by Moira Rogers
Julio was about to cut the engine when Patrick appeared at the side of the house, waving him back. He pulled around the side of the house, the headlights illuminating the man’s face for an instant. He had scratches, bloody furrows that looked as if someone had clawed at his face.
Julio parked and rushed Sera out of the car. The sooner he got her safely inside, the sooner he could run down the list of ways he needed to freak out. “McNamara. What happened?”
“You forgot to tell me that your sweet-faced cousin is a kickboxer.” Patrick’s tone was light, but forced. The kind of forced that covered seriously bad news.
Julio clenched his hands into fists. “Patrick. ”
“Inside” was all he said. He opened the door so Julio could usher Sera inside, then nodded toward the hallway. “Sera, Veronica’s in the back room. She says she remembers you from Alec and Carmen’s wedding.”
“Of course.” Sera squeezed Julio’s hand. “Do you want me to go check on her?”
He barely managed to croak out the word. “Go.”
Sera kissed him before slipping away to hurry down the hallway. Patrick watched her go, then scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m sorry, Mendoza. I got there as fast as I could, but your aunt…” He shook his head. “Cesar was trying to get Veronica under control. I put him down.”
Julio blinked, tried to reconcile the words with reality. “Cesar’s dead?”
Wary tension sharpened Patrick’s gaze. “I didn’t give him a chance to take me out. He was beating the shit out of your cousin, so I made a call. If it’s the wrong one, that’s on me.”
“No, that’s—” Ever since Alec had let Cesar live, Julio had known he would have to face his uncle in challenge. Eventually, at some point, the man would grow tired of biding his time, and he would strike.
Now, that would never happen. Relief coiled through Julio, along with an odd sort of disappointment. On some level, that fight had been his. That responsibility had been his.
Patrick’s hand fell to his shoulder. “You gotta stay with me here, Julio. We are so far from out of the woods. Your father ran, and he’s still out there. I’m starting to think he’s got a lot more animal cunning than anyone’s ever credited him with.”
He’d worry about his father later. “How’s Veronica?”
“Hurting.” Patrick’s voice turned bleak. “Physically, I don’t think it’s too bad. She’s banged up and bruised to hell and back, but she’s healing. After I got her to stop fighting me, though…she shut down.”
Christ, he didn’t want to ask. Julio closed his eyes. “Aunt Teresa?”
“I think it was fast,” came the quiet reply. “Snapped neck. Her boyfriend was there too—the spell caster. He’d had his throat torn out.”
They killed him. His aunt’s voice, shaky and desperate. “You did good, Patrick. Everything anyone could have done.”
“Tell me what you need me to do next.”
“I don’t know.” Too much, and Julio had to scramble to keep up. “Alec. Can you get in touch with him? Carmen—she needs to know.”
“Sure. Of course.” He squeezed Julio’s arm. “I’ve got your back, Mendoza. Just like you’ve had mine.”
Julio couldn’t stop the harsh laugh that ripped free of him. “Do you really think my father knew? That he’s been in this, really in it?”
“I think…he’s been willing to let your uncle take the risks.” Patrick’s eyes held a grim certainty. “You’d know better than anyone if that makes him clever or a coward. Listen to your gut. It knows.”
His gut said there was still a fight to come, even if his uncle was already dead. “I should check on Veronica and Sera.”
“Go. I’ll call Alec.”
The house was small, with only a plain nightlight to illuminate the narrow hallway. Julio crept down it, listening for sounds.
He found the two women in a bedroom, tucked in the corner on the floor. Veronica was curled up on her side with her back against the wall, her cheek resting on Sera’s thigh. Sera glanced up as he entered, her fingers still stroking through Veronica’s hair. “Julio’s here, honey.
You’re going to be okay.”
He made it to the middle of the room, then hit his knees. “I’m sorry, Ronnie.”
A tortured whimper twisted free of her as she rolled to her knees. She wasn’t a small woman —she was taller than Julio and towered over Sera, but in that moment she seemed incredibly fragile, as if a harsh word could shatter her. “She was trying to protect me. They both were.”
