And for the first time, looking out over the sea of hungrily expectant faces staring up at us, I felt a tendril of fear. It had been a while since I realized my mate’s life could be forfeitfor another. We’d been in a bubble, out running missions that weren’t her usual maiden’s job. Investigating, rubbing elbows with politicians.
But this? This was what she had trained for.
There wasn’t a wolf alive who could have mistaken her for anything less than a maiden, trained by the enclave, there under the torchlight with her radiant raven hair and stunningly red lips.
“Thank you all for being here,” Brielle said, adding a gracious wave.
There was a smattering of applause, but tension was beginning to build now, as if people expected something more.
“You all know that you’ve been called for a war gathering,” Kane began, his voice calm even as he began to unfold the tale. “But what most of you don’t know is the battle that my inner circle and I have already been fighting over the past few months.”
Brielle leaned in closer to his side for a brief moment, then stepped back behind him, next to Elodie, and my gut sank.
He’s about to tell them. All of them.
And as dread curdled in my stomach, that was exactly what he did. Recounted the whole, gory tale from the beginning. How, after his wolf claimed Brielle, he’d discovered what she was, that they’d confirmed it with the Kodiaks of Ushagat Island. The way many assassins had tried and failed to pick them off. The way the ODL had been dogging their steps and taking out innocent supernaturals across species with zero remorse in their pursuit.
How they’d been forced to take shelter among the maidens, forced to fight to regain the wolves’ own birthright, the omega stone. The way the pixie king sought to turn other packs against us, tearing us down from within our own kind, sought to control and enslave those without thought, and used them to build an army that waited to sweep in and attack us.
By that point, the entire fucking crowd was mesmerized, breaths held, eyes wide, expressions ranging from shocked horror to tawdry delight across the sea of faces enthralled by his tale. I understood it. It was a fucking roller coaster of a story, and every damn word was true.
But when Brielle withdrew the gleaming, softball-sized stone from a pouch at her side, they all seemed to gasp as one. It was still crisscrossed in red spiderwebs, but most of the gathered wolves didn’t know that was a problem.
Brielle looked anxiously at Kane, but he nodded his approval and returned to his tale with the same even tone. “That stone, the source of grave danger and life-threatening injury, is now whole. And as long as we hold it, it can amplify Brielle’s powers to all wolf packs worldwide. Which means your she-wolves will no longer die in labor or from pregnancy complications. Your pups will be born healthy, at full term. Your lonely wolves will begin to find their other halves—” He chuckled, then, waving to someone who squealed toward the front of the crowd. “As a few of you have told me you already have. Congratulations, by the way.”
Shaking his head, he wrapped it up. “As much as this goes against what we know in recent history, I believe with every piece of my being that this is the Goddess setting us back on our correct path. We were meant for this moment. We were meant to right this wrong done to our people. So, I ask you now, with the full knowledge you have, will you stand with us? Will you fight with us?”
Silence reigned, the clearing almost eerily quiet after the rousing speech he’d just finished so eloquently.
And then Shay, brave, beautiful Shay, with her shimmering electric powers dancing on full display over her skin and her crown of wild, raven curls, strode to the dais.
“I and mine will stand with you.” All over the clearing, men and women raised their voices in howls of agreement. But from the vantage where I stood, I saw there was more to her promise. Flashes of light burst all around the clearing, some between the wolves, some in the back, some out in the depths of the forest, bright enough still to be seen, fae flashed in and out of our realm, showing up to support their lost daughter.
Holy shit.
“Did she just pledge the greater fae court to our cause?” I turned the question on Dirge.
He grinned at Lucien and me, pride beaming from his face. “She sure as fuck did.”
She returned to the rest of our women as wolves began to pour to the front of the dais, pledging their loyalty and support to the high alpha’s cause. And for just a moment, it seemed like Kane’s pretty speech had erased the dangers we’d been told to guard against.
And then I saw him. A scrawny punk of a wolf with a chip on his shoulder as big as his ego.
Alajos.
I grimaced when I realized he was dragging Jerica behind him by the arm, looking less than pleased to be there.
“You can’t trust this alpha! None of them!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, obviously trying to cause a stir and not caring who he upset. “They’re liars! They come under a banner of peace and friendship, but he had one of his cronies subjugate our pack when we wouldn’t fold to his demands!”
Jerica tried to yank her arm away as the other wolves crushed in, but I could seethe bruising force of his grip indenting her flesh.
I snapped. Red haze fell over my vision, and the world narrowed to those fingertips crushing into her. I didn’t remember leaping from the dais, flying over heads as I landedin front of them with ground-shaking force. My guardian’s mark burned on my chest, urging me to right this wrong.
“Valens! Wait!” Kane called, standing at the edge of the dais. “He shouldn’t be silenced. All are welcome to hear what he has to say, just as all are free to leave if they don’t wish to fight now that they have the details.” He had raised his voice again, letting it ring out over the clearing. “No one will be held here to fight a war against their will.”
I nodded to the high alpha so he knew I heard and acknowledged him, but I wasn’t done with Alajos yet.
I peeled his fingers off his sister’s arm one by one, putting just enough force into each one that the bones seemed to wheeze under the effort of not cracking.
