Leader of the Pack (18 page)

Before Meredith could get her mind back in the situation Aislinn managed a punch to her face that had blood pouring from the lycan’s nose. If Meredith hadn’t changed into her hybrid form, the blow probably would have broken her nose. Meredith was blinded by the pain and let out a growl that caused the onlookers to step back. She started flailing at any shape she could identify. Aislinn dodged each swipe as though she was bored with it. She had figured that a lycan would be faster than this. She led Meredith around the room ducking out of the way of each clawing attack and taunting the woman as they went. The room of people had fallen into deadly silence. They couldn’t believe that this little, human outsider was making such a fool of one of their betas.

Finally, Aislinn grew tired of playing with Meredith. She grabbed Meredith’s arm as the woman tried to claw at her again and flipped her so that she landed face first on the floor. In a blur of movements Aislinn had the woman pinned. Meredith growled furiously. Aislinn was impossibly strong, and the angle at which she was holding Meredith’s arm left the woman incapable of getting any leverage to change the situation. It sent shooting pain up the woman’s back and felt as though Aislinn was about to rip it off. “You shoulllldn’t be abllle to do thiiis,” Meredith hissed through clenched teeth in a guttural voice that shouldn’t have come from her throat as she struggled to get control of the situation.

Aislinn’s voice had a deadly quality to it. “Don’t make assumptions about things you know nothing about. I suggest that you submit to the superior fighter here.”

* * * *

Cullen took his place at the head of the table. Nearly all of the pack elders were present. The few who weren’t there were still at the reservation cleaning up after the failed mating ceremony. “Alright Terrick, you were saying?”

“I was merely voicing a concern about why no one bothered to look into Jenna’s supposed disappearance. It just seems strange to me that she would vanish into thin air. All of you seem to think that there was nothing wrong with that.” When Terrick said that, there were concerned looks exchanged around the table. It was as though something in their minds clicked all at once, and they realized that they should have arranged a search party or something. As Terrick continued an uneasy silence enveloped everyone. “And what about the insane way you came up with the idea that you were going to be attacked, and then there was no attack.”

Cullen glared at him for the way he phrased that part, but he didn’t interrupt the man’s tirade. Terrick was making valid points. One of the things that kept Cullen in charge was his willingness to listen when other alphas might not.

“I heard that Jenna was stopped from killing you because several people had
dreams
that warned them it was going to happen? Are we going to get a real explanation?” The people in the room were looking at each other with concern. They all agreed with Terrick. What was worse was that most of them had been there. They had seen Jenna vanish and none of them had been bothered by it. Why didn’t they go looking for her?
“Why don’t I start from the beginning, and maybe by the end some of the questions you’re asking will be answered,” Cullen replied calmly. Then he launched into a rendition of the story. He started with the night that Keith had brought him the information about the Circle being behind the raids, included some of the information about Aislinn, and ended with the ceremony. “I can only guess that this Rafe person had something to do with why none of us cared that Jenna disappeared. According to Aislinn, he was standing there watching us all, and no one questioned his presence or the presence of his men.”

Cullen looked around the room to be sure that he had everyone’s attention, then continued. “Aislinn said that distance from Rafe has a lessening affect on his abilities. I, for one, am feeling it necessary to question not only my own actions that night, but things that I observed on the way in that were unusual as well. I don’t know about anyone else, but I seem to remember strange greenish bonfires. I’m guessing that the bonfires had something to do with it as well. Right now, I have quite a few questions that still need answers. So I can’t do more than tell you all what I have and attempt to arrange for additional solutions. Aislinn was only able to shed
some
light. She is, for the most part, ignorant of the finer details. Rafe seems to want something. She thinks it has to do with our standing stones. We’ve owned that property since I came to leadership, and our possession of it was never questioned. I always believed them to be an attractive landmark and a reminder of our past, but it seems there may be more to it than that. We’re going to have to look into quite a few things to get the rest of the answers we seek.

