Broods Of Fenrir - By Coral Moore Page 0,74

head slowly lifted. “I wasn"t sure if you were going to insist on formality. This is new territory for you and me both.”

“Consider yourself excused from any and all formality.” Even so, Erik remained kneeling as he spoke, staring Brand in the eyes. “Fine, I"ll get to the point. I want Gunni back.” Gunni growled, flashing his impressive teeth in his coal black muzzle.

Brand lifted a hand to pat the wolf"s head until he calmed. “I think you have your answer to that request.” Erik began to speak, but Brand lifted his hand to stop him. “If he wanted to go I"d hand him over, but he doesn"t want that.” Erik"s face flushed red, and his eyes faded to arctic white. He dropped his head, and muttered, “Of course, my king.”

“You know what? Fuck you.” Brand stood up as swiftly as his injuries would allow and started to pace. “Letting Gunni choose is part of what I want for all of us.” Erik looked up at him, clearly confused. “Not everyone can be given a choice. Sometimes they don"t know what"s best 204

for them.”

“Like who? The females only or the weak males, too?

Gunni is neither of those, and you"re willing to ignore what he wants in favor of what you think best for him.” He panted with the effort of speaking so forcefully and lifted a hand to his chest to massage away some of the soreness that had crept in behind his sternum.

Erik"s mouth worked as he contemplated. “I guess I never thought of it that way. It"s what I do as leader. I make decisions about what"s best for everyone. I thought they wanted it that way.”

“For big, brood-wide decisions that"s fine. You"re a great leader. That"s why I brought Alice to you.” He paused, reminded of the first smile he"d ever seen on her face. It had taken months, but when Erik had accepted her into his brood, she had beamed. He still had trouble with the fact that he"d never see her again. Gods, it hurt. “The personal choices, they need to have that, without any pressure or dominance bullshit.” Erik nodded slowly. “I"ll try.”

He bent, despite the pain it caused, and put a hand on his friend"s shoulder. “Thank you. Now, what are you going to do about Rivera?”

At the mention of the man who"d been responsible for Lucas"s death, Erik shook with anger. He regained control of himself soon enough, but his voice came out rough when he spoke. “I"ve had some of the brood following his movements for the past few days. He has a lot of security around him most of the time. He"ll be hard to get to.” Brand straightened, feeling his back tense from the constant struggle to bear the weight his stomach and chest muscles generally supported. “You"re going to question him about who else knows? We can"t afford to let anyone escape who could expose us.”

With a clenched jaw, Erik nodded. “I want to do it before the new moon.”

“I"ll come with you; just let me know when.” 205

Erik met his eyes again and swallowed once. “I"m sorry about Alice. I know how much you loved her.” Brand let himself fall back in the chair with a muffled grunt. “For what it"s worth, I think you"re right.”

“About what?”

“If I hadn"t taken her into my brood, she"d still be alive.” Gunni started to whine. “I know,” he said to the wolf, before he returned his attention to Erik. “It was one of those personal choices, and I let her make it. I regret what happened, but I don"t regret giving her the choice. I can"t.”

“I understand.”

“You don"t, not yet, but I think you will.” He settled back against the chair, trying to stretch his back. “I have to go to Vancouver soon and take care of Ansvarr"s mess. Can you ask Bera to check in on the Toronto brood for me every couple of weeks? I told Hildi he has to free the slaves, and I think there"s going to be trouble up there over that.” Erik shook his head slowly. “That"s going to be a tough situation for him. Some of the males in that brood are old enough to remember when our sires were born. I"m sure Bera will be eager to help. She"s had a mind to fix things up there for years.” He recalled his conversation with Bera; she"d told Brand he would be king one day. “You can tell her that she was right