Whirlwind Revolution (17 page)

“Everyone else is excused. I only want Torr.”

“Doesn’t work that way,” Samantha snickered. “You have to individually rule them out and either with a reason or after Torr gives you his assessment.”

“Fine,” I growled, moving my hand to Torr’s chest when he went to sit back up. I pointed to the person closest to us. “No way. You were smirking when Torr admitted he was worried. You’re catty. Get out.” Then I moved to the woman next to the man, narrowing my eyes. “Twenty bucks you want to try and win me and dump the man who left a King for you, right?” I heard her heart flutter and pointed to the door. “Out.”

“Okay, how on earth could you tell
that
?” Abram asked. I glanced at the man and smiled.

“Shifty eyes. I can see things you guys can’t.” He nodded and his eyes filled with the last thing needed in the situation.

Longing.

“Like how much you want what is
mine
!” I stared down at Torr before grabbing both sides of his shirt and tearing it off him. Then I shifted my hand and ran my talons over his heart, just enough to draw blood scratches. “That’s how we mark our chosen, Torr. You cover that up before it heals and you’re denying me.”

His eyes went wide and he shook his head. “I won’t, I swear. You really mean it? You’re claiming me as your potential?”

I leaned down so we were nose to nose. “No, as my mate of choice,” I whispered against his lips. “Then I present you to my director and ask for his blessing before fucking you stupid and putting permanent marks on you that every bird shifter can sense so they know you’re off the market.”

“You’re asking me to mate?” He started shivering below me, and I realized it was too much for him too fast.

“We don’t have a suitor process. Think of this as that and it’s officially a mating claim if I present you to Director Woodrow, okay? The marks will fade but if you cover them up in the next twenty-four hours, my owl will know we’re rejected.”

“He’s marking his territory and trying to get you to nest with him,” Samantha tried. “It’s his claim on you until you mate officially.” I nodded in agreement. Yeah, that was equivalent to the wild, mostly.

Torr started purring deeply as he smiled at me. “Rule the rest of them out, my Hadley, and I’ll show you how grateful I am for your claim.”

“Why do they need to leave? Doesn’t your lynx want them to see how you please me? How much I want you?” I challenged. His eyes shined with desire and I had my answer. “Are you wearing your plug?”

“No, I didn’t want to risk it when you had all these other options,” he mumbled, looking away. I sighed, hating that he doubted what he meant to me so badly. There was a thump on the table next to him, and I smiled when I realized it was a packet of lube.

“Thanks, Abram. You can leave. We might talk about that playing when my man and I are secure in our place in each other’s lives but you’re the
last
person I want to see how beautiful Torr is during sex.”

“Fair enough. I’ll see the show when he takes you as his consort though,” he snickered. I turned Torr’s face back to mine at that news.

“Yeah, we fuck in front of the whole court to prove our mating is consummated,” Torr admitted with a wince.

“Gods, you guys are kinky,” I chuckled. “I love that.”

“Glad you’re happy.” He rolled his eyes at me and then yelped as I flipped him over underneath me.

“Give me the one tidbit for each of the rest that would rule them out,” I ordered and then tore out the back of his pants.

Torr moaned as I stretched him out, doing just as I wanted. By the time he was ready, they were all gone besides Samantha.

“Carry on,” she chuckled as she sat down. “I’m the witness. This is how
Discovery
ends. You accept his claim on courting you to be his mate. So accept away. I’ve never seen gay sex. I could use a good show and I’ve always been curious the kind of lover Torrance is with the way people rave after he—”

“Shut up, Samantha,” we both bitched and then I plunged into my man. Oh yeah, I was
all
about accepting his claim on me.

It thrilled me to the moon if I was honest. Even if it came through a crazy ass
Discovery
.

Whatever, if I got Torr in the end, then I was happy. And I made sure to make him happy I’d ruled everyone else out.

Twice.

9

I finally got a chance to get some breakfast after Torr and I cleaned up. I sat in on another meeting, this time between those leaders for sure going to Director Fabian’s stronghold. They were discussing who should start evacuating when, and how to adapt the spaces assigned so their people didn’t feel as if they were being sent to a comfortable prison but a new home.

I understood the importance of getting everyone in but decorating seemed frivolous when we were staring down the barrel of world war.

“Wars have been lost because those involved forget what they’re fighting
for
,” Director Fabian reminded me when I voiced my opinion. “If our people have to leave their homes, friends, and lives behind, they need to see that all hope is not lost of a
future
besides survival.”

All the leaders agreed and I had to admit it was a valid point. So I dropped it. Instead working on an idea I’d had in the back of my mind since I’d started witnessing Konrad’s treatment by the other felines at court. I borrowed some of Torr’s stationary and jotted down a note before having Konrad paged to the meeting room.

He was hesitant when he showed up, darting glances at Torr who was still talking on the phone.

“We’re cool from earlier, right?” I asked quietly as I rubbed his shoulder. “I meant what I said about how attractive you are but Torr’s it for me. No hard feelings?”

“None at all. Honestly, I knew how you felt and that’s not why I came to the
Discovery
.” I raised an eyebrow at that and he sighed. “As you said, people who have been treated a certain way recognize it in each other. After all the shit you’ve been through, I wanted to make sure the King could make
you
happy. None of us knew he would ever be with a man and then he announces he’s courting a male owl out of the blue?

“I just wanted to make sure you saw other people were in your corner so you weren’t getting trapped into something you didn’t want. I was worried for you.” He shrugged as he stared past me, not able to meet my eyes.

