"You what?!"
Ethan winced.
His inner circle was currently gathered in his office, where Vincent had dropped the spectacular news.
"It was an accident!" He tried to defend his actions "I didn't even hear her footsteps, of course I thought it was an intruder!"
"She shouldn't have gone off on her own," Tyler said, and Ethan shot him an appreciative look. At least someone was taking his side
"Alright, first you start looking like you haven't slept in weeks," Vincent was pacing "Then you start coming back home in the middle of the night with freaking goats!—
"I'm sorry, when did that happen?" Victoria was looking increasingly concerned
Vincent continued, unfazed "And then you pull up guns on guests! What the hell man?"
"When you put it like that, he sounds as mad as everyone says." Tyler muttered
"Alright, calm down," Ethan took a deep breath "I'm not making excuses. I know this looks bad, but allow me to fix things."
"What about this goat Vincent just mentioned?"
"Vincent's on drugs. There was no goat."
Before Vincent could open his mouth, Victoria held up her hands.
"Look, I'm not going to pry," She told Ethan "But you have to clean up your act. We cant have any loose ends right now."
"I understand." Ethan nodded "Anything else on the table?"
"Alpha Joseph and Penelope invited you to dinner with the ambassador." Tyler told them "I just received the invitation."
Ethan tried not to sigh. Of course he'd have to take Angelina on dinner. With Penelope, no less.
"And Alpha Texan's daughter invited you to dinner as well." Vincent placed a card on the table, wiggling his brows "Great going tiger."
This time, he did sigh. Great going indeed.
"Decline the offer." Ethan said "Send an apology gift too."
"What?" Vincent looked at him like he wasn't making sense "This is your chance to form an alliance while also getting a mate! It's perfect!"
His stomach turned at the prospect. For a moment, Ethan wanted to tell them. Tell them everything that'd been keeping him up at nights.
He swallowed his pain whole.
"It may be the prefect package, but its too risky." Ethan said instead "It's best if we back off without causing any problems. Besides, I currently have an ambassador to woo. I don't think Roselyn would like that very much."
As much as he didn't want Angelina to be here, if Alpha Supreme had sent her, it meant she held sway in his pack. He'd be damned if he let past grudges mess with his pack now.
The day was still fresh, and with or without sleep, he still had duties to attend to.
"Anything else?" Ethan stood up
"One more thing," Victoria told them "We have a new rogue."
Ethan's brows went up. They did welcome peaceful rogues, since they made for soldiers who wouldn't mind getting their hands dirty, but they usually held background checks before allowing anyone in.
"Alright, lets go meet him." Ethan said "Where is the rogue?"
Victoria twirled a lock of dark hair around her finger, a nervous tick.
"In the inner quarters."
"What?" Even Tyler looked flabbergasted
"Tory, why are we just hearing this?" Vincent crossed his arms
"Relax, you'll understand when you see him." Victoria grabbed her healer's white coat
Ethan exchanged a look with Tyler.
He didn't doubt Victoria's judgment, but the rogue had already been exposed to the inner quarters. If he was untrustworthy in any way, they had no choice but to eliminate him.
"Ready to go to home?" Victoria asked him, pulling him out of his thoughts
She grabbed the healer's white coat from the back of her chair "I told Jake you wanted to meet him. He's probably trying to clean up."
Ethan thought of the lanky boy with glasses too big for his nose, coped up in the main library, with the occasional fire and collateral damage.
"Let's find him before he exhausts himself." Ethan stood as well
It'd take an army to clean up that place. The omegas had tried and given up already.
"Tyler," The beta looked up at the Alpha
"Keep an eye on our guest, will you?" Ethan said in the tone they both knew to associate with trouble
"Consider it taken care of." Tyler nodded grimly
"I'll come with," Vincent chimed in "Considering our lives depend on her report, and that Tyler is about as courteous as a bunch of rocks."
Tyler elbows him in the guts, and walks out of the office. Vincent winced, rubbing his stomach before following him out.
"You think she's troublesome?" Victoria asked Ethan as they left his office
"Don't you?" He asked drily
"She's got a suspicious air about her," She shrugged "But she's in a foreign environment. Give her some credit."
Oh, she's not one to get scared of a foreign environment. Ethan thought grimly.
He was not looking forward to dinner.
…
'Victoria better be kidding me.'
That was Ethan's first thought when he entered the guest room where she'd told him the Rouge was staying.
A boy stared at him, his eyes darker than the night sky, and face too young to be that serious. He assessed Ethan the way you would an enemy, and decided that he was a threat.
"Who are you?" He asked, narrowing his eyes "Didn't anyone teach you to knock?"
