Chapter 25
Teddy stood behind Byk, digging his strong fingers into the tight muscles. He wished that he could have gone with Byk, protected him from the memories he had been forced to endure. While he was grateful for what Byk had learned, he was less than pleased he’d needed to place himself in danger for the information.
After the call with Damon, anger still crept in Teddy’s veins. Damon, his former First, had disrespected Byk, and Teddy didn’t want to let that stand. He wanted to show his former leader why you don’t mess with a bear’s mate. Byk had been right, though. There were more enemies out there, and that meant everyone in Wald could be in danger too. Perhaps that was what had him on edge. That unknown forces threatened everyone in Wald, including Byk.
“Teddy? A word, please?” Damon asked.
He stalked behind Damon, who led him from the room. As soon as they were out of sight of everyone else, Damon turned and held out his hands. “Go ahead,” he said.
“I… what?”
Damon smiled. “I was your First for years, and your friend nearly as long. I know you’re angry with me, and you’ve every right to be. Disrespecting a mate is a grievous thing, and I had no right to be so rude to Byk, even if it wasn’t what I’d meant. I open my mouth without thinking, and that’s no good for a First or a friend. So go ahead and punch me. I’ll stand here and won’t fight back.”
And that sucked the anger right out of Teddy. He wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t really want to fight Damon. All he wanted was to protect Byk, to let him know that he was treasured beyond worth. To build him up after Hyde had torn him down. Should one poorly phrased sentence destroy a friendship that had taken forever to build?
“Damon, I….” He closed his eyes and huffed a frustrated breath. “I don’t want to fight you. Byk doesn’t wish for me to do so either. He’s not wrong. We have enough problems, and having you beaten and bloodied would not solve any of them. I’m sorry I got so angry.”
A hand patted Teddy on the back. At first he thought it was Damon, but when he turned, he found Byk there, all smiles. Teddy’s heart melted to see the look on the face he loved more than anything.
“You sent him here, didn’t you?”
A slight nod. “I asked him to talk to you and work out the differences.” He frowned at Damon. “I didn’t tell him to offer to let you beat him.”
Damon shrugged. “It’s not always easy to calm a bear. Quite often it’s best to take your lumps and let them work out the aggression.” He did something stunning then. He wrapped his arms around Teddy and squeezed. “I am so very sorry, Teddy. It seems I’ve learned so much and yet so little at the same time. I was rude to Dr. Lydia, I was rude to your Byk.” He sighed and moved back. “I think it’s time for me to step down.”
The news jolted Teddy. “What? No. That doesn’t make any sense. Your pack needs you.”
He shook his head. “My pack needs a leader, and lately that hasn’t been me. I’m far too quick to anger, and the pack doesn’t need that. They need compassion, like the people here. The old days of forcing those who couldn’t toe the line to be banished are gone, and they should never come back.”
“Where is this coming from?”
A shrug. “Self-reflection can be a bitch. When we came here to help rescue the people, I realized that years ago I would have simply left them and walked away. If they were too weak to survive, they didn’t deserve help. I… did the same thing with you and Ivan. I told Cece she should have let you die on that mountain.” He looked up, his eyes swimming in tears. “I said she should let the men who would become two of my best friends die. I would have abandoned children to the same fate. That isn’t a leader—that’s a monster.”
“That leader is dead and gone,” Teddy countered. “He died when he opened his heart. Think back to that moment, Damon. What was it that caused you to stop and think like the man you’ve become?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“You do. Tell me.”
His lip trembled. “The day I thought about abandoning my son because he loved his friend.” For a big man, Damon shrunk in on himself quickly. “My son, who I should have loved unequivocally. The one I’d always held in such high esteem. One tiny, fucking insignificant thing, and I was ready to toss him aside. And I would have left Micah too, because he wasn’t what a wolf should be. Tough. Aggressive. He was soft, quiet, sensitive. He loved picking flowers for Cece, because he said they were pretty like her.” He cleared his throat to cover a sob, Teddy was certain. “I look at them now, and I wonder how I could have ever been that person.”
“Because those were different times. If Ivan and I had come out, I have no doubt our father would have killed us. Sin against the Maker and all that. But when we came to America, we met a goddess. She brought us into the fold and told us that it didn’t matter who we loved, and she insisted we believe that.”
“She’s kind of incredible,” Damon admitted. “A lot of who I am now is because of her and the kids.” He peered at Teddy. “And you and Ivan helped open my eyes to what I was missing out on. I’m sorry I was such a shitty person.”
“You more than made up for it, I swear. You got the packs to listen when you told them Wiley was gay and if anyone said anything bad about him, you’d fight them to the death. Your awakening has changed attitudes. You’ve made packs better for… oh, Maker.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Byk? Can you call Cece in here, please?”
