Gray Bishop (15 page)

“We were a bit busy fighting a war with the hybrids, sir. No one, least of all my father, expected what happened today.”

“And yet the runs are governed by a set of rules, young man. No declaration was made before the death of the Alpha, and in other circumstances, your stepping up without the declaration would not raise concern.”

“How is it raising concern now?”

“You’re a Gray Wolf, and there are no other Gray Wolf Alphas, despite there having been a few in past generations.”

Jillian held tighter to Bishop’s hand, her beast reacting to his simmering rage. He was a cauldron of anger and grief, and the challenge set in front of him now was only going to cause an eruption if she couldn’t keep him calm. With her free hand, she thumb-texted a message to Agnes, asking her to come to the auction house office.

“I have been trained by my father, and I have fought alongside our Black enforcers. I am more than strong enough, despite being Gray.” His voice was tight, furious. The voice of a man protecting what was his.

“You’re also very close to the matter at hand, son,” Weatherly said, his tone calmer. Less condescending than his compatriot. “To be blunt about it, those hybrids want your brother, and your family would move heaven and earth to protect him.”

“He’s also our White Wolf, and it’s our job as loup garou to move heaven and earth to protect them.”

“You’re right. No one is disputing that. However, it’s important that decisions made going forward are made for the good of all loup, and that’s difficult when family is involved.”

“But not impossible.”

“No, not impossible.”

“This is not a discussion, young man,” Corman snapped. “You may, of course, continue to oversee Cornerstone for now, and you may also petition for the position of Alpha. However, you will be open to challengers.”

Bishop’s glare clearly said,
Bring it on
. He remained silent.

“It’s possible no one will challenge you,” Weatherly said. “You’re the epicenter of a war, and that’s not something many Black Wolves would relish stepping into. However, the possibility exists.”

“Then I petition for the position of Alpha male of the Cornerstone run,” Bishop said. “I know this town. I know every single name, face, and history, and they know me. They trust me. I would die for any single one of them, and they will follow me in my father’s stead. I promise you that.”

“Your petition is accepted. There are ten days in which an official challenge can be offered. We’ll be in touch. In the meantime, take care of your people.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The call ended rather abruptly. Jillian gaped at the phone, so many words tumbling around in her head, few of them making any sense. She and her run were being folded into Cornerstone. She was to be the next Alpha female. Bishop had petitioned, and he would be Alpha if no challenge came within ten days. If he was challenged and lost to a stronger Black Wolf, she’d be forced to marry the winner.

“Son of a bitch,” Bishop snapped.

Despite her own anger and tumultuous feelings, Jillian needed to assuage his fears. She hated to see him so troubled, when Bishop had only ever been a steady, rational influence—except when it was just the two of them. “Weatherly made a good point about challengers. Who’d want to take on this responsibility?”

“A young hotshot Black who lost an opportunity elsewhere. Someone with a grudge or something to prove.”

“Well, they only have ten days to decide.”

“Ten days or ten years, I won’t lose this run.” Bishop angled toward her, a fierceness in his gaze that struck her to her core. “I won’t lose you.”

The true weight of the Alphas’ decision slammed down on her heart. As the declared Alpha female of the new integrated run, Jillian was required to marry the next Alpha. For all of their flirting and their attraction, Jillian had never entertained the idea of an actual future with Bishop. They’d been of two different worlds, with two different responsibilities. Now a very real chance at a life together loomed in the near future—a future with the loup that her beast had already claimed.

A future that could be taken apart by a loss to a challenging Black Wolf.

“I can’t imagine this run without you as its leader,” she said. “The shifting of a leading family happens so rarely.”

“The people here are honorable. They’ll follow whomever is Alpha, but I worry for Rook and Brynn if I’m unseated. Devlin and Rachel, too, and for all of the Potomac survivors. The Joneses. Another Alpha may be less sympathetic to the half-breeds who’ve come to us for aid.” He glared at his bandaged arm. “And this is days from being fully healed, even with shifting. If a challenge comes too soon, I’ll be in no shape to fight.”

