Tarnished Read online

  “Dare? Silver?” John came to a stop and stood braced, hands loose at his sides.

  Andrew sat Edmond down on the floor where he promptly pulled himself up again using the couch. Andrew caught Pierce’s eye, and he nodded acceptance of the responsibility of watching the child. Andrew stepped around the baby and couch to face John. This was undoubtedly his warning to leave John’s territory. He should have anticipated this, instead of letting himself get comfortable playing with children.

  Silver took a moment longer to disentangle herself from the couch without jostling her shoulder. He exchanged a glance with her as she joined him, and found her expression also controlled against whatever unpleasantness was to come. Andrew inclined his head. “Seattle.”

  John shook his head and went to one knee, head bowed. “Seattle.”

  Andrew’s next breath caught on the way in. He finished it in a ragged gasp. John couldn’t be ceding him the pack, just like that. Could he? It made no sense. “Get up,” he said sharply, and reached under John’s arm to drag him up. Did John think that was what Andrew had been aiming for? To take over the pack by undermining his self-confidence? John should have known that if Andrew wanted the pack, he would have challenged honorably.

  “No.” John threw Andrew’s hand off. “You—you and Silver—could use the status of being alphas going into the Convocation, couldn’t you? I’ll make it clear I abdicated by choice. It’s the most concrete sign of endorsement I can think of. I just need—” He swallowed. “Need you to promise to defend Susan against any charges, the same as you would any member of your pack. I can’t do it myself, not when Sacramento’s men will make sure everyone knows she’s my lover and I have a conflict of interest.”

  Andrew looked over at Susan. She was white-lipped but composed, so John had apparently explained his plan to her ahead of time. Maybe there was hope for the man yet.

  That pause seemed to worry John, because he set his shoulders and stumbled into explanations again. “I made mistakes, dealing with Sacramento and after. I let my pack down. I have a lot left to learn, clearly. If you’ll accept me as your beta, maybe I can start learning it, before you move on to Roanoke.”

  Andrew drew a deep breath as he scanned all the Seattle pack members gathered in the room. “Gathered” was the operative word, he realized. They’d already been gathered around him and Silver before John walked in, some sign of subconscious acceptance. No one growled or snarled. He saw expressions of awkwardness and resignation, but no anger.

  Then Andrew looked at Silver. Something instinctive shouted at him to accept before the offer was withdrawn or the pack changed their minds. Having an alpha’s status in the Convocation would go a long way toward getting him the time to win people over. And if he admitted it to himself, something in him itched to lead. But this was not just his decision.

  Silver met his eyes at the same moment. She smiled, a smile of the same kind of rightness he was feeling. He drew her to him, meaning to whisper against her ear, check for sure, but a deep breath of her scent, eager with anticipation, told him all he needed to know.

  “Yes,” Silver said, for the both of them. “We won’t have to defend Susan like a member of the pack when she is one.” She stepped away from Andrew and spread her arm to invite John to stand for a hug. “And of course you’re beta.” They embraced, John chuckling roughly in relief. He probably laughed at feeling the weight of responsibility lift from his shoulders, even as it settled on Andrew’s. But Andrew might as well get credit for the responsibility he seemed to always end up taking on anyway.

  He heard the Were behind him go to their knees, acknowledging the new alpha pair. He turned his head to catch Pierce out of the corner of his eye, to see if he would object to being demoted. Pierce didn’t kneel, as he was already sitting, but he did incline his head. Not too grudging.

  Andrew checked on Susan next. She caught him at it and with a wry smile, she went to her knees too. Her look was as clear as words: see, I’m learning. Andrew gave her a thin smile of encouragement. She’d have a lot more to learn yet if he was going to keep her safe at the Convocation.

  18

  Andrew paused after stepping out of the rental minivan to let the sunlight seep into his skin. The Convocation had been held at this ranch south of Flagstaff the last few years, and the drive from the airport had been comforting in its familiarity. Pines topped the scree-slopes flanking the highway and spread out beyond, as abundant as other species of evergreen in Seattle, but giving the impression of sparseness with little else but grass and rocky soil beneath. He wouldn’t have chosen it for a permanent home, but there was beauty in the wild spaces and easier running beneath the pines. The smells were dustier with less underbrush, but the trail of a cottontail rabbit or coyote carried more easily.

