Henry nodded, understanding. “I guess we will see what your king thinks.”
Lorien just barely stopped himself from asking Henry not to tell Maddox. For one, he’d sound like the baby whelp Henry had accused him of acting like. For two, he didn’t actually care. Maddox should know that it wasn’t just Will sliding out of control.
“Gentlemen. Did you have a fruitful experience?” Maddox greeted them on their return.
“Aside from Lorien hitting your librarian, we were fine.”
Henry did not wait even two minutes to completely drop Lorien in potential trouble.
“He deserved it,” Lorien said quickly.
Maddox’s eyes slid to Henry.
“He did,” Henry agreed.
“We will talk about that soon,” Maddox said with a dark, questioning glance at Lorien that held more than a hint of warning. “For now, we have a bigger problem.”
“What’s that?”
“Ivan has resurfaced at the home of one of my human unit members.”
“Really? Why?”
Maddox ignored Lorien’s question.
“We need to go and get him before he causes chaos in suburbia. Or rather, any more chaos.”
“Does Will know?”
“He does not. The last thing he needs is to be unsettled by his father again.”
“So we’re going to kill him?” Henry sounded excited.
“Can’t do that. Shouldn’t do that.”
“What is it you would like for us to do, your highness?”
Maddox cleared his throat. “Perhaps you could help Ivan to…”
“No.” Henry refused the unspoken suggestion immediately.
“Why not? You’re helping William.”
“Will is young. He only just found his wolf side. He’s malleable in many ways. Ivan has been a psychopath for a very long time. And he’s a natural alpha. That means he won’t be dominated. He’ll die rather than follow another alpha.”
“You’ll have to forgive my ignorance,” Maddox said. “Do you think killing the man would help William?”
“No. But I think it would help the rest of the world very much. Not everything is about what’s best for Will.”
A small smirk appeared on Lorien’s face as Maddox digested that opinion, finding it rather bitter.
“Ivan deserves to die, and it is my job to kill him,” Henry said simply.
“Well,” Maddox said. “I think we’ll leave you here today, Henry, if it’s all the same to you.”
“It’s not. Tell me where Ivan is and I will dispatch him.”
“I like you, Henry, and you have done excellent work with Will. But you are in no position to make demands of me,” Maddox said with calm intensity. “This is my territory. Any supernatural in it falls under my command. I decide who lives and who dies. Not you.”
There was palpable tension in the room. Lorien rather enjoyed seeing Maddox and Henry going head-to-head, though he had no doubt that Maddox would prevail. Henry might be a pack master, but Maddox was a king. He might never have wanted to assume the throne, but he was made for it.
Henry said nothing, but he did nod, acknowledging Maddox.
“I’ll be on my way,” Maddox said. “Lorien, you’re with me.”
Lorien also nodded. He liked this non-verbal way of communicating. Made things a lot simpler. Maybe Henry had been right. Maybe talking was a bad idea. Or maybe shutting up was a better one.
“Later,” he nodded again to Henry on the way out. Yes. Nodding and barely talking, this could open up a whole new world of opportunities for him.
No sooner had Maddox and Lorien stepped out of the room than Will stepped in. He’d been listening to the conversation, knowing that nobody would tell him anything unless he spied. This put him in a bad mood regularly and very much now. The way everybody who came into their lives seemed to immediately feel entitled to go around killing his dad was starting to irk.
“So they found Ivan,” he said as he strolled in. “And you’ve been left at home like a dog that can't be trusted off the chain.”
Henry swung around. Whenever Will was in his presence, Henry’s eyes locked on him and did not move. It was one of many small elements of behavior that had led Will to one conclusion: Henry was afraid of him.
That fear made Will feel very powerful. Henry was one of the strongest alpha wolves on the continent by all accounts. He’d been brought in to teach him a lesson or two, and now the man practically pissed himself when Will walked into the room.
“Yes. They found Ivan.”
Will leaned against the counter. The new marble was very nice. He hoped it was more resilient than the previous material.
“Where are your boys?”
Henry turned to face him square. The counter was between them. These were little things Will noticed that all amounted to his ongoing impression that Henry might be losing his nerve when it came to him.
“Resting, as you should be.”
“I’m not tired,” Will said. “I don’t need as much sleep as old men.”
Henry’s brow lifted slightly. “Did you come here to pick a fight?”
“You still want to kill my father,” Will said, ignoring Henry’s question.