Page 7 of His Place in the World
“I can only talk for myself and my pack,” Cam said.“But we’ve been in this fight for some time now.We’ll do what we must to protect our pack and any rare shifter we find.I don’t care if we’re faced with other shifters or humans.No one deserves to be treated the way they’re treating rare shifters.”
Del had held his breath through Cam’s speech, and now he released it.He wasn’t surprised, and he couldn’t say he disagreed with Cam’s decision.He doubted there was any other way to solve the situation.These people, whoever they were, were rich and powerful.When it came to shifters, human law enforcement didn’t seem to care much.They wouldn’t step in and help, which meant Cam and the other shifters needed to do this on their own.
The thought of having people die over this made Del’s stomach churn, but he could accept it.
Ryland nodded, clearly satisfied.“That’s good to know.”
“The same goes for the Wakefield pack,” Angela added.“We’ll help any shifter who needs us, and we won’t hesitate to strike humans if we have to.”
She sounded fierce, and while Del was glad that she was on their side, he couldn’t help but wonder why she was doing it.Cam and his pack were involved because of Everly, but why was Angela?
Del wanted to believe she was doing this out of the goodness of her heart, but something told him that wasn’t so.
Chapter Two
The meeting was over, and Angus should be headed home.He was happy to give Angela some time to chat with Cam, though.It gave him the opportunity to waste more time, which meant he’d get back to Wakefield late, which was what he wanted.
He shouldn’t.Wakefield was his home, and by now, he should be used to it.He was, but that didn’t change the fact that he dreaded going back.
He had a house in Wakefield.It wasn’t big, but he was the only one who lived there.He was friendly with several people, but he didn’t really have friends, and he certainly didn’t have anyone he could have talked to about Mike and Leonard.They’d have told him that they were just joking around, but he was sure there was something else to their behavior.
They felt he didn’t belong.Maybe it was because he wasn’t a wolf shifter, or maybe because he was a rare shifter.Either way, they’d ensured he knew they didn’t want him there, and he couldn’t forget that.Even the people who were friendly with him didn’t help, and every time he came to Rosewood, he couldn’t help but imagine what his life would be if he lived here instead of in Wakefield.He was tempted to ask Angela to let him go, but she wouldn’t.He wasn’t a prisoner in Wakefield, but she knew what she had in her hands.
Angus wasn’t just a rare shifter.He was also a hacker, and while he might not be the best, he wasn’t bad at it.He’d helped protect the Wakefield pack in the past, and Angela wouldn’t want to lose that, especially if he didn’t have a good reason, and to her, a good reason wouldn’t beLeonard and Mike keep bothering me.
So Angus was stuck, which was why he took advantage of what little time he still had in Rosewood.
The bottom of Angus’s stomach dropped when he noticed Angela stepping away from Cam.He held his breath, hating himself for it.Wakefield wasn’t that bad.He shouldn’t be dreading going back the way he was.
Thankfully, Angela didn’t come toward him.Instead, she moved toward Ryland, giving Angus a bit more respite.
Or at least, he thought so until he realized Cam was staring at him.He looked around, eager to find an escape, but the alpha was on him before he could.
“You’re quiet today,” Cam said.
Angus found himself smiling.“I didn’t have anything to add.Everly’s doing most of the work.I’m just here to support him.”
“Still.I’d like to know what you think of the situation.”
“What everyone thinks.It’s horrible, and we need to step in.I’m glad you found Ryland, because it gives us an edge we didn’t have before.Hopefully, between him and our packs, we’ll manage to do some good.”
“That’s all I want.My people were lucky not to run into these auctions, although Everly was close.We know how much danger the rare shifters are in, and if I could, I’d save all of them.”
Angus’s gaze drifted to Angela.“You’re not the only one.”Although he still wasn’t sure why Angela was helping rare shifters.Was it because she thought it was the right thing to do, or because she believed they could be useful to her?Maybe it was a mix of the two, and Angus couldn’t blame her.She was an alpha, which meant her first focus was to keep her pack safe.If taking in more rare shifters helped with that, she’d do it without hesitating.She wouldn’t force anyone to stay with them, but she’d find a way to make them want to stay.
The only problem was that it wasn’t working for Angus anymore.
He was ready to move on.He was grateful to Angela for everything she’d done for him over the past few years.Without her and her pack, he might have been dead right now, or maybe auctioned off like so many rare shifters.Instead, he had his own home and a job, and he was safe.
But he wasn’t happy.
Angela had given him what he needed back when he was alone, but he was ready for more.He wanted to find love, have a relationship, and build a life.He knew everyone in the Wakefield pack, and there was no one for him to share his life with there.He’d need to meet someone external to the pack, and while he hadn’t met anyone in Rosewood, he felt like maybe here, he could.At the very least, he wanted to find out if that would be true, and there was no way for him to do that from Wakefield.
Besides, even if he didn’t meet anyone in Rosewood, he felt more at home here than he ever had in Wakefield.Surely that should be reason enough for him to move on.
Shifters weren’t obligated to stay with their birth pack or the pack they’d lived with the longest.They could move, and they didn’t even have to find a new pack to do so.Shifters preferred to live in packs because it was safer, but Angus could leave Wakefield and drift around if he wanted to.Of course, for him, it would be more dangerous than it would be for a wolf shifter, for example.He could escape in a pinch if someone tried to catch him, but it would also be too easy for someone with bad intentions to capture him, and he’d never wanted to be in that situation.
Where did that leave him?
