Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
NIK
I think we’ve proven our point, young Vostik, my wolf says, his tone laced with irritation. Our transformation is not a toy.
He’s right about one thing. We did prove a point.
Every single elder, even Cartier De Bontt, one of the oldest advisors to the Duval pack who never dared to look me in the eye, now stares with undeniable terror.
But I’m not done yet. I take a vicious step forward, and the air in the room seems to shift.
This isn’t a lecture about the dishonor I brought on his house, anymore.
No, this is a test. I need to know if the fearless alpha I heard about growing up can really live up to the stories spread from den to den.
Sharp gasps disrupt the silence of this sealed room.
The council members jump from their seats, chairs knocking over in the process.
All of them flee to the back except Clément.
Even when my sights turn bloodthirsty, he stays firmly planted at the head of the table, watching me stalk forward.
The years might’ve gotten away from him, but there’s something age can’t strip from a true alpha.
Pride. And the leader of the Duval pack doesn’t cower when I draw near, claws scraping thick lines into the table. No, his smile widens.
“S—stop,” one soldier sputters out, the barrel of his rifle aimed for my chest. The other readies his weapon as well.
I can kill them, sure. Might take a silver bullet or two, but I’m too fast for their shots to count.
It’s no secret why they haven’t fired yet.
They know it will take a lot more to stop me in my current state.
At least one of us is confident, my wolf says sarcastically. Those bullets hurt me, too, you know.
Clément waves his hand to the guards behind him, his piercing red eyes never leaving mine. “Do nothing.”
I’d grin if my teeth weren’t already out in full, lethal display. I wasn’t wrong about him. Not one bit. Underneath this overgrown shell of a human is something dormant. Something itching to get out.
“You want to make a deal, Nikolai?” Clément says, sucking air between his teeth. “You have my attention.” He claps his hands, startling the guards and elders. “Everyone out.”
I glance back at Natalia. At Dimitri. Even in Alexey’s direction, taking note of the shit-eating grin on his smug face. All of them give me the same affirming nod. I expected as much. My pack. They all know why we came here. Most importantly, what has to happen next.
When I turn toward Clément, he inspects each of them with the same curiosity he had me during my transformation, bloodred eyes stalling on my little wolf.
The brown fur at the back of my neck stands, and thick snarls work their way free from my chest to my mouth dripping with the promise of death.
Every wolf in here can probably smell my scent on her, and if he doesn’t stop staring at Natalia soon, his eyes will be my trophy when I end his fucking bloodline.
“No one will harm your friends. You have my word.”
My wolf form falls off me as easily as clothes during a shift, fur-coated flesh dripping down my body and splatting on the floors.
The pain is there but more manageable, to say the least. My head isn’t throbbing, and despite my joints cracking into their human state, the sensation is nothing compared to my first few controlled shifts. It’s different.
You made each shift difficult, young Vostik, not me.
The pain you felt over the years is a consequence for resisting for so long.
I throw up my mental shields and hunch over the chair closest to Clément, my claws retreating beneath the skin I recognize as my own.
The last thing I need right now is an internal argument while battling blackout.
“Alexey,” I say and glance in his direction. “A little help?”
Alexey looks at Dimitri, Natalia, then me, his face pinched tight with irritation. “For fuck’s sake, Nikolai.” He unbuttons his uniform and tosses the dark green camo in my direction, flinging it through the air. “Keep it. Some things you can’t wash out.”
I catch it and tie each sleeve around my waist, covering up what I can. “Thank you for your hospitality. Dimitri and Alexey will wait outside with your council. Natalia, however,” I say and pull out a chair, motioning her to sit. “Won’t be leaving my side.”
“Tu plaisantes?” Jade scoffs and steps forward. You aren’t serious. I won’t give her the satisfaction of even looking in her direction. “Father, you’re really going to let him and his mutt to sit at our—”
Before she can finish, I slam my clawed hand into the table, nails splitting clean through the other side. No one says a word, not even Clément. If anything, he stares down at the damage, embarrassment cycling through each of his large features.
“She stays,” the alpha demands with a low growl.
None of the elders—and not even Jade— question it. No, they all exchange apprehensive glances, eventually departing for the back doors. When I give Dimitri and Alexey an assuring nod, they do the same.
I throw myself on the seat next to Clément and do my best to sit upright. Anything less would be seen as an insult. Sure, threatening his entire bloodline is fine, but gods forbid my posture isn’t up to alpha standards.
“Forgive her,” he says, not to me, but to Natalia. I can respect him for that, at least. “I am partly to blame. What father doesn’t make their daughter believe they’re the princess of every story?”
A slight smile tugs at her lips. She nods, but if I know her like I think I do, she has a lot more on her mind about Jade than she’d ever admit outright.
“What you just did, Nikolai,” Clément says, disrupting the swell of silence. “I’ve only heard rumors about. Stories of your father stalking his own property when the moon had its back on the rest of us. How were you able to do it?”
I smirk and place my hand on Natalia’s thigh. “The right motivation.”
He glances from her to me, brow rising for the small hairs of his receding hairline. “I see. Not the outcome I hoped for, but it is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Natalia.”
“Nat,” she forces out on impulse. “Nat is fine.”
She’s still afraid. Terrified to show my world just how sharp her teeth really are. I’m not going to make her a spectacle for the alpha studying us. If anything, I’d rather keep him ignorant to how dangerous my little wolf truly is.
“The rumors of my father are true. He can turn at will. My brother, too.”
Clément throws his head back, pursing his mouth to one side. “Of course, they can.”
“You’ve hated my father for decades, Clément. It’s no secret.”
“Hate is strong word,” he responds curtly.
I can’t hide my smirk. “You leaked our plan to hunt in Los Angeles to the Russian government, and they saw it fit to charge us an expensive tax for … imports.”
“I did no such—wait, import tax?” he interrupts himself and leans forward. “Was Vlad angry?”
“Livid,” I say. “Our stateside revenue was cut by a third.”
Clément shakes his fist in the air triumphantly and rights himself to the same imposing head of the table, adjusting the collar of his suffocating white shirt. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. So, what’s your plan, Nikolai?”
I take a deep breath. “We stop my father. I take control of the Vostik pack as it was always intended.”
He peers curiously. “And my end of the deal for helping you reclaim your birthright?”
“Like I said before. I will train your pack. Teach them how to control not only the wolf inside of them, but the full moon we’ve been reliant on for a century.”
Clément licks his lips and gives an approving grin.
“I will teach your army how to shift at will.”