Chapter Nine

Kal

 

“We have a problem.”

I was sitting outside the southern gate barracks, sipping coffee and watching the sunrise. We’d gotten here late last night, and even though Iris was in capable hands, I’d decided to stick around and spend the night here, too. I hadn’t gotten much sleep, though, going over reports and discussing the book, which had been whisked off to Veda a few hours ago.

So, I’d been enjoying the bite of winter and the nice, peaceful quiet. Alone.

Then Xander had appeared, with all three Alphas striding along with him. A sigh had escaped me at the sight, and I’d gulped the rest of my coffee.

This can’t be good.

“Isn’t it a bit early?” Rett asked and rubbed his face. His dark beard was wilder than usual, and his hair was a mess, while his clothes looked thrown on. “Also, why do I have to be here?”

“Luna still fighting that cold?” Tristan asked.

“Yes,” the father of two groaned. “And now Laia is coming down with it, I think. I made her go to bed, but Luna couldn’t sleep, so I stayed up until a few hours ago with her.”

Fatherhood suited my cousin. But of course, he’d be overly worried about a small case of the sniffles affecting his daughter and his mate.

“Mm, well, Laia is more of a bear than you and Kal combined when she’s sick,” Tristan said and yawned. He was Laia’s cousin, as Winfyre was extremely crisscrossed when it came to Deacons and Llarys. “I wish you luck.”

“Cass was there when I left,” Rett said and rubbed his face. “Although I think Laia is more upset about not being able to tag along and meet Iris.”

“Yeah, I had to sneak out on Reagan and Caleb,” Luke said with a soft laugh, naming his mate and son. “Reagan wouldn’t stop asking Cassidy a million questions about Iris.”

A gnawing discomfort settled in my gut. “Why?”

Rett, Luke, and Tristan laughed. Xander didn’t. Instead, he shot them a shake of his head and turned to me. “I received a message from the Greyclaw early this morning. Norson.”

“And?” I prompted as my pack groaned. “What did he want? To say thanks?”

"Not exactly. Demanding we send Iris and the book back to them.”

We all stared at him.

Tristan began to laugh, then stopped. “You’re joking.”

“I’m not.”

I knew that the Northern Wild territories could contact each other in case of emergency, now more or less instantly with Riftborn gifts helping, but this was the first time I’d heard of demands being made for a specific person. My person.

“Kal stops a black market auction on their doorstep and saves a woman’s life, and they’re upset about it?” Tristan demanded.

“This is a problem,” Rett muttered.

“Yes,” Xander said. “They’re considering it either an act of aggression”—I made an angry noise, and Luke patted my shoulder—“or Northbane interference. They felt you should have accompanied Iris back to the Greyclaw, and they should’ve been alerted sooner.”

I frowned. “That didn’t make sense at the time—the woods were crawling with Sarrow’s goons and packless. It wasn’t safe to linger or try to get around them so Norson’s precious feelings wouldn’t get hurt.”

“Kal, you don’t have to justify shit to me,” Xander said impatiently and rubbed the back of his head. “But you did act impetuously, and it’s almost like the Greyclaw are trying to use that against us. Complaining we should have involved them.”

“Ah, they’re getting childish about us making the right calls at the right times and not looping them in for the credit,” Tristan observed. “Think we’re acting superior and mighty when we’re just trying to keep everyone safe.”

“We’re the more powerful territory,” Xander said. “Keeping the peace is crucial, but we have to be careful our hands don’t tip the scales against it.”

“What are you saying?” I asked. “That I have to bring Iris back to them?” A hollowness spread through me, and something squeezed hard around my heart. “I can’t, Xan, she—”

“No, I don’t want you to bring Iris back,” Xander said. “Beylore and Yana are already concerned about this book. Iris may be an unwitting pawn in a larger scheme. We need to keep her as safe and secure as possible.” He paused, and the silence pushed between us as Xander tipped up his eyebrows. “We need to calm down the Greyclaw, distract them.”

