There’s a lot of recapping of the entire case of Jack Didion; how he sent men to attack Michelle, my brother Aaron’s mate, with plans to experiment on her and find out if the “shifter gene,” a special gene that humans can carry that links them to shifters even though they can become wolves themselves, could potentially help with the breeding of more shifters.
A guard brings Didion out then. He’s in a white jumpsuit and shackles and presumably they’ve given him an inhibitor so he’s not able to shift at the hearing and start a riot. In his cell though, he’s allowed to shift and he’s even given room to run around and occasionally taken outside. We treat prisoners fairly well most of the time. Even if right about now I’d like Didion to meet with some torment. When he walks in I feel as if my fur is rising even in human form. I can’t help but bare my teeth and Didion narrows his eyes when he sees me.
Didion is just a little younger than my dad. He has a couple teenage children but he’s definitely old enough to have been Olivia’s father. He has shaggy graying hair. He used to keep it short but he’s been locked up, and stubble on his chin. He looks a little dishevelled especially compared to his well put together appearance when he was an alpha in Seattle. But he’s obviously been well fed and looked after.
There’s some more reading of legalese and then witness and friends of Didion’s are called forward to speak on his behalf. I feel infuriated the entire time and I guess I must be showing it because eventually my dad rests his hand on my arm. Feeling that comforting touch from my father calms me down just a little bit.
Finch says, “Now we will hear from those speaking on behalf of those wronged by the convicted here, Jack Didion. Xander Tremblay?”
I stand up and speak from my seat. I talk generally about how Didion had Michelle attacked and further, that she was pregnant. I talk about the threat to my family. I even bring up Hardwidge. It’s this idea that we must “preserve or further the shifter race” that seems to be harmful, I tell them. At that, I hear a little bit of murmuring and I clarify. We must look after our people and protect our way of life and our population of shifters. Yet this idea keeps leading to destructive and violent acts and Didion has done too much in its name to warrant his release. I hear some grumbling around me. Apparently I went too far for some people.
Well, they can suck it. Because I’m right.
Finally, Finch bangs his gavel and asks if I have any further remarks.
“Yes, I do, Eli,” I say. I take a breath and rage ripples through my blood. The wolf is clawing at my door, his nails getting dulled by how hard he scratches at it. The wolf wants blood. I should’ve run last night. All I can do now is put all my concentration into speaking calmly even as the perpetrator of Olivia’s pain sits passively in a chair next to his representative, shackled hands in his lap. He stares straight ahead, completely ignoring me. That makes me want to murder him even more.
“I’ve...recently become the acquaintance of a certain Miss Olivia Hathaway.” My voice echoes in the high ceilinged room. I hear a few confused murmurs around me, seemingly others wondering what this has to do with anything. But I don’t miss how Didion looks up immediately, his drawn face shifting ever so slightly, his mouth falling open a little.
That’s right, you son of a bitch.
“Olivia Hathaway is a friend,” I say clearly. “A witch who is entirely human...yet who is a product of a union between a wolf shifter and a human woman. The wolf shifter’s name is Jack Didion. He is her father.”
“Impossible!” Somebody cries out.
Jack looks so pissed, it’s kind of delicious.
There are a bunch of other shouts and Finch bangs his gavel again. “Order! Order!” He clears his throat. Finch is a rotund man, a very well fed wolf and a good guy. I always liked Finch. He’s had this position a long time because he’s fair and objective in how he deals with people. Everybody gets sort of equally pissed off at him. That’s how you can tell he’s doing a good job. “Xander, if you’re suggesting that his crime is this union-”
“No,” I say firmly. “His crime is not this union. It’s not that he had a child with a human. Let us not pretend that such things never occur despite our old code of honor. His crime is what he did to the child-”
“This is not what or why we’re here!” Didion sputters, getting to his feet. There’s a rumble through the room again. The guard forces him to sit down. He looks a little panicked.
Finch keeps banging his gavel and I’m getting too hot under the collar. I have to spit it out or I’m about to shift and jump at Didion right now and that wouldn’t do any good. “Didion experimented on his own daughter! He kept her locked up in a lab for years! Trying to figure out how she might unlock the secret of breeding further shifters or turning humans into shifters! He put the child through torture!”
The courtroom is in chaos now. Finch can’t get order and my dad is looking at me like I’m crazy. Didion is on his feet. He doesn’t speak, he just glares at me like he wants to kill me.
It takes several minutes for things to calm down even a little bit and finally Finch has order in the room again.
“Xander, these are serious allegations…”
“I don’t see him denying it,” I all about growl, my eyes locked with Didion’s.
I kept waiting for him to say something. I was sure he’d shout and insist none of it was true. But he hasn’t.
“Jack, what say you to these accusations?” Finch says.
“It’s true,” Didion says, and Finch has to bang the gavel again to calm everyone down. “A long time ago I was seduced by a human whore. She was a witch who brought me low and lured me in like a siren. She gave birth to an unnatural mongrel-”
“You son of a bitch!” I’m out of my seat and I feel my eyes flash. They must be nearly black as I feel myself start to shift. My father and two other men have to hold me back.
