Choices (8 page)

All it would take would be for the two to ally. Together, they would vastly outnumber Halcyon and could very well set their eyes on Hale’s valley and it would be no difficult task for them to get Silas on their side. If all three packs converged on Halcyon, there would be no hope.

When Whiteriver failed to rejoin Halcyon, Hale had two options. He could either figure out a way to turn the two sons of the two rival packs against one another, or he could subvert and overthrow Silas. Without an alpha, Whiteriver would have no choice but to rejoin Halcyon.

Hale had gone with the second option, mainly because he still felt slighted by Silas’s departure. Everything had been going as planned, and even having Tulip here wouldn’t have been a major upset had he still given a shit about his plan.

“So tell me,” Alder said, still leaning in the doorway. “What exactly was this plan of yours?”

Tulip was all too happy to answer him. “We were going to turn Whiteriver against Silas, encourage them to abandon him and rejoin Halcyon.”

Alder lifted a brow. “How?”

“It wasn’t by going to war,” Hale told him. Finally detaching Tulip, he took a seat at one of the tables. “Though believe me, I was ready for it, if it came to that.”

Looking genuinely intrigued, Alder joined Hale at the table, sitting across from him. “I’m listening.”

“Hale’s been giving me food for months now,” Tulip said, taking a seat as well. “I’ve been sharing it with some of my pack mates, letting them know it was from Halcyon.”

“And Silas was okay with that?” Alder asked.

“I was doing it in secret,” she said. “Most of the people I was sharing with were loyal to Silas, but loyalty only stretches so far when you’re hungry.”

Alder frowned at that. “I didn’t realize things were so bad.”

“The first year wasn’t so bad,” she said. “There were still farms to the east and we would raid their livestock. But after the humans left, there was nothing to eat. We had a few pigs and chickens we were going to raise, but they didn’t make it through the winter.

“Some of us wanted to go back to Halcyon but we never followed through with it. After a couple years, everyone got used to the way we were living.” She looked at Hale. “But then your brother came, bringing food and telling us we were welcome to rejoin Halcyon. Since then, there’s been a great deal of…unrest.”

“I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me about any of this,” said Alder.

“Why? You wouldn’t have wanted to overthrow Silas,” Hale said. “All you would have done was allowed Whiteriver to hunt in our territory.”

“The division of territories was never fair to begin with,” Alder countered. “It could be argued that it’s your fault Whiteriver is starving.”

Hale narrowed his eyes on his brother. “That boy had no business leading a pack. I was trying to teach him a lesson.”

Alder matched him with a steely gaze of his own. “You were punishing him for defying you and in the process you made innocent wolves suffer.”

“Hale’s right,” Tulip nervously interjected, turning to Alder again. “Silas isn’t a bad wolf, but he’s not a leader. He can’t provide for us and he’s too proud to admit he was wrong.

“The wolves that brought me to you, Olivia and her friends, are real close to him. But most of the pack is on the fence. Now that I’m gone and the food’s stopped coming in, they’re probably gonna be thinking real hard about which side they want to fall on.”

Alder was quiet as he considered what Tulip had said. Hale could tell that his brother wasn’t going to be entirely swayed from his self-righteous position, but that was fine. In truth, Hale couldn’t have cared less if Whiteriver starved. They were all given a choice to join Halcyon, a pack with two strong and capable alphas. They chose to side with a young and inexperienced leader. That made even less sense to him than Taylor’s refusal to eat meat.

Thinking of Taylor again only served to further sour his mood. He had a feeling that even if he explained the logic behind what he’d done, she would still side with Alder. Alder, who was in favor of negotiations, peace treaties, and all of that diplomatic shit. Peace only favored the weak and only lasted as long as it was advantageous to those with power.

The sound of approaching footsteps had them all turning towards the door as Holly sauntered in. The fox shifter was wearing knee-high boots and not much else. She had on a filmy dress that clung to her like a second skin. Hale gave her a once over and, when his cock didn’t stir, gave up and settled his gaze on her face.

Alder greeted her. “Good, you’re here.”

She gave a mock bow. “At your service.”

Standing, Alder offered a hand to Tulip, helping her up.

“This is Holly,” he said. “She’s going to show you to your room and stick with you while you get settled in.”

Tulip nodded with obvious reticence. “I’m not…a prisoner, am I?”

Alder clasped her hands in his. “Of course not. I only want to make sure you have someone to look out for you.”

“Come on, kid,” Holly said, grabbing Tulip by the arm. “I’ll give you the grand tour.”

Alder waited until they’d been gone for at least a minute before turning to Hale and speaking.

“I don’t trust her.”

“What?” Hale asked, incredulous. “Believe me when I say that I don’t want her here, but she’s not loyal to Whiteriver.”

“The only thing I believe is that when you decided to trust her, you were thinking with your dick.”

Hale clenched his fist under the table, trying to let the insult slide. “That’s not true.”

“So you haven’t slept with her?”

Hale sighed. “Fine, keep an eye on her. Just know that you’re wasting your time.”

“Maybe,” Alder agreed. “But I can’t see Silas handing her over after… Why did she help you get into their den? For what?”

Hale grinned. “I pissed on his bed.”

Alder put a hand over his mouth, but was unable to keep himself from laughing. “And you didn’t think that would start a war?”

“Oh, I planned on him starting a war,” Hale said. “And when he did, his pack would have no choice but to defect to Halcyon.”

They may be willing to live in squalor for their loyalty, but Hale doubted any but the most loyal would be willing to die to defend Silas’s honor.

“You can’t keep things like this to yourself,” Alder said, leaning back in his chair. “If I’m going to stay here, you need to start being honest with me.”

Hale reluctantly nodded.

