Page 31 of Assisting the Alpha
Teo raises his eyebrows. “Interesting. Right. Let’s get this over with. I’ve already had the task force up my arse about this shit. Like I’d let anyone in my crew harm my li’l bro.”
He reaches over to mess with Ayo’s hair, but Ayo ducks away, almost bumping into a female jaguar shifter who looks at him with utter disgust.
“Hey, not the hair!” Ayo protests.
Teo laughs and takes a seat at the long cherry-wood table, so most of the rest of us do the same. I make sure I’m opposite Teo and have Ayo next to me. After the way that female shifter looked at Ayo, I don’t think he’s as safe with them as Teo might think. The female and another male shifter, a lion, stand on either side of the door, which is now closed.
Now that Teo’s sitting, I take the lead. “Your people have had a lot of run-ins with the task force, especially over the last five years. How do you feel about that?”
Teo leans forward, forearms on the table. “How do I feel? Bunch of bigoted, condescending, power-hungry knobheads. They arrest my people over nothing, making up trumped-up charges. Eighty percent of arrests don’t lead to formal charges, and half of those that do never make it to court. I’m sure you’ve seen the stats by now.”
“I have.” That’s why we’re questioning Teo first and not Dante. The wolves have their share of trouble with the task force, but nothing like the level the cats do. “Would it be fair to say your people feel discriminated against?”
Teo snorts. “Yeah, you could say that. But we have ways of getting back at the coven that don’t involve the cold-blooded murder of innocents. You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“Such as?”
Teo simply smirks.
Ayo squirms in his seat at the stare-off between Teo and I, but to his credit, he keeps quiet.
I open the folder I brought and slide a map over to Teo. “The locations marked are where three bodies have been found. Do any of your people have homes or businesses in these areas?”
Teo frowns at the map of the neutral zone. “Well, sure, in the Southern Quarter, but Ayo can tell you about those. ”
Ayo did, in fact, when we were walking around the area last week. I just wanted to see whether Teo would deny all knowledge.
“Have you heard any rumours about who might be behind these murders?”
Teo’s expression darkens and the scent of his power intensifies. “If I had, I’d have paid them a visit personally. Ayo isn’t one of us, but he falls under my protection. Everyone knows that.”
The female jaguar by the door shifts on her feet, her scent carefully neutral but her eyes on Ayo.
I think I might have found someone worth investigating.
Ayo’s scent fills the car again. Unlike every other time when it simultaneously calms me and drives me crazy with the need to get closer, this time it’s contaminated by the scent of two cat shifters who don’t know how to keep their hands to themselves. I white-knuckle the wheel and try to contain my growl.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” Ayo’s voice holds a hint of uncertainty, and since I don’t want him to think my dark mood has anything to do with him, I give a sharp nod.
He fidgets with the gold chain around his neck, the pendant hidden by his shirt. “I’m not an expert, but you and the team act a lot like a pack. Why did you tell Teo you’re not one?”
The steering wheel creaks under the tightness of my grip. “We aren’t a pack.”
It’s a shitty answer, and the disappointment in Ayo’s scent has me reevaluating. He opened up to me a few days ago abouthis living situation, after all, about what his apartment meant to him, and he’s been open whenever we’ve asked questions about how he knows certain people.
My wolf whines at me to make Ayo feel better. My beast has taken a peculiar shine to Ayo, but in this instance, I happen to agree with him.
I stop at a red light and glance at the sorcerer. “I grew up in a pack. Like most wolves do, I suppose. My mother was the pack alpha, but one day a neighbouring pack sought to take over our lands. My mother fought the rival alpha… and lost.”
Ayo’s hand finds my thigh. He rests it there, a silent comfort.
I put the car in gear and get moving now the light has changed. I hate even thinking about that night, but I don’t have to give Ayo all the details, just enough.
“After she was killed, the new alpha kicked me out of the pack. I wanted to challenge him but pack law wouldn’t allow it.”
“Why?”
“I wasn’t old enough. I thought I had friends in the pack—I definitely had family—yet no one tried to defend me or asked that I be allowed to stay. I walked out on my own and vowed that day to never be part of a pack again.”
