Chapter 326: Chapter 326 - [K] A Return to Authority
***[POV: Alright Now Alpha]***
My Beta waited patiently in the driver’s seat, having arrived exactly the time of the morning I’d asked him to. With a change of clothes and new, privately purchased transportation back to the city.
Martha lingered in the doorframe as I was ready to leave. For some reason it made me pause and look back at her with one hand on the truck door handle. Her hand went up and ruffled her own graying hair.
"You know, I promised not to say anything specific. But I’ve promised that girl not to say a lot - and I’m just an old forgetful woman who can’t remember if she has called me yet this morning. Like she has every morning and evening to ask how you’re doing."
First letting go, then gripping harder on the handle, my other fingers moved toward the talisman beneath my shirt that I did not let the witch keep. Not just because it needed to be surrendered to the council.
Because Citra had left it behind, I eventually reasoned out, after another much less obvious slip from Martha Callaway. She had given something to help me recover. One of her resources, as grotesque as it may be.
An item I’m sure she pulled out of that hunter’s belongings. Because while some packs do let their young carry talismans of their ancestor’s bodies, the Duskpaw was not one of them.
Overall, the gesture meant something, to me. Even if she’d never acknowledge it directly... that it was anything more than getting rid of something she had no need of.
"Every day?"
"Like clockwork. Whatever you two have going on, she cares. More than she’s probably able to admit."
I opened the door without saying anything and sit. Because I don’t particularly want to be called strange again, just for being okay with the pace my mate is setting.
The speed she has been quietly demanding I chase her at. Despite running away faster or slower herself, minute by minute.
⧖ ☾ ❄ ☽ ⧖
The drive back felt short. Maybe because my wolf was fully alert and eager to resume our responsibilities over the Rimecoat. To get back to the preparations I need to make for after the solstice, though I have been working with Claire when I could.
Maybe the travel time is in mind because I vaguely remember how long it took to get out there the other night. With Citra going every way but straight to the location. I wonder how she can stand twisting herself so much to hide her goal without getting lost along the way.
"Anything urgent I need to know about before we get back?"
Luca asked as he got us stuck in school traffic. There is a reason I hired a separate driver for us. Maybe I should have taken the wheel instead - or pointed out which roads not to go down.
I was trying to be considerate and not judge his choice. Because I don’t want him to overreact so much when he learns what has been going on.
"Yes. But I wanted to brief you directly when I was ready to return. Sorry."
"I had a feeling. Your trip was not really business-related, was it?"
"No."
"Then?"
Ripping the band-aid off seems to be the only good way. I waited until traffic was beginning to slow again before speaking.
"There was an incident in that day’s training. Silver exposure."
The truck lurched as Luca’s foot pressed down harder on the brake than necessary. His knuckles went white on the steering wheel before he swerved and pulled into a parking lot.
One that the vehicle could just barely get past the car in front of us without scraping paint. He held his tongue until he put the vehicle in park and shut the engine off, eyes quite orange as he turned toward me.
"How much? When? Why... did you keep this from the pack?"
"I had to. Someone deliberately swapped the canisters, Luca. Made it look like equipment failure, but the camera footage has gaps. On a day when Aaron Whitecrest would have been handling the storage."
"Aaron? That doesn’t make sense. He’s... no, that doesn’t make sense. You think one of ours did it on purpose?"
"Exactly. They wanted me unfit or worse. But they were smart enough to make it look like someone else did it on their own."
He ran his hands through his blonde hair before drooping his shoulders back into his seat. It was hard to see. Such a big and strong man momentarily looked so small.
"That’s... that means you could have died then. Or even after, and I would have been running around thinking you were just in meetings out of the country."
"No. Claire had orders to stop hiding it if things became worse for me. For what it’s worth, I did not tell her at first what I was doing either. Things have been strained with the rising rogue and Duskpaw situation and I did not want to be caught weak and inflame tensions."
Not looking quite happy about my explanation, he still nods. As my Beta, it is not as though he fails to understand the concept of operational security. I just had to get him past the gut reaction.
"If you’d brought the pack in immediately, we would have all been on edge. If others saw that... whoever did this might have made moves. Gone after other targets. Or our own might have made unwise decisions. I get it... but..."
He opened the door on his side to let in air. Then looked at me with a kind of resignation. An understanding that wasn’t happy, but wasn’t mad or sad either. But one that was going to guilt me.
"You went to her, didn’t you?"
"I did. When I realized I couldn’t hide away alone."
"...Good. That it worked out."
Both of us left it at that. Neither suggesting what was proper to have done. Because we know I may not have been in the right state. To treat my right hand in pack matters with full respect. But I am now.
"Now that I’m back to full strength, I’m ready to bring you in on this. You’ll want to ask Claire for the full briefing. Fair warning - she’s been extremely thorough."
"She always is."
Almost immediately, his phone alerted. Ping after ping. Each notification making him stare at his own lap with a growing, crackling sigh.
"I wish she wouldn’t do that."
"I’m sorry. It’s been bugging her not telling you."
"That doesn’t mean she has to ’bug’ our devices. There is a limit to initiative, Claire."
"I haven’t found it yet. Tell me if you find one for tucking tail with me, big boy. I could have used the comfort and release recently. Closing channel."
Opening my own door and stepping out into the parking lot, I try and ignore whatever that was about. I’ve tried not to pry and she is usually just a bit more reserved with her feelings about him around me.
However, maybe our recent socializing has loosened that. Or maybe spending time around Citra is affecting her as well.
Either way, the pair of us that were not disembodied voices trade spots. I start the engine as he is still closing his door.
"The important thing is we have unpleasant things to do now, Luca. Which brings me to something else. Something you asked me last week and I shrugged off. The preparations I’ve been makin -, it’s really not about expecting war."
"Then what?"
He had begun scanning the documents he was sent. It’s good that I trusted he would only need a short period to move himself along. Just like I trusted Citra would help herself to my assistant while I was indisposed.
"Give me a few more days to figure out how to answer that. But I need you to trust that what I’m doing is necessary for all of us. The whole city that my pack lives in. As it always has been."
"I do trust that. I don’t like being kept in the dark about threats to you, Kyrie. Because you are our Alpha - a good one - and you are my friend. But I understand why you did it. Tell me, what’s the plan with Aaron?"
Counting to ten, to make sure my answer wouldn’t change, my foot presses calmly down on the pedal. Pulling up to the crowded street and waiting for the chance to join the flow.
"Direct interrogation. Today. Claire cannot find enough information to know if he was a willing participant or just unlucky enough to be in the wrong place. She claims something weird is going on, like someone is erasing almost all the logs around an instigator’s traceable connections."
"That sounds like a conspiracy all around. And not a good thing if their side has one of our level of computer geniuses. What if you find he was willing? Aaron."
I wait again, until I finally get the truck over and onto a street that should not stall as terribly. Where I can reach a speed closer to thirty than only eight miles per hour. Where the momentum in me could build and show itself.
"Then we find out who exactly convinced him to betray his pack - before letting them all find out why I am in charge of it."