Darkness Bound (7 page)

Foolish fetishes aside, the woman had a body made to be showcased in designer clothes.

Alejandro’s gaze flickered to the irresistible siren’s call of the top swell of Morgan’s breasts. Beside her, Xander stiffened in anger.

Women had to use every weapon available to them, and Morgan was a veritable arsenal of sex appeal. “Sire” this and “My Lord” that and a cruise missile of va-va-voom aimed straight in Alejandro’s direction—whatever she had in mind, the Alpha didn’t stand a chance.

Hawk felt no pity for Xander, sitting red-faced and livid beside her.
Allow yourself to fall for a bombshell like her, make her your wife, what did you expect? Your life would get easier?

Still staring at her breasts, Alejandro gave Morgan permission to speak with an imperious wave of his hand.

“Thank you, My Lord.” She inclined her head and dipped an elegant curtsy in a show of deference that visibly mollified the flustered Alpha. He sat back into his overstuffed chair with a sniff, snapping his fingers for more wine. A young attendant leapt to his side, removed the broken glass from between his stiff fingers, and replaced it with another, already full.

“As we all know, this reporter has caused us irreparable damage. Things were bad before, with the murders of the twenty-six politicians and religious leaders on Easter that Caesar coordinated, but they got even worse after she wrote that article and rallied humans behind her agenda of hate.”

Murmurs of assent swirled around the room. Looking at Alejandro, but including the entire Assembly, Morgan continued.

“It occurred to me that, although your plan for revenge was excellent—as always, Sire—perhaps we might take it one step further. Perhaps we might look at it in a larger context, one that would benefit us beyond just ruining her career and reputation.”

She paused, and the room held a collective breath.

This was a dangerous thing she attempted. The line she walked was paper thin. If the Alpha decided her tone or expression or even her posture weren’t to his liking, if he detected even a hint of disrespect, it would be within his rights to punish her in any way he saw fit.

Including stringing her up to a tree and leaving her there until her corpse was picked clean by the birds.

It had been dangerous for him, too, but he honestly didn’t care. Irritating Alejandro was the closest thing to fun Hawk ever had. He suffered canings on nearly a weekly basis, but he was a quick healer, and thought it a small price to pay for what little amusement he had available.

But for a female to challenge the Alpha, it was more than dangerous. It was downright crazy.

It was suicide.

Jesus. The balls on this broad.
He glanced at Xander, wondering how on Earth he handled a firecracker like that. Xander looked as if he were wondering the exact same thing.

Slowly, Alejandro’s brows lifted. Clearly relishing his power to hold them in thrall, he let them all stew in uncertainty for a moment until giving her permission to continue with the barest grudging nod.

Morgan said simply, “Blackmail.”

“She has nothing we want,” the Alpha countered.

“Forgive me, Sire, but she most certainly does,” Morgan demurred with a shake of her head that sent her glossy dark hair swinging around her shoulders.

“Which is?” Alejandro drawled. Staring down Morgan’s shirt, he moistened his lips.

“Influence.”

Hawk understood her immediately. He also knew by the expression on Alejandro’s face that he’d rather piss himself in public than take a suggestion from a woman, no matter how brilliant that suggestion might be.

Hawk had to play it carefully. Knowing Alejandro as he did, he felt confident of his hand.

“I think we should just stick to the Alpha’s plan.” He tried to convey a casual tone of both slight disapproval and amusement, as if he thought her a ridiculous creature who should stay in her place.

Oddly, his dismissal made Morgan smile.

“Let her speak,” snapped Alejandro, right on cue.

Nothing if not predictable.
Though his lips wanted to curl as Morgan’s had, Hawk kept his expression disapproving, his unblinking gaze trained on her face.

Morgan said, “If this woman is powerful enough to turn public opinion one way, she’s powerful enough to turn it the other. If, instead of using the pictures simply to discredit her and ruin her career, we used them as motivation for her to write another article—”

“Ah,” said Alejandro, the light of understanding dawning in his eyes. “I see.”

He seemed intrigued, but it wasn’t enough. He needed a little help.

