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We won’t be respected if we beat the shit out of them. We’ll be feared.
One leads to the other. She sniffed dismissively.
No, it doesn’t, I said firmly.
Fear is all some of them have known. We have to speak in a language that they understand, then in time we can teach them a new one. She sounded pissed off and snooty, annoyed that I couldn’t see her point of view.
In my head, I saw her turn her back on me. I let her have her snit; I was having my own. Clearly this was something we disagreed on. For me, piling more abuse onto the Devon pack wasn’t the way to gain their trust. I wanted to point out that our approach had worked on our pack, but I didn’t. It was time to let things lie and focus on Noah instead.
‘I want to be clear that you are pack, Noah,’ I said into the comfortable silence. ‘You will always be pack. I will protect you because you are pack, and I will kill for you because you are pack.’
The only indication that Noah had heard me was a momentary pause in his kneading rhythm.
‘I am grateful for you helping Finley in the kitchen, but don’t feel obliged to do so. Getting a job outside of the mansion won’t lessen your contribution to the pack.’
Noah's shoulders slumped. ‘I don’t feel safe when I’m off mansion lands.’ His voice was whisper soft; he was ashamed of the admission. ‘I have no extra strength, no healing. I am less.’
‘You are not!’ The words slammed out of me. ‘Noah, look at me. You are brave and honourable and true. You may stay at the mansion for as long as you want or need, but if there comes a time when you’re ready to leave, don’t hesitate to tell me.’
‘Thank you, alpha.’ He ducked his head but still didn’t make eye contact, then went back to kneading.
Noah was grieving the loss of his wolf, and who could blame him? The thought of losing Esme crippled me, even on a day like this when we were at loggerheads. My heart ached for him but I didn’t know what I could do other than give him time and space to heal. It had only been a few days, and his loss was still raw and jagged; at that moment my platitudes must have sounded well-meaning but empty. With time and repetition, I hoped he would believe me.
I flicked my eyes at Finley then tilted my head towards Noah. Finley nodded fractionally; he would watch over Noah for me.
Appeased, I took my brew and went slowly back to my office. My office door was ajar: I had a visitor. I pushed the door fully open. ‘Jacob, I presume?’ I asked the brown-haired, black-winged man standing by the security console.
‘You shouldn’t leave this unmanned,’ he said with a frown. ‘Anyone could interfere with the footage.’
‘It’s usually manned,’ I reassured him. ‘I was stationed at the desk, but there was a fracas that required my attention.’
He nodded graciously as if I had explained myself to his satisfaction, then looked curiously around the office. ‘Not much has changed,’ he said finally.
‘Does it still feel like home?’ The impudent question slipped out before I could call it back.
‘I have not had a home for a long time. The churches offered us sanctuary but not a home.’
‘Perhaps if you stay with us long enough, you will have a home again.’
He looked at me with green, piercing eyes. ‘Perhaps.’
‘You haven’t sworn yet.’ I looked at the former gargoyle with surprise.
‘It is with great effort that I am endeavouring to clean up my speech,’ he admitted. ‘It was an odd side effect of the curse that I am glad to disavow.’
‘Reynard still loves to swear like a sailor.’
‘He delights in causing shock.’ Jacob gave the smallest of wry smiles. ‘That is not my way.’
I studied his aquiline nose and his large eyes. He was a Samuel, and I knew without a shadow of doubt that he was Isiah Samuel’s son because he was the spit of his father. ‘You’re Isiah’s son,’ I said aloud.
He stared at the third triangle on my forehead. ‘I am.’
‘I promised him I would break the curse.’
‘And you kept your word,’ Jacob said approvingly. ‘So now, with the Prime Elite’s blessing, I am here to assist you.’
‘I thought that making you brethren made you devoted to Emory.’ I said it as a statement but he heard the unspoken question. How was he able to be here?
