Page 56 of Rejected By the Alpha King

It was a long shot anyway, but I could feel the disappointment welling up inside of me.

“Thank you for seeing me. Is there anything I can do to help you heal?”

“That’s kind of you. There is a ritual that I am looking into. You might be able to help with that. I’ll let you know.”

“So you can help fight the rising darkness?” I laughed bitterly. “Have you ever considered that I’m the rising darkness?”

“Yes,” Irene said without missing a beat. “I have.”

25

Jax

The meeting concluded much as it started. Same as yesterday and the day before. Last week and the week before. Every day since I installed Anna into my home.

The elders were unhappy.

Normally, I met with the elders once a month, but every day for weeks, they found a way to call an emergency meeting.

There were two still in my office when the phone rang. The line that only a few others had.

The other alphas.

Celine and Calden stilled. After a second of consideration, I nodded to them and answered the call on speaker. “Jax.”

“Maeve.”

Ah, Maeve Frost. Alpha of Indigo Peak. “Maeve, you’re on speaker with two of my elders.

Are you calling to share your displeasure again?”

Maeve was the alpha who threatened Finn’s death as a child unless his father came clean about who he was feeding information to. His father refused.

Maeve, apparently, couldn’t go through with the threat. She exiled him instead. I gave her a courtesy call when I returned to let her know that Finn was mine now. She was not pleased.

“No,” she said in a clipped tone. “Although that is not a finished conversation.”

It was, but I did not tell her that.

“Your elders may stay, but their council is not needed. Just yours. I want to call an emergency meeting of the alphas.”

Immediately, I straightened. We had an annual meeting, but there hadn’t been an emergency meeting since the previous alpha of TK tried to challenge me.

He was no more.

“Why is that necessary?”

“My witch was murdered.”

That got my attention. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“He was a good witch. His daughter is stepping up, but I fear she’ll be next. Before he died, he told me what the witches wanted with him. Power to cook the voice until it provided them with the ultimate magic. I have no idea what that means, but I know it can’t be good.”

“So they’re not just after Irene,” I mused. “They’ll need more witches. More magic.”

“And then they’ll target the wolves,” Maeve said darkly. “We cannot let them reach full power. She would convene with our witches and learn the truth.”

“So you want to put all the targeted individuals in one spot?” I asked dryly. “Maeve, your strategy skills are usually a little better than that.”

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