Tarnished by Rhiannon Held Read Free Book Online

instinctive hostility toward another dominant Were. “I’m sorry. I know what it’s like to be constantly underestimated as a female alpha. I should know better.”
    “Not your fault,” Silver murmured. “But now you see why I’m part of the planning.” She dragged her chair back so she was leaning against Andrew’s side again, and he obligingly slid his arm around her.
    “Silver’s something of a switch, I’ve found,” Andrew said. Silver snorted at the term, but didn’t object. Any Were could try to act like one of a higher or lower status, but it was a rare one who could make anyone believe it. When Silver decided a stranger shouldn’t notice her, she was damn convincing. “So it would have been surprising if you’d read her dominance when you first met.” He squeezed his hand on Silver’s arm. “Boston suggested we use it to win people over: that we’re a pair of alphas.”
    Michelle started to look away and then changed her mind and looked at him, though they both avoided direct eye contact. The reluctance her initial look suggested didn’t reassure Andrew. Her scent was neutral, at least. “It’s going to be a tough battle. You know that, right? Your reputation is tarnished, to say the least. Sacramento has a lot of ammunition.”
    “That’s why we need support,” Andrew said. He pretended relaxation he didn’t feel and sipped his beer. “You can be a character witness, since you know differently.”
    “Do I?” Michelle sighed. “No one knows what really happened in Barcelona. Sacramento’s chasing that one hard. Everyone knows why, too, because most people hated his little shit of a son and didn’t shed any tears over his execution. But he does have a point about the Barcelona massacre.”
    Andrew took a deep breath. All right. Time to practice in front of people ostensibly his allies before he had to do it in front of his enemies. He took Silver’s hand under the table, and she laced her fingers with his and squeezed tightly back. He could do this.
    “The thing about Europe is that everyone has long memories, and there’s not much space.” Andrew tapped fingertips on the tabletop in lines corresponding to the territory divisions on the map in his mind. “They squabble over inches of land. Inches. Skirmish and it goes to Madrid, skirmish and it goes back to Barcelona. When I was there, it was popular to burn the other pack’s houses. That forced the noncombatants to pick up and move farther toward the center of the territory. Supposedly, the idea wasn’t to kill anyone, but they made a mistake with my wife. She’d forgotten something and returned to the house to get it. Barcelona thought we were out for the evening.”
    Andrew saw John and Michelle’s attention sharpen as he left the generalities of Europe, but their expressions still suggested they expected some kind of redirection at the end. “So while Madrid and my in-laws sifted through the ashes, planning their retaliation, what house they would burn, what utterly pointless fight they would pick, I went to Barcelona. I found the beta out running with some others on their hunting grounds. He thought I was funny, coming out to chastise him all by myself.”
    Andrew drew in a shuddering breath and brought Silver’s hand to his chest where he could clasp it with his other. Silver gave him a thin-lipped smile of encouragement, and the two alphas stared in shock at getting real details. Andrew’s satisfaction at shoving them off-balance was a dim thing in the face of the crushing pressure of the memories, but he clung to it anyway.
    “Really, the only reason I managed to kill the beta was because he let his guard down, underestimating me that way. Then the others were so shocked, they were easier. Some may have surrendered at the end. I don’t remember. I don’t think I was able to hear them at that point. Then I set the hunting grounds on fire, so the remaining pack would remember what it was about.” Andrew took