Darius
“Why the fuck would we want to lead a werewolf rebellion in a country that isn’t even our home?” I demanded scowling at this odd man-child.
Christian heaved a heavy sigh before he flopped into an open seat next to Bentley, tossing his arms over the back of the couch.
“Look bro, I get that you don’t know me, and you have your own shit to deal with at the moment, but hear me out.
Let’s say we find your mate tomorrow, do you really think you can just ride off into the sunset?
Hell no, that asshole is going to come for what he thinks is his. ”
This made all of us tense and low growls surround him, but you would never know by looking at him that his heart rate was elevated with fear.
“Tristan,” I ordered without breaking my hold on Christian’s gaze.
Bentley got up from his seat and Tristan took his spot leaning back so his shoulder touched the side of Christian’s hand.
I was learning to trust the men that I was mate brothers with, but that didn’t mean I trusted many outside of that circle, no matter what they said.
Orion might have faith in this man, but it was not a risk I was willing to take, especially since he showed up early and we weren’t prepared.
Christian raised his brow at me, but didn’t comment on the change of seating.
“Before we can even talk about that situation, we are going to need some assurances that you’re not working with Jason and Vadik,” I addressed, gripping Orion’s thigh to keep him seated where he was next to me.
“Orion vouches for you, but I’m sure you can understand why it would be difficult when you two haven’t spent much time together the past century. ”
Christian nodded at this as he broke the hold I had on him to observe the others. “So does he speak for all of you in this matter?”
What was he trying to do? If he wanted to cause drama in our group then he was going to have to do better than that. We’d been through hell and back the past six months or so.
“Darius is head of Royal Security, and if he feels that assurances need to be made then we support that,” Tristan answered simply.
“Interesting,” Christian murmured to himself before clapping his hands together and grinning at all of us. “Where do you want to start? Oh sorry, you needed to be touching me to gauge my intentions right?”
The stunned look on Tristan’s face as Christian tossed his legs into Tristan’s lap shocked us all. Whipping my head back to Orion I loomed over him. “Did you tell him?”
Orion snarled at me, shoving me off him so he could stand.
“Listen you overbearing asshole, I would never do something that would jeopardize Viv’s safety and letting someone know what skills we all have would most definitely fall into that category.
No, I didn’t tell him a goddamn thing, you have been present for every conversation we’ve ever had. ”
“Okay, I think everyone needs to take a deep calming breath here. No one told me anything,” Christian explained.
“I am the leader of all the rebel werewolves here in the US and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t keep tabs of major players over in Europe.
No offense to you man, you seem super chill, but you gotta know the players to play the game— am I right?
Orion never told me he was part demi-god, but I found that out after we were already friends and he’d left.
I didn’t track him down and force him to join my cause, did I?
I know who all of you are not that I know a whole lot about most of you...
actually, you my friend, I don’t know anything about.
” Christian nodded to Bentley. “What I do know is that if the only living alpha female picked you to be one of her mates then you damn well have some cool super power.”
Bentley frowned at him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about...
I’m a bitten wolf that the Collective kept around for my skills as a medical professional and researcher.
Viv took pity on me, and I’ve been blessed to be marked as one of her mates.
It happened when she was in heat, so I’m not sure that she was in her right mind.
We never got to talk about it because we were under attack shortly after and she was taken. ”
“Nah man, that’s not how it works, if she wasn’t supposed to mate with you then it wouldn’t have worked.
There would have been no connection; you would have just bitten the crap out of each other with no benefits.
It’s how it’s always been, keeps people from forcing the issue, not that they haven’t tried to bypass it time and time again. ”
I cleared my throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “If we could get back to the matter at hand. You claim to be the rebel leader... tell us what you know about what’s happening here in the States.”
“I mean, I’m no Luke or Leia, but I do what I can,” Christian grinned, looking at all of us as his smile faded.
“Okay, so not Star Wars fans I see... moving on. Jason is the leader of werewolves who want to rule over the US and bring back the natural order of things where humans are seen as lower on the food chain. Even though many want the power and to stop hiding from the humans there is another group of thought that I represent that wants to live in harmony with everyone else. There is no reason that we can’t come out to the world and still live like we always have, with additional rules put into place.
Most of the upper levels of government already know about us and our leadership, much like most know about the Collective. ”
“Is that what you are asking us to support?” Rik asked, leaning forward resting his elbows on his knees.
“No, I’m not asking you to decide on that in order for me to give you my help.
I will do anything I can to help you find your mate and to keep her safe, however I can.
All that I ask is for you to think about what changes are coming in the world around us.
Vadik and Jason aren’t going to stop unless people rise up and do something about it,” Christian laid out, pulling his legs from Tristan’s lap.
“Now that I’ve passed your lie detector test, let’s talk about your problem. ”
“You seem to have a fair amount of knowledge in regards to what’s going on. Why don’t you tell us what you know, and we can fill in the blanks,” I offered.