“You have a heart of gold, Konrad.” I leaned down and kissed his cheek, ignoring the growl behind me. “And that’s why I need you to do me a favor I can only entrust to you. A friend of mine is the stallion of the local stable. I realized he’s not been on any of the calls and worry no one might have gotten word to him. I need you to take him this message right away and bring him here. He’s a valuable asset and one we should have at our stronghold.”

“Okay, sure.” He smiled and took the envelope from me.

“Promise not to read that?”

His eyes filled with hurt as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I would
never
do something so dishonorable.”

“Good. I had to check.” I gave him a wink and smiled when he relaxed. Then I sent him on his way with instructions as to how to reach the stable.

“Care to explain what
that
was all about?” Torr seethed when his meeting was over. “I’m not a fan of secret whisperings and cheek
kissing
when I’m busy with other things.”

“No,” I snickered, shaking my head. “I like the way you apologize too much, babe. I’ll wait until you see with your own eyes what I was up to. I think I’ll get more groveling that way.”

“Fine! Keep secrets then. I’m going spar and work off some of my tension.” He stormed past me and I couldn’t help but smirk. He was the
sexiest
man even when he was fuming at me.

“Can we wrestle?” I called after him, laughing when he flicked me off. Oh, he was
so
going to grovel when Konrad returned.

I looked forward to it.

I still trailed after him and watched his sparring with Samantha. They were good before—now they were both exceptional, going at matches for real instead of play fighting where nothing was on the line. And their positioning was excellent.

That thought got caught in my head. I’d thought it before or been worried about positionings? I
hated
when something was just on the cusp on my consciousness and I couldn’t get a hold of it. It had to be important or it wouldn’t keep coming back up. Then I looked around the room, watching where everyone was at.

Allies.

Next to fight the winner.

They were all at the best vantage points and—

“Stay with Torr,” I called out to Samantha, realizing what had been bothering me.

“Hadley, is something wrong?” Torr asked as he stepped back from the sparring circle.

“No, I have an idea.” I didn’t give him anything else as I escaped his curious gaze and used the security radio I had always now. “I need all the Royal Guards who have military experience to the main meeting room right away. Also, your gopher, we’ll need a runner.”

“Not cool, man. We have a high respect for the court assistants,” someone griped over the radio.

“No, I didn’t mean it as an insult,” I groaned, once again falling into a sticky mess because of the difference between our species. “Anyone who pisses off Director Woodrow or is in hot water for whatever reason is the gopher until they make amends. They’re kinda the flock’s bitch for a week or whatever.”

“That’s not a bad idea to suggest to the King as long as you guys don’t take it to humiliation for making a mistake.”

“Not even,” I snickered. “It’s like a temporary downgrade for fucking up and proof you don’t want to do it again and will
work
to improve. Showing everyone else the type of dedication we require to thrive as a flock.”

“Yeah, I like it,” another voice came in. “It seems like we pick on the same people to always be the grunt and it’s better to rotate it up. I mean, everyone screws up once in a while so it’s better people realize shit happens, you make up for it, and move on.”

“Exactly.” I reached the meeting room then and growled at who was standing there. “Of
course
you’re one with military experience.”

“A Marine for over a decade,” Abram confirmed with a wide smile and adjusted his neck.

“Well, Torr’s into majors from the Air Force.”

“Nice. Didn’t know you had that kind of rank,” one of the advisors chuckled as she joined us. I raised an eyebrow at her and she smirked. “Naval Intelligence, my friend. I have a feeling you’ve got a plan that might be helped if you know where all the bodies are buried.”

“Yes, yes, it would.” I saw I had half a dozen people already and started barking out orders. “Okay, we need a world map. I mean massive. And we need markers. One for each pack, pride, flock, herd, stable, school, whatever.”

“Do you want distinctions between the species or just number coded?” Abram asked, probably already guessing where I was going with all of this.

“Both.” Okay, so that was a bitch move. They needed to be numbered so we could line up the groups with the locations, but a distinction would be helpful.

And maybe I just wanted to give him a shit job and make it a little harder for wanting Torr.

“That’s cool. I rock at arts and crafts,” he chuckled as he waved over one of the court’s assistants, rattling off what he would need.

“Of
course
you do,” I grumbled and got back to my own plotting. Just as I was done instructing everyone what we would need for all the pieces, someone unrolled a map of the world taller than I was and at least twenty feet wide. I glanced at the guy, blinking a moment before raising an eyebrow at him. “Where did you pull
that
out of?”

“The King’s study. He has a new one put up every year over the world map in the dining hall. We got the newest edition in last month and we haven’t had a chance yet.” He shrugged.

“Rock on.” I returned the gesture. “Okay, I need shot glasses. Those are going to be the strongholds and we put the markers in them once each position is solidified, but let’s start with where they are now.”

“You want to start planning tactical routes,” the advisor, Glenda, with the surprising Naval Intelligence background surmised.

“Think bigger.” I smiled at her and she nodded.

“Oh yeah. I feel you. We know a wolf who was CIA.”

“Get him on the line and start getting the intel we need. Anyone of our people,
not
the leaders, but those of us who have been on the ground. I want FSB, Mossad, Iranian Intelligence, all of it.”

“What else?” she asked, jotting down notes.

I rubbed my chin and thought big, the wet dream of a complete picture of our adversary. “Consulates. They normally have a company of military posted there along with an intelligence office of some sort. We have an edge the humans don’t. We know
their
systems because we’ve been in them. They know ours from spying and the PP. That’s not a lot of insight.”