Brooke grimaced, unconvinced. There was a reason a truce between predators had never been successful in the past. But the thought of her pack being set up for life, thriving and happy and healthy in the Rockies was a tempting one. “And I’ll go back to my pack and tell them you want to call a truce?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. Connor nodded, pulling on a pair of boxers. “We’ll need a fifty-fifty split, Connor. You may have the lodge, but I have twenty wolves to worry about.” She knew she might be coming off as abrasive, but if anyone was going to understand putting a pack, a family, before anything else, it would be Connor.
“Of course, I want this to be as fair as possible. Your pack is your family, same as my sleuth. I know they come first.”
Brooke sagged with relief, warmth filling her chest at her own words echoed back to her. She’d had faith, but it was nice when reality backed it up. “Thank you, Connor.”
She was still skeptical; Vince was getting bolder, he’d made it clear he didn’t trust the Strauss family and, in light of more recent events, that he didn’t trust her, but the look of confidence on Connor’s face made her want to hope.
Her stomach was in knots when she reached her place. Angela met her at the door, pretty face drawn and anxious.
“Everyone’s inside,” Angela said softly. “They’re not happy.”
Of course they aren’t, Brooke thought, but I’m going to fix that.
Seeing twenty wolf shifters gathered in her tiny front room would have been funny under different circumstances. They were cramped together a little like those old Where's Waldo books Brooke had as a kid. Every surface was occupied with her pack, pushing and shoving, faces angry as she walked in and stepped up onto the kitchen counter so she could face everyone at once.
This was her family, and seeing them upset like this made her heart ache. She needed to fix this; they deserved better.
“I know a lot of you no longer feel that I am fit to run this pack,” she started, forcing herself to keep her head held high. She could own up to her mistakes. “But I have been in conversation with Connor Strauss - the alpha of the bear sleuth who has been fighting with us over the land that we deserve. We have managed to come to an agreement.” Ripples of conversation made its way through the room, like a giant game of Chinese Whispers. For some of her pack, anger melted into interest, but others’ frowns only deepened. Brooke waited a moment for them to settle down before continuing. “He wants us, all of us, to come up to the lodge to meet with him and his sleuth so that we can get everything sorted out once and for all.”
There was silence for all of two seconds before the room erupted into chaos, twenty voices all calling out at once. Brooke tried her best to differentiate one voice from another, but the overlapping shouts were hard to unravel.
“What about the dead bear?” someone asked. Anger flashed through her, the memory of Connor’s face streaked with tears running across her mind, but she quickly fought to get her expression under control.
“Connor Strauss has said that he was willing to let the matter go, for the sake of both our groups.” There was a murmur of surprise. No one had expected the bear to forgive so easily, especially something of that calibre. Brooke privately agreed; he was too kind. Brooke fixed every face in the room with a hard stare. “Unfortunately for whoever spilled that bear’s blood, I will be far less forgiving.” More than a few faces in the crowd shrank back and Brooke smiled menacingly. Good to know I haven’t completely lost my touch, she thought.
They must have made quite the sight; a group of twenty wolf shifters approaching the entrance to the lodge like a parade of street urchins. Brooke brought up the rear, walking with the injured and the meandering pups, watching as Eric directed her pack into one of the side rooms that had been reserved for the meeting. They made eye contact and he nodded politely to her. She nodded awkwardly back, eyes wide, and Eric’s face relaxed into a smile that made him look years younger.
Vince was just in front of her, and he shot her a dark look over his shoulder as he passed the lodge’s threshold. She made a note to warn the Strauss' to keep an extra careful eye on him. Connor fell into step with her as she crossed the glinting dark hardwood floor of the foyer. He walked with her quietly to the room. He caught her eye and flashed a grin, scrunching his nose reassuringly before smoothing his expression out into something cool and professional.
