“Girl, go away and let the boy eat his lunch,” he demanded and she now gave him an openly hostile glare.
“If James wants me to leave he can tell me himself Freddie,” she snapped at him and Freddie growled a low menacing growl. Freddie outranked her in the pack and her words were every bit a challenge to his position. If she insisted, Freddie had every right to put her in her place.
“But I was leaving anyway,” Ginger said hastily with a nervous look. “Since James can’t have lunch with me,” she added with a flip of her hair and flashed James a cheery smile before turning on her heel to leave.
“You’re going to have to do something about that one,” Freddie said once she had gone and James shook his head.
“I know, but I’m just trying to figure out how to tell her to get lost without looking like a jerk in the process,” he replied and Freddie laughed.
“Now that’s funny… The James Lacrosse doesn’t want to look like a jerk,” he barked out and started up a fresh bought of cackling.
“Yeah, real hilarious,” James said sourly then looked over at Freddie. “Hey, were you serious about that meeting?” The older wolf nodded, wiping his hands clean.
“Yep, the alpha wants you at the meeting hall at four,” he replied then quickly added, “No, I don’t know what it’s about. All he told me was that he wants you there.” James nodded and continued his lunch, wondering what Tony wanted to talk to him about.
Ten till four, James walked into the low-key brick building that served as the pack’s meeting hall. He gave a non-committal nod to a few people as he walked to the conference room that Tony usually used to for the smaller meetings. It was a large room with a large black rectangular table in the center ringed with chairs. Tony sat at the far right end of the table with a large giant of a man who served as the pack’s lead enforcer and was James’s brother in law.
“I see you’ve been invited to this party Keon,” he greeted the enforcer as he sat across him.
“Any party worth having invites me,” Keon replied with a cheeky grin and James returned his grin and then looked to Tony. The alpha had the Roberts’ family characteristic blond hair and blue eyes and like all wolves, especially alphas, was well built. He was leaned back in his chair in a relaxed posture, but James could see his jaw tight, relaying that he was worried about something.
“Thanks for coming guys. Let’s get started,” Tony stated and leaned forward in a more rigid position. “Late yesterday evening I got a call from the Aequivalere They’ve asked to send a squadron to hunt a rogue vampire that they suspect may be in or around our territory,” he started and James stiffened at the mention of the Aequivalere. Those were the people Lily had left town to work for.
“I thought the Aequivalere didn’t work hands on and ask the locals to deal with it,” Keon asked, leaning forward and resting his large forearms on the table.
“They usually don’t, but this time they want to. Obviously there’s something odd about all of it. When I tried to find out more about their target they gave me the runabout and wouldn’t give me any details then they flat out refused the aid I offered it,” Tony explained and James leaned to the left of his chair in thought.
Now that was weird, he’d never heard of them refusing aide. “Now if that wasn’t suspicious enough, I got a call a few hours later from Lily telling me she’s coming for a visit.”
James’s head jerked to Tony and he stiffened in surprise. Was Lily coming home? “Lily? That’s your sister, right? The one that’s been gone a few years,” Keon asked, glancing at James before turning all his attention back to Tony. Keon knew of James history with her. The alpha nodded to and leaned forward, the tension in his shoulders easy to read.
“She claims that her workload has eased allowing her time to come for a visit,” Tony explained.
“Claimed? You don’t believe her?” James asked, trying hard to keep his voice neutral and not show any of the mix of emotions he was feeling but from the look on Tony’s face he wasn’t doing a very good job of it.
“Not after the Aequivalere call. Also, she was a little vague herself. Said she couldn’t tell me how long she was going to be here or why the sudden relief of work. Just that she’d be here by tomorrow around lunch time,” Tony explained and James rubbed his chin in thought.
“So what do you think is going on?” Keon asked after a few seconds of silence, shifting his weight in his chair causing it to squeak under the man’s large mass.
“Well,” Tony started, opening his suit jacket and tossing it back and readjusting his posture. “That either one: Lily and the Aequivalere have had a fallen out and they’re hunting her or two: Lily is helping them capture someone that, for whatever reason, they want us to keep our noses out.”
“Knowing her, it’s probably the first,” James said with a snicker and even Tony allowed a small but brief brotherly smile.
“Probably,” Tony added then went back to his alpha seriousness. “So until further notice Keon I was all the patrols on high alert. Don’t add more men, I don’t want them to know we suspect anything,” he told the enforcer then turned to James with an almost pained expression that let him know exactly what Tony wanted from him.
“And you want me to keep tabs on Lily, figure out what is the real reason she’s here,” he offered and Tony smiled in reply.
“You’re the only one that can do it without having to fear for their life,” Tony told him and James simply shrugged. He wasn’t sure Tony was right but despite everything, James wanted the job.