23. Harley #2
“Not one of us. That was no one from any of the packs I lead. Believe it or not, I know who our members are. Being tortured and almost killed taught me the value of knowing exactly who I’m leading.
The men Val said you described? I am very eager to find them and have them tell me where they came from and, of course, put a stop to what their leader, this Drake fool, is doing.
“The thing about men like Drake,” Marcus continues, “is that they mistake fear for loyalty. They hurt people, isolate them, make them feel dependent, and then convince themselves they’ve earned devotion.”
I glance at Ryder whose jaw tightens immediately. Marcus notices too.
“You’ve seen that before, haven’t you?”
For a second I think Ryder is going to deny it. Instead he looks away.
“Yeah.”
The single word lands heavily in the room.
Marcus nods once.
“Then you understand why I want him found. Men like that don’t stop. Every success convinces them they’re untouchable. Every victim convinces them they’re right.”
Ryder doesn’t answer. The look on his face tells me enough.
“You’re going to kill them all?” I ask, a sick feeling bubbling up in my stomach.
Marcus considers the question for a moment before hitching one shoulder.
“Drake, almost certainly. I can’t imagine what justification he has for what he’s doing.
In fact, there is none. There could, of course, be extenuating circumstances, like he was raised in a twisted shifter cult in the Andes Mountains and never learned that turning people unwillingly was wrong, although even that would be hard to forgive.
Still, I will listen to his explanation, and his victims aren’t necessarily guilty of anything, considering what’s been done to them. ”
He fixes me with a steady look.
“I don’t think I’m an unfair man, Harley, but I will do everything necessary to protect my packs, which in a way includes you, as Val is one of my favorite members.”
Val snorts softly but doesn’t argue.
Marcus immediately zeroes in on him.
“You don’t believe me?”
Val seems to shrink down in his chair.
“I just don’t understand the reasoning.”
Marcus gives him a half smile.
“Always tactful. That’s something too many people lack.
Val, you are one of the strongest men I’ve ever met.
You should have died, according to Shania, but you didn’t.
You didn’t wake up from the coma you were in and start bitching and crying.
Sure, you probably felt sorry for yourself, but you didn’t roll in it.
You got up. You built your strength back, and you accepted the limitations that couldn’t be changed while working on the ones that could. ”
Marcus shakes his head slightly.
“What’s not to admire about that? Of course I consider you one of my favorites, though”—he sighs and rolls his neck—”I really shouldn’t have favorites.
But the fact is, I need friends. So does Nathan.
Just like any other normal person. I consider you a very good one, Val, and if Harley would learn that I don’t bite unless forced to, perhaps he and I could be friends as well. ”
I’m more than a little stunned. Marcus wants to be my friend?
As I sit there staring at him, I realise something uncomfortable. Maybe it really is me.
Maybe the only thing keeping me from being comfortable around Marcus is my own fear.
The thought makes me feel vaguely foolish. I force myself to listen again and realise Nathan is already talking.
“—because Ryder is definitely an alpha, one of the strongest we’ve met in a while. And what we do know about alphas, Ryder, especially strong ones?”
Nathan scoots forward on the arm of his chair.
“We’ve come to understand that without a pack and guidance, without a commitment to follow good men like Marcus, a strong alpha tends to become trouble. Lost, angry, alone—not something any alpha handles well.”
Ryder sits quietly on the couch, looking thoughtful. For once he isn’t immediately arguing. He doesn’t say yes. He doesn’t say no. But he’s listening.
“So come back with us,” Nathan continues, “and let us help you learn what being a shifter means and how to be a leader others will respect and follow. Who knows? You might end up Alpha Anax of South America or something. There’ve been rumors of a coup there too, haven’t there, Marcus?”
“Yes, there have been.”
Marcus folds his arms across his chest.
“The economy tanking and the stressors in the world don’t just affect humans. They hit us too. Like any governing body, we face challenges, and sometimes those challenges are situations. Other times they’re fights to the death.”
He shrugs.
