Gray Bishop (21 page)

“My sincere condolences on your loss.” Colin glanced up and down the length of the table, including them all, his gaze landing on Jillian last. “And yours as well, Ms. Reynolds.”

“Thank you,” Jillian said. The man was exceedingly polite and . . . nice for someone who’d come with the intention of killing Bishop and taking the position of Alpha. Asking why he was challenging Bishop in front of his companions was idiotic. He wouldn’t answer, and he might even take offense. He didn’t seem the ladder-climbing type.

Then again, she’d been in his company for exactly forty minutes.

Still waters ran deep.

***

Bishop studied Colin with a bland expression, careful to mask his curiosity over his opponent. A puzzle he couldn’t quite understand because no one had explained how to solve it. They’d exchanged polite, inane chitchat before dinner, nothing deeper than the surface of things. Bishop didn’t want to get to know Colin, because in a day or two, he’d have to fight him to the death.

It didn’t stop him from wondering why such an even-tempered, polite person was challenging for Alpha. He seemed capable, but not necessarily forceful enough to lead a run of nearly a thousand. Even Devlin had texted him earlier in the day, reporting that the Westfeld siblings were settling in with zero friction. Nothing in their behavior suggested men with the intention of a hostile takeover.

So what the hell were they doing in Cornerstone?

“The Barneses were talking about organizing a soccer game in the field behind their house,” Devlin said. “Something to distract the kids for a few hours, until nightfall.”

Bishop caught himself before disapproving the idea. The children did need a good distraction from the sadness of the day and the stress on their parents. A soccer game in an open area seemed like the perfect setup for an attack, but it had only been a day since Springwell. The remaining hybrids weren’t likely to be ready for another attack, especially on a town as prepared and fortified as Cornerstone.

The field behind the Barnes house was wide and open, with at least three hundred yards of space between it and the tree line. The border patrols were still in effect. Any kind of attack would be spotted before the enemy got within a dozen feet.

“That sounds like a fine idea,” Bishop said.

Devlin took a swig from his coffee mug. “Michelle came up with it. I think she’s trying to distract herself more than anything.”

“Has Agnes been to see her?”

“Earlier today, I think.”

“Good.”

“Michelle?” Colin asked.

Bishop pinned him with a sharp gaze. Colin seemed concerned, rather than curious. Not simply a usurper looking to get information on his future run members, but rather genuinely interested in their conversation. In some ways, Colin reminded him of Knight. “Michelle Barnes is eight months pregnant with her second child, and it’s been a rough pregnancy.”

“Is she on bed rest?”

“No, but she’s been instructed to take it easy. So far so good.” No need to mention the slight scare a few nights ago that had kept Knight close by for over an hour. Bishop didn’t want to risk opening a dialogue about his absent brother.

“I hope everything goes well for her.”

“We all do.” Bishop glanced down the table at Jillian, who was too far away for his liking. He wanted her by his side, but he also appreciated her position at the head of the table. He liked her there. “I suppose it’s protocol for the host to dismiss the meal?”

Jillian smiled, her entire face brightening. She held his gaze. For an instant, no one else was in the room.

“Yes, it is,” Colin replied.

Irritation prickled up Bishop’s spine. “Dismissed.”

Luke and Tanner left with Devlin and Mason, the four of them chattering about the soccer game. Jonas lingered, exiting the dining room at the same time as Rook and Brynn.

“Are you going to the soccer game?” Colin asked.

“For a little while.” If for no other reason than Bishop needed to see those kids smiling again. “You?”

“Should I lay low? I am the enemy, after all.” He spoke with an amused detachment that held no self-pity. Only an assurance of his role in all of this.

Damn it, Bishop was not going to start liking the guy. “You’ll be perfectly safe anywhere in town. I can’t promise you immunity from glares and general suspicion, but none of my people are going to attack you or your enforcers.”

“Even so, I should probably stick close to the house.”

“Your choice, of course.” His curiosity over Colin’s reason for being here went into overdrive. They were already talking. Might as well keep it going. He shot an apologetic glance at Jillian, then asked Colin, “Would you care to finish your coffee on the back patio?”

Colin tilted his head slightly to the left. “Sure.”

