Bruce waved his hand dismissively. “I couldn’t tell you exactly, but I looked at it and saw she was in it. If you take it with you, that’s waving a red flag. Don’t do it. Anyway, Ann wants to throw away all the meat in the freezer. She sent me out to make sure you’re okay with that.”
“I don’t care about the meat in the freezer,” Jake said quietly. “But I do care that you and Ann came in and went through my stuff when I wasn’t home.”
Bruce flushed. “Don’t make accusations without proof, Jake. Your parents taught you better than that.”
“Oh, but I have proof.” Jake hefted the book in both hands. “This book is special to me. If you’d picked it up while I was here, I would have been very aware that you had looked at it.” Now Jake wondered if Bruce had taken the note, but it wasn’t the main issue.
No, there was something else going on, something that worried him far more than knowing the Hunters had searched his cabin. They would have had multiple opportunities to do that, because once again, he hadn’t bothered to lock up. He just wasn’t in the habit.
Then again, it might not have mattered if he’d locked the doors or not. If they were determined enough, they would have found a way to get in. Jake had never worried about tight security in this cabin.
He gazed at Bruce. “Maybe you should have a seat. In fact, I think Ann needs to come in here and sit down, too.”
The Were’s blue eyes narrowed and his tone turned icy. “How dare you give me orders?”
“I’ve been asked to be your alpha, Bruce, and life doesn’t go well for those who lie to the alpha.”
“I haven’t lied to you!”
“Okay, you aren’t telling me the whole truth, which is pretty much the same thing. Unless you intend to overpower me and drag me to Idaho, which I can assure you isn’t going to happen, I’m staying put until you tell me what’s going on.”
Bruce turned his head. “Ann! We have a problem. You’d better come on in here so we can straighten it out.”
Ann walked out of the kitchen, a paper towel in her hand. “What’s the matter?”
“I’d like you and Bruce to sit down.” Jake gestured to the sofa. “We need to talk.”
“He says we’re not telling him everything,” Bruce said.
“Oh.” Ann walked over to the sofa and settled down with a calm expression on her aristocratic features, but she balled the paper towel into a tight wad the size of a golf ball. “What do you want to know, Jake?”
Jake waited for Bruce to take a seat next to his mate. At last he did, although he frowned at Jake as he did so. Jake moved to the easy chair, sat down, and looked at these two Weres who had been family friends for longer than he’d been alive. Yet he couldn’t shake the idea they’d betrayed him.
He took a deep breath. “Let’s start with the alpha position. Is there one after all?”
“Yes.” Ann tightened her grip on the balled-up paper towel. “Keegan really wants to step down.”
“But there must be other candidates who are already living in Idaho. Why come all the way to Alaska to get me?”
“The Hunter pack has been impressed with your efforts with WARM,” Bruce said. “We admire the leadership qualities you’ve displayed. You’re intelligent and even tempered. At least, that’s what I thought until five minutes ago, when you started acting crazy and throwing accusations around.”
Jake sighed. He should have known the setup was too good to be true. “But somebody’s mighty worried about my relationship with Rachel Miller, aren’t they?”
Ann swallowed. “There have been some . . . concerns. Her signature wolf looks exactly like you, Jake.”
“No, it looks exactly like my father, but that’s neither here nor there.” He decided to make a guess and see how they reacted. “How long has the Hunter pack had me under surveillance?”
“It’s not just the Hunter pack,” Ann said. Then she gasped and looked at Bruce. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No, but he was going to find out, anyway.” Bruce looked at Jake. “No matter which wolf Rachel Miller has been carving over and over, you can’t deny that you’ve acted with increasing recklessness when it comes to her.”
“No, I can’t deny it.” Some of Jake’s righteous indignation seeped away. “So this is a rescue mission, then?”
Bruce nodded. “We need a pack alpha, and the . . . Consortium thinks you should leave the area. You’ve made excellent progress with WARM, but you’re putting those efforts in jeopardy. We need you in Idaho, and you’d be out of harm’s way. It’s a nice little two-for-one deal.”
It was a long speech, but Jake latched on to one particular word in it. “Consortium?”
“A like-minded group of Weres that keep an eye on potential breaches of security and quietly take care of any we find.”
“Breaches?” The word sent icicles of fear into Jake’s heart. “What makes you think there’s been a security breach?”
Bruce gazed at him. “The Consortium is thorough, Jake. We have documentation.”
Shit. Suddenly Rachel’s worst-case scenario didn’t look so paranoid. “But the Were Council knows about this Consortium, right? You’re acting under its direction.”
“Well, no, Jake, because they would want to regulate us and tie our hands. We’re far more effective operating under the radar.”
A chill went down Jake’s spine. “Sorry, but I can’t go along with that. I’m no big fan of the Were Council or WOW, but at least they operate out in the open.”
Bruce eyed him with irritating smugness. “Doesn’t matter whether you approve of us or not. You won’t report us to the council or anyone.”
“Watch me.” Jake stood and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He still had Howard Wallace in his list of contacts.
“Jake, that’s a really bad idea,” Ann said.
“Don’t think I care about the Hunter alpha position. I don’t give a rip about that anymore. I have bigger fish to fry. This Consortium is dangerous and I intend to see that it’s exposed.”
“What about your precious WARM?” Bruce’s tone was mild, but his eyes glittered with malice. “You not only had a sexual relationship with a human—you created a security breach in the process. If that gets out, WARM will be finished. Duncan MacDowell will dance on its grave.”
Jake longed to punch Bruce in the face, but the Were had him by the short hairs. They exchanged malevolent stares. “You’re a real bastard,” Jake said.
“And you’re a real traitor to the cause. Tell me, are you prepared for the entire Were community to know how you’ve betrayed them with Rachel Miller?”
Jake’s stomach churned. Duncan MacDowell would dance on WARM’s grave if that came out. All that Jake had worked for would be down the drain. Once he was branded a hypocrite, anyone on the fence probably would go over to MacDowell’s camp. At least Duncan stuck to his beliefs.
By giving in to his desire for Rachel, Jake had paved the way for others to do the same, assuming Bruce made good on his promise to reveal the relationship. But Bruce had something to lose, too. “You won’t expose me,” Jake said. “If I go down, that weakens your campaign to keep Weres and humans apart. We both lose.”
“I’m counting on your intelligence and dedication to the cause, Jake. Work with me. Work with the Consortium. WARM will be the public face of the movement and the Consortium will be the private enforcer.”
“Sounds like a bargain with the devil, to me.”
“Do you have a choice?”