Xander

by Dana Archer

  “I would like that. I’m sure Xander would too. He enjoys good food.”

  “So I’ve heard.” Gwen’s softly spoken words were muffled by the door, but if Vlad didn’t know better, he’d label her tone as annoyed.

  He waited a moment, but she didn’t say more. He cleared his throat. “Then we’ll talk more at breakfast. Sleep well.”

  “Thanks.”

  Silence stretched into an awkward chasm he didn’t know how to breach. Although he’d been around Gwen for years, he didn’t know her well. Any revelation into her personality wouldn’t happen here, with a bathroom door between them.

  Leaving Gwen to finish her shower, he followed Xander and Corey into the study. Corey was pouring vodka into a row of shot glasses, no juice to water it down. Once done, she grabbed one and downed the drink before reaching for a second. Then a third.

  Vlad grasped her wrist, stopping her from drinking a fourth shot, and Xander snatched the glass from her hand.

  “Talk, Corey.” Xander downed the drink he’d taken from her, then set the glass on the bar top. “Why is Vlad a wanted man?”

  She locked her pale blue, icy eyes on Vlad. “The Shifter Council accepted a very large donation from the pride who’d stepped up to foster Molly.”

  “Foster!” Anger he hadn’t felt in months swamped Vlad, tearing a low growl from his throat. Molly, the five-year-old lion shifter cub he’d saved from one of the illegal experimental centers Shifter Affairs had raided, deserved their protection and a chance to be a child, growing up as normally as possible. “They wanted to mate her off to their leader’s son as soon as she matured.”

  Corey dipped her head in acknowledgment. “Be that as it may, the Shifter Council is now in a tough position. Without Molly, they are being pressured to repay the money. From what I’ve heard, that donation helped fund the Shifter Council’s new campus. It’s supposed to be gorgeous with a huge hall, library, and permanent living quarters for members.”

  Vlad cracked his jaw. “How does this involve me? I didn’t tell them to ignore both human and shifter laws, which forbid arranged matings.”

  “Fostering, not an arranged mating,” Corey corrected him.

  “Same thing.” It didn’t matter how they defined it. What they’d done to Molly was wrong. She belonged with her twin Megan and those shifters who loved her, not with some group of strangers who only want to profit from her uniqueness.

  “I agree. You know I do.” Corey turned pleading eyes on Vlad. “But my point is that the Shifter Council needs someone to blame. You know they won’t admit to doing anything wrong. They’re certainly not going to pay back that money either.”

  “And they’ve chosen Vlad to take the fall,” Xander spoke up.

  “Yes. His integrity is being questioned because he didn’t report the details of what went down in Alaska or the events that led up to Gwen fleeing the state with Molly until it was too late to act.”

  Vlad cursed. “Shifter Affairs backed me on Molly’s case. It’s not always possible to file reports when agents are actively involved in a case.”

  “They backed you, yes.” Corey nodded. “But they also had to disclose the details of her case since Molly was never found. From those, the Shifter Council deemed your retrieval necessary to verify certain facts.”

  Vlad flexed his hands, easing the stiffness in his fingers from clenching them. Corey knew for a fact that Molly was alive and under the protection of the Alexander pride. “There’s nothing the Council can do to me. As a Shifter Affairs agent, my first responsibility is to protect the innocent. Molly’s life was at risk. I acted, using the information I had available at the time. I’m safeguarded under the vow I took and the agreement the elders of the Council signed, promising to adhere to those rules.”

  Arms crossed, Corey leaned against the wet bar at her back. “This isn’t your inquiry. No need to get defensive with me. I’m only passing on what I’ve heard. I want you prepared for them when they come for you, nothing more.”

  “They won’t come for him. Vlad was granted amnesty, along with Devin, Kade, and myself, in any wrongdoing associated with Molly’s attempted kidnapping and rescue.” Xander refilled the four empty shot glasses, slid a glass to Corey and another to Vlad before taking one for himself. “I personally looked into the situation after we returned from Alaska four months ago. I didn’t want any issues to follow us home, especially considering the number of shifters we killed.”

