“And don’t look the councilmembers in the eyes,” Kai drilled into me.
“Okay.”
“And don’t take your ring off.You are mine,” he lightly chastised.
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, okay,okay.” Kai had been drilling me with rules for the council meeting. We were 10,000feet in the air and I was nervous enough. I hadn’t had any visions since Diyaand Trent’s mate vision. Still, the Shaman’s words echoed in my mind. Kai saidthe council members were made up of the oldest, strongest, most dominantwerewolves in the world. Their word was law. Their packs were made up ofenforcers that could wipe you out of existence. I shuttered. They better notcome for me or my pack. My inner wolf agreed. Most nerve wracking of all, hisfather was one of the council members.
***
‘NAWAC’ – the sign read. We werestanding at the entrance of a fancy four star hotel. Hundreds of werewolveswere pushing past us into the revolving doors.
‘North American Werewolf Alpha Council,’Kai sentto me. We entered the building and I noticed people started staring at me andwere breathing in deeply.
“Shit, I forgot,” Kai swore andput a protective hand on my lower back.
“What?” I asked as more and morepeople began to look my way.
‘You smell like a witch.Werewolves don’t like witches.’
Kai started walking faster untilwe were at the doors of the large conference room. Two large men flanked eachside of the door. One inhaled deeply.
“We don’t allow her kind in here,brother, you know that,” the man told Kai.
Kai’s face took on a menacinglook. I shifted part of my face to a werewolf and made a low growl.
“She’s my mate,” Kai said withAlpha infused magic.
The man looked at me confused butshook it off opening the door with his head bowed.
The room was huge. Hundreds ofchairs had been set up, all facing a stage where the twelve council memberssat. Eleven were male and one was female. They all wore hardened expressionsand sat a few feet apart. They radiated power. I could see mist hovering justabove their skin like an aura. These were powerful wolves. As if they saw melooking, they glanced my way. I picked out Kai’s father immediately. Was thatpride in his eyes? I quickly looked to the ground as I remembered Kai’s advicenot to make eye contact but I could feel their eyes on me.
“Hey strangers.” A familiar voicesnapped me out of my trance.
Shamus and his second approached Kai and I. WhenShamus reached me he stopped.
“Kai, with all due respect, whydoes Aurora smell like a full-blown witch?” Shamus looked around the room andalmost every eye was on us.
Kai started breathing heavy.“This was a bad idea. We’re leaving.” He grabbed my arm to leave when a voiceboomed from the stage.
“Kai, you dare bring a witch intoone of our sacred council meetings? You know better!”
Kai spun around and faced thecouncil member. I stared at the man’s feet. “She is my mate!”
“She smells like a witch. She hasyou fooled. She’s done magic on you! Guards!” the man yelled. Kai and I musthave been thinking the same thing because we both shifted into our wolf form atthe same time. I shook my fur quickly to crawl out of my clothes. This was bad.Why had I talked to Sylvia about unleashing my witch powers? Stupid. Now Ilooked like some imposter. If these people wanted it done, we would be tornapart right here.
I could hear a gasp as people sawmy wolf form.
The female council member stood.
“She’s a werewolf? Why does shesmell of witch? She must have done a spell to take on a wolf’s form.”
‘Why isn’t your dad sayinganything?’I asked Kai.
‘Because I made him take theoath! He can’t talk about you without putting his whole pack at risk. We are onour own.’
Shamus approached the council andbowed his head lightly. “She is a werewolf. One of Kai’s wolves, Sadie,recently joined my pack and I have seen her thoughts. Sadie was there whenAurora survived thechange. Aurora has the protection of me and my pack.Look for another explanation of why she smells of witch.” There was a subtle threatlaced into his voice. His second took up a stance in front of me as Shamusflanked Kai’s right side. The guards had shifted and were surrounding us.
“You think if we wanted her deadthat you four could stop it?” roared the female council woman.
