“Yes.” Why did he keep having to explain himself? Had this suddenly become some kind of democracy and he’d not been informed? If he said come, his pack came. Of course he’d never had a mate before. His parents had not been true mates. Yet they had loved each other as couples who’d spent their lives together did. Their shared history had deepened their communication.
Maybe he needed to work on that…
“Why do I have to go? Don’t you think I would be better off down here with Nathan? Just to make sure he doesn’t try to pull anything.”
Cyrus shook his head. She still thought like a human. Eventually, she would come to see how pack worked. “Jensen and Mitchell can handle him. I’d rather you not be here for him to taunt.”
Betsy dropped her eyes, and he inwardly sighed. Some day she wouldn’t feel so unsure around him. He had to believe that. Everything had just happened, and adjustments took time. The only problem was that he’d never been very good at being patient.
“If you are not with me I am going to worry about you. This is an important conversation. I need to be able to concentrate.” It pained him to admit such a weakness, but there it was.
She raised her eyes slightly, still not quite meeting his gaze. “What’s going to happen to me down here in the basement? Nathan is in a cage. Your pack mates are here. If I get my feelings hurt, it won’t be the first time in my life. I’ll live through it.”
She was used to being brave, and she didn’t trust him completely yet. That much he could understand. If she’d been raised as she should have been, with pack, she would know to trust the instincts inside of her that had to be telling her she was pack and belonged to him. A sudden thought almost brought him to his knees. What if she didn’t feel that way about him? What if she felt that way toward someone else? Felt more connected to another Alpha and a different pack.
What if Alexei connected her more to the pack in Boston than Cyrus had managed so far? Oh hell. Could that have happened?
“Are you okay?” She reached out and gripped his arm. “Your smell changed.”
He cleared his throat; he could imagine it had. None of his pack members would mention it. But she was his mate, and she didn’t know better.
“How so?” He needed to get upstairs with Alexei, but this was more important. Instead of a lifetime to hone her senses, he needed her to do it in a few minutes. If that meant she needed blunt, unrelenting honesty no matter how uncomfortable? Then he’d do it. Unreasonable, yes—but life wasn’t fair.
“There was a surge from you, a change in the way you smelled, for a split second.” She wrinkled her nose. “You usually carry the scent of cinnamon, you were suddenly filled with vanilla too. And mint.”
“You think I smell like cinnamon?” Huh. He’d never heard that before. To him, aromas were connected to seasons and places. The woods. Fall. The city. Betsy had a very specific sense of smell.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No.” He shook his head. “My scent changed because I got nervous. I’ve trained my wolf pack to do their best to disguise that, but I didn’t follow my own instructions.”
“You got scared that I might stay down here and get hurt?”
“I got nervous that you aren’t connecting to me.” He shook his head. This conversation had to cease before he ended up curled under a table in a fetal position. “Stay down here if that is what you prefer. I would like you upstairs with me where I know you’re safe, where I don’t have to worry that the basement might spontaneous combust and you’d be somehow killed in the process. But, if you don’t want to be there with me, then don’t come. I can’t force you to want to be with me. Not even as an Alpha wolf.”
He turned on his heel and headed toward the elevator. Maybe he should order her to go with him. That’s what he’d do with any other pack member. Only he didn’t want that from her. He wanted her to choose him, to want to be with him, and to stand at his side.
Shit. Wasn’t true mating supposed to be easier than this? What if he’d gotten this whole thing wrong and she would never—could never be mated to him? What would happen to him then? Would he be stuck in this perpetual, unrequited need for her for the rest of his existence?
She ran to him and grabbed his hand. He looked down at their joined fingers for a second before he pressed the elevator button to go up to the offices. She’d chased him, and he hadn’t seen that coming. What did it mean? And was her taking his hand an indication of feelings on her part? Why was this woman so confusing to him? He’d dealt with females his whole life and Betsy made him feel like a dolt.
“I had no idea you were so insecure.” She raised her eyebrows.