  “My source says the Council isn’t making an official claim against Vlad, but they do want him brought before them.” Corey wrapped her long fingers around the glass and met Xander’s gaze. “Alone, Xander. They want him retrieved and brought in for questioning, alone. Once they have him…” She shrugged. “You know how it is. Stories get fabricated or exaggerated, and it’d be his word against theirs. They can lock him up, punish him, whatever, and there’s nothing you or the humans can say about it.”

  Xander shook his head. “I would never allow a member of my pack to be taken alone, by force or otherwise. The Council knows this. They’d never try it.”

  “The Council also thinks I’m not an active member of the pack.” Vlad had gone to great lengths to make it clear that he was a lone wolf.

  “Our reputation is well known. We never, ever give up on our pack mates.” Xander raised his gaze to Vlad’s. A hard look of determination shone in his friend’s brown eyes. “No matter what it takes to bring them back into our fold or how long it takes to mend any broken ties.”

  Xander’s statement directly reflected their strained friendship. Vlad inclined his head. “Or how stubborn our pack mates are.”

  “Yes.” Xander smirked. “We are a stubborn pack. It makes us resilient, strong, and unstoppable.”

  “Don’t forget foolish.” Corey grabbed the half-empty vodka bottle and refilled her glass. “You go and enter into some ménage mating between you, Vlad, and Gwen, and even those sympathetic members of the Council won’t be able to save you from the majority of the Council elders’ bigotry.”

  “Let them think what they will.” Xander chugged his drink, then slammed the glass down. “But if they try to make some kind of example out of Vlad or threaten my relationship with Gwen, they’ll regret it.”

  As alpha, Xander was engineered to protect his pack or those considered friends of the pack, but this protectiveness toward Vlad was personal. They shared a tie because of Gwen. He and Xander weren’t mates, per se. They were partners, equals. Hurting either of them would affect Gwen and neither of them would stand for that. Vlad would take on heaven and hell to protect Xander too.

  Corey glanced between them. Her brows pinched. “You’re not gay.”

  “No, we’re not.” Vlad tilted the glass until the vodka reached the rim before tipping it in the other direction. He needed the moment to put his thoughts into words. “But we are bonded.”

  “Through Gwen,” Xander added.

  Groaning, Corey rubbed at her eyes. “This will piss off the Council. Don’t you realize that? They fear the fundamentals of our culture are being destroyed. First Mira and her audacity to mate a human, then the Jager and Kagan alphas and their unusual matings. Now you.”

  “None of those matings would have been possible without the goddesses’ influence.” Xander dropped his elbows on the tabletop and leaned over the counter separating him from Corey. “Some members of our species might be upset with the pairings, but they can’t deny them. Both the Jager and Kagan alphas have stood in their sacred circles and received the blessings of their pack spirits, and immortality was bestowed upon Josh so he could mate Mira. The babies she carries are proof of the goddesses’ acceptance.”

  “You can’t convince idiots they’re wrong, no matter how much evidence you stack in front of them.” Xane walked into the room and closed the door Vlad had left open with a hard tug, shaking the pictures on the wall. “They’ll look at the proof you present and tell you it’s fake.”

  Vlad faced Xander’s twin, a nearly iden
tical version of Xander but with shorter hair and a thinner build. Music fascinated Xane more than fighting or pack politics, yet when Xane spoke, it was best to listen. His intelligence and judgment had been honed by seven centuries of careful study of those around him.

  “How much of our conversation did you hear?” Vlad asked Xane. His attention had been on Corey and Xander, not on the world around him. He had his wolves to watch for danger, and they’d never consider another pack mate a threat.

  “Enough to know the shifter community won’t believe you and my twin share the same true mate any more than they believe Mira is pregnant.”

  “From what Devin said, Mira’s belly is getting bigger by the day.” Vlad couldn’t believe anyone would think she wasn’t with child. Royals didn’t gain weight once their immortality kicked in. “Nobody on the Council or in our species can claim otherwise.”

