Elena shifted uncomfortably in her seat. ‘What do you want to know?’ she asked with a frown.
‘What kind of a leader is he?’
She shuddered, and drew her legs up onto the chair. ‘The worst kind. He’s not a leader, he’s a bully.’
‘“All that is necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to stand by and do nothing”’, Greg quoted softly, but his stance had softened and he was leaning more casually against my desk. He was sinking back into good-cop mode.
She met his eyes and shook her head. ‘You don’t understand what he’s like. At first he seems charming. He makes sure that none of the pups ever see any violent behaviour. When you’re old enough to make your first shift, he takes you under his wing and seems to really want to get to know you. Even when you’re only thirteen, he’ll give you small jobs to do and reward you lavishly. By the time you’re sixteen and ready to be ranked, you’re already fanatically loyal to him.
‘Then he’ll send you out with a job that’s a little morally ambiguous, but you’ll do it because you’re only crossing a little line andBeckett Frosthimself has asked you to do it. After that it’s a slippery slope of devotion greased with the growing horror that you’re being groomed to carry out any act that he thinks is necessary.
‘Once he’s tested you, and made sure that you’re really his wolf, he eases off and moves onto the next target. You’re just so grateful that his gaze is no longer centred on you that you don’t really give a thought to the next poor bastard.’
Her eyes were filled with sorrow. ‘That’s the way I saw it for a long time until Beckett’s gaze focused on my brother, Jackson. There was something about Jackson that rubbed him up the wrong way. My brother had an edge of defiance that he couldn’t quite hide, and Beckett’s tests for Jackson quickly got hot and heavy.
‘Beckett moved too quickly and lost Jackson’s loyalty. Jackson turned lone rather than stay in the Devon pack. He packed his bags and disappeared in the night, leaving his resignation letter on Beckett’s desk. He was the first wolf who’d dared to go lone since Beckett had become alpha. Beckett didn’t like that Jackson had slipped out in the middle of the night and that he hadn’t had the opportunity to beat him into submission.’
Elena’s lip was curled back into a sneer, dislike vibrating off her. No wonder she’d had to transfer after her brother went lone; her vitriol would be hard to hide.
‘Jackson ran to London,’ Elena continued. ‘His note to me said that he hoped to lose Beckett in the big city. But he didn’t have any money, and all his previous job experience was related to the Devon pack. Leaving was an impulse move, and he was utterly unprepared for real life. He had nothing, and no one would give him a reference, so he couldn’t even secure a bar job.
‘It opened my eyes. I watched Beckett carefully, and for the first time I saw how dangerous and toxic he is. I waited a few weeks after Jackson’s defection then asked Beckett if I could transfer. I said it was because I needed to leave the shame of my brother absconding behind me and I wanted to search for a mate.
‘Beckett told me that I would always be Devon-pack born and raised, but he was willing to let me go on condition that any live pups that I birthed were raised within the Devon pack. I was desperate to go, so I agreed, but I’d rather rip out my uterus and give up my chance for children than give my pups to that monster to raise.’
Her hands were trembling with outrage.
‘I literally put a pin in the werewolf directories and found the Home Counties pack. Mark Oates had continued his regular trips into London, and he realised Jackson was my brother. Mark used his connection to me to gain Jackson’s trust. He suggested that the only way for a lone wolf to get some money together was by taking part in the black tourneys.’
Elena looked down and away, her jaw tightening. I could see that she was fighting tears. Maybe an alpha is supposed to look coldly upon emotion, but that’s not how I roll.
Vile,Esme hissed in my mind.Wrong. That is NOT alpha.
I rose and gave Elena a hug. Now the tears came, and she shook and shuddered as she sobbed in my arms. My heart ached for all that she’d been through.
She’d affirmed what kind of a leader Beckett was – and what kind of a leader I wanted to be. Dammit, now I felt bad about keeping Thea’s presence from her. I’d been as manipulative as Beckett reportedly was.
Elena’s tears quietened and she made a visible effort to pull herself together. Greg offered her some of the tissues on my desk and she took some with a watery smile. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’ve never really spoken about the Devon pack since I left. I guess I’ve kept it bottled up. It’s like being born and raised in a cult. You don’t realise how wrong the environment is, until you’ve left.’
‘Well, it seems that you may have started a trend.’ I was determined to come clean now. ‘Theodora Frost has decided to leave the Devon pack and requested a transfer to the Home Counties pack.’
Her jaw dropped. ‘That doesn’t seem likely,’ she said, sounding confused. ‘Thea always seemed to be under Beckett’s spell. He always treated her with kid gloves because she’s his sister. I like her, but she always seemed so much meeker than the rest of the Frost family. I can’t imagine her striking out on her own.’
‘It’s been two years since you’ve left the pack. A lot could have changed since then,’ I pointed out.
‘True,’ she agreed. ‘As part of my job as a journalist, I’ve got sources in both the Common and in the Other, so I kept my eye on the Devon pack as a matter of security and safety. They appear to be keeping their noses clean, as far as I can tell. But it seems obvious to me that if Ace Frost was involved in the black tourneys then so is Beckett Frost. Ace could come across as charming and suave, the same as Beckett when he wants to be, but he was always number two to Beckett’s number one. I honestly don’t believe Ace would have gotten involved in the black tourneys without his brother’s approval.’
‘Well, Thea is here and we need to work out whether she’s really seeking sanctuary or she’s here to dig into Ace’s disappearance. Better the enemy you know, and all that. Let’s keep her close while we work out her true motivation. You knew her before, so you’re best placed to get a feel for her now. Befriend her, see whether you think she really wants to transfer here or she’s got another reason entirely.’
‘I want to believe that she’s just here to transfer,’ Elena admitted. ‘But I’ll do some digging. My nose for BS is pretty accurate.’
‘I appreciate your help with this. Greg showed Thea to a guest room in the dormitory. It’s getting late, so perhaps you could knock on her door for dinner. Let Liam and Archie know what’s going on, rope them into helping you, but keep it between you three.’
Elena nodded, all business. ‘We won’t let you down. If there’s nothing else?’
I shook my head and she took her leave, closing the heavy office door behind her.
‘That’s the most I’ve ever heard Elena say,’ Greg commented.