Page 11 of No Honor Amongst Shifters
Roslin smoothed his hand over Alcott’s hair.“Me and other people he trusts.I don’t know when I became one of those people, but it doesn’t really matter.My family and I are humbled by the fact that Elijah trusts us, and we’ll do everything we can to protect the clan.But if I’m going to be honest, it’s a relief that he doesn’t count on us to agree or disagree with him.He’ll listen to us, but ultimately, he’s the only one with all the information needed to make decisions.”
Alcott leaned away.“I think you and your family are good people.”
“I like to believe that we are, but we’ve never been in charge of a clan.Hell, I’ve never even been in charge of my family.I only ever had myself to think about.”
“And your brothers.”
“In a way, but they’re adults.They don’t need me to keep them safe or make decisions for them.”If they did, they’d be far away from the clan.As much as Roslin liked Elijah and the people here, his family would always be his priority.
Roslin had to let go of Alcott.He didn’t want to do it, but he did, and he went back to sitting on the chair.It wasn’t far.In fact, it was so close that if he extended a hand, he could still touch Alcott.“Elijah won’t rush into anything,” he promised.“The clan has allies, and I know Elijah will talk to them and try to find a way to weaken the coven and the cockatrices before doing anything.”
“The coven can’t be weakened.They’ve been doing this for years.They go in, find the strongest local clan or coven they can, and kill everyone.They have no empathy or morality.”
Alcott made it sound like this could only end in a disaster, and maybe he was right.He knew the coven and the cockatrices better than anyone in the clan except Terrence, and even Terrence only knew Irwin and the cockatrices.He hadn’t been dating a mage from the coven the way Alcott had.
“I know that you’ve already told Elijah everything you could about the coven and its members, but maybe there’s more you could help with?”he asked.
Alcott bit his lower lip.He looked like he wanted to say something but couldn’t decide whether or not it would be a good idea.Roslin stayed silent and gave him time.
He knew it had been the right thing to do when Alcott nodded.“I think I have an idea,” Alcott said.
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
“I think that we need to talk to some of the cockatrices.I saw how the coven treats them.The cockatrices have orders to let the coven mages do whatever they want, but even though they obey because they’re afraid of Irwin, they hate the mages.I don’t think that most of them want anything to do with this fight.Some are even starting to distrust Irwin, so maybe it would be a good idea to try to convince them to help us instead of their clan.”
“Do you think there’s a chance they would?”
“A lot of them have families and want nothing more than to protect them.Tell me you wouldn’t do anything in your power to protect your brothers, even if it meant going against Elijah.”
Alcott wasn’t wrong.“Will they agree to talk to you, though?”
“I thought we could pull Terrence in, too.Some of the cockatrices see him as a traitor, but he’s still one of them.They might listen to him more than they’ll listen to me.I’m not saying that we’ll be able to convince every single cockatrice to help us, but I feel it’s worth a try.”
“I think you’re right.”There was no way to know if this would work except to try, and between Alcott and Terrence, they might have a chance to convince some of the cockatrices to stay out of the fight.
That was all they needed.
Chapter Five
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ALCOTT WAS ONLY SLIGHTLYsurprised when Elijah visited him.He knew that Roslin had wanted to talk to Elijah about his idea to convince some of the cockatrices to stay out of the fight.Roslin had mentioned that Elijah had been thinking along the same lines, and Alcott was one of two people in the clan who’d spent time with the cockatrices.That didn’t mean he was an expert when it came to them, but he had some insights that even Terrence didn’t have.
Terrence had left the cockatrices before things got bad.With the coven being involved, things had degenerated.People were afraid for themselves and their families.Most of them wanted the coven to leave their territory, but Irwin was too bent on getting revenge.He’d sacrifice anything in order to win his fight against Elijah, including his own people.
Alcott hoped that Elijah would be able to use that to his advantage.
Whatdidsurprise Alcott was that Elijah wasn’t alone.Roslin, Victor, and Terrence were with him.Alcott couldn’t help but focus on Roslin, who smiled at him and winked.It made Alcott blush, and he quickly looked away.He didn’t want anyone to notice how interested he was in the man.
“I hope you don’t mind having so many people in your personal space,” Elijah said.“Kenny’s here, too.Roslin and Victor will help us talk to him.”
Alcott licked his lips.Even if he did have a problem with having these people in his room, he wouldn’t say anything.He was a prisoner.“What do you need from me?”he asked.
“Roslin mentioned your idea of talking to some of the cockatrice shifters.I thought about it, too, and I wanted to involve Terrence since he’s a cockatrice shifter.Terrence pointed out that you’d been with the clan more recently than he had.You probably have insights that he doesn’t, especially when it comes to the coven since he left before things got too bad.”
Alcott carefully avoided looking at Victor and Terrence.He knew that Roslin didn’t hate him, but he had no idea what the other two felt, and he didn’t want to risk it.He didn’t want to know if they despised him and wanted him to get kicked out of the clan.
He would, but maybe before it happened, he could do something good for the clan.Maybe he could redeem himself and make things easier on Misha.
