Chapter 31 Rhys
RHYS
Logan stepped onto the stage, and my wolf went silent.
Not calm. Silent. The way predators became still before they struck.
His emotions slammed into me through our bond—pride mixed with frustration, the weight of betting everything on words that might get us all killed. The guilt of Wyatt and Nash. His alpha presence rolled out across the assembly hall, making lesser wolves show signs of submitting without thinking.
This was it. Everything we’d worked for, everything Logan had sacrificed to keep our pack breathing, came down to the next five minutes.
Logan scanned the packs, nostrils flaring. “Today I formally offer Orion sanctuary to any pack, any wolf, any supernatural being threatened by those who would exploit their vulnerability.”
Silence.
My heart hammered against my ribs. Come on, you bastards. Give him a chance.
Alpha Emmanuel Vex threw back his head and laughed.
The sound hit me like claws across bare skin. My wolf snarled, every muscle going taut as their mockery bounced off the marble walls.
“Sanctuary?” Vex’s voice dripped poison. “Look at what Orion has become.”
The laughter spread—Cassiopeia first, then their allies, until half the room was choking on their amusement. Only those packs who held power dared to laugh. The rest were waiting and watching. No one spoke up in support. My vision went red around the edges.
“Six years without a single birth,” someone called out.
“Internal fighting with Heraclid refugees.”
“The cursed bloodline offers protection?”
Each word landed like a fist. Through our bond, Logan’s humiliation was burning in my chest, his control fracturing just enough to bleed through.
My wolf was done with this shit.
“You laugh,” I shouted, and the two hundred or so shifters turned to look at me.
“But what you don’t see is the power of the bond in Orion.
What Logan has built, what he has saved from the ash, is a pack where every shifter knows they are safe.
No one is forgotten. No one is left to suffer. In Orion, we don’t abandon pack. Ever.”
My claws were already pushing through my fingertips. Screw diplomacy. If these bastards wanted to mock my brother, they could do it while I tore their throats out.
Alpha Vex stood. “Fine words, but that’s all they are, Beta.
” Vex’s voice was filled with judgment. “Logan Orion, your grandfather’s legacy died with him.
Your father’s pride died with your territory.
” He paused, letting the words sink into every supernatural being present.
“Beyond words, what exactly do you have left to offer anyone?”
The question hung in the air. Logan’s composure cracked—just a hairline, but enough.
My wolf exploded.
Kill him. Kill them all.
Sable’s scent changed.
I froze. Her scent—honey and rain—warped in the air, thick with urgency and fear. Conflicting emotions crashed against me, but beneath them all, her loyalty pulsed through our bond. Her terror was bone-deep, and it had nothing to do with Council politics.
She caught my eye. I have to go. Now. And I need you to trust me.
My wolf howled. Logan was standing alone up there, facing down hundreds of enemies who wanted him dead.
My brother. My alpha. The man who’d held our dying pack together through years of hell while I was off playing hunter instead of providing political support.
A decision that had already cost us our brothers.
And I was supposed to abandon him again?
But Sable—fuck, Sable was in a state. In the time I’d known her, through vampire attacks and bond-severing and every nightmare we’d survived, I’d never seen her like this.
The pack bond pulsed as Logan’s attention snapped to me through the chaos. Even while the Council mocked him, he’d caught my distress. His gaze flicked from me to Sable, then back.
Go, he sent through our connection. Whatever she’s latched onto, I know it’s for the best—for all of us.
Logan, you can’t be sure—
She’s pack now. Her instincts are our instincts. If she’s on to something, there’s a reason. And you must be with her. Go.
The words struck harder than any alpha command.
Logan was ordering me to trust my mate’s judgment over his need for backup.
After everything we’d been through—holding each other up when the world tried to crush us—he was choosing to face this alone so I could follow Sable into whatever hell she’d sensed.
That was my brother. My alpha. And that was why Orion deserved better than these Council bastards.
My mate needed my trust. I’m always on your side, I sent Sable, I’m coming with you.
She nodded and slid aside with vampire grace, heading for the door with a purpose that made my wolf’s hackles rise.
I was right behind her, but not before sending one last message to Logan: Don’t let these fuckers break you.
His response followed me: Wouldn’t dream of it.
Behind us, Logan’s voice rose above the continued mockery, solid and defiant despite the impossible odds. He’d fight this battle the way he fought all of them—alone, with nothing but his will and his alpha authority to back him up.
That would have to be enough.
As we slipped into the shadows of the corridor beyond the assembly hall, I heard Logan’s voice one last time. “My offer stands to all packs who wish to see a change in the balance of power.”
The door closed behind us, cutting off the political warfare.
Sable led me down a staircase to a basement level.
Next thing I knew, she was taking hidden staircases and glamoured corridors that led us to lower levels that were more sewer than cave.
Underground tunnels that I couldn’t have found even if I’d known they were there, and yet she walked like she’d built them.
The air was dank and humid, carrying the rancid smell of rot. It felt like we were heading toward something that would make the Council’s politics look cheerful.
Sable’s hand found mine in the darkness. “Rhys, what I’m about to tell you—”
“Stop.” I cut her off and pulled her behind me.
Footsteps. Multiple sets, moving fast, echoing from the tunnel ahead of us. My teeth elongated and I braced myself, getting ready to shift.
We weren’t alone.