Thomas pursed his lips, his eyes darting to me briefly before returning to Marcus. “Very well. We have concerns, Alpha. Concerns about this… alliance you’ve formed with the hunter.”
Whispers spread through the crowd, their eyes shifting between Thomas and Marcus. The tension in the Den was thick. Whatever conflict these two had beneath the surface was threatening to erupt.
Marcus’s voice remained deceptively calm. “And what, exactly, are your concerns, Thomas?”
One werewolf behind Thomas, a burly man with a thick beard, stepped forward. “She’s a hunter, Marcus. Our enemy. How can we trust her? How can we trust you to lead us when you’re consorting with the things that want to destroy us?”
Marcus’s eyes flashed with anger, but his voice remained controlled. “Joanna is not our enemy, Omar. She’s made the pact.”
Thomas scoffed, his voice dripping with disdain. “A pact is notenough, Marcus. We need assurances she won’t betray us. That she won’t turn on us the moment it suits her.”
I felt a surge of anger rise within me. I stepped forward, my voice steady and clear. “So, because I’m a hunter, the rules of magic no longer apply?” I challenged. “I’ve given up blood. Like Marcus said, I’m not your fucking enemy.”
Thomas’s gaze shifted to me. “Pretty words, hunter. But words from you are cheap.”
The werewolves behind him murmured in agreement. I could see the suspicion in their eyes, the demand for more. But what was more than blood?
“Our alpha is without a mate, and yet he has no issue leading us into a war,” Thomas declared to his kin. “He has shown nothing but recklessness, allowing a hunter to enter our home. Executing our brother because he took the lives of afewhumans.”
“Excuse me?” I pulled away from Marcus to kick the elder’s ass, but Marcus tightened his grip around my wrist.
Thomas’s gaze swept over the room, pausing on each werewolf, a clear challenge burning in his eyes. “The time has come for the Alpha to step down.”
Chapter Eleven
Marcus
The cave went silent, the only sound the crackling of the torches. Every eye was on me, waiting for my response. Tension radiated off the pack, their unease clinging to my skin. But I was the alpha, and no one would be allowed to challenge me so easily.
“Choose your next words carefully, Thomas,” I snarled.
Thomas didn’t back down. “You’ve shown weakness, Marcus. You’ve allowed a hunter into our home. You executed our beta for defending our kind. You’ve put us all at risk.”
I released a low, warning growl, the wolf within me waiting for a chance to attack. “Ethan was a traitor. He drew unnecessary attention to our pack. He was a liability.”
“He was one of us!” Thomas snapped. “And you killed him without second thought. What’s stopping you from doing the same to any of us if we displease you?”
Eyes shifted from Thomas to me, uncertainty written on every face. I could see their newfound fear, as irrational as that fear was.
I stepped forward, my voice ringing out through the cave. “I’ll say it again: Ethan’s actions threatened the stability of this pack. As your alpha, I’m charged with protecting this family and ensuring its survival. I did what I had to do.”
Thomas scoffed. “Ethan knew humans can’t be trusted, and that they should never be feared. We are at the top of the food chain. Why should we be the ones hiding in the shadows?”
I glanced at Joanna, catching her eyes briefly before turning back to Thomas, my voice firm. “We made an agreement with the Bureau, and since then,our kin have lived among humans without problems. The moment we disrupt the peace, the world will fight for equilibrium. That means more hunters will be born. There will be more dead on both sides.”
“Did she tell you that?”
I turned to face Brian.
“Alpha, we all see the way you look at her. It’s like you’ve already chosen the human… as your mate.”
Whispers bounced off the cave walls, hushed voices merging into a dull roar in my ears. I took a deep breath without looking in Joanna’s direction, though I could feel the discomfort radiating from her.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Brian—”
“Is it ridiculous?” Thomas interjected. “Or is it proof that we need a revolution? To correct a world where a hunter can bat her eyelashes and make an alpha forget his duty.”
I growled, annoyed that his accusation struck a nerve, not with my subordinates, but with me. His biting words landed their mark. Because even as the air thickened with the sickening fumes of mutiny, the wolf inside me howled,Protect her.