“We’ll worry about that if the time comes.” She vaguely recalled a challenge loophole that allowed the challengee to call a second to answer the challenge in his place. She couldn’t see Bishop allowing another loup to fight for him, but she’d rather see his pride bruised than his throat ripped out.

More than that, she feared for their hearts. Hours ago, she’d been prepared to give up her attraction to Bishop and marry Mason for the good of the run. Now that the runs were merging, Mason was no longer the best choice. He was not the man to lead nine hundred loup through this crisis and beyond. Mason could easily challenge Bishop for leadership and for her hand. He’d never hidden his interest. This provided him with the perfect opportunity to sweep in, challenge an injured loup, and take control.

The stairs to the office creaked, and seconds later a knock on the door. Bishop pulled his hand away and stood. “Come in.”

Agnes pushed the door open, her age-lined face the portrait of exhaustion. She brought a bit of sunshine into their darkness, as only a White Wolf could, by doing nothing more than offering a consoling smile. Jillian imagined Knight had once done the same thing, before the hybrids put a permanent shadow on his own soul.

“I hear I’m needed by the Alpha,” Agnes said. “Not good news, I take it, sir.”

Bishop tossed Jillian a curious look, then nodded at Agnes. “Some news wasn’t so bad. It’s the decision of the other Alphas that Springwell’s residents move to Cornerstone permanently. We’ll be one run.”

Agnes’s eyes glittered. “Probably for the best. There is strength in numbers, aye there is. But that isn’t what’s got you so tied up in knots.”

“For the next ten days, I can be challenged as Cornerstone’s next Alpha. Whoever is Alpha will marry Jillian.”

Marry Jillian. The words sounded odd coming from Bishop, spoken as though she was a prize to be handed off to the winner of a pissing contest. She hated that her life had been reduced to a title that no longer allowed her to choose her husband. Nine other men held her future in their hands.

Agnes considered them both. “You don’t see a good match with Jillian?”

“I see a perfect match with Jillian. With me.” Bishop didn’t hesitate, didn’t even seem embarrassed by the possessiveness in his voice—and Jillian’s beast responded. “Not with another loup. I couldn’t stand that anymore than I could stand another loup leading Cornerstone.”

“That’s why you won’t lose, no matter who challenges you. You have heart and guts, Bishop McQueen. Heart and guts, aye, and you love this town. Sometimes it’s love that fuels us when our bodies want to quit. Remember that.”

Bishop nodded. “Thank you.”

“Counsel is part of the job description. Although I’ve not yet had the chance to speak with your brother. There’s much to do.”

“It’s all right.”

“He’ll be needed tonight. Our people will be mourning the passing of two Alphas. It’s too much for one old lady.”

“I’ll try to talk to him again. Thank you, Agnes.”

“No thanks needed, Alpha.”

She shuffled off, leaving the office door wide open. Probably for the best.

“We need to call a meeting,” Jillian said. “Your most trusted enforcers. Town elders, whomever you think should be there, and they need to know.”

“There’s no sense in trying to keep anything quiet,” Bishop said after a moment. He retrieved his phone and texted as he spoke. “Public meeting, Main Street, at seven o’clock tonight. I’ll lay it all out there.”

Jillian’s phone buzzed with what had to be the mass text from Bishop. “Are you sure that’s wise?”

“Yes. We need to mourn as a community, and both of our runs need to know that we’re united in their best interests.” Bishop moved to stand in front of her, his pine scent filling her senses. Making her beast growl with excitement at his proximity. “Do you want me for your husband and mate, Jillian?”

“My beast has already claimed you as my mate, Bishop. But you and I? We don’t know each other that well. In all of this insanity these last few weeks, have we really gotten to know each other well enough to commit to marriage?”

“No, we haven’t. But any other loup who challenges me will be a complete stranger that your beast has not chosen.”

“They may not be a stranger.”

“What?” His sharp eyes narrowed. “Who?”

