Chasing Wolves (completed)

Chapter 29 Isadora

Chapter 29

Isadora

"Come in."

Royce's deep voice resonates from inside the room in front of us and my heart races with scared anticipation. Seth squeezes my elbow encouragingly before wiping all emotion from his face and opening the door, leading me in.

Royce is sitting behind a large (maple?) desk and he looks up as we enter. "Seth, there you are. Where have you been?" He notices me for the first time and stands, eyeing me warily as I do the same to him. "Who is this? I don't have anyone on schedule."

Deciding to 'assert my dominance' or something, I answer before Seth can, stepping around Seth and holding out my hand towards him. "My name is Isadora St. Corvus. Seth has been with me for the past few days, I'm sorry if that inconvenienced you. It's an honor to meet you, sir, and I have a proposal for you." For just a split second I can see the surprise in his eyes before he schools his expression back to blank.

He shakes my hand firmly, his hand the same temperature as mine, before turning to Seth. "Seth, I hear we've received some... new additions. Go check on them while Mrs. St. Corvus and I discuss some things." He gives a small bow to Royce before walking out and closing the door behind him.

Once Seth is gone he turns back to me, "Isadora, may I call you Isadora?" I nod and he continues, "you said you had a proposal for me? Please sit."

"Thank you. I do, yes, one I think you'll find most rewarding." I sit, taking him in as I try to keep calm. So far everything's working out great... but who knows how long that'll last. He's been much more... amiable than I'd imagined him, but there's no way of knowing if he's actually like this or if he's acting as well.

He appears to be about Paul's age (but that's just appearances, according to Seth he's in his nineties or something), with short silver-grey hair that I can't tell if it's natural or from age, and eyes a darker green than mine. At one point I imagine he would have been attractive, but he's got wrinkles forming around his mouth and eyes.

He walks around and sits in his chair, arching his fingers as he waits for me to speak. Having no idea how to start, I just decide to wing it. "I propose that we collaborate. As I've heard you're powerful, and are experimenting on Shifters to try to... I'm not entirely sure. Nor do I particularly care."

He hold up his hand and I stop as he thinks for a second. "That's all well and good, but why me, what do you have to offer me?"

"The new people you just received? They're my former 'friends'. All but two of them are Shifters; a Tiger and Wolves, and there's also a Hunter. Then there's my unfortunate husband, who's something I guarantee you've never seen. He was a vampire... before I cured him. I'm sure you'll have fun with them and I don't particularly care what happens to them."

"So why have you just suddenly decided to turn over all your friends, your husband, to someone who'll probably end up killing them? Besides that, why would you hand them over before we've even come to an agreement? For all you know I could just experiment on you, I'm quite aware of what you are, by the way, there's no telling what I could do to you."

My heart starts to race at the possibility and I just barely manage to calm it before he can notice. "Even if you were to chain me to a wall or whatever, I'd just escape."

He gives a little chuckle, "aren't you full of yourself? You have no idea what kind of security my facility has, and yet you're adamant that you're strong enough to escape?"

"Not strong- persistant. And for the other thing, that's quite simple, really. After a while I realized they couldn't give me what I truly wanted, that they were just obstacles."

His eyebrow quirks in surprise, "and what would that be?"

I stare him straight in the eye, not having to worry about him seeing through my act because for this, I'm not acting. "Power."