At a loss, I shook my head at him and glanced around at my pack brothers. Tristan looked torn between amusement and worry, while Rett was frowning, and Luke was avoiding my eyes. All of them were trying not to smile. What had they figured out that I hadn’t?

Suddenly, my gut roiled, and I knew exactly where Xander was going with this.

Claiming Iris.

Oh, hell no. “What kind of sick joke is this?” I asked hoarsely.

“It’s damned clever,” Luke said slowly. “They’d have to back off.”

“No, there has to be another way,” I said. “That’s outdated as hell. And…I can’t. I was planning on heading back out and following up leads.”

“Fallon and the Vixens will be handling that, along with Jeques,” Xander said. “She’s not happy about it, but I need her skills. Like I need you, here.”

“What am I supposed to do? Sit in Veda and babysit?” I groaned.

"No, you are going to help Iris crack that book and keep her safe," Xander said. "Besides, we all know there's a connection—"

“No.” The word sliced through the air, and Xander’s jaw tightened. “There isn’t. There’s nothing. I acted like an honorable Northbane and in the interest of Winfyre. There was nothing more.” I ground down my teeth as skepticism filled four gazes. “She’s not even a friend.”

I couldn’t even think of claiming Iris, especially since the Alphas of the Northbane had a bad habit of claiming a lady and then…well, look at Reagan, Laia, and Sierra. That alone had sparked giddy rumors and had led to more than one new female refugee attempting to get claimed by myself or Xander. Something that Luke and Tristan thought hilarious, the bastards.

Nowadays, too, with the Stasis Bureau and Skrors in the past, and Excris attacks rare—it was unnecessary. Besides, why should one Winfyre resident be singled out?

“Like it or not, you’ve put us in an awkward position, Kal,” Xander said. “People know what you did, and if you don’t take these steps, we’re going to have serious fallout with the Greyclaw. Maybe the Burnfur.” I didn’t respond. “This isn’t about survival or the Stasis Bureau, not anymore. Now it’s about the territories and the Tiselk, especially the Tiselk because the other packs worry that if the mess in the southern lands ever came north, we would need the Tiselk.”

“Politics,” Luke said, sounding disgusted. “Power jockeying. Norson is such a small—”

“I think it’s more out of fear,” Tristan interrupted. “I’ve been to those territories, and they want the same thing we do—peace. The Greyclaw have been through a lot, almost as much as we have. The Tiselk is its own beast, though; I don’t know why the other packs can’t just leave it alone.”

“You’re prejudiced because of Sierra, though,” Rett said, and Tristan gave a careless shrug, a small smile on his mouth. “And Kal has spent time in other territories, too. He gets it. He’ll do it.”

“No, I don’t,” I snapped with more vehemence than I meant. “And I won’t. It’s ridiculous.”

“When Laia arrived in Winfyre, Xander asked me to leverage claims on her. And I did it. Luke claimed Reagan, too.” Rett’s expression became exasperated as I tried to stare him down. But we were roughly the same height, so it didn’t do a damn thing. “What’s the big deal? You must like her a little, or you wouldn’t have acted like that in the Delvik.”

I said nothing, just gritted my jaw and tried to think of another way.

“You dug your heels in, too, there, Rett,” Luke pointed out. “Maybe it’s for the same reason? You are both Deacons.”

“True. But don’t try and pretend things went so smoothly with your claim,” Rett chuckled.

“Knock it off,” I growled, growing more impatient with this idea. “You sound like idiots.”

“Actually, that’s a good point, Rett,” Luke said and grinned at me. “Do you see what—”

“Yes, I see what you’re getting at,” I said and rubbed a hand across my forehead. “But this is not the same situation. There is no connection or any reason for me to claim Iris.”

Xander blew out a sigh and sat down on the table, bunching up his legs to place his feet on the bench. I couldn’t tell you the number of times we’d sat out here and talked or gathered for some impromptu meal after a long day. There was a firepit smoldering at the far end, filling the air with the crisp and smoky scent of burning logs.

