Chapter Nine
He stared at me as he smirked. “I can only assume some of you have put it together. Yes, I am that Rowan. And yes, I am the king. But no, you don’t have to call me King.
I’d honestly prefer it if you didn’t. In class, anyway.
” He winked and turned to his computer, turned on the projector, linked it and then turned back to us while everything finished starting up.
“But there is one thing I have to do.” He released his aura, and it slammed into us.
It was the first time I actually felt someone’s power enough that I had to fight to stay standing.
He watched everyone drop to their knees, except me.
I stood a fraction of a second too long.
His eyes widened, and he pushed more power at me.
I just winked back and dropped to my knees to keep up appearances.
He gave a tiny nod in appreciation and walked to the front of the classroom.
“Since I am here for this class only. I do not want it to be known that I am here. For one thing, I do not want females throwing themselves at me, and second, I do this as my hobby. I enjoy it and it helps me connect with my people.” He opened his hands.
“So I hope you all will understand why this is necessary. I forbid you from speaking of who I am to anyone else. Everyone in this program knows but can’t speak my name and you will be the same.
Anything said in here stays in here. So we speak honestly here. Is that understood?”
“Yes.” We all chorused. All but me under his official command. I was just confused. He was the king. Why was his authority, his power, not affecting me? I shook it off and focused on my computer.
“Lets introduce ourselves and our ranks,” Rowan started.
“I’ll start. I’m Alpha King Rowan from the Royal Lycan pack.
” He looked around and then pointed to the next person.
“Go.” And just like the last class, we went around the room until I was last. Rowan raised an eyebrow and flicked a finger at me, telling me to stand.
“I’m Alpha Amy. My father’s pack is Silvermoon and my mother’s is Oakenfang. So, depending on who I’m with, that’s my pack.” Rowan smiled.
“Amy, in the flesh. Who would have guessed we would meet this way?” He walked closer to me. “Were you able to do what you asked for?”
“Yes, I could glean the information I needed from the traitor.” I smiled as I sat down. “Thank you for giving me permission to torture her.” My grin got wider when I heard the terrified whispers of the room.
His smile dropped when he heard something he didn’t like. He turned to face the guys that were whispering, staring at me. I just shook my head when I caught a few words. “I can only assume you three are unranked?” His deep voice was tight.
“Yes.” Two of the three answered.
“I’m a Gamma.” One spoke up.
He walked closer to them and stared them down. “Then you should know better than to speak about an Alpha protecting her pack.” He knocked on the Gamma’s desk. “Are you in line for the first or second Gamma?”
The Gamma leaned back. “First Gamma, why?”
I shook my head in frustration and leaned in.
“Because your job, your position, will have responsibilities that come with it. As head warrior, second Gamma, train your men on how to protect your pack at any cost. That includes torture. First Gamma, your job is to protect the Luna, in all ways. What happens if she is stolen, and you have a suspect? What are you going to do? Have a nice little chat with him and hope he gives you the information.”
“No, of course not.” He laughed.
“Then maybe…just maybe, think about why I did what I did and not that I did it. Torture is a tool that ranked wolves may have to wield to protect the lower ranked wolves in their pack. And it isn’t something we choose to do on a whim.
” The three wolves refused to meet my eyes.
“Do you think we do things like that for our amusement?”
“Well, no.” The Gamma shook his head.
“Then why would you call her sadistic?” Rowan asked.
“I want you all to consider this. She is a young Alpha. One that isn’t in a technical power structure.
She was scared, and looking to protect her father.
Yet instead of acting out, which no one would have blamed her for, she called the council.
She asked permission. She followed the protocol that was in place so that Alphas don’t abuse their power.
And she waited to use any amount of force until she was given permission to save her father.
” He shook his head. “She is the epitome of an excellent Alpha, and you all disgraced her. Yet she did nothing to you.”
Rowan shook his head and made his way to the back of the class.
“This isn’t my typical first class, but I feel like we have certain things that we should go over.
