by Aya DeAniege
Robin hesitated outside and made a furtive motion to me. I didn’t know what that motion meant, but I still waited as he opened the door and looked inside.
He made a face.
“Damn.”
“Do you need something, Robin?” Blane asked.
“Mmhmm,” Robin said. “A faerie wanted me to make certain that the walls were not painted in blood. I see no blood, you are both fully clothed. I will report a lack of death and screaming. They will be pleased with this.”
He closed the door and marched away. As he approached me, Robin grabbed my arm and dragged me away quickly. Across the hall, he shoved me into a room and closed the door behind us.
“What the hell was that?” I demanded. “They will be pleased?”
“They appeared to be talking it out,” Robin said in disgruntled confusion.
“You’ve never seen two Alphas talk it out?” I asked.
“I have, but not over something so big,” Robin grumbled. “They should fight it out. They should sex it out. I was hoping I could witness that, it would have pleased me greatly.”
“Just to be clear, you’re gay?”
“Absolutely,” Robin said. “Porn doesn’t interest me. I need the back story, and those two—where are you going?”
I was marching for the door. As Robin stumbled after me, I marched right across the hallway and opened the study door, walking in.
Gerrid was sitting across the desk. Blane was sitting on the edge of the desk, hands gripping the edge tightly. Gerrid was bothered, but so was Blane. I looked over the two of them, then looked over my shoulder, at Robin, who was begging me silently not to do whatever it was that I was about to do.
I stepped all the way into the study and closed the door.
“You two not having sex is somehow disturbing Robin?”
“Sex?” Blane asked.
“Don’t want Robin disturbed,” Gerrid said as he stood.
His hands reached for his pants and Blane held out a hand to stop him. The Master’s look was one of pure terror. He didn’t say it, but he mouthed the word, “whoa.”
“It’s for Robin.”
“I don’t care if it’s for Rachel and Rebecca, it’s not happening,” Blane said. “Sit down, Gerrid. Rebecca, sit beside him.”
I moved to the seat and sat down.
“I didn’t mean you two had to have sex. It’s a problem, it has to be seen to. Why is Robin chasing after fantasies? Why isn’t someone seeing to that need?”
“Abraham will see to it,” Blane said steadily. “Gerrid and I are not going to have sex. We’ve discussed the problem and he told me why he came to me now. I appreciate you interfering. This was something that had to be seen to.”
“You said,” I stopped talking when Blane met my eyes.
His look burned me to my very soul. The words I was about to speak died in my mouth. I glanced at Gerrid, then back to Blane.
“That anyone would think that I was capable of doing that to an innocent? Is obscene. Yes, I threatened Gerrid and his sister. I was angry, that’s what we do, that’s how we deal with things.”
“It got pretty graphic,” I said.
“Yes, it did. Again, that’s what Alphas do.”
“An Alpha who starts a war is put to death,” I protested.
Blane watched me for a long moment.
“Yes, that’s true. The item was brought forward and several petitioned for Gerrid’s execution, along with the cleansing of his entire family. I voted against it, so did a great deal of others. He’s not wrong, however, Alex is the reason he is still alive. Gutted an Alpha. When Abraham protested that we needed all the genetics, the pair of them took it behind doors. Alex won.”
“Against Abraham?” I asked.
“Against Abraham,” Blane confirmed.
I looked at Gerrid, who was looking at something else. His face was turned away from me. I made a motion to him and Blane almost sighed.
“Okay, somehow I have more than one problem,” I said. “First and foremost, Gerrid’s sister is not being threatened?”
“No.”
“Then why does he act like he’s recently received a death threat?”
“What?” Gerrid protested. “I never said that. I can handle my own family matters.”
“She lives in my city,” Blane said.
Gerrid gritted his teeth and glared at me. That look swung to Blane. The Master folded his arms and gave Gerrid a pointed look.
“Are you telling me that a woman living in my territory is being threatened because of her connection to an Alpha? Is still being threatened?”
“I deal with—”
“Gerrid,” Blane barked out.
It wasn’t like his normal voice. Saying Gerrid’s name, Blane’s voice was deeper and had a sharp edge to it. The Master glared at Gerrid, then marched around the desk and picked up the phone. He dialled a number.
“Elizabeth, sister of Gerrid. Find her. Protective detail. I want all information forwarded to me. If any Alpha contacts her or interferes, you bring them to me. Understand? Good.”
The phone was hung up. Blane snarled with his mouth closed and glared at us.
“Hey,” I said.
“I’m angry, I’m allowed to snarl,” Blane snapped.
“You’re not,” I said. “The culture you live in kept him from telling you that. He’s weaker for admitting it, darn it. Blane.”
The Master looked frustrated. He glowered at me, and I made eye contact. I maintained that until he looked away. Then I turned my look to Gerrid, who was still looking away. It was a submissive gesture. I turned my glare back to Blane.
“It’s on you.”
“I know that.” Blane growled.
“You’re higher, you bend,” I said.
“I know that!” Blane shouted at me.
