Chapter Two
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REX COULDN’T SAY HE was surprised when his father texted him to let him know about a meeting at Kieran and Robin’s house.
It had been a few days since the fight, and the pack was licking its wounds and slowly getting back to normal.
It made sense that Kieran would want to talk to the people who’d fought for him, especially the people he was close to.
Rex was included in those people because of his closeness to his father, but that was it.
He doubted Kieran cared about what he thought personally, and that was perfectly fine with him.
He didn’t want to be asked what he thought of the way Kieran was leading his pack.
It wasn’t his place to answer that, which was why he was kind of annoyed.
He might understand why he’d been asked to be there, but that didn’t mean he wanted to go.
The problem was that if he didn’t show up, his family would get worried and hunt him down, which was something he desperately wanted to avoid.
It was never pretty when Alpin went after someone.
Which was why he was currently walking toward the alpha’s house.
He could still see signs of the fight in the forest. It would take time for them to vanish.
The forest had been wounded as badly as the pack had.
Some of the trees had been broken by the dragons, while others had been set on fire.
It wasn’t a pretty sight, but it would heal. The pack would, too.
The house was already crowded when he got there.
He groaned when Alpin saw him and waved like an idiot, but he waved back because if he didn’t, Alpin would pout, and Merrick would glare.
They were tucked onto one of the couches in Kieran’s office, Alpin in Merrick’s lap since, with so many people there, there wasn’t a lot of space.
Everyone else was there, too. Rex’s entire family had responded to the message.
They weren’t the only ones. For some reason, Harmon was tucked in a corner, staring at Rex’s family with wide eyes.
His expression made Rex chuckle. People who weren’t used to seeing all of them together were often shocked by how loud and busy they were.
It was even worse now that they all had partners who were present, too.
Well, except for Rex.
He scurried over to Harmon, not wanting to get pulled into one of the many conversations happening in the room right now.
Harmon was sitting in a chair that had been placed against the wall, and luckily for Rex, there was a second chair next to it.
He flopped into it before wondering if he should’ve asked Harmon if he was okay with that.
“I’m sorry, were you keeping this chair for someone?” he asked.
Harmon shook his head. “I don’t think anyone would want to sit with me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m the outsider here, aren’t I? People don’t know me.”
“Merrick does.”
“And he’s busy.”
There was no way Merrick would be able to get Alpin to climb off his lap, so Harmon was probably right. “Well, I’ll keep you company.”
“Thank you, but you don’t have to if you’d rather spend time with your family.”
“I spend plenty of time with them. Did Kieran tell you anything when he asked you to come?” Tyrian hadn’t gone into details, but this was obviously about the clan.
“Not really. He just said that it was a meeting to make the point of the situation and decide where to go from here. I’m not sure I like those words, but he’s not wrong. The clan could still be dangerous, and we need to make sure that they’re not.”
Rex had barely thought of the dragons since the fight. He wasn’t a leader, so he didn’t think about the bigger picture. He just knew that they’d defeated the dragons who’d attacked them. “You think that’s why we’re here?”
“At least in part.”
Rex slowly nodded. It made sense. What didn’t was his presence there, but he wasn’t about to ask. “How’s your arm?” he asked instead.
“Getting there. I lost a lot of blood, so it’s been slow, but I’ll be fine.”
“Are you planning on going home?” Rex had thought that Harmon would be gone like the other allies who’d helped during the fight, but he was still here. Maybe it was because he was Merrick’s friend.
“I’ll have to eventually, but I want to see this through first. I need to know that my coven will be safe from any kind of retaliation or attack.”
Of course he had to. He might have told Rex that he didn’t like being a coven leader, but he was one. He cared about his people. “Have you thought about how you’re going to deal with all of it once you’re back?”
Harmon grimaced. “I’ve done nothing but think about that. I still haven’t come up with a solution.”
“Well, you can ask your second-in-command to take on more responsibilities.”
“He never wanted to be my second-in-command. He said yes when I asked because he cares about me, but if he could, he’d leave all the responsibilities to me. Hell, he might do just that by the time I get home. He’s probably had his fill of dealing with the mess I left behind.”
