Page 13 of Beyond the Grasslands

“I thought the same thing. There is no way Miriam carried out more than one major assassination. We’re talking about the eldest daughter of an Alpha and the guard she had with her plus your father, former Alpha of the Grasslands Pack. This pack is one of the largest. It takes a hell of an Alpha to hold onto it, especially since your mother wasn’t well.

My mother passed away with my father because she had already been sick. No one could figure out what caused her to waste away the way she had been, and when my father passed and she followed him into the beyond, we stopped looking for answers to her ailment.

It was something I deeply regretted. There were a lot of things in the past that I took at face value. It made me wonder, once again, if I was the right person to lead my pack. I growled in frustration at that thought because there was no way I could give up my position. There were promises I had made to my mate that couldn’t be fulfilled if I stepped down.

For her, I would carry on and learn from the lessons that revealed themselves to me too late.

“Thorin,” My beta called to me. I turned to see the pensive look on his face. “I realize we have a lot to cover here, but there’s something else we need to discuss and it is time sensitive.”

“What?”

“Aiden.”

“What about him?”

“Nika doesn’t know that you killed him yet. I suggest that she hears that news from you, but if you can’t face her, then I will tell her.”

I shook my head. It was my job to tell her. I should have stuck around when she woke up. It was possible that the information would trickle down to her from someone else in the pack before I got to deliver the news, now that I had taken the coward’s way out and ran from what I assumed would be a confrontation.

“I want to tell her, but I’m not sure she will take it well coming from me.”

“I think she’ll take it better coming from you than someone else. She needs to see you step into your Alpha shoes and do the right things. If I’m right, then the only thing she will be wary of is your wolf.”

“My wolf…” I sighed deeply because there was no way to separate myself from the beast who attacked my mate. I was certain he hadn’t meant to be quite so violent with her, but he was and it couldn’t be taken back.

My wolf would be a major point of contention as we moved forward. Of that, there was little doubt. Nika’s reaction to her former friend and Alpha would be another one. How in the hell was I supposed to tell her that he was dead? What if she chose him after all, but she never had the chance to tell me because my wolf was too busy attacking her?

I searched my memory, to see if there was a clue somewhere in there about what Nika would have wanted.

“You can’t win.She’s already mine!” Aiden yelled as my warriors and I advanced on his pack.

“Lies. We can all smell the lies heavy in the air every time you speak. As her potential moon-blessed mate, one who initiated the first bond with her, I would have known even if the stench of your lies didn’t pollute the air around us. Our bond would have broken if she had allowed you to claim her.”

Aiden’s cocky smirk twisted down into a frown as he stood there with fists clenched as anger radiated from him.

“I challenge you, Aiden Thornwin. I don’t want to inherit the pack that you have weakened. Someone else can step up and claim it. All I want is my mate back and to rid the world of a shifter who would bring shame to our kind.”

Gasps rang out amongst his pack, but none of them spoke up for him. They all knew the truth. If Aiden was left in charge, their pack would be doomed until another Alpha came to claim them.

Aiden laughed and glanced around as if someone would pop out of the woods to speak up for him. “You think you can just come to my land and challenge me?”

“It is my right as an Alpha to challenge any who threaten our species, but it is also my right seeing as you came to my pack’s lands and stole my mate away before our ceremony.”

“She’s not your mate.”

“Yet,” I argued.

“She will never be your mate.”

“That is where you’re wrong.” I didn’t bother to wait for him to accept my challenge. Instead, I shifted mid air as I lunged for Aiden. I wasn’t sure if he had given up, if the madness madehim unable to react, or what happened; but Aiden stood there as a man and didn’t even attempt to shift or dodge my attack.

It was almost anti-climactic when my jaws wrapped around his neck and chomped down. The steaming, coppery tang of his blood flowed heavily into my mouth as his life drained from his eyes. I saw the shock and desperation he wore in them for only a blink and then it was over. I shifted back and stood over his body and glared out at the members of his pack who cared to try to defend their Alpha and the pack’s main house.

“If any of you are willing to take on this pack and clean it up, then speak now. If no one is willing, I will report this to the council and they will offer up potential Alpha replacements or dissolve the pack altogether. Let it be known, you deserve to have the pack dissolved. All of you who stood by and allowed your Alpha to create a harem, to send his moon-blessed mate to Mirage Island, and to put your pack in jeopardy without speaking up should be ashamed. Not only that, but you hold part of the blame for what has happened here. Aiden Thornwin should have been replaced as your Alpha the minute he proved he couldn’t handle the position. His predecessor should be ashamed that he left his post before his successor was ready, and I’m sure the council will look into that as well.”

“I was trained just as my brother was. I will accept responsibility for the pack.”

I turned narrowed eyes on Avery, Aiden’s younger brother, and noticed a familiar female who stood next to him.

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