Chapter 200

Charles

I could taste her frustration in the air. The scent of it was almost enough to choke me. Her eyes were filled with a hopeless panic. Then, her eyes narrowed at me.

“Alpha Shadow is a woman, isn’t she?” I met her gaze, searching her face and knowing where she was going with this. I was already getting a headache. Irritation was boiling alongside my guilt. I shouldn’t have said half of that to her. I didn’t want her to fear me or what I might do.

“Grace–”

“She’s your mate, isn’t she? That’s why you’re protecting her, isn’t it? All that talk about it–”

“No,” I said. “And again, I’m not protecting anyone but you and your interests.”

She shook her head. “You can tell that lie to yourself as much as you want.” She pushed past

me. “If you’re not going to help me, then I’ll find that bitch myself.

A growl escaped me, echoing through the room. I watched her shudder and stop in her tracks. I heard her heart rate kick up. Then, she turned around. Her eyes were wide as she stared at me. She looked horrified and stunned.

Fuck. I felt like a total bastard.

Shame gnawed at me. Using my power against Grace felt terrible. I would apologize to her soon.

As soon as my own heart calmed down. The stark image of her facing Astarte and her coven, let alone Set’s coven, chilled me to the bone. They wouldn't hesitate to shred her before she even knew they were there. I would have felt worse if I let her get killed because she was feeling stubborn, offended, and riding the high of the shift straight into self-sabotage. Grace's wary gaze, her body coiled like a spring ready to leap, told me she expected an attack. But I stood still across the room, pressing down the rush of power through me.

Had Devin ever hit her? Was that a memory she was suppressing?

“What did you do to me?”

I took a deep breath. “It’s called a compulsion. I’m sorry. It was completely uncalled for and… out of character. Unintentional. Are you all right?”

Her eyes were wide. She was still frozen in place and wary.

I bit my lip and stepped back. “Are you in pain? Are you frozen?”

She shook her head stiffly and took a step back from me.

“Would you please just calm down and talk to me?”

“I am calm,” she hissed.

I took a deep breath.

“Fine,”

I said, my voice low and measured. "You don't know where Alpha Shadow is.”

“I would if you’d tell me.”

“I happen to love you alive,” I said. She flushed. “And you’d be walking into a wolf’s den.”

I paused, thinking of Astarte’s familiars: actual, very large, very magical creatures who looked and acted a great deal like wolves.

“Literally.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Going on TV won't change a damn thing. You’ll only put a giant target on your back. A bigger target than the one that is already there."

Her jaw clenched, but she remained silent.

"So, I’m challenging you to think strategically," I searched her face. “Do you remember what I told you?”

“You haven’t—”

“About business, Grace,” I shook my head. “Again, leave our personal relationship out of this. It has nothing to do with it.”

I took a deep breath, shoving my feelings about it all to one side. I’d unpack and deal with the emotions of the situation later without the threat of compelling her again. I shuddered at the thought. I could count on my hands how many times I’d compelled someone, and not a single one of them was enjoyable. It poked something dark and dangerous I didn’t like to get involved with.

“It has everything to do with it!”

I shook my head. “I respectfully disagree, but back to the basics. Principles of business line up with the principles of war, pretty cleanly. Ever heard of the enemy of my enemy is my friend?”

She scoffed. “She tried to kill me!”

“It wasn’t personal–”

“That doesn’t change the fact that she tried to kill me! My children!”

I sighed. “I’m not even sure if Alpha Shadow knows you have children, and honestly, you and all of Mooncrest would have been collateral damage.”

She flushed, looking angrier than she had been a moment before.

“You’re going to learn quickly that there will be a lot of deals you’re not going to like making, a lot of people on the other side of those deals that you would rather not work with, but you have to for the sake of your goals, for Mooncrest, for you family–”

She hissed, her eyes flashed as she got in my face and snarled. “Don’t talk about my family!”

“Then think about them,” I said calmly, searching her face. “You fail this Senate thing, you back out, and there will be another attack on Mooncrest, guaranteed.”

“And you’d just let it happen, wouldn’t you.”

“I’d get who I cared about out and do my best to thwart it.” I met her gaze. “Or, you could pretend to be an adult with a great deal of power for a few minutes and prevent that from being an issue.” I took a deep breath. “Alpha Shadow, the Alpha Shadow you’re concerned about, hates Sean and the WSU and Blood Moon as much as you do. You can use that to make an ally.”

"Ally?" Grace scoffed, disbelief lacing her voice. "Ally with the woman who threatened to blow up the city, who attacked us, who-"

"Who isn’t in a position to do any of that so long as you have that challenge circle,” I interrupted, my voice firm. "And that fact, along with the announcement you made, will keep anyone else who wore the moniker from attacking outright, too.”

"This is insane, Charles!" she exclaimed, pacing the room. "I can't trust her!"

I set my jaw. “Can you trust me?”

“Trusting men who lie to me is most of the reason I got into the situation I’m in now!”

I shook my head. “I have never lied to you, Grace.”

“Not telling me—”

“Information that would have gotten you killed and has no real bearing on how you operate?” I cocked an eyebrow at her. “What good would it have done before?”

“I could have called her out!”

“Alpha Shadow is not the type of person you—”

“Just cut the crap! I don’t care if she’s a full lycan or half. I could take her!”

I shook my head, not surprised. The change was really unearthing her combative, rash side. Eason said that she used to get into fights, but I wondered if she’d ever gotten into a real fight. After all, the States has a culture around hierarchy, not honor. If she’d won any fights in her life, it had probably been partial luck and partial forfeiture on the other side.

“I’ll be honest with you, Grace,” I said slowly. “And you’ll be pissed off, but Alpha Shadow would eat you alive–”

“What–”

“Without casting a spell. Formal combat training goes a long way, and you can’t even control your shift. You’re barking up the wrong tree if you think trying to attack someone stronger, more connected, and more outright knowledgeable than you is a good idea. You need allies like that if--”

“You think I’m weak?” She hissed. “I–”

"It's not about being weak, Grace," I said, my voice softer now. "It's about being smart. It's about protecting you, your family, your pack. If there's even a sliver of a chance that the path forward could be easier, don't you think you owe it to yourself to at least try?”

“You think I give a damn about easy?”

I smiled at her. “You do.”

“I–”

“You are lazy, Grace,” I shook my head. “You don’t want the Senate seat, don’t want the work for it. Admit that you were relieved to think that you might be able to slide out of going after it.”

“This isn’t about me!”

“But it is,” I said. “And all of your screeching about what I’ve hidden from you is about that. It’s about your fear, your insecurity, and your unwillingness to trust me.”

“How am I supposed to trust you when you’ve lied to me all this time? What else have you lied about?”

I shook my head, staring at her. “I haven’t lied to you.”

“Omitting information.”

“I haven’t omitted anything.”

“You won’t tell me who this woman is!”

I scoffed. “Refusing to give you information isn’t omitting it. It’s refusing to answer. Which is my right, and still won’t answer the question you are really concerned about.”

“Question?” She glared at me. “And what do you know what I want to know? You’re not giving me what I want to know. You said–”

“All right enough,” I glared at her. “Cut the crap, Grace, even before this conversation, you didn’t trust me. And I’ve let it slide thinking that you were making steps towards opening your heart, but I’m starting to think you don’t even want to.”