Page 113 of A Wolf's Heart

Weylin

Three membersof the council came to the office, followed by four guards. I knew two of them, I had trained them.

The council shifters looked every bit ancient as I remembered. At one point, they’d been considered our elders. Shifters we looked up to and respected. Slowly, over the years, they were beginning to lose respect. Not only among Cridhe, but among other packs. The scent of a change was in the air, and it made other alphas restless. It made them desperate.

Desperate shifters made desperate decisions.

I stood, respectfully, behind Kage as he sat at the table with them, Rainor at his side. They were discussing everyday pack events, as if it wasn’t three or four in the morning.

“Let’s cut to the chase,” Kage finally said. “What really brings you to my territory?”

Darragh, the councilman with the most experience, was the one to speak. His long grey hair pulled back into a bun, the properly fitted and expensive suit likely purchased with Kage’s money. Money he sent monthly, intended to aid allied packs. Kage knew what he was doing.

“Whispers of Scarab Pack have come to light,” he said, his voice as aged as the wrinkles in his skin. “It has caused fear to spread through those who remember.”

I narrowed my eyes at the shifter.

“Perhaps, if we were better enlightened on what is causing this fear, we would be better equipped to handle the situation,” Rainor said.

That’s when the first sliver of pain traveled down my spine. It was not my own, though. I swayed on my feet, reaching out and gripping Kage’s chair.

Cut her bond off, Rainor demanded through the link.This is not the time.I did my best to push down the bond, not completely cutting it off.

“I assure you,” Darragh continued, “if it is true that some form of the Scarab bloodline has survived, that the carrier of their gift lives, there is nothing that will prepare you for the destruction that will follow.”

“Carrier?” Rainor asked.

My vision became blurred, but only for a moment. I blinked it away.

“Yes, there can only be one carrier per generation. It is the power of the pack that feeds the carrier that brings power to the gift. Without the pack, the gift is useless.”

“So, you murdered an entire pack to prevent one shifter from accessing a gift,” Kage concluded.

“No, young pup. The destruction of an established generational pack was not the ultimate goal.”

“I’ve read my father’s journals.”

“In the end, it is what had to happen, but it was not the goal. Scarab Pack was approached and requested to sacrifice the bearer of the mark. The mark indicated the gift. Once that child was laid to rest, the gift was no more. All they had to do was sacrifice the child. Instead, they chose to fight the balance. They chose to upend what was right, to keep that level of power to themselves.”

“If it is found that Scarab lives, what then?” Kage asked.

Eachan, the elder with auburn hair and piercing blue eyes, answered that for him. Leaning forward and in a hushed tone, he said, “Sacrifice the child, keep the balance.”

Through the partial opening of the bond, I felt her then. There was no pain, there was no emotional turmoil as there had been earlier that day. There was…fear. And then there was nothing.

My fingers dug into the cushion, my claws extending as I opened the bond as far as I could. I reached and stretched and searched—and felt nothing. With a curse, I spun around, phone in hand.

“Weylin?” Rainor stood up, but I ignored him.

One of my commanding gammas answered the phone. “Where is she?”

“They brought the whole pack.” He sounded wounded. If she was harmed, he would be far worse than just hurt.

“Who?!” My growl echoed through the room.

“Oh my,” one of the elders whispered happily behind us. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Ophidian!” the gamma shouted in pain. There was a scuffle and a snarl before the line went dead.

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