Page 25 of No Honor Amongst Shifters
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ALCOTT EXPECTED THEnext person to visit his room to be Roslin.He had no idea what he’d tell him, but he was getting anxious.Instead of sitting in the window seat, he kept walking up and down the bedroom.There wasn’t much space for him to pace, but it was the only thing he could do.The alternative would be opening the window and screaming outside to release the stress, which would alarm people.They might also think he was trying to escape through the window, which wasn’t something he wanted to deal with right now.
Misha had brought him breakfast, so he knew not to expect Roslin until lunch.That was way too many hours for him to obsess over this, but what choice did he have?The TV was on, but he couldn’t focus on anything.He hadn’t even considered reading a book.
As anxious as he was, he was also relieved when the door finally opened.He turned, wondering if he should smile or if it would look weird, but Roslin wasn’t the person who appeared at the door.
Alcott cocked his head at Olsen.He had no idea why Misha’s boyfriend was here, but he hoped it wasn’t to yell at him that he needed to be nicer to Misha.He still wasn’t sure whether or not he’d leave, but he’d been honest with his brother, and that was all he could do right now.He didn’t have anything else to offer.
“We need to go,” Olsen said.
It sounded urgent, which probably meant it had nothing to do with Misha.“What happened?”
“A cockatrice contacted Terrence.He has news.”
There could only be one thing he had news about, and Alcott needed to know.He wasn’t sure why Elijah had thought he was important enough to be let out of his bedroom cell and brought to a meeting with everyone else, but he wasn’t going to argue.
He followed Olsen out of the bedroom.They locked the door and hurried down the hallway.There were more people around today, but Alcott barely stopped to wonder what they thought of him.He had more important things to do.Even when he noticed a few people glaring at him, he couldn’t find it in himself to care.
They went to the conference room like the last time Alcott had been allowed out of his bedroom.The room was even fuller than it had been then, but he wasn’t surprised to see that Roslin had saved him a seat.Misha was there, too, sitting next to Elijah, a computer in front of him.He briefly glanced up to smile at Alcott before turning his attention back to his work.
“Alcott is here, good,” Elijah said.“Terrence, can you repeat what you just told us?”
Terrence was sitting back in a chair in front of Elijah and smiled at Alcott.“There’s not much to say right now.One of the cockatrices we talked to last night called me.”
Alcott nodded.They’d left Terrence’s number with Bobby, the cockatrice who’d taken the lead during their meeting.“Bobby?”
“It was him, yes.Apparently, they didn’t want to waste time.Between then and now, they managed to convince more than half the clan not to fight.”
Alcott sucked in a breath.He hadn’t expected that.He’d hoped they would convince a handful of cockatrices, but he’d seen how terrified everyone was of Irwin and the coven.They all knew what would happen to them and their families if they disobeyed orders, but apparently, even the fear of that happening hadn’t been enough for them to decide to fight for the mages.
“Half of them?”he asked.
“More than half,” Terrence repeated.“I don’t know the exact numbers, but Bobby said he’d keep me updated.”
“Will they just stand down, or will they help us fight?”
“I don’t think any of them will help us fight.They’re afraid of Irwin and the coven, and with good reason.We don’t need them to fight, anyway,” Elijah interjected.“We just need fewer peopletofight.It’s going to be complicated enough to take care of the mages.At least now, we won’t have to watch our backs for cockatrice claws.”
Alcott still had no idea how they were supposed to fight the mages.He could take a cockatrice in a fight since he turned into a dragon, but mages and their magic?He didn’t know how that magic worked, but considering what he knew of Damien’s coven, they would come prepared.They knew they were fighting dragons.
But the dragons had mages on their side, too.It might not be enough of them, but they would make it work.They had to.
“What’s next, then?”Jerome asked, sounding grumpy like always.He was clutching a cup of coffee like a lifeline.
“We start planning our attack,” Elijah said.“We won’t wait for the coven to come to us.We’ll go to them and hopefully take them by surprise.It’ll take some coordinating and a lot of luck, but I’m positive we can do it.”He looked around the table.“I know we’ll lose people.The cockatrices are dangerous, and the mages, well, I have no idea what kind of fight they’ll put up, but we all know their reputation.We’ll be as ready as we can to face them.We have numbers on our side, as well as allies.”
It would have to be enough.Alcott was terrified it wouldn’t be, but he couldn’t start thinking that way.He needed to be positive.
Something brushed against his hand, and he looked to the side to find Roslin staring at him.He didn’t know what to do in this case, either, so he just smiled.
They needed to talk, but it would have to wait.Now that the fight was so close, though, Alcott didn’t think he could stay away from Roslin.He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to fully trust the man, but he might not have the time to find out.He couldn’t bear the thought of losing Roslin without knowing what there could be between them.
* * * *
ROSLIN WAS READY FORall of this to end, but he was also worried.The fight against the cockatrices and the coven had been a nebulous future until now, but it wasn’t anymore, which meant that everyone was in danger—or rather, in more danger than they’d been already.Roslin stood to lose his family, and possibly Alcott.
He didn’t know what he and Alcott were, but he didn’t think it mattered.He cared about Alcott, even though they hadn’t talked about what was happening between them.He wanted to protect Alcott and make sure nothing would happen to him during the fight so that he’d come home safely.