Bishop grabbed his mostly empty mug by the rim, then led Colin outside. Twilight was slowly setting in as the sun lowered to the mountaintops, casting shadows across the wide backyard. He settled at the picnic table. Colin straddled the bench on the opposite side, facing the side fence, his mug clutched in both hands.

“You really are safe while you’re here,” Bishop said. “We might be grieving, but fellow run loup are not our enemies. We have to pull together now more than ever.”

“Believe me, I understand.” Colin turned the mug around in his hands, over and over. “You’re dealing with huge losses, with integrating two runs, and dealing with refugees from Potomac, on top of the hybrids attacking you. You don’t need this particular complication.”

“Then why’d you bring it to my doorstep?” Bishop snapped his mouth shut, irritated that he’d allowed the question to slip out. Colin had every right to challenge him. Questioning his motivations was rude, even if the other man had opened himself up to scrutiny.

Colin didn’t bristle. He continued spinning the mug for several long minutes before angling to face Bishop. He looked Bishop right in the eye, but there was no challenge. Only resignation. “The full truth?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“I came because my father ordered me to.”

“Ordered you?”

“Yes.”

Bishop prided himself on his ability to read people and assess their intentions. Colin Corman had befuddled him all afternoon, and he finally understood why. Colin was telling the truth about his reason for being in Cornerstone. “Why?”

Colin exhaled long and hard, then plunked the mug down on the table. “Pride.”

“We’re fighting for our lives right now, and your father is protecting his ego?” Anger burned in his chest. “Over what? We’ve never had a problem with your run.”

“Not directly, no.”

“Explain that.”

“It’s the oldest story in the book, my friend.”

Bishop had half a mind to drag Colin across the table and choke the complete answers out of him. He didn’t like word games or stalling tactics.

“It’s all over a woman,” Colin said.

“What woman? Jillian?”

“No.” Colin stared. “It’s about your mother. Andrea.”

Gooseflesh prickled across Bishop’s neck and shoulders. “What about my mother?”

“How much do you know about her life in Rockpoint?”

“Nothing.” Bishop had the most memories of their mother. He recalled long chats about life in Cornerstone and his position within the run. She never talked about the fifteen years she’d spent in Nevada. “When White Wolves are sent to new runs they leave their old lives behind.”

“Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean the people left behind forget about them.”

“This is personal?”

“It’s personal for my father.” Colin fiddled with his mug, then thumped it down on the table. “He’d have my tail if he knew I was telling you this.”

“I hope you don’t mean that literally.” Bishop intended for his comment to be lighthearted, but the way Colin’s eyelids briefly widened worried him.

The forced removal of a shifted beast’s tail was a brutal punishment, used very rarely as a means to shame a loup for a crime committed against the run. For as long as they’d led Cornerstone, no McQueen had ever doled it out to a run member. From what little Bishop had heard so far, Burt Corman seemed like a heavy-handed, old-fashioned, rule-following type.

“Has Alpha Corman actually taken a tail?” Bishop asked.

Colin nodded, his skin pale in the dimming light. “I’ve seen it.”

“For what?”

“Even though allowing humans into the run is acceptable by run law, our Alpha forbids it. He forbids any sort of relationships with humans, other than the necessary business kind. A few years ago a young Gray named Paul was caught with a human female. He admitted to having fallen in love with her, despite the Alpha’s decree. Paul was imprisoned until his next quarterly, and then his tail was removed.”

For falling in love with the wrong person. Bishop’s gut rolled. “How old was he?”

“Seventeen.”

“Shit. Did he recover?”

“Yes and no. The physical wound healed, but the loss of a beast’s tail permanently cripples the man. Constant lower back pain. He was never the same boy. Exactly a year to the day later he disappeared. We followed his scent to a nearby river, where it stopped at the waterline. No one ever saw him again.”

Bishop tamped down a surge of hatred for a supposed father and Alpha who could so thoroughly break a young man’s spirit and body for doing something as natural and unexpected as falling in love. Alpha Corman had the right to forbid human marriages, but to hand down such a horrendous punishment to a teenager was cruel. Cruel and unnecessary.

“That’s unbelievable,” Bishop said.

