2. Rikkart
RIKKART
EARLIER THAT DAY
“Thank you for flying with us today, and we hope you enjoy your stay in London,” the flight attendant chattered over the intercom.
“Rik, wake up, we’ve landed,” Koit said, nudging my arm with his elbow.
I cracked open an eye and looked over at him. His smiling blue eyes looked back at me, unfazed by the glare I was giving him.
“I guess I could leave you on the plane if you feel that strongly about finishing your nap,” he teased.
I groaned and stretched my arms above my head, inevitably smashing my knuckles into the low ceiling of the aircraft.
I frowned up at the ceiling and cursed the fact that my long arms and legs never fit in a plane comfortably.
Not all of us could have a private jet that made travel bearable like some I knew back home.
Thankfully, The Collective had purchased first-class tickets.
I couldn’t truly get comfortable, but it was far better than economy seating.
“So, do we get any time to explore?” Koit asked as he handed me my bag from the overhead storage.
“To be honest, I don’t know how long we’ll be here.
That depends on the ambassador and what he wants to discuss.
” This was the first time the ambassador had asked for a representative from The Collective visit him in the United Kingdom, usually preferring to have our talks during UN meetings.
“There’s a lot to talk about regarding our dealings with Russia,” I answered as we walked off the airplane.
“What if he ends up doing the deal with Russia before we talk with him?” Koit asked, brushing his shaggy black hair out of his face. “We know he has to have something of high value to grab the attention of that asshole Russian werewolf.”
“Koit,” I hissed, grabbing his arm and squeezing hard. “Watch your tongue. There are too many ears around.”
Koit flinched and nodded his head. “Sorry, alpha. I forgot. No one would believe it if they overheard me anyway.”
I grunted, agreeing with him, but with all that was going on, we couldn’t be too careful. Being a werewolf was getting harder to keep secret, and blabbing about it on an airplane full of people wouldn’t help.
“As for the problem with Russia, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Since The Collective voted me as the representative, I’ll have to do my best to dissuade him from making the deal happen,” I said, trying to ease some of my own worries as much as Koit’s.
“Well, at least we get tonight to go out and do something fun, right?” Koit asked hopefully. “You said we don't have to meet with him till tomorrow evening.”
“You know I hate going out, but if you want to go and experience London’s nightlife, be my guest,” I said.
I hated city life. I wanted to be back home in the mountains with my pack, with clear air and fresh soil under my feet.
Why the other members of The Collective leadership decided to send me on this trip was beyond me.
I wasn’t known for having a diplomatic personality.
Darius was much better suited for this. Hell, even introverted Tavas would have been a better choice.
I’d been told many times that I was more wolf than man most of the time, but the truth of it was that after the wave of assassinations within The Collective, there weren’t many alphas to choose from.
“Rik, I need to have a wingman in a city like this, otherwise they’ll think I’m a creeper. You would know this if you ever considered leaving the mountains,” Koit said, grumbling and pulling me back to the present. We’d finally made it out of the plane and were making our way towards baggage claim.
I looked at my longtime friend, beta wolf, and second to me in our pack.
He was a kid at heart, and that was something that would never change.
No matter how much I vexed him with my boring ways, he was always helping me with whatever our pack needed.
“Fine. I’ll go out to dinner with you. I’ll even let you pick the place.
Then when you find what you’re hunting for, I’m leaving. ”
“See? Somewhere deep down, your wolf is fighting for you to have some fun,” Koit said, smiling as he draped his arm over my shoulders.
“Very funny. I have plenty of fun,” I retorted, shrugging off his arm.
“Let me clarify. When I say having fun, I don’t mean reading an old, dusty book at home by the fire,” Koit said, giving me a knowing look.
“If you’re going to say running in wolf skin with the pack, that doesn’t count either.
I’m talking about getting out with the rest of us, being social with people outside the pack, and blowing off some steam. ”
“What’s wrong with spending the night reading a good book?” I asked, offended.