  Tom jumped out of the minivan next and drew in deep breaths like he could inhale the whole place. Andrew had tried to talk him out of coming. Officially, alphas were only allowed their betas and mates. Unofficially, everyone looked the other way when teens tagged along and treated the gathering as a kind of singles mixer. At least if Tom ran around with the teens the other alphas would be bringing, it should keep him safe and out of whatever might go down. People wouldn’t bother a group of young people that contained members of their own pack too.

  Andrew opened the passenger door for Silver. Her expression had a pleased intensity as she absorbed all the scents. He supposed even if she’d visited Arizona before, she wouldn’t remember it, so he stayed silent, letting her take it in. She caught on after a moment and smiled, dry. She leaned up to his side, to whisper on a bare breath for some semblance of privacy. “How’s Death going to find shadows to lurk in with all this sun?”

  Andrew laughed and pressed a kiss into her hair before releasing her to range farther off the parking area gravel in her exploration.

  “So does one of the packs own this place?” Susan got out after Tom, even though he had been in the row of seats behind her. She shut the door but didn’t circle around to the side with the car seat yet. She stood with her eyes shaded against the late afternoon sunlight, looking off to the rocky line of the mountains.

  Andrew shook his head. “This is neutral territory. Salt Lake City used to claim it—or maybe it was Reno, I don’t remember—but when the Mexican border started being so heavily patrolled for illegal immigrants, everyone pulled their boundaries north to avoid getting seen in wolf. In Arizona, they went the rest of the way and turned the whole state neutral so we can have a place to meet without fighting either the heat or the tourists farther south. It’s also helpful that the ranchers around here are very much in favor of ‘Shoot, shovel, and shut up’ when encountering ‘varmints.’ It provides a little bonus motivation to stay in human. Even though it’s the new, there’s always someone…”

  Thinking of all the people who might be itching for a fight enough to struggle through a shift in the new made Andrew shade his own eyes and frown ahead at the ranch. They shared the gravel parking area with a variety of mostly rental vehicles. A double row of cabins extended outward from the converted barn that served as the main hall. About three-quarters had windows open, suggesting they’d been claimed and the occupants were airing them out. The cabins on the Western packs’ side of the road had the bulk of the open windows. On the other side, the cabin Rory always claimed was still shuttered and silent. This would be Andrew’s first year not on the Roanoke side, attending as Rory’s enforcer.

  John came up and settled a step behind Andrew to conduct a similar survey. Andrew caught himself bracing for John to be pushy with his stance, but his body language suited a beta, as it had since his abdication. He waited in patient silence now. Andrew flicked a glance back over his shoulder. “You guys do first-come, first-served with cabin choice like the Roanoke sub-packs do, or do you have a usual one I should know about?”

  “Nah. Pick one with the prettiest curtains,” John said. He waited a beat, maybe to see if Andrew had any other questions, then returned to the
van. He clapped Tom on the shoulder to stop him bouncing around and made him help pull the luggage out of the back. Silver drifted back to sling her own light bag over her shoulder.

  By the time they reached the cabin row, Andrew had decided on the cabin at the far end. The one closest to the meeting hall on the Western side was inevitably already taken. Since the first cabin on the Roanoke side was Rory’s, the symbolism of distancing himself from Roanoke as much as possible suited Andrew. He pushed away circling thoughts of whether he would appear scared of Rory, or appear confident for being willing to appear scared, or—

  The interior matched Andrew’s memories of the Roanoke cabin. The owners must have bought furnishings in bulk. Layered scents of strange humans had faded to musty dust with lack of use in the off-season. The cabin had two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a tiny kitchen. The rest of the space formed a living area, one wall filled with a rock-covered fireplace raised above a step that provided extra seating. Andrew dumped his shoulder bag beside the bed in the back bedroom. Silver sat and bounced on the bed as if judging the quality of the springs, then flopped backwards.

