Alpha’s Betrayal
Chapter 6

Remus

Stable, Claw Mansion

Woodward County, Oklahoma

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The sound was faint and far away. If I wasn't enjoying the late afternoon air outside as I appreciated the view from the balcony outside Marnet's sitting room, I might not have heard it at all. I tipped my head, fairly certain the low noise had come from the direction of the ground's stable - and that was no horse. There hadn't even been horses inside, if I had heard Marnet correctly. That was definitely a wolf, and there was a distinctively feminine quality to her voice. I had only seen one female go in that direction - the silver- eyed she-wolf. Marnet and the butler had gone that way too. Sophia had been in the barn briefly, before insisting her brother rejoin us as we headed back towards the mansion. A disagreement? Injury?

It was such a faint cry, I wasn't fully convinced it had even come from the barn. Deciding I needed another drink before I pursued this train of thought any further, I waltzed inside, taking quick stock of the room. Marnet had returned from his visit to the stables - I had heard a rumor there would be a "twilight carriage ride." I had never known the man to be one for festivities, but maybe taking over for old Noah Claw had changed him. I was curious, if nothing else.

Gith was chatting with someone I didn't recognize. Okay, chatting was a strong word, but York had abandoned the bar (finally, thank f**k) and seemed to be regaling Seff with some animated story, apparently forgetting about whatever slight he'd felt Seff had offered him earlier. Seff glanced over and raised his brows when our gazes met. I felt a pang of guilt as I wondered if I should rescue my childhood friend from a tall tale that could possibly last well into the next three hours. Drink first.

Drink first, damsels in distress second.

I had barely gotten my refreshed whiskey on the rocks when I sensed another presence closing in.

"Remus, darling," a cool voice drawled near my ear. "How good of you to show up! I can't help but notice you're looking rather bored."

I rested one arm on the mahogany bar top, twisting slightly to look down at Sophia Claw. The corner of my mouth twitched sideways. Whereas Marnet had taken after their father and reached a solid six feet, poor Sophia had taken after her mother - and then some. She was at least a foot shorter than I was, though she always seemed to be wearing heels that would kill a lesser wolf. I appreciated a woman who took pride in the impression she made.

"You're going to help me out with that, are you?" I shot back, unable to help myself. She wasn't wrong, after all. I was a bit bored, and Sophia was by far more interesting than Gith or York... or even her brother, for that matter.

She fixed me with a pleasant smile as she twirled a brunette curl around one finger. "Maybe. I was here with someone, you know, but the man is such a wallflower. Not for me."

I shook my head, tsking my tongue against my teeth. Poor sod, I thought, not really feeling poorly at all. He should have known better than to try to tangle with Sophia. "More's the pity," I replied.

"You know, we have a few hours yet," she whispered, leaning in conspiratorially. "Marnet is planning a tour and carriage rides, but I think he's still waiting for everyone to arrive. We could sneak off to the guest quarters and none would be the wiser."

I couldn't help but chuckle; perhaps other men would be put off by Sophia's straightforward nature, but I appreciated it. There was no wondering what she wanted, and she didn't waste my time in getting to her point, either. Perhaps, if she were my type, I'd go for her.

Offering Sophia a pleasant smile, I shook my head. It wasn't as if she wasn't attractive - she certainly was. Though she was shorter than what the some might consider 'conventionally beautiful,' she had a power about her. She knew how to dress herself, and I didn't just mean in the latest trends and with the hottest designers (though one could always count on Miss Claw to know what was in this season, stuck in Oklahoma or not). Sophia understood the shape of her body and dressed as such. There were few things sexier than a confident woman, but I had seen the way she had spoken to a few guests earlier in the day. She had even snapped at a maid who had made the grievous error of trying to take an empty glass before Sophia was apparently ready to release it. Speaking down to one's staff really took the veneer off a polished presentation. The maid was just trying to do her job, after all - did she really need to be snapped at like a misbehaving pet? Sophia was gorgeous, and confident, but I had the feeling getting involved with her might be a bit more trouble than a liaison was worth.

It wouldn't do to snub the host's sister, though. I leaned down to whisper into her ear. "As tempting as that is, I wouldn't want to step on Marnet's paws."

Sophia peered at me with her lower lip pushed out in a dramatic pout. "He doesn't have to know."

I hummed and shook my head. "I'm afraid I have to insist," I replied softly. "Besides, shouldn't you be looking for your mate? The lucky fellow might be here tonight."

