| |
“Sorry to drag you all here once more but I suspect this won’t be the last time.” Saber sat at the head of the table staring each member of the Council in the eyes, as if daring them to say anything about the fact that this was their tenth trip to Miracle in as many months.
Considering the shambles the shifter world was in when they took over the Council, Koen Dirks was impressed it hadn’t been more. It only went to show how strong of a leader Saber was that he’d been able to provide a sense of stabilization so quickly, especially when they were reversing the majority of laws the old Council had put into place.
It didn’t hurt that Saber and the rest of the Council had done their best to visit as many shifter groups as possible to ensure the new laws were being upheld. As a gay fox shifter, Koen understood just how unjust the old laws had been.
Not only had it been illegal for anyone to be gay in their world, but many groups had been wiped out for daring to speak out against the old Council and it’s Chief, Refugio. His own den had taken in refugees from a scurry of squirrel shifters, whose only crime had been to allow its members to be with their fated mates, no matter their sex.
It had nearly caused his home den to be put on the list for execution when the Council assumed they’d been involved in helping the scurry. Fortunately, Koen’s alpha had been too smart for the Council. He’d been planning their escape for decades when Refugio had killed the former Chief and taken his place.
His alpha had set up a secondary home that was very secluded. That was where he’d sent the squirrels, so when the Council’s soldiers had come into their den to prove they’d helped, they’d found no evidence. Not that it had mattered much to Refugio.
He’d been sure the den had helped and made sure to punish them whenever he had the chance by not providing aid when other groups attacked them. Hell, Koen was fairly sure it was Refugio and his band of Council thugs that had ordered the other groups, whom they’d never had problems with in the past, to go after them in the first place.
“The fact is, we have discovered who is behind the attack on Miracle a few months ago, as well as a new plot to try and blow up the town,” Saber said, forcing Koen to let go of the past and pay attention.
“There might be bombs, yet you brought us here anyway?” Banyan Huff, a ram shifter, asked incredulously. “Why would you put the entire Council at risk?”
Koen couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the man’s stupidity. Then again, he shouldn’t be all that surprised. After Saber nearly died when he fought Refugio for his Council position, it had been Banyan who had pushed to have him removed as Chief since he was laid up in bed recovering.
It was a dick move as far as Koen was concerned. Saber had just removed one of the single biggest threats to shifters around the world, yet he wasn’t allowed a few days to heal? Koen had fought hard against Banyan’s resolution to have himself declared Chief instead.
What made it so much worse in Koen’s eyes was Banyan was to have fought Fitzroy O’Dell, a weasel shifter, in that ring, but because Fitzroy had chickened out, Banyan hadn’t even had to fight. How in the hell did that make him fit to be their Chief?
Koen’s opponent, Gawain York, also had been a no show, but instead of feeling like he’d won anything, Koen had felt cheated. It was one of the reasons he’d decided to take some time off from teaching at the University. Sure, his duties for the Council were currently taking a lot of his time, but it was more about the fact that he hated the idea of winning by forfeit that had him at odds with himself.
If he hadn’t had to visit so many different shifter groups in the past few months, Koen was more than a little bit tempted to go hunt Gawain down and force him into the ring.
“Do you honestly think you should be protected more than those that live here in Miracle?” Saber’s barely leashed anger at Banyan’s question was hard to miss. Admittedly, other than a slight tensing of the ape shifter’s muscles, it was hard to tell from his physical presence that he was forcing himself not to lash out and punch the conceited ram shifter.
Still, everyone at the table, with the exception of Banyan, visibly leaned back in their chairs as if to gain a modicum of distance from their leader. Banyan, on the other hand, actually had the audacity to nod his head.
“Of course, I should,” Banyan insisted. “I’m on the Council.” He pointed to the closed door. “My protection detail, which you should have allowed in for my safety, needs to be told of the threat.”
Banyan started to get up to do just that when a loud crack reverberated through the room. All chairs, other than Saber’s, rolled back as the table they were gathered around split in two when Saber’s fist pounded down upon its surface.
The force of Saber’s rage was felt by all. Even Banyan had the sense to remain where he now stood, eyes cast to the floor by Saber’s feet in deference to their leader’s authority. There was a reason why Saber now led the Council. The man was a force to be reckoned with...or not.
Koen sure as hell wasn’t about to go against him. Except...well, he had. On several occasions, too. They fought over policies quite vigorously at times. All of them did. Yet, never once had Saber let his anger get the best of him. Then again, they all were voicing their opinions on how best to help their kind.
Banyan, at the moment anyway, was putting their people second. Based on everything Koen had learned about Saber since they’d taken over the Council, the man put the welfare of all shifters ahead of himself. Only his mate, Chadwick, came before the good of everyone else and Chadwick wasn’t someone to allow that to happen easily. The man was just as fierce as Saber about protecting others.
“This Council is here at the will of the people,” Saber bellowed. “In case you forgot, we changed the archaic laws of the past and the members of the Council will come to a vote in four year’s time.” Saber’s meaty finger pointed at Banyan. “I would take that into account before you think you’re somehow more important than anyone else in this town or any other town, for that matter.”
Was it wrong that Koen wanted to applaud?
Probably not, but he felt it best not to attract attention, just in case Saber’s wrath ended up directed at him. For the time being, he sat there, waiting for either Banyan or Saber to make the next move.
It wasn’t like he was worried about his safety. There was no way Saber would allow them all to meet if he thought there was a chance of a bomb in the building. Saber put his people first, after all. That meant not allowing the current Council to die and those of the previous Council that had managed to escape take over.
The man was too shrewd to ever take that kind of risk.
Slowly, Banyan sat back down in his seat without saying a word.
With the table broken in half, each side half on the floor and partially leaning against the legs, no one rolled forward. Instead, they turned their attention back to their leader.
“Now,” Saber said, his voice still holding some of the previous anger. “We have discovered who is behind these attacks against us.” He paused for a beat or two before saying, “Decimus Albinus.”
Not exactly a shocker. There had been three men from the previous Council that had run. Of the three, Decimus was clearly on top. But that did leave a question. “Are Gawain York and Fitzroy O’Dell with him?”
Saber’s gaze landed on Koen. “We don’t know. It is believed they all fled together, but since no one is claiming to have seen any of them since, we can’t be sure. All we do know is Decimus is the one giving orders to shifter groups who would rather live like we were before.”
The need to finally find the man who had cheated him by not showing up flowed through Koen. He’d waited long enough. It was time to go on the hunt. “I volunteer to find them,” he said before they’d even had a chance to discuss their course of action.
“It’s time for all three men to atone for what they’ve done.” That was especially true for Decimus, who had been the mastermind behind so many cruel deaths in his time. Not that the other two didn’t also need to pay, for they had stood by and let it all happen. To Koen, they were just as guilty as Decimus.
“Shouldn’t we send trackers to find them?” Banyan said. “I mean, you’re a councilman, what if they kill you?”
Saber let out a low growl of displeasure.
Banyan visibly blanched. “I’m just saying it might embolden them if they think they can get to us so easily. Not to mention all the groups that are still on their side. Wouldn’t it cause more unrest if one of us died at their hands?”
As much as they hated to admit it, Banyan made sense. In the end, Saber shook his head. “He’s right. I appreciate you wanting to go after them, Koen, but its better if we stick to trackers and guards.”
There was no denying the plan made sense. But Koen couldn’t help but follow his gut and it was screaming for him to go himself. Not that he was going to tell the others. This was something he would need to do on his own.
He just wished he knew how his gut also seemed to know where to start looking.