“What?” He wasn’t insecure. He’d taken over a wolf pack when he’d barely been twenty years old. He couldn’t have done that if he was insecure. Humans had neuroses, not Alpha werewolves.
“That was a pretty good display of passive-aggressive back there. If it was that important for me to go with you, why didn’t you say so?”
“I did.” The elevator dinged when it opened, and they stepped inside. Hadn’t he made that clear? He wanted her to come. He’d told her to, and then he’d relented out of respect to her wishes. How and why had this gotten so complicated?
“Not really. No, you said you didn’t want to worry about me. And you didn’t want Nathan to hurt my feelings. That’s not the same as you need me with you.”
He wanted to growl. This infuriating woman was going to make everything complicated. He could already tell, and he really wanted to kiss her for it. “You say that to me while you can’t even look me in the eyes.”
“I know. It’s very bizarre. I’m trying to work on it, believe me. Sometimes I can’t stand the idea of it, like I’m going to be overwhelmed by you if I dare to take a really good glance at your blue eyes.” She shrugged. “It’s got to be a wolf thing, right? I mean animals do this. They have pack relations or whatever. We had three dogs for a while when I was growing up, and they had an order. One of them was in charge. Although come to think of it, they always acted like I was really the one in charge. In this case, it’s you. I’m working on my order. Or maybe I’m really the passive-aggressive one.”
“Betsy.” He sighed loudly. How could he want to snarl at her and bite down to mark her at the same time? By the end of the day, he might very well lose his mind. “You’re my mate. I can guarantee you’re not passive. You’ve said some things to me humans wouldn’t dare utter without even understanding why. You sometimes manage to regard me perfectly well. I’d say that your looking down is something else entirely.”
Her heart rate increased dramatically, enough for him to hear it. His words struck a nerve. “What do you think it is?”
“You want me,” he answered bluntly. It only seemed fair she be as off-center as he. “And if you look at me, you’re afraid both of us are going to know how much you do.”
The elevator stopped at the top floor, and he exited, pulling his mate with him. She’d sucked in her breath with his proclamation, and it had confirmed that his suspicions were right on. Betsy was hardly prepared for that level of intimacy…yet. But, eventually, she’d have to admit to her desires, and then things would change. Then they’d finally make the connection he knew they could have.
Screw insecurity. Things finally made some sense. He smiled at the thought.
Mating matter settled, he only had to deal with Alpha politics and stolen babies. And figure out what to do about Betsy’s family.
Just that…
He walked into his office, and from the scent of discomfort—a pungent smell, like decaying garbage outside a restaurant—he wasn’t a moment too soon. Lake had never liked Alexei. Nothing had changed. Alexei, seemingly oblivious to her feelings—although Cyrus seriously doubted that since Alexei never missed a trick—sprawled on the leather couch across from Cyrus’ desk.
Lake tapped the back of her head against the wall where she leaned. “What took you so long?”
“Betsy and I needed
to have a conversation.”
Alexei interrupted. “This must be a new thing between the two of you. Did it only just happen?”
“That’s not your concern. This is Betsy. She’s with me. That’s all you need to know.” The how, the who, and the fact that she’d been a latent who’d only just turned—yeah, none of Alexei’s fucking business.
The Alpha from Boston nodded. “You were such a fun guy when we were younger. Where did the stick that is perpetually up your ass come from?”
“Years of handling problems like you. Be careful. When you get home, your own people might be there waiting to take off your head. I’d hate for you to go through that. Again.”
Alexei growled. “You know that was a rumor.”
“Or you wanted us to think it was.”
“Are you two finished? Do you think you could get to the matter at hand?” Lake cut off their argument, as he’d known she eventually would. It was always a question as to whether or not he was going to claw off the other werewolf’s face. That was why he wanted Lake with him. She tended to force him to keep a cooler head.
Sisters could occasionally be useful.