Alder went on to say, “And if I’m being completely honest with you, I haven’t been as invested in the pack as I should have been.”

“What are you talking about?”

Alder cast him an apologetic look. “I always thought I’d leave once I found a mate. I’ve spent the past few years doing everything I could to keep the peace and avoid conflicts because I didn’t want to leave a mess for you when I was gone.”

Hale blinked in surprised. “So all of that diplomatic bullshit…”

“I’m not saying it was all a front,” said Alder. “I still believe that we shouldn’t be making enemies where we don’t have to, but I’m not opposed to fighting if it means securing the future of the valley.”

They stayed in the meeting room, discussing at length the conflict with Whiteriver, the western packs, and the different scenarios that could play out over the next few years. Hale could hardly believe that he was having a frank discussion about these things with Alder. Not since the first war with Whiteriver had they been so open with one another and it made Hale realize that there had been a divide between them for some time. A divide which was now being inadvertently bridged by Taylor.

As he spoke with his brother, Hale could tell that the future was no longer abstract to Alder. He was envisioning the life and the family he would have with his mate, and he was now considering how his decisions were impacting that.

Though Alder didn’t know it, Hale was doing the same.

“It’s so adorable,” Taylor gushed.

“It’s a quail,” said Fenix.

“It’s so cute,” sighed Lark.

“It’s just a quail,” said Glenn.

The two males exchanged puzzled looks as Taylor and Lark fretted around the fence that contained the quail, which seemed oblivious to the fact that it had just been domesticated. It walked around its new home, pecking at the seeds Taylor had scattered for it.

“Did you see any more out there?” Taylor asked.

“No, but I’m sure I can find another one tomorrow. How many are you looking to keep?”

“Two or three will be good for now,” she replied. “Once we’re sure we can take care of them, we can get more.”

Taylor had spent a long time talking with Lark, telling the shifter about her life on the farm and then later, in the city. In turn, Lark had told Taylor about growing up in the valley and her late father, whom she spoke very fondly of. Time had flown by and when Glenn had finally returned with the quail hen, Taylor had forgotten all about her grievances over being left behind.

“What are you going to name it?” Glenn asked, crouching down beside Taylor.

“I’m not sure,” said Taylor. “We should think of a name that suits its personality.”

Fenix scoffed behind them, but she ignored him.

Insinuating herself between them, Lark said, “Well, she mostly just pecks at the ground. We should name her Pecker.”

Taylor and Glenn promptly burst into laughter and even Fenix chuckled. Lark looked between the three of them in confusion.

“What?” When they didn’t stop laughing Lark glared at them and crossed her arms. “Well, I didn’t hear any of you coming up with suggestions.”

After explaining it to her, they decided to keep the name, if only to immortalize Lark’s humiliation. As the sun began to set, the howl of the hunting party could be heard in the distance.

Even if they’d wanted to get out of it, Fenix had been sentenced to a week of a cleaning, which he seemed to believe was all their fault. They followed him to the river, resigned to the fact that they had no good reason for not helping.

There was a small crowd of pack mates waiting at the river. Taylor spotted a blonde head and for a moment thought that Beka was making a rare appearance, but upon closer scrutiny realized that she didn’t recognize the shifter.

The blonde stood next to Holly and appeared to be uncomfortable. A line of worry creased her brow, emphasizing the vulnerability in her youthful face. She was attractive, Taylor thought, though next to Holly, who was a straight-up babe, the blonde seemed more cute than beautiful.

“Who’s she?” Taylor whispered. They were still a good distance from the crowd, but Taylor was beginning to learn the shifters’ auditory ranges.

Lark followed her gaze. “I dunno. Never seen her before.”

“That’s Tulip,” Fenix said, keeping his voice low. “She defected from Whiteriver.”

Taylor glanced over at him. “How come?”

“At this point, just about anyone would defect from Whiteriver if they thought Halcyon would take them back,” said Fenix. “Shit’s bad over there.”

Glenn added, “I hear all they have to eat are frogs.”

Taylor cringed, remembering her trip through Whiteriver territory and the frog leg dinner she and Alder had partaken of.

“You don’t say…” she mumbled.

Fenix said, “I give it another month or two before they all come crawling back to us.”

“What about Silas?” asked Lark.

Fenix shrugged. “What about Silas? He was too young to be an alpha in the first place.”

Lark still seemed troubled. “We should make friends with her.”

Not waiting for the others to agree, she picked up her pace and headed towards Holly and Tulip. Glenn followed, but when Taylor tried to do the same, Fenix halted her with a strong hand on her shoulder.

“You should stay away from her,” he warned. “Alder doesn’t trust her and neither do I.”

“I thought you just said—”

“I know what I said. You may be friends with the two of them,” he said, nodding towards Lark and Glenn, “but that doesn’t mean they can know about our business.”

“Our business?”

“If you’re going to be Alder and Hale’s mate, you’re going to end up privy to a lot of things you need to keep to yourself.”

Taylor nodded in understanding, not bothering to ask him how he knew about her ménage relationship. With the sensitive ears and noses of the pack, she doubted it would be a secret for very long.

She shrugged Fenix’s hand from her shoulder. “Okay, message received. Now, am I at least allowed to introduce myself, you know, on the off chance that she isn’t a double agent sent to assassinate me?”

His lips twitched. “Fine. Watch what you say to her, though.”

“Aye, aye, captain.”

Taylor made her way over to the riverside where Lark and Glenn had already engaged Tulip in conversation. She seemed much more relaxed and even smiled as Taylor approached.

Lark introduced her. “This is our friend, Taylor.”

“Nice to meet you,” Tulip said. Her nostrils flared. “I didn’t know Alder had a mate.”