living in Nina, Elena had taken to gently interviewing each of them and ascertaining why they had gone lone and where they had come from. With her history with her brother Jackson, she was quick to build a rapport and could ask questions that weren't considered polite or proper. Her journalistic skills also meant she knew how to interview people effectively, when to dig for more and when to let shit slide.

Elena had been giving Greg and me regular verbal updates without revealing the identities of her interviewees. She didn't break their confidence, but it was helping us to gather information and paint a dark picture of some of the packs up and down the country. However, it was also clear that most of the loners came from only half a dozen packs so the problem wasn't as widespread as I had feared. Some packs were behaving as packs should, as family.

Greg fetched all three wolves from the Norfolk pack. I was pleased to see that Wakefield – Wakado – was fully clothed. When he entered the room he took up a significant amount of space; he had a presence that commanded. He was as tall as Greg but he was a huge, hulking man with arms the size of most men's thighs, and his chest was as broad as it was deep. He had a dark head of hair that extended to a fully groomed beard.

‘Wakefield,' I greeted him evenly.

‘My Queen,' he responded warmly and slid to one knee. On either side of him his second and third did the same. The woman, Rae, looked respectfully at her alpha, though there was nothing covetous or possessive in her gaze. They didn't seem like lovers, so why was she here?

I smiled welcomingly, letting them know that I appreciated their show of respect. ‘Thank you. Please rise and be seated.' I wanted them to feel comfortable whilst we spoke.

They sat on the three chairs on the other side of my desk; my chair and the mahogany desk I was behind were both slightly elevated. Lord Samuel had enjoyed a power play and I'd seen no reason to interfere with that. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I waited until they were all seated before I began. ‘When I assumed the role of Queen, it was immediately evident that there are a number of issues within the packs in the UK, not least of which is inequality between the genders. I hear tales of women being pressed into acting as nothing more than brood mares, particularly ones that can conceive.'

Werewolves struggled to conceive and carry to term. Pups were rare and consequently supposed to be treasured, as were the women that bore them; they should have been revered, not forced to become glorified sex slaves. The very thought of that made me feel ill .

I looked at the three of them. ‘It is interesting to me, then, that your third is a woman and that you brought her here with you.'

Wakefield cleared his throat. ‘In actual fact, my second is a woman,' he admitted. ‘ Rae is my beta.'

Rae nodded. ‘Mindful of the animosity that I would face as a female beta, Joseph volunteered to register as Wakado's beta. Outside the pack, he appears to all and sundry as Wakado's second, but in truth that is my role. I bested Joseph fair and square in the tourney.'

‘She did,' Joseph confirmed with an easy smile, not looking the least bit rueful about being beaten.

‘That is why they are both here when you only asked me to bring my beta,' Wakefield rumbled. ‘I didn't want to reveal Rae as my second and expose her to vitriol and challenges, but I also knew you'd want to meet her. In some ways I feel as if I have two betas – my true beta, and my fake beta that I show to the world.'

‘That's not the most flattering description,' Joseph quipped.

I sat back in my overly large chair and processed his words for a moment. How many packs had women strong enough to be beta who hadn't been recognised as such because the position had gone to a male instead? How many women were pulling their punches in tourneys so they didn't raise their heads over the parapet? How many alphas weren't accepting a woman as a second because women shouldn't best a man? It made my blood boil.

I'd seen it often enough whilst working in finance: the women who got ahead were the ones who acted like men, pulling on a proverbial cock before they swaggered into the office every day. They worked obscenely long hours, swore like sailors, bitched and connived, and they trampled on other women to elevate themselves. I hated that attitude. Pushing a colleague under the bus did nothing but drag you down with them. Help the colleague fix the error – now that was what the workplace should be. Or a pack. And that was exactly what Archie had done for Thea, I thought with satisfaction. Maybe I was achieving something positive here.

Rae didn't look like a woman who pulled on a strap-on to fit in – though each to their own, of course. She looked strong but still feminine. She didn't shy away from her nature, she embraced it. As someone who endeavoured to do the same, I appreciated that.

I chose not to comment on the image they presented to the world. ‘Does everyone call you Wakado?' I asked Wakefield instead.

‘My pack and my friends do, yes.'

‘You were a friend of Lord Samuel? '

‘I was. He was a fine man. Terrible at poker.'

I smiled at that. I'd seen the ledgers: Lord Samuel was terrible at poker, at least ostensibly. I'd come to believe that, quite to the contrary, his losses had been deliberate.

‘A smokescreen to get him into poker nights with others,' I said over steepled fingers. ‘He was rich and supposed to be a terrible player so others saw him as a mark. He was invited to games up and down the country. I believe it was a reputation he cultivated and he attended such games to gather information. He didn't give a shit about winning.'

Lord Samuel would gamble heirlooms and all sorts of valuable items that guaranteed his place at the table, then he simply had Jess steal them back for him. I didn't share that titbit.

Wakefield blinked in surprise. ‘Well, now.' He reached up and stroked his beard. ‘Well, now,' he repeated. ‘That changes things.'

‘I believe he used his incompetence as window dressing whilst he investigated members of the Council who might be involved with the Black Tourney. Nobody saw him as a threat so he could wangle invitations that other people couldn't obtain.'

Wakefield nodded slowly. ‘Yes, it makes a little more sense now. In other ways, he was a sharp, shrewd man.' He paused. ‘I can tell you, my Queen, that he believed Council member Ramsay was involved in the Black Tourney, as well as Aitken and Larsden.'

I nodded; I already knew that. ‘Indeed. And now two out of the three are dead.'

‘You think Aitken orchestrated the deaths?' he asked.

I waved away the suggestion. ‘Certainly not Larsden's. He was killed in an unrelated matter.'

‘What matter was that?' Rae asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘He was an arsehole.'

She grinned. ‘I like her,' she murmured to Wakefield in a voice that she clearly didn't expect me to hear.

‘So you're gunning for Aitken now?' Joseph the faux beta asked.

‘I have my eye on him,' I admitted.

‘He's beta to Thomas Elliott,' Rae pointed out. ‘Did they arrive together? I didn't see him.'

‘He did,' Greg confirmed. ‘Aitken immediately retired to his bedroom, but he is here.'

‘I haven't heard of another Black Tourney since your announcement adding the hefty fine,' Wakefield mused. ‘Maybe they really have stopped.'

I shook my head. ‘Another one will happen.' I shrugged. ‘My fine might make some people pause but others are foolhardy. There will be another.'

‘And then?' Rae asked. ‘What will you do?'

I smiled. ‘I'll shut them down. Permanently.'