“However, I believe the worst threat is the possibility of traitors amongst our own number, and the now imminent threat posed by the Tairneach. While Rafe is a problem, we don’t really know what he’s after. Regardless of his intentions anyone in our pack helping him needs to be routed out.”

Terrick growled his annoyance. “Don’t you think it would have been better to deal with the Tairneach when Brennus first started all this caoch as opposed to waiting until the girl was beneath you to deal with the fact that you preferred this random human you picked up at some bar?” Cullen had to use every ounce of control he had to keep from launching across the table at Terrick. He had known that the subject would be broached, but Terrick was taking too many liberties with his position in the pack and ignoring half of what Cullen said. Terrick was just trying to cause additional descent and Cullen didn’t need that.

“How do you know that you can even trust her,” Celia asked with more jealousy than Cullen would have expected from her. “If she’s having these visions is she even human? How much do you really know?” Celia didn’t like the way Cullen was referring to Aislinn at all. From what she had heard about where Aislinn spent the day, Celia was feeling a strong desire to rip the girl’s throat out.

Cullen growled a warning that wasn’t wasted on the others who looked as though they may voice an opinion. “I have Aislinn under control. If I feel she’s a threat in any way, I will deal with it myself. Right now, we need to find out what this guy, Rafe, is trying to accomplish and keep an eye on the Tairneach. There’s no guarantee that there isn’t a connection, seeing as Jenna appears to be involved with him now. I want a sizable guard placed at the reservation, specifically watching the standing stones. I want someone looking into the buildings that were burned down and finding out what books have to do with it. I want someone looking for Jenna. I want any information on strange behavior on the part of anyone in this pack previously, presently, or suspected. Someone let those assholes in and lit the bonfires. I want to know who. And I want someone taking what background information Aislinn has and looking into Rafe. Am I missing anything?” All the while Cullen was talking Keith was diligently taking notes. He knew without it being said that he would be in charge of picking the ‘someones’ for each task.

Sarah looked at him. “What about Aislinn?”

Cullen glared at her. “What about Aislinn?”

“Should someone look into her,” Sarah said with an incredulous tone. “I mean if she’s capable of the things you say she is…”

Cullen eyed Sarah, but decided that until someone other than him said she was okay he wasn’t going to hear the end of it. “You’re in charge of the women. I’m not worried about Aislinn. But if you’ll feel better doing an investigation, then be my guest. Let me know if you find anything.”

Sarah felt better when he didn’t tell her ‘no.’ Not good enough to stop her from doing a background check, but better than when Cullen had been talking about everything Aislinn could apparently do. As for the others in the room they all appeared to be happy with the way things were being left. The only exception being Terrick, but he was never happy.

* * * *

Cullen and Keith were headed to the kitchen. They were often headed for the kitchen. Cullen hadn’t eaten all day, and his stomach was growling. The meeting had ended with everyone being relatively satisfied with the explanations they were given, but also everyone was uneasy with the situation in general. How do you prepare to deal with a person who appears to be able to make your mind only see what he wants you to see and to make you think what he wants you to think?

When the men entered the kitchen, there were a couple girls giggling and speaking conspiratorially in one corner. Cullen smiled at them. It was nice to see something normal around here. The girls blushed and giggled some more. Cullen chuckled and shook his head as he opened the refrigerator door and started fishing for something interesting.

Keith, on the other hand, went over to the girls to see what secret they were sharing and to cop a feel. He had no shame. The girls smiled at him as they saw him coming. They knew he was harmless. He had a mate. That never stopped him from flirting though. Keith had been getting increasingly worse since Jaylyn got pregnant and decided that she didn’t want to play anymore.

Cullen pulled a container of something that resembled chili out of the fridge. He was sniffing at it and trying to decide how old it might be when Keith started roaring with laugher. “She didn’t!” The girls started giggling again.