” He slid onto his desk. “We as wolves have a hierarchy for a very simple reason. The strong protects the weak. The higher rank you have, the more people you have to worry about.” He wiped his face.
“Alphas have to know that there are better ways to get information, though.” A man named Steven chimed in.
I snorted. “Okay. Tell me how you would have done it.”
“What?” Steven turned to face me.
“You said we have to know there are better ways. How would you have done it then? The Alpha was in danger. We didn’t know how deep the betrayal went.
Within a day, we had a rogue attack that was organized, where multiple rogues were working together like they were in a pack.
Without the information I could gather, my father would have been dead, the pack overrun and demoralized.
As the attack targeted women and children.
So what would you have done in my shoes? ”
“I would have done some investigation.” He tossed out.
“I did. That’s how I figured out who I needed to interrogate. But sure, you investigate and you get very little information. Only that you know a specific she-wolf is influencing the Alpha.”
“Influencing how?” He turned fully to me.
“Making him fall in love with her.”
“So why is that bad?” He laughed.
“The Alpha already has a mate.” The room broke out in murmurs.
“You are saying that a she-wolf somehow is interfering with a goddess blessed mate bond.”
“That’s correct. We knew she was doing something, we just couldn’t put our finger on it.
It was so bad that the Alpha attacked his pup and fought with his own wolf.
” I leaned over and propped my face up with my hand.
“So your father attacks you, almost kills you. He is acting erratic. The pack is at risk, and you have a suspect, but no answers. What do you do?”
“Talk to her family.”
“They know nothing or have been compelled to not speak. If you are strong enough, you can break the command.”
Rowan shook his head. “Depending on the strength of the command and the rank of the wolf, if you shatter a command, you could shatter their mind as well.” I nodded.
I pointed to Rowan. “He’s right. It’s risky. What’s your next move?”
“I don’t know.” He answered, a little flustered.
“Come on Steve. Your pack is in danger. There are over a hundred or more people counting on you to figure this out and save not only the pack, but your own father. The backbone of any pack is a powerful Alpha. What is your next move?”
“I don’t know.” He looked around for support, but no one was looking at him.
“Say you didn’t figure out your next move, and the next day during the attack you lost all the pups, and a few mates. How would you feel?”
“Bad.”
“Everyone would blame you, Steve. You could have prevented it all. How would you tell their families? Their mates? How would you justify it all?”
Steve looked at Rowan, but the king had a flat look on his face. “I don’t know, okay!” He screamed.
I sat back in my chair. “None of us know, Steve. That’s the truth.
But these are the situations that Alpha’s have to face.
We weigh our dignity, our morals, our very soul against the odds and we make a choice.
” I wiped my face. “I didn’t enjoy scaring the she-wolf.
I didn’t enjoy hurting her. But by doing so, I could save my father.
And the next day he was on my side when we were attacked.
I almost died saving a family. I fought off three wolves to give two children enough time to run away, knowing I would not make it out of there. ”
“That’s your job.” He snorted.
“You are right. It’s my job to protect the weak.
To support the pack. To save children, and women, and men like you who sit back and judge me because they don’t have to make the hard decisions.
You get to sit here and come to class and decide that I’m a monster because I tortured a woman.
When in reality I already weighed the choice.
I became a monster, so that four little kids get to wake up and be loved by their parents.
I sacrificed my soul to protect my father, my pack, and those kids.
And the truth of it, Steve. I would do it again in a heartbeat. ” Rowan nodded once.
“We have all made decisions that would ruin ourselves to save others.” Rowan stood and walked around his desk. “Now, let’s talk about python.” He clicked on the screen and started his lecture.
As the lecture ended I shut my computer and packed it away. Everyone else was doing the same. “Amy, can you hang back a minute?” Rowan called and I wanted to groan, but I just nodded and stayed in my seat.
Everyone walked by me, and a few stopped by the side of my desk. “Amy?”
I looked up and met the Gamma from the beginning of the class, Steve. “Yeah?”
“We just wanted to apologize for earlier today.”
I was shocked. “What?”