“I am breathing.”
“Uh-huh,” he said, eyeing me. “Want to try again? Because you’re about to shift, and you’re not as in control as you think you are.”
I rolled my shoulders. “I’m fine.”
He clucked his tongue. “Are you? You’re vibrating.”
I gritted my teeth and stalked toward the hall. “I’mfine.”
Killian and Brand followed like they already knew wherethis was headed. We made it ten steps before a young wolf—barely past his first shift—darted toward me.
“Alpha,” he panted, eyes wide, “what—what happens to us?” Behind him, two more hovered. Young. Scared. Trying to pretend they weren’t. Why were they not with their families?
I stopped walking.
Rowen was still within earshot. She paused at the edge of the trail, turned slightly, listening without looking like she was.
I crouched to look the boy in the eye. “What’s your name?”
“Fitz,” he whispered. Huge brown eyes stared up at me, but nervously flickered to Diesel every five seconds or so.
Fitz’s wolf brushed mine. Small and timid.
“Where are your families?” I asked them.
Killian stepped forward. “These pups are pack boys,” he told me softly. “Parents gone one way or the other,” he added with a meaningful look.
Right. Either they died on patrol or in battle, or they packed their shit and left.
“How many do we have in total?”I asked my betas, not the question I wanted to ask, which was why did I not know we had orphans in the pack? Or had I known and everything else had drowned it out?
“Five,”Brand answered. “These three, a little girl—she’s not shifted yet—and an older boy. He follows Axel around a lot.”
“Fitz?” I extended my hand, and after a long moment, he took it and gave a firm shake. “Boys?” They stepped forward. One was younger than the others, and I doubted he’d had his first shift.
“Billy,” the older of the two spoke. He didn’t offer his hand. “Lake’s dumb.”
“Mute,” Fitz snapped at his friend. “Lake’s mute.”
“Hi, Lake.” I watched him as he stepped closer to Fitz. “Can you hear me, little one?”He jumped as if startled. I smiled at him, and he chewed his fingers nervously. “Can you say something?”
His brow furrowed in confusion, and I thought he was going to run. Instead… “Alpha?”His whole face morphed into one of delight when he saw that I’d heard him. “I can speak?”
“You can speak,”I confirmed, pushing past the lump in my throat. “But only I can hear you.”
He nodded like he knew that and then looked up at me, shyly. Huge brown eyes full of innocence. “What do I sound like?”
My breath caught. Fuck.Holy Luna,I was going to bawl like a baby. "A little bit squeaky,” I teased him, and he grinned. “You’ll grow into it.”I held my hand out and he took it, and I pulled him a little bit closer.
I looked at the three of them. “What happens to you?” I asked them, and they all nodded. “The Council can say whatever they want on a piece of parchment,” I told them. “You’re part of my pack. Part of Blueridge Hollow. This land knows you.Iknow you. Nothing they say changes that.”
Billy’s throat bobbed. He looked at the two younger boys and back at me. “But…they saiddissolved.”
I felt Killian’s attention sharpen behind me. Brand shifted closer.
“They want us scared,” I told them quietly. “That’s allthey have right now—words and fear. Until you’re standing on the border, with their soldiers breathing down your neck, you belong exactly where you are.”
Billy exhaled shakily, nodded, and moved a little closer to Fitz. His friend didn’t notice, but I did, he was protective of them. He looked like he wanted to take Lake away from my side too. “Okay.” He licked his lips, looking at my betas. “You’ll give us enough warning to run, if we have to?”