“Son!” My father says. “Control yourself!”
It takes everything in me not to completely shift and it’s painful, my wolf wants to get out so badly.
But the worst part is how disappointed my father looks when he glances at me. It’s like he can’t believe what he’s seeing.
Finch finally gets order again and Didion admits that he not only did experiments on his own daughter, keeping her locked in a kind of cell in a makeshift lab but that he doesn’t regret it because he was doing it for the sake of shifter kind.
I feel like this utterly vindicated the speech I made earlier but I don’t know if anyone is putting that together or not.
“Before we hold a vote on whether Jack Didion should be released on probation,” Finch finally says, “I’d like to ask you, Xander, about the nature of your relationship with this human woman, Olivia Hathaway?”
“I don’t see how that’s relevant,” I say, feeling more than a little indignant.
“Just answer the question, Xander,” my father says, giving me a dark look. I feel a keen sense of betrayal at that. I suppose they could be asking because they think there’s a potential for some kind of conflict of interest but I don’t think it’s that. I think they want to make sure I’m not fraternizing with humans. I find myself mortally offended that they can still care about that given the circumstances.
“She’s a friend,” I say, biting down on the words. “I think you’re all aware of changes I’ve recently made within the Tremblay Company. She brought the treatment of underage minors by a distributor in Chile to my attention and as a result, I’ve hired her on. She’s an employee and… I consider her a close friend.”
“And there’s nothing romantic between you too…?”
I can’t remember ever being this angry at Elroy Finch before. Everyone is staring at me expectantly, and all at once I remember how I reacted to the idea that Aaron might be in love with a human woman before we knew about Michelle’s shifter gene.
Karma’s a bitch.
But I’m still pissed.
“I’m not answering that,” I say simply.
“She knows about shifters, her father is one,” I snap. “She sniffed me out. She’s not just any human. Obviously.”
“You’ll be respectful in this courtroom, Xander,” Finch says.
“Oh my God.
Somebody who’s not my father speaks in my defence. It’s Fred Langdon, an elder from up north. “I’m having trouble understanding why Xander Tremblay is being interrogated?” He pipes up. “I’m pretty sure this is Jack Didion’s hearing?”
“Alright, alright…” Finch let’s it go but he casts me one more suspicious glance before banging his gavel again. “We will now vote on whether or not Jack Didion should be released on probation…”
I wasn’t too worried about the vote when I walked in and now I have no idea what’s going to happen. On the bright side, if Didion does get out and comes anywhere near me and mine including Olivia, I’ll take that throat out and I won’t be sorry.
It’s tight, but the vote comes down in my favor and I let out a breath I did not know I was holding. My father, on the other hand, doesn’t look relieved. He still looks like he’s pissed at me. I find myself less hurt than annoyed now that it’s over. Everyone is getting to their feet and I hear a lot of grumbling. I get a couple of suspicious looks but a few people come over to pat me on the back and reiterate their support for the Tremblays and that feels pretty good.
When most of the courtroom has finally cleared out and they’ve moved the now snarling Jack Didion back to his cell, I finally glare at my father who’s been giving me the stink eye since I spoke about Olivia.
“What?” I say, all but exploding. “Do you have something to say?”
“Be careful, Xander,” he says.
That’s it. That’s all he says. Then he gets up and walks out of the room.
Chapter Eight: Xander
When everyone else is gone, I sit there in the courtroom for a while.
I’ve never seen a hearing quite like that before. I’ve also never come so close to shifting in the middle of an official meeting and losing my shit like that before either. It used to happen all the time in the old days of shifters before we were a bit more civilised. If you had a feud with somebody, you both shifted and fought it out. A lot of packs still resolve things that way if informally. I think it’s ridiculous on one hand but it sure does simplify things, as long as the beef isn’t too serious. But it’s never been how I do things, as hot-headed as I’m purported to be.
I’m pretty sure everyone thinks I’m in a romantic relationship with Olivia now. That’s going to be...complicated. At least Didion is still locked up. I guess I have to take my victories where I can get them. I finally get to my feet and every muscle feels tensed. I was already riled up but having to contain myself with such effort, I now feel like a spring coiled far too tightly. In the car I put on the calmest music I can stand but it doesn’t do much good as I grip the steering wheel with white knuckles all the way back to Quinton. I would’ve thought since my dad decided to come, he’d want to ride with me but then when there’s a reason to go to the Mulligan and other alphas and elders are around, he does like to go out to dinner and catch up with people.
I can only imagine how one of those dinners is going now. I’m sure they’re giving him the third degree about me or, worse perhaps, my father is joining them in criticism of me. Even the deepest loyalties have limits. I know he’s going to ask me a million questions about Olivia as soon as he gets back. That’s for damn sure.
I answer a few calls to keep myself busy on the long drive back to Quinton and I think I come off a little curt and rude because...I’m not great at compartmentalizing. But people have a habit of not questioning that because I’m also the CEO. I get away with too much probably. I admit it. I try to keep it in mind for the most apart. But today has been rough. It’s started raining; a steady drizzle that makes the drive slower going. Yet the glum weather matches my mood.
