Chapter Forty-Two
My father choked. “Save the world?” His eyes jumped from my face to Rowan’s. “What the hell is she talking about, Amy?”
I blew out a breath. “Well, all of this bullshit for one.” I waved my hand around the group of men on the ground. “But after everything we just saw…do you honestly have to ask?” I shook my head at him. “They are taking our wolves.” The words hit the crowd, and murmurs started almost instantly.
My father leaned in. “Lower your voice. We don’t want to scare them.”
I looked at Rowan, and he kissed my forehead. “I trust your judgement.” I smiled and wanted to kiss him.
“That’s why I mated you.” I kissed him before I turned to everyone gathered, and then at the last minute, I opened my mind-link for the pack.
I can project to all wolves around us. Nix offered.
That’s not possible. I stared at my wolves as they laughed.
That’s where you draw the line? Megan’s voice was soft and breathy.
Like she was about to fall asleep. You have magic; you are unofficially the queen.
And you’re Goddess Blessed, you can do whatever you feel like.
Megan shifted her head. I’m almost positive that if you focused, you could broadcast your mind-link to every wolf in this country… maybe the world.
My mouth dropped open at her words. There is no way that’s possible. I turned back to Nix. But do it. I want everyone here to know. Nix nodded, and I felt something push out. It felt almost as if I were blowing a bubble; it felt tentative, and very fragile.
“Hear me. Silvermoon, and those near, and believe what I tell you is the truth as I know it at this time.”
“Amy.” My dad reached for me with wide eyes, but I shook my head.
Silas frowned. “This shouldn’t be possible.”
Ronnie laughed. “Most of what she does shouldn’t be possible.” He pointed to the glowing mark on my forehead, and I felt the telltale sign that my mark was growing. But I ignored it. I had something more important to focus on.
“No, Daddy.” I focused on the worry in his eyes.
“We can’t hide this from them…they need to know.
They need to be prepared.” I felt the mind-link quiet at my words.
Everyone was listening now. “The council has been disbanded for its treason; all but Alpha Silas have been executed or imprisoned. But what I’m about to tell you is too important.
Humans know we exist. Not in the movie- scary-story way, but in the real-experiment way.
The council sold us out. We have proof that the humans have run experiments on us.
We don’t know how far they have gotten, or how close they are to closing in.
We don’t know if it’s the government, a private organization, or one sick fucker that had too much money.
What we know is that Rowan and I will do everything we can to ensure that every wolf and every pack is safe from this. ”
Roderick gasped. “Is she serious?”
My father turned. “We just saw the proof.” He looked down at his hands. “I was planning on sharing it with the Alphas so we could decide what we should do.” He met my eyes and nodded. “But Amy is right. Everyone needs to know.”
“Not only do I believe everyone should know, but I think it is important that Alphas, including the King, are upfront about what we are facing here. This way we can do better.”
“Do better?” Silas looked at Rowan. “But Rowan didn’t know.”
Rowan winced. “I think that is one of Amy’s points. We have been so focused on the attacks that no one questioned wolves going missing. We don’t even know how long this was going on.”
“Exactly.” I nodded. “Once everything settles, we will hold a summit for all Alphas. We will get together to come up with ways to attack this problem together.” I turned to my mate and found Toya and her mate had come back over.
“We will protect you from this if we can, even if it costs us our lives.” A howl started from someone next to me, and I realized Sequan had dropped to his knee again and had thrown his back, howling his support.
Everyone around us followed suit. Even my father.
A howl went over the mind-link and then another.
Until there was a wave of support as Rowan and I were the only ones left standing.
Then, Rowan did something that stopped my breath. He kissed me and then dropped to his knee. His howl joined with everyone else. I was standing alone in a sea of wolves all howling to the Goddess their support…of me. I felt tears prickle my eyes, and I had to wipe away one that fell.
But it was a manic laugh that had everyone stop.
“You think you can stop them?” A wolf still shackled yelled, eyes wide with anger.
“You are stupider than Thinius thought.” He laughed.
“You are all dead.” Then he slammed his teeth together, smoke slipped out of his mouth as he grimaced and swallowed, all before he dropped dead.
Megan’s eyes snapped open. Not on my watch. I felt the magic release as she called out a spell. Corza lik ti fraa zen cornti pa.
Nix nodded once. Smart girl.