“I know.”
“I wanted her to have a life.” Veronica thrust her hands into her disheveled hair, shoving it back from her face. Her fingers twisted, yanked, pulling her hair as her breathing sped. “If I’d been stronger, this wouldn’t have happened. Why am I so damn weak?”
“Stop.” He slid across the floor and pulled her fingers free. “She said—she told them to leave you alone. What were Dad and Uncle Cesar trying to do?”
“The money,” Veronica whispered. “When Derek Gabriel challenged my father, he didn’t take the money like he could have. After Diego and Cesar lost everything, they started eyeing my father’s estate. I inherited all of it.”
Of course. “They wanted to find you a biddable husband?”
“Or convince me to sign over the money to keep my mother safe. Or break me. Whichever they could accomplish.”
Julio scrubbed a hand over his face. “She didn’t want that for you.”
Veronica’s face crumpled. “I don’t care. I didn’t want—I didn’t—” Sera wrapped her arms around Veronica’s shoulders with a soothing noise. “It’s okay. We know. We know, honey.”
Her mother was gone. With her considerable fortune, she’d need protection, and every rich wolf across the country would expect it to come from Alec. But she was his family. “You’ll be safe, Ronnie. I’ll make sure of it.”
She slumped against him, burying her face against his neck as the first sob rattled her body.
Sera stroked Veronica’s hair as her other hand found his. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.”
Impossible to tell if she was speaking to Veronica or to him. Maybe both.
God knew they needed it.
Chapter Fourteen
Alec called the meeting of the Southeast council to order with his usual lack of ceremony.
“You all know we’ve had a death in the family, so I’m going to be blunt and get down to business. The Conclave has broken, and John Peyton has stepped aside as Alpha of the United States. From now on he’s the leader of the Northeast territory and nothing more.”
Alan Reed leaned forward in his chair. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You heard me.” Alec crossed both arms over his chest. “The Conclave was a nice idea, but it’s a whole lot of wasted money and time, and it keeps the strongest of us busy bickering over bullshit instead of taking care of business.”
“So each council is on its own? Each territory?”
“Total autonomy,” he confirmed. “We govern ourselves. We make our own rules. We deal with problems the way we see fit, and organize those below us in whatever way we deem efficient. And we keep all the money that’s been flowing toward the top.”
Reed and William Levesque seemed to be taking the news well, so Julio drained his drink. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think this could be just what we need.”
William nodded, then showed an unusual level of thoughtfulness. “It does put our attention here at home. It’s exhausting to feel like I’m not doing my duty if I’m not trying to figure out a way to get to the Conclave. Not that I’ve been thinking of challenging you,” he added hastily to Alec, who snorted out a laugh.
“I should hope not. My job’s about as much fun as getting kicked in the balls on a daily basis.”
“Not anymore,” Julio reminded him. “Now…you can go home.”
“Soon enough.” When Andrew and Alan Reed remained silent, Alec nodded. “All o
f you have probably heard that Cesar Mendoza is dead.”
Levesque lifted an eyebrow. “I heard a more distressing rumor, one I hope someone can put to rest.”
“That he’s the one who killed his sister?” Julio asked, his throat raw. “It’s true.”
Shock. Disgust. Levesque and Reed might not have been Alec’s men, but they were decent enough. Even Reed, who had made hating Julio a dedicated pastime, murmured his condolences in a believable tone.
“This is the shit that has to stop,” Alec said, jabbing his finger against the table in emphasis.
“We have all these goddamn fancy rules, and all they add up to are a dozen ways the powerful can fuck over anyone who gets in the way. You can already do that well enough in the human world. I’ve had about enough of it in our world.”
Andrew spoke for the first time. “What are you going to do, Julio?”
“My uncle’s dead,” he answered. “My father isn’t, not yet, and he was part of it too. It’s justice, right? If I fight him?”