“Alpha Corman is to be obeyed and not crossed.”

“You truly believe he’d have your tail for talking to me?”

Colin held his gaze, a cold certainty in his eyes. “He’d have taken it if I’d refused to come here and challenge you. If it comes to it, I’d rather be dead than humiliated like Paul was.”

Bishop blinked hard. “You didn’t want to challenge for Alpha.”

“No. I have no aspirations to be an Alpha. I’m my father’s second son, and I accepted I’d remain an enforcer a long time ago. My older brother will inherit when our father retires, and I’ll be his right hand. At least, that was always the plan before.”

Like Rook, Colin had accepted his place in his father’s run. Now the pair was destined to face each other in a battle to the death. Colin’s path had been altered by another’s hand, putting him in place to either lead a run or find an early grave. Neither sat well with Bishop. Colin seemed a decent man, deserving of a long life.

“It’s not easy when other people dictate your future,” Bishop said.

“Rumor has it you know a bit of what that’s like. Your brother could have taken Alpha from you.”

“He could have. Until recently I never thought him serious about it, and for a few months I was worried. And angry. But in the end, Rook made the best decision for both of us.”

Colin glanced around the backyard, as if suddenly realizing something was missing. “I haven’t met your other brother yet. He must be busy doing his duties as your White Wolf.”

Bishop flashed to the angry, snarling White beast locked downstairs. “He’s otherwise distracted, yes. My apologies for his absence.”

“No apology needed. It only just occurred to me.”

“And you’re changing the subject. What does your being here have to do with my mother?”

“Jealousy.” Colin brought his leg across the bench and resettled facing Bishop. “My father and your mother were very close as children, only two years apart. For a time, they grew up believing they would eventually marry and be our run’s Alpha couple.”

Surprise knocked Bishop for a loop. “He was in love with her.”

“Yes, and very angry when she was sent away. He hates your run for taking her, and he hates your father for marrying her.”

“The other Alphas would have made the decision to send her to Cornerstone. It wasn’t my father’s fault.”

“Logically, you’re right. Emotionally, it doesn’t matter. He’s assigned blame.”

“So Corman is getting some sort of postmortem revenge by trying to take the run away from my family?”

“Yes.”

“We’re out here fighting for our lives, and your father thinks it’s the right time to avenge a perceived thirty year-old insult?”

“I’m sorry.” Colin truly seemed apologetic for his own part in Alpha Corman’s plan. He’d followed his father’s orders, as much out of respect as out of fear, and he was doing his best in a bad situation.

“When Alpha Weatherly first told me I was being challenged, I was prepared to hate you.” Bishop hadn’t managed a single ounce of hatred since shaking the man’s hand that afternoon. “You’re making it very difficult to do that.”

“I know I’ve only been in town a few hours, but it’s obvious how much your people care for and respect you. I’m sorry for interfering in that.”

“Doesn’t sound like you had much of a choice.”

“We always have a choice.” Colin pressed the heel of his left hand into his eye, then exhaled a long, hard breath. “I’d appreciate if you’d keep this conversation between us.”

“I have to tell Rook and Knight. She was their mother, too.”

“Fine, but it stops there.”

“Agreed.” Bishop hated keeping something so huge from Jillian, but Colin was taking a big risk telling him what he already had. “I have to ask you something.”

“Of course.”

“Our father gave Rook permission to marry Brynn, who is his chosen mate and who is also half Magi. If you were to win Alpha, will you honor that promise?”

“Yes, I will. Such a vow is not mine to break.”

“And what of the humans and half-breeds seeking refuge with us? Will they be integrated or sent away?”

Colin tilted his head down, breaking their eye contact—not good. “I can’t promise you anything. My father will expect me to adopt his rules and views.”

“As Alpha, you’re required to follow run law, not the individual rules of a single Alpha.”

“I know that. I also know that Potomac was the only sanctuary town in the country that allowed half-breeds to live alongside them. Alpha Geary flaunted that rule deliberately.”

“Alpha Geary flaunted a lot of rules, and yet no one ever challenged his position. Until recently, his run led a quiet life by the river, content in their own ways. My father welcomed the refugees into our town, and despite some friction, they’re settling in.”