  John hauled the baby’s stuff into the other bedroom. Tom paced the living room from where the carpet ended at the kitchen area to the fireplace step, then tugged aside the couch, presumably to give himself more room to stretch out in his sleeping bag. Andrew remembered the particular brown shade of the couch too, only saved from being ugly by how faded it was.

  Andrew wandered to John and Susan’s room, leaned a shoulder against the doorframe, and watched them unpack the portable playpen for Edmond to sleep in. “It’ll be best if I start talking to the Roanoke sub-alphas personally before the official start tonight, but I want to wait on Boston first. He can let me know where I stand with them.”

  A knock sounded on the door. Andrew frowned. Was that Benjamin now? Or someone else here to cause trouble? He drew a deep breath in front of the door, but the scents were too diffuse with the visitor just arrived and the door in the way. He settled his expression into an alpha’s confident mask and opened the door.

  “I’m here to speak to Seattle.” The woman on the step was blond and leggy with her hair back in a severe ponytail. She wore dark jeans and a long-sleeved top with a high neckline. Behind her, another woman had her head tipped down so her long dark hair obscured her face, her stillness a pressuring weight that didn’t quite tip over into challenge. It seemed more than just support for the other woman as spokesman, but Andrew couldn’t tell what.

  “Yes?” Andrew said. If the women’s business was serious, he’d have to make them wait and get Silver. He assumed the two Sacramento pack goons had begun spreading rumors about the murdering human and Andrew’s part in the incident as soon as they returned home. Everyone would know by now. He could only hope that people would wait for the matter to be addressed formally when the Convocation opened.

  The blond woman’s gaze remained behind him, not on him, for another few beats. Andrew finally realized that she must know John and was waiting for the Seattle she expected to arrive. Andrew assumed she was a Western beta, or maybe a mate. Michelle was the only female alpha.

  Understanding dawned in the blond woman’s face, and her eyebrows rose. “Another change of leadership. Fair enough.” She backed up onto the gravel track and braced with hands clasped behind her back, feet apart. It was a very masculine gesture, and dominance-related. At Convocation, each cabin became something like sovereign territory, so the woman was inviting Andrew out to speak on neutral ground.

  Then he got it, in turn. This woman was acting like an alpha. And while Portland had been the only female alpha, he knew one alphaship that had recently come open. “Sacramento?” He stepped onto the gravel too. He hadn’t expected to have to deal with this the moment he arrived, dammit. At least she didn’t smell aggressive.

  Sacramento nodded, and extended a hand. Andrew shook it and politely avoided her eyes. Her grip was firm without any of the squeezing games some of the alphas played. The dark-haired woman remained where she was and didn’t look up.

  Andrew heard Silver’s tread on the cabin’s threshold, and she came even with him a moment later. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She showed her dominance with centered grace in contrast to Sacramento’s rigid stance. She looked powerful and beautiful, sun shining off her hair.

  “If you want Seattle, it’s not just me you need,” he told Sacramento. “My mate, Silver.”

  Silver stepped forward and offered her good hand. Sacramento ignored it, and stared at her injured arm in the sling. “You’ve heard of me,” Silver said, ostensibly a joke but edged enough that Sacramento’s attention jerked back to her face. “Before you decide what to think, remember not that I was hurt, but that I survived.”

  Sacramento finally shook Silver’s hand as befitted an equal, face a little blank with her surprise. “Seattle,” she murmured.

  Andrew searched Silver’s back and what the breeze allowed him of her scent for any sign of hesitation. She could do dominant damn well when it pleased her, but he was more worried about whether now pleased her. Dealing with the pack in the wake of Nate’s death had centered her somehow, and he could see nothing put power in her stance. Good.

  John stepped into the cabin doorway. He frowned at Sacramento and then laughed in dawning recognition. “You’re the one who took over?” He glanced at Andrew, who nodded. With official greetings between the alphas over, John had his permission to greet a friend.

