“Please.” Nina panted as I focused on them.
I heard the three groan, and I swore I could hear the creaking of their ribs as my power slammed into them over and over like a crushing wave. “Please.” Nadine was next to plead. “I can’t breathe.”
Nina started to cry, and Nadine soon followed, but I turned my focus on Thinius. I slammed my power into him over and over, earning a pained whine. “Stop this.”
“No, I don’t think I will. You pressed your power down on the women here. You tried to overpower us. You tried to command us to hand over our fucking right to apply to be the next queen.” I stood. “You overstepped your position as a council member once again.” I turned to check on everyone behind me, while I kept my power focused fully on the trio. I went over to help one of the last girls, still on their knees. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Should I leave?” Her question hurt my heart. “I don’t want to be queen if this is how they operate.”
A few women nodded in agreement. I held her hands and shook my head. “There are rules against this.” I raised my voice so everyone could hear me. “The council is forbidden from using their status and power against any normal wolf. They aren’t even supposed to interact with any wolves with a rank lower than Gamma.” I turned and looked at Thinius. “Isn’t that right? You gave an oath to give away any claim to rank and the standardpower structure when you pledged to the council. Yet here you are, throwing your power around to try and stop these women from applying to be queen. You have no right.” I screamed.
A murmur went through the crowd. You could tell not many people read all the laws for our kind, but my father made sure I did. Thinius sneered, face still pressed into the marble. “Of course I have the right.” He screamed back.
“Says who?”
Chapter Forty-Five
Everyone froze. The entire room held their breath as heavy footsteps clipped through the crowd. I felt both my wolves perk up as Rowan made it through the crowd of women. I closed my eyes, reining in my anger and shifting my fangs away, doing my best to settle my insides before he came over to me. “Hello, my king.” I turned and looked up at him. His eyes zeroed onto the blood on my face and I watched his eyes flash to his wolf’s.
“Hello rabbit.” His words were a soft whisper that I barely caught. I felt heat crawl up my neck again. “Hello Alpha Amy.” This time, his words were loud enough for everyone to hear. “Do you mind explaining why you’re using your aura on the three in front of you?”
“My king!” Thinius cried out. “This bitch is-”
I growled, and a surprising amount of others did too. “My king, if you would allow me to say something?” A woman called from the side of the room. I turned to find the very first woman from earlier walking over. Rowan looked at me, raising his eyebrow, and I gave a tiny nod. He turned to the woman and nodded. “I came here to apply for,” she stumbled on her words.
“For the position of queen.” Rowan finished for her, and she smiled and nodded.
“Yes. As everyone else here did.” Rowan nodded. “I came here with very little hope, but Amy here, she is doing everything she could to let anyone apply.”
Rowan nodded. “Anyone is allowed to apply.” He looked at me in confusion. “I announced that anyone could apply.” I nodded and then pointed to Thinius.
“You did, my king. And Amy here had this table yesterday, but I missed it. So I tried to do it last night at home. I did the application that Amy has here but their page took me to another where they asked me more questions, and then rejected my application all together. I screenshotted it.” She handed her phone to the king and his growl shook the room.
“I’m sorry.” He read out loud. “But your application was denied as you do not have the qualifications to even be considered for the position. Are you fucking serious?” He whirled to face the trio on the ground. “On what fucking grounds do you have the authority to go against my words?”
“My king.-”
“Enough.” He handed back her phone and then turned to me. “What happened?”
“Rowan.” Nadine started, but his snarl stopped her.
“The three of you will shut the fuck up until I ask you a question.” Everyone in the room felt the command, and the trio were effectively muzzled. “Now Amy, please explain how we got here.” I nodded. And then briefly explained the entireinteraction, but Rowan interrupted her. “You crushed Nina’s hand?”
“Yeah.” I cut a look at her. “It should be healed by now. But I will warn you right now, Nina. If you push me anymore. I’ll crush it and then hold it in place while you heal your hand becomes useless.” Her whimper was answer enough. “Thinius then used his aura on this room, trying to get me to bend the knee, and close down the application table. He didn’t like that my applications were going to your email, so he couldn’t reject any of these women. Nina even tried to stop me from applying myself.” I watched his eyes darken. “Then I reminded Thinius that he swore an oath that he was ignoring and abusing his position in the council to threaten lower ranked wolves. Nadine here found it particularly funny that I said he wasn’t allowed to do this.” I waved a hand at the trio. “So I released my aura, to hammer home they had no power here.”
“Amy.” I turned back to Toya, who had a wide smile on her face. “You forgot when Thinius called your mother a whore and said your father was lucky he was dead.” She offered that little tidbit, and I felt my fangs descend again, fur rippling down my arms.
“Oh yes, there is that.” I closed my eyes and pulled my power back in, inch by inch, then I waited for the trio to stand, still unable to speak. I stalked closer. “There is the fact that this family thinks it smart to throw my father’s death in my face, over and over, and now to go as far as calling my innocent mother a whore.” I snapped my fangs at them. Nix was holding on by the skin of her teeth. She wanted to kill them. All three. She had put up with them long enough. And this time, I agreed. I could feel Megan’s agreement, too. “My patience is gone and my wolf is tired of pretending to be nice. The next time you bring my parents into this conversation, I will call for a Cath Báis.”
A gasp went through the room.
“A death battle?” Rowan raised his eyebrow, but I just nodded.
“This family has been pushing me since the beginning of the year. Nina has claimed to be the one that donated to everyone, using my money and my silence as a way to negotiate her work out of people.” There was another gasp, and I nodded. “She has used my generosity to get the grades she has.” I lifted one finger, counting on my hands the bullshit they have done. “She has tried to attack me when I was running, even though she knew who I was because she was trying to impress a wolf out in the woods.” Another finger. “She has used her rank, her influence, and her status as apparently the next queen to lord over this fucking school and, to be frank, I’m over it.” A few people clapped. “And then her sister and uncle come here to tell me that I have to fall in line with their bullshit power and influence. They have actively tried to get rid of unranked wolves, because to them, they are lesser than a ranked wolf. This entire family is corrupt and I’m fucking over it. My father…” I pretended to get choked up and I saw Rowan’s lips twitch. “My father raised me to be a wolf with a moral compass. He raised me to watch over my pack and wolves of lower rank. He taught me to stand up against people like these three, and I am over being the bigger person.”
“What do you mean?” I saw something flit across Rowan’s face, but I couldn’t decipher it.
“I mean, I am an extremely powerful Alpha that has bent over backwards to keep her wolf from striking out without a thought. Even though I am still fairly new to shifting, as I am still in my first year, and I have very little time to run and bond with her, I have not killed Nina. And believe you me, it has been a fucking challenge. But I’m done holding back from this family.” I stalked back up to Nina, and I looked straight into her eyes. “Nina, I’m going to tell this to you and I really need you to look me in the eye and see that I mean every fucking word.” I waited until she nodded. “If you, your sister, your uncle, fuck, I don’t even care ifit’s a distant cousin. If any of you interfere with my life again. If you or any of yours try to force me to do anything I don’t want to. If you come to me to mock or belittle me.” I stepped, so I was in her face. “If you even come to me to tell me you won something, I’ll call for a Cath Báis.” I watched fear enter her eyes. “I’m over you showing up at my home, my classes, my training sessions. You have stalked me this entire year and I honestly have zero idea why, but I’m done being nice. So I need you to really think about your next steps.” I looked at Nadine and then at Thinius. “Her life is in your hands, so choose wisely.” I turned away and Nadine snorted. I whirled around. “You think I’m joking? Do you think her life is a game?” I glanced at Rowan and his command lifted with a single word.