“We were attacked last week,” Alexei must have agreed because he sobered. “Seemingly out of the blue. It was brutal. We lost a lot of females. I’ve been trying to keep this under wraps. The scene produced no results in terms of scent. Not were ones anyway. Lots of humans but none known to us. This is happening more and more.”
Cyrus nodded. This was always a problem. The human police carried fingerprints, not scent ones. “Did you try their authorities? Maybe there is some kind of forensic evidence.”
Lake raised an eyebrow. “Been watching CSI again?”
“Don’t undermine him. He’s making a good point.” Betsy stepped forward, and his heart stuttered. Had she stood up for him? For a second, he forgot to breathe. When had that ever happened? His father had thought he had to toughen him up practically from birth, his mother never contradicted the man, and he’d always been an Alpha in training. Put up or shut up and don’t whine when you don’t get your way.
“I’m sorry, my Alpha.” Lake glanced down. He would comfort her, except he wasn’t going to undo Betsy’s lovely gesture by making it appear less than it was. Lake should probably be sorry.
He’d let her handle that emotion for a while.
Alexei tapped his nose. “We did try to use the human police. There aren’t any fingerprints in the system.”
Of course not. That would be too simple.
“But it told us that we are dealing with humans. I had heard that you faced similar problems, and I came a day early to see how you had handled it. However, I’m now wondering, as I sit here, if we aren’t dealing with something more nefarious than I originally thought. Do you think it’s possible that there is a conspiracy happening?”
“What kind of conspiracy could there be? Humans setting out to steal werewolf babies? That would be…”
He trailed off and turned to look at Betsy. Her eyes were huge as she stared back at him. Alexei wanted to know if it was possible for humans to be stealing werewolf babies, and the answer was yes; it was very possible. Only he couldn’t tell the other man that because the only people he knew who were stealing babies were his mate’s parents. His little mate had stood up for him in a room with another Alpha. She’d defended him from his sister, a woman with considerable dominance of her own.
And to reveal that crucial piece of information about her parents to a vengeance-seeking Alexei would be a betrayal. He would die first.
Fantastic. He was about to ask the man to enter into a treaty with him, and he was going to start the negotiations by lying to him. Or, at the very least, and it wasn’t much better, by omitting a very big piece of information.
Alexei turned left and right, watching all of them. “There are some amazingly hard to decipher emotions happening in this room right now. Would someone like to tell me what’s going on?’
Cyrus shook his head. “I’ve been considering the implications of your suggestion, and clearly my mate is doing the same. It’s a big, broad idea, and one we’ll have to dwell on another time.”
The most important thing for him to do at that moment was to get Alexei sent to his hotel and keep him distracted while Cyrus worked things out with Betsy. Then, once he knew what he could do for her parents, he would figure out how to undo this moment with Alexei. The other Alpha would never understand. Alexei had lost females and babies. He’d want revenge. Only he wasn’t going to be getting any off Betsy’s parents. Not if Cyrus could help it.
“I don’t believe you. Something else—”
Cyrus shrugged. “It’s really not my problem if you can’t decipher smells anymore. I can loan you my Healer if you’re in need of one. Otherwise, perhaps you can chalk it up to old age.”
“I am exactly two years older than you. Do you expect to lose your senses anytime soon?”
“I’m not you.” Cyrus shrugged again. Irritating the other Alpha would also distract him. Petty—but effective. “I don’t know when members of your family start to head toward the grave.”
Alexei stood up and then rolled his eyes. “I know that you’re baiting me. It’s easy to do, and I’m working on controlling my temper. I wouldn’t want to scar up your other cheek in anger.”
At the reminder, Cyrus rubbed the long mark that marred his left cheek from next to his ear all the way to the middle of his chin. He hadn’t thought about it in years. He’d had it such a long time. The battle that had taken his parents had also left him with that mark. The scar hadn’t bothered him in so long, he didn’t notice it anymore.
Did Betsy hate it? Did it bother her to look at it?
