My cousin reeled back, his expression clouding. “Eli, we’re three months apart. We’re practically brothers. I would never try to overthrow your father as alpha or riskyourfuture as alpha. Even if my father is up to some nonsense—”
“Well, he is,” I grumbled, not yet willing to believe Myles’s complete ignorance. Gordon’s made more sense — Gage often left his older son out because he wasn’t an alpha or a beta, but Myles? It was obvious Gage wanted Myles to follow in his footsteps. Even Myles had to see that.
Myles watched me a few moments longer, his expression slowly turning into a blank mask.Betas.“Look, I don’t know what’s going on inside your head,” he said, his voice returning to that cool timbre he used when trying to defuse a situation, “but you need to take a step back and get things sorted out.”
He studied me for a moment longer and shook his head before pushing his chair back and getting to his feet. “I’ll see you later, Eli,” he said quietly, pausing for just one moment, and then he walked away down the hall.
I stared at his back as he went.
First Iris, and now Myles? You need to get a grip, Eli — and fast.
Cup of coffeein my hand, I retreated upstairs to the room Iris and I had been staying in. She wasn’t there. My wolf wilted almost immediately, but…part of me was glad she’d gone somewhere else. Maybe Myles was right and Iwasa bit of a mess right now. Iris had already had to deal with me last night. I didn’t want to dump whatever this was on her again.
Setting my mug down, I took a few minutes to rummage through my bag, picking out a clean set of clothing for the council meeting. Wolves had already started arriving, and I knew it was only a matter of time before my father summoned me to the council room. It would probably be better if I was there before he needed to call me. I wiped off my face with a hand towel and ran a hand through my hair to tame it, feeling a little refreshed when I heard the door open.
My heart jumped and my wolf stirred, but when I turned around, there was a man standing in the doorway. My heart plummeted to my feet and my wolf’s interest soured at once. His ears rolled back as the door closed, hackles raising as far as they could go.
Brock.
He didn’t move from the doorway, even though he’d closed the door, clearly blocking my only escape. My skin crawled.Some things never change.
“What do you want?” I asked, hating how tired the question sounded.
The man folded his arms over his chest and leveled me with a stony look. “You were pretty rude to Viola last night,” he said, his brassy voice just as grating as I remembered it. It ran down my spine like nails on a chalkboard.
I almost scowled, catching myself just in time. “I was having a bad night,” I said, schooling my face into a careful neutral expression instead. “I’ll apologize when I see her after the meeting.”
I had no intention of doing any such thing, but if saying that would get Brock the hell out of here, I had no problem lying to the brute.
Brock clicked his tongue against his teeth and shook his head. “Do I look like a fool? A weakling? You disrespected my mate last night, Eli. It’s like all this world travel has turned you into a spoiled little brat.”
I felt my skin prickle again, as if my wolf’s bristling hackles might burst from my skin at any moment. He was pressed right up against the surface, but the last thing I needed was for him to take over. If Uncle Gage had brought Brock onto the council because he was going to support my uncle, the last thing I needed to do was lose control over my wolf. They’d point to that as some sign of weakness, surely. “Nic can’t teach his son right” or “see, this one is so unstable, that’s why he’s got Remus” or “a sign of weak lineage,” even though Gage and Nic were full brothers.
Whatever excuse they could dig up, they’d find it. They’d use it. That was just the kind of snake Brock was, and if Gage was associating with Brock? Well, then I wouldn’t be able to trust my uncle as far as I could throw him.
“Do you hear me, Eli?”
Ancestors, is he still talking?
“Yes, I hear you,” I growled. I knew that was dangerous, and yet…I didn’t care. Brock was an asshole, but compared to the Raven Brothers, or that Dr. Brenner Iris and Agent Foxrun had told us about? He was just a run-of-the-mill dick. He might have been the monster that haunted my nightmares as a little boy, but I wasn’t a child anymore — and I’d met real monsters now.
I took a deep breath and dug up every ounce of outrage and aggravation currently fostered in my wolf’s body. “I just do not give a fuck about what you think I did or didn’t say to my mother last night. I have bigger problems right now.”
Brock’s expression pinched. “Excuse me?” he asked, as if he couldn’t believe I’d ever find my spine and tell him off.
Somehow, that just fueled my fire. “You heard me,” I growled. “I don’t answer to you or Viola. I don’t care what you want and what you think I did or didn’t do. You’ve made up some delusion anyway.”
A low growl rumbled from the older man’s chest. “You willnotdisrespect me or my mate like that in my presence.”
I rolled my eyes. “You keep saying that,” I said, “and yet here I am.” It was like I’d totally lost control of my mouth. I was an entirely different person. I knew it was dangerous — I knew Brock would be righteouslypissed— but I couldn’t stop myself. Something aboutfinallytelling off this flaming garbage heap of a man felt fuckinggood. It was better than getting drunk or having a really good run. Once I started, I felt like I couldn’t stop.
“You aren’t a pack alpha, boy,” Brock snarled, taking a step towards me. “You aren’t shit. You’re just a sad boy with a sad father, and the only reason I put up with you at all is because Viola asked me so nicely all those years ago.”
I snorted, baring my teeth at the man. “You aren’t shit, either,” I snapped back. “Just a sad man who makes himself feel big by pushing around those smaller than him. You better enjoy your time on the Council while you can, you shifty little weasel. I won’t stand for bullies or liars on my Council when my father transfers Longbow to me.”
I should have stopped there. I really should have. I almost felt like I was standing next to myself, watching as I braced my shoulders and told this man off. “You aren’t just going to be kicked off the Council,” I rambled.Eli, stop it!
But I couldn’t. I opened this floodgate and there was no putting the river back, now that the dam had been broken. “I’m going to banish you from the fucking pack, you monster.”
Brock roared and lunged forward with two massive steps, closing the distance between us in the time it took me to blink. Before I could inhale, he had his fingers around my neck as he threw me backward against the wall, my skull thunking against the wood. I should have been terrified — but I wasn’t. Even if I wanted to be, I couldn’t draw up that emotion. I felt void, even as the man squeezed his fingers and pressed his face mere inches from mine, baring his teeth.
“You don’t get to threaten me, boy,” he snarled.
Little drops of spittle coated my face.
“You don’t own me, Brock.” I clenched my hands into fists and grinned at him, wearing my wolf’s smile. “Fuck off and eat glass.”