Christian leaned forward and snagged the room service menu. “Food first, then a little small talk as we eat, then we get down to business. Something tells me that our paths are going to be heading in the same direction for a while and this will be easier if we become friends.”
All of us gave a chuckle at the disarming smile he tossed our way.
I could easily see why Orion and Christian became friends and how it was easy to pick up right where they left off after so many years of not talking.
There were just some people you were blessed with in your life like that.
For me it has always been Rik and Tav...
Koit too since he never left Rik’s side growing up.
The flow of conversation was easy, and they had us laughing at the crazy stories they were telling about each other when Orion was here last. After so many endless weeks of working on putting out one fire after another, on top of tracking down where Viv might be, it was nice to feel some slight normalcy.
I could tell it was doing the others some good as well, Tav seemed to relax slightly, Koit had a real smile on his face, and even Bentley was more positive in his answers.
Tristan and I watched the whole thing like two parents, but I think it was just our nature to be more observant in a social setting, feeling more comfortable in the thick of battle versus the calm before the storm.
“So, you asked me earlier what I knew about the situation with your mate. Honestly, I don’t have a whole lot to share, I have an inside guy who works in transportation, so I knew when they brought her here from wherever they found her.
Rumors have been flying around all over the place though about a new Dama that was forcing the Collective to toe the line of following the rules.
When the requests went out for eligible alphas to join on a diplomatic venture, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together.
I should say those of us over the age of a hundred and fifty.
Even though I never grew up with a Dama ruling, I had family that taught us all about the old ways, being immigrants and wanting us to know our heritage.
Seems like it’s only Europe or the Collective that is trying to kill off that way of thinking so they can sweep it under the rug.
Someone in the party was also a double agent for me, so he sent me a list of all the men who had been sent. That’s how I got names to research.”
“Vivianna must be some woman to have managed to get seven strong willed men such as yourselves to function in such a tight unit, even with her missing. Sure, you guys argue who doesn’t, you’re all like brothers, but when it came down to trusting each other you didn’t even skip a beat.
Anyways, we know that Vadik left Wyoming as soon as they had her secure in one of their many secret locations.
I’ve been trying to locate which one it is so I can get a man on the inside, but the pack that I sent on the mission was ambushed before they could make their move.
Being a smaller pack, they didn’t have much of a fighting chance, they lost some good men and women.
The one thing I’ll say for the Crimson Feathers is they don’t buckle under pressure, and they were right back at it until it was discovered that Dr. Faulk was killed.
That alone told us something had changed, he was their number one asset, losing him is going to be a massive blow to their plans. ”
“We have reason to believe that was done by our mate,” Tav shared, setting down his plate and pulling his hair up telling me he was all business from now on.
“Darius was able to locate where the cabin was that they discovered his body in. It’s part of the Bow-Routt National Forest that also connects into Colorado if you travel further south. ”
Christian’s eyes lit up from excitement.
“Do you know what this means?. She’s heading right towards the Crimson Feather pack, they’re hidden away in that area.
There is a never ending amount of places to hide in the Rocky Mountains.
I’ll reach out to them when they have their weekly check in with me, which should be tomorrow or the next day. ”
“Are you saying that we might be able to find Viv in the next few days?” Bentley blurted, his voice filled with hope.
“Yes, my new friends I do believe that could very well happen,” Christian grinned.
“I need to call Kate and have her ready the lodge. Once we find Viv we will need to get you away from here as fast as possible, I’m sure that Jason already has a search team out to find her.
If they lost Faulk, then she is the next best thing if the rumors are true about alpha females and their reproductive skills. ”
The room went silent, and a tension hung in the air between us mate brothers.
“Would your people have any information on if Viv was pregnant?” Orion ventured, unable to look at Christian as he asked. “I had a vision and a note from my mother that Viv and her child were in danger.”
Christian leaned forward and grabbed Orion’s forearm. “I’m sorry, my old friend. I don’t have anything to share on that. If we had gotten to the facility faster maybe, but it took us this long to narrow down what state she was hidden in.”
Orion just nodded, rising to his feet and started to pace slowly as if he couldn’t bear to sit still.
“Why can’t we just call the Crimson Feather pack?” Tristan asked.
“In an effort to keep Grayson Industries from tracking our communications and meetings, we try to limit any contact however we can. In their particular case, being so isolated in the mountains it’s hard to get reception so we decided to have a weekly check-in so I could keep tabs on them.
If the need was dire, I could call them on the SAT phone they have, but we risk the chance of the conversation being noticed.
When they do their check in they change what town they reach out from, if something popped up in the middle of nowhere it would draw far too much attention. ”
Sitting back in my chair, I clasped my hand in my lap grinning at Christian.
“That is rather smart, and personally I wouldn’t do anything different with what you have available.
I might not be sure where I stand in this battle, but I would like to see what I can do to make it safer for you and the resistance to communicate. ”
“To have the master of security himself offer his help, I would be a fool to turn it down,” Christian grinned. “Now it seems we have a road trip on our hands, this is going to be such a wonderful bonding experience for us all.”