  “They’re not denying she’s with child.” Xane crossed the room, joining them at the bar area, and picked up a shot of vodka. He downed it, then held the glass up for Corey to refill. “But many believe Kade fathered her babes, not Josh, and the Alexander pride leader is merely allowing Mira to live with Josh.”

  “That’s ridiculous.” Vlad shook his head in dismay. “Kade is wickedly possessive of his friends and family. He’d be even more so with his mate, especially a mate pregnant with his offspring.”

  “Those who aren’t driven by fear would agree with you.” Xane leaned against the counter next to Xander. “But as Corey said, many shifters, Royals and singles alike, fear the changes happening around them. The ideology of the Purists is gaining strength and popularity. So are the demands that we pull out of our peaceful agreement with the humans and return to the way things were before we entered into the treaty with them.”

  “And they think the only way to make our species pure and strong again is if our leaders support the old ways.” Corey set the vodka on the bar behind her. A serious and worried expression tightened her features. “Those ancient beliefs didn’t allow for ménages or humans as mates.”

  “And according to the Purist ideology I’ve heard, they think it’s time to forcefully remove those dissenters, replacing them with leaders who will accept their beliefs.”

  “They may try.” Xander gripped Corey’s shoulder, squeezing gently, before releasing her. “They won’t succeed. Our species has committed to this path. There’s no going back. Too many humans know about us. They won’t let us slink into the shadows where we might become a threat to them. With us in plain sight, they can keep an eye on the danger in their midst.”

  Corey turned her concerned eyes to Xander. “I agree with you, but as you said, until they realize the futility, they’ll try, and I don’t want to lose my alpha in the process.”

  Xander wrapped his hand around the back of Corey’s neck and drew her close. He pressed his lips to her forehead. “Then it’s time to make a stand.”

  She dropped her head to his chest, accepting the comfort Xander offered. “And how will we do that?”

  “By securing their support.” Xander turned his gaze to Vlad. “And while I’m meeting with the Council, Vlad will be in charge of the pack.”

  Chapter 28

  Warmth and the scent of man surrounded Gwen, stirring her from the nightmare of helplessly watching as Vlad was shot. She snuggled closer to the lover in front of her, drawn by the heat he gave off, while her other lover adjusted his body to spoon hers.

  Seconds passed with only the sound of the heartbeat under her ear breaking the quiet of the night. Neither man in bed with her touched her sexually or suggestively. They were keeping the promise Vlad had given allowing her to sleep. She wasn’t all that surprised. For dominant shifters, honor meant something.

  She rubbed her cheek against the muscled chest she used as a pillow. Xander or Vlad? She couldn’t tell. She hadn’t gotten the chance to memorize every inch of their bodies. She would, though. They were hers, sins and all, and she was theirs.

  Which meant Xander and Vlad would do anything to protect her, including bullying their pack mates into respecting her. The reminder of the conversation she’d overheard constricted her chest, making it hard to draw in air.

  No. She didn’t want to go there. Not now. She hadn’t decided how to deal with Xander’s order.

  The man at her back brushed his lips over her neck, sending sparks skipping over her skin. “Whatever you’re thinking that has upset you, let it go for the night. If it really necessitates your anger, it’ll be there in the morning to deal with. If not, then it wasn’t worth the time or emotions you spent on it.”

  Vlad’s rich, seductive voice caressed her as if it had a living touch, and his words drained the tension from her body. They were exactly what she needed, when she needed them.

  Glancing over her shoulder, she came face-to-face with the man who’d haunted her dreams for years. The wash of moonlight from the open window enhanced his perfectly sculpted features, tanned skin, and hazel eyes. Under the cast of night, especially, he looked wickedly hot. And dangerous. He could shatter her as easily as he uplifted her. Still, he mesmerized her, exactly as he had when she was seventeen. Her obsessive crush had never faded. Never would.

  “I didn’t know you were so wise. The other agents I spoke to about you only ever described you as brooding, dark, and unpredictable.” It was why he’d earned the nickname Vader.

