“Is this true?” Deryn asked, eyes narrowed.
“Yes,” Rowen said simply. “I’m surprised you never sensed it.”
A ripple went through the room—fear, awe, disbelief, anger. No one breathed. I tried not to glare at either my beta or my mate. We came here to defendnotprovoke.
Deryn recovered first, but barely. “This…changes things.”
“It changes nothing,” I told him. “Let’s be clear. This is not how the Pack Council should operate.”
An elder on the left sputtered, “Conception doesn’t prove legitimacy!”
Diesel snorted. “Buddy, if you think aforcedbond can produce an alpha heir, your education failed you.”
“Escort him out,” the elder snapped.
Diesel grinned. “Try it.”
Killian dragged a hand down his face again. “For the love of the Goddess, Wolfe?—”
Rowen stepped forward, and the room fell silent once more. Her eyes locked on Deryn. “I am my father’s daughter. My father, who was alpha of Blueridge Hollow for years.Years. He named Wolfe his heir. As an alpha who welcomedWolfe into his pack when he was a boy, and as the Alpha Wolfe who returned to the Hollow when he learned that this Council planned to sell me and my pack to the most malleable shifters.” She glared to the left. “You think I don’t see you hiding there, Dex?”
My head snapped to the side. I hadn’t seen him either. One of the males who had tried to win her hand.
Rowen pressed on. “You shouldn’t need my husband’s beta to tell you what you should have felt the moment I walked into this hall,” she told them. “He is my mate. He is my husband. He is Alpha of the Hollow and Stonefang, and neither of those lands acknowledges false bonds.”
“She is not a recognized—” an elder began.
Rowen cut him off. “You sit in a canvas tent that sits on land you don’t even understand. Donot darelecture me on legitimacy.” Her gaze swept the room like the queen she was. “Or legacy. You know nothing about either.”
A couple of alphas choked on their own spit. Even I blinked at her ferocity.
Deryn leaned forward slowly, eyes narrowing with new cunning. “If what you say is true…then the Hollow’s heir is already conceived.”
Rowen didn’t answer. I stepped forward beside her, voice low and lethal. “The line continues. The packs of Blueridge and Stonefang are united, and the territory is secure.”
Not territories. Not plural. Singular. One.
Ours.
Elders exchanged looks, some more panicked than others. Not because of the pregnancy. Because of theimplication, two territories unified with one alpha and one heir.
Deryn’s voice came out tight. “This information should have been disclosed before your arrival.”
“Why? It wasn’t your business,” I said.
The chamber sat in silence.
Behind me, Diesel murmured, smug as sin, “You’re welcome.”
I didn’t turn. But he heard the growl anyway.
I looked across the chamber to Deryn. “Anything else?”
Chapter 15
Wolfe
“Alpha Wolfe of Stonefang,”Deryn began, wasting no more time, his voice suddenly smooth, almost pleased, “the Pack Council has concerns regarding your recent behavior.”