The meeting was awkward and stilted, which didn’t surprise Brooke in the slightest. The entire pack was on edge as they sat in what looked like a large ornate ballroom with gilded furnishings and floors polished enough to be mistaken for mirrors. Connor’s brothers looked just as uncomfortable - leaning against the wall in a rigid line like war generals waiting for a briefing.
It was easier than she’d thought it would be to act like things between her and Connor were strictly professional. They’d agreed not to tell anyone about their relationship yet, certain it would only make things more complicated. Brooke was glad they’d made that call. She felt like she was back in the high school debate club, waiting her turn at the front of the room while Connor told the room that he realized her pack had been treated unfairly and vowed to make things right. Brooke’s threat back at the apartment must have stayed with the pack because no one mentioned William’s death.
“I’m sorry for how we’ve treated you all,” Connor said quietly. “I know we have a lot to make up for, but I promise you, I will do everything in my power to make things right between us. There’s no reason why we can’t occupy this territory together as a cohesive group.”
Brooke watched Connor’s brothers out of the corner of her eye and while one of them, Cody, she guessed from the scruff decorating his jaw, let shock tighten the corners of his mouth, they were - for the most part - emotionless. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.
The pack remained quiet. They don’t trust him, Brooke thought, chest tight. She’d warned Connor that they wouldn’t, but seeing him standing there so hopefully in front of a sea of disbelieving faces with her own eyes dimmed her little bit of remaining hope.
In the end, they agreed to draw up an official treaty that called a truce and stated specifically the borders between wolf and bear lands, each getting a fair share with a portion of No Man’s Land between them. The elders of both families would be called down in the following weeks in order to sign off and that seemed to signal the end of things.
Brooke shared a look with Carlo, silently asking him to make sure everyone got back okay, before joining Connor at the front of the room but Carlo followed her and shook Connor’s hand, much to Brooke’s amazement.
“Thank you for helping us out,” Carlo said stiffly. He turned his head to watch the last of the pack skulk out of the room. “We may not seem like it just yet, but we are grateful.”
Connor nodded, looking just as shocked as she felt, and then Carlo turned to Brooke with a small smile, “See you at home, cuz.”
“See you at home.” Brooke tried to pack everything she was feeling into that short sentence, and the warmth that filled Carlo’s eyes and the way his shoulders relaxed, just a little, made her think she’d succeeded. They clasped each other, resting their foreheads together, before Carlo turned and left the room. Shortly after, Nathan, Cody, and Eric slipped out another door, leaving the pair alone.
The ballroom felt even larger with just the two of them and Brooke slid to the ground, crossing her legs and leaning back against the wall with a sigh. After a moment, Connor dropped down beside her.
“That went… well…” she tried.
“They don’t believe me, do they?”
“Nope. Not a word. Well, wait, Carlo does, and Angela could be convinced, maybe, but the rest of them? Not a chance.”
Neither of them spoke for a long moment, Brooke pitched sideways, letting her head fall against Connor’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. Actions speak louder than words; I’m sure that when the elders arrive and they actually have a treaty in their hands, they’ll believe y
ou.” She had meant to be reassuring, but Connor sat up straighter and her head slid from where it had been resting. She looked up at him, confused.
He stared back with a burning intensity that made her cheeks warm and her stomach tight.“I can do better than that,” Connor vowed, voice low and fervent. She swallowed. He took hold of her upper arms, turning her to properly face him, huge hands so gentle with her even though she knew they could do so much damage. “I can give you some money - enough for you to move the whole pack into some better housing.”
Brooke stared up at him, emotions threatening to overwhelm her. Her hands trembled, and her nose tingled as tears pricked her eyelids. What was it today with her and crying?
“That would be- God, Connor, that would mean so much.” She shook his hands off, and he let her, though he could have kept hold of her easily. He also let her grab his face and pull him down into a bruising kiss. “I love you, I love you so fucking much.”
“And I love you.” Connor grinned, resting their foreheads together, and they sat like that for a few moments, enjoying each other’s comforting presence.
