23. Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-two

The silence in the room was heavy. Rome waited until Randy met his eyes. “Tell me.”

He swallowed hard, making his Adam’s apple bob. “Saul was there when Malcolm came in. Others were around but I paid them no mind. Malcolm told us how he was half human and changed one day without knowing it was going to happen. His stepfather kicked him out of the house. Saul got permission from you to allow the teen wolf in. Then he left.” He placed his hand against his throat, swallowing.

Saul went to the mini fridge and got Randy a bottle of water. He took several large sips.

“Thank you.” Saul dipped his head, waiting for the rest of the story.

“That’s when it started.”

“Started?” Rome prompted him, wanting to know what happened.

“About a year ago, we took in a female wolf named Brittany.” Rome frowned. His mate seemed to be incensed with her. Was it about this?

“She said half-breed. It wasn’t the words; it was the sneer in her voice that made the others look around. She went on to tell them how they needed to protect their children because he wouldn’t be able to control his shifts, and their children would be at stake. She said several other things that had the pack ready to turn on him. I was scared they were going to kill him. When I asked for a volunteer to take him in, no one stepped up. I made the rounds to ask the rest of the pack, but Brittany was faster. The only people willing to take him were Mark and Janice, and they were juggling a newborn and have one of the smaller pack houses. That wasn’t going to work.” Randy stopped and ran his fingers through his hair, wishing he was anywhere than here.

“I didn’t like the way the pack was looking at him. Some of them looked feral. There was no way I was going to order one of them to take the young man in, so I put him in the cabin away from the majority of the pack. It was supposed to be temporary. I emailed you, and I was waiting for a response.”

Rome checked, not seeing an email from Randy. He kept looking because he had more than one email, but he preferred to keep pack business to a single account. He found the email in an old pack account that he no longer used.

“You used an old pack email; one I gave to your mother years ago. It should have had an autoreply with the new pack email. Theron?”

“I’m doing it right now.” He spent several minutes at the laptop he used in Rome’s office. “There is an autoreply with the new pack email on it. The email will also come to me and Saul. That way there is no way it will be missed.” Theron took care of all the tech. He gravitated to it as it came out and stayed on top of it from the first code written. Rome was sure that he could teach the experts a thing or two.

“There is something I don’t understand,” Saul said. Rome was sure he was about to pose the same question. “The enforcers have our ears. Why didn’t you tell them?”

“I waited three days and when I didn’t get a response, I went to Leif. Told him what happened, and he assured me he would take care of it. Then I waited, knowing I had not only sent an email, but also spoken to an enforcer.”

“You spoke to Leif face to face?”

“I did.”

Rome was furious; there was a maggot, maybe more than one, nibbling at the stable foundation he created in this pack.

Randy cleared his throat, drawing all the attention back to him. “Yesterday I found out by accident that Brittany is sleeping with Leif. I don’t know this as a fact, but rumor says she’s sleeping with more than one enforcer.”

There was someone rotten in his pack. He’d never asked his pack not to talk about the fact that he and his brothers never seemed to age unless it was off pack land. She hadn’t been here long enough to verify that on her own. He looked back over the year, realizing that she placed herself in his way whenever she got a chance. He never thought about it. Pack was pack. Were her accidental touches accidents? Wolves were tactile, they liked to touch, and he never thought more about it. A hand on his ass never registered with him. There were times he cuddled with his pack in his wolf form, and a couple of times he’d had to lay in the sun room naked with a pack member to bring them back from the edge. He took his clothes off during pack runs. Despite the fact, he didn’t have to.

“The clothes?”

Randy found it hard to meet the alpha’s eyes, but he managed because he trusted him with his life. “I took up a donation, but no one seemed to have any clothes to donate. Two days later, there’s a box of clothes on Malcolm’s doorstep. I was proud of the pack until we unboxed them. Turns out Brittany thought the pack should donate and show how they felt through the condition of the clothes.

“Randy, when it comes to the pack or a newcomer, I want you to come directly to me, Saul, or Theron. I don’t care if you have to hunt for us or knock on doors for hours, I want to see you. I want to make sure nothing like this happens again. Do you understand?”

“I do. The next time I won’t send an email, I’ll find one of you personally.”

“You can leave.”

“Thank you.” He threw a grateful smile at Rome and quickly left the office.

“What do you want done?” Saul asked.

“Amelia and I have adopted Malcolm. When I swear him into the pack it will be as my son, my blood.” Saul and Theron took deep breaths. They had thought about swearing in others as their blood, but always found a reason not to.

