close to the ceiling.
I tried the far
door, but it was locked. I was about to turn around and leave when
the speaker hummed to life.
"Try the door
again, Adri. I think I found the release button."
I'd been starting
to get worried until I heard the voice, which was unmistakably
Shawn's. A few seconds later I was inside a slightly larger room that
had several monitors and a pair of chairs. Shawn looked up at me from
one of the chairs as he waved me over to the other one.
"I hear that
this little exercise was your idea. It's the logical solution to your
problem, but it means that I'm going to be commuting from Chicago
every couple of days so I thought it only fair that you be the one to
help me out."
"With what?"
Shawn gestured at
the monitors and then pushed a button and the tiny room was full of
noise. It took me a second to realize that the monitors were showing
Alec and a slew of other people from several different angles and the
'noise' was the audio from the room.
"We get to
watch the first royal court in centuries. Alec is going to parade
everyone who's come to town so far through that room, which
incidentally is only a dozen or so feet away from this room. Each of
your guests will then either provide Alec with an oath of fealty or
at the very least a promise that they'll behave and live up to the
traditional duties of a guest. You and I get to watch it all so that
I can tell Alec which ones are really planning on living up to their
oaths."
"Why me?"
"Nobody is
supposed to know that I'm here. Ash knows now, but even he doesn't
know about my power. You're here because I need a pretext for being
here that doesn't involve being the world's first living lie
detector. Alec gave Ash the impression that I'm educating you on the
various shape shifters who will be coming through the room over the
next couple of hours."
I nodded. It was
kind of a threadbare pretext, but Ash didn't seem inclined to pick at
it so it should be enough. Shawn waited to see if I had any questions
and then handed me a radio.
"Ash is
wearing an earpiece so if we have any questions you can ask him, just
push that button and you're live. Everyone is going to be announced
though so hopefully we won't have to bug him too much."
Shawn and I
quickly settled into a division of duties. He did a screen capture of
each of the shape shifters who came before Alec and printed it out
while the small talk occurred. I wrote the name of the shape shifters
at the bottom of the picture and then flipped the page over and took
notes on Shawn's impression of our visitors.
Alec seemed to
generally be working from least trustworthy to more dependable. The
first few were uneventful but disgusting. The pack leaders
practically tied themselves in knots trying to avoid giving Alec a
straight answer while their daughters all but threw themselves at
Alec.
I could tell that
Alec was starting to lose patience by the time the fifth delegation
was led away. He kept having to pointedly remind the girls that he
was engaged to me and even without Shawn's power it would have been
apparent that none of these alphas were planning on throwing their
lot in with Alec unless they thought they could come out on top in
the negotiations.
A capable-looking
woman named Rebekka was the first real surprise. She entered the room
looking resigned, but not necessarily unhappy. Alec, Ash at his
shoulder, watched her approach to within five feet of him and then
welcomed her and thanked her for making time in her schedule for a
formal reception.
The room was large
enough to hold everyone who had come before and most of them had
stayed after being presented to Alec. I saw boredom on more than one
face right up until Rebekka dropped to one knee.
"It's not in
me to play games, Alec. The Tonopah pack has fallen on rough times
and everyone here knows it. I came here hoping that my Vivian would
catch your eye, but I'm not going to try and come between two people
who love each other, not when there are
I tried the far
door, but it was locked. I was about to turn around and leave when
the speaker hummed to life.
"Try the door
again, Adri. I think I found the release button."
I'd been starting
to get worried until I heard the voice, which was unmistakably
Shawn's. A few seconds later I was inside a slightly larger room that
had several monitors and a pair of chairs. Shawn looked up at me from
one of the chairs as he waved me over to the other one.
"I hear that
this little exercise was your idea. It's the logical solution to your
problem, but it means that I'm going to be commuting from Chicago
every couple of days so I thought it only fair that you be the one to
help me out."
"With what?"
Shawn gestured at
the monitors and then pushed a button and the tiny room was full of
noise. It took me a second to realize that the monitors were showing
Alec and a slew of other people from several different angles and the
'noise' was the audio from the room.
"We get to
watch the first royal court in centuries. Alec is going to parade
everyone who's come to town so far through that room, which
incidentally is only a dozen or so feet away from this room. Each of
your guests will then either provide Alec with an oath of fealty or
at the very least a promise that they'll behave and live up to the
traditional duties of a guest. You and I get to watch it all so that
I can tell Alec which ones are really planning on living up to their
oaths."
"Why me?"
"Nobody is
supposed to know that I'm here. Ash knows now, but even he doesn't
know about my power. You're here because I need a pretext for being
here that doesn't involve being the world's first living lie
detector. Alec gave Ash the impression that I'm educating you on the
various shape shifters who will be coming through the room over the
next couple of hours."
I nodded. It was
kind of a threadbare pretext, but Ash didn't seem inclined to pick at
it so it should be enough. Shawn waited to see if I had any questions
and then handed me a radio.
"Ash is
wearing an earpiece so if we have any questions you can ask him, just
push that button and you're live. Everyone is going to be announced
though so hopefully we won't have to bug him too much."
Shawn and I
quickly settled into a division of duties. He did a screen capture of
each of the shape shifters who came before Alec and printed it out
while the small talk occurred. I wrote the name of the shape shifters
at the bottom of the picture and then flipped the page over and took
notes on Shawn's impression of our visitors.
Alec seemed to
generally be working from least trustworthy to more dependable. The
first few were uneventful but disgusting. The pack leaders
practically tied themselves in knots trying to avoid giving Alec a
straight answer while their daughters all but threw themselves at
Alec.
I could tell that
Alec was starting to lose patience by the time the fifth delegation
was led away. He kept having to pointedly remind the girls that he
was engaged to me and even without Shawn's power it would have been
apparent that none of these alphas were planning on throwing their
lot in with Alec unless they thought they could come out on top in
the negotiations.
A capable-looking
woman named Rebekka was the first real surprise. She entered the room
looking resigned, but not necessarily unhappy. Alec, Ash at his
shoulder, watched her approach to within five feet of him and then
welcomed her and thanked her for making time in her schedule for a
formal reception.
The room was large
enough to hold everyone who had come before and most of them had
stayed after being presented to Alec. I saw boredom on more than one
face right up until Rebekka dropped to one knee.
"It's not in
me to play games, Alec. The Tonopah pack has fallen on rough times
and everyone here knows it. I came here hoping that my Vivian would
catch your eye, but I'm not going to try and come between two people
who love each other, not when there are
Similar Books