He huffed and puffed, his anger was clear. He was very much what I expected of an Alpha, pouting to get his way. Except Blane wasn’t huffing and puffing to get his way. He was trying very hard to control himself. His hands gritted at his sides and he turned to Gerrid.
“Gerrid, please wait outside.”
“My sister…”
“Her protection is not dependent of your behaviour. She doesn’t carry the marker and was raised around Alphas, by a proper Alpha. We need her kind. Wait outside.”
Gerrid got up and left the study. I watched Blane as Gerrid left, fighting with himself. The moment the door closed, all emotion left Blane. He sighed out ever so slowly.
“Things and tits and dicks,” Blane said.
“He’s upset, Blane.”
“He’s upset?” Blane demanded. “Dicks!”
“Before we continue, I need to hear it.”
“I’m not upset with him. I know you need me to control myself. I can’t! I knew there was something between him and I, but I never thought it was that. That? That’s disgusting. It is worse that disgusting. I, I feel like I’ve been accused of child pornography, that’s what I feel like. I feel like Gerrid walked in here and accused me of having sex with his sister. That’s how I feel.”
“So, change it,” I said. “How many cold wars are going on over problems that could be talked out? What could you and Gerrid have accomplished together, if only he had talked about this before? What can you do now that you know?”
Blane grumbled and paced in front of his desk. He seemed to mutter something about raping someone’s mother, then he came to a standstill and sighed out.
“How do I fix him?”
“He’s not yours to fix.”
“But his sister is on my land,” Blane said. “How do I fix him?”
“You can’t fix him. You can only begin the make a change. It will take years to fix. Care for her, see to her needs. Show what you feel and make it clear. You aren’t protecting a woman, here, Blane. You are protecting the adopted daughter of an Alpha. How many of them are there in the country?”
“Something like six hundred.”
“Who stands f
or them? The adopted sisters, the adopted aunts? Who stands for the women you people dragged into your lives and made to stand as surrogate to make Alpha lives better?”
“Well, it’s an unwritten law.”
“Then make it written.”
“What kind of stupid needs it written?”
“The kind that threatens the sister of Gerrid for being the sister of Gerrid!”
Blane glared at the door. He glared hard and long at it, then he turned to me.
“Why didn’t he kill them?”
“Clearly they’re Alphas and he’s not allowed to. Oh, and you just gave him permission to hunt your territory. Which means he could very well go and kill them now because granting permission to hunt gives him that right.”
“Bring him back in.”
Blane walked around the desk as I watched him. Biting my bottom lip, I walked to the door and opened it. I motioned to Gerrid and he entered. He returned to his seat and settled into it. He looked at Blane, then to me for direction.
“Gerrid. You have five days to hunt my land. That hunting is free.”
“Free?” Gerrid asked.
“Free,” Blane said. “But if Rebecca is hurt in any fashion because you’re off and away, and I’m breeding, I will have a problem with you.”
“Five days?” Gerrid asked.
“Yes, I need one night to breed, tonight.”
“Five days?” Gerrid asked again.
“Yes.”
“Free hunting?” Gerrid asked.
He kept asking the questions like he was expecting a trap. Or like he thought he was going mad, because he couldn’t possibly be hearing what he thought he was. Gerrid was trying not to make an expression at Blane, but there was a giddiness that he wasn’t quite able to cover.
“Yes, though, those who fall? I want their names so that I might investigate a reason. If one gives you cause to end them, they need to be sorted out, them and theirs. So I do need a list. When you’re done. You do your thing and then tell me.”
“Free hunting,” Gerrid said quietly.
“I would greatly appreciate if you would supply me with the names of those stupid enough to threaten the life of a sister.”
“First it’s a woman, then it’s a sister,” Gerrid grumbled.
“Between you and I,” Blane said. “I will be making a public statement. She’s not a woman living under me. She’s a woman whom an Alpha adopted and she became a part of us. That’s not her fault, that we decided to save her. That we paid her way? The repayment for that is not her life, or even her agony. We adopted them with the promise of protection and love, we do not repay that oath with a blade between the ribs.”
“What do you want from me?” Gerrid asked.
“Stand with me to protect the women our fathers adopted as our sisters.”
“Your father didn’t do that,” Gerrid said.
“No, he didn’t. I wasn’t blessed with a sister or brother. I was fully grown before I had anyone to contend with for my father’s love and before I knew it, he was taken from me as well. Sometimes, after all the wars and the fights and the screaming matches, all we have left are the women our fathers dragged into our lives, who don’t carry the marker.”
The two Alphas watched one another for a long, silent moment. That silence was laden with something that put a tingle of fear into me. I felt my throat tighten, but couldn’t get the words to form.
I was witnessing an Alpha alliance being laid by two of the greatest minds of their generations.
Blane was a mad scientist, and Gerrid was only lacking access to a lab like Blane’s, before he could do all the things he had ever wanted to do. That alliance would change the world.
And somehow it was written into the silence that followed Blane’s admission.
“Okay, I’ll do it. On one condition.”
“What’s that.”
“You have to call her.”
“Call her?”
“Jane. You have to call her.”
“What? What’s this got to do with a doctor I employed twenty years ago?” Blane demanded.
