Page 41 of Destined Bear
“You don’t give the pack orders, Heath. I do,” I snap, my patience wearing thin.
Heath stares at me balefully.
Alessa titters. “Uh oh. More drama. That’s all we need!”
“Get out.” I gesture for Alessa and the other enforcers to go, and they hurry to leave.
Only Heath and I remain in the room.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I snarl. “Are you trying to make me look incompetent in front of the pack?”
“Alpha, with all due respect, it’s these outbursts that are getting you in trouble. If you can’t contain your anger, you can’t contain your pack.”
A strange sensation trickles down my neck. I fall back into my chair heavily and stare at him. “You’re right.”
He’s baffled by my response. “I-I’mright?”
“Yes.”
I don’t elaborate, which seems to make him more uncomfortable.
“What does that mean, Alpha?”
“It means that not listening and getting defensive isn’t going to get us anywhere,” I relent. Standing, I gesture for him to follow me out the door. “Let’s go meet with the others. And callVivienne down from her mother’s suite. I want her in on this meeting.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Annoyance flares in me, but I don’t react outwardly. “I know you don’t. But this time, you’re wrong.”
I throw open the door and head into the hallway, making my way toward the living room to meet with the pack. Reluctantly, Heath heads up the stairs to find Vivienne for me, and I carefully plot out my next words.
I’d been so blind, so stupid. Vivienne had been telling me what she needed all along, and I hadn’t been listening.
“…and burn down all of Stonecrest territory!” Sabo declares. “That’s what we need to do!”
“Yeah, we won’t be doing that.” I flop down in my favorite wing chair and drape a foot over my knee. “But we’ll keep that as a backup option.”
“Alpha, that’s how we counter violence,” Sabo responds. “They hit us, we hit them harder. We should have already attacked. That’s how wars work!”
“We’re not even sure who we’re at war with,” I remind him. “We don’t know if the Alpha is involved, or if this is a rebel group. Right now, we are only making assumptions.”
“Then talk to Alpha Roman of Stonecrest,” Alessa interjects. “We need to know if he was involved.”
“The Alpha of Stonecrest is a very rigid male.” I drop my foot down and sit forward, stroking my chin. “He tends to follow rules, or at least that’s what they say about him. So, I really don’t think he had anything to do with this.”
“There are no rules in war.” Alessa rolls her eyes at me. “If they want your territory, they aren’t going to play by the rules.”
“That’s true.” Vivienne’s voice chimes in from the threshold. “But if Alpha Roman had planned it, the attack would be a bitmore strategic. I can’t imagine he would tolerate his pack being so indiscreet.”
Alessa’s eyes widen at the observation, and I grin at my mate.
Jumping to my feet, I head toward her, but she steps back cautiously, and I know it’s because she is uncomfortable around the pack.
My smile falters, and I turn back to address the room. “You think that Vivienne is too cautious,” I tell them. “That she’s not a fighter or that she doesn’t have what it takes to be the Luna of this pack. But you’re wrong. She’s the brains behind the operation. She’s playing chess while we’re playing war.”
Perplexed, Vivienne gapes at me.
“If I had heeded her advice about Ember Hollow when I first became Alpha, we could have spared ourselves years of trouble. None of the subsequent issues would have happened.”