Being honest about his potential challengers would only protect them both in the long run, even though it felt a bit like throwing her friend under the bus. “Mason may challenge you. We’ve been friends since childhood, and before Derek came to Springwell, Mason was my first choice for a husband and Alpha. I chose Derek because I responded to him, and I thought him the stronger choice.”

Something in Bishop’s gaze went deadly. Possessive. Her belly tightened with delight. “Does he still desire you?”

“Yes. He’s never hidden that from me, but he’s also respectful. He knows I don’t have the same feelings for him.”

“Do you think he would see this open challenge as a way to win you?”

“I hope not. It’s possible, of course, but I trust that Mason’s honor will stop him. He knows I’d resent being won that way.”

Bishop glanced at the door, then back to her, as though he wanted to race through it and find Mason. To what end, Jillian couldn’t guess—and she wouldn’t let him leave. Not in anger. She clasped his left hand in both of hers, drawing on his heat and strength, and trying to give some of hers to him.

“I didn’t want to remarry for purposes of convenience,” Jillian said. She owed him only honesty. “One of the reasons my father allowed me to stay here so long was to source a potential husband. Another Black Wolf with the strength and wisdom to be Alpha, and imagine my shock when my beast reacts to you. The Gray Wolf son of another Alpha that I cannot have.”

“Except now you can. I won’t lose this run or you.”

“Unless Brynn sees it, I highly doubt you can know that for sure.”

“I know it in my heart. This is my home, my people. Our people.”

She studied him, a man she’d grown to care for in a short time. A man she may very well marry one day soon. They were attracted to each other, and they’d already had explosive sex she wouldn’t mind repeating. He was honorable and fair, and he was insanely good looking. Different from his brothers in a broader, rougher, outdoorsman way. She could see a future with him.

She just couldn’t allow her heart to go there for another ten days. Because if she let herself fall in love with Bishop, she’d never be happy if he lost a challenge and she had to marry another. But Bishop needed something to cling to while he grieved his father. He needed to believe that he’d carry on Thomas McQueen’s legacy as a leader in Cornerstone. She couldn’t strip him of that.

“I’ll make you a promise,” Jillian said.

“All right.”

“I promise to support you while our runs are merged, and I promise to be your friend. Until the ten days are up, and I know that Cornerstone is yours, I cannot promise anything else. I lost one man that I loved, Bishop. I can’t risk that heartache again.”

“I understand.” He raised their joined hands and ghosted his lips across her knuckles. “I promise you this in return. I promise to fight for you, to my last breath if that’s what it takes.”

Her heart flipped. “I hate that it might.”

“So do I. One day at a time, all right?”

“Okay.”

He leaned in, and Jillian hadn’t the sense to stop him from kissing her. His chiming cell phone did, a moment before his lips would have touched hers. He pulled back and checked the text. He took a step backward, face twisting in anger.

“What is it?” Jillian asked.

“Knight’s not in his room. No one saw him leave the house.”

“How? Wasn’t someone watching him?”

“I don’t know. Damn it!”

Bishop tore out of the room, Jillian on his heels. The most important piece in this ongoing battle with the hybrids had just gone missing.

More than concerned over Knight’s sudden disappearance, Bishop was pissed. Pissed at Winston for losing track of Knight and pissed at Knight for giving Winston the slip. He stalked down the sidewalk, past Smythe’s, heading toward the house, oblivious to the glances being tossed his way. Jillian stayed close, a welcome presence, the only thing grounding his simmering temper.

Knight knew better, goddamn it. Grieving nor not, he knew better than to disappear and make them all worry.

Rook met him on the sidewalk in front of Dr. Mike’s. Their street had calmed considerably in the last hour or so. A small pile of flowers had amassed by the fence in front of their house—respectful mourning for the run’s lost Alpha. Bishop ignored the way the sight made his heart twist.

“I already chewed Winston’s ears off once, but feel free to give him a go,” Rook said. His face was a thundercloud, made all the scarier by his missing earlobe and scars.

“How’d Knight get out?” Bishop asked.

