“Oh…I…” Bel stammered. He could feel his cheeks heating, and he dropped his eyes to where he had his hand buried in River’s thick fur.
Wyatt surprised him further by brushing a kiss to Bel’s temple. “River and I are going to the kitchen to make something to eat. Shifting burns a lot of calories. Would you like something?”
“No, thank you. I’m fine.”
“Winter?”
His brother shook his head. “Thank you.”
With some nudging from Wyatt, River gave a disgruntled growl before rolling off the couch. Wyatt paused and picked up River’s clothes from the floor and took them along with the wolf to the kitchen. Bel knew without a doubt that they were politely giving him some privacy.
“You must understand that Aiden feels the same way you do,” Winter said the moment they were alone. “That he empathizes with what they’ve been through, but he has to consider what is best for everyone. It’s not just the four of us against the world any longer. There are Ethan, Philippe, Jullien, Gideon, Ryder, and Lola to consider.”
“I know, and I worry about them as well, but doesn’t there have to be a point where we take a stand? Where we have to say, ‘No more’?”
“There is, brother. And the truth is, we don’t know how the Montgomery clan leader is going to react. She could be intrigued by the wolves. She could see them as a critical strength. She could see our inclusion of them as a moral and compassionate strength. The reason we’ve even considered the Montgomery clan is due to the fact that we know they’ve been unhappy with the Ministry and its corruption.”
Bel scrubbed a hand over his face, hating the useless swirls of thought that were running in his brain. “I understand the need for safety, but I still believe there is a time where we have to make compromises so we can do what’s right.”
“I’m not against your wolves. I don’t think Marcus or Aiden are, from what I’ve been able to gather. They’re just being cautious.”
“If they were not wolves, would they have a grievance with them joining the clan?”
“Possibly.”
“How?” Bel shouted.
Winter gave him a look that clearly stated that he was being the illogical one. “Bel, how long have you known them? A month? Two? When Lola, Ryder, and Gideon had been invited into the clan, they’d been with Rafe for years.”
“But Philippe—”
“Rafe had known him for several weeks, plus we were already considering an alliance the clan because we knew they had similar beliefs as the Variks.”
“Ethan was plotting to have our family killed!” Bel threw out, though he immediately regretted the words the moment they left his lips. He adored Ethan. The man had proved his worth time and again over the past several months.
“And Ethan made up for that mistake. I don’t think any of us blames him for his choices, considering how his family was murdered. We just wish he had told us sooner.”
Bel dropped back to the cushions, his body seeming to deflate. “I know.”
“Have faith in Aiden. We’ll find a way through this.”
“I don’t know.”
“Bel—”
“Last night, after we returned from Marcus’s, we met the leader of the local wolf pack,” Bel admitted in a low, dull voice. “He wants Wyatt and River gone from the area, or the pack will kill them and me.”
When he lifted his eyes to his brother, Winter had steepled his fingers in front of his face and was lightly tapping them against his lips in thought. It should have been a dark indication that Winter didn’t seem at all disturbed that the wolf pack leader had threatened his life. But then, Marcus and Rafe had already suffered threats on their lives in the past six months. Hell, the Ministry had already threatened Bel’s life this year, thanks to his experiments.
“I’m going to assume you’ve already told him to go to hell,” Winter said, his gaze not lifting from the table.
“Yes.”
“Interesting.”
“Really, brother? That’s all you have to say?”
Winter dropped his hands and smirked at him. “Sorry. When it comes to you, the threats are usually coming from the Ministry. Not much I can do about that. It’s Marcus’s domain. But the wolves, that’s something new for me. I don’t think I have any useful contacts in that realm who could help, but I’m happy to do some digging. See what I can learn about this pack.”
“Thank you,” Bel said on a sigh.
“Will you come up with a new formula that will work against the wolves?”
Bel glared at his brother. “You know that I’m not truly this mad scientist you and Rafe like to paint me as. The formula I used to stop the Black Wolf clan was discovered purely by accident.”
“Yes, and maybe you could accidentally discover a paralytic that could keep the wolves from shifting.”
“I don’t see how that would be helpful at all.”