“Seriously, if you need to ask me that, then you’re worse off than I thought. This is when you get to sow your wild oats, get your freak on before you have to take over your father’s leadership position in The Collective for good,” Koit explained, watching my response.
“I already said I’d go out with you tonight. I’ll wait till you find someone to keep you busy, and then I’m going back to the hotel.” I avoided his comment about my father. It was too soon to talk about that with him.
“Great, but you can’t change your mind after I pick the place,” Koit said as he thrust out his hand to shake on it.
“You know my word is promise enough,” I said, brushing past his hand to claim my bag from the luggage belt.
“Don’t be an ass. Of course I know the word of an alpha is the strongest promise between werewolves,” Koit said, sensing my irritation at being questioned.
“Go see if you can find the driver. I’ll wait for your bag.”
Koit opened his mouth to say something else but thought better of it, knowing it was just going to make me more irritated.
Between the assassinations, the Russian alpha encroaching on our turf, tension in the packs back home was high these days.
Not to mention the ever-present concerns about our females.
Because werewolf genes had become watered down through the generations, being a werewolf in the twenty-first century took on new meaning.
The most concerning problem was that female werewolves were no longer being born.
Now human females had to be turned, and it was rare that they survived the process, leaving a ten-to-one ratio of males to females.
As female werewolves became scarcer, so did alpha wolves.
Regular male wolves could be born from the union of a werewolf father and a human mother, but alphas had to be born of an alpha werewolf father and a werewolf mother.
So, with the lack of female werewolves around, fewer and fewer alphas were being born.
Now with Russian werewolves attacking and killing off all alphas, young and old, our packs were in danger of dying out or allying themselves to Russian rule.
Russia’s werewolves had always been the biggest threat to The Collective throughout its history.
Over a hundred years ago, three small countries that bordered Russia banded together, creating the first united group of werewolves in the world.
The Collective’s mission was to keep werewolves’ existence secret and preserve our way of life while governing the dealings with the outside world.
Over the past seventy years, we’d garnered the backing of the British government through dealings with the UN.
They felt that our small government could use all the help they could offer to become stable and prosperous again. And it worked.
Over the years, our countries had truly bounced back and become a force to be reckoned with.
Our best guess was that Russia’s current plan was to use unrest in our packs, after the loss of the alphas, to break our united front and bring The Collective down before even stepping foot on our land.
On a trip like this, normally, three additional alphas of the leadership board would have come with me, but we had all voted that it was too dangerous to have that many leave the safety of our lands at this time.
I was ultimately here because the British government no longer felt that their support was necessary.
In their eyes, we’d grown strong enough to deal with our own issues.
True as that may seem, we still wanted to at least remain allies.
Personally, I thought they just didn’t want to pick a fight with Russia over some werewolf drama that wasn’t theirs.
I’d always been a passive contributor to The Collective anyhow, seeing as I was always too busy worrying about my own pack’s stability. Yet when I was asked to become the ambassador on this trip, I felt it was time to take my proper place helping to protect our community.
Especially after assassins had come into my lands and killed my parents six months ago.
Even though my father had stepped down as alpha many three ago, allowing me to rule the pack, he’d maintained his spot within The Collective’s leadership.
But his high-profile position hadn’t been enough to keep him or my mother safe.
“Rik, the driver’s here,” Koit said, breaking me out of my thoughts.
“Good, shall we go then?”
“Didn’t you say you were going to grab my bag? Or should I just take a wild guess and assume that the only suitcase left on the belt is mine?” Koit asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
Running my hands over my short hair, I grimaced. “Sorry, I got so lost in thought, I completely forgot.”
“It’s no big deal, you have a lot on your mind these days. Another reason that I’m dragging your sorry ass out tonight,” Koit said, flashing me a grin to let me know all was forgiven.
That’s how he’s always been—never one to hold on to grudges for longer than a second. It was an odd trait for a wolf, especially one as dominant as he was. “Come on, let’s go so we can get freshened up for our big night out.”
