Chapter 136 Nico
NICO
Leaving Maddy, I went to my office and called the surrounding alphas. It took some time before everyone joined the conference call, but once we were together, it went smoothly. They’d all seen the interview and were happy with how it went.
“Do we think this is going to give the royals something to think about?” It was Raul, an alpha from New Smyrna.
“If I’m being a hundred percent honest,” I said.
“I don’t think so. What I do think it will do is get more people on our side.
We get the conversation started, and there’s going to be a discussion happening outside of shifter compounds.
If a person is thinking of going after and attacking a shifter, but their wife, mother, or husband says, ‘Hang on. I don’t think that’s the way to go about this’.
Then we’ve done a good job of decreasing Viola’s reach and power.
That’s what I think this will do in the short term. ”
“I liked what you said about not rolling over and dying,” an alpha named Jacob said.
“We aren’t doing ourselves any favors by hiding in holes.
My pack has been stuck in an abandoned factory for weeks now.
So far, no one has figured out we’re there, but it’s only a matter of time.
Once the anti-shifters get wind of it, they’ll come like locusts.
I’m tired of hiding. Fuck, man, I’d love to take a damn walk around Target or something.
Go to a restaurant and relax with my mate. The time for hiding is over.”
I nodded to myself. “Good. I like hearing that. To tell you the truth, I was worried you all might be upset that I went there with the interview.”
“Hell no,” Tiago said. He was on the call from his quarters near the Moon Mate building.
“I think I speak for all of us when I say that the time is over. None of us want a bloodbath, but after what happened yesterday, I’m done playing nice.
We’ve done everything we could to make peace, but if these psychos are going to keep doing Viola’s bidding, the gloves need to come off. ”
“All right,” I said. “If we’re all in agreement, then we need to be ready to face the consequences.
Are we certain we can push back if it comes to that?
I don’t mean physically—I mean mentally.
It’s one thing to say you’re going to fight back, but it’s another when you’re looking down the barrel of a gun or watching a horde of angry people flood your property. ”
Brevard spoke up. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was with a bear clan out of Sarasota.
“Nico, listen, man, I know it’s a tough ask, but I don’t think you need to worry about it.
When I was at your pack lands for that get-together a few months ago, I could already see where this was going.
You’re right when you say it’s different talking about it versus actually doing it, but none of us are afraid.
We’ve got packs to protect. Women, children, and older folks.
You aren’t a true alpha if you aren’t willing to do whatever it takes to protect that. I’m in. Anyone else?”
Murmurs of assent came all around, and it lightened me that they all sounded confident and ready. That was good. I hoped my message would push down the attacks and maybe scare off Viola’s followers, but that was probably only wishful thinking on my part.
“Guys,” I said, “I need to get my own house in order. Be ready. Now’s a good time to add men to your guard rotation. Make sure that wherever you’re holed up, it’s secure and easily defendable. Get your people ready and prepared. If you’ve got guns, get those loaded and easily accessible.”
Once the call had ended, I sat back in my chair, exhaling heavily and breathing deeply.
That was one item checked off my list, and it had gone better than I’d thought.
Back when I’d hosted the alpha meeting, things had been a little contentious.
A few men had even stormed off and left.
Clearly, the events of the past few months had changed some minds.
Before I could get up to leave, my phone rang again. I glanced at the screen. Unknown number. My heart started hammering, slamming forcefully against my rib cage. It had to be Viola. She was calling to tell me about some new horrific idea she had to kill or torture people I loved.
Hesitantly lifting the phone to my ear, I said, “Hello?”
“Is this Nicolas Lorenzo?” It was a deep male voice about as far from Viola as it could get.
“It is. Who’s this?”
He cleared his throat. “My name is Doug Brindle. You don’t know me, but I’m the alpha of a panther pack in North Dakota. I got your number through… well… a big chain of friends-of-friends. It’s almost ridiculous how many people it took.”
