SWNOVELS Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
CAMERON
"Is he dead?" I ask.
Eric MacPhearson leans against the bookcase in my room. After the shitshow in the hospital wing, I suggested that he and I talk.
He doesn't ask 'who.' "No. He escaped."
"How severe were your losses?"
"Why do you ask? Thinking of westward expansion?"
I smirk. "No. We've been content here."
It's true. This is Big Sky Country. Winters are cold and long-perfect for our wolves. We're in a remote area with our pack spread out across lands that range for fifty miles in each direction. We have an infrastructure, a corporate base, our agricultural and ranching operations, even separate schools that are state-accredited for our kids.
"Bigger isn't always better."
He laughs.
"You know what I mean." I purposely lobbed that softball, thinking to lull him further with some humor. We'll never be friends. And given that he wants Mia, it's a miracle I haven't already murdered him. But he is, for all intents and purposes, a 'neighbor' and a fellow Alpha if nothing else.
If we're at this lull in our hatred, I might as well make the most of it. "Your goal... this unified nation...you know it will never work, right? It defies our very natures as wolves and Alphas. You will always face resistance. You will always have some young pup-like Philipe-seeking to make you pay for your actions. War begets war, Eric."
I go to the wet bar in the corner of the room. It's still morning, but I don't even care as I pour myself a drink. Holding to the notion of making the most out of this conversation, I pour a second whiskey and hand it to him.
He holds the glass up in a mock toast and takes a sip.
"You have to know," I go on. "That there isn't a wolf in this pack that won't go to war at the tiniest provocation. If I so much as issue the command, they'll mobilize as one unit." Now I pull out the bigger guns in my proverbial argument. "You've made many enemies in your zest to control the West Coast. You've just seen what one family can do-and Ashley and her brother, they come from a peaceful pack. You sure you want to keep this up? You might find there are others who won't bow down-or stay down-so readily."
He slugs back the drink and walks past me. Making himself at home, he grabs a second glass and this time reaches for vodka instead.
"You're a dick for pouring whiskey. I don't think I've touched the stuff since that summer when we drank a case of it. I'm pretty sure I puked enough that night to feed the seagulls on the beach for a week."
One summer.
It'd been one summer in my first college years when my father sent me to Stanford. Eric had been finishing his masters.
Wolves sense wolves and we'd torn up the coast for a few weeks. It'd all been in good fun and we'd gotten along all right, as two guys with big shoes to fill as we stepped into our respective Alpha heritages. We never kept in touch.
Never talked or emailed or bothered with social media.
He takes another sip and considers me over the rim of his glass. "Why haven't you killed Ashley? Seems like a win/win for you," he goes on. "Kill a traitor, free up the bond. Fully mate Mia." I've thought about it.
It's exactly as Eric said, Ashley is a threat and she fucked with my mind, so much so that I was not fully aware of my actions. In that regard, it was a bloody miracle my pack hadn't outed me entirely for my incompetence.
"She'll be tried and punished for her actions," I say.
"I don't resent her. Or her brother Philipe."
Oh. This is news.
He stares at his glass as if it holds the answers he seeks. "Not long after you were in Cali. Before my father's demise... There was an attack and the Alpha on our southern border made a play for our lands. He killed my dad, raped then killed my mom. Imprisoned me and Corinne in these horrible pits."
He glances up at me. For a second, his eyes are haunted. In the next, he's cool and smug again. "We have mines on our properties, some of the tunnels drop off into pits so deep and dark you'd think you were standing at the edge of hell. He kept us in those holes. Alone. In the dark. For... I don't even know. It could've been months or weeks."
He shakes his head as if shaking off the memories. "I know a thing or two about revenge, Cameron."
"Let me guess... that Alpha is dead and you took over his holdings."
Eric shrugs. "I rule from Alaska to Baja...but who said anything about killing him?"
Oh. So the traitor was alive then. And...what? Languishing in some abandoned mine shaft for... years?
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I was visited once... by a Seer. The same one tied to Ashley and now to Mia."
Many Alphas seek the guidance of Seers. It's an ancient practice, dating back to when they would predict times for planting and harvests. My father never put much stock in them. I'd asked Sean-my beta- once if we should bring one to our lands. Sean had argued vehemently against it.
Which makes a whole lot more sense now.
Eric rubs his eyes for a second. "It's all so interconnected, isn't it? Like some intricate web and we're all fuckin' stuck in it."
Yes. I tend to agree.
My body tenses. We may have some common enemies, but that does not make this Alpha my ally.
"What did she tell you?" I ask carefully.
"She said I'd be forged in darkness and made to unite our world in light."
"Lofty."
His mouth twitches. "That's not all she said."
"Enlighten me."
"She said 'the moon-marked mother would belong to me.'
I take a second to rein in my anger. "If you think I'm just going to hand over my mate..."
"She's better off with me," he says.
"You're delirious."
Eric purses his lips and is quiet for a moment. Then he says something that stops me completely... "We could share her..."