Chapter 2 Ciara
Ciara
Icrept up the steps to the main house then let myself right into the kitchen, being careful to be quiet in case any early risers were already in the dining hall. I usually had the place to myself, but it never paid to take any chances.
It was a luxury to eat my breakfast undisturbed by smart remarks and cruel comments.
If Conri knew how I felt about living with the pack, he’d have changed things for me. I smiled at the thought of my brother. Half-brother, really, but he’d never made me feel like that. He always told me there was no such thing as half family. We either were or we weren’t, and we definitely were.
So, while the others didn’t like me a whole lot—and who could really blame them? I was genetically deficient, as shifters went—the fact the alpha was my brother made things a hell of a lot easier than they might have been.
Without the relationship, I might have had no home at all.
Not many shifter packs had a good enough reason or any sort of desire to keep a half-human hanging around.
Not that anyone ever acknowledged the half part.
No, I was pretty much only human as far as they were concerned.
And they made it clear I wasn’t good enough to be part of their shifter pack.
It was the worst kind of club in so many respects. But I belonged here. Something in my blood knew that much. The part of me that was latent, it knew.
I opened one of the cupboards and perused the contents.
The peace at this time of day soothed my nerves.
I could breathe. But I didn’t exactly relax.
I was never so much at peace here that it stopped me from running a cloth over the surfaces after I’d thrown a couple of Pop-Tarts into the toaster and the coffee machine was preparing my first coffee of the day.
This was always the best coffee of my day, though. I got to savor this one, and any I’d manage to grab later would be instant and probably almost cold when I finally managed to take a mouthful or two after completing my jobs.
I opened the door of the dishwasher and shook my head.
Typical. Whoever was on the roster to empty it hadn’t even tried.
Probably because they knew I’d be along at some point, and I’d take care of it.
But really, picking up more than my share of extra jobs was the least of my worries, and it really wasn’t something I could take to Conri.
It wasn’t that he wouldn’t take my side.
He definitely always would, and he was fierce, and I loved him for it. But to be seen to always take the side of a human against his wolves would weaken him, no matter our family ties. I was only half one of the rest of them, and I didn’t want to be the reason anyone challenged him.
He deserved to lead this pack, and he was good for them. There had been some doubters when he’d forged the alliance with the vampire king…And when he’d told me the story behind that, I’d known that was my fault, too.
Conri had felt sympathy for Nicolas Dupont when he’d found his true mate, a human female.
After all, my brother knew only too well the struggles and trials that could befall a human trying to survive in a supernatural world.
He’d thought of me. He’d thought of me, and his soft heart had done the rest. He’d helped Nicolas at expense to himself and potentially at the detriment of his personal standing in the pack.
So far, though, he was making it work in his favor. I shivered, even though the kitchen was warm, unable to escape the feeling that Conri had built a house of cards that could collapse at any minute when he’d put his faith in the vampires.
I’d always support him as much as I could—in any way possible.
Despite some of the wolves thinking I didn’t belong here, and making that obvious in their behavior, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
My soul was that of a wolf. It called—however uselessly—to the pack and the collective soul of the pack called to me, regardless of whether some of the others could feel it.
That call hurt because I could never fulfill it but living away would have hurt far more.
My place was here, on pack lands. With my family.
So if my only jobs were to take on extra chores and not jeopardize Conri’s leadership, I could do both of those things and gladly for a chance to stay in my home, where I belonged.
I flicked the switch on the old radio on the corner of the counter—one day I’d talk Conri into smarter technology, but he wasn’t ready for a full upgrade yet—and I hummed along to the song playing as I straightened the last few things in the kitchen and sipped my coffee.
I didn’t mind a working breakfast. The solitude made up for it, and the coffee was still rich and smooth as it slipped down my throat.
If nothing else, I’d stay on the pack lands for the damn coffee. Whoever was buying this shit was making the right life choices.
Suddenly, there was a noise out in the dining room, and I looked over my shoulder at the closed door behind me. The others were arriving for their breakfasts and to start the day, and that was my cue to leave.