When I get home, I text Olivia quickly just to let her know that Didion didn’t get probation. She only responds with a thumbs up. Exhaustion overwhelms me as soon as I walk in the door and I end up shedding my clothes on the way to my bedroom where I plop onto my bed still in my pants and immediately conk out the second my head hits the pillow.
I dream of Olivia. I dream she’s still human but I’m her mate. I dream of my wolf self standing between her and faceless threats and the absolute sureness down to my bones that if anyone tried to harm her, I would kill them.
When I wake up, it’s nearly ten at night. I’d intended to get a little work done. There’s still some smoothing over of shareholders that needs to be done and that’s not to mention the work I already have engineers doing trying to figure out if the Godrun can be made without altanium or if there are any other sources of altanium out there we just don’t know about. I’m groggy as I roll out of bed and then I realize it’s somebody shouting my name from downstairs that’s woken me up. I throw on a clean t-shirt and pad my way downstairs.
“Xander!” My father’s in the living room, sitting on my couch with a cocktail in his hand. He’s been shouting for me like I’m a kid at home again. Though I suppose parents just kind of get to do that.
“Dad,” I mumble, shaking my head and slapping some blood into my cheeks. “What’re you doing here so late?”
“I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after the hearing,” my dad says. “No, I should say...I chose not to talk to you after the hearing. I apologize for my curtness.”
I pour myself two fingers of the good bourbon and sit down in the chair across from him. It’s my Eames chair; black leather and fine wood. I like mid-century modern things. My parents have always been more old-fashioned. About almost everything.
“I understand,” I say, taking a sip. “It must have been surprising to hear me go on about Olivia. A lot has happened in the last few weeks is all. I would’ve told you about her at our next dinner just…”
My dad shakes his head and then he looks at me as if I’ve just broken his heart. My dad is shorter than me and slighter. In his day he was muscular but wiry. He was a great fighter as a wolf, quick where I’m more powerful. There were more skirmishes and wars between clans in his day and many the shifter that underestimated my father to their detriment. Now he seems so much smaller. But to me, he’s always loomed large. So it hurts me to see him look at me as if I’ve hurt him somehow. At least, when I don’t think I have.
“So you are in a relationship with this human…” He rubs his forehead. “Xander…”
“No,” I say, “I’m not. There was… I’ll be honest with you, alright? We had one night together and that was it. We’re only friends. I assure you, dad-”
“That’s not what it looked like,” he says dully, throwing back a swallow of his drink. “The way you spoke about her and defended her…”
“She’s my friend,” I say, and even now I’m trying to think back to what I might have said that would have made my father think we were in a relationship. “But even if she wasn’t, I would have spoke as strongly for how Didion treated his child-”
“Didion is a monster,” my dad says. “I’m not arguing that.”
“Dad, I’m not lying to you. We’re not together. I don’t know why you think that.”
He rubs his chin and looks away out my big window to the view of Quinton outside. “It’s not exactly what you said. It was how you reacted to Didion. It was how you refused to say whether or not you’re with this Olivia Hathaway when you spoke to Finch.”
“Because it’s totally irrelevant to the case,” I spit out, sitting forward. “And I’m telling you, I would’ve had that reaction regardless.”
“No,” my dad says, shaking his head. “Xander… I know what it is to find that mate. I know what it is to stumbl
e on that person without whom you feel you cannot even live. That connection and that possessiveness it ignites in the wolf… That’s what I saw.” He points to his own eyes with two fingers. “I saw it here. Saw it right in your eyes.”
“Dad,” I say softly. I don’t even know how to follow it up but I feel a chill in my blood. This can’t happen. It’s impossible.
“I know it’s not your fault, how you feel,” my dad says slowly. “It’s been known to happen. The fates can be cruel. Many have fallen under the enchantment of finding a true mate and yet the relationship proved to be impossible. You must resist this, son.”
“I-I know, I’m not...I’m not…” I rub my face. I’m not like this with anyone but my father. Maybe that’s how it should be, but I really hate it sometimes. “I didn’t ask for this.”
There it is. I’ve finally admitted it out loud. The words bubbling out of me and utterly out of my control. It’s a kind of relief and also...incredibly not. Because now it’s real.
“I know that,” my dad says, patting my back. “But I’m concerned here. You need to cut her out of your life. That’s the only way forward. This friendship? Her working for you? This can’t continue.”
Now my shoulders tense up and I look at him, disbelieving. “I’m not cutting her out,” I say, the words like poison. “And I’m certainly not firing her.”
“You’re showing a lack of wisdom,” my dad says sadly. “After this nonsense with the Godrun-”
“Nonsense?” I say, jumping to my feet. “I suspended the Godrun because the materials were being mined by abused children-”
“You punched the foreman?” My dad says, raising his voice as he stands up. “You suspended manufacturing before any kind of investigation? Before bringing it to your board-”
“You’re goddamn right I did!” I say, all but exploding in my father’s face.
“Your stock is dropping,” my dad says, practically hissing. “Stock in the company that I built, Xander, not you.”
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