“It’s against the rules,” Levesque said without hesitation. “The Alpha’s rules. Conclave and council members aren’t supposed to challenge the people beneath them. Too many council members were consolidating wealth by challenging the rich members of their territory.”
“This isn’t a financial maneuver,” Andrew shot back. “It’s a score to settle, a personal one.
I’m not going to deny him that.”
Levesque didn’t back down. “How many of us could find reason to justify settling personal scores? No offense, Andrew, but you’ve probably got personal scores to settle with half of the old bloodlines in the Southeast. How can they be sure you won’t show up on their doorstep the next time one of them makes a comment about your heritage? Or your girlfriend?”
“Someone calling my girlfriend bad names isn’t exactly on par with murder.”
“He’s right,” Reed interjected. “But Will has a point too. If you lot are really concerned about trust and transparency, don’t make rules that only benefit you. If you truly want to revolutionize the system, take money out of the challenges across the board.”
Julio sighed. “I don’t give a shit about the money involved. If there’s no conflict of interest, leave it to the remaining family. If there is, like in my case, put it in a fucking fund to serve the territory.”
“Huh.” Alec tapped his fingers on the table. “Honor and justice, not profit. Not a bad idea.”
“Not at all,” Reed drawled before baring his teeth at Julio. “Of course, if this rule hadn’t been in place a couple years ago, I would have beaten you into the pavement for that stunt you pulled with my daughter.”
“You would have tried,” Julio corrected. “And failed. Just like your kid and your nephew did.”
Reed growled, his eyes fading to a glowing gold before Alec smashed a hand on the table.
“Enough, Reed. I’m not going to spend the next twenty years watching you pick at Julio because your daughter didn’t like the man she was supposed to marry. If you hadn’t chosen some personality-challenged bastard twice her age, maybe she wouldn’t have made such a public point of wrecking her betrothal.”
Julio shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, Alec.” The man was bound to get tired of it eventually.
“We’re straying from the point,” Levesque said. “How do we do this? Hold a vote, wave our hands and change fifty years of tradition?”
Andrew shrugged. “I think we say…this is how it’s going to be here.”
“And then we make it happen,” Alec agreed. “Believe me, Levesque, once I get going, I’m going to be challenging traditions that have been around a hell of a lot longer than fifty years.”
Alan Reed rubbed the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “God help us all.”
“Why bother voting?” Levesque grumbled. “You three have the majority, so the new law is official and Mendoza can challenge his father. We’re going to need to hire a secretary to take notes on all the laws we destroy.”
It could have been worse. They could have been corrupt bastards looking out for themselves instead of the people in their territory. “You’ll learn to cope,” Julio murmured. “It’ll all turn out all right.”
“And on that subject…” Alan sat forward. “Who’s going to take over keeping the peace here in Atlanta? Cesar may not have been doing a good job by your standards, but he was a strong presence and he kept order. This city’s too big to be left unattended.”
“The Mendozas have always run Atlanta,” Levesque said, jabbing a finger in Julio’s direction.
“You know the area, don’t you? And New Orleans doesn’t need all three of you.”
“I…” It made sense, damn them, but it wasn’t a decision he could make without consulting Sera. “New Orleans is home. I can’t pull up roots and move without talking to my girlfriend first.”
Silence.
Alec shifted in his seat and glared at Levesque, but it was Alan Reed who stepped across the line. “Surely you’re not referring to the coyote.”
He probably expected a snarl, maybe even a bolder show of temper. Julio gave him neither.
“Her name’s Sera. Her father just helped set up a clinic in your town, didn’t he?”
Reed’s jaw tightened. “Beside the point. He’s being paid to provide a service. But the three of you—” His teeth snapped together.
“Have all chosen dangerously inappropriate women?” Andrew asked with deceptive casualness, his hands curling into fists on the tabletop.
The wolf tensed, but he didn’t back down. “It’s going to be an issue,” he said flatly.
