Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Clandestine Meetings

Rose

I practically skip home, filled with a glee I can’t describe. Sleeping next to Asher, my head on his warm chest, hearing the rush of his blood and the beat of his heart. Gosh, it was straight out of a movie. A dream, really.

If only it didn’t have to be cut short. But I can’t focus on that. I want to focus on his telling me he’s falling in love with me. He kissed me. Finally! It’s only taken months of will-they-won’t-they! Even I was on the edge of my seat, throwing the book across the room and asking when they would finally pull the trigger.

And we have. The cat is out of the bag, the dam is burst, and whatever other metaphors one could think of to signify we’ve crossed into new territory, whispered confessions in the cloak of night turn into a light at the end of the tunnel.

We’ll make it. I know it in my bones. I know it in my soul if I have one. He’ll fall in love with me one day, and that’s all we need. The rest, we’ll figure it out together. Pieces will fall into place like winter snow, and spring will bloom through the ice inevitably. All we have to do is wait for spring. Brave the winter, and spring will come.

“Well, you look chipper,” Victor comments as I open my front door.

I arch my eyebrow, looking him up and down, dressed in the dark cloak that covers his skin from the sun. It is morning, after all.

“What’re you doing awake at this hour?” I ask. “Come in so you can take that silly thing off.”

He walks through the door as he laughs at my joke, and replies, “I couldn’t sleep because I was worried about you. Decided I’d stop by.” He pauses for a second as he removes the hood over his head, discarding the robe and draping it on the back of a chair. “I could ask you the same question. Where were you that you’re coming back to your house in the morning?”

I smile, biting my lip to hide how wide my smile wants to be.

“I’m just in a good mood and couldn’t sleep either, so I went for a walk.”

“That’s a big turnaround from when I last spoke with you,” he observes. “What happened?”

I shrug nonchalantly. “Just have a new perspective on things, that’s all.”

“That’s the biggest, steamiest, smelliest load of bullshit I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth,” he teases with a smirk. “Why won’t you tell me the truth?”

I roll my eyes, grabbing a blanket off my couch, feeling uncharacteristically cold. Must be because Asher isn’t here, and I got used to the heat radiating off his body. The real world feels a little colder when he’s not with me.

“Because I’m allowed to have secrets,” I reply, not wanting to make up an excuse anymore. “I’ll tell you when I’m ready. But, for now, I do want to sleep. I feel like I’m weeks behind.”

“Yeah, probably because whatever’s been happening somehow got resolved last night, and you can sleep peacefully.”

I sigh. It’s not all resolved. Asher is still in very real danger, which makes me anxious. I don’t know when I’ll be able to see him again since I’m sure Gen will keep a watchful eye on him. Who knows what she’ll do?

I’m not sleeping because all my worries have gone away. I need to sleep so I can conserve my energy. I need to be operating at one hundred percent capacity, and I can’t do that right now when I’ve been so deprived for so long. I need to recharge so I can be strong for him. I have a feeling he’ll need it.

“You want to nap on my couch now that you know I’m okay?” I ask Victor, changing the subject. “It’s pretty comfy. Then we can start on the day’s business as soon as we wake up.”

He lets out a long, dramatic sigh as he plops down on the couch. “If you insist.”

I throw the blanket at him playfully as he laughs, but his face turns slightly more serious.

“I just want to make sure you know that I’m here to talk if you need me,” he says. “Whenever you’re ready to tell me about what’s been happening, I’m here. I don’t want you to keep things from me because you think I will judge or be angry. Obviously, I may have feelings on the matter, but it won’t change our friendship. I hope you know that.”

“I do,” I reassure him. “You’re my best friend. I trust you. I’m still sorting things out in my head if that makes sense.”

“Understood.”

I smile, feeling a little better now that this tension is put to bed, at least for now. This won’t placate him forever; I know him. He’ll start asking again and become impatient. I’ll have to tell him at some point.

But, for right now, I need to sleep. And, if all goes according to plan, I’ll dream about the next time I’ll see Asher.