The younger Claw fixed me with a sugar-sweet simper. "I didn't know you cared so much about my soul!" Her eyes gleamed. "What a thoughtful man. I do like that about you. Maybe you're my mate, Remus Silverstreak. You never know."

This woman really was insisting on trying my patience, wasn't she? I bit my tongue, trying to maintain my composure even as she started to wear on me. Apparently, I wasn't as successful as I thought, because Sophia withdrew, her upper lip twitching slightly. I needed to defuse this situation...ASAP.

"If we were mates, we would know," I told her, lifting a brow. "We've met several times since you've turned eighteen."

Sophia dismissed me with a sniff, clearly uninterested in my logic. That was fine, I thought. The Claw woman was an interesting distraction, and nothing more.

The rest of the afternoon progressed exactly as Sophia had indicated that it might. Eventually, the horses must have been tended to, either by the stable girl or someone else, and Marnet did his best to show off "the splendor of the Claw grounds" from the carriages. I'm not sure how many guests fell for that; I opted to walk with Kate Claw instead. Her belated mate might have been the previous alpha, but she was nothing like Marnet - or Sophia, for that matter. Maybe Kate had been different when she was younger, or perhaps she was simply behaving because my mother had come along for the walk of the grounds as well, but I far preferred her quiet pride to Marnet's obnoxious grandstanding any day of the week.

I mean horses. H onestly.

Even if I preferred Kate's company to almost anyone else here, Sophia wasn't the last single she-wolf to sidle up to me with the 'clever' implication that maybe we were long-lost mates after all, as if I were stupid enough not to realize until said female had the courage to point it out to me. It felt like each hour stretched on longer than the last. Time was as sticky and eternal as stale taffy, refusing to move on no longer how long I chewed (or how long I waited).

I was bored. So f*****g bored.

But I needed to be patient. My mother always chided me as a boy. Patience is a virtue, Remus. Even if you don't believe me now, there will come a time that patience will serve you better than your hot temper.

I shot Fiona a sideways look, trying not to grimace. She had no idea that this was anything more than a Moonmate ceremony hosted by the Lupus Claw pack, and I had no interest in trying to convince her otherwise. Regardless of if she agreed with me or not, there was no way my mother would let me escape that kind of revelation without some kind of lesson attached - even if it was simply admitting to the validity of a past lecture.

I just had to wait. This was too important for me to spoil because I felt a little antsy. I had endured far, far worse. All I had to do was be present for this event; it wasn't the first Moonmate ceremony I had witnessed, and I was sure it wouldn't be the last. After our dull stroll of the grounds, I ducked away from the crowd as the guests busied themselves with hors d'oeuvres or more drinks. I slipped into the restroom for a much-needed break. Inside, I took a breath, and then fiddled with one of my cuff links, watching the light reflect off the Silverstreak emblem. The constant socializing and flirtation and scheming was finally starting to really grate on my nerves. This wasn't my idea of a good time, regardless of my motives. I'd rather be back in Texas, at Silverstreak Motors. Hell, I'd rather be in a quarterly meeting with Tala and Bane, reviewing the numbers and our next moves - and those meetings usually lasted an entire day.

Straightening, I walked over to the bathroom mirror, checking to make sure my dark hair was still pulled back. It was, but a few strands had escaped the bun. I pulled the tie out, shaking out my hair before bending at the waist to gather it back up, smoothing the top of my head as I carefully arranged the bun at the back of my scalp. When I glanced back at my reflection, a small smile tugged at one corner of my mouth.

No wonder the girls keep wandering over to you, Remus,I thought, smoothing a hand over my thick beard. You clean up pretty damn nicely.

As I had told my mother, I had no intention of finding a mate - not today and not ever - but it never hurt to look good. After all, as pack alpha, I represented all the Silverstreak wolves. I represented my mother. Showing up looking like something the wolf dragged in would be an insult to my parents and my hosts. It didn't matter if I gave a rat's a*ss about Marnet Claw or not, my mother would never let me hear the end of it. Tongues would wag, and no matter my reason or intent, every wolf from here to Minnesota would have a theory why I turned up looking disheveled to a rival pack's Moonmate ceremony, and none of that would help me continue to strengthen the Silverstreak pack.

I turned away, and the cagey feeling crept back up almost immediately, a tide rushing in around my feet. I refuse to get cold feet, literal or metaphorical, I thought. I knew my mother was not going to appreciate what I planned to do next. I didn't even need to ask. She still held tradition near and dear, after all, and while it was true a few older wolves probably felt the same, I had to hope that majority of wolves in my generation were a bit more forward thinking. If not, I would have a whole lot of fires to put out. Hopefully, they'll see that this is the way forward.I forced myself to stop fiddling with my hair and the cuffs of my sleeves. This was happening. I had worked too hard and put too much into this to back out now, and for what? Because I had a few strange feelings? Because Seff had decided to talk to me and... And...?