“Ciara?” My brother pitched his voice low as he called for me. “Are you in here?”
I crossed to the door and opened it a little. “Hey. I’m just straightening a little before everyone descends for their breakfast.”
He joined me in the kitchen and glanced around. “You’ve been cleaning again? It’s not your turn. Leave it to one of the pups.”
I shrugged. He didn’t need to know this was just easier. For both of us.
“You okay?” I washed out my used coffee mug and replaced it in the cupboard and swept the last of my Pop-Tart crumbs from the counter into the trash.
“You got any plans just now?” He answered my question with a question. “Meeting Taylor after breakfast?”
I wrinkled my nose as I chuckled at his mention of my best friend. “Not sure she knows there’s also a seven in the morning, to be honest, so no, no plans just yet. You need something?”
“Can I talk to you in my office?” Conri grabbed a cereal bar and a banana before turning back to the door.
“Sure.” This was unusual. I wasn’t usually summoned quite so officially by the alpha. If Conri needed to speak to me, he usually just found me, and we had a chat. “Now?”
“Yep. Now.” His tone had turned grim as he pushed back through to the dining room.
I glanced at the door to the outside. I kind of wanted to go around the building but that would seem weird when I was going with Conri, so I followed him instead.
Shifters were just starting to arrive and congregate at tables, and I purposely held my head up, not meeting any of their gazes as I walked between them.
Their conversations dropped to hushed whispers, and I filtered that out too. I was used to them and the things they said about me now.
We climbed the steps to the main lodge where he conducted pack business from, and he led the way to his office.
“Why so official?” I asked as he sat behind his desk and gestured to one of the other chairs in the room for me.
He blew out a sigh. “Because this is official business.”
I raised an eyebrow. I was rarely called on to help with official pack business.
Even Conri could recognize my usefulness had its limits for them.
I also didn’t like putting myself front and center, didn’t like the attention.
I was mostly happy being everyone’s favorite Cinderella—largely unnoticed as I cleaned up behind them in return for bed and board.
“What’s going on?” I tried not to sound too curious.
“Simon and Jason have fallen out. Simon won’t work with him anymore.” Conri named his beta, but the other name only sounded familiar.
“Who’s Jason?”
My brother sighed again. “Our vampire liaison.”
I grimaced. Perfect. A filthy bloodsucker. I couldn’t even blame Simon for this falling out then, although Simon’s temper tended to run from hot to out of control, which wasn’t great for a second-in-command.
“Jason’s coming in for a meeting at the end of the week, and I can’t fit it into my schedule. Simon won’t do it, and I thought…” He looked up at me, and I almost shuffled away.
Shit. He was about to ask me to take on the vampires. “But I have…” I gestured uselessly, trying to encompass as much of the pack lands as possible. “I have other work.”
He rolled his eyes and tutted at me. “Like what? A bit of cleaning? Some patrols when you can get a shift? Come on, Ciara.”
This was my brother talking to me rather than the alpha now, and he knew I wouldn’t let him down.
Besides, he was right. I didn’t have an official job.
I worked as much as possible to make myself indispensable and accepted, but I only got on a patrol when enough people were sick that they were scraping the bottom of the barrel.
After all, why patrol on two legs when four legs were better?
“I need you in charge of this project.” He wasn’t going to back down.
“Why?” I sounded like every petulant younger sister ever, and when I folded my arms across my chest, I reminded myself way too much of teenage me. But the question still stood: why?
He sighed again. At this rate, he’d have no air left. “Because vampires and wolf shifters aren’t a good mix.”
I laughed, the sound hollow. “Tell me about it.” Despite his fondness for humans, I’d never understood his willingness to get so close to the Duponts.
The Ricard vampire house had killed our parents—well, my mother and Conri’s father, the man who had treated me like his own—and Conri had never gotten over their loss.
He’d been older than me and seen so much more of the trauma.
Yet here he was, suddenly Mr. Diplomat and doing deals across the supernatural world.
I just wasn’t sure I could support this much change.