Chapter Eighteen
Ikept my eyes straight ahead as Rowan and Vince stormed by. I felt someone’s eyes hit me, but I pretended not to notice. If it was Rowan, we will talk later. If it was Vince, I didn’t want to meet his eyes.
Hanna leaned closer to me and whispered, “What the hell was that?”
“I wish I knew. But something serious is going on.” I kept my face blank and my voice low. I wanted to be open and honest with her, but I barely knew her. And while I felt like I could trust her, lay everything out, I would need to be sure.
“I understand.” Hanna gave a tiny nod and then we focused on the king walking on to the stage.
He was followed by three others and Vince. He was still pissed. I could see it in his face. His eyes were tight, and even though he was wearing a smile, I could see the predator behind his mask. His wolf was close to the surface.
“Ladies and gentleman, please let’s settle down. Today has turned a little sideways and now we have more than one thing to address today.” Rowan raised his hands and waited until the murmurs died down. “Thank you.”
“What the fuck happened today?” Someone from the crowd called out. The outrage was evident in their voice.
Rowan closed his eyes. “Okay. Let’s deal with today first.”
Others called out from the crowd. “If we were expelled, would we have gotten our tuition back?”
“Why were unranked wolves targeted?”
“Why do you hate us so much?” The last call was from a female and I watched it land like a punch. Rowan reeled back and turned to glare at the others on stage.
“First, I would like to apologize for everything that happened today. Nothing that took place today was sanctioned by me. I will step back and allow the ones who orchestrated it all to step up and answer your questions.” Rowan stepped back from the mic and then unleashed his aura.
Even away from the microphone, we all could hear him command the men on stage.
“Step forward and answer their questions honestly. And hope they have better temperaments than I do, as they will decide your fate.”
The three men stepped forward and glared at us from the stage. I swear I could feel their eyes searching the crowd for someone, and I knew without a doubt it was me.
One of the crowd called out the first question again. “What the fuck happened today?”
One man stepped forward. He was still spry in his old age, but his back was bent slightly and his hair was completely white. “Today we came for an announcement.”
“I don’t care what you came here for. I want to know why you targeted unranked wolves for expulsion.” The angry voice called back.
The old man stiffened. “I don’t-”
“I advise you to tell the truth, Yarow.” Rowan growled. “Actually,” Rowan turned and unleashed his full aura, it was insane and everyone on stage dropped to the ground and whined. “I command you to tell the truth. If you do not, your wolf will go into hibernation for five years.”
The crowd gasped. Five years. That was an excruciating long time to be without your wolf after spending a lifetime together. No shifting, no talking, just silence. It’s said that a wolf can go insane in a year, and a human within two. Rowan has condemned them to insanity and then death.
Yarrow pushed up from the ground once Rowan tucked his aura away. “You can’t mean that, my king.”
“But I do.” Rowan looked to the crowd. “You are a part of my council and you are supposed to be fair and above the maneuvering I witnessed here today. You failed, and now you three face the punishments. And don’t for a second think I believe it was just your plan.
” Rowan dropped into a crouch in front of him.
“Now get the fuck up and answer them. I will handle the rest when we get back.”
The threat hung in the air until, one by one they stood, but no one answered the question. The three council members remained silent, and Rowan chuckled. He searched the crowd for me and as his eyes met mine; I saw them flash a frosty blue color, almost white. He was losing control.
So I yelled out. “If they are unwilling to answer the questions and receive the punishment for their crimes, we can just agree on capital punishment.”
Rowan smirked as he stepped up to the microphone, but before he could say anything, Vince was next to him. “Capital punishment?”
“Yes, going against the king is punishable by execution. Without trial.” Vince’s eyes met mine and I wanted to smile, but I had a role to play.
I made my voice quiver, and I did my best to pretend to be scared. “Please Alpha, I know you were just following orders. Tell the truth, I don’t want you to die.”
Vince sighed in relief, and Rowan nearly lost it. His eyes showed the smile he was desperately trying to hide. “Well Alpha Vince?” Rowan stepped closer to the other man and he towered over Vince.
“Alpha Rowan-”
“King Rowan.” Someone that sounded a lot like Nina called out, earning a smile from the king.