Cullen was trying to ignore the conspiracy. He didn’t like gossip. He fully accepted that Keith would find out anything important, and then let him know if it was necessary. Everyone in the pack loved and trusted Keith like he was a best friend or brother. Cullen threw the container in the microwave and was fishing a fork out of a drawer when the girls took off out of the room. Keith came over to where Cullen was standing at the counter. Cullen could tell from the look on his face that he was dying to share whatever he had just found out. Keith was beaming with amusement, but Cullen was hungry and had a rough evening. He wasn’t interested in playing games, unless it involved Aislinn and his bedroom. He smiled. The microwave dinged, Cullen grabbed the container, and moved over to kitchen table. He sat there eyeing the food and considering calling down to the Taigh-O

sda for some steak.

Keith sat down across from him and waited until Cullen had put the first spoonful of food in his mouth before blurting it out. “So while we were in the meeting, Aislinn got into a brawl with Meredith and forced Meredith’s submission.” Cullen virtually choked on the mouthful of food and Keith beamed at his accomplishment. “Oh that’s not the end of it. I guess she made a complete fool of Meredith in the process. It wasn’t even a close fight.”

Cullen wiped the food from his mouth and looked at Keith as though he had grown a second head. Keith grinned from ear to ear. “I take it you didn’t know she was capable?”

Cullen cleared his throat. “The closest I ever came to finding out if she could fight was when she told me she had previously beaten up her asshole boss from the bar. But there was that time I snuck up on her, and she managed to kick me hard enough to knock me backward several feet.” Cullen thought about that as he said it.

Keith nodded. “Well from the sounds of things, she may very well be alpha bitch material after all.” He shrugged and stood up from the table to get something to drink out of the fridge.

* * * *

Rissa and Aislinn were seated on the couch in the games room facing the large screen TV. Shortly after the fight with Meredith, Rissa had given Aislinn a tour of the floor, just to get her out of the room with all the whispering and uncertain stares. It didn’t take long for Rissa to realize that Aislinn just wasn’t like the other women. She didn’t see rank as an issue. She was too human in that respect and operated from the ‘all men are created equal’ point of view. Rissa didn’t quite agree, but she thought it was nice that Aislinn was so inclined to treat everyone nicely as long as they returned the favor.

They had spent some time in the kitchen since Aislinn hadn’t eaten all day. Then they made some popcorn, picked out a movie, and camped out on the large couch to wait for the meeting to be over. Aislinn seemed disinclined to go upstairs to bed without Cullen. She didn’t say why, but Rissa got the impression that she was almost afraid to go to sleep.

They ended up watching some sappy romance story. It was just getting to the part where the guy finally realized he was in love with the girl and was going after her, when Celia came into the room with her eyes on fire. She was accompanied by two of the women who had been with Meredith earlier that evening. Aislinn shook her head and went back to watching her movie. She couldn’t believe she was going to have to go through that again.

Rissa leaned over to Aislinn and put her and on her shoulder. “That’s Celia. She’s ten times worse than Meredith.” Aislinn met Rissa’s gaze and read the warning in it. Aislinn sighed heavily and tried to continue watching the movie.

Celia studied Aislinn for a moment. Celia was much more contemplative than Meredith. She was a planner. She didn’t necessarily intend to get into a fight with the girl. If Aislinn could be put into line with the others, then there wouldn’t be a problem here. From what Celia could tell she didn’t look like much. Under the General’s scent, Celia could pick up Aislinn’s . Her scent was confusing, but from what General Arnauk had said, that wasn’t surprising. Celia was trying to size Aislinn up physically when she noticed the mark on Aislinn’s shoulder just at her neck, half hidden by the collar of her shirt.

Celia stormed over to the couch where Aislinn and Rissa were sitting. She grabbed the sleeve of Aislinn’s shirt, rage flaring in her amber eyes, and yanked on it to get a better look at the mark. Rissa jumped out of the way instinctively. Aislinn pulled away from the woman and readjusted her shirt. “What the hell do you think you’re doing,” Aislinn said, standing up and backing away from Celia.

Celia looked like she was about to explode. She took a deep breath and let it out.
He took her to his room, gave her the key, and marked her
, she thought. As she added it all together in her mind, it came down to one thing. The General had chosen a mate. If that was what was going on here, then Celia was about to be ousted from her position whether she liked it or not. “Did he mark you,” she fumed.