Asher

“Glad you guys could make it,” Margaery says as we gather around the wooden table in my cabin, the room dark as it is only lit by candles. That’s another reason I usually come here during the day.

“The aura fits the mood,” Darius Marx, one of our pack affairs representatives, says. “I feel like we’re doing something wrong meeting under the cloak of darkness.”

“Not wrong, just dangerous,” Candice Blackwood, the owner of two of the largest hospitals on our pack, therefore a wealthy and influential woman, replies. “Gen will have our heads or reputations if she finds out.”

“Are you positive she doesn’t know about this cabin?” Jeff Evergreen, one of our Generals, asks.

“I’m certain,” I reply. “We’ll have to be careful, though. Make sure not to leave anything here in case she does find out about it.”

“Fuck,” Darius hisses. “This is a bad idea.”

“Not having second thoughts, are you?” Margaery asks. “You know Genevive needs to be stopped.”

“Marg is right,” Candice affirms. “She’s bringing back archaic punishment to control our pack. It’s only a matter of time before someone you love is flogged for everyone to see.”

“Is there anything the Tribunal can do about it?” Jeff asks. “Have you tried getting the word out to them?”

“The law is clear,” I explain. “Packs are allowed to operate how they’d like as long as they don’t violate rules like sexually assaulting or murdering their pack members. But, we’re allowed to have whatever kind of justice system we like, as long as it follows loose guidelines.”

“There is no way what Gen is doing is following those guidelines!” Candice exclaims.

“We know that, but we have no proof,” Margaery replies. “She has people who will lie for her; it’ll be our word against hers. Besides, the wheels of justice turn slowly. It would take weeks for them to send someone out to investigate because we’d only be able to provide hearsay as evidence. The actual investigation would probably take months, and they wouldn’t do anything to her in the meantime. All going to the Tribunal would do is tip Gen off that we’re trying to usurp her.”

“She’s right,” I affirm. “To the outside world, she is charming. That mask is slipping because she’s becoming increasingly erratic, but that’s not a crime. It’s not a crime for packs to engage in war with each other as long as it doesn’t fall under war crimes. She hasn’t done anything like that. At least not yet.”

“Then what do we do?” Jeff asks. “If we can’t go the legal route, we must do something else!”

“We need to follow tradition,” Candice replies. “Offer up a challenger and take the title from her by force.”

“Would you be willing to do that, Asher?” Margaery asks.

I open my mouth to speak, but Darius interrupts, “No. It can’t be him.”

“Why?” Jeff asks.

“The optics would be awful,” Darius answers. “This pack has always been conservative and very traditional. They’ll never understand what Gen has done to you, unfortunately, because you’re a man, and she’s a woman. If a man is to challenge Gen, especially her mate, they would see it as unsavory. You may win, but your reputation would be tarnished, and she could easily find a way to garner support and take the title back by playing the sympathy card. The battered woman card.”

“Darius has a point,” Candice agrees, pinching her bottom lip between her fingers. “The pack already doesn’t look upon you all that favorably now that they think you’re from a family of thieving boys.”

“Shit,” I hiss. “Has their opinion of Gen changed, too?”

“From what I’ve heard, yes,” Candice replies. “It’s not just us five who see the cracks in her facade. But we’ll need to do more to sway more officials and get them on our side before sending in a challenger. If we don’t lay a good foundation for Asher to take over, then this won’t work.”

“But if I’m not the challenger, wouldn’t someone else be taking over?” I ask.

“No,” Margaery replies. “The people know you. You are their Alpha. If we send in a different challenger, we can have them agree to abdicate the title to you afterward.”

“Then why don’t you challenge her?” I ask. “The pack loves you, and if they saw that even her own sister wants her out, that could serve us well. Then the pack could stay in your family, and I’d serve as your Alpha until you found your mate. Then the pack would be yours.”

“I can’t challenge her,” Margaery brushes off. “I’d lose. She’s a lot stronger than me physically. Plus…” She trails off, letting out a sad sigh. “She’s my sister. I couldn’t hurt her like that. I don’t have that kind of hatred in me.”

