Impulse

Chapter Fourteen

Alec called the meeting of the Southeast council to order with his usual lack of ceremony.

“You all know we’ve had a death in the family, so I’m going to be blunt and get down to business. The Conclave has broken, and John Peyton has stepped aside as Alpha of the United States. From now on he’s the leader of the Northeast territory and nothing more.”

Alan Reed leaned forward in his chair. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You heard me.” Alec crossed both arms over his chest. “The Conclave was a nice idea, but it’s a whole lot of wasted money and time, and it keeps the strongest of us busy bickering over bullshit instead of taking care of business.”

“So each council is on its own? Each territory?”

“Total autonomy,” he confirmed. “We govern ourselves. We make our own rules. We deal with problems the way we see fit, and organize those below us in whatever way we deem efficient. And we keep all the money that’s been flowing toward the top.”

Reed and William Levesque seemed to be taking the news well, so Julio drained his drink. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think this could be just what we need.”

William nodded, then showed an unusual level of thoughtfulness. “It does put our attention here at home. It’s exhausting to feel like I’m not doing my duty if I’m not trying to figure out a way to get to the Conclave. Not that I’ve been thinking of challenging you,” he added hastily to Alec, who snorted out a laugh.

“I should hope not. My job’s about as much fun as getting kicked in the balls on a daily basis.”

“Not anymore,” Julio reminded him. “Now…you can go home.”

“Soon enough.” When Andrew and Alan Reed remained silent, Alec nodded. “All of you have probably heard that Cesar Mendoza is dead.”

Levesque lifted an eyebrow. “I heard a more distressing rumor, one I hope someone can put to rest.”

“That he’s the one who killed his sister?” Julio asked, his throat raw. “It’s true.”

Shock. Disgust. Levesque and Reed might not have been Alec’s men, but they were decent enough. Even Reed, who had made hating Julio a dedicated pastime, murmured his condolences in a believable tone.

“This is the shit that has to stop,” Alec said, jabbing his finger against the table in emphasis.

“We have all these goddamn fancy rules, and all they add up to are a dozen ways the powerful can fuck over anyone who gets in the way. You can already do that well enough in the human world. I’ve had about enough of it in our world.”

Andrew spoke for the first time. “What are you going to do, Julio?”

“My uncle’s dead,” he answered. “My father isn’t, not yet, and he was part of it too. It’s justice, right? If I fight him?”

“It’s against the rules,” Levesque said without hesitation. “The Alpha’s rules. Conclave and council members aren’t supposed to challenge the people beneath them. Too many council members were consolidating wealth by challenging the rich members of their territory.”

“This isn’t a financial maneuver,” Andrew shot back. “It’s a score to settle, a personal one.

I’m not going to deny him that.”

Levesque didn’t back down. “How many of us could find reason to justify settling personal scores? No offense, Andrew, but you’ve probably got personal scores to settle with half of the old bloodlines in the Southeast. How can they be sure you won’t show up on their doorstep the next time one of them makes a comment about your heritage? Or your girlfriend?”

“Someone calling my girlfriend bad names isn’t exactly on par with murder.”

“He’s right,” Reed interjected. “But Will has a point too. If you lot are really concerned about trust and transparency, don’t make rules that only benefit you. If you truly want to revolutionize the system, take money out of the challenges across the board.”

Julio sighed. “I don’t give a shit about the money involved. If there’s no conflict of interest, leave it to the remaining family. If there is, like in my case, put it in a fucking fund to serve the territory.”

“Huh.” Alec tapped his fingers on the table. “Honor and justice, not profit. Not a bad idea.”

“Not at all,” Reed drawled before baring his teeth at Julio. “Of course, if this rule hadn’t been in place a couple years ago, I would have beaten you into the pavement for that stunt you pulled with my daughter.”

“You would have tried,” Julio corrected. “And failed. Just like your kid and your nephew did.”

Reed growled, his eyes fading to a glowing gold before Alec smashed a hand on the table.

“Enough, Reed. I’m not going to spend the next twenty years watching you pick at Julio because your daughter didn’t like the man she was supposed to marry. If you hadn’t chosen some personality-challenged bastard twice her age, maybe she wouldn’t have made such a public point of wrecking her betrothal.”

Julio shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, Alec.” The man was bound to get tired of it eventually.

“We’re straying from the point,” Levesque said. “How do we do this? Hold a vote, wave our hands and change fifty years of tradition?”

Andrew shrugged. “I think we say…this is how it’s going to be here.”

“And then we make it happen,” Alec agreed. “Believe me, Levesque, once I get going, I’m going to be challenging traditions that have been around a hell of a lot longer than fifty years.”

Alan Reed rubbed the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “God help us all.”

“Why bother voting?” Levesque grumbled. “You three have the majority, so the new law is official and Mendoza can challenge his father. We’re going to need to hire a secretary to take notes on all the laws we destroy.”

It could have been worse. They could have been corrupt bastards looking out for themselves instead of the people in their territory. “You’ll learn to cope,” Julio murmured. “It’ll all turn out all right.”