“Morgan, I’m sure the Alpha already thought of that,” Hawk scoffed. “We don’t need to spend any more time on this; we’ve already got what we need from her. Leaking those pictures will guarantee she won’t be in a position to write any more high-profile opinion pieces—”

“Of course I thought of it,” Alejandro interrupted, right on schedule. He sent Hawk a condescending stare. “But I may have been too hasty in disregarding this possible course of action.”

So that his eyes didn’t roll in his head like a pair of tossed marbles, Hawk stared straight back at Alejandro, concentrating his energy on keeping his expression perfectly neutral.

Alejandro turned his attention back to Morgan. He brushed an invisible piece of lint from one of his pristine linen sleeves and said with supreme indifference, “Naturally, I had a few ideas regarding how we might proceed in this area, but you may continue and share yours.”

Her voice, dripping with what could be interpreted either as sarcasm or abject groveling, depending on where you stood, Morgan said, “
Thank
you, Sire.” She dipped another curtsy, just as ironic as the first.

Alejandro beamed, Xander scowled, and Hawk had the startling thought that Morgan might be the smartest person in the room.

Had she foreseen this entire scenario? Alejandro’s reactions, and his own? Were the two of them playing right into her hands?

She adopted a brisk, businesslike tone. “What I propose is this. Let’s make this woman aware of our intention to expose the evidence of her, ah . . .” she floundered, but recovered quickly, “
exploits
, and offer her a chance to avoid public humiliation. If she writes another article denouncing the first, we can destroy the photos. If she refuses, we simply proceed as planned. But if she agrees, we have the opportunity of a lifetime. A highly respected reporter who reconsidered her position and now fully supports Shifters will, if nothing else, grow doubts in the minds of those who agreed with her in the first place. We could even insist she call for a repeal of the anti-Shifter laws, speak in front of the UN. If it doesn’t work we’ve lost nothing either way.”

Judging by Alejandro’s frown, he was seriously considering the merits of her argument. Hawk gave him another little shove in the right direction just to be sure.

He sighed and shook his head, looking at the Alpha with fraternal scorn as if to say,
This broad is a real piece of work, right?

Alejandro’s lips thinned. Looking directly at Hawk, he said coolly, “Your logic is impeccable, Morgan. Well done.”

Hawk tried hard to look crestfallen, but guessed he probably just looked constipated because Alejandro stared at him with venomous intensity like a cobra just before a strike.

But it was Morgan who went in for the kill.

“And I think to add credence to her sudden change of opinion, this reporter should be brought here to live with us. To observe us. So when she tells the world how wonderful we really are, she has a response when they ask, ‘How do you know?’ ”

Hawk’s mouth wasn’t the only one that dropped open. All around the room, mouths gaped. Eyes rounded. Faces stared back at her in disbelief. There were a few low, horrified gasps, some nervous chuckles, a lone curse from one of the older Assembly members, whose astonished face had blanched white.

“Live with us?” Hawk blurted, dropping his feigned scorn for true incredulity. Was she
insane?
“Morgan, that’s just crazy. We can’t have a
human
come live with us—”

“Why not?” She turned to gaze at him in steady self-confidence.

“We’ll be completely exposed, that’s why not! I mean, consider for a minute what could happen. Even if she does agree to it and comes here, there’s no guarantee she won’t tell anyone our location. In fact, why
wouldn’t
she? Blackmailed and kidnapped—I assume she’d have to be kidnapped; she’s not gonna come waltzing through the jungle on her own—and held against her will, forced to write something she doesn’t believe. You think this woman is just going to keep our location a secret? And even if, for some unfathomable reason, she
did
keep our location a secret after we released her, there’s a few people I can think of who would have absolutely no problem getting it out of her! In some pretty nasty ways! Don’t forget, there’s a huge bounty on all of our heads! We
can’t
live with humans.”

That’s when Morgan played her trump card. “The Queen thinks we can.”

Hawk’s jaw closed with an audible
snap
. The room fell into crackling silence.

Ah yes, the Queen. Their powerful, liberal, half-human Queen, the mere mention of whom had the entire room sitting up straighter in their chairs, soiling their underwear.

Including the Alpha.