Shit. Maybe she was right. Maybe he was insecure and pathetic to boot.
He turned his attention back to Alexei. Easier to handle the ego-driven werewolf than whatever was happening to him. “If you think you’d ever get close enough to me to scar me, you’re sadly mistaken. I’d eat you alive before I dropped what was left of your body in the Hudson.”
“You’re funny. It’s a good thing I find you amusing, or I’d have to kill you.”
Cyrus walked forward like the wolf whose soul he had inside of him, with sheer and purposeful intent. “You came into my city a day early, uninvited. I get why you did it—I don’t trust phones any more than you do. We have business to conduct together tomorrow. A treaty to agree to in blood, if you’re willing.” Another agreement that would burn in his belly, but anything to keep his pack safe during this tumultuous time—until another Alpha Prime could be found…
“But you’re not ready to talk terms tonight. Is that it?” Alexei raised an eyebrow. The man liked to play game.
Cyrus wasn’t in the mood. “Tomorrow. As agreed.”
“I need to find my pregnant females. Dead or alive, they have to come home. To their mates and lovers. I came here to keep our appointment but I can’t talk treaty until something is done about this. How do you do it? How do you manage to handle all of it at the same time in a human world?” Did Alexei really want an answer? Cyrus wasn’t used to the other Alpha wanting to really talk about anything.
He sighed. “Call upon your strength. You wouldn’t be Alpha if you didn’t have deep resources.” Truth was, he understood Alexei completely. He wouldn’t want to focus on anything other than the search too. His cell phone beeped, and he glanced at the device. Travis had arrived in the building and, unlike Alexei, had done him the courtesy of informing him of his arrival. Unfortunately, Travis and Alexei hated each other. “We’ll talk treaty tomorrow because we must.”
They couldn’t be allowed in the same room, even if he couldn’t prevent them scenting each other.
His nose itched. A quick look at his mate told him what he’d smelled. She was in distress. All the color had vanished from her cheeks.
This day wasn’t getting any better. Philadelphia and Boston couldn’t go to war in the penthouse of his New York pack’s headquarters. Not wh
en he had to go to Montana to rescue his mate’s criminal parents. She’d never even told him where she was from but Jensen’s investigation of the house had given him at least that much information. Everything was so complicated. Shouldn’t mating be simple?
Cyrus had never missed Lucian so much in his life.
Chapter Six
If she could have turned into a puddle and been absorbed into the wood floor beneath her feet, Betsy would have gladly done so. She knew what Cyrus had to be thinking. Her parents. Stolen babies. And the fact that she was a werewolf and hadn’t known. She’d have to be a giant moron not to know what he thought.
She wasn’t educated like she wanted to be. Her home schooling had been a necessity. They’d lived too far from the main road to get her to school and back every day while still running the home properly. But she could read, and she could do arithmetic, more or less. One and one always added up to two.
In this case, the numbers all pointed in the direction of her folks. How much worse could any of this get? Only her parents were locked away, so unless they’d arranged a bunch of kidnappings months ago before they were found out, they hadn’t done this.
Betsy had a bad moment when she thought Cyrus was about to share his theory with Alexei. Only he hadn’t. Instead, he seemed to be trying to get the other wolf out the door.
“Alexei. I need you to leave.” Cyrus motioned toward the door.
The other Alpha laughed, a long, hard sound that rattled the pictures on the wall. She winced. He took up all the space in the room with his personality, at least to her. She was so glad that Cyrus wasn’t like that
Only Alexei didn’t go, and his pack mates had been willing to throw themselves into a fight to protect him. That kind loyalty impressed her.
Alexei snorted. “You need to work on your subtlety. Ask me nicely. Convince me to share a meal with you and then we’ll see if I feel like leaving.”
Cyrus shook his head. “Not having dinner with you. You need to go. Travis is here on another matter, and I won’t have the two of you stinking up the place with your pissing contest. Get in the elevator. Get out. I’ll see you tomorrow.”