The driver escorted us to a posh-looking town car that was clearly marked as an embassy vehicle.
It had tinted windows, and the Union Jack flag was posted on the front corners.
I’d been to London a few times in the fifty-six years that I’ve been alive—young, for a werewolf—but this was a first for Koit.
Once settled in the car, I tried to close my eyes and resume the nap that I’d been woken up from earlier.
I should’ve known that wasn’t going to work.
“Rik! Are you seeing this shit?!” Koit asked after punching my arm to get my attention. “That building is huge!”
“Yes, and you’ll see many more of them by the end of our drive,” I answered without opening my eyes.
London was a beautiful city, but it didn’t hold my attention the way the mountains did.
At home, you had to earn the right to carve out a living in the soil.
Our pack was mostly self-sufficient in providing for the members, but we still had to go down to the large city in the foothills for items we couldn’t grow or make ourselves.
I need to remember to send Koit on more of those trips.
At least someone should enjoy those things.
Fifteen minutes later, we pulled up to The Dorchester, where Ambassador Beck had set us up to stay.
I found it strange that he would have us stay in London when he was at his summer home two hours away.
Maybe he thought we would want to take in the sights of downtown?
Whatever the reason, it was inconvenient, and I found myself getting even more annoyed than I already was at being pulled away from my pack.
I hated politics, and the next few days would be filled with it, so I needed to get a grip on my emotions. This wasn’t about me; this was about The Collective and families that were losing loved ones. I could set aside my own feelings about the situation to deal with the matter at hand.
Koit tried not to drool over all the furniture as he scoped the place out.
I just prayed that he wouldn’t start sniffing everything he found interesting.
Koit was one of our best trackers, and his nose was one of the best The Collective had to offer.
He could scent a person who’d sat on the couch a week ago and track it to wherever they were now.
The only problem was that he could never scent out the trouble he always seemed to find himself in.
“Here is your room key, Mr. Hunt. I hope you have a lovely stay with us here at The Dorchester. If you need anything, please feel free to call down; we have someone at the desk at all times,” the hotel clerk said, handing me two room keys.
“Thank you,” I said, nodding before grabbing Koit’s arm and dragging him away from sniffing the huge floral arrangement by the check-in counter.
“Geez, I was just looking. Calm down, old man, I’m not going to lift a leg and pee on it or anything,” Koit griped, pulling his arm out of my grasp.
I just rolled my eyes at him and smiled a little at the mental image of him as a wolf lifting his leg to pee on a plant in the famous Dorchester Hotel in London. “See that you don’t, or I’m never bringing you with me again.”
“For that to happen, it would mean taking your father’s place in The Collective leadership,” Koit said, turning the tables on me. “You know I would support that vote, as would the rest of the Silver Mountain pack.”
“We will not talk about this here in the hall for everyone to hear,” I snapped, letting out a low growl.
Koit dropped his shoulders and looked away from me. “Yes, alpha.”
I sighed. As much as I wanted us all to treat each other as equals, it would never be truly possible. My alpha instincts took over in cases like this, although it hardly happened between Koit and I.
Unlocking the door to our room, I walked in and set my suitcase on one of the two queen beds.
“Have you decided where you’re dragging me tonight?” I asked, trying to ease the tension. “I have no doubt that you researched places before coming,”
Koit grinned wolfishly at me. “I found a werewolf bar right here in the middle of London. They keep telling us they won’t let them live in the city, but we are a sneaky bunch.”
As much as I was excited to hear that werewolves had made their own place in England’s famous downtown, I wasn’t so keen on getting caught supporting it when I was here to ask for help.
It would be the last thing we needed—to be found in such a place and have it reported to the ambassador before I had a chance to meet with him.
“Come on. The deal was I could pick and you would go. An alpha gave his word,” Koit reminded me.
“Fine, but we need to be smart about this.”