“Well, it seems none of this challenger stuff even matters if we can’t sway public opinion,” Jeff butts in. “We need to raise Asher’s status first and foremost and do whatever we can to make Gen look bad on top of that.”

“How do we do that?” Candice asks. “Gen has so many people firmly in her pocket. Not all out of love. Most are out of fear, from what I know. That’s why I turned a blind eye for so long.” Her brows are furrowed with guilt, her brown eyes sad and wrinkled on the edges. “I knew your parents; we went to school together. I-I can’t believe I sat idly by as I watched what Gen did to their legacy.”

“She killed them, too,” Margaery spits. “I can’t prove it, and I don’t know for sure. But I’m almost positive she poisoned them after they gave her power. But because she had manipulated people into thinking they were incompetent beforehand, nobody noticed. She made it seem like they were ailing and their memory was fading, a tragedy of them having children so late that she had to watch her parents age.”

She wrinkles her nose, shaking her head scornfully. “I’m sure she did something to them earlier than that to make it appear that way. To make them lose their sharpness so they would appear like that. Drugging them before important speeches and meetings. I can’t prove it, but I know it’s true…” She trails off, burying her head in her hands. “And I turned a blind eye, too.”

I rub her back, doing my best to comfort her as she digs her hands through the roots of her hair. “A-And I allowed her to take you as a mate, Asher, when I knew how awful she was because I naively thought you could change her. Maybe love would change her. If I loved her enough and you did too, she’d be my sister again… She used to be so loving. We were best friends when we were little, but then something snapped in her… Or maybe it was in her all along and didn’t come out until she was older. I don’t know.”

Candice rests her hand on Margaery’s. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers. “But that girl you knew… The sister you knew is gone. She died years ago. Whoever your sister has become now killed that little girl.”

“I know,” she whimpers, wiping her eyes. “I-It’s just hard. But this is the only way. We need to strip her of support, physically force her out of power, and imprison her for life… Maybe we can find a way to help her one day or figure out why she turned into a monster. But, if not, at least she won’t be able to hurt anyone else.”

The group nods, the mood mournful. Margaery needs to grieve the sister she deserved, the sister she once had, in the same way, I need to grieve the mate I thought I had.

It’s a little easier for me now that I know she was never my true mate. For Margaery, she’ll never have another sister. That damage has been done and can never be undone. She can’t bring her parents back. Losing her sister means losing any living family she has left.

“I know you don’t have your sister, Marg,” I tell her. “But I am your brother. You have a family - This pack is your family.”

“That’s why I need to protect them,” Margaery whispers, nodding with conviction. “I’ll see what information I can dig up on her to leak. I can get someone to spread the rumor about how she killed my parents. Even if there’s no evidence, if people are whispering about it, that’s powerful.”

“I’m meeting with my sister, Marabelle, soon,” I add. “She may have some information on what’s happening in the military. I’m guessing Gen will kick her out since she’s my sister, but she may have heard or seen things before now.”

“It’s good to have a pulse on that,” Jeff agrees. “As a General, I don’t interact much with the recruits and the grunt work they do. But I can see what I can do about getting other higher-ups on our side, which will be important. If she doesn’t have a military to back her, that strips her of most of her power.”

“Exactly,” Candice replies. “I have a good pulse on other socialites and donors. Without money, she loses her power, too.”

“I’m in the political circle,” Darius says. “I can get other packs in the area to turn against her, taking away her allies. River Run will be useful with that.”

“We may have to reach out to them soon,” I suggest. “Not now, since we can’t let Gen catch wind of anything like that so early. But, eventually, we’ll need to clue them in on what’s happening. Especially if a war is brewing.”

“Well, it looks like we all know what we’re doing,” Margaery announces, standing. “We shouldn’t meet any longer than we have to or more often than is necessary. We’ll keep each other updated in passing.”

“Thank you all, truly,” I say, making eye contact with each of them, especially Margaery. “I promise I won’t let you down. I can be the Alpha this pack needs.”

“I believe in you, Asher,” Candice encourages, squeezing my arm as she passes me to go to the door. “Because your pack is counting on you.”