Alek nodded respectfully to each of the vampires but only one returned the gesture. He was the Lord Protector, Ramon, if Alek remembered correctly. The regal titles were foreign to him but he wanted to be respectful and address them properly. And Alek knew none of Bell’s officers had forgotten how he’d unceremoniously dominated their leader in front of everyone a few days ago. Alex didn’t divert his eyes as he stared at the king’s most trusted vampires, all of them highly disciplined and skilled. They’d probably never have done anything so barbaric to one of Alek’s shifters. His shame rode him hard, and he knew he still had much to prove and to atone for.
“Alpha Aleksei. It’s good to see you again,” Ramon said, in his thick Spanish accent. His smile appeared genuine.
“Likewise, Lord Protector. I hope this meeting goes swiftly, I’m sure none of you prefer these kinds of business hours.” Alek smiled slightly, earning himself more stoic expressions from across the room. The vampires in Wick’s army lined the wall in two perfect, symmetrical rows. Alek cleared his throat and anxiously smoothed down his wrinkled T-shirt that’d he’d barely had time to shove on before his animals were forcing him out of the door and down the mountain towards their mate.
Alek took his seat at the table, in front of his other three siblings. They sat in their order of rank like Alek assumed the vampires had. His younger brother Mac was directly beside him. He sat with his hands folded in front of him, picking at his rough cuticles. Alek nudged him with his elbow. “What’s up, Mac? Do you know what this is about?”
Mac turned towards him and shook his head. “Not a clue, but I don’t think it’s good. Justice and Wick have been closed in their office all night watching some kind of breaking news in London.”
London. Shit. Alek had no idea what he thought his brother could do to help a situation overseas. They didn’t have many shifters living abroad because there weren’t enough of them to form strong packs. Shifters who lived over there were typically lone wolves, or shifters who’d shoved their animals so far down they were almost non-existent. Surely, none of them had caused any ruckus.
“Morning, Alek,” his baby brother Taleb said in his deep voice, barely moving his sharp blue eyes from his laptop screen. His wolf was a seeker of information, so it wasn’t often Taleb’s face was out of a book or monitor.
Alek nodded, then peeked around his brothers until his eyes met his little sister’s. “Morning, Farica.”
“Hey, big brother.” She smiled, like always. He turned away but he noticed out of his peripheral that she kept watching him, quirking one arched brow. She used their link to speak to him. “I’m picking up a lot of hostility and discontent… did things not go well with your mate last night?”
Alek stared down at the table. Because of their ancestry, they were able to speak directly into each other’s minds. Alek didn’t particularly like communicating that way, since all telepathy had to filter through Wolf’s mind before it met his. As a man, he wasn’t capable of that kind of skill either, only his animal. He was just glad Wolf never bucked against it.
“Things went well enough,” Alek lied. Proving to his mate that he wasn’t the rabid Neanderthal he’d first encountered, but a gentleman who would be respectful of his mate’s desires and not just his own, was proving to be harder than he thought. And it was killing him. Maybe literally.
“I can come down there and give you a hug. I know it’ll help,” his sister added gently.
Alek smirked, his eyes catching her pretty light blue ones. That was just like her wolf—the bringer of comfort. She had a special touch, and many of them sought it out often—except him. He kinda felt undeserving of it. There he sat with destruction and chaos in his mind, but no one was the wiser. He’d become an expert at masking his inner turmoil, never wanting to be removed from his position as first beta. Because until recently, there hadn’t been much he and his animals had disagreed on, so the monster had lain dormant and Alek had thought perhaps he’d gone. He should’ve known better. This was in him for life. Whatever he had left of it. Alek tried to tamp down his bad mood, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Instead, he asked Wolf to shield that part of him and he displayed a fake, positive attitude in its place.
“No, Farica. No hugs right now. Let’s save our displays of affection for when we don’t have such a grand audience. The vampires are in strict business mode. They’re not used to seeing that kind of thing.”