Corrigan Rage (4 page)

Aubrey’s lip curled. ‘They gave you the Albus seal.’

I inspected my fingernails. ‘Perhaps you need to refer to your own sources. They lent us the Albus seal. We returned it.’

Aubrey hissed suddenly. ‘It’s not in your possession?’

‘No,’ I answered calmly. ‘It’s not.’

He took a step towards me. ‘We want it.’

‘It belonged to the Brethren. Now it belongs to the Tower. It’s really nothing to do with you.’

His expression took on a crafty look. ‘We ... collect objects of historical importance. We wish to collect this one.’

I had to try very hard not to laugh. I was betting I knew exactly why he wanted the seal – he’d heard about its supposed powers for encouraging shapeshifter compliance and had decided that now we were no longer on the verge of extinction, he wanted a different method of controlling us. For all his apparent historical wisdom, he wasn’t as smart as he thought. The thing was useless. Its function was ceremonial and nothing more. Not that I was going to help him get hold of it though. It would be far more fun to refuse and see what he chose to do next instead.

‘You’ll need to talk to the ravens,’ I said. ‘We don’t have it.’

His shoulders stiffened fractionally. ‘The ravens do not like us.’

It was getting harder and harder not to laugh. Nobody liked the damn vampires – didn’t he know that? ‘Then there’s nothing I can do.’

‘In the interests of our newfound alliance, it would suit you to aid us in retrieving it.’

‘In that case,’ I murmured, ‘bring it up at the next meeting. It’s only a few days away, after all.’

‘We would,’ Aubrey said stiffly, ‘prefer to keep this matter between ourselves.’

No doubt because he was concerned that the Mages or the Fae had better record keeping skills than we did and would know about the seal’s supposed properties. ‘It’s your choice,’ I said. ‘But for now I cannot help you.’

There was a flicker of burning rage in his eyes. It was barely a second, however, before he managed to quell it. ‘Then I shall take my leave.’

‘I’ll see you at the party.’

He sniffed and departed. Staines, by now himself showered and changed, came up to my shoulder. ‘You should be wary of antagonising the vampires, my Lord. They can be unpredictable.’

I told him what Aubrey had wanted and my theory behind his motivation. Staines scowled. ‘Hang the lot of them.’

C
onsidering the vampires’ interest in the seal, I took the decision to inform the entirety of the Pack openly that it was a useless object. To continue to imply otherwise, even by omission, was a dangerous tack to take. Sitting at my desk and reading through the various responses from around the country, however, I had to admit I was surprised. Only a few of the most gullible shifters had believed the theory that the seal contained magical powers. The vast majority were simply happy that I’d cared about the new Way Directives and was invested in their future enough to obtain the seal temporarily for them. It was more the official air the seal provided that they approved of, rather than any nonsense about legendary magic clinging to it. I felt guilty for making assumptions about other people’s inner most thoughts and beliefs. The more I wondered about what other assumptions I’d been making lately, the more worried I became.

I stewed for half a day and then called in Leah. She appeared in the doorway with a tub of ice-cream in her hand and a sardonic look on her face. ‘You rang, milord?’

‘Is that for me?’

‘Chocolate chip? No way.’ She dipped in her spoon and made a show of savouring a mouthful. ‘I need this. What do you need?’

I pursed my mouth, not sure if this was really a good idea. ‘Advice.’

She blinked rapidly. ‘I’m going to require a greater calorie count for that. Let me get another tub.’

‘Leah,’ I groaned.

‘Sorry, big brother, I couldn’t resist. It’s not every day that the esteemed and mighty Lord Alpha of the Brethren comes to me for advice. What is it? Are the werewolves giving you trouble again? I’m not sure I can help much if it’s the vampires...’

‘It’s a girl.’

She grinned. Then she thought about it some more and her grin grew even wider. ‘Let me guess. Red hair? Spiky temper? Used to be a shapeshifter but is now something else entirely different?’

‘You’ve met her?’

‘Nah.’ She hopped up onto my desk and took another scoop of ice cream. ‘I’m always away when she’s around. Everyone I speak to asks me about her though. Well,’ she amended, ‘they ask me about you and whether she’s your girlfriend or not.’

‘Nothing’s sacred.’

‘Nope.’

‘Her hair’s not red any more,’ I said. ‘I mean, it’s red, but she’s cut it all off.’