“And on that subject…” Alan sat forward. “Who’s going to take over keeping the peace here in Atlanta? Cesar may not have been doing a good job by your standards, but he was a strong presence and he kept order. This city’s too big to be left unattended.”

“The Mendozas have always run Atlanta,” Levesque said, jabbing a finger in Julio’s direction.

“You know the area, don’t you? And New Orleans doesn’t need all three of you.”

“I…” It made sense, damn them, but it wasn’t a decision he could make without consulting Sera. “New Orleans is home. I can’t pull up roots and move without talking to my girlfriend first.”

Silence.

Alec shifted in his seat and glared at Levesque, but it was Alan Reed who stepped across the line. “Surely you’re not referring to the coyote.”

He probably expected a snarl, maybe even a bolder show of temper. Julio gave him neither.

“Her name’s Sera. Her father just helped set up a clinic in your town, didn’t he?”

Reed’s jaw tightened. “Beside the point. He’s being paid to provide a service. But the three of you—” His teeth snapped together.

“Have all chosen dangerously inappropriate women?” Andrew asked with deceptive casualness, his hands curling into fists on the tabletop.

The wolf tensed, but he didn’t back down. “It’s going to be an issue,” he said flatly.

“Levesque and I have gone along with the three of you. We’ve played nice. I’m not even against what you want to do—for the most part—but you can’t keep brushing this aside. You may not like it, but it’s simple fact. People grumbled over a halfbreed and muttered over a psychic, but some could outright revolt if one of their leaders takes another species as a mate. Are you prepared for that?”

Julio leaned forward, close enough to meet the man’s eyes directly. “What is it you really want to know, Reed?”

“I want to know if you’re a man in love with a hard row to hoe, or a man who found a convenient way to tell the old guard to go fuck themselves.”

He was neither, and wouldn’t that just confuse the hell out of them? “I’m a man who’s used to not being told what to do, and that isn’t about to change.”

Levesque snorted. “So you’re a pain in the ass. Good. Maybe you can handle Atlanta after all. If your…lady agrees.”

“There you go,” Alec said blandly. “Try choking out the word lady with less doubt next time, Levesque, and we’ll all be the best of friends.”

Julio rose with a growl. “Baby steps. A little at a time.”

Reed snuffed out his cigarette. “How soon do you expect to issue this challenge, Mendoza?

Should we stay in town?”

The longer he waited, the worse it would be. “Yeah, I think so. Unless you’d rather not be there, which I’d understand.”

Alec shook his head. “I wouldn’t. I want everyone here as witness. The last thing we need is for this to stay all in the family.” A sigh. “Speaking of which, your sister’s going to murder me.”

“For something you did, or because of this?”

“What do you think?”

Julio choked back a laugh. “Honestly, at this point, I don’t even know anymore.”

“That’s why life married to your sister is such an adventure.” Alec smacked his hand on the table. “If we don’t have any other pressing business?” He paused. When Reed and Levesque stayed silent, he nodded. “If you gentlemen and your wives would like to attend the funeral, I’m sure your presence would be appreciated.”

Levesque stood and clutched his hat to his chest instead of dropping it on his head. “We’ll be there, just call us with the details.”

Alec nodded, and Levesque and Reed departed, undoubtedly to have their own private meeting. Alec swung the door shut behind them and turned to face Julio. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

The truth. “No. But I’m tired of watching the people I love get hurt—or worse.”

Sighing, Alec glanced at Andrew. “You’ve been quiet. You handling this okay?”

“I wish Kat was here,” he answered quietly. “I don’t like her being away while things are unsettled. I know she’s safe with Nick and Derek, and she needs to be there for them right now, but it’s still tough.”

“A few more months, and Nick’ll pop that kid out. Let’s make a better world for that baby to grow up in.”

Making a better world. Not exactly the way Julio would have thought he could describe having to kill off his own family. “I want it straight, Alec—is Carmen going to forgive me for this?”

“Is Carmen—” Alec looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “For God’s sake, Julio. You know your sister better than that. If she gets mad at you, it’ll be because she’s worried about what this fight will do to you, win or lose.”

“I’m tired,” he confessed. “That’s all, I’m just tired.”

His brother-in-law studied him in silence for a moment, then dropped a hand to his shoulder.

Strength and power washed over him, acceptance and trust and pride all tangled up in the wordless something that was pack and family rolled in one.

Julio closed his eyes for a few seconds and then straightened his shoulders. “I should see if Carmen and Veronica need any help finalizing things for the funeral.”

“We’ll come with you. We’re family, Mendoza. Don’t forget that. You’re not alone with this.”

“I know. Thanks, Alec.”

With Alec and Carmen standing fierce guard over Veronica, Sera felt no guilt about slipping her hand into Julio’s and following him away from the crowd of people lingering after the graveside service. “Do you need some quiet?”

He gripped her hand. “I have something to do. Come with me?”

“Anywhere.”

He led her away from the open grave, the black-draped chairs and the people milling quietly about. Just past a towering oak tree, he pressed his hand to a weathered mausoleum. “Hector and Araceli. My dad’s parents.” He kept walking and stopped by a bench set before a white marble headstone. “My mother, Elena.”