“Hat da uck.” Ronnie’s face was stuck in a grimace, so his words were slurred. I giggled, and his eyes snapped to me.
“Sorry.” I took the time to focus on the guards in front of me.
WAIT! Nix yelled before I released them.
What? I felt my face fall.
Before you release everyone, mind-link the guards on Theo and Yarrow. Make sure they are still alive.
Holy shit, I didn’t think of them. I nodded once. “Daddy, who is standing guard with Yarrow and Theo?” I asked, forgetting he was frozen.
“Ica mo ni sha loctius.” His words were slow and deliberate, and I realized why as he got to his feet. “Why?”
“You broke free.” I smiled as I winked at him. “Sorry I didn’t mean to freeze everyone. But Nix and I saw what was happening, and well…”
“She acted before thinking, freezing everyone instead of picking specific people.” I nodded. “It happens.” He chuckled. “Just release everyone.”
“I will…once we know that Yarrow and Theo are alive, frozen and not able to do what that guy did.” He rubbed his face.
“Listen…I love you but do you always have to make it so obvious that you are smarter than me?” He chuckled.
“Of course she does.” A voice called out. We heard running and both of us turned. Alannah and my mother were both holding a baby, with a small kid with them on the backs of two wolves.
My father turned to run, but I grabbed him. “Daddy, the guards.”
He nodded once, and I watched as his eyes filled with love as he stared at my mother who was getting off Wendy’s wolf. His voice was soft as he called to the guards. Are the two council members still alive?
Yes, Alpha. The guard answered.
Make sure they can’t bite down. My father sighed with relief.
I felt their confusion for a second before the other guard spoke up. Alpha, we followed the new procedure you put in place after Aurora escaped. As soon as we brought them down here, we gagged them so they couldn’t do much other than grunt.
My dad visibly relaxed, and so did I. My father glanced at me, and I nodded towards my mom, while I turned back to everyone else. I focused on the men shackled and then I broke the spell for everyone else.
My dad wasted no time in reaching my mother. Alannah had just taken the baby back when he reached her, and they leapt into each other’s arms.
“Uncle Ronnie?”
“Yeah, Ladybug.” He walked over, and I could see how tired he was…how tired everyone was.
“Do we have enough gags for everyone?” He shook his head.
“No way. We didn’t expect over twenty wolves to be held at the same time.” I wiped my face and nodded.
“Fair. I know everyone is tired. So, have the guards set up chairs in the cells? Tie everyone to a chair, and use silver rope to gag them.” There was a gasp from those kneeling.
“Wrap a cloth around the part that touches skin. It’s just to keep them alive.
” Ronnie nodded. “We are short on cells, so double or triple up if you have to. Just champion them to the walls away from each other. We just need to keep them alive long enough to get answers. I want guards on a four-hour rotation so we all can sleep. We will start the interrogations tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll call Greyson and start.”
I called Tina. “Since I already sent off your mate, do you mind checking on everyone coming back?” I looked down at her belly. “If you are okay, that is.”
She smiled. “We are perfect.”
I grabbed her hand. “Take Lynn with you.”
Tina nodded once, and I saw the sadness in her eyes. “Of course.”
“Actually.” A call from the trees had us turning. Lynn stepped out. “Everyone is already settled or on their way to being settled.” She looked away from everyone staring at her. “I checked as I was coming in.”
I walked over to Lynn and held out my hand. She came over, and I felt her relax as soon as she touched me. Nix ran off, probably to talk to Lynn’s wolf. And I just nodded towards the house. “Everything went smoothly, I assume?”
Lynn took a deep breath. “As smooth as can be expected with everything going on.”
“Fair. Since you handled everything. Head up, and I’ll check in with you later to go over everything.” She looked exhausted, but also could see she was struggling with so many people.
“Thank you.” I saw the relief as soon as I said it. She turned and headed straight to the house after nodding at my mom.
I turned back to Tina. I could see the question before she said it. “I don’t know everything. But I know she went through a lot. Believe me when I say that she is doing amazingly compared to how she was when I first got her back out.” I looked at the thinning crowd.
Tina grabbed my hand. “You feel guilty.” She and I both knew she meant it as a question, but it came off as a fact.
I nodded. “She came to Oakenfang for me. And she went through hell because of it.”
Tina pulled me towards the house. “She made her own choices.” I just shook my head. “How about you talk to her before you start hating yourself? Lynn would never want you to blame yourself.”