Alpha’s Strength(19)

Chapter Five





Cyrus hadn’t become Alpha of New York by being a pushover. He wasn’t scared or impressed with Alexei’s shtick, and he had no intention of letting the Alpha of Boston waltz into his city—let alone his headquarters—willy-nilly without some kind of response. As he was certain Alexei would expect nothing less, he had to wonder what the fuck the other man really hoped to accomplish with this.

Behind Alexei, two wolves entered and, growled loudly. One of them showed his teeth. Cyrus took a deep breath to confirm what he’d already scented. Alexei had brought only those two wolves with him. The other Alpha might not mean war, but his wolves didn’t want him threatened. That was fine. Cyrus had his own protectors.

Jensen lunged forward as Cyrus anticipated he would. “You would come here and threaten our Alpha?”

Alexei laughed, tilting his face towards the ceiling when he did. “ Call off your attack dogs, and I’ll turn off mine. We can discuss my early arrival civilly over a drink. You can tell me why you have a human in a cage and I can explain the situation of baby kidnappings in Boston that has brought me to your door.”

His words cooled whatever smart remark Cyrus would have made about attack dogs. “Human babies or werewolf?”

Both were completely unacceptable, but Cyrus had faced a situation the year earlier in which his pregnant females were getting attacked. He’d thought Travis Michaels to blame until that misunderstanding had been cleared up. Now he had to keep the impregnated pack members hidden. Cyrus had assumed the perpetrator of the crimes had wanted the deaths of the women, but maybe it wasn’t that. Maybe the target had been their children...

He glanced down at his mate. Her parents had been selling children.

Could this be that large? Could it cross the continent? An ache for Lucian’s leadership swept through him like a hard wind, threatening to knock him over. Not that anyone need know—certainly not the pale-eyed warrior across the room.

“I don’t think any other topic would have allowed you entrance. Shall we talk upstairs?”

Alexei nodded and turned around. But Cyrus wasn’t quite done yet. “Your two pack mates can stay down here. They can help Jensen use some of his aggression to get Nathan to do what I say. Jensen, I need him to call home. You’ll tell me if anything is wrong scent-wise. Get him his water.”

Jensen’s pupils were huge. His trusted friend and pack member would have preferred a fight to his task, but since that wasn’t happening, at least not yet, Jensen nodded. Cyrus patted him on the back when he passed.

Mitchell spoke. “Alpha, I don’t feel comfortable with you going with him alone. Take one of us with you or call others.”

Alexei turned around. “Going soft, Cyrus? There was a time when no one would have doubted your ability to take me in a fight. Do your pack members doubt your skills?”

“Perhaps they don’t want me dead. Is your pack accustomed to letting you enter possible deadly encounters without any assistance from them? Are they hoping someone will take off your head or set you on fire?”

Alexei’s pack members growled. Cyrus winked at them, which made them growl louder. “Down, boys. Your leader is in no danger from me unless he opens his mouth to say something threatening. I don’t think he travelled here to do that, not if he needs my assistance with baby snatchings. Betsy, Lake, you’re with me.”

This stopped Alexei. The other Alpha raised a brown eyebrow. “You wish to bring the females?”

“Yes.” He didn’t need to explain more. The man could have the women in the room, or he could save his issues for another day. Cyrus had no intention of leaving his mate or his sister alone in the room with Nathan. The male was stuffed in a cage, but he might say something upsetting. Cyrus would not allow that to happen. They’d all had enough for one day.

Lake groaned loudly. “Hello.” She nodded to Alexei and led him away toward the elevators. Alexei followed in her wake. His sister would see to settling the other Alpha in Cyrus’ office.

Betsy cleared her throat, and he turned to look at him. “I need to go?”

“Yes.” Why did he keep having to explain himself? Had this suddenly become some kind of democracy and he’d not been informed? If he said come, his pack came. Of course he’d never had a mate before. His parents had not been true mates. Yet they had loved each other as couples who’d spent their lives together did. Their shared history had deepened their communication.

Maybe he needed to work on that…

“Why do I have to go? Don’t you think I would be better off down here with Nathan? Just to make sure he doesn’t try to pull anything.”