Nick was humbled by the thoughts that he could hear around him, and he looked at each one of them as he passed for a long moment, greeted by some, only bowed to by others. They should be more worried about themselves than they are about me. It’s my job to take care of them, not the other way around.
That’s the thing about a good pack, though. She looked around, drinking in the sight of the people that legitimately cared for each other, people that depended on the kindness of their neighbors to survive. Everyone looks out for everyone.
That’s what I’m trying to build. A good pack. But we need friends before that can happen. He sighed. But that’s not until next week. When the fun begins and everyone starts arriving.
Zara reached out and touched the side of his shoulder lightly once, for only a moment, before she dropped her arm back to her side. We’ll get it worked out. You’ll see.
The Council members…Nick hadn’t asked her very much just yet about her former masters, but that was because he still wasn’t sure about her, and he didn’t want her to see too many of his reactions to what he learned. Are they often tired? Or weighed down? What are they like when they’re not sitting on their thrones with others kneeling before them?
It’s often like they live two lives. She looked over at him, watching his face. Zara wasn’t sure why he was asking, though there was no reason for her not to answer him. Sure, having such responsibility is tiring, but that’s why they have a mate that isn’t a Council member. So that they can go home and live some kind of normal life. Play with puppies. Forget the weight of their responsibilities until the next day. Some of them like to act high and mighty all the time, but most of them just want to forget for a while.
I think I can imagine which ones are which. He sighed as they got away from the large campground and headed into the recently-cleared space that had been hedged in by trees a few weeks before. It was cleared land for them to continue expanding on, and there were Ironborn working to clear still more land around the edges, the steel fence expanding behind them with every downed tree. I wonder what that would be like. To forget. I don’t think I could ever do that.
You don’t ever want to just do something that makes you happy?
He was confused by the question, then nodded back to the grounds they’d just passed. If we can get through this, and establish the kind of order that we want, then that will make thousands of people happy. Like I said, that’s my job now, to care for them and their happiness.
She looked around and then back at the compound before she looked back at him. “You know, I’ve been watching people for a long time now.” It was the closest she’d come to saying her age, which was something she liked to avoid mentioning. It was just another reason for people to avoid her, and that was the last thing a Heartborn ever wanted. “Something I have learned is that no matter how hard you work, no matter how hard you try, you can’t make anyone happy. They have to decide that for themselves.” She looked at some of the guards that paced and watched the two of them as they walked. “No one is going to want to stay here and be a part of something if they have to live up to that. No one is going to want to stay in a place where the most powerful wolf sacrifices all of his own enjoyment for a smooth-running pack. Happiness begets happiness.”
“I’m not begetting anything anytime soon.” He almost laughed. Almost. Nothing was quite that funny at the moment. “On the other side of all this, I’ll be able to worry about things like finding a mate and starting a family. I know that’s something every Alpha needs. But I can’t just put someone else in the middle of all of this right now.”
“If they can’t handle this, the heat of it all, then they wouldn’t be worthy to be yours.”
“Heat does nothing but make us stronger.” His lips parted in a dangerous kind of smile. “Something you wouldn’t know much about just yet, I imagine. Having never worked for an Ironborn member of the Council.”
She nodded, since what he said was true. She didn’t know much about them yet, but day by day, that was changing. “I’m here. I’m learning.”
He looked over at her, with his thoughts restrained, but only barely, and looked her up and down with a look that she didn’t need to be a mind-reader to understand, though he looked away quickly afterwards. “I see that.”
VI
Nick was in the middle of a meeting with his guards when there was a knock on the little house he used for meetings. Normally Zara wouldn’t interrupt him or come anywhere near his meetings because she didn’t want people to think that she was being used to influence things, but it was urgent.
He got up from where he was sitting with some of the captains of the Iron Guard and excused himself. When some of them grumbled about him leaving at a Heartborn’s bark, he glared them down before they could continue and whisper too loudly.
He stepped out into the hall with her before