Vince stammered and then corrected himself. “King Rowan. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
“Explain.” Rowan pulled up a chair from where they were off to the side of the podium. He positioned it facing Vince and then sat, crossing his arms.
“What?” Vince froze.
“Explain. You said you were trapped between a rock and a hard place. I want you to explain it to me.”
Vince’s mouth dropped open, and the three men started to fidget. Rowan raised a hand and motioned for Vince to start his explanation. “What? I mean, obviously, how can I go against you, my king?”
“So you remember I am your king?” Rowan’s voice boomed through the room, causing everyone to wince. “You remember I rule over you, not because I was appointed, but because I was chosen by the goddess. The last of the Lycans.”
Vince dropped to his knees and bowed. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”
Vince was playing his part well, but I noticed he was darting his eyes to the council, and I watched their reaction. One was shaking his head.
I leaned over and whispered something to Hanna. She pulled away and nodded. “My king, it seems the Alpha has divided his loyalty between you and the council.”
Rowan looked back to the council members and growled, dropping them to their knees.
“I will remind you, Vincent, one last time, that the council functions as a Gamma and Beta does for an Alpha. They only have power that I allow them to have, and from now on, that is going to be zero.” Another gasp went through the crowd.
The council had been in place before the last king died, and now Rowan was effectively saying he was going to disband it.
Vince bowed again. “I’m a fool. The council has been throwing their weight around to all the packs.” The crowd erupted, but Rowan raised his hands.
“Continue.”
“They have been using the attacks as leverage to getting the Alphas to agree to their demands.”
I poked Wendy, who was sitting in front of me, and whispered in her ear. “Your pack hasn’t been attacked, though.”
I covered my face as Vince looked at whoever called out. “That’s true, but we are a big pack.”
Someone scoffed. “Oakenfang is a medium-sized pack, and the biggest pack now, Silvermoon, has been attacked more times than we can count.” The voice was deep, but I didn’t recognize it.
Vince paled. His explanation was being torn apart. “Well, the threat of attack without the council’s support for rebuilding was enough.”
“Enough?” Rowan leaned in.
“He’s lying.” One of the council members tried to start, but Rowan silenced him with a raised hand.
“I will deal with you later.” Rowan glared at the member, who just nodded. “Enough of what?”
“A threat. They have been hounding me for the last week. When this decision was made by the Alphas. They said that too many spots were taken by unranked wolves and if we were going to keep all of them here, then we should send the unworthy home.”
Rowan stood. “The unworthy?” His voice was deathly low, and his eyes had fully shifted.
Grey fur, almost black, sprouted from his arms. “The unworthy?” He screamed.
“Unranked wolves are the very essence of our packs. The very wolves we, as Alphas, were created to protect. They are the reason ranks even exist and yet you deem them unworthy?”
“I, I, I, I.” He stammered over and over, but Rowan was livid.
“You are nothing without your pack. If all your unranked wolves left, you would lose your pack ranking and you would be branded as a lone wolf.” Vince paled. “If you don’t fucking understand that, and appreciate that fact, then I will ship your pack out and let you roam.”
“Please, my king.” Vince begged, but someone stood up from the crowd.
“What did he mean by keeping us here?” He called out.
Rowan made his way to the podium, growling until Vince moved out of the way.
“Obviously, this isn’t how we planned this announcement to come out.
But since the attacks have amped up, your families have agreed that instead of running two semesters and giving you the summer off with breaks over yule and eostre, that we would change it. ”
“To?” the same man asked.
“Full year round class until your degrees are done.” The silence that followed was heavy.
“What does that even mean?” Someone called out.
“What’s going on?” A few students stood to their feet.
“Should we just go home?” Toya stood and started to the aisle.
“Calm down everyone.” Rowan stepped closer to the podium.
“Let me explain it all.” Rowan turned to glare at the council members.
“The attacks on all of our packs have become devastating. Some packs have been wiped out, and no, I will not tell you which packs they were. I will be going to those affected personally today.” A new hush fell over the crowd.
Devastation hung in the air, but it was stunted.
Everyone was terrified that they were about to learn that their families had disappeared.
I watched as almost everyone texted someone. “I’m not getting an answer.” Someone panicked and stood to run.