“Levesque and I have gone along with the three of you. We’ve played nice. I’m not even against what you want to do—for the most part—but you can’t keep brushing this aside. You may not like it, but it’s simple fact. People grumbled over a halfbreed and muttered over a psychic, but some could outright revolt if one of their leaders takes another species as a mate. Are you prepared for that?”
Julio leaned forward, close enough to meet the man’s eyes directly. “What is it you really want to know, Reed?”
“I want to know if you’re a man in love with a hard row to hoe, or a man who found a convenient way to tell the old guard to go fuck themselves.”
He was neither, and wouldn’t that just confuse the hell out of them? “I’m a man who’s used to not being told what to do, and that isn’t about to change.”
Levesque snorted. “So you’re a pain in the ass. Good. Maybe you can handle Atlanta after all. If your…lady agrees.”
“There you go,” Alec said blandly. “Try choking out the word lady with less doubt next time, Levesque, and we’ll all be the best of friends.”
Julio rose with a growl. “Baby steps. A little at a time.”
Reed snuffed out his cigarette. “How soon do you expect to issue this challenge, Mendoza?
Should we stay in town?”
The longer he waited, the worse it would be. “Yeah, I think so. Unless you’d rather not be there, which I’d understand.”
Alec shook his head. “I wouldn’t. I want everyone here as witness. The last thing we need is for this to stay all in the family.” A sigh. “Speaking of which, your sister’s going to murder me.”
“For something you did, or because of this?”
“What do you think?”
Julio choked back a laugh. “Honestly, at this point, I don’t even know anymore.”
“That’s why life married to your sister is such an adventure.” Alec smacked his hand on the table. “If we don’t have any other pressing business?” He paused. When Reed and Levesque stayed silent, he nodded. “If you gentlemen and your wives would like to attend the funeral, I’m sure your presence would be appreciated.”
Levesque stood and clutched his hat to his chest instead of dropping it on his head. “We’ll be there, just call us with the details.”
Alec nodded, and Levesque and Reed departed, undoubtedly to have thei
r own private meeting. Alec swung the door shut behind them and turned to face Julio. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
The truth. “No. But I’m tired of watching the people I love get hurt—or worse.”
Sighing, Alec glanced at Andrew. “You’ve been quiet. You handling this okay?”
“I wish Kat was here,” he answered quietly. “I don’t like her being away while things are unsettled. I know she’s safe with Nick and Derek, and she needs to be there for them right now, but it’s still tough.”
“A few more months, and Nick’ll pop that kid out. Let’s make a better world for that baby to grow up in.”
Making a better world. Not exactly the way Julio would have thought he could describe having to kill off his own family. “I want it straight, Alec—is Carmen going to forgive me for this?”
“Is Carmen—” Alec looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “For God’s sake, Julio. You know your sister better than that. If she gets mad at you, it’ll be because she’s worried about what this fight will do to you, win or lose.”
“I’m tired,” he confessed. “That’s all, I’m just tired.”
His brother-in-law studied him in silence for a moment, then dropped a hand to his shoulder.
Strength and power washed over him, acceptance and trust and pride all tangled up in the wordless something that was pack and family rolled in one.
Julio closed his eyes for a few seconds and then straightened his shoulders. “I should see if Carmen and Veronica need any help finalizing things for the funeral.”
“We’ll come with you. We’re family, Mendoza. Don’t forget that. You’re not alone with this.”
“I know. Thanks, Alec.”
With Alec and Carmen standing fierce guard over Veronica, Sera felt no guilt about slipping her hand into Julio’s and following him away from the crowd of people lingering after the graveside service. “Do you need some quiet?”
He gripped her hand. “I have something to do. Come with me?”
“Anywhere.”
He led her away from the open grave, the black-draped chairs and the people milling quietly about. Just past a towering oak tree, he pressed his hand to a weathered mausoleum. “Hector and Araceli. My dad’s parents.” He kept walking and stopped by a bench set before a white marble headstone. “My mother, Elena.”
