The Mates of Monsters
Chapter 62

"I'm not here to debate. I request that you end your campaigning and resign your proposition," He declares.

"We will do no such thing," David answers.

"End the proposition," he repeats, "or find our treaty to be nothing but scribbling on paper."

David takes a breath and leans in his seat. "Don't do this, Nicodra. You know very well that it is not worth the damage."

"You're right. It is a waste of men-war, and it is not what it used to be. Our battlefields are grown over or developed. People aren't willing to die, not as they used to be."

"The proposition could benefit your own mate," I argue. "Aurora?"

Aurora glances to Nicodra. "I will have a son. If not this one, then the next."

My heart lurches.

Nicodra pats his mate's hand on the table, between their plates. My eyes catch on his glass, and I wonder if Helena didn't know better, because I pray that she doesn't, just this once. If not the wine, then the food-a sprinkle of something natural and deadly; scraps of mandrake or hemlock. My father said poison is a woman's weapon; he said it as he taught me which to avoid, as if someone may come around and try to kill me with my dinner.

"We are fighting for opposing beliefs," Nicodra tells me. "I tried to preserve our history. I tried to rise it from its deepening grave, and I will not let your attempt at defamation stop me because whether or not you chose to see it, there are many who agree with my work as well. People want what we had."

"As I said at the Union, the push for regression overlooks the fact that pack members do not want to live as they did a century ago. The balance of control was totalitarian. Our people would never agree."

"See how you said that, Amin," Nicodra highlights, "our people. By all means, if they do not want my resources or protection, they can see what the real world is like. But the world isn't so welcoming to those who have nothing."

David laughs, fed up. "Yet you're defending culture and tradition."

"We have always had unfinished business-poorly patched up again and again by treaties and agreements. Perhaps it's time we handle things the old way."

My finger glides over my dinner knife, teasing, daring myself to do something. Aurora watches my movements and for a second I swear our gazes connect. David mutters, "The old way. I'm not surprised."

"There is one tradition in particular that I have been especially interested in-one you may remember quite well, considering. Where two rival Alphas fight for control of a territory, of a pack, of anything really, but the catch is that one Alpha tends to perish in said fight, unless you see no value in your pride and would rather submit. The victor-oh, this is the good part-the victor takes all. It's one of the most brutal traditions, but what is more deserving of power than pure strength; the utter ability to kill?

"No war. No countless, avoidable deaths. It's quite optimized, is it not?"

David's fist tightens on the table. "I welcome you here to mend the mistakes made at the Union meeting. I strive for peace despite your physical attack on my mate, despite the histories between our packs, and despite the fact that your own mate is suffering at your hand. Not only have you disrespected my Luna again, but you threaten to take what has belonged to my bloodline for centuries."

Nicodra gives a sadistic grin. "I am not here seeking an apology. I am here to set things right. I am here to resurrect our way of life that should have never been abandoned in the first place. Long ago my ancestor killed the mate of your ancestor-why?-because your blood refused to take part in this rite. Your blood refused to fight. It began an unnecessary war that could have very much been avoided. And now here we are, over two hundred years later. Must I kill her?"

Nicodra's eyes point to me like the grim reaper's finger calling for death. I push against the back of my chair. My chest throbs as my heart convulses like that of something stalked and hunted over months of revealed obsession.

"You want to kill me and take my pack," David states, maintaining his composure. But I see the fury building under his skin, filling his veins and straining his muscle. "Is that what you want?"

The dining table feels like no more than a wooden fence between two seething lions.

"I will take this land, these people, and that little bitch of yours. And I will do much worse than choke her for what she has caused me."

David rolls his shoulders. "My mate was right, Nicodra. You are a fool. You want to go about this the traditional way? Fine. You have convinced me of others' concerns the only way to protect from you is to end you."

I quickly touch David's arm laid against the table. "You're not serious? No. That will not be happening. I'm getting Tarlo and the guards, and Alpha Nicodra is leaving."

David doesn't look at me. "They will not be present," he says, referring to me and Aurora. "If what you want is to do this the old way, then we will also do it the right way. I want this in writing, so when I kill you and face the Union, I will have proof of the agreement."

I stand from the table, screeching the chair legs and clattering the silverware. "David," I press, "you're not doing this. Stop talking about it like you're going to fight, and get this man off our land."

I look to Aurora, but her eyes aim downward. This is what she wants-a chance for Nicodra to be killed. My heart hammers in my chest as I feel my control slipping through my fingers. "Tonight," Nicodra says.

"You have an hour. I will draft the agreement and we will settle this as you so desperately want to."