Leah’s eyebrows flew up. ‘All of it?’

I nodded. ‘She’s completely bald.’

‘She’s not joining a nunnery to get away from you, is she?’

Frankly, I wouldn’t past it her. ‘No. Something to do with hazing at the Ministry, I believe.’

‘Ah.’ She gave me an arch look. ‘Is she a mage then?’

‘No. I don’t think so anyway.’

‘You don’t know what she is?’

I shook my head. ‘Not a clue.’

‘Why don’t you ask her?’

I scratched my chin. ‘That’s kind of what I need help with. Every time we talk I seem to screw it up. I’m not quite sure what I’m doing wrong.’

‘Hmmm. Tell me what happened the last time you met.’

‘She got angry. Then she got soft. Then she got angry again.’

Leah rolled her eyes. ‘Tell me in detail. As if you’re a girl.’

‘I don’t understand.’

She sighed. ‘Where did you meet?’

‘At some counsellor’s place in the city. The Otherworld one.’

‘You’re getting counselling?’

‘Only for how to deal with annoying little sisters. No,’ I said, ‘it was Mack that was getting counselling.’

‘Oh, Corrigan.’ Leah tutted several times. ‘Oh no. You’re telling me you interrupted her private counselling session to give her a booty call.’

‘It wasn’t like that! First of all, I didn’t interrupt the session. I made sure I was already there before she went in.’

‘Did she know you were coming?’

I shifted uncomfortably. ‘No.’

She threw her hands up into the air. ‘Well, no wonder she was pissed off. There she is, vulnerable and needing help and then you show up probably all butch and masculine and growly...’

‘I’m not growly. I’m never growly.’

‘You growled just then. Was she happy to see you?’

‘No,’ I admitted. ‘But she didn’t run away or anything. Mainly because I...’ I hesitated. ‘I grabbed her wrist.’

‘What?’ Leah screeched. ‘You physically prevented her from getting away from you? Why didn’t you just club her over the head and drag her to your cave?’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ I protested.

Leah looked sceptical. ‘How much do you like her?’

Heat inexplicably rushed into my cheeks. Her mouth dropped open. ‘I like her quite a lot.’

‘Clearly. You need to be nice to her, Corrigan. Be charming. I know you have it in you. I’ve seen you schmooze plenty of women before.’

‘Plenty of women who weren’t Mack. And I was nice to her. I told her I liked her new hairstyle.’

She gave me an exasperated look. ‘Really? You told her you liked the new hairstyle she’s got, even though she’s now bald and essentially has no hairstyle whatsoever. In fact, the new hairstyle she didn’t ask for but received because of some kind of college prank?’

‘Um...’

‘You need to stop coming across all alpha male, Corrigan. She’s pretty bolshy, right?’

I snorted. ‘That’s one way of putting it.’

‘So let her be like that. Give her the respect she deserves by letting her get her own way instead of you bulldozing your way to what you want.’ Her eyes hardened slightly. ‘Unless what you want is just a quick roll in the hay.’

I ran a hand through my hair. ‘That’s not what I want,’ I said quietly. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted exactly but it was more than simply having Mack in my bed. She was like a damned itch I couldn’t scratch. A troubling thought struck me. ‘And if what she wants is for me to leave her alone?’

She regarded me seriously. ‘Then you need to respect that.’ She held out her spoon. ‘There’s always ice-cream. It’s a poor substitute but it can help a bit.’

‘I don’t want ice-cream.’

She smiled. ‘Look, she saved your life. She’s the one who found the antidote for the red fever.’

I nodded. ‘Yes.’

Leah shrugged. ‘Then she can’t completely hate you otherwise she’d have left you to rot. Let her lead the way and things will work out.’

‘It’s not really in my nature to take a backseat,’ I began.

‘Try, Corrigan. It might do more good than you think.’

*

S
trangely enough, I had the opportunity to put Leah’s advice into action more soon than I’d realised. I was just padding from the shower to my bedroom with a towel wrapped round my waist when Mack herself abruptly popped into my head.

Ummm...

It was such a nervous opening that it immediately put me on edge.
Mack, what’s wrong?

Hi Corrigan.
Her Voice was soft and not at all like it had been before.
How are things?

