Page 15 of Wolf's Reckoning
I didn’t say anything; I’d had the conversation too many times about my eligibility as an alpha. Not that anyone really doubted me, but in the beginning,Ihad doubted me. I had a feeling this shaman knew that, so I opted to changethe subject. “So…apart from poisoning me, and making me throw up, was there anything else??”
I heard Killian’s snort in my head.Shut it, I warned him.
“I didn’t poison you, just got you to lower that guard you keep so high.” The shaman fussed with his herbs and pouches. “Your pack is small,” the shaman said, moving on swiftly. “Their history is one that wanders.”
It was true. My pack was happier roaming, never in one part of our territory for too long. “We have a permanent hall.”
The shaman never commented on that, and I didn’t blame him. It seemed we both knew that the wordpermanentwas a loose interpretation of the word.
“Why not settle in one place?” the shaman asked. “You are the alpha; you can pick a spot and build in it.”
My head cocked to the side as I regarded the shaman. “Is it an issue for the Pack Council that Stonefang Pack moves around their own territory?”
The shaman returned to his herbs and made no further comment.
“Was there anything else?” I asked him, sensing the mood had changed.
“Shaman?” Killian spoke quietly, looking over his shoulder carefully. “Who is the female they were discussing outside?”
The shaman turned his full attention to my companion. “An unmatched female. Daughter of a good alpha, a once-strong alpha.” He sighed, sadness overcoming his features. “But the Goddess grows weary of waiting for her alpha to come home.”
“He’s dying?” Killian asked with a glance at me. Hisexpression reflected the shaman’s sadness. “It is hard to lose the alpha of the pack.”
“It is.” The shaman was looking at me again. “Worse when there is no alpha to take their place.”
My eyes narrowed as I watched him. “No sons?”
“Not one alpha in the whole pack.”
Killian and I exchanged a glance. “The beta will become pack leader until a replacement or an alpha is found?” Killian guessed.
“Probably,” the shaman answered easily.
It was what they thought would happen in my pack. Lars, the old alpha, had let his beta manage most things in the pack as he got older. A beta was not an alpha and was merely nothing more than a steward. He’d led the pack through lean years and had held it well with grit and duty. But when I came into my alpha power, everything shifted.
“Blood warden?” I asked quietly.
The ghost of a smile graced the shaman’s lips. “I thought, in the north, they call thempack leadersthese days.”
“We aren’t further north,” I reminded him. I looked around as if I could see outside the tent walls. “Blood runs deep in these mountains.” I hesitated. “Deeper in some places more than others.”
That scent still lingered in the air, and I looked for a vent in the tent wall.
“Blood runs deep,” the shaman agreed. “Power runs deeper.”
I nodded without commenting. I knew that better than anyone. Alpha Lars had two sons, neither of them alphas. His beta was a good blood warden, but when the pack learned I was an alpha, they had already turned my way.
Wolves didn’t follow memories.
They followed dominance.
“No pack leader.” The shaman was watching me. “The alpha is hoping to match his only daughter in a fortuitous marriage.”
I’d been looking at the walls, wishing I could see beyond to the outside, but my attention snapped back to the shaman.
I heard the scoff, not quite sure it was mine, already shaking my head. “No.”
The shaman gave me a serene smile. “The ones who are eager for a match are well?—”