  A smirk and the slight lines by his eyes spoke of his amusement. At her words, no doubt. She couldn’t imagine why. Many of his fellow agents whispered about not setting off the crazy, unstable shifter. While he was in the same room. To his face.

  Or at least that was what she’d heard. She’d talked to everyone she could about Vlad too. All those people couldn’t have exaggerated Vlad’s moodiness.

  “Did you ask many people about me?” Cockiness added to the amusement. It brought a smile to her face. She liked Vlad this way, teasing her. Heck, she liked his attention, plain and simple.

  She turned her head and rested her cheek on Xander’s chest so as to hide her smile. Vlad didn’t need to know how his focus on her made her feel incredibly special. It would add to the power he held over her. “Yes, but I also asked about everyone on my stepdad’s task force. I wanted to know about the men who were watching his back.”

  “You were protective of your stepfather.” Xander’s chest vibrated with the deep timbre of his voice.

  Her eyes closed as the spell Xander’s words cast wove around her. He could make her feel encased in his strength simply by talking to her.

  Contentment settled over her. Was this the peace shifters spoke about experiencing while in the presence of their true mate? If so, she could finally understand why they fought so hard to keep it and the one who made it possible. Or both incredibly hot men, in her case.

  “Of course. It’s how I was raised. Family and friends should be treasured and protected.” If she hadn’t been taught to hold those values close, she might’ve cut Lena out of her life after she started sleeping with Vlad.

  “Which is why you would’ve gone back with the bear shifters. To try to save the shifter who protected you.” Vlad stated what she’d already alluded to, but there was a sense of understanding in his statement, as if he finally figured out the reason behind it.

  She couldn’t be certain. Nor did she care at the moment. This was the perfect time to talk about Eli. Lust didn’t rule them, and pack issues didn’t distract them. She also wouldn’t be fighting embarrassment when Xander and Vlad realized her unforgettable omelets were really just scrambled eggs with a slice of cheese slapped on top.

  Pushing up, she sat on bent legs between her lovers. Both Xander and Vlad had worn mesh shorts to bed. The black activewear looked wrong on her kilt-loving mate, but she’d bet Xander had donned them for her benefit so as not to overwhelm her senses. The desire to tug them off beat at her, but the gratefulness of his consideration kept the naughty urge at bay. It allowed her this chance to breach a topic which might or might not se
nd Xander over the edge.

  “Killer. I need to talk to you about him.” Gwen focused on Xander. While Vlad would care about saving his pack mate, it affected Xander intimately.

  “What about him?” Xander asked.

  “He’s Eli. Your little brother. Dante showed me a picture of him. He’s the same man who saved me. Protected me.” She laid a hand on Xander’s tight, tense abs. “I swear it, Xander. I won’t ever forget his face. It was the first thing I saw when I woke after my fever broke. The gash over his lip made him look dangerous. I was terrified.” Hating her first thoughts about Eli, she dropped her gaze to Xander’s perfectly sculpted stomach. “Until he spoke. His voice was kind, if not a little rough.”

  His muscles flexing under her palm, Xander moved into a sitting position. “Eli saved you.”

  “Yes.”

  Vlad sat up too. “That’s why he called you his little sister. He smelled my claim on you and identified you as pack. Shifters often call female pack mates we aren’t sexually involved with little sisters, even if they are of no blood relation to us.”

  She moved her other hand to Vlad’s thigh, slipping her fingers under the edge of his shorts. The need to connect with him too, if only through skin-to-skin contact, consumed her. “I hadn’t understood it at the time, but it makes sense now, especially after hearing Dante refer to me the same way.”

  Xander slid his hand to the back of her neck and turned her to face him. While moonlight drew out Vlad’s features, shadows hid Xander’s. Gwen couldn’t read his expression. Only his piercing brown eyes entrapped her. “Is Elias feral?”

  Ugh. This was a point she didn’t want to focus on. Even she couldn’t be positive after spending months with him. Some days, he acted perfectly sane. Others he snarled at her if she got too close to him. His mental state wouldn’t change her mind, though. One way or another, Eli was coming home. “Does it matter?”