You’re contacting me in the middle of the night to ask how I’m doing?
I cursed myself as soon as the words left me. I wasn’t trying to provoke her.

Uh, no. I felt bad, no, I FEEL bad about what happened yesterday. You know, at the shrink’s place.

Except I was the one who should be saying sorry. Leah had said to let her take the lead, however, so I simply ran with it.
Is this an apology? An actual apology from the big, bad, scary Mackenzie Smith?

Yeah. I guess it is.

I didn’t know how to respond. If I said thank you it would suggest that I agreed she’d been the one to screw things up, not me. Then she might get pissed off again. If I didn’t say thank you, then she’d think I wasn’t going to accept her words and she might get pissed off again. Whichever way I swung, I’d be screwed.

Corrigan? Are you still there?

I took a deep breath. The only thing I could think of to do was to tease her. Perhaps that way I could keep the mood light.
I’m waiting.

Waiting for what?

Your apology.
I tried to sound as if I was bantering. I wasn’t sure it worked though.

My...?
She paused midway.
I apologise.

Her lack of blue-aired blow-out at my provocation meant Mack was taking this very seriously. I made a quick decision and took her at her word.
Thank you.
I was willing to lay bets, however, that there was more to this than she was so far saying.
So why are you really contacting me, kitten?

I, uh, thought that maybe I should do something. You know, to make it up to you. I behaved badly.

I licked my lips.
Oh, I’m sure I could think of something or other that you could do to make it up to me.

Don’t get any ideas, my Lord. This is purely on a platonic basis.

I really could think of a few things she could do. I pushed the sudden swell of vivid images out of my mind and focused on the conversation.
I will try not to let the disappointment overcome me. So what did you have in mind?

I thought maybe we could meet. You know, in person. And then I could, you know, apologise. And, um, we could chat.

Chat? Out of everything I’d expected her to say, this wasn’t it.
About what? The weather perhaps? Knitting patterns?

You’re right,
she hastily backtracked.
This is a stupid idea. I’m sorry for bothering you.

Damn it. I reminded myself to let her have the lead.
Hold those horses, kitten. As you’ve gone to so much trouble to get in touch, then perhaps you are right. We should meet. And ... chat
. I took things a tiny step further, hoping against hope I wasn’t being too forward.
Why don’t we have dinner? I know some good places that are quiet and intimate where we wouldn’t be disturbed.

Well, actually, Corrigan, I think it would be better if we went somewhere where there were a lot of people. You know, when you met me yesterday it was because I had anger-management counselling.

I exhaled. So much for a tete-a-tete over candlelight then.
You don’t say.

Err... I do say. And I find that it’s easier for me to keep my temper and act like a normal person if I’m in a big crowd. In fact, it’s actually part of my therapy to spend as much time out in the busy public as possible.

That’s an interesting choice of words, kitten.

What?

‘Normal person’.
Mack was the least normal or ordinary person I’d ever met. In the dictionary, if you looked up extraordinary, her face would probably be there.
Because you’re definitely not normal and I’m pretty sure that you’re not a person either. You still owe me an explanation, I think.

She kept her response level.
Well, I’d have thought that by now you’d have gotten all the information you need out of Betsy or Tom or Julia.

Despite what you may think of me, I don’t tend to force my shifters to tell me things that they don’t want to.

My Lord, in that case, you won’t force me to tell you what I don’t want to either.

My inner need to assert myself took over.
But you’re not one of my shifters and I’m not your Lord.

Well, okay, whatever,
she dismissed uncharacteristically.
I’m a normal person who happens to be free next Saturday night. If you aren’t doing anything, then maybe I can come to London and we could meet. Otherwise, never mind. I understand that being the Dark Lord of the Brethren means that you’re a busy man.

I scratched my chin. Under any normal circumstances, Mack would be spitting and seething by now and running for the hills. Considering she was stuck at school with a bunch of teenagers in the middle of nowhere, her social life probably wasn’t packed full of exciting moments. Mentioning Saturday was incredibly specific for someone with a less than hectic nightlife. There really was more to this than she was saying. My eyes narrowed slightly. I would bet anything that Mack was angling for an invitation to the Otherworld gathering the vampires were hosting. I had no idea what her reasons were but I was going to take full advantage of the situation. Not only would I be following Leah’s advice but I’d also get to see Mack again. Maybe even in a dress.