Frowning, I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the table. “Okay, uh, what can I do for you, Doug?”
“Mr. Lorenzo— ”
“Call me Nico.”
“Oh, sure. Sorry. Nico, I had to call you. I watched your interview, and I can’t get it out of my mind. This is gonna sound dumb, but I want to thank you for what you said.”
I let out a little laugh. “I don’t really know what to say to that. All I said was the truth. At least, the truth as I see it.”
“That’s the thing,” Doug said, sounding more ardent.
“It is the truth. We have to do this. Fighting back is the only way to show these people we aren’t going to roll over and die.
Since all this started, every alpha I know has done exactly what everyone else has done.
Hidden, kept quiet, put their heads down.
“A bunch of folks in my pack watched that interview with me. I’m not ashamed to admit that as you talked, I could sense the emotion in the room.
You touched a nerve in my people that even I couldn’t.
You fired them up. By the time it ended, I could see how much more confident and hopeful they were.
Some alphas might take that as slight. Not me.
It opened my eyes. Showed me exactly what we needed to do.
Thanks to that interview, our pack has already started reaching out to neighboring shifter clans.
We’re going to pool our resources. Put up a more united front, you know? ”
North Dakota? This guy was over two thousand miles away from me, and he’d taken what I said to heart. It boggled my mind that I could say a few words on TV and touch people that far away.
“Well, Doug, all I can say is that I hope what I said helped. Do you feel safer after talking to your neighboring packs? That’s what this is all about, really. I don’t want to see another tragedy on the news.”
“Yeah, we do. I mean, your interview was only an hour ago, but every alpha I’ve talked to since then has said the same thing.
They’re talking about you, man. ‘This guy in Florida knows what’s up.
’ That’s the consensus. I only wanted to call and thank you.
You’ve given people a lot to hope for. Thank you. ”
I was struck speechless but managed to find my words before the pause got too awkward.
“Doug… I don’t know that I can say the right words, but you have no idea how happy that makes me. This all started with protecting my own pack, but the thought that I could help others means a lot. I appreciate you reaching out. My phone is always on if you ever need anything.”
“I will. Again, thanks. Stay safe down there.”
“You stay safe up there,” I said, then ended the call.
A dumbfounded grin tugged at my lips, but I didn’t have much time to think about the call. Luis ducked into my office with a phone pressed to his ear.
He covered the mic. “I’ve got a guy on the line. Alpha from Idaho—wants to talk to you. Got my name and number from a guy I worked with a few years back.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but my own phone rang, interrupting me.
The number showed that it was an incoming call from Maine.
It took some time, but after nearly three hours, I’d talked to over two dozen alphas from all over the world—Alaska, Colorado, Australia, West Virginia, California, Scotland, Belarus, and pretty much everywhere in between.
I’d even received a call from the alpha of a lion-shifter pack from a remote area in Africa that required a translator.
I finally had to stop answering the calls and put my phone on do-not-disturb.
Exhausted as I was, I felt thrilled. Not in a million years would I have believed I could touch so many people.
I did, however, worry about the blowback.
I prayed that the humans who were following Viola heard my words and heeded them.
My hopes and prayers were shown to be pointless over the course of the next few days.
The morning after the onslaught of calls, a report came in that a bear pack had been attacked overnight.
My jaw almost hit the floor when I saw that it was a pack in North Dakota.
The news showed the devastation, but unlike before, it wasn’t the shifters who’d been caught off guard.
It had been the human attackers. The bears had been more than ready.
Instead of being asleep, nearly half their fighting force had been on guard duty.
They’d thwarted the attack without suffering a single casualty.
The humans had gotten out without a death, but many had been severely injured.
I texted Doug to see if that had been his pack—sure enough, it had. His pack had shown the humans mercy rather than killing them where they stood. He again thanked me and told me they would have been slaughtered if my words hadn’t stirred them to action.