Read Online Bailey Bradford - Southwestern Shifters 06 - Reverence by Bailey Bradford - Free Book Online

stunned by that small example of Marcus’ power. “Sorry, Alpha Anax.”
“It’s fine,” Marcus said, gesturing at him. “Sit back down. I had to check, you understand?”
Val shook his head as he sat and folded his hands in his lap. “No, sir, I don’t, not really.” Unless Marcus needed to know if he was lying, but Marcus would have sensed that.
“Sometimes we can deceive ourselves into believing something we wish was the truth,” Marcus explained, which, as an explanation, just sucked. “I needed to make sure you weren’t simply refusing to see that your wolf was, perhaps, gone.”
Val’s insides chilled as if he’d had his veins filled with ice. “That’s not possible, is it?” Granted, he’d worried about just that very thing, but he hadn’t believed it could really ever happen.
Marcus hitched one shoulder up. “I’ve heard stories, but never known it to happen. It wouldn’t have occurred to me as truly being a possibility except no one has caught even a whiff of your wolf since the attack. It certainly made me start to wonder, and worry. I couldn’t imagine such a thing.”
Val couldn’t either, and now the frigid cold had concentrated in his fingertips and toes. They felt numb yet ached every few heartbeats. “Me either,” he managed around a lump of fear in his throat. What would have happened to him if Marcus had smelt nothing other than human on him? Val discounted the thought almost as soon as he had it. He’d die without his wolf, and that would be that.
“Look at me, Val.”
Val dragged his gaze up, glancing first at Nathan, who’d been unusually quiet during this meeting. Nathan didn’t smile, instead staring at him intently. Val turned his attention to Marcus and flinched under the hard look in his Alpha Anax’s eyes.
“I have a task for you that may very well last for years, possibly a lifetime, depending, and it is very important that you understand it is not me sending you away or thinking you are in any way inept.” Marcus steepled his hands on top of the desk and tipped his chin down, staring eerily at Val. “In fact, I may be placing the safety of all shifters on your shoulders, so remember that if you ever believe I have any doubt in your capabilities.”
Val was terrified and almost overwhelmingly proud at the same time. He wanted to ask Marcus if he was sure he should trust something so important to a fucked-up shifter, but that would imply Val lacked faith in his leader’s abilities. That would never be the case.
Marcus was the man Val idolised, as did most of the other shifters, male and female. It wasn’t unusual. Marcus was the strongest shifter in North America, maybe even the world, and commanded a respect many would envy but very few would challenge.
“Yes, Alpha Anax,” Val said softly, straining to make himself keep his gaze on Marcus’. “I am honoured and give my word to do the best, to sacrifice anything and everything for you and our pack.”
Marcus nodded solemnly then flicked a hand and Val felt him reining in his power completely so that Val didn’t have to struggle to look at him. It still made Val’s spine itch to do so but it wasn’t the almost painful experience it could have been.
Nathan cleared his throat and Val turned to him. Nathan looked as serious and stern as he had moments ago. He crossed his arms over his surprisingly broad chest—for such a short guy, Nathan was rather muscular—and looked down his nose at Val. If Nathan had been sitting as well, that wouldn’t have been possible. Then again, Val reflected as he kind of slumped under that look, Nathan could probably manage to give anyone that look despite any disparity in height.
“Here’s the thing, Val,” Nathan began, surprising Val since Marcus had been doing all the talking up until then. “You have probably heard about the man we had here, Harley Johansen. He’d been brought into our world, so to speak, very unwillingly. Joshua Dobson had abused him, although Harley