“Is this your idea or your mate’s?” Saul asked.

It was a valid question. Rome had always been the naysayer when asked what he thought of swearing in another person. “She has no idea and doesn’t know how a swearing in as my blood will change Malcolm’s life. The father in me,” he stopped to laugh, “wants to just do it. The other part of me thinks I should tell them what that means or give them a warning.”

“I like the idea of a warning,” Saul said.

Theron agreed with him. “Tell him or at least give him a warning.”

Rome agreed with them. “Theron, I want you to go to Mark and Janice. I want them to have a larger cabin. See if they have one in mind. If not, get Derek to look over their cabin and see if it can be enlarged. They moved in when they were first married and didn’t have Ariella. At the time, they wanted a small honeymoon cottage. It can be done tomorrow. Right now, I want to speak with Lief.” Theron and Saul went after him.

Rome felt like he was cleaning house. Something dark and dangerous was wiggling around in the grass. Who was Brittany and were Lief and the rest of his enforcers willing to be seduced by her?

Rome knew Amelia was at the door before she knocked. He could feel her getting closer to him. His hand went to his heart, which was pounding in excitement. His wolf was overjoyed, his mate looked for them.

“Come in, love. No Malcolm?” he asked. He was waiting for him to come through, but Amelia closed the door behind her.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking at him. “He was hungry. I’m not sure how he was surviving, but he managed. I sat him at the table and Sheela took one look at him. Then he had the biggest plate of food in front of him. Have you ever seen a teen wolf eat? He inhaled the food and then looked at Sheela with hungry eyes. I think his hunger tore at her heart. She loves him. I know he’ll be okay.” She sat on her mate’s lap, giving him a sweet kiss and a hug.

“What’s happening in here?” Her wolf was nipping at her and her hand went over her belly. She wasn’t feeling that her child would be safe. The thought had been nesting in her mind since she found Malcolm. How hard was it for someone who didn’t want any of the immortals to meet their mates to seed someone into the pack? Rome wasn’t going to wonder, he had a pack to take care of. The same with the other brothers. It could have been years ago that a snake slithered its way into paradise and began infecting some of the pack.

She wanted to yell at Rome that danger was close, but she knew he would protect her. What he didn’t know was she would protect him too.

There was a knock at the door and Rome tensed. Amelia prepared herself, sure she wasn’t going to like what happened next.

“Come in.” The door opened, letting Saul and Theron in. Between them, they had a wolf.

He was inches shorter than six feet. If Amelia had to guess, she’d say around five-seven. He had a mixture of blonde and brown hair. The wolf was a little stocky, but not too much. He looked like a regular person who could blend with humans. His eyes were light brown. Average was how she would describe him.

“Lief, have a seat.” She knew her mate well enough to know that he wasn’t happy.

Saul sat beside him, and Theron stood behind both chairs, acting like the muscle in the room.

“Do you know why I asked you to come?” Rome asked.

Lief looked around the room; when his gaze met Amelia’s, he bared his teeth and growled. Rome jumped up from the chair, setting Amelia down. He had Lief by the throat in the air, with his feet dangling. The movement was seamless, and it took her a minute to realize what happened.

“Do you have a death wish?” Rome wanted to tear out his throat, but a sensation tempered him. Was it coming from his mate telling him to take cautious steps, or was it from Luna? Those could be the only two. He could feel the need in Saul and Theron to eviscerate Lief.

“Please forgive me, Alpha.” He struggled to speak with the way Rome was holding him.

“Alpha, he’s turning blue. Consider putting him down.” Amelia was sure this had something to do with Malcolm. That’s why she wasn’t opposed to Rome killing the wolf, but the needed information. She needed to be caught up.

Rome dropped him, and he clutched his neck, taking shallow gasping breaths as he tried to stand.

“Sit. If you even think of looking at my mate, you’re a dead wolf.” Lief stumbled to the chair, keeping his eyes downcast.

“Do you understand why you are here?”

“No alpha.” His voice sounded sore.

“Did Randy come to you to ask you to get a message to me or one of my brothers?”

Lief was quiet, as if he didn’t know how to answer the question.

“Don’t lie,” Theron said. The sound of his voice whispering sent shivers up Lief’s back, but it was the hiss at the end that made him shake.

“Yes, alpha.” Lief glanced at his arm to see if he could see the goosebumps he felt.

“Brittany is an oracle for the goddess. She told me that if you knew about the boy, he would rise and kill you and the rest of the pack.”