Beaux liked the “old ways”, as if they should all be romping through the woods communing with the trees and hiding from human ways. When no one else had seen things the way he did, he’d grown bitter and angry.
He’d been the best fighter among them. And now here he was. In Montana.
“Is it customary in New York to allow a group of werewolves passage into your territory without them asking permission of the Alpha first?” Beaux growled his words.
“I had been told there was no Alpha in Montana. Lone wolves, no pack. It isn’t necessary to request anyone’s permission when dealing with a bunch of rabid dogs.”
Beaux launched himself forward, getting in Cyrus’ face. “You won’t talk to me like that. Not now. Not ever. You are on my land. You will respect me.”
Cyrus lowered his voice to keep from shouting. He needed to treat Beaux like a child, a misunderstood youth who needed to be taught. “It’s easy to demand respect while you have my people injured, have not offered them care of a Healer, and have me tied to the wall. It’s easy to demand respect when you hit me over the head so I can’t take you on properly. I’ll respect you when you’ve done something to earn it. There is no Alpha in Montana. You’re a pretender to the role. Pathetic actually.”
“How dare you?”
“My Alpha.” One of the wolves who’d fought beside Beaux entered the room. The wolf had to be over six feet seven inches tall. Cyrus didn’t know if he’d ever actually seen anyone that large before. His mouth fell open before he realized it, and he closed his lips together. “May I see you for a moment?”
Beaux snarled through his nose when he spoke. “Right now?”
“Yes, sir. It’s imperative.”
It didn’t bode well for his you’re-not-an-Alpha argument if the others were referring to him as Alpha. If Cyrus were wrong about Beaux’s status, he’d apologize later. What he needed was to get off the wall, free his people, find out what had happened to Betsy, and then beat Beaux into the ground before he handled Betsy’s family situation.
He tugged at his restraints. Beaux had been thorough; that was for sure.
“My Alpha, don’t worry about this,” Lachlan called from the back of the room. “We don’t require his assistance.”
“You let me judge what you do and do not need.” What Cyrus needed was a jackhammer. Or a stick of dynamite he could stick up Beaux’s ass. Lit.
Beaux reentered the room. “Who is Betsy Webber?”
The entirety of Cyrus’ pack trapped in the room erupted in growls. No one liked hearing her name on Beaux’s mouth. Cyrus would have smiled if he hadn’t wanted to rip the other man’s face off. Cyrus’ pack had accepted and protected his mate.
“Where did you learn that name?” He was going to shift and get out his chains. He’d been holding off doing so, trying to figure out what Beaux wanted, what his objective had been. But the time for talking had ended. The cuffs on his wrist wouldn’t hold him in animal form. And then he was going to tear Beaux’s heart from his body.
“She’s at my door. Or so my people tell me. Four other werewolves accompany her, and she’s offering to trade some kind of information we need for your release. Who is this woman? Is she the one you helped to flee from my men?”
When he got a hold of John, Lake, and the other wolves who should have been protecting her, he was going to string them up by their toenails. What were they thinking letting her come here? How did she even find this place?
He forced himself to take a deep breath. “She isn’t going to trade you anything. She doesn’t know anything. Get her gone.”
Cyrus would protect her whether she wanted to be or not. Betsy needed to be far, far away. India might be far enough.
“Who is she to you?”
“That’s not your concern.” He wouldn’t let Beaux make her a bartering chip. Not in this lifetime or any other.
“Let’s say I make it my business. She’s an attractive female, and she smells like heaven. We don’t have an abundance of females here. Perhaps one of my wolves would like to woo her.”
The pack growled again, and Cyrus narrowed his gaze. He was going to have to be cleverer with this man. Beaux had always lived by the old rules, the ones that had worked before they embraced their human side. There had to be ways to get them to favor Cyrus for a while.
Much as he wanted to kill him right off the bat, he was going to have to let his human side rule for a few minutes. As hard as that proved to be.
“Your pack doesn’t want me putting men in front of her. Why is that? Have I been misinformed? Is she not attractive?”