look of him, I guessed he was as much werewolf as his daughter had been.
‘Lord Corrigan.’ He bowed.
Unable to stomach his automatic submission, I strode up and took his hands. ‘I am deeply sorry for your loss. I barely had time to get to know Camilia but she was very brave.’ I thought of the understanding reflected in her face at the end and swallowed. ‘She died a hero.’
‘She was only trying to help that human.’
I nodded. ‘I know.’
‘She didn’t deserve that punishment.’
‘No,’ I said quietly. ‘She did not.’ I looked him in the eye. ‘I can’t bring her back. Her loss will be one that is always with both you and the West Yorkshire pack. I cannot presume to share your pain but it will also always be with me. Know that she has been avenged and that this will not happen to any other shifter again.’
His demeanour appeared slightly more relaxed, but his voice retained an edge. ‘You should not make promises you can’t keep, my Lord Alpha.’
Something deep inside me clicked, as if a new link had somehow suddenly been formed. Not just between me and the grieving father in front of me. It was more than that. I lifted up my chin and felt my posture straightening. ‘Believe me,’ I said, with all honesty. ‘This is a promise that shall be kept.’
***
‘When do I get to the fun part?’
Staines grimaced. I’d have thought his expression couldn’t get much grimmer than the one he normally used as his everyday greeting but apparently I was wrong. ‘Fun part, my Lord Alpha?’
I pinched the bridge of my nose. ‘You know you don’t have to call me that, you know. Corrigan is fine.’
‘It wouldn’t be right,’ he answered stiffly. ‘You need to use the title suitable to your standing as the alpha of all the British Isles’ packs.’
‘Like I could forget.’ I gritted my teeth. ‘And I meant, when do I get to the part when I get to live in the lap of luxury, roam around in my wereform whenever I please and generally do whatever I want?’
‘I’m not sure that you’ll ever get to that stage.’
‘The joys of being the Brethren leader are boundless.’
‘Indeed, my Lord.’
I laid the seemingly never-ending list of Way Directives to one side. ‘Some of these are beyond archaic. And repetitive. At least five are about maintaining secrecy from the humans. Why does there need to be five?’ I muttered. ‘We should be able to streamline into ten clear Directives that everyone can remember.’
‘Like the Ten Commandments, you mean?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Which have been around for almost as long as the Way Directives. You’re messing with hundreds, almost thousands, of years of tradition.’
‘That’s why we need to change things around. The humans were at least smart enough not to overburden their populace with too many rules to follow.’
‘Of course. That’s why their legal system makes such sense and is so simple and clear.’
‘You know I don’t find sarcasm funny, right?’
‘You could always create a new Way Directive, my Lord. Any shifter found using sarcasm or irony, or telling a joke that our new Lord Alpha deems not to be amusing, should immediately be burned at the stake.’
‘I could have you kneecapped, Staines.’
‘Just say the word, My Lord.’ He glanced up at me from the paper-strewn desk. ‘In all seriousness, however, there are many shifters both within the Brethren and the rural packs who will not take kindly to you changing the system so dramatically. Especially if you’re going to invoke the humans while doing so.’
I sighed. ‘The humans aren’t perfect but we can still learn a lot from them. Shifters have far too much disdain for their kind.’
Staines looked remarkably underwhelmed at my words. Fortunately, he was prevented from commenting further by the sudden ringing of the phone. He picked it up while I walked to the large window and stared out at the darkened sky.
‘We should create a committee,’ I said when he replaced the receiver. ‘We can ask for participation from the packs as well as the Brethren. See if they can do something to improve the Directives.’
‘My Lord Alpha…’
‘It shouldn’t be too hard. How many shifters actually know them all anyway? We may not be able to cut them down to ten, but we can certainly shave off a good hundred or so with little effort. There are too many rules. We should allow the packs more freedom. Micro-managing them is a pointless exercise.’
‘Corrigan.’
I finally registered the sombre nature of his voice and turned