"He can consider whatever he likes. They were in our territory and under our protection. He had no claim."“They were just outside our western territory. You said so yourself. He has a claim, Rivik, whether you like it or not.”
Sira wasn't wrong, and that was what made it so infuriating. By the old laws, Karik could argue he'd claimed them first. It was a thin claim, built on violence and cruelty, but the gathering council would hear it. Some alphas might even side with him, if only to avoid making an enemy.
"So what would you have me do, Sira?" I kept my voice controlled, but barely. "Hand them over? Send two females to Broken Ridge to be used as breeding stock by a pack that slaughters anyone who resists? Is that what the Hanging Rock pack has become?"
Sira's expression didn't waver. "Of course not. I would sooner cut off my own hand than deliver any female to that monster, and you know it. But I am asking you, Alpha, to consider the complication they represent. How long do they intend to stay?"
I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling the weight of every gaze in the circle. "The wolf alpha seems eager to leave. He's been restless since they arrived, like he's got somewhere to be. But the human male's leg is still healing. He can manage a few steps with a stick now, but he's weeks away from travelling any real distance."
"How many weeks?" Sira pressed.
"Three, maybe four, before he could manage a full day's walk. And even then, slowly." I'd asked Daska that question just yesterday, dreading the answer even as I asked it. He'd been careful in his response, professional, but I'd seen the way his jaw tightened. He didn't want them to leave either. Or rather, he didn't wantherto leave.
Neither did I.
I shoved that thought down hard and focused on Sira. “That’s what Daska said yesterday.”Sira nodded slowly, her gnarled fingers tapping a rhythm on her staff. "Then we extend them hospitality for that time, as is proper. But when the human can travel, they should be sent on their way. The longer they remain, the greater the risk that Karik uses their presence as a pretext to challenge us."
"There's another option," I said, and even as the words left my mouth, I knew I was stepping onto thin ice. "We could invite them to stay. Formally. Adopt them into the pack."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Ryke shot me a sharp, questioning glance that I deliberately didn't meet. Around the fire, expressions shifted. Torin's brow furrowed. Jarak exchanged a glance with Miska that spoke volumes. Sira's tapping stopped.
"The wolves, perhaps," said Sila carefully, breaking the silence first. "Though they keep to themselves. They don't eat with us, or even offer to help prepare the food.”“The female human does,” Jarak pointed out. “She’s trying to be as involved as possible. She helps cook, watches younger pups, and she’s picked up a bit of our language too.”
“She’s human,” one of the elders pointed out. “However nice she is, humans do not belong in a wolf pack. The bear is bad enough. We’d be a laughing stock at summer gatherings.”
The anger I'd been holding back surged forward before I could stop it. My wolf spirit pressed against my skin, bristling, and I felt the rumble build in my chest before I even opened my mouth.
"The bear," I said, my voice dropping to a register that made the elder shift uncomfortably, "has a name. Daska has served this pack since he was old enough to train as our healer. He has healed your children, set your broken bones, sat with your dyingelders through their last breaths. He has given more to Hanging Rock than most wolves I know, and if any of you think his presence makes us lesser, then perhaps it's your judgement that should be questioned, not his place among us."
The elder who'd spoken, Varek, had the grace to look down, but I could see the stubbornness in the set of his jaw. He wasn't convinced. He was just unwilling to challenge his alpha directly.
Ryke's hand landed on my forearm. Not restraining, just grounding. A quiet reminder that I was in a council meeting, not a dominance challenge, and that snarling at elders wasn't going to win the argument. I took a breath. Then another. The fire crackled in the silence.
"Rivik." Sira's voice was careful, measured. "No one is questioning Daska's value. He is our healer, and a good one. But Vorak raises a point that others will raise too, whether we like it or not. A wolf pack with a bear shifter is unusual. A wolf pack with a bear shifterandhumans would be unprecedented. Other packs would question our strength.Karik’spack would question our strength. The humans cannot remain here.”I held Sira's gaze for a long moment, then let out a slow breath through my nose. She was right, and the rational part of me knew it. The part that had been raised to lead, to weigh every decision against the survival of the pack, to think three steps ahead and never let sentiment cloud strategy.
But there was another part of me now. A part that had been growing louder every day for the past four weeks, drowning out reason with something raw and desperate and entirely beyond my control.
"It was a thought," I said evenly. "Nothing more. When the humans can travel, we'll send them on their way with supplies and an escort to the edge of our territory."
The tension around the fire eased by a fraction. Sira inclined her head, and I saw something like approval, or perhaps relief, flicker across her weathered features.
"A wise decision, Alpha."
It didn't feel wise. It felt like surrender.
I stood, signalling the end of the council. "Ryke, double the patrols on the eastern boundary. I want to know the moment Broken Ridge wolves set foot on our land. Torin, Jarak, redistribute the hunting parties. Smaller groups, wider range. If Karik's wolves are pushing into our grounds, I want our scent on every trail and every ridge. Make it clear this territory is held."Sira studied me for a moment longer, something flickering behind those ancient eyes that I couldn't quite read. Then she nodded once and turned to Ryke. "What of the summer gathering? If Karik raises a claim…"
"We deny it," Ryke said firmly. "The travellers were in our territory. We rendered aid. There's no custom that gives Karik ownership over people he attacked."
"He'll argue he claimed them before we intervened."
"Then he'll have to prove it before the gathering council, and I'd like to see him try. The man's about as persuasive as a rockslide." Ryke smiled, but there was no humour in it. "Besides, if the travellers are gone by then, there's nothing to claim. The point becomes moot."“And if they come before then?”“Then we’ll deal with it,” I said firmly.
The council broke apart slowly, wolves drifting into the darkness with the weight of everything unsaid hanging between them like smoke. Sira was last. She paused at the edge of the firelight and turned back to me, her walking staff planted firmly in the packed earth.
"You carry more than you're showing tonight, Alpha," she said quietly. "Be careful it doesn't crush you."
