Chapter 14 #2
Deryn’s eyes flicked to her and narrowed. “You brought your mate.”
I didn’t blink. “You summoned her as well as me. Were we supposed to ignore your summons?”
A murmur broke out—some surprised, some disapproving, all too loud for a hall that pretended to value decorum.
Deryn’s gaze sharpened, but he didn’t rise to my jab. “Rowen, my condolences on the passing of your father.”
Rowen merely inclined her head.
“You have nothing to say?” Deryn asked. “Cat got your tongue, or has your alpha?”
Murmurs through the tent again. The implication that I would force her with my Will made my temper rise.
“You gave me your condolences. What is there to say?” Rowen asked him coolly. “Thanks?” Her gaze swept the table. “Is this why you summoned me here? Or to tell me why my pack is to be dissolved?”
That earned a few gasps. Killian winced beside us. Rowen didn’t move. Her gaze held a challenge to the top table like she was ready to fight here and now.
Deryn looked like he wanted to leap over the table and tear her throat out. “Respect,” he hissed, “is still required in this chamber.”
“Respect,” I said, “is earned.” The air felt tighter as I spoke—power, authority, attention. Every alpha in the gallery leaned in just slightly.
Deryn composed himself with visible effort and cleared his throat. “Very well. It seems you want to rush into this, so this Council will begin with a simple question.”
And so it would begin.
“Why have you claimed two territories?”
I almost laughed. “Because I am alpha of what was two packs, now one.”
“So you admit that you stand here and claim to be alpha of Stonefang and Blueridge Hollow,” another elder pressed, one I hadn’t seen before. “That is quite the claim.”
“I don’t claim to be anything, I am the alpha of my pack,” I said. “My pack is spread, but they are content.”
“And Blueridge Hollow?” Deryn asked. “That land was not meant to have another alpha.” His gaze settled on Rowen. “A pack leader was to be chosen on your father’s death.”
Rowen’s anger snapped through the bond at that—sharp, hot, protective—but I answered.
“Alpha Malric named me his heir. As witnessed by his druid, his most trusted beta, and his daughter.” I tried not to sneer when I mentioned Lewis, but I knew I’d failed. “Alpha Malric knew I was alpha of Stonefang, but before Stonefang, the Hollow was my home, and it welcomed me back.”
Another wave of murmurs swept the hall.
Deryn leaned forward. “Or you took advantage of a weakened territory, with a grieving daughter and an unstable hierarchy.”
My vision went hot at the edges. Killian took a half step forward. Rowen went absolutely still. “Careful,” I told them quietly.
Deryn gestured toward Rowen, his voice dripping false sympathy. “Perhaps she believed her only option was to submit to the alpha who rescued her. Perhaps the bond was…encouraged.”
Rowen’s wolf rose so violently that the entire room felt it. I didn’t let her speak first.
“Perhaps you should watch your fucking mouth,” I growled, voice carrying across the chamber like a crack of thunder. “You do not speak of my mate like she’s helpless, or desperate, or anything less than what she is.”
“And what is she?” an elder challenged.
“The rightful daughter of the Hollow. The one the land answers to. The one you’re terrified of.”
Silence. Thick and heavy, and very uncomfortable. For them.
Deryn shifted in his seat. “You speak as if the Hollow is a living thing.”
“It is,” Rowen said, voice calm, even though I knew she was anything but calm. “Why do you think there is a druid on it?” Her voice was strong, not meek or deferential. Just solid truth. “And like me, it has teeth.”
Several elders recoiled. Some alphas straightened. A few looked impressed. Interesting. Deryn exhaled slowly, reassessing her with something sharper than disdain this time, more like calculation.
“This Pack Council,” he said carefully, “requires proof the bond between you is legitimate, not fabricated for political gain.”
I felt Rowen stiffen beside me. They actually said it out loud. I felt my wolf growl and snarl in warning.
“No one touches her,” I told them all.
“You misunderstand,” Deryn said. “No one is testing her. They’re testing you.”
He raised a hand. Two guards stepped forward with a carved wooden bowl, steam rising from its center, scent thick with earth and herbs, only needing one more ingredient. Blood.
A bond-verification ritual.
This was old magic. Dangerous magic. Used only when an alpha pair was accused of lying.
Killian cursed under his breath. Rowen’s hand brushed mine. My alpha power pulsed under my ribs. The entire Council leaned in, waiting for me to react.
Deryn smiled. “Shall we begin?”
“Are you all so fucking blind with greed for power you don’t sense it?” Diesel drawled. Bored. Insolent. He looked around, top lip curled into a sneer. “She’s pregnant, you fucking assholes. With an alpha.”
The alphas and betas in the chairs moved restlessly. I saw a few of them sniff the air. The tent was so thick with incense and whatever else the fuck they were burning, it had disguised her scent. Her mated pregnant scent.
“She is pregnant,” one of the Council said from the top table. He cast a look towards Deryn. “The mate bond is confirmed?”
Because only a mate, a true mate, would carry an alpha. Meanwhile, I was one heartbeat away from tearing Diesel’s throat out, but I kept my gaze locked on Deryn, and when he met my look, I smiled. I could play poker with the best of them.
Whispers exploded into louder conversation. Elders leaned forward as if expecting Rowen’s stomach to suddenly broadcast the truth in glowing letters.
Deryn slammed his hand onto the desk. “Silence!” It took several long seconds, but the room obeyed.
Rowen didn’t move. Not a flinch. Not a step. Her wolf sat coiled under her skin, steady and unashamed.
“Diesel,” I said, without turning, “if you value your life—”
“No need to thank me, Alpha,” he interrupted smoothly. “Happy to clear up any confusion.”
Killian groaned beside me, and my wife, my wife chuckled. The elders stared at Rowen like she’d grown a second head.
“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 defend not provoke.
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 a forced bond 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 welcomed Wolfe 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. Do not dare lecture 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 the implication, 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?”