Conquering Theana (14 page)

"He
will be in the meeting. Are you going to kill him?" Gregori asked
nonchalantly.

"No."

"Can
I?" Gregori said with a growl, and Rafael found himself laughing, being
dragged out of his need to kill the son of a bitch. Gregori was always good for
that.

"I
think we made our point. If he acts differently…" Rafael let his statement
trail off and shrugged his shoulders.

"Consider
it done," Gregori promised.

Past
the
Convel
floors Rafael breathed clear air to erase
Camden from his nostrils. The next floor smelled like home, like warmth and
chocolate. Like his mate.

"
Dolphus
pack ever smell this good to you?" Gregori
asked, and Rafael could see his nostrils flaring, taking in the scent.

"No.
She must have come by here when she first came home. They've never smelled this
delicious before. Or it's Walter. She was with her father this morning, so he
could be bringing her scent in with him," Rafael said.

"Either
way, I think I like them the best, even if they are ranked right under
us."

"Agreed."
Some had wondered why a pack that wasn't as
physically strong as the
Convel
or
Rendall
packs could claim the second highest pack, within
Seurri HQ anyway. Outside of Seurri HQ,
Convel
was
recognized as the stronger of the two. Inside, though, it was because the
Dolphus
pack had power in a much different way, through
money and prestige. They were friends with politicians, went to billionaire
playboy parties, and owned the stock market, quietly, of course. The
Dolphus
pack made it possible for the city to run. They
financed everything from the school district, to the internal government of
Seurri, to everyday employment.

Their
money literally was distributed to every wolf within Seurri, and they were
always bringing in more. There had even been some thought of moving Seurri to
an island, purchased by the
Dolphus
pack of course,
so that the wolves could live more freely. The only thing that had stopped that
plan was the knowledge that someone would attack them; some country would try to
get their wealth. Being in the center of the US, for now, could keep them
protected from attack. Maybe, when they made relations with humans better, and
made more plans, they would do just that. For now, Texas would remain their
home. As second in the pack structure, the
Dolphus
pack also covered fifteen floors in Seurri HQ. The remaining twenty-five floors
all belongs to the
Ulric
pack, and their meeting room
was on the upper-most floor. Sometimes it was great to be king.

Rafael
stepped off the silver and glass elevator and into another world. He'd made a
point of changing the look and feel of his pack's floors. They were darker,
warmer. They were still surrounded by glass windows from floor to ceiling all
around, as wolves didn't like to feel contained, but their design was
different.  A large, dark, wood round table took up the center of the
meeting room. Around the table were plush black leather seats, with the largest
belonging to him, at the head of the table. As beta, Gregori would sit slightly
behind and to the right of Rafael. There were chairs set up just behind their
alpha's
all around the tables. The carpet was a deep
chocolate, and thick, thick enough to keep their shoes made from making a
sound, as they moved around the table to take their place. As Rafael had
requested, none of the other alphas or betas would have left their floors to
come to the meeting until they smelled him pass their areas. It was his way to gauge
them as they came in. It was a power move, yes, but one he relished. He would
have an alpha bitch soon, and not only did he have to find out what the hell
that bitch of a woman who attacked their kind knew, but also how the other
packs would feel about Camden's pack losing
Theana
,
and the
Ulric
pack gaining her.

"They
are coming up," Gregori told him, and Rafael turned to greet them. This
meeting meant more than any of them thought.

"Alpha,"
a slender man said, his tawny hair cut short and barely touching his ears. His
green eyes scanned the room quickly before he relaxed and looked slightly to
the right of Rafael's face, respectfully.

"Thomas.
How fares the harvest?" Rafael asked.

"Looks
like we are going to do good this year," Thomas answered.

"Good,
take your place."

Thomas
did so obediently, sitting down across the table. The other alphas and their
betas came in and greeted him much like Thomas. Only two were different, one he
expected, and the other...well he did, but didn't think the cub would be stupid
enough to actually do it.

"Son,"
Walter said, and Rafael inclined his head in respect. Walter turned to Gregori
and greeted him the same way before then greeting the rest in the room by rank.
As he was the father of their mate his interactions with them, by definition,
would be much more relaxed from here on out. Rafael had known this would
happen, but hadn't expected the sense of pride he would feel, or the warmth in
his chest. He'd been so focused on the planning of
claiming
their
mate, that
he hadn't actually thought of
loving
her,
or what he would gain with her at his side. A mate meant more than just the
claim. Cerebrally he knew that, but to feel it was another matter. He cleared
his throat and looked over at Gregori, who nodded in understanding. They would give
this back to
Theana
a thousand-fold.

"Son?"
a wolf snarled, and Rafael's hackles rose. He curled his fingers into tight
fists at his side, hiding the deadly claws that sprouted.
Camden
. The blond haired Adonis upstart who thought he had some
sort of claim on
Theana
.  

"
Mine
,"
Rafael thundered, his body vibrating with power. He could feel the urge of his
alpha wolf pushing the edges of his power, eager to strike out, to kill a
threat to his claim on
Theana
.

"
Mine
,"
Gregori choked out as he stepped up behind Rafael. Rafael felt something he had
never felt before. Like two halves of a whole the aura of
Gregori’s
and Rafael's wolves meshed, the scent, feel, and power blending and magnifying.
Rafael never looked away from Camden's eyes, but he felt as if it were his own
body as Gregori thickened, hardened, his muscles growing.
Part alpha and
feeding from me
, Rafael thought then, dazed. A low threatening grumble,
directed at Gregori, snapped him out of his momentary calm where the man took
over. Once again the wolf pushed to the surface.