'Well, he surely has the confidence of a Rogue,' Ethan thought.
"I was told you wanted to join my pack," He said, and had the vague idea that if crouched down to meet the boy's gaze, it would offend him greatly
Something shifted in his gaze, and he looked at Ethan in new light.
"You're Alpha Parks?"
Sometimes Ethan wondered if he should've chosen a more formidable name.
"That would be me." Ethan said "And you are?"
"Kevin Blackwood," He said, lifting his chin "I want to join your pack."
Ethan saw a scar under his jaw, running downwards "What happened to your neck?"
Kevin's eyes narrowed "That is unrelated."
Something told Ethan this was going to be difficult "How old are you?"
"10." He would've guessed 8
"If you know I let rouges join my pack, you must also know I don't do it for nothing," Ethan said, trying to get some sort of an answer from Kevin "What can you offer this pack?"
"Any job you want me to do, I'll do it." Kevin was not going to slip up
Ethan looked down at a face ten years younger than him, and wondered what on earth could've taken the boy here.
Better here than somewhere worse, he thought.
"Fine."
For the first time since Ethan had seen him, Kevin's expression faltered.
"So I'm in?" He asked
Ethan nodded "You'll have to take the vow. It can wait until you've made up your mind entirely. A room will be set for you in the guesthouse, food and clothes will reach you. I'll give you a week to look around, observe and decide. But if I find out you're up to something that compromises me or my pack, you won't be leaving alive. Are we clear?"
Kevin seemed to appreciate the fact that Ethan thought he could be threat "Clear."
"Then we understand each other." Ethan extended a hand towards the kid
Kevin shook his hand, but his gaze darted to Ethan's arm, his brows furrowed "What happened to your arm?"
It took Ethan a moment to realize he was talking about the burnt mark, the edge of which showed under the rolled up sleeve of his flannel.
Ethan put his hands in the pockets of his jeans and turned to the door.
"That's unrelated."
He saw Victoria at the end of the hallway, talking to another healer. When she saw him, she excused herself to walk over.
"How did it go?" She asked
"How could it have gone?" Ethan sighed "Why didn't you tell me he's just a kid?"
"He seems to hate being thought of as a kid." Victoria said as they both made their way out of the guesthouse
"Do you know where he came from?" Ethan asked "He doesn't strike me as someone whose born rogue."
"Kevin is pretty good at eluding information," Tory said, glancing at Ethan, she smiled "He reminded me of you, twisting his words and acting like he's so old."
Ethan made a face "I don't do that."
Tory patted his shoulder "Keep telling yourself that." She glanced at her wristwatch "Anyways, I gotta run, you go meet up with Jake."
Ethan decided to ask for a medical checkup soon after Kevin decided to join. By the looks of it, he had no place to go, he'd give his answer soon enough.
Something about the kid tugged at his seams.
'Have I seen him before?' Ethan thought unconsciously
Before he could form a proper answer, he was at the main library doors. Pushing the oak doors open, he allowed himself in.
"Yes?" A voice echoed in response to the doors opening "who is it?"
A thud! sounded, followed by the sound of shuffling footsteps.
"It is I, Jake Clarkson, your beloved ruler!" Ethan said dramatically as the scrawny man came in view
"Welcome, Alpha!" Jake grinned at him warmly, fixing his askew glasses "What brought you here?"
"Can't I come to read a good book?" Ethan pretended to look closely at the spine of the book in front of him
History of Lycans, Vol.4
No one would blame him for not being an avid reader. College made sure he had no brain cells left for any other sort of reading.
"That would be a first," Jake looked at him suspiciously
"Fine then, since you have no faith in me, maybe I should just ask you." Ethan turned to the head librarian
The only librarian in his pack, actually.
"Helping would be my pleasure." Jake nodded earnestly
"I need to know about King Alaricus, before the vampire wars," Ethan told him "Anything you find about him, where he lived, any odd details of his rule, any suspicious habits. Anything at all."
"Is that all?" Jake blinked animatedly "You'll have a detailed report by this evening."
"Really?" Ethan didn't bother hide his surprise "Don't you need more time?"
"For something else, I would've. But King Alaricus' rule is one of my favorite subjects!" Jake started rambling, pulling the book Ethan was just looking at "His stronghold was in Germany, in the forests of Heidelberg."
"I would love to stay and hear more, Jake, but I have to get back to check on the special operations team too." Ethan told him
"Of course, of course," Jake nodded a few times "I'll have the report by this evening."
"Thank you," Ethan told him genuinely "I would appreciate that."
Time was slipping out of his fingers, and problems were only mounting over his shoulders.
But he'd make it.
Surviving when death seemed like the only option was his only real talent after all.