I also couldn’t take it anymore. I got up and walked over to the pit, tossing on more wood from the pile. When I was done, only Xander was left. The other three were heading inside.

“I have work to do,” I said. “I’ll see you later.”

“You have to do this,” Xander said in a low voice. “I know you don’t want to, but listen to me—think about how it looks if you don’t claim Iris.” His eyes darkened as I stood there. “Well?”

Hissing out air between my teeth, I tipped my face to the sky and watched the smoke vanish against it. “It looks like the Northbane throwing their weight around at the border and acting superior.” My voice was dull as I summarized what Tristan had been getting at. “Dammit, Xander, I don’t want her to get the wrong idea. And I think it would be wiser if she stayed with someone else.”

“I’ll explain everything to Iris,” he said. “And I think she’d be safer with you.”

Several moments passed where neither of us said a word.

“Yesterday, I would have thought you’d be happy to hear this,” Xander said, and I dropped my gaze to the ground. “Am I missing something? Do you not care about her?”

“I want her to stay in Winfyre,” I growled, avoiding his gaze and his stupid questions. He made some noncommittal noise. “What? That’s all. It’s safer. Something is going on, Xander.”

“You care," Xander said, amusement and heaviness edging through his voice. “And it’s killing you that you do.”

The silence between us was even longer and tenser than the last. Finally, I tried a different tactic. “I made a mistake. I should have waited and figured out a different way to get her out of there instead of making a spectacle.” Xander said nothing. “This is the first time I’ve ever made a mistake like this. Don’t make that poor girl have to put up with me.”

Xander’s face gave away nothing. He used to be such an easy read, if not the most outgoing guy. I hated the still way he held himself, as though one wrong move and Winfyre would fall apart.

That will never happen as long as I am breathing.

“What’s done is done,” Xander said. “You saved her life and pissed off the Greyclaw. Claim her, and it looks like you did this for noble, Northbane reasons instead of power-hungry ones.”

“You’re really going to make Iris pay for my mistake?” I asked.

“I don’t think it was a mistake,” Xander said and stretched out his legs, grinning a little. “I doubt Iris would think so, either. And she has to pay the predator’s price like everyone else.”

“Claiming someone is going to ruin my reputation,” I grumbled, only half-listening.

I was trying to avoid that little spark of satisfaction under my annoyance and wariness. That little spark that fed the protectiveness and contentment when Iris was at my side.

But there was no way to avoid the colossal relief.

Getting up, Xander slapped my shoulder as he passed me. “It’ll humanize it. Very heroic.”

“Wait a minute…” I said, and his words suddenly hit me. Predator’s price. “No.”

Xander glanced back, face impassive. “No, what?”

“You bastard—hell, no,” I exploded. “I don’t agree to that price. I mean, you can’t be serious.”

“About calming the other territories the hell down and keeping Iris here?” Xander asked coolly, and an amused glint leaped into his eyes. “Where she belongs? Absolutely.”

Wordless, I watched as my asshat genius of a friend walked away. At some point, I sank down on the bench, legs a little weak and head spinning. Predator’s price for sanctuary. I thought it would be Iris helping out the other Riftborn with Orion’s book.

But Xander, diabolical and devious, had something else up his sleeve. The last few times an Alpha had claimed someone, that someone had been a woman who'd wound up being a mate.

That was exactly what he wanted—for everyone to think Iris was my mate.

A perfect subterfuge—I had to hand it to him—but also a dangerous and cruel position to put Iris in. Especially since I’d been planning on slowly distancing myself as time went by. Now, we were in a position where we’d be attached at the hip.

No wonder those other bastards looked so smug.

I’d given them a lot of shit about mates over the years. Not once did I think it might come around to bite me in the ass like this.

“Hey, Kal!” Tristan’s shout rang through the morning, loud enough to be heard for miles. “Come on in here! Your mate just woke up and wants to have breakfast with you.”