“Bastard climbed out his bedroom window. His clothes were on the floor, so he probably shifted first. His scent is all over the yard and house. It’s hard to track which way he went. Knight blames himself, Bishop.”

“I know he does.”

“No, I mean it.” Rook’s expression was dark, but pain burned in his eyes. “He truly, genuinely blames himself for all of these deaths. Nothing I said to him earlier made a bit of difference.”

“Quietly let all of the enforcers know he’s MIA, including the enforcers from Springwell. If he’s spotted, he’s to be detained, by force if necessary. Alert Jonas, too. I don’t want Knight anywhere near that boarding house. While you’re at it, spread the word that there will be a town meeting tonight at seven. Here at the house. I have a few things to announce.”

“On it.” Rook trotted back toward Main Street, his phone already at his ear.

“Do you think Knight would leave town?” Jillian asked.

“I don’t know.” Bishop gazed up and down the street, as though his brother would magically appear. “I hope not, but three weeks ago he was willing to go with Fiona in order to save the run. He’d make a deal again, if it meant no more deaths, and he can run a lot faster on four feet than two.”

“Would he remove himself from the equation all together?”

A lump of ice, cold hard fear, settled deep in his gut. He wanted to deny the possibility of Knight committing suicide in order to stop the war between the loup and the two remaining hybrids, but he couldn’t. Knight was not the same man he was a month ago. Bishop couldn’t anticipate his thoughts, much less his next move. And going straight to the hybrids, giving himself up, was just another form of suicide, wasn’t it?

“Bishop.” Jillian glanced up and down the quiet sidewalk, then tugged him closer to a small tree. Her face was troubled, her eyes pinched. “Back in Springwell, I fought with Victoria briefly. She very deliberately threw it in my face that she was carrying Knight’s child.”

Bishop closed his eyes before she saw too much. Every last shred of hope he’d held on to that Knight had been spared the worst kind of violation shattered. In its place, a black rage rose up, unlike anything he’d felt before. His beast slammed against his control, demanding to be allowed out to punish someone, anyone, for his brother’s pain. To seek out revenge against the women who’d hurt Knight and put that shadow in his eyes.

He quelled the beast, sharing its rage but unable to lose control. Not right now, not ever. He had the entire run’s welfare to consider, and they needed him thinking clearly. As clearly as possible, under the circumstances. “I wondered if he’d lied about that.” Bishop coughed, hating the hoarseness in his voice. The fear. “Especially after we found that chess piece.”

“And if Rook told him that Victoria is dead, he knows.” Jillian’s hands came up to rest on her stomach. “He knows he lost a child. There’s no worse pain.”

Bishop couldn’t begin to imagine Knight’s feelings on any of this, and part of him didn’t care. He wanted Knight found, first and foremost. He’s shove him into a room and make him spill his guts to Agnes, if that’s what it took to get his head back on straight, but Bishop needed to find Knight first. Knight had lost more than any of them this past month. And as much as Bishop longed to shift and join the hunt, he had to see to the run first.

He trusted Rook to find their brother.

Ten minutes later, Mason, Jeremiah, Jonas, A.J., and Devlin had gathered on the front porch of the McQueen house with Jillian and Bishop. They laid out the basics of the call with the Alphas, from combining the runs to the ten-day challenge window.

“We’ll need to come up with a solid plan for building new homes,” Bishop said. “Perhaps some sort of apartment design, especially for the single loup living in the auction house. Smaller homes for the intact families.”

“I can look into that, sir,” Jeremiah said. “I don’t know your town’s layout well yet, but I do have construction experience.”

“Thank you. We can get you set up with a map of town.”

“What about us, sir?” Jonas asked.

Bishop paused. “For now, your people and the Joneses need to remain in the boarding house. No decision on integration can be made until the challenge window is over.”

“Because another Alpha may not allow us to stay.”

“Correct. Until I’m officially recognized as this run’s Alpha, I can’t make that kind of decision. I’m sorry.”

“I understand.”

“How likely is it that you’ll be challenged?” Mason asked.