That's all I had. Definitely not a worthy reason.

I glanced at the door again, ensuring it was still locked. I fished a small device out of my jacket pocket. The bug detector was small and slim, looking no different than a large smartphone to the unsuspecting eye - and why would anyone ever suspect I had anything like this, anyways?

Fiddling with the knobs, I hummed once I recognized the correct display and then began to sweep the device around the room. One of the perks of being a werewolf was the exceptional hearing - I might not have been able to hear the gentle crackle of a recording device when it was in some sort of silent or sleeping mode, but the detector I had purchased would force them to cut on, and would alert me to their presence. It allowed me to be doubly sure there was no one listening in (though if Marnet had planted bugs in the bathroom offered to his guests, he was considerably more perverse than I had thought).

Neither my ears nor my bug detector picked up anything, even after sweeping the room twice. Satisfied, I switched my new toy back off and returned it to the inside of my jacket. I pulled out a small phone instead; it wasn't my usual, day-to-day device, but rather a cheap plastic burner I used to communicate with Bane. He had a similar one, and both of us were able to discard the items at a moment's notice if required. It was perhaps a bit paranoid - this wasn't a damn James Bond movie, after all - but it certainly did the job.

I pressed the first speed dial and waited to hear the telltale click. "Bane," I said, waiting.

"Here, boss," replied my beta, sounding faintly distant. That was the problem with low-tech solutions, I supposed. Reliable, but, well, low tech.

"Good. Status report." It was best to keep this as quick and concise as possible. Thankfully, Bane was not a man of many words unless prompted.

The beta cleared his throat. "Alpha team notes no potential issues. Beta team also in place. Delta team waiting over the border, ready to move as soon as you give the word." He paused for a moment and I waited, rumbling a wordless go on. I could hear him sigh. "Two guards had to be subdued. Both encountered by beta."

Bane didn't offer any further information, so I assumed it wasn't a major issue. If it was, he would have elaborated. The man might not be particularly chatty, but he was thorough; I could always trust my beta to get the job done, and get the job done right. Bane cleared his throat.

"Yes?" I prompted him.

"The plan hasn't changed, right? Still going to fold the wolves in."

I nodded, even though he couldn't see me. "The plan hasn't changed," I affirmed.

"Understood," Bane said.

"Good. Wait for my signal." I closed the line and tucked the device back into my coat. Everything straightened, I finally left the bathroom, pleased to see there was no one lurking in the hall waiting for a turn who could have overheard my conversation. Excellent. After a moment of thought, I headed back out to the balcony. The landscape surrounding the Claw ranch was just as beautiful by moonlight as it was in the sunshine, and it elicited a small smile no matter how hard I was trying to remain impassive. There was nothing that could compare to the cool, fresh air out here. I couldn't see a single manmade light on the horizon. Even with the light flowing out from the mansion, there were dozens if not hundreds of stars visible overhead. If the owner put the lights out, I imagined you could even see the Milky Way. I'd traveled a lot of places (mostly for business), but none of those places had allowed me such a view of the galaxy.

Maybe, if all went according to plan, I would transfer my base of operations out here. Maybe I'd even live here, and leave the place back in Texas for my mother. At the very least, I could probably make this some sort of weekend home. It wasn't far at all from the local airport, and it clearly had no issue with the company jet. I smiled despite myself, stroking my chin as I gave a small nod. I loved Austin and almost everything about that city, but it didn't have views like this. It didn't have fresh air like this. It definitely didn't have a skyline like this.

The Silverstreak family home in Texas had a lot of memories (for better or worse, I hadn't exactly decided), and I certainly wouldn't get rid of it, but...

Yeah,I thought, almost wistful. Having something of my very own. Something that I earned, not something that Mom or Dad passed down to me. This could be it. This could be mine.

I drummed my fingers against the stone railing. I took a moment to compose myself before I went back inside. I very well couldn't waltz in with a dopey smile on my face, or my mother might get some ridiculous idea, like I had actually found a girl.

After a moment, the cool air did its good work and any flush in my face had disappeared. My expression had returned to a calm, neutral expression - and just in the nick of time. I heard the soft snick of the balcony door opening and turned around, ready to abandon it to its next visitor when said visitor stopped me dead in my tracks.

That woman had eyes made of pure quicksilver.