Page 72 of Fighting Furry

“So, you've heard the council has promised the vampires my territory and my pack in exchange for a share in their businesses?”

“Heard that,” Max said. “Didn't figure you'd let it happen, but then you had to walk right into their hands by killing vamps in broad daylight on Main Street.” Max shot a glare in my direction as though the whole mess was my fault. Since he wasn't wrong, I accepted his glare with a nod. He grinned like I'd just told him he'd won a million dollars.

“Is the entire council involved in this deal with the vamps or just Darius?”

“Darius and Mary,” Max said. “They're going to use this coup to try and convince the others they should be leading the council.”

“Any chance I can use this information against them and save my own ass?”

Max's eyes widened. “You get hit in the head too hard, boy? The council would welcome news of a negotiation with the vamps and they'd jump for joy at the chance to sacrifice you as the scapegoat.”

Axel nodded unsurprised. “What about my pack? What can I do for them?”

Max's expression sobered. “This is the problem, my boy, with being in the shadows. The council is the highest authority. If they want your pack, they will take your pack. There is nothing you can do.”

“I won't accept that,” Axel said. “There has to be something. I won't just step aside and allow my pack to become vamp food.”

Max rubbed his chin. “What you'll want is dirt on the council members. Blackmail is the only threat that will work.”

Axel's shoulders lost some of their tension. “You got anything for me?”

Max frowned. “Not unless you want to out them as wolves. Other than being greedy, sanctimonious pricks, they keep their personal lives clean and their businesses cleaner. They'd never risk inviting more attention.”

“Right,” Axel said. Again, he didn't look surprised, or worried. It was like he knew everything Max was going to tell us before we'd arrived. “We need a place, Max. Somewhere they'd never think to look, somewhere we can hide until they forget about us.”

Max nodded, his eyes sad. He gave Axel an address, which Axel put into his phone.

Axel started to stand, but Max stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “They'll do whatever they have to do to find you, kid. They'll question the pack members for information and they won't be gentle about it. If you're gone too long, the pack will start to go rogue and the council will use that as an excuse to start killing them, to try to lure you back in by hurting your pack.”

Axel's frown deepened and his eyebrows ticked up only a millimeter, but it was enough for me to know that this information surprised him. My heart sank because I knew he'd never let the pack suffer if he could prevent it and I'd never do anything to keep him from the pack if they needed him. “You've seen this before.”

Max nodded. “I have. It's a messy business.”

Axel thanked and hugged Max, stood, and led me back out the building.

“Why does he live there?” I asked, once Axel had started the truck and gotten us back on the road. “And how does he know so much about the council?”

“His wife was human,” Axel said. “She never lived with the pack and, when she couldn't take care of herself any longer, her family moved her in there. Max tried to convince her to join the pack, to live with him there, but she refused. She wanted to be near her family, to be somewhere they could visit her. Max moved in with her. After she died…He said he'd gotten accustomed to life there and didn't want to leave, but most of his friends in the pack had moved on or passed by that point and I think he felt he wouldn't be welcomed in Mule Creek.”

I couldn't imagine anyone staying there voluntarily, but I'd never been married, never watched my spouse die, never been left all alone. “And the council?”

Axel grinned. “Max has a twin brother, Mort, and the two of them served on the council for more than two decades. Max was asked to resign after some stupid stunt or prank, I can't even remember, but Mort is still there. He tells Max everything.”

“He hasn't figured out that Max will just tell you and your pack?”

Axel shrugged. “That's the problem with ego, you can't see past your own toes.”

“You weren't surprised when he said the council would be glad to see you gone, what's that about?”

Axel's grip on the steering wheel tightened. “When Darius placed me in the Mule Creek pack, the council thought I'd be their puppet, that I'd do whatever they asked.” He shrugged. “I wasn't too keen on giving the council more of our money or punishing pack members with the violence the council felt was necessary to keep a tight rein on the wolves. If our territory wasn't so remote, they probably would have pushed me out a long time ago.”

I took that in for a moment. I would have figured the council would love a pacifist alpha, someone unlikely to draw attention to werewolves, but I was beginning to see that the council was more complicated than that. “So, what's the plan? We aren't just going to hide, are we?”

He kept his eyes on the road, but his eyebrow twitched and his knuckles whitened. “Until we come up with a better plan, that's exactly what we're doing. We'll rescue the pack once the council is focused on something else.”

“Okay.” It sounded like a rational plan, a logical plan, but I wasn't buying it. Something huge would have to happen for the council to forget about Axel and I knew he'd go back at the first news of trouble with the pack. I didn't push him, though, because I was afraid of what he might say. If he decided to sacrifice himself, I couldn't stop him. And, as noble as that choice would be, I was almost certain I'd never be able to forgive him for choosing the pack over me. A selfish, bad feeling, but one I couldn't deny feeling.

“This is going to be a long drive,” Axel said. “You want to nap for the first shift?”

---