Bishop leveled an intense stare at Mason. “Honestly? I expect at least one challenge. If we weren’t the epicenter of these attacks, I’d expect more, considering I’m Gray. A lot of Black Wolves see me as an inferior Alpha because of that.” His statement was an open challenge to the Black Wolves standing with him. He didn’t expect to get through the ten days without a fight. His only hope was that no fight came from a Cornerstone or Springwell loup.

“You have my full support, Alpha,” Jonas said. “Black or Gray, this run needs you.”

“Agreed,” A.J. and Devlin said, followed by a sharp nod from Jeremiah.

Mason glanced at Jillian, whose stance at Bishop’s left flank signaled her position by his side and in his corner. “Mine as well,” Mason finally said.

“Good.” Bishop met everyone’s eyes, a gesture of respect and solidarity, before moving on. “When we took out Fiona, we had a few weeks of peace before the hybrids came at us again. I don’t anticipate that this time, but we may have a few days. Whatever time we get, it needs to be used to get everyone settled. It’s priority one. I don’t want anyone from Springwell feeling like a burden. This is their home now.

“Priority two will be A.J. and Mason’s new job. I want you both to put together hunting pairs, our best noses. They’ll go out as skin and beast in order to try to find the hybrids. It’s a long shot, but we aren’t going to sit around and wait for them to attack us again. Skin will be armed and in constant contact with one of you concerning location. Rotate them on short shifts so the cooldown period isn’t too long.”

“Understood,” Mason said, followed by A.J.’s, “Yes, sir.”

“Our third priority is finding Knight. We have very tight patrols in the woods, so there’s little chance he’s left town. Mason and Jonas, I want you here at seven when I address the town. Everyone else? Dismissed.”

Bishop waited for the porch to clear of everyone except Jillian before addressing the faint bitter orange scent tickling his nose. “You didn’t have to hide, Brynn.”

Brynn pushed open the screen door and joined them on the porch, her cheeks flushed. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. Okay, yes, I did.” She didn’t try to hide the fear in her startling blue eyes. “Another Alpha could prohibit Rook and me from marrying, couldn’t he?”

“Yes.” Bishop hated the idea of an outsider destroying his brother’s happiness—another reason he’d fight any challenger to his last breath. “But it won’t come to that. I won’t lose.”

“You can’t promise that, but thank you for saying it.”

“I don’t suppose you’ve had any useful visions?”

Brynn shook her head. “I wish I had. There’s been nothing new, only repeats of the fire and my father’s death.”

When Brynn first arrived in Cornerstone, Bishop had distrusted the girl on principle, and he hadn’t had any sympathy for her trying to save her estranged father’s life. Now he commiserated with her suffering—knowing her father would die in the near future and having no resources to stop it. Yes, Bishop could sympathize with that helplessness.

Brynn added, “I’d like to help search for Knight, if that’s all right.”

“Of course. Not alone, though.”

“I’ll go with her,” Shay said as she pushed through the screen door. She wore resolve like a shield, some of her skittishness gone. A hint of the Black Wolf inside peeking through again. “I should have paid closer attention to Knight, and I didn’t. I didn’t sense his distress.”

“You weren’t his guard,” Bishop said. “But thank you.”

“I owe you and your family a great debt. I need to begin repaying it.”

Shay and Brynn left the porch together, Shay already scenting the wind as she went.

“I keep forgetting Shay was a very different person before all of this happened to her,” Jillian said.

“So do I. Trauma changes people. Sometimes they don’t come back from it, but I think maybe Shay will.”

He prayed to the powers that be to please let Knight come back from this, too. Cornerstone may have a new White Wolf in Agnes, but Bishop wasn’t going to lose any more family members. Not as long as he had breath in his body.

***

At seven o’clock, the street in front of the McQueen house was teaming with loup garou, both Springwell and Cornerstone. Bishop stood on the front porch with a megaphone, flanked by Jillian, Jonas, and Mason. Bishop spoke with the authority of a McQueen, laying out his plans for the new integrated town. Word had gotten around prior to the meeting, so few seemed surprised by the news of the merging of the runs.

