Page 73 of Wolf's Reckoning
Killian glared at me, his tongue swiped his top teeth, and his words were sharp through the mindlink.If this is where you tell me that I’m not yourfullbeta, for however many packs you want to lead, then this is where I tell you to bite my ass.
“Two packs,” I grumbled out loud. “Two is more than enough.” I folded my arms across my chest. “So you’re saying…I have no choice?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “I have no choice, I’m stuck with you?”
He grinned at me. “Of course not, you’re my alph—leader. I’m saying to myleaderthat this isn’t even a conversation we need to have.”
I sniffed as I looked at the two houses. “I forget how needy you can be.”
“Suck it, Wolfe,” he said as he walked past me, shoulder blocking me on the way. “You need me here.” He looked back at me with a gleam in his eye. “Because…well, because yourwifeis likely going to kill you. Someone has to watch your back.”
I wasn’t sure he was wrong about that either. “Another of your manifestations,” I grumbled at him, seeing his feigned look of innocence. “Do me a favor, stop tempting fate, eh? What was it you said about no one expected me to marry her?”
“I’m completely innocent,” he mumbled.
I kept my mouth shut, whether that was alpha wisdom or just good sense, I decided not to examine it too closely.
He swiftly changed the subject. “You know there are a lot more houses empty than I thought there would be.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too,” I told him. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done here.” We exchanged a look. “Good thing I sent for help, right?”
He grunted in agreement. “We’re going to need all the help we can bring.”
By dawn, the air smelled of pine, old smoke, and expectation.
Killian had already gathered them. Elders, guards, even those who hadn’t been on rotation in a while but showed up anyway. Which was good. That meant curiosity was doing its job. Or fear.
It didn’t matter which, as long as they were here.
I stood in front of the old training ring where my predecessor had once met with this same assembly. It looked pitiful, much like some of the ones in front of me. There were twenty gathered. Maybe more. Some still waking up, some trying to hide their scowls. I could smell the tension in the air.
I let it sit. Let it stew a little longer. Let them get themeasure of me, or think they had at least, while getting the measure ofthem.
Then I stepped forward. “I’m not Malric,” I said.
No greeting. No nod. Just the truth. Some flinched. A few straightened. One of the younger warriors blinked like he was waiting for the real speech to begin.
It didn’t.
“I won’t run this pack the way he did. I won’t walk his path. I won’t ask for permission to lead the pack already under my protection.” A beat of silence. “The druid’s rite bound me. But I was leader the moment I stepped over your border and smelled blood in your woods.”
No one spoke. Good. I wasn’t in the mood for interruptions.
“There are rogues pushing in from the east. Pack scent markers tampered with. Messages clawed into trees. I saw it. I tracked it. And I hunted it.”
“Did you kill it?” someone asked—sharp and doubting. An older wolf. Not Council, not warrior. The kind who survived too long on stories and too little on service.
I let my gaze cut to him. I remembered him from when I was younger. Ezra. Surly but he’d been sharp in his younger years.
“No,” I said. “Not yet. But I’ll know him when I see him. And when I do?” I stepped toward him. “You’ll smell the death on me before you have the breath to ask stupid questions.”
Killian let out a single low chuckle behind me. A few shifters shifted uneasily. Ezra looked away.
I turned back to the group.
“You’ve had peace too long. And peace makes wolves fatand soft. That ends today.” Now they were listening. “By tonight, I want border rotations set, scouts mapped, and every shifter and elder briefed on emergency protocols. If you have questions, speak now. If you have doubts, take them to the Goddess.”
Nothing. Not even a twitch. I let the silence stretch until it strained. “No questions? Then go,” I said. “You have a pack to protect. A territory to defend. I’ll be watching.”
They dispersed quickly. Good instincts. I didn’t need them to like me. I needed them sharp.
