Bronze

Chapter 17 pt.2

Kane

I opened the door and peered out to my beta. He nodded his head, confirming what I already suspected.

"He's here."

.

.

.

Ekon led me down to the front living room. The space was mostly used for entertaining pack wolves, but Markus insisted on meeting me there. 

My beta nudged my shoulder as we descended down the main stairs. "He's playing nice," he whispered in my ear. I nodded.

Andreas was there, and so was Nika, both trying to question them before I arrived. 

The old man, Markus, had the scent of fish. Not good, alive fish that swam in rich rivers, but the old kind. The rotten kind. His hair was dark, though peppered with silver, and flowed to his shoulders. His dusty beard matched, hiding the thin, cracked lips behind the short hair.  

The man wore a navy and white striped, button-down shirt, folded at his elbows. A golden ring hung from a chain around his neck. Lower, he had black denim and dark hiking boots. A rectangular phone protruded from his left pocket. 

He was accompanied by two bulk guards. One was much larger than the other in muscle mass, the same size as Nika perhaps, and the other was equal to me. Each man wore tight frowns and massive scars along their arms. They didn't smell as bad as their alpha- with one smelling of tobacco and the other of blood, but I couldn't distinguish the two. 

Markus's eyes lit up when he saw me. He spread his arms out and gripped my shoulders. "It's good to see you, Alpha," he greeted with a genuine smile. I returned it and nodded. 

"What brings you to my lands, Alpha Markus?" I asked even though I already knew the answer. Leah. He wanted Leah.

Markus wrapped a boney arm around my shoulders and guided me away from the others. As soon as we left, Nika grumbled at one of Markus's men, he retaliated, and Andreas had to step in before a fight broke out. Or worse, a war. If Nika fought against Markus's men, Alpha Markus had every right to declare war against us. 

I growled at him through our link, ordering him to keep his anger under control. [If I have to do it,] I said to him, [then you have to, too.]

We walked to a spare office where no one could spy. I was hesitant to walk in alone, but knowing I could easily win against the old wolf, I pressed on. 

"As you know," Markus started, releasing his hold on me and strolling to the desk. He took a seat at the head, a sign that he felt more powerful than me. Ignoring my glare, he continued. "I'm looking for a girl- a rogue to be exact. She committed a horrendous crime while on my pack lands, but escaped before we could capture her. We have reason to believe that she came through your territory, not long ago. Have you..."- He swirled his hand around.- "...encountered a young girl in the last week or two?"

Refusing to sit, I made my way over to the desk and positioned myself a few feet away. Quickly sniffing the air, and blocking out Markus, I tried to find Leah. She was nowhere in the packhouse. 

I sighed with relief. She was already gone. 

Pretending to think, I shook my head. "Not that I know of," I said holding back a smirk and staring him in the eyes. Challenging.

He scowled, standing up from the chair and only reaching my shoulders in height. Pathetic. 

"How could you-" He was yelling, stepping into my face like a petulant child. As much as I wanted to hurt him, kill him even for what he did to Leah, I avoided his glare and turned around.

Seeing that he was increasing his volume, he coughed away the anger in his voice and said, "I'm sure you were at least notified about a rogue trespassing. With your overwhelmingly secure borders, there is no way a small thing like her could get through undetected without your knowledge."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Alpha Markus," I hissed. Folding my hands behind my back to keep them still, I peered at him with as neutral of a face as I could muster. "As I said before, I know nothing of a rogue coming through here. If she did somehow get past my guards, then she would be long gone by now."

We scowled at each other, neither alpha backing down. Unfortunately for him, I was stronger, had the strongest wolves, and I happened to be smarter. He knew he could never beat me alone. 

Then he smiled, showing off his eggshell white teeth in an attempt to calm me down. I didn't reciprocate the gesture. The smile faltered, going from a half-smile to a frown and back to showing his teeth.

"Let me apologize for my forwardness," he said, stepping away. I nodded unable to find the words in me to 'forgive' him. "I also have come to talk about an alliance with your pack."

"If you want to talk about alliances, then I must insist we do this in front of my council. I need their opinions in this matter."

He bowed his head slightly, motioning for the door with a sweep of his hand. "Of course."

I walked back out, feeling the old man right behind me, and found Nika and Andreas glaring at the two guys standing in the living room. They bowed in submission when Markus stepped through the threshold. Seeing them, Nika, Ekon, and Andreas did the same.

Idiots.

"As I was saying," Markus said taking a seat on one of the blue couches. I sat on the one facing them, happy to put a coffee table's width between me and his stench. His men flanked his sides behind the couch, standing like rocks with their arms at their sides. It wouldn't surprise me if they actually had rocks for brains.

"I would like to form an alliance treaty with your pack. In return for industrial resources, we would like your protection." 

I looked over at my beta, gamma, and delta. "We already have those resources, Alpha," Ekon mentioned, leaning back in his seat behind me. "We have a perfectly running industry in almost every part of the territory."

"I was asking your alpha, Beta Ekon," Markus barked. I snapped my fingers, asserting my voice back into the conversation.

"My council has every right to speak as I do," I said dryly. 

He bowed his head again, glaring. "Yes, you're right. My apologies." All three men grumbled to themselves, annoyed that I was smarter than they thought. 

Being young didn't mean I wasn't trained. Being twenty-seven, and one of the younger alphas to rule, I was always underestimated. But not today. Not anymore. Markus will know just how smart and powerful I could be. 

Sighing, I stood from my seat and stretched my arms. "We have no need for your alliance, Alpha Markus. Now, if I could escort you out-"

His eyes glazed over. A spine-tingling chill coursed through me as I watched him smirk. The hand, which I had just realized he had over the phone in his pocket, was now pulling it out. 

He sighed with rapture, letting his head fall back. "There she is," he muttered to himself. Pressing the phone to his ear, he spoke low and dark, ordering his men to my packhouse.

Nika was already at my side, ready to strike at any moment. 

"What were you saying about not knowing?" he asked evilly. He threw the phone at the fireplace on the adjacent wall, pieces of it dispersing in every inch of the room. Andreas winced back when a glass shard scrapped across his forehead.

I growled, red slowly fogging over my eyesight. If he had Leah...If he hurt her, I swear on the Goddess Alla that nothing in this world could stop me from killing him. Not even the Moon Goddess herself could stop my wrath. 

Worried that they hurt her, and needing a way of stopping myself from ripping his head off, I tried linking with her. Only being claimed to her, the connection was fuzzy at best. The only way I could get in contact was to let my wolf do it, and he was scared that we were too late to save her. 

Do it! I yelled at him. 

And so he left, taking a small part of my anger- his anger- with him as he tried connecting with her wolf. But she was blocking him out, purposely. 

You better be okay, or I might not have enough control in me to stop.