Rex frowned. That didn’t sound right. He doubted that being a coven leader or second-in-command was great, but if this man had accepted the job, he should be doing it.
He was supposed to support his coven leader, but he didn’t sound like he was doing a good job.
“Maybe you should choose someone else as your second,” he suggested.
Harmon arched a brow. “Are you sure you’re not offering?”
Kieran cleared his throat. Rex was so relieved by the interruption that he could have kissed him. He had no idea how to answer Harmon’s question because he wasn’t offering, but he also wanted to help.
It took a moment for the alpha to get everyone’s attention, but the room eventually fell silent.
“Thank you all of you for coming today,” he started. “I’m sure you had better things to do.”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Alpin teased.
Rex groaned. Sometimes, he wondered if Alpin would have become more serious if he hadn’t been turned as young as he had been. There was no way to know, and it wasn’t Rex’s problem, anyway. Alpin was Merrick’s, who had chosen this and seemed to be regretting it at the moment.
Thankfully, Kieran wasn’t easily offended. He smiled and shook his head, then turned his attention to the problem at hand. “The clan lost both their leader and the leader’s second. That means that right now, they don’t have leadership. We have no idea who’s in charge, but someone has to be.”
“How can we be sure about that?” Rex asked.
“Because the first thing that happens when there’s a power vacuum is that someone tries to fill it. I don’t know how many supporters Martin had, but if even one of them wasn’t here the other day, they’re probably trying to move into Martin’s position right now.”
“None of that has anything to do with us,” Alpin pointed out. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t care what the dragons are up to.”
“You should. Whoever’s in charge next could decide to attack us.”
“They lost too many people. They’re not going to do anything that stupid.”
“Desperation makes people do things that they normally wouldn’t do. We can’t know for sure, and we need to find out. They’re still dangerous, even without Martin at their head.”
Alpin pouted. “Why does this have to be so complicated?”
“You don’t have to worry your pretty head about any of this,” Umberto said. “Kieran will make the decisions.”
“And thank God for that. So, what do you want us to do, Kieran? There’s a reason you asked all of us to come here today, isn’t there?”
“We can’t leave the dragons to themselves and ignore the threat they pose. As little as I like this, we can’t afford to.”
“What do you expect us to do, then?”
“That’s what we’re here to decide. I might be the alpha of this pack, and I might be making the decisions, but it doesn’t mean I don’t need advisors.”
Rex looked around the room. Well, if Kieran needed advisors, he had a boatload of them.
* * * *
ALPIN CLAPPED HIS HANDS. “Well, I can advise you.”
Rex groaned softly next to Harmon. The relationship between the two brothers was sweet. Rex acted annoyed with Alpin, but it was clear that he cared about him. They all cared about each other.
Harmon missed that. He was sure that his coven members loved him, but he was their leader.
It was an odd relationship because it meant that he had authority over them.
His job was to take care of them and punish them if they didn’t follow the coven rules.
That was why he hadn’t wanted the responsibility, but he was shit out of luck.
He’d agreed decades ago, and he still hadn’t found a way to step down.
“Thank you, Alpin,” Kieran said. “I’d like to know what all of you think. We don’t know what state the dragon clan is in. We don’t know much, really. We’re just sure that both their alpha and their beta are dead.”
“I can think of a few names of people who would want to take Martin’s place,” Taylor offered.
As a dragon shifter who’d only recently left the clan, he’d know better than anyone what kind of mess the clan was in at the moment. Harmon could guess that he was happy to have left when he had.
“You think they’re going to attack us again?” Kieran asked.
“It depends on who wins the struggle for leadership. Martin had his supporters, and I don’t think all of them were here during the attack, but they’re not as strong as he was.
He made sure of that because he didn’t want rivals.
That means that there will be no clear winner anytime soon.
Depending on who’s trying to step up, they might attack us soon or not at all. There’s only one way to find out.”
“Go there.”
Taylor didn’t look happy when he nodded. “Correct. It’s the only way for us to know for sure what’s happening and to have a say in it.”
“You think we could have a say in it?”
“You just defeated Martin and his beta. The only way you won’t have a say in what’s happening is if you decide you don’t want one.”