“I should go,” she whispered after a while. “I’ve got work in the morning.” It felt ridiculous to be worrying about her job at Cole’s right now, but after all of this she ached for the familiarity of it.
“Okay.”
They climbed to their feet, walking back through the foyer and pausing just inside the entrance.
“You’ll come visit me, right?” she asked. Connor grinned, lifting her hand to press a kiss to her knuckles.
“You just try and stop me,” he said, eyes sparkling. Brooke laughed and watched him head back up to his office, pausing to wave at her before he shut the door, then stepped out into the afternoon light.
“Now!” The voice came from her left.
Brooke whirled, but couldn’t see anything before she was met with a figure crashing into her, sending her sprawling across the ground. She tried to get her feet under her but another figure joined the first, pinning her to the hot tarmac of the lodge’s parking lot before she could move. She tried to twist out of their grip, but it was no use. More hands were on her in an instant, and when she snapped her teeth at them someone took advantage and shoved a makeshift gag into her open mouth. It was greasy and tasted like stale burgers and cigarettes and Brooke retched. Something hit her across her head and the last thing she saw before her world turned black was Vince standing over her. Grinning. The bastard.
19
Brooke
Brooke came to slowly, head throbbing dully. She opened her eyes and was immediately panicked when she was met with only darkness. She tried to scream but the noise was distorted, muffled; she realised the two bands of pressure round her head were the twin weights of a gag and a blindfold cutting into her skin. She tried to figure out what was happening, and the last thing she remembered was Vince’s awful, leering face. Fury burned in her chest. Fucking Vince.
She scented the air, trying to find the other shifter. Faintly, she could hear the sound of rushing water; she was somewhere in the forest at least.
Footsteps. She wasn’t alone. Brooke tensed, head turning to follow the noise and trying to get her feet under her, but heavy ropes bound her ankles and wrists so she could do little but squirm as those footsteps got louder and louder.
Not just him, she realized faintly. There were more footfalls all around her, anxious and restless. She tried again to talk but the gag was tied securely around her head, the knot of the stale tasting fabric digging into the back of her skull. She heard a laugh directly in front of her and turned her head towards the noise.
“What’s the matter? You can’t be surprised by this, can you, Brooke? I mean, not really.” Vince paused, as if waiting for her to respond and Brooke kept quiet; she recognized his voice immediately. She could imagine the smug look on his face as he knelt before her, greasy hair hanging down like rats tails inches from her face. “It took a long time you know,” Vince continued, trailing a finger down Brooke’s cheek. If she wasn’t gagged, she vowed she would have bitten it off. “It’s a loyal pack you got yourself, I won’t lie. Didn’t want to turn on you at first. Which made it all the better when you willingly turned yourself into a sweet little bitch for Connor Strauss to fuck. Oh, how they flocked to me after I told them that.”
That stung, and though Brooke tried her best to hide it, not wanting to give him the satisfaction, she couldn’t help twitching. He laughed, and then one of his thick fingers was tugging at her gag. She snarled.
“These weren’t strictly necessary,” he said gleefully. Brooke rolled her eyes. God does he ever stop talking? There was a sharp tug at the base of her skull as Vince hauled her up unsteadily to her feet by the knot of the gag. “But I just had to take advantage of the situation. Seeing you helpless and bound? Brings me a satisfaction like no other. Better than sex, I think. You always did need to be brought down a peg or two.” He kept her there, balanced on the heels of her feet, despite still being bound to the chair, and entirely at his mercy. Her wolf growled, metaphorical hackles raised at being in such a vulnerable state, while Vince continued,“This won’t be nearly as much fun if you can’t see anything though…”
He threw her down. She grunted as pain spiked through her hands and knees as she hit the floor. Deft hands went to the back of her head and the blindfold was yanked from her face.
