Free Wild Card by Mark Henwick, Lauren Sweet Page B

you’re disobeying my orders. You know that doesn’t work for us.”
    “It’s not about loyalty or obedience. The question comes down to whether Amber is pack or not. If she’s pack, then she has a right to call on the pack.” He paused, and I could feel him searching out the best path. No one else spoke. “When we mate, our mates are pack, whether they change or not. And she’s acknowledged you as alpha. For me, she’s pack.”
    “We’re not animals. I don’t get confused between mating and sex,” Felix replied. “And as for acknowledging me, she immediately put a limitation on it. She said she wouldn’t go against Altau interests.”
    “I’ve said the same to Altau about the pack interests,” I pointed out.
    “But then the Athanate comes back into the discussion. You can’t be half in the pack—”
    “Altau say the same, but they’re willing to say I’m an affiliate.”
    “And even if I agree to that, Alexander didn’t go running into the building at Longmont where you were being held, he went to help rescue your kin. How far are you going to stretch the pack obligation? Your kin? Your whole damn House? Altau?”
    He had a point. I swallowed. More seat of the pants stuff here. “My House isn’t separate from me.”
    “That’s Athanate talk.”
    “Well, fine, I’m part Athanate. But I’m part Were, too.”
    I wanted to say that my pack wouldn’t be separate from me either, but I couldn’t yet.
    Noble stopped his jotting and heads turned. It intrigued me how much quiet influence he seemed to have. What kind of a werewolf was he? He didn’t fit in the obvious enforcer category that Ricky did. But at least he seemed to be on the side of finding a rational way through this.
    “I’m not willing to come to a final decision right now,” Felix said.
    Ricky grunted an agreement. “Long term solutions are probably better reached after some time for contemplation,” he said.
    Uh! Enough with the dumb stereotypes, Amber. He’s not just an enforcer.
    “Which leaves some interim requirements,” Felix said, “before we get on with the purpose of this meeting, which was to talk about the rogue.”
    He stared at Alex and me. “Alexander will be accompanied by a senior pack member at all times,” he said. “Ricky, that’ll be you, Ursula or Silas. He stays at your house. I’ll review the situation when we’re rid of our current problems.”
    “We can’t really spare—” Ricky started.
    Alex tried to say something as well, but Felix cut them both off. “I’m not saying you stop hunting the Matlal pack, just that Alexander is never alone with Amber without supervision. I need a second set of eyes and ears to convince me he isn’t having his mind affected. We cannot ,” he stressed the word and glared around the room, “we cannot have the pack disrupted at this juncture. That includes getting involved in Athanate politics or getting distracted from the challenges that face us. That’s final.”
    But he’s already bound to me, and I’m bound to him.
    Shut up and salute.
    Neither Ricky nor Alex were happy, but Alex had picked up on something that Felix said. “There are more from the Matlal pack? I thought we’d dealt with them.”
    Ricky shook his head.
    Noble was unreadable, his eyes hooded as he watched the three of us.
    I cleared my throat. Felix turned and stared.
    “I just wanted to suggest I get involved in the hunt for the Matlal Were, as well.”
    “Why?” Felix said, but beneath the rough response, I thought I’d actually said something right.
    “A couple of reasons,” I said. “Firstly, they’re Were and they’ve been in Denver for a few months. It just might be they’ve got an idea about the rogue. Maybe they’ve come across him. Or her.”
    Ricky nodded.
    Felix just grunted, his eyes narrowed and calculating, so I continued: “Secondly, they’re part of Matlal’s House, directly or as affiliates. They might know where the Matlal Athanate are hiding.” I