He nodded, then dashed off. Damon kept asking what was wrong, but Teddy remained tight-lipped. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before.
“Teddy? What’s going on?” Cece asked as she entered the room with Byk behind her.
“We were having a talk with Damon, who thinks he should step down.”
Her eyes widened as she regarded the man she loved. “You what ?”
“I agree. I think he needs to step down.”
There was such a look of pain on Damon’s face, and Cece was gobsmacked.
“Because there’s another role he needs to fill. I think Damon should be on the Council.”
“What? That’s insane,” Damon all but shouted.
“Why? Tell me. You just finished saying you were trying to make the packs—all of them—a better place. As the First, you’re limited to one group of people—yours. As a member of the council, you would be helping to make things right for everyone.”
“But I’m not a politician!”
“No, you aren’t. And maybe that’s what’s needed. You have experience as the leader of one of the largest and richest packs around. You never held office, but you already know a majority of that stuff, and you could learn the rest easily enough. Plus, you have a backbone of steel. No one walks on you or makes you do what they want—Cece not included, of course. Think about it.”
“But who’d be the First for our pack?”
From the shadows stepped Wiley. “I would.”
Damon’s eyes widened. “But you’re still so young.”
“You told Mal I would have advisors, plus I’ll have George. And I was never really keen on seeing the world. I want to make our pack grow, to show them that being gay isn’t an impediment to being a leader. To have them learn that a First mate—whether male or female—is able to shower their pack with love.”
“Wiley, I?—”
“You know he’s right, Damon.” Mal and Alp walked into the room together. “You’d be perfect for the council. We need you there, fighting for all of us. When you found out people were missing, you stepped up and made their safety a priority. Wald pack wouldn’t exist without your foresight. How many others out there could use someone like that?”
Damon turned to Cece. “What do you think?’
She got the biggest smile Teddy had ever seen. “I think Councilman Damon Walker has a nice ring to it.” She hugged him and he melted in her embrace. “You’re the perfect man for the job, baby.”
“Then it’s settled,” Teddy announced. “Damon will take a council seat.”
“Hold on there. Seats aren’t elected positions. They don’t have to let me in.”
Alp chuckled. “Lemme talk to my mom. She’ll get everyone busy working on getting you a seat.”
Damon looked down into Cece’s adoring eyes. “Are we really doing this?”
She nodded. “As long as we survive what’s coming our way.”
Sweat trickled down Byk’s neck. He hated having everyone staring at him like this. Why couldn’t Teddy have done this?
Those arms Byk love wrapped around him, held him tight. “I’m right here, Byk. I’ll always be with you.”
And those words, coupled with a need to protect Wald and the people who lived within the walls, the ones who’d taken him in and showed him what a family truly was, gave him the strength to speak.
“Thanks to Gwyneth and Dr. Lydia, I was able to go into my memories. Or, more accurately, those of my brother.” He tapped his forehead. “Hyde and his people somehow implanted part of Cooper’s brain in my head. I think they were breaking down, though, which is why I went a little crazy. Cooper’s memories were overriding my own and my mind couldn’t handle it.”
He picked up a cup and took a sip of water. This was harder than he thought it would be. The people were staring at him, some with their mouths open. He understood. What they were talking was science fiction made reality.
“I saw them operating on me and Cooper. I know what they did to us. Before I woke up, I heard Cooper’s thoughts. His dying memories. He told me that Hyde wasn’t working alone. He said the government had a hand in it. Then he told me to beware of the Chimera. He didn’t know what it was, but said that I held the key to giving the government what they were looking for.”
A murmur rippled through the room.
Mal stood, his hands splayed on the tabletop, his expression grim. “We knew this was a possibility, and thanks to Byk—and Cooper—may the Maker keep him always by her side—we have a chance to prepare.”
“Prepare for what, exactly?” Alp asked. “We don’t know who to deal with. This isn’t like us killing the scientists. We’re talking the government of the United States.”
Damon slammed his hand on the table, which rattled everyone. “They bleed like anyone else,” he snarled. “They’re threatening our people. They’ve all but declared war on us. This will not stand.”
Teddy pulled Byk into a hug as the discussion raged around them. Dark times were coming, and Byk was sure they all knew it. The question was how to protect shifters while keeping the humans at bay.
Byk hoped to the Maker someone had an answer before things went to shit.
He leaned into Teddy’s embrace and let the comfort flow over him, even as everyone else in the room discussed and debated what they could do. No matter what it was, with Teddy and his new family surrounding him, Byk knew they’d come out on top.