Aching for the pain and sadness in him, Sera tugged him toward the bench. “Do you want to sit for a bit?”

“You sit. I want to stand. I need to talk to you.” He stared at the grave. “My mother never wanted me to be part of this life. She tried her best to keep me out of it. Carmen and Miguel too, but they weren’t the ones my dad really wanted.”

No, a shapeshifter with ambitions wouldn’t have wanted the children who couldn’t easily carry on his legacy. Even Carmen’s value as a wife had been manufactured hype, all of it resting on Julio’s shoulders. He was the proof that the Mendoza bloodline was strong. “She wanted to protect you.”

“Yes.” He turned to face Sera. “You know, it was the only time she ever tried to change the future she saw.”

Sera fought a shiver. “What did she see?”

“This, I guess. Power, politics. A fight to death. She never really told me.” His eyes unfocused, as if he was looking at something far away, or just long ago. “She spent years trying to teach me that God has a plan and, try as we might, we can’t change it. This…was her one exception.”

Sera reached out and took his hands. Not to pull his attention back to her, but to give him the anchor of touch. “She raised a strong, good son. She made you into someone who could never fit in their world. She couldn’t have known that you’d have the chance to fight that world. To beat it. You’re not betraying her, because you’re still the man she raised.”

“I’m not betraying her,” he agreed. “I’m learning my lesson. When I challenged my way onto the council, I saw this, Sera. I saw myself fighting again, maybe even dying. It was over so fast I can’t even be sure. But I always argued with my mother, told her anything could be changed.

And I haven’t changed this.”

“You don’t have to do it.” Maybe he needed to hear the words. “No one who loves you wants you to.”

“I know. But if I don’t, it’ll come around again, honey. And who’ll have to die next time? My brother? You?” He shook his head with a muffled growl. “Not in this lifetime.”

The weight of it settled on her shoulders, and she bit back her first instinct, the cowardly plea that he take it back, make it about anything but her. If he had to struggle under the burden of it, she could carry her part. Give him someone to protect, someone to fight for instead of things to fight against. “You’ll always do whatever you can to keep me safe, I know that.”

Julio exhaled. “You said she raised a strong son. I hope it’s true. But she also taught me to fight myself, what I am. She meant the best, and that habit dies hard, but I can’t do it anymore.

I can’t run.”

Sera tugged at his hands. “Come down here for a second.”

He dropped to his knees on the grass at her feet. “I’m not whining, I promise. I just need to tell you.”

“I know.” She cupped his cheeks and pressed her forehead to his. “I need to listen. But I need to be touching you too. It’s not about sex. It’s what I am. And I don’t want to fight it anymore, either.”

Julio took a deep breath. “We need someone in Atlanta. It’s too big a city not to have a council presence.”

Her heart froze. “They want it to be you?”

He looked up at her, his eyes dark, shadowed. “They want it to be me.”

“I love you.” She said it first, because his tension and fear hurt her heart. Rubbing her thumbs along his cheeks, she tried to push her love into him, to let it rise to the surface like the alphas could with their anger. “Most of the wolves at that funeral pretended they couldn’t see me. That didn’t scare me off. Atlanta couldn’t scare me off, if you wanted me with you.”

“I don’t want you with me, Sera. I need you.” He caught her hand and kissed her palm. “Not just because I love you, but because I really need you. Your help, your advice, all of it.”

The coyote melted. She started to, as well, and it was hard to hold back and draw the line. “I need to be your partner. Not just your lover or your support. As shapeshifters, you protect and I nurture. That’s what we are. But as people…I want to work with you to help people like Syd and Patty. It needs to be my job too.”

He didn’t answer right away. He tugged her hand to his chest so that it rested over his heart, and finally spoke. “If they won’t have you, they won’t have me, either.”

“Julio?”

“I know it’s a lot—”

“If you don’t tell me to shut up, I’m going to propose to you. In a graveyard.”

He barked out a laugh. “I’m doing this wrong. So wrong.”

“No.” She caught his face again and kissed him, a soft brush of lips that she ended before it could become more. “I had the deathless romance and the grand, empty gestures, and I don’t want it again. This is what I need now. A life that doesn’t feel choreographed.”

“If it seems crazy to us, what will it look like to everyone else? To your dad?” Julio shook his head. “I’ll come between you two, and you’ll have to defend this relationship to him. I want to say yes now, I want to yell it as loud as I can. But I need to ask you in a few days, when it still sounds like the best idea ever, and you still want me just as much.”

She hadn’t realized how tight her chest felt until the pressure eased. Not a rejection. But not a hasty acceptance, swept up in emotion and chaos. Sera pressed her forehead to his again and nodded. “You’re right. My dad—he’s going to freak.”

“In a minor way, I hope, but yeah.”

“I need to talk to him. It’s the one thing I never did before, because I knew I was being crazy.

And I knew, in my gut, that I was doing something stupid.” She smiled and nuzzled Julio’s cheek. “You’re not something stupid. We might both be a little crazy…but I like our kind of crazy.”

He stroked a hand over her hair. “So do I.”