Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-two
TOM
Jesse opened the front door and showed Tom to a small, dark room. Bryce was already there.
Tom’s chest clenched. He’d hoped—futilely—that he might avoid seeing him.
Bryce didn’t react, just nodded once, face unreadable.
That helped a little. As did the knowledge Maria had already booked his flight back to DC.
Once he’d decided what he was going to do, he’d known there was no reason to stay any longer.
Just a few short hours, and he’d never have to see Bryce again.
He laid out Councilor Steadman’s concerns, then sat back in his chair with a slight sigh.
So maybe he hadn’t done what he’d been tasked to do, but really, these were intelligent people.
What they chose to do was their decision, no matter what Steadman thought.
She was progressive in her views compared to Bennett, but even she’d fallen into the trap of thinking she knew better than the people she’d been elected to represent.
“What’s your view on this?”
“Excuse me?” Tom shook from his thoughts, where he’d been hiding so he wouldn’t have to look at Bryce, and met Matt’s gaze.
“You’re informed and, according to what Bryce tells me, you’re smart.” Tom couldn’t help glancing sideways at Bryce, who gave him a forced smile before looking away again. “You must have an opinion on whether Jesse should go public straight away or if we should wait.”
Tom wasn’t used to having his opinion asked on matters of policy, and he bought himself time by shrugging out of his jacket.
As he carefully folded the jacket over the back of the leather armchair he was sitting in, he considered whether to play this politically or be honest. Honesty won out.
He might want Steadman’s approval, but this was Jesse’s life.
“I think Councilor Steadman’s right to be cautious,” he said.
“There’s still a lot of suspicion out there about shifters and what we want.
Bennett—I mean, Councilor Bennett, doesn’t appreciate that sometimes it’s worth taking the long-term view.
But it doesn’t matter what I think, or what any of the councilors believe. It’s Jesse’s life. It’s his decision.”
Matt’s eyes rested on him for some time before he looked over at Bryce. “Have I told you lately you make terrible decisions?” he asked, his voice dry but not unkind. He glanced back at Tom. “Give us ten minutes.”
“Sure.” Tom stood up, then hesitated, unsure where he should go.
“There’s coffee in the kitchen,” Bryce said, his voice hoarse.
Tom nodded and retreated. Walking away from Bryce wasn’t getting any easier, but hopefully this would be the last time. Matt and Jesse would make their decision and he could leave and this whole clusterfuck would be over.
Not forgotten—he could never forget the sheer joy of realizing Bryce was his mate, and then finding out his mate didn’t want him. But it would be over.
brYCE
“A politician with principles,” Matt said, once Tom had left the room. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“He’s not really a politician,” Bryce demurred.
“But he’s got an insider’s knowledge,” Matt said. He got to his feet and pushed the door closed. He stood for a moment, looking at both Bryce and Jesse, before hitching a hip against his desk. “If we told him what happened to Jesse’s pack and to Cale, he’d know who to report it to.”
Bryce licked his suddenly dry lips. “You can’t do that, Matt. If the wrong people find out he knows anything, he’ll be a target.”
“Then it’s up to him to tell the right people,” Matt said.
Bryce shook his head. Everything inside him clenched tight at the prospect. This felt wrong. So very, very wrong. “It’s too risky. I thought we agreed we’d be safer pretending we knew nothing about it.”
“We did,” Matt said. “But that was when we didn’t know who we could safely tell. If Tom can get this to the right ears, these people need to be held to account for what they’ve done. They also need to be stopped.”
He looked at Bryce, his gaze steady and compelling.
“You know that saying about power corrupting? I think this is what we’re dealing with here.
Someone thinks they’re untouchable. They’ve ordered the massacre of two packs that we know of—what the hell else might they have done?
Or be planning to do, thinking they’ll get away with it? ”
Bryce swallowed, because Matt was right. But…. “There has to be another way, one that doesn’t put Tom at risk.”
Matt sat back down, his fingers briefly rubbing his temples.
“I wish there was,” he said. “Believe me, Bryce, I don’t like it either, but I can’t see what else we can do.
If we tell law enforcement, they’re subject to political pressure.
There’s only two ways I can see to stop whoever this is—one is to tell the Council members who aren’t involved, and the other is to go to a journalist, who’ll dig away till they’ve got the full story.
But you know the risk of going to a journalist.”
“It means the whole thing will likely end up twisted until it’s a tale about how vicious and untrustworthy shifters are, and the whole issue will become a rallying point for anti-shifters,” Bryce concluded.
Matt was right. The safest way was to let shifters take care of their own business.
“Damn it,” he said, weariness swamping him.
“Tom’s smart,” Jesse said, his low, raspy voice filled with reassurance. “He can look after himself.”
Tom was more than smart, but he’d be on his own in Washington, and whoever this was had a small army at their disposal.
“Riley’s still digging away like a pup who lost its first-ever bone,” Matt said with a glimmer of a smile.
“It seems he’s locked out of nearly everywhere from his Sentinel days, but he’s trawling the murkier parts of the internet, trying to trade what he still has for access to places that might help us find out more about Jax.
Maybe we’ll have more info to give Tom by the time he gets back to Washington, and that’ll keep him safer. ”
“Who do you think’s behind it?” Bryce asked.
“Bennett’s still my top suspect,” Matt said. “The security detail answers to him. He’s been angling to get Jesse at his side since day one.”
“But?” Bryce asked.
“We don’t have proof. Just motive.” He raked his hand through his hair. “I guess it’s possible this is Jax freelancing.”
Bryce snorted. “Why the hell would he do that?”
Matt shrugged. “Thrill kill? Some past grudge?” He shook his head. “No. I agree with you. He’s taking orders, and we need to find out whose. That’s where Tom comes in.”
“Should I go get him?” Jesse asked.
Matt nodded, and Jesse slipped out the door.
Bryce said nothing, staring at the floor like it might offer a way out. He didn’t want to see the look on Tom’s face when he found out what they were asking of him. Because he knew that even now, after everything, Tom would still say yes.