  John strode over to Sacramento, grinning. “Congratulations, Allie!”

  Sacramento froze, the dark-haired woman growled, and Andrew winced. Personal friends could use an alpha’s name without disrespect, but he would have thought John could read this situation better than that. Sacramento was new to her power and probably feeling threatened as a female alpha. This was no time to use anything that even hinted at disrespect, especially a diminutive.

  John backed up, hands open and apologetic. He glanced at Andrew and Silver for help.

  “Kick him in the balls if he does it again,” Silver told Sacramento. “I believe Portland said she threatened to before, so he should have learned his lesson by now.” John flinched protectively, which was probably a good idea. Sacramento looked like she was considering the idea.

  “Allison,” Sacramento said firmly. She feinted a knee toward John and flashed Silver an edged smile. “John knew me in something of a persona. Power behind the throne is much easier when everyone dismisses you as an empty-headed beach bum.”

  She addressed that to Silver, but she caught Andrew’s eyes afterward and snapped the elastic off her hair. She shook it free with her best prim librarian neck-twirl and fluffed it. She smiled vapidly, but Andrew was too used to looking underneath now. He gave her a solemn nod of respect. He wasn’t going to judge her for not challenging Nate. He knew what it was like challenging when you didn’t have your opponent’s sheer physical strength.

  Sacramento’s lips thinned like she didn’t quite trust Andrew’s respect, but she returned the nod and recaptured her hair. She returned to her braced stance. “You’ve done me a service,” she said with heavy formality. The “but” hovered like a raptor in the sky, ready to swoop.

  “Wasn’t me,” Andrew said. He shouldn’t have been surprised that someone was happy to have been saved the trouble of deposing Nate. As Sacramento implied, however, it all came down to the “but.”

  “Lady.” The dark-haired woman shook her hair back and strode forward in impatience. “Screw ‘service,’ Alli— Sacramento. You said you were coming to warn him, and you’re giving him a chance to spin his bullshit story? A human did it? That’s convenient for him. Everyone knows about the bad blood between him and my father.” She stopped just behind Sacramento’s shoulder, a beta’s position.

  With the woman’s face finally exposed, Andrew could see the resemblance. It was there in her scent too, now he knew to look for it. Perhaps that was why she’d been hiding her face. His heart sped, ready for action,
and it was almost a relief to have the hunter’s cocked shotgun finally fired. Here was the reaction he’d expected. Perhaps Sacramento agreed and the heavy formality was simply her being cautious in her new position.

  “That human’s a friend of mine.” Silver stepped forward to face Nate’s daughter squarely. “And of several in the pack. Some of us have those, you know. Human friends. Your father,” Silver’s lips twisted like the word was bitter, “tortured us. Can you blame her for snatching up a weapon and doing what none of her friends could do? She saved my life. And instead of being thanked, she’s going to stand trial for it.”

  “Tortured—!” Nate’s daughter bit off the word. “We have only your word for that.” She jerked forward and Sacramento caught her arm. “After he killed my brother, too.”

  “He was raping human women.” Andrew had used that sentence so often, it had blended into an inseparable unit in his mind. Why did that need so much justifying? He spoke to Sacramento, ignoring Nate’s daughter. He could see in her face he wouldn’t reach her. “It doesn’t matter they were human—”

  “He wouldn’t have stopped with them.” Sacramento’s tone made Andrew want to shiver. He’d wondered if he’d have to convince her, but he had no doubt now; she knew.

  “We could all defend ourselves, but most of the women in the pack knew that. Even his half sister can be forced to admit it.” Sacramento shook her beta’s shoulder, and the woman ducked her head, acknowledging Sacramento’s words even if the rage didn’t fade from her face. “Nate wasn’t like that, but then again there was always—” Sacramento drew in a tight breath. “Something. And he raised his son personally.”

  The way Nate’s daughter flinched made Andrew wonder—did that mean he hadn’t raised her “personally”? Lucky for her, so far as he could tell. Maybe it was easier to defend a man she’d seen mostly from afar.