"Back
off, beta," Camden warned. He dared! The bastard dared to speak to
Gregori, as if he were beneath him. Even Gregori being a beta didn't affect his
strength. Gregori would always be stronger because he was the beta of the
strongest wolf clan.

"Make
me," Gregori snapped.

"You
are beta," Camden said, tensing, his canines exposed, gleaming pearly
white.

"A beta that can kick your ass and chew on your intestines.
Play with me, little
boy, and I'll rip your fucking head off," Gregori roared.

"You
won't have to," Rafael promised, and then shot into motion. He slammed
into Camden with a sickening thud, but didn't stop. He raked his claws across
Camden's chest, drawing blood, even as he swiped with his other hand and tossed
him across the room. He heard
Gregori's
battle cry
and knew that Camden's beta had come to his alpha's aide. Gregori would eat him
alive. The other alphas and betas moved out the way, but didn't interfere.
Rafael leapt in the air, soaring through the air and then landing on Camden's
back. He had had enough,
Enough
of this bastard
challenging him, of him bucking the system.

"Say
she's mine," Rafael ordered, grasping the back of Camden's head and
slamming his face into the ground with each word. Camden refused him, and
Rafael pounded harder.

"She
is...yours," Camden gurgled out through blood. Rafael stood slowly, still
grasping Camden by his hair and then tossed him back across the room. As Rafael
walked back to his place at the head of the table he spoke.

"I
will say this now. Though she is not marked yet,
Theana
of the
Dolphus
clan is the mate of me and my beta.
She is protected, and, as such,
Dolphus
clan will be
combined with the
Ulric
clan. Moreover," he
added, straightening his suit jacket and glaring at Camden as he slumped in his
chair, his beta cleaning his face of blood as it healed, "my beta is now
also mate to my alpha bitch, so he is more than just some
beta
,"
Rafael growled.

"Understood."
The other wolves in the room acknowledged, as
Rafael reached the front of the room. He sat down in his chair with a sigh, and
Gregori stepped up behind him. He didn't ask if he was okay, as to do so would
make the others think he were weak, so he simply took a deep breath, drawing
Gregori's
scent in to check for blood. All he smelled was
the beta's blood from
Convel
. Gregori was fine.

"Back
to business, gentlemen, and I am sure I will not be so interrupted again. Where
is the woman?"

"She
is waiting just the floor below now for your summons," Thomas answered.

"Where
was she found?" Gregori asked. It was a testament to Rafael's power that
Thomas didn't stop to question why Gregori was the one to ask him. Rafael
figured they had gotten the fucking message now.

"Just outside a casino in Tulsa.
She was hidden there in
a shelter for women, but had a penchant for heading out at night to go to bars.
We very nearly didn't catch her. She has no scent," Camden said then,
respectfully for once.

"No
scent?" Rafael asked, incredulously. Human couldn’t mask scents, or at
least they
couldn't
before. But for all of Camden's faults, he was one
of the best they had in tracking and security. If he said the woman had no
scent, she didn't.

"She
had
a
scent, but it was not what you would expect. She smelled like
nothing, blankness. Nothing like a human should have, and nothing like what
permeated the hotel where we found the injured wolf.
Until
she started sweating.
Then the scent leaked through, and we were able to
follow it."

"Then
she had something on topical then to hide her scent. Humans are finding more
ways to come at us. Bring her in," Rafael ordered. Thomas reached in his
pocket and pulled out his phone. He made a quick call, and the elevators opened
soon after. Between wolves of the
Convel
clan a small
light-skinned woman, with pixie short brown hair, walked into the room. Though
he could smell fear seeping out of her pores, she held her head high and
clasped her hands demurely in front of her. Her eyes were hazel in her
heart-shaped face. She was pretty, in a the-more-you-looked-at-her sort of way.
They made her stop next to Rafael, and he looked over her for a moment before
speaking.

"What
is your name?" he asked, and she lifted her chin, not answering.

"Speak,
woman," Camden grumbled, his face now healed. The woman shook her head.

"So
be it," Rafael said and motioned for Camden to come over. Faster than the
human eye could follow Camden was at her
side,
and her
fear permeated the air. With no mercy in his touch, Camden gripped her head and
slammed her into the table.

"Zaria,"
Rafael said then, and the lone alpha bitch in the room stood. Soon there would
be another when
Theana
joined them in meetings.
Rafael would make sure she was included. Zaria stood slowly, her willowy frame
as graceful as a dancer’s. She pushed her thin rimmed glassed up her nose as
she walked towards the woman.

"This
won't hurt if you don't fight me," Zaria said when she reached the woman.
She placed her fingers on the woman's temples and nodded at Rafael. "She's
ready." Something that most didn't know about the Beowulf clan was their
extra powers. They were of the mind, and had control over it in a way that was
nigh impossible.

"What
is your name?" Rafael asked again.

"Lacey,"
Zaria answered.

"Why
did you shoot my wolf?" Rafael continued.

"He
deserved it," Zaria answered again.

"So
you did target him?"

"No.
He was a monster, and I shot him."

"How
did you know to use silver bullets?" Rafael asked.

"They
told me to," Zaria answered, swaying. She wouldn't be able to hold the
connection for much longer.

"Who
are they? Names," Rafael said.

"General
Josiah White," Zaria said, and then left the woman. She gripped her head,
and Thomas gripped her arms to steady her.

"Come.
I'll take you home," he said then, after he looked to Rafael.