"Synchronised heat cycles? Seems beyond the capacity of a woman to organise," another man said with a chuckle. "Perhaps it is yet more machinations to assuage their unholy hungers."
"Willing to give them a seeing to, Brutus?" Lian said.
"Not I, not until they settle down into suitable compliance. Like ravening whores when they are in the midst of this. No, I'll take my time after the heat has settled, like any civilised being. Let's leave it to the young men to slake their lusts."
"Well, prisoner?"
"It's correct. We've already told you this, but it's not going to make any difference. I keep telling you, if you get beyond Sanctuary and make it into the human lands, you'll end up being nuked from space. They have weapons and soldiers—"
"Yes, yes. We've all heard your fairy tales before. Humans beings capable of such military feats." The lot of them laughed in that snotty way only blokes tripping on superiority complexes seem to be able to. "Guns are manufactured in the territory between the Summer and Winter kingdoms."
"Silverwood," one of the men said helpfully.
"Yes, Silverwood. No human is capable of such ingenuity. You think to hide the talents of your gunsmiths behind these stories, but it will not work."
"Right, right," Max said. "Because Smith and Wesson are just the names of two old faerie families. You stupid fucks, I'd pay anything to see your faces when you come face to face with a modern army."
The man closest to Max struck out so quickly it was a blur, his leather gauntlet smacking into Max's face so hard, his neck snapped back, the metal studs ripping the skin there.
"You are a throwaway from a repellent society," the man said in a perfectly icy tone, every word delivered with clipped precision. "Not even able to hold your place in a community run by women. We are not so soft hearted, to push the insubordinate through a trans-dimensional gate to fend for ourselves. We extinguish them. So, provide some useful information, or I'll have you tied to the women's post and fucked until you're dead."
I don't know if this is where we wanted to end the vision or Sylvan did, but up we went, faster and faster, until I felt nauseous with it. Then, the world reasserted itself. I looked down at the hands holding mine dumbly, just blinking, not able to string a single word together. Ophelia had no such issue.
"Release the prisoner into his mate's care and have all executive command at the alpha's residence within the hour," she snapped at the guards, Kelly watching as they didn't even hesitate to follow her orders.
"It'll take me some time to move my stuff out," she said stiffly.
"No need, you are my daughter, having all of the family under one roof is advisable. Julie, Jack, and Finn will be coming as well, and I'd like to extend an invitation to your packmates and petitioners to join us."
"You'd better accept," Nancy said. "You'll have a lynch mob with torches on your doorstep, bringing a black wolf into the married quarters."
"OK, I—"
"Have Julie's belongings packed and brought over, and those of her men," Ophelia said, then listed them all. It was an embarrassingly long list.
"Then I'll need to do a handover of the books and paperwork," Kelly persisted valiantly.
"No, I'll make you chief executive officer. Your work on the economic side of things has been admirable. You have a real head for figures, something we'll need if the gold is going to run dry. You can start with an audit of that as we pull back from the gate. Give me projections on how long we can last, what needs to be cut. I'll need at least preliminary figures on my desk within an hour."
"I'll gather the matriarchs and deliver the news. There's some who will struggle to believe," Nancy said.
"Then I will show them what we face," Ophelia replied. "Thank you, old friend. I will need yours and the matriarchs’ combined strength to get through this."
"Of course, alpha."
I watched Nancy leave the room, then Sylvan stepped free of his cage, the soldiers’ fingers still scarily close to their guns. He smiled brightly and came over to me. "Let’s check out the new digs, mate."
I watched Sylvan walk free of that bloody cage, looking for all the world like a king returning to court. Mate, I thought, and his head jerked up at that, before smiling. What the hell had I gotten myself into?
20
I had no idea there was an alpha residence, having not really explored Sanctuary fully. It was a huge place at the back of the fenced-off area where the gate was protected, close to the centre of town, yet set apart.
“You needn’t worry about us living on top of each other here,” Ophelia said as we got closer. The big military vehicle seated me, Kelly, Ophelia, Sylvan and four of the guys, Jack still at work and Brandon off to collect our gear. "You'll have your own wing."
I bet we would. As we drove through the gates, past the thick wall of trees along the fence line, the grass covered grounds spread out before us. I'd seen regional hospitals that weren't as big as this. As a long building with several stories, it was insanely huge.
"It used to be that the alpha's entire family lived here," Ophelia said as I stared at the house. "It's also the point of last resort if the community comes under attack." She nodded to the men patrolling the perfectly mowed lawns.