Unhappily Ever After

Chapter 30 - The Stench of Weakness

Ivan Lloyd arrived on foot. He was wearing his bruises from the packmeet. But I imagined I looked worse, and the way his eyebrows lifted as he saw me confirmed it. He was alone except for Vik and Lee, like I'd asked. The latter grinned a greeting at me.

"Good afternoon," Ivan said lazily. "Where is she?"

"All in good time," I laughed. "We haven't been formally introduced."

I looked at Vik quite pointedly. He rolled his eyes skyward, but dutifully began, "Ive, this is Rhodric and Eira—"

"Llewellyn," Ivan finished. "I know."

He held out a hand, and some tiny, sadistic part of me was oozing satisfaction. He thought he could be the bigger person, because he had mistaken a smouldering blood feud for a pissing contest. I smirked at his outstretched hand and thereafter pretended not to see it.

Ivan dropped the hand, but there was a new, colder edge to his voice. "My brother has brought me up to speed on your ... extra-curricular activities at Lle o Dristwch."

Of course Vik had opened his mouth. I had all but drawn the battle lines by kicking his men back to the village. There was no loyalty to be had now, which I could have surmised from Lee's scowl alone. He wasn't happy, and he was done playing nice for the Shadowless Alpha. He had picked his side.

"You mean the rogue army?" I asked innocently.

Eira smirked at my shoulder. She had run an eye over Ivan, probably reckoning he wouldn't notice. And he hadn't — he'd been far too focused on the male, the obvious competition, the one whose presence would rile his wolf. No one paid enough attention to my sister. It was often a lethal mistake.

"Yes, that's the one," Ivan drawled. "Funny that you could have so many loyal defenders and yet still find pack wolves' teeth at your throat."

He was staring rather pointedly at the gashes above my collarbone. Technically, it wasn't my throat, but I couldn't build my entire argument on that technicality.

"I don't think you understand," I retorted. "Those rogues don't fight for me."

"No? Because I was under the impression­—"

"It's the other way around."

Eira might not have shown so much as a blink, but I could feel her satisfaction through our link. It was why she had joined the guard on Anglesey in the first place: to do something for others instead of watching people run around after her all day, falling over each other to protect her.

"Loyalty, I like that." Ivan's mouth twitched into a wonky smile. "But everyone has their price..."

"And you're already paying a steep one," I muttered. Three and a half million to his enemies. It had to sting, so I had to poke the wound.

"Why share the ransom money with all your friends? You could run back to Anglesey and have it for yourselves. No one could touch you there."

I didn't even bother smiling. This had gone so far past amusing. Eira echoed my feelings with, "You can't really think we're going away that easily."

"Well, it was worth a try, wasn't it?" He smirked, cold and slippery as a barrel of Atlantic cod. I didn't like him. Clever, yes, but it came wrapped in a sense of self-satisfaction that was hard to swallow. "Now, I won't ask again. Where is she?"

"Not so fast," I drawled. "We need to talk about the baby first."

Ivan shrugged. "If it's a girl, she'll be allowed to find her mate and take a minor role in the pack. If it's a boy, he can join the fighters and earn his own position. I won't let another man's son inherit anything of value, if you can understand that sentiment."