Suddenly Fated (Wolves of Riverton #1)

17. Esyn

17. Esyn

“They’re gone.” Jamie announced breathlessly as he entered the breakfast room where we were all lingering over coffee. I’d told them the entire story, from the encounter with Elise in the bathroom of the community building, to the doctor’s appointment, to my experience in the bizarre little cell in her room. Ari, livid, wanted to confront Elise immediately, but I didn’t want him to leave me alone here yet, and I couldn’t bear to see her. Jamie excused himself as soon I finished speaking to check on Rose. The night before, Ari ordered him to have his mother locked in her room.

“Rose is gone. So is Elise.”

Ari jumped to his feet. “Are you fucking kidding me? Where? How?

“Harris says that one of the new servants let Rose out in the night. He’s pretty certain it was her sister, Lizzie. He had no idea that the two were sisters, and didn’t realize they’d also freed Elise until just now.”

“Lizzie is working here too?” I asked, surprised.

“My mother has always had the task of hiring and firing the manor servants. My father left her to it and I never saw the need to question that until the incident with your tea,” Ari explained. “I didn’t realize that she’d hired more servants in the days after my father died. Obviously, she counted on that.” Ari slammed a hand into the wall. “Fuck!”

“Ari, that is hardly helpful,” Avelin told him gently.

“Av, I’m going to kill her. When I find that woman and get my hands on her, mother or not, she’s going to regret her actions.”

Ari sent warriors out to comb the same lands they’d just combed for me, but after days of searching, they found no traces of the three women. We had to put off worrying about it for later, though, because Alpha Blackwell was due to arrive that day.

Avelin was a wreck but tried valiantly to hide it. She was the queen of masking her emotions for propriety’s sake, but she wasn’t quite getting there this time, especially the last few days. Jamie and Ari spent a lot of time holed up in the office talking about contingency plans, and I took in as much as I could. All of our futures rested in this man’s hands. I hoped he could be reasonable, but from what I’d heard, it didn’t sound promising.

We waited in the same conference room downstairs where Ari and I first met, the room that I’d tried to escape from during the Gala. Ari, Jamie, Avelin and I sat on one side of the table. Tim and Andrew flanked Avelin and myself, and two warriors from the pack stood behind Ari and Jamie. Ari also placed guards outside the building and the door itself.

Blackwell came in late, sauntering behind his own guards with a smirk on his face. We all stood.

“Alpha Blackwell. Thank you for joining us. You know my Beta, James McConnell, and Avelin, of course. I’d like you to meet Miss Esyn Stone.”

Blackwell looked intimidating; I could see why shifters feared him. Tall and lean, but muscular even at his age, he had long black hair tinged with white, tied back into a ponytail. Scars covered the skin that we could see, scars which could only be caused by weapons made of silver. I shivered involuntarily. He noticed and shot me a wink. Why did he look familiar?

“Alpha Michael. James. It’s always a pleasure to see you. Girl,” He gave Avelin a perfunctory nod. She visibly cringed but said in a clear voice, “Father. Welcome.”

“So. This is the one that everybody is talking about,” he said, looking me over from head to toe with a licentious gaze. It took everything in me not to recoil and hide behind Ari. “I can see why Michael likes you. Who wants angles when they can have curves, eh? He elbowed the guard at his left and they both chuckled.

Avelin’s eyes popped wide, and her face turned red, as did mine. I could feel the irritation coming off of Ari in waves. Jamie looked furious. Well. This is getting off to a great start.

“Father,” Avelin began. “We asked you here today to-”

“Shut up, Girl. I came here to talk to the men. How about you bring me a drink?”

“Blackwell. I have asked Avelin to be present here as a representative of myself and the pack. She will say what needs to be said and you will remember that you are on my lands and treat the ladies with respect.” Ari’s voice held the commanding Alpha tone that I’d rarely heard from him.

Blackwell scowled fiercely but nodded his head. “Fine. But I still want a drink. Scotch on the rocks.”

Jamie summoned a servant to fetch the drink and then Avelin began the speech she’d been preparing since we met.

“Father, as you are aware, the Sunset and River packs are the two most powerful on this continent. We have experienced an unprecedented time period of peace and good relations between the packs, thanks to yourself and to Alpha William, goddess bless his soul. Alpha Michael and I joined together two years ago as a means of brokering the peace agreement and assuring that it remained in place. However, we now propose a new arrangement that will be beneficial to both packs.”

“Hold your horses, Girl. I know where you’re going with this, and I’ll tell you right now that it ain’t happening. You,” he turned to Ari, glaring, “think you can just toss my daughter aside for the sake of some better ass and then move on to taking over my territory, don’t you? Your Dad tried it too. ‘A matter of honor,’ he told me,” Blackwell said in a mocking voice. “Honor doesn’t mean shit to me. Money and power are the languages I speak.”

“Are you saying that you’ll allow the separation in exchange for monetary compensation?” Avelin asked him.

“Sure I will.” He named an amount of money so high it was preposterous.

“You know that’s ridiculous,” Ari said. “It would bankrupt the entire pack.”

“Well, beggars can’t be choosers, now can they?” Blackwell grinned, revealing a gold tooth in the front of his mouth.

Avelin abandoned her prepared speech altogether. “Father, we are willing to present a deal extending our agreement not to acquire new geographical assets for the pack for an additional fifty years beyond the current contracted time in exchange for your cooperation. We will also gift you shares in our current output of resources - meat, grain, and other crops. Enough that your people wouldn’t need to go to war in order to secure enough to provide for your needs, should you desire it. This would allow Michael to move forward with his fated mate, a benefit to his leadership and to the River pack. Both sides benefit from this agreement.” Blackwell sat in silence for a moment, and I held my breath.

“No.” he said simply, then got up to leave.

Ari jumped up. “No? That’s all you have to say?”

Blackwell paused and then slowly turned to face us once more. “No,” he growled, “I won’t agree. I don’t care about peace, and I don’t need your fucking food. What I care about is that you keep your dick in your pants and keep to our original agreement to stay the fuck home and keep out of my business. Like I said, your ‘honorable assurance’ doesn’t mean shit to me, just like your Dad’s didn’t mean shit to me. I don’t trust you. My daughter is my assurance that you do it. I really don’t give a damn about this ‘fated mate’ bullshit. You are gonna do what you agreed to and what your weak ass Dad agreed to, or I’ll tell you right now, son. We will go to war.”

Ari pushed his shoulders back. “I don’t respond to threats. I hoped that we could come to a civilized agreement, but that would require that the both of us be civilized. Avelin and I are getting an annulment. The papers have already been filed and we don’t need your permission. You have one last chance to accept the new agreement before it’s off the table.”

Blackwell narrowed his eyes to slits. “Well then. War it is.”