Fragile Brilliance (Shifters & Seers) Read Free Page B

anniversary. I’m saving the extravagant stuff for five years.”
    While Jase was talking, the room, which had been filled with the buzzing of over two hundred voices speaking at the same time, grew eerily quiet. Charlie didn’t have to look up to see what - or, more accurately, who - caught their attention.
    “Well, we’re here now,” Scout said, stomping up to the table. “Don’t worry, Jase. Liam and I just walked on over. It’s a lovely day for it.” A small puddle was forming around her. She peeled off her raincoat and tossed it in a heap behind her.
    Charlie closed his eyes. “You forgot the Alphas?”
    “I don’t like the word ‘forgot’,” Jase said. “It makes me sound careless.”
    “You forgot the Alphas, and then didn’t go back to get them?”
    “By the time I remembered I was supposed to drive them over, they were already trudging through the field.”
    “She will kill you, and I will let her.”
    “Nah.” Jase smiled out at the crowd before them, and Charlie was pretty sure he actually heard a few of the Seers sigh. His cousin had that effect on people. Charlie had too once, but that was a long time ago. “Half of these idiots are going to piss her off so bad she’ll not even remember I made her walk through the rain and mud.”
    And half of those idiots were dominant enough to be able to hear Jase’s muttering even though it was the new moon, the time when their powers were at their weakest. If he’d said the same thing five minutes before, Charlie would probably be sporting a bloody nose and a few broken bones by now. If they were a real Alpha Pack, then no one would even think about it, but everyone knew how big of a joke they were. Instead of pooling together the strongest Shifters in the world, Scout surrounded herself with her friends and family when she became Alpha Female. Charlie tried to explain how coyote Shifters weren’t really Alpha Pack material - the gig was pretty much reserved for the more dominant wolves - but she was stubborn and one of the two most powerful Shifters in the world, so she got her way. Charlie’s cousins now sat in the majority of the seats facing the audience, and the others were occupied by a hodgepodge of Seers ranging from kick-ass (Talley) to… well, to a woman who didn’t actually See anything (Michelle, the glorified librarian).
    The only thing keeping them from being torn to shreds by a hundred other Shifters wanting to be in power was the guy rubbing a towel over Scout’s wet hair. At an imposing muscle-corded 6’3”, Liam Cole radiated a power even the most nonmagical person in the world could feel. There hadn’t been a Shifter of his dominance in known history. While most Shifters had to wait on the full moon to Change into a wolf or coyote, Liam could go furry whenever the mood struck. After he rose to the Alpha Male, a few Shifters were stupid enough to Challenge him for the position. It didn’t take long for even the most ignorant of their kind to realize it was a very bad idea.
    Everyone was scared of Liam. Even Charlie, whom Liam considered one of his closest friends, was a little intimidated by the guy. But what very few people realized was Liam wasn’t the biggest threat in the room. There was one Shifter whose dominance was equal to, if not greater than, his. And while Liam had very little patience for the idiot Shifters of the world, the girl he bound his life to had even less. In fact, she was just as likely to punch you through a wall as shake your hand.
    “Chuck,” Scout said, taking her seat next to him. Some may have thought sitting at the Alpha Female’s right hand was a sign of prominence, that Charlie was some kind of super-important member of the Alpha Pack, but that was about as far from the truth as you could get. Charlie had a pity position, but he wasn’t a total waste of space. He’d made a vow to protect the Alpha Female at all costs, even his own life. Hence his spot at the table.
    It was much easier