Chapter 194

[ 830 words ]

Liam

“Hold it together. We don’t need force for Oliver. He’s a ‘catch with honey’ type of guy,” Felix urges.

My beast agrees.

The male didn’t put up much of a fuss once he realized doing so would get him nowhere. Instead, he expressed his displeasure by withdrawing.

He even refused to speak with Quinnie, drawing a line in the sand between them.

She lost his trust, my wolf says.

A smart move for him considering everything.

“We should head back in,” I say, looking at my watch. “Ronan wants us back in pack territory before night falls.”

Felix takes the lead, going back into the room, surprised to see how much. Work actually got done.

The female dusts her hands on her skirt. “I’ll put in the request anyway; you know you need me.”

“Your humility is centering,” he muses.

She lifts a shoulder. “What use are social rules between friends?” She looks over her shoulder at Felix and me. “Well, I’ll leave you to your jailers.”

She walks past us the same way she walked in, self-assured and a little pissy.

“Your friend doesn’t like us much,” Felix says.

“She doesn’t have a reason to,” he says bluntly. “Anyway, I’m ready to go.”

“Fe, can you go bring the car round so we can lessen the workload?”

“Sure.”

I toss him the keys, and he catches them, leaving Oliver and me alone.

I look around at the empty room.

“I’m not trying to be a dick or anything, but what do you do besides research? Where does it all go?”

“To the capital archives. The historical library that carries our history and is used as a foundation of our pack laws is maintained by people like me. We provide lost knowledge; we unearth lost mysteries.”

Suddenly, his worth becomes clear. He finds the answers we lost through war and centuries. Knowledge that could give its holder the upper hand.

“So after you do your studies, you send it out to the capital.”

“No. We have to present it to the elders, well now, to the King, and he decides if it’s worth it to keep and if what we’ve found is going to be public or be put on the restricted section.”

Interesting. I’m going to have to speak with the old man about that.

“Then we’ll have to let the Alpha King know you’re going to be with us now.”

“I’ll let my supervisor know. We don’t report to the King directly; he only attends the presentations when we have already been cleared to give them.”

My phone buzzes with a message. I give it a quick check.

“Grab some boxes. Felix is out front,” I tell Oliver.

Without a word, he stacks two on top of each other and heads towards the front.

I follow with my own stack of boxes.

While we’re loading up the car, a few members of his pack hang around being nosy, but Oliver ignores them.

It doesn’t seem like he is disliked, but he doesn’t seem particularly close to many people either.

Is that a result of his past, or is it just the way people receive him?

His Alpha approaches, just were putting the final boxes inside of the trunk.

He gives Felix and me a nod before turning his attention to Oliver.

“I never wanted you to go. But my hands are tied.”

“I get it,” he says even though his tone makes it clear those aren’t the words he truly wants to say.

The Alpha must hear it because a slight flush rises on his face. “You should have left well enough alone.”

Oliver narrows his eyes. Maybe you’re fine with someone sneaking onto our territory and threatening people, but I’m not. I won’t apologize for that.”

The Alpha looks exasperated. “I already told you it was probably someone playing a prank.”

“Right, because death is something we have the luxury to laugh about now.”

His Alpha look sounded for a moment, then the air filled with Alpha vibes. They pressed down on Oliver in an effort to make him submit.

I step in front of him and let out a warning growl, emitting some of my own dominance.

“Reign it back in or this will get ugly,” I warn.

I mean it.

It’s a low, cowardly tactic.

An abusive one used to exert your will over those weaker than you.

“He is my—”

“—Nothing,” Felix says in a deceptively cool voice. “Oliver is officially a member of the Black Ridge pack. Which means any threat to him is a threat to us. I don’t know if you thought this through, but I’m sure Ronan will not be impressed by your behavior.”

The Alpha steps back, blinking as if he is just catching up with what is going on. “Right. Excuse me, tensions are just high right now. We’ve never dealt with anything like this.”

I allow it because. More interested in leaving here than starting a fight.

And because he knows better than to pick a fight with Ronan.

“We’re leaving now,” I say, keeping my eyes on the male. “Oliver got in the car.”

He complies after a moment.

As we’re driving home, I wonder just how much we’ll find out about the male we just forced into our pack.

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