Chapter 6 - Debrief

Nadia

I bounce back and forth between Shayne and Grace, scowling the whole time as we rumble over unpaved roads into the wilderness of the southern desert. It’s so uncomfortable that I barely have time to mull over my continued fury at Cole Kincaid.

Unfortunately, my friends aren’t nearly so interested in silent rage.

“Nadia,” Shayne whispers, tucking her long red hair back behind her ear and glancing over at the Alpha seated at the end of our row. It’s not Cole, but it may as well be – they’re all built the same. Gigantic, muscled, brutal, stone-faced.

Okay, fine. Cole is taller and…better looking than the others. But my point stands – all Alphas are cast from the same crappy mold.

“Nadi!” Shayne bites out, using my oldest nickname. I snap my head to her with a frown, realizing I missed whatever she just said. Shay looks at me like I’m a little nuts and then glances towards the back of the transport where Cole is seated. Grace leans in, wanting to be in on this. “Seriously, why didn’t you tell us that it was him?”

I sigh, slumping down on the bench seat, looking angrily between them – my two best friends, Shayne who I’ve known since childhood and Grace who’s been our roommate since freshman year in college. “I didn’t tell you because I knew it would make you change your opinion about the story!”

“Unfair,” Grace says, raising her eyebrows at me. “You deliberately withheld facts to manipulate our response!”

“Well, yeah,” I say, rolling my eyes, making Shayne grin. “Because the other party is a celebrity and the nation’s most famously eligible bachelor! I wanted your attention on my pain and I knew that if I told you it was him that you’d do precisely this! Take his side!”

“I mean, that is fair,” Shayne says, looking at Grace now. “I am on his side. If she wanted my pity, she was right to hold back facts –“

“No way,” Grace says with a frown, leaning towards Shay. “That’s such a crap way to treat your friends – we have to be able to trust each other!”

I ignore Grace, focusing entirely on what Shayne said. I whip out a hand, smacking her on the arm. “You’re on his side!?”

She turns a big smile on me. “I’m always on the side of the hot guy, Nadia. Come on, you know this about me.”

I huff, more angry than I was before, but Shayne just laughs, tossing her arms around me and giving me a big hug. I quell a bit, realizing that she’s kidding. Shay – she’s a double-edged kind of friend because while she is a source of endless love and devotion she also knows me well enough to intuit precisely what to say to make me swell up like a big offended puffer fish.

“Of course I’m on your side, Nadi,” she murmurs, pressing a kiss to my hair and letting me go. “But honestly! Like, none of the reality of who he is changes your opinion on this?” She glances back again towards Cole and I grab her arm, pulling her attention back.

“Would you stop looking at him? It’s bad enough that all the Alphas in this van can probably hear everything you’re saying –“

Shay just grins at me like she doesn’t give a damn. Which she probably doesn’t.

“And no,” I continue, sighing again, looking between my friends. “It doesn’t change anything. Why should it? It was…a shit thing to happen to me! Just because he’s pretty and in power doesn’t change that.”

“You’re right,” Grace says, petting a hand over my hair and nodding deeply. “It doesn’t.” Grace looks expectantly at Shayne.

“Fine, fine, it doesn’t,” Shayne says, finally giving in and leaning closer, doing her best to keep our conversation between us. “But that just means you have more willpower than me. Thousands of girls would kill to go on a date with Cole Kincaid, let alone have him claim them as his mate. I mean, I think that’s a big deal for them –“

“Is it?” Grace asks, looking around with a frown. Some of the intricacies of wolf life are lost to us, even if we are living in a country largely governed by them. Humans and wolves tend to stick to their own kinds.

“Yeah, I think so!” Shayne says, nodding and looking between us with eager, sparkling blue eyes. She gasps suddenly, excited. “Do you think he’ll introduce us to Jude Kincaid!?”

I just look at her like she’s crazy.

“Which one is that?” Grace whispers.

Shayne groans, shaking her head and leaning back against the seat. “Ugh, Gracie-grace, you need to read way more of the gossip mags and websites. It’s his brother! He’s so cute – I’ve had a crush on him since I was a baby – I used to have his picture pasted in the back of my middle school notebook –“

I wrinkle my nose at Shay, remembering that. And now, as then, I think she’s insane for it.

“He’s just a moderately good-looking rich guy, Shay,” I murmur. “Nothing special.”

“Oh whatever,” Shayne says, closing her eyes on a blissful sigh. “He’s dreamy. I love him. Ima marry him.”

I grin at my friend, unable to help it. “You say that about everyone.”

“Yes, I intend to have six husbands and eight marriages,” she murmurs, playful and smug. “He can be the first.”

Grace and I both grin at her. “How on earth are you going to manage six and eight? Isn’t your math off?” Grace wrinkles her brow, confused.

“Nah,” Shayne says, flapping a hand at Grace. “I’m going to marry Jude, and then divorce him, and then marry him again. He’ll be #1 and #5. I’ve got a plan, don’t you worry.”

We both laugh and settle in. And I have to admit it – my mood is definitely better than it was since we arrived at that platform. I ignore the looming Alpha presence behind me and concentrate instead on my friends, who are funny and wonderful and know how to cheer me up.

It takes about forty-five bumpy minutes to get to wherever it is that they’re setting up our camp. I mean, it makes for an uncomfortable ride, but ultimately it makes sense – we need to be largely incognito to avoid notice from the Children of Solace. So for the next few months, we’ll be living in some very basic accommodations – tents and campfires, things that can be easily moved if the Children of Solace catches a whiff of our presence.

It's a lifestyle I’m pretty used to – I’ve been helping mom and dad on these sorts of campaigns since I was a kid. But Grace and Shay, I know, will be in for much more of a surprise.

The transport slows, pulling us into a valley between two large craigs with a surprisingly wide space between. It stops and one by one we all hop down from the van and move towards a large beige tent at the far end of the clearing. I look around at what I can see of the darkening night sky, wishing I had more daylight to take it all in.

The Alphas come too – most of them spread out around us in a circle, though Cole Kincaid takes the lead and strides forward to greet my father who stands at the opening to the tent, a stack of booklets in his hands. The two greet each other warmly and I turn away, hating that dad is so subservient to these wolves who hate him merely because he’s human.

I mean, that goes a little far – they wouldn’t have raised dad to the position of General if they didn’t respect him. But still, deep down I know that there’s lingering contempt, even if the King and his men have tended to treat dad with respect.

As I turn away, I spot my friend Daniel, who gets off of the other transport and waves cheerfully back to me as he reaches up a hand to help his boyfriend Amari down from the truck. Amari looks around in wonder at all the craggy cliffs and wilderness and I laugh because Amari is – above all things – a city boy. I shake my head, wondering how the hell Daniel ever convinced him to volunteer for this.

“Nadia!” I turn my face back forward, smiling when I hear my dad call my name. I move forward to his open arms, giving him a big hug as he presses a kiss to my cheek. “How was the trip?”

“It was fine,” I say on a sigh, pulling back a little to give him a sad little smile. “Though you could have told me he was going to be here.” I nod towards Cole’s retreating form as he heads into the tent.

Dad cocks an eyebrow at me, stern and demanding as he usually is. “He is generously and uncomplainingly offering his expertise. Is that going to be a problem, Nadia?” Dad pauses, studying me. “Because if so, you can leave at any time.”