RIKKART
Goddamn you, Koit, I’m in this fucking position because of you and your big-ass mouth.
Viv’s eyes locked onto me as she laid out her threat.
Her wolf glimmered in her eyes, setting them alight.
I couldn’t tell if I was turned on or terrified.
She had a point, though—I had inserted myself more than once between her and another wolf.
I would never dream of doing that to another alpha.
I was treating her like any other female, something to be cared for and protected.
But Viv was an alpha in her own right, and she was drawing the line in the sand for me.
I had two choices—fight her or back down from this and admit I overstepped.
If I fought her, what would that do? I would just piss her off and possibly lose any ground I’d made with her. Did that matter? A snarl from my wolf cleared that up for me. That left only one choice.
“You’re right. I’m sorry, Viv,” I said, breaking eye contact with her first and sitting back in my chair. “You’ll have to forgive me, you’re the first female alpha werewolf in two hundred years.”
I looked back up at her and saw that her wolf had backed off but was still lurking in the background.
When she learned about our world, I had a feeling that the pair would turn everything upside down.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d heard of a werewolf being able to talk to their wolf.
It was one of the many things we’d lost as our blood weakened over the years.
I could tell that she was also stronger than any female I’d ever seen or heard of.
I didn’t doubt that she could hold her own in any fight she decided to take on.
“Might I share with you that being hangry is a real thing for werewolves,” Tavas said in his strange way that never seemed to step on anyone’s paws.
Viv startled us all by laughing and looking down at her sandwich.
Koit hadn’t been shy with the number of ingredients.
I think he put on every kind of meat and cheese that he found in the fridge.
I kicked myself for not realizing that she would be incredibly temperamental, given that she probably hadn’t eaten since she’d been taken.
She picked up one half of the sandwich and took a hearty bite and closed her eyes, enjoying the meal.
“Koit, while Viv is eating, why don’t you share with us your thoughts on the earlier matter,” Tavas said, navigating us back and soothing ruffled fur.
Koit and Tavas got along well, and he listened to the request. “Vadik has killed or dominated all the alphas in his territory. My guess is that he would never let them breed to create other alphas to challenge him, but that leaves him at a disadvantage of being able to rule over such a large area. If he could have alpha children, then he would raise them up to be loyal to him and help him in his goals.”
Holy shit, Koit had a point. I knew that Koit had more to him than he let on, but he didn’t show it very often.
This was one of those moments that caught me off guard.
Other alphas gave me shit for letting him have so much freedom or having him sit in on meetings, but this was a prime example of why I did it.
Koit could not only scent out people, but motive.
“I’m of a similar mind as Koit,” Tavas said, nodding absently.
“I do feel like there is more to this though. Viv has abilities and traits we haven’t seen in centuries.
Not only can she talk to her wolf, but her wolf is a golden.
Normal golden wolves nowadays are endangered and closer to a coyote than a wolf. ”
“What do you think that means?” Darius asked, finally pulling the stick out of his ass.
“I would like to talk to our friendly Dr. Faulk about that,” Tavas said, putting his hair up into a man bun.
This was a tell that I’m not sure he knew he had.
Anytime he went into research-nerd mode, he always put his hair up.
I could see the wheels turning in that brain of his.
Being around these alphas always made me feel like I wasn’t enough to take my father’s seat with The Collective’s leadership.
They had so many amazing wolves, and all I wanted was to be left alone on my mountain.
Extensive knowledge on classical literature wasn’t something they really needed to help with the werewolf way of life.
“What do you mean—is he here?” Viv asked, her head shooting up with a mouth full of food.
It made me smile having this female around.
Werewolf females were always respected, but none of them had the assuredness that Viv did.
It didn’t seem to bother her at all that she was in a room full of three strong alphas that she didn’t know.
I wonder if her wolf had decided to trust us, so Viv was following her instincts.
“Yes, Koit was kind enough to bring him along after we got you out of the monastery,” Darius said, apparently deciding to play nice while Viv was around.
“He’s been here this whole time and no one has talked to him yet?” Viv said, her eyes flashing with her wolf. “Take me to the fucker right now. I have some unfinished business with that whack-job.”
Once again catching us all off guard, she charged in the direction of the basement door, but instead of opening it, she opened the walk-in pantry.
Tavas was about to say something when I motioned him to keep quiet.
Telling her would just make it worse. She confidently walked in, saw her mistake, turned around, and opened the door next to it.
I looked up at Koit and saw him biting his fist, trying not to crack up at the incident.
“Come on, we should get down there before she ends up getting locked in one of the other holding rooms. Or better yet, opening the door to hell,” Darius said as the side of his mouth twitched, holding back his own laughter.
“Wait, you have a doorway to your kingdom down there?” Koit asked, grinning as he ducked around Darius and ran down the stairs.
“If only I was the king of hell, then I would have locked you away in eternal torment years ago,” Darius muttered.
Tavas and I trailed down behind them, not wanting to get involved in their never-ending pissing contest.