Chapter 17 #3
“Respect, yes. But we deserve a say. You can’t just order Warrick and a human to lead twenty-six tigers because you had a rough night and found religion.”
“Do you want it, Kess? I’ve been trying to get you and Warrick to mate for years. To have you both lead us. But you have refused, each and every time.”
Kess made a sound that was almost a laugh.
“I refused because I’m not interested in Warrick, Davan.
I’ve never been interested in Warrick. I thought my dating Julia made that fairly obvious, but apparently, I need to spell it out.
” She looked at Davan without flinching.
“I will not, ever, mate with a male. I don’t want to lead.
I’ve never wanted to lead. I want a say in what’s being decided for us, though; that’s all I’ve ever asked. ”
Scott picked up his coffee mug, put it down without drinking. Moved the file on the table in front of him two inches to the left. Small movements. The kind that meant nothing unless you’d spent five years reading the man, in which case you knew he was holding something behind his teeth.
“You’re all arguing about who leads,” Scott said. “Nobody’s talking about whether there’ll be anything left to lead.”
Davan turned to him.
Scott sat straight. “Warrick has a human in his home who now knows about us. A human whose ex has hired men to find her. Those men came to the shelter, and twelve of them are in the ground because of it.” He looked around the room. “That’s not a leadership question. That’s a security breach.”
“Nobody’s denying the risk—” Davan started.
“No, you’re just packaging it so it sounds like destiny instead of a disaster.
” Scott’s voice went up a notch. “You want to know what the earth-born are going to say when they find out? They’re not going to see Rethaar’s hand, Davan.
They’re going to see a man who blew our cover for a woman he met a week ago. ”
“Careful,” I said.
“Why? Because she’s your mate? Because the bond makes it sacred?
” He looked at me, and for a second, the surface Scott, the charming, easy one, the man who threw me protein bars and made the office run, disappeared.
“I’ve spent five years running our business, Warrick, and longer being the backup for any of our people who need help.
I’ve forged documents for tigers who don’t have social security numbers.
I’ve found jobs and housing and fake histories for those who can’t pass a background check.
I do that work. Me. Every day. While you drive to Starved Rock every Friday to touch a rock that hasn’t done anything in fifteen years. ”
“Scott—”
“No. Don’t. I did it because I believed in what we’re building. On Earth. Not back on a planet that half of us have never even seen. Here I thought that mattered. I thought eventually someone would look at what I’d built and say, yeah, Scott’s the one. He showed up.”
He was standing now. “But that was never going to happen, was it? Because I’m not a Kassar.
I don’t have the bloodline. And now you’ve got her,” he shot a look at Lucy, fast, “and Davan’s got his sign, and everything I’ve done for years is just—What?
Infrastructure? Scaffolding that holds up the real leader’s life? ”
Davan shook his head. “That’s not what this is, Scott.”
But Scott was right. Not about all of it, but about the thing that mattered: I hadn’t seen him.
For years, Scott had kept the lights on, made the calls, done the invisible work that held our business and our people together, and I’d treated it like background noise.
I’d noticed his expression tighten at the gatherings when Davan took over a conversation he’d been leading.
I’d filed it and moved on. I’d driven to the dead gate and my empty cabin and my vow, and I’d never once asked Scott what he wanted.
What he was building toward. Whether it was enough.
“It’s exactly what this is. You just don’t see it because you’ve already decided the story.
Rethaar’s plan. The human mate who proves we belong.
But I was born here. I didn’t need a sign to tell me this is home.
I’ve known it my whole life. But that doesn’t count, does it?
Being born here, building here, working here—None of it counts as much as a dead king’s son falling for a girl at the pound. ”
Scott’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He didn’t reach for it. Second time. Two calls he’d ignored in twenty minutes, and Scott never ignored calls.
Something is wrong.
I frowned, trying to work out what my tiger had picked up on.
“Maybe it’s time for new solutions. New ideas.” Scott looked at Kess. “I’m sorry you’re here for this. You and Davan weren’t meant to be here, but I’m nothing if not adaptable.”
My head snapped to the window.
Engines. Multiple vehicles, moving fast, the sound swelling through the trees.
I crossed the room in three strides.
Seven vehicles on the track. SUVs and a van. Coming hard through the tree cover, kicking up dust.
I turned and faced my business partner.
“Scott, what the fuck did you do?”