“It’s part of an Alpha Anax’s responsibility and why an AA must be concerned with the safety and care of his people as much as he’s concerned with his mate’s safety and care.”
“I don’t understand a lot of what you’re talking about,” Ryder admits, “but maybe...” He trails off and looks at me.
I meet his gaze and give him a small nod. Maybe because I already know what he’s about to say.
“Maybe I’m tired of being alone. And God, I fucking hate to say it, but I’ve been scared for so long. Longer than I’ve been a shifter.”
Something twists painfully in my chest, because I know exactly what he means.
“I think I’d like to give it a shot,” Ryder says quietly. “I’m tired of being a dick to cover for everything.”
“A wise man doesn’t worry about admitting to fear,” Marcus says.
He rises to his feet and stretches, and that strange wave of power ripples through the room again.
“Fear makes us sharp, attentive, stronger. To fear nothing means a person is arrogant, and arrogance means one is a fool. And fools are doomed to fail.”
His gaze moves over all of us.
“I don’t think any of us wants to fail.”
Nathan stands as well and flashes a bright smile.
“So, why don’t you two pack some clothes and stuff, and Ryder can go scrub himself with a bottle of bleach?”
“What about the shifter who turned me?” Ryder asks.
Nathan’s smile widens and takes on a distinctly mean edge.
“You didn’t think we only brought the four guards with us, did you?”
Ryder blinks.
“There’s a dozen more rounding up Drake and his victims right now. In fact...” Nathan unclips his phone and glances at the screen. “Yup. See, I told Kelly to text me when she had them all, and since my phone buzzed a few minutes ago, we have some people to interrogate.”
“Do I get to help?” Ryder asks, cracking his knuckles.
Marcus looks very much like he wants to roll his eyes at the display.
“No, you don’t, but I will consider letting you sit in on the questioning if you can refrain from acting like a twat.” He pauses, then, “How long?”
Ryder frowns. “How long what?”
“How long has Drake been doing this? Creating shifters. Gathering followers.”
Ryder shrugs. “Hell if I know. I only know what happened to me.”
Marcus nods once, but he doesn’t look reassured.
“That’s what concerns me.”
The room falls quiet.
I glance at Val, but he looks just as puzzled as I feel.
Marcus rubs one hand over his jaw before continuing.
“A lone rogue shifter is dangerous enough. A rogue alpha can be worse. What concerns me is organization. Men don’t repeatedly break our most sacred laws unless they believe they have enough power to survive the consequences.”
“You think he’s building a pack?” Val asks.
“I think he’s building something,” Marcus replies. “Whether that’s a pack, an army, territory of his own, or simply influence, I don’t know. What I do know is that turning people against their will isn’t something you do once and walk away from. It’s a pattern. And patterns concern me.”
The certainty in his voice makes my stomach tighten.
“For now,” Marcus says quietly, “Drake is a criminal. If he’s allowed to continue, he becomes something much worse.”
“Right! Shower,” Nathan orders, clapping his hands and waving them in Ryder’s direction. “And scrub everything at least twice with soap. If I smell anything foul on you, Marcus and I will hold you down and scrub you ourselves.”
“Yes, we will.” Marcus grins and cracks his knuckles, deliberately mimicking Ryder’s display from earlier. Well that certainly cuts the tension.
Ryder goes pale, then he turns and practically sprints for the bathroom. The door slams hard enough to rattle the walls.
Marcus watches it for a second before looking at me.
“He doesn’t take jokes well, does he?”
I swallow down a laugh.
“To be fair, you’re scary as hell when you’re joking, apparently. You should work on that.”
Nathan snorts.
Marcus looks offended.
I’m pretty sure it’s fake.
Pretty sure.
Taking advantage of what feels like the safest moment I’ve ever had around them, I reach down and take Val’s hand. His fingers curl around mine instantly.
Feeling ridiculously brave, I wink at both Marcus and Nathan.
“Come on,” I tell Val. “Let’s pack before Ryder uses all the hot water.”
Nathan starts laughing.
Marcus groans.
And with that, Val and I leave them in the living room while we go gather our clothes and whatever else we’ll need.