Chapter 22 #2
What? I lift my head slowly, pinning the alpha with a glare. “No.”
“Get me the letters,” Bear says to Legion.
He stands there, wavering, and finally steps towards me.
“I’ve read them. It doesn’t affect us at all,” Mordecai says easily.
Willow makes a rude sound.
“What?” Mordecai snaps in a tone that makes everyone flinch.
“It’s just, I mean, he would say that. He’s in love with her.”
I lift my head to stare at Mordecai. What? Love? We barely know each other. I expect him to laugh, to deny it, but he just stares at me, and the silence lengthens. A warm liquid feeling expands, filling my chest.
Oh.
Bear looks between Mordecai and me and sneers. “Are you losing your ability to be objective? Are you going to give up years of planning for an omega?”
“It’s not like that,” Mordecai says slowly. He stands up off the wall, leaving us all very aware of how big and strong he is. “My feelings and my devotion to this cause can walk hand in hand.”
“No, they can’t. It won’t ever work. It never does, and there will come a time when you will have to choose between love and duty. What will you choose?”
“I have spent my entire life devoted to this plan, and even if my heart says otherwise, I would not throw away so many people’s lives,” Mordecai says succinctly.
He doesn’t look at me; I’m sure he can feel the devastation pouring into the air as my scent gets dull and brittle.
“You know I am in the room,” I say bitterly.
Jarek is silently fuming, but the Resistance ignores us.
“Are you sure you can do it?” Bear barks.
“Of course,” Mordecai says easily.
My knuckles turn white, but I refuse to look up anymore, refuse to acknowledge them.
“Then, get me that letter,” Bear says.
Mordecai stares at him. The weight of his convictions is being tested, and we all know it. If he takes the letter from me, it’s another blow to the fragile trust he’s already damaged, but if he doesn’t, Bear and the Resistance will lose faith.
Mordecai slowly turns to me.
“Can I please borrow the letter, Keres?”
Keres? Well, I guess he needs a way to live with himself.
I reach into my pocket and pull it out, holding it out with a shaking hand. I have no choice, and everyone in this room knows it.
He’s careful not to touch me when he takes it, but my emotions are clear in the bitter notes in the room.
Jarek makes a hissing sound and steps forward, grabbing Mordecai’s wrist, hard enough that Mordecai winces.
“Those belong to her.”
“And she will get them back,” Mordecai says calmly.
“You’re an ass,” Jarek hisses.
“I know my place in the bigger picture.”
I can see Jarek getting riled and reach out, touching his back. “It’s okay. Let’s go and get something to eat.”
“I want a report!” Bear snaps.
I turn my head, lifting my eyebrows. “I’m sorry, sir,” I say with scathing sarcasm, “but I’m not one of your members yet. You don’t get anything from me, and today has been incredibly enlightening.”
Bear’s face twitches. “I could kick you out, take away the food, the help. Leave you alone to face an army of betas who want you dead.”
“You could,” I agree. “Do it. Send us out there.”
His eyes travel from me to Jarek, and he suddenly remembers what he has to lose.
“Go get some food and sleep; we’ll talk later,” he says, dismissing us.
I give him a mocking smile and walk out, Jarek and Cadel on my heels. I hate that I’m hyperaware of Mordecai and the fact that he didn’t come with us. Again.
“Did you get hurt?” I ask Cadel.
He shakes his head. “No. I’m fine.”
Jarek glares at anyone who looks in our direction, and in the end, we grab our food and disappear back into that quiet, tucked away room.
I chew in silence, unhappy with the way things have gone.
“Why did Legion hide the wolf?” I murmur.
Jarek pauses. “I wondered about that at the time. Mordecai went along with it, too.”
Cadel lays down, puts an arm under his head, and closes his eyes. “It doesn’t matter why; the fact is they are walking a thin line of duty and responsibilities. We don’t have that.”
“If Bear gets his way, we’ll all be drafted tomorrow.”
“Not happening,” Jarek growls. “Nothing I’ve seen has indicated that they will be any different.”
I snort and lay back, conscious of the two alphas on either side of me. Their scents fill the air, taking the edge off my temper. Soothing my hurt omega sensibilities.
“Do you think the Anarchy Wolf won?”
Cadel rolls towards me and kisses my forehead. I’m stunned into complete stillness, staring at him. He doesn’t even open his eyes, doesn’t even realise he’s just cracked the foundations of my world and left me reeling.
I’ve got people to lose.
The fear wells up like a tide, swirling around, threatening to drown me, but there’s Jarek, murmuring something, his warm scent bringing me back, telling me everything’s okay.
“Tomorrow, I want to go out alone,” Jarek says. “They are looking in the wrong area.”
I twist until I can see his face. “Are they?”
“Yes. From what I’ve been told, they are. I did try to tell Bear this. He said they’d checked it already and needed to clear these areas.”
“So, we have a plan. Are we bringing Mordecai and Legion?”
The door opens, and the pair of them slink into the dark and sit down.
There’s a heavy silence, and then Mordecai reaches out, passing me the letters.
“I’m sorry.”
He sounds as though he means it.
“Tomorrow, I’m going to where I was told to look for the exit,” Jarek snaps at them.
“We’ll go with you.”
The hostilities ease, but we sit in silence, all of us listening to the sound of drums beating in this ancient city, knowing that the worst is still to come.