Havoc

Chapter Eight

It is said that heart march forward to the drum beat

Beating as they take one of their own;

Listen hard and you can hear the echoes up ahead

Are you prepared?

Hold fast.

March on.

Chapter 8

Logan’s Office, Shifter Den

Logan

I kicked opened the door to my office. Annoyance circling around me, I glanced around the room and determined all of the Alphas were here. Tariq, head of the Wolf Clan, was seated at the table. Next to him was Kade, the leader of the Small Cat Clan. Derek, the head of the Tiger Clan, sat directly across from Kade. Braden, the beta of the Large Cat Clan, sat on my right side. Elise Watering sat primly in her seat, representing the Rodent Clan. And next to Elise was her partner in crime Lynda Towers the Alpha of Rogue Clan. The Rogue Clan was misplaced and odd shapeshifters. The clan only totaled to a whopping twenty members, including to alligator shapeshifters.

I sat down at the head of the table. I ignored everyone’s curious looks. No one knew the cause for this emergency meeting. I swallowed a curse. Hell, I wasn’t even sure what this meeting was about. My eyes flickered to the man standing at the table. He stood proud with his shoulders squared and his back straight. I still couldn’t hide my curiosity. Bad manners, it may be, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from staring at his face.

His warm brown eyes glisten like honey. His face was stretched and lined with tension, as if something stressful has taken a hold of his life. He flexed his fingers, dragging my eyes to track his left hand. Was he scared there as well? His hand was hidden by a large manila-envelope, so I couldn’t answer my question. My eyes jumped back to his face. He reminded me of ‘Two-Face’ from Batman. One side, the right side, clean and untouched; the other side, the left, scarred and ruined. Our eyes connected, and for a moment I had this odd feeling that I would be seeing him more than I wanted to.

I cleared my throat, claiming everyone’s attention. I stood up and began to answer the unasked questions swirling around the room. “So, as you know, I called this meeting just moments ago. Before I called this meeting, this young man—” I gestured to the scarred man “—approached me with some, ah, information.” I swallowed quickly, trying to hide my stumble over my words. I continued, showing a sense of confidence I didn’t feel. One of the most important lesson I have ever learned in my years of Alpha is ‘Fake it until you make it.’ “He—Berto, right?” At his nod, I began my speech again. “Berto, here is a representative of the PC. And he’s here to explain about our ‘dead’ representative and how we need to replace her? Is that correct?”

Berto’s honey brown eyes flashed with an emotion I couldn’t identify. His face quickly fell back into the mask of nothing. The same mask his been wearing since I first laid eyes on him. His voice sounded scratchy, and smoke-rough. “Ah, yes. I am the Head Spokesmen for the PC. For those of you who don’t know what the PC is, don’t worry, I’ll be starting at the beginning.” I watched his Adam-apple bob as he swallow. “So, as every single person knows, twenty-seven years ago, the Fae spoke to the press. In this conference, the Fae told the humans about the ‘other world,’ about the paranormal.”

A few growls sounded from the table, announcing my shifter’s hatred of the Fae. It was their fault we were in our current situation because of them. If the Fae just kept their damned mouth shut, we could have continued to live our shifter-lives in peace, in secrecy. Not out in the open, where we have to look of our shoulders every moment of the time. My fingers curled inward. The only outward sign of my anger. I tried to clear my head and focus on what Berto was saying.