He introduced Jeremiah, who would be working with Larry Drake to plan new housing for their new residents.

Then it was time for the more difficult news. “As many of you already know, we’ve sustained two very devastating losses. Alpha Joseph Reynolds of Springwell and Alpha Thomas McQueen of Cornerstone died today in the defense of Springwell’s residents.” Bishop dug his nails into his palm to keep his emotions in check. “I have had the great honor of being Alpha McQueen’s choice as successor to Alpha, and I can think of no greater way to honor my father than to step into that role.”

He raised a hand to quell the scattered applause and cheers. “Unfortunately, my father’s choice was never officially made to the other run Alphas. I have petitioned them for leadership of this new joint run, and my petition was accepted. However, my position as Alpha can be challenged for the next ten days. I will fight all comers to my last drop of blood, because I love this town. I love the people here, and I would lay down my life for any one of you. I will see our losses avenged. I will see our attackers dead. I will see this town happy and thriving again. I give you my word on that.”

Bishop didn’t stop the cheers this time. He soaked it in. Soaked in the love and support of the hundreds of loup crowding the street. Faces both familiar and new. The faces of his run.

“What about Jillian Reynolds?” someone shouted from the crowd.

Jillian stepped forward and took the megaphone. “It is the decision of the other Alphas that because I am the surviving Alpha female of Springwell, so will I be the Alpha female of Cornerstone. At the end of the ten-day challenge period, I will wed whomever is the future Alpha of Cornerstone.”

Mine.

Bishop would have to be dead to allow anyone else to marry her. “There will be an adjustment period for all of us these next two weeks,” Bishop said. “Do not hesitate to bring your concerns to myself, Jillian, Rook, Mason, or Jonas. We’ll get through this only as a united people.”

More applause.

“There will be a memorial for our fallen Alphas tomorrow morning at ten in the park. I’ll see you then. Thank you.”

He didn’t invite questions. It was a speech, not a press conference, and it took a while for the street to clear. Rook checked in. “I caught a faint hint of his scent on the north side of town,” Rook said. Bishop’s cell was on speaker so Jillian could hear more clearly. “We’re doubling back to make sure—”

A distant howl crackled over the line. Bishop couldn’t be certain whose howl.

“Sounds like Devlin,” Rook said. “I’m going to go check it out.”

“Let me know what you find,” Bishop said.

Bishop hadn’t realized he was moving north until his feet hit the sidewalk. Some instinct was drawing him there without even knowing what Devlin had found. The north side of town was where Knight had agreed to trade himself to Fiona. That hit him in the gut, and Bishop started running.

He took a crow’s flight path through town, using alleys and backyards with abandon, intent on his destination. His cell rang. He pressed it to his ear without wasting precious breath with a greeting. His pulse racing too fast to manage anything other than a grunt.

“Get to the woods behind the Chesterfield barn,” Rook said.

“On my way.”

Bishop shoved the phone into his pocket and put every ounce of energy and focus into running faster, harder. No time to wonder and worry. He’d know once he got there, and he couldn’t fix it if he didn’t know what was wrong. He raced past the dilapidated barn, toward a break in the woods and a faded path. Toward the distant sound of Rook’s voice.

He crashed through some underbrush and came to a stunning halt in a small clearing, panting and sweating. Rook stood off to the right, and a shifted Devlin to the left, both intent on the snarling White beast backed up against a fallen log. Knight stood attack-ready, his head low, baring his teeth, hackles raised. The desperation and anger rolling off him tingled across Bishop’s skin.

Bishop fought for his breath, confused and concerned. Knight rarely shifted outside of his quarterly, and he had never seen Knight so defensive. Almost feral. Devlin stood with his ears flat, not returning the growl, probably battling hard to stay calm in the face of a challenge. Rook looked perfectly befuddled and helpless. Behind Bishop, Jillian sucked in a breath but stayed back. And silent.