Chapter 28
Donal hung his head. “You’re right. I do owe you. But you don’t need the others to convince me to be quiet about this. I promise not to tell.”
“I know you’d keep our secret, little mouse.” Alexei placed a reassuring hand on Donal’s shoulder. “Betrayal is not a facet of your character. I need them to convince you that the gods don’t make mistakes. I’m going to call Katya to bring some French pastries and Russian cakes. I’ll also call the Alphas and the Mates. Please do me the courtesy of waiting to speak to them. If after you do, you still want to leave, I won’t stop you. I promised you that you wouldn’t be a prisoner here. Why don’t you go up to the suite and lie down on the bed until they get here?”
Two minds with a single thought for entirely different reasons, Armand will not be happy.
* * * *
Wednesday morning, after midnight
“Alpha, I tried to wait, but he was determined he wasn’t good enough and was planning to go back out on the street tonight. If he did, his friend would hide him and I’d never find him again.”
“We’ll be there in thirty minutes. He couldn’t wait until morning? Eh…the gods will do what the gods will. Have coffee and pastries. If this takes as long as I think it will, we’ll need breakfast too. If Katya doesn’t have enough on hand, send one of the maids to the all-night market. Make sure there is good coffee. Rémy gets cranky without his coffee. The boys will drink tea. I’ll call the others.”
Alexei came back to the door of the study. Donal still sat on the sofa. He sobbed like his heart was breaking. Alexei paused in the doorway and listened to Donal mumble between his cries. “If only I could be selfish and just take what he offers. But I love him too much. I can’t do that. It’s true, they do exist. Colin’s book gave me the dream and now I have to give it away for Alexei’s sake. He doesn’t know how Americans feel about prostitutes.”
And you, my little mouse, don’t know how the loup garou feel about their Mates. For the first time in his life, Alexei shed his dark Russian soul and began to hope.
* * * *
It was one thirty when the doorbell rang. Boris, who almost always anticipated what was about to happen before it did, came upstairs and told Alexei Katya had made an urn of coffee instead of using the K-Cups. Alexei cringed. Katya was new to making coffee. His was an old-fashioned Russian household that had stuck to tea at home.
“Don’t worry so much, Alpha,” Boris reassured him. “Katya has been watching the food and cooking channels. Alton Brown had a special Good Eatsabout making coffee. She followed his exact directions to make coffee that isn’t bitter like that Starbucks stuff we tried when we first came to New York.”
Alexei looked to the heavens to pray to the gods. Rémy could make life difficult for him in council. He didn’t know him that well because he was so much younger than the others. I’m a hundred forty-two. Armand and I went through training together. I knew of Gabriel and Marc but Rémy is an unknown factor, and I’ve heard he has a temper.
The doorbell rang. It was Armand, Sean, Rémy, and Ian. “The others are right behind us, waiting for Pierre to move the limousine.” Armand handed Boris his coat. 6
Alexei’s library
Early Wednesday morning
The others filed past Alexei and into his library. His stomach tightened in trepidation.
“Don’t look so gobsmacked. This happened to all of us in exactly the same way. Only Armand was able to get Sean with the program from the start and that’s because Sean was over fifty percent wolf and felt the connection right away and then again, it was Armand.” Rémy smiled at his own joke.
I’m surprised. Rémy is the one offering me comfort. The man I was before the gulag might have challenged Rémy and yet Rémy is deliberately kind. Itis different here. His disquiet at his assessment of his own character before the gulag must have shown on his face because Rémy patted him on the back. Rémy acted as if he thought Alexei’s disquiet was fear. Thank the gods he couldn’t read Alexei’s thoughts. He felt shame when he remembered the man he once was.