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Slade hesitated, then let out a long, slow breath. "While I don't always support the Alpha…" He stopped to mull over his words. "He keeps out of my way, so I keep out of his.” After a moment he added, “No, I haven't sent anyone to attack any of you."
He looked around at us. His eyes lingered on me with open curiosity.
"Speaking like that about the Alpha might be considered treason," Bain said.
Slade's eyes jerked back to him. "Will you tell him? I don’t think you will. The status quo of me here, Dex as Keeper, and Devlin overseeing had worked so far. A drastic change could cause a shitstorm.”
Bain pressed his lips together.
"You're not denying it." Slade turned Bain's words back on him.
"We all know my brother is difficult," Knox said softly, before anyone else could speak. "But he's still Alpha."
"And he'll stay Alpha for the foreseeable future, as far as I'm concerned." Slade took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead. "Did you come all this way to ask me that?"
"Is there any chance someone who works for you is stirring up trouble without you knowing?" Bain asked. "The intel specifically mentions the north. It's not densely populated up here.”
"I'm aware." Slade put his glasses back on. "Yes, there is a chance someone is doing that. If they are, I don't know who. There's also the chance someone is pointing fingers at us to divert you from the real troublemakers. I've heard some strange rumours myself." He eyed me again.
I flushed. I had expected not to like him, but he seemed intelligent and articulate. And he took no shit from Bain. That was always fun to watch.
"What have you heard?" Bain leaned against one arm of his chair and pressed his palm against the other so his elbow stuck up in the air. Classic alpha male posture.
"Something about a witch, and trouble in the Jintaro mountains," Slade said slowly. "Some of my people are worried the witches are planning an attack."
That made me cringe. A lot of people in the Vault still thought I was a witch. Helene's hired swords would have talked when they left the mountain. Hades only knew what they said.
"Others say Dex has a witch in his Residence," Slade went on. "Some rumours say they're lovers, and she's really the one in charge now."
I opened my mouth to respond to that.
Bain spoke before I got the chance. "Dex is very much in charge."
"So there is a witch?" Slade seemed intrigued by this.
"I'm not a witch," I blurted, finally unable to keep my mouth shut.
"Oh." Slade lowered his face as though he could see better through the top of his glasses. "You're a shifter then?"
"Not exactly." I glanced at Bain, but it was Knox who spoke.
"She has power similar to both witches and shifters. She's neither, but both."
"I see," Slade said.
I wasn't sure if he could see, orhowhe could see. I didn't understand it myself.
Slade pressed the tip of a tattooed finger against his lips.
I wondered what happened to them when he shifted. A tattooed wolf would be a sight and a half. So much so, I almost laughed out loud at the idea.
"Have you come to turn the Vault upside down?" Slade asked me.
"Slade trained in the Temple before he was appointed Watcher," Bain said. "He thinks a lot."
Without missing a beat, Slade said, "Bain trained with weapons, he doesn't think enough." His eyebrows rose and fell quickly, so I knew he was teasing the big man.
Bain snorted, but didn't rise to the bait, unfortunately.