“Who you cut ties with when you found out she was barren?” Gerrid demanded.
“You what?” I asked, my head snapping toward Blane.
He made a face.
“There’s more to it than that,” Blane protested. “I knew she was barren before. It’s just we tried to solve the barren problem, she wanted it solved, and we failed. She’s probably forgotten all about me.”
“You paid for her house and regularly give her money,” Gerrid said. “If she doesn’t remember your name, we have a serious problem.”
“You dropped her when you found out she was barren?” I demanded again.
“I wanted to breed her, but besides that, she was the one who dropped me,” Blane said sternly. “However, if it is a condition of this, I will reach out to her and see what she might need.”
“She dropped you,” I said.
“She has a condition that I cannot fix,” Blane said. “We were both devastated. She chose to leave. I don’t believe digging that up will help anyone, but help is help. No, Gerrid?”
“You don’t stop talking over that, make the connection, Blane,” Gerrid said. “It’s been sixteen years.”
“Fine, I’ll do it.”
“Great, in the meantime I’m going to take missy here back to the rooms, bend her over and have my way with her like I’m in control.”
“The room has toys in it,” Blane said with a little grin. “Bathroom, cupboard across from where the towels are kept. Maul this woman before she starts more trouble.”
Chapter Twelve
The three of us left the study together. Blane looked toward the front door and frowned as Gerrid pushed me away from the study. As if on a string, Blane jerked toward us, his hands slipping into his pockets as he went. His head was turned slightly, as if he were trying to find a sound.
And then I heard it, a high pitched something that was getting louder.
I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, but that always seemed the case with me and high pitched noises. If I had been closer to the source, I would have been able to pinpoint its location, but at a certain distance it all sounded the same.
“What is that sound?” I asked.
As the words left my mouth, there was an explosion. The sound was deafening, combined with the sudden jerking motion that the whole world seemed to make. I didn’t exactly register more than that, it happened far too quickly to recall. There was simply a sound and motion that happened in a flash. The motion seemed to come from the other side of the study.
Gerrid grabbed me, holding me steady as I almost fell. I latched onto him, losing my breath as the shaking stopped.
There were little sounds around us, of things falling from shelves and tables and such in the aftermath of the rumbling. As a part of the building shifted in the deafening silence that followed, Blane’s features fell. The curiosity changed to annoyance as he turned to his study.
There was smoke coming from under the door and shouting on the other side of it.
As the front entrance was viewable from where we stood, I had known that we were near the front of the estate. At least, I had assumed as much. An Alpha estate might have multiple entrances depending on who occupied the estate.
What I hadn’t realized was just how close the study itself was to the front of the estate, or to an outer wall. The door was positioned such a distance down the hallway compared to the size of it, that I didn’t think it was possible. But I hadn’t seen the outside of the estate, so I didn’t know.
It seemed a ballsy move for an Alpha to have his study that close to the entrance, as if daring someone to try something.
Blane removed his hands from his pockets and began unbuttoning the cuffs of his shirt without comment. He pulled his shirt out from his pants and then reached down and slipped off his socks. I had no idea why he was undressing, and as I watched him, Gerrid slipped out of my arms, p
utting distance between us.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
I turned to Gerrid for help, but found he was in a similar state of disarray.
They both had a look on their faces, as if mirroring one another. I had seen that look before, but couldn’t recall where. Not in the past two years, but before that. Something from a history book or some bit of research I had been doing, maybe.
The Alphas moved forward, headed for the door of the study. Gerrid went to one side, Blane to the other, and they stood there absolutely motionless. They still said nothing to me, and seemed to be ignoring my existence entirely.
Which left me standing directly in front of the door, looking like a daft fool. I had no weapon or anything to defend myself with, not even shoes.
What I wouldn’t give for a steel-toed boot right now.
When the door snapped open and the men came flooding in, the first thing they saw was me, staring at them. I was having difficulty wrapping my head around it.
An Alpha estate had just been attacked by people. They were armed with guns and even wearing body armour. Not the kind meant to defend against bullets, so much as a padded something meant to block hits from a fist. It may have been almost twenty years since the war had ended, but surely they must have remembered the brutality that was the Alpha creature.
The Alphas hadn’t used guns in their war. Even at a distance. They had used their individual items—which had made Blane a sort of Grim Reaper with his genetically altered viruses sweeping through and eating only specific people in the population—but they hadn’t used guns. Their fights had never been filmed, or that film had been confiscated, but the rumours of the fights carried on.
An Alpha was more brutal to those who brought guns to the fight. Yet these were armed people who had just bombed a Master’s house and were running in with guns and body armour.
So much for not bringing a gun to an Alpha fight.
They rushed toward me as more spilled out behind them.
Gerrid and Blane? They just stood there, waiting.
I did the same, but I didn’t know what to do as the men reached for me. My hands went up in the air, because I thought that’s what a servant would do. No one was stupid enough to attack an Alpha servant, that was like attacking the family. Abraham would break any Alpha who hurt the servants of another Alpha. Normal person or Alpha, it didn’t matter.