Aside from Morgan and Xander, Alejandro was the only one present who’d ever met the Queen. To hear it told, she was so stunning and powerful he fell at her feet and sniveled like a teething baby.

In a quiet, menacing voice, Alejandro said, “The Queen is not here.”

“She will be. Soon,” said Thiago, the young man in charge of building the new compound that would house the Queen and her family. She’d given birth to twins a few months back, and hadn’t been able to relocate to Brazil until the babies were old enough. They were expected within weeks.

Morgan nodded. “And I daresay, it would reflect so well on you, Sire, that you had the foresight and compassion to bring this reporter here in the hopes of giving humans a better understanding of our kind. I know the Queen well. This is exactly the kind of thing that would please her.”

With an air of virgin innocence as false as a pair of wooden teeth, Morgan folded her hands together at her waist, smiled at the Alpha—gazing up at him demurely from beneath a fringe of black lashes—and stood waiting for him to speak.

And Hawk saw the genius in her plan.

Alejandro was now in a pickle of epic proportion.

If he agreed to Morgan’s plan, he’d look weak. Weakness was the one thing an Alpha could
never
show, because it would call his entire rule into question. But if he disregarded the plan, he risked the Queen’s displeasure. And a creature who could turn not only to panther and Vapor, but also to any animal she wished, to any element, to any
thing—
including her currently favored form of a fire-breathing, enormous white dragon—was not a creature you wanted to piss off.

Hawk watched Alejandro squirm over the conundrum with a glee he hadn’t felt in years.

“The colony is stretched to capacity as it is,” the Alpha began slowly, thoughts churning behind his glittering eyes. “We’ve already had to assimilate the members of the Nepal, Quebec, and Sommerley colonies because of the threats against us. Not only are we overcrowded, but we are the last bastion of safety for our kind. We’re the only colony that hasn’t been discovered by the Expurgari. And, as far as we know, the only one Caesar hasn’t discovered as well. If we bring this human woman here, we risk not only discovery . . . we risk the extinction of our entire species. If this colony falls, we all fall. Forever.”

Morgan’s reply came in a voice clear and strong. “The risk of extinction is upon us no matter how we proceed with this reporter, Sire. There’s no going back to the old ways of hiding and pretending that kept us safe for so long. The world has shrunk far too small for us to hide any longer. Even the rainforest is disappearing, eaten up by logging and agriculture, by human development. How long will it be before they find us simply because the forest has been devoured by their civilization? How long can we reasonably expect to survive here like this—one generation longer? Two?”

Men moved their weight uncomfortably in their seats. It was the unspoken, gnawing fear among them, the question of what would happen when there were no longer any wild places left to hide. How would they survive as they had been for millennia, in secrecy and silence? What would become of them once Man consumed all the shadowed, untouched places, breached the dark heart of the rainforest that had shielded them for so long?

“Our discovery is inevitable,” Morgan continued. “Even if we move from here, there are few places left on the planet where we can hide. Humans already know we exist; they have the most terrible proof. Caesar—the traitor, the murderer—is who they think we all are. Let’s give them reason to believe we shouldn’t be judged by the worst among us. Let’s give them reason to step back from their hate and hysteria, and consider us not as enemies, but as equals. Let’s give them something more powerful than hate. Something even more powerful, possibly, than love.”

Morgan glanced away from Alejandro. Her gaze rested on Xander’s anxious face, and she looked at him with such unconcealed adoration that a pang of something akin to jealousy twisted Hawk’s heart.

What would it be like to have a woman like her look at you like that?

“And what might that be?” Alejandro prompted.

Morgan turned her eyes back to the Alpha. She said simply, “Hope.”

Silence, loud as thunder. Off in the distance a bird screeched. The cry was cut off abruptly, as if it had been swallowed.

Morgan continued, softer than before. “Humans aren’t so different from us. They want better lives for themselves. They want better lives for their children. They want a better world. They
hope
for all these things, just like we do, and that’s what makes us the same. That’s why we have to show them we’re better as friends than enemies. That the world can be a better place if we can learn to coexist. But they can’t know about us unless we take the risk and show them. And we have no better opportunity than with this reporter. Here, in a controlled environment, she can see us . . . and she can testify to the rest of the world what she saw.”