It was dark, but even so, Brooke had to blink a few times to get her bearings. The first thing she saw, over Vince’s shoulder in the corner of the room, was a witch. Brooke didn’t know her. Despite doing business with a witch to get her scent potion, Brooke didn’t make a habit of hanging out with witches and wizards. She recognized the witch’s robe and the patterns painted - in what looked suspiciously like blood - on her skin.
Bringing a witch into pack business wasn’t a common practice; power transitions were tricky spells, fraught with side-effects and notoriously hard to pull off. Brooke remembered learning about alpha succession when she was a pup: two candidates interested in the position would have a straight fight to decide who was the stronger between them. The winner becomes alpha and the loser steps down graciously.
The day she fought Vince for the alpha position, Vince had been cocky, too light on his feet and distracted by trying to show off to the rest of the pack, who were watching with bated breath for the result. It had been easy to pin him and Brooke had become the alpha, as the rules of succession dictated.
However, power transitions were very rare and would only take place when a tyrant alpha refused to step down. The ritual took the victim’s shifting away, leaving them less than human as well, and barely conscious. Brooke stared at the witch with barely concealed dread.
She’d be little more than a vegetable when they were done with her.
“So you do remember some of our pack dynamics,” Vince purred, swiftly untying the gag and pulling the fabric from her mouth. “That’s good.”
Brooke spat on the ground, trying to drive the rank taste from her mouth, and glared up at Vince with fire in her eyes.
“Fuck you,” she seethed. Then she paused, eyes travelling over the rest of the room. At least half of the adult pack members were gathered in the tiny space, all glaring at her with varying levels of hatred. This used to be her family, they were all she’d ever known. Some of these people had held her while she mourned her parents. And now they wanted her dead.
“Please,” she rasped, voice still hoarse from disuse. “Whatever he’s told you, Connor wants to help us. He’s willing to make things right! We don’t need to-”
“We don’t need your boyfriend and his bears to throw us a fucking pity party!” Vince screamed, slapping Brooke hard across the face. She toppled sideways with the force of it, unable to pull herself up again. She growled. Around the room shouts of agreement echoed off of the walls. Damn them and their fucking pride.
The witch stayed in the corner and said nothing, walking forward only when Vince turned to her and beck
oned her forward.
“Now, Sabine here just needs a few things for her little spell, and then tomorrow we can get this show on the road!” Vince grinned.
He was practically rubbing his hands together, Brooke thought in disgust. Sabine’s hands were cold but unnervingly gentle as she pulled Brooke gently back to her knees. Brooke couldn’t take any comfort from the light touch. It wasn’t as if this witch cared about Brooke - that much was clear from the spell she was about to perform. She just needed Brooke in one piece until it was over. The witch pulled a pair of ornate looking gold scissors from her pocket and snipped a long auburn lock of hair from Brooke’s head, plaiting it quickly into a tiny braid before stowing it back into her pocket. She worked in silence and Brooke looked at Vince, eyebrows raised in her best unimpressed look.
“Doesn’t talk much does she?” Brooke used her best cock-sure voice, nodding at the witch, and Sabine made a warning noise before cutting a deep slit in Brooke’s forearm, using more pressure than she needed to. Bitch.
“Her considerable talents lie elsewhere, I assure you,” Vince told her, eyes narrow.
Sabine climbed gracefully to her feet and stepped back, intoning,“It is done.” Her voice was as soft as her hands, barely above a whisper, and it made Brooke shiver involuntarily.
“Thank you, dear,” Vince said to her, then turned to sneer down at Brooke. “Well, I’d love to stay and watch you stew and whine but this place is even more of a shithole than those apartments you have us in, and I have a battle to plan.” He walked to the door, the other wolves following closely behind. Some of them sent glances to Brooke over their shoulders as they passed, but most of them didn’t give her a second glance. Brooke felt her heart start to crack in her chest, she truly had lost them.
Vince waited until they were alone and turned back to her. The moonlight framed his figure, making him look larger and more menacing.
Connor (Strauss Bear Shifter Brothers 0f Colorado Book 4) Page 10
