Page 174 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
BRYN
Later that day, Night, ignoring Dr. Stan’s advice again, came with me to the council meeting. He could get around pretty well, but I knew he was in pain. Every time he had to step over something, he clenched his jaw. It was a subtle cue but one I picked up on easily. I carefully wrapped my arm around his waist as we made our way slowly to the meeting room.
As we walked, I caught him up on the results of last night’s attack.
“I hate that we suffered so many casualties,” he said. “I hate that we were all so unprepared for something like this.”
“I know. I’m hoping this meeting will help us nail down what exactly happened.”
“It better. Otherwise it’ll be a goddamn waste of time.”
We were the last to enter, and as such, we drew the attention of everyone in attendance. If there were any real discussion going on, it would have gone silent. Dom, Tavi, Violet, and my momwere there already, as were the Elders of both packs, the council, and several fighters from both packs.
Dom took over for me at Night’s side. He was insistent that he was fine and could walk on his own, but Dom ignored him, guiding Night toward his own vacant chair. They hadn’t expected Night to attend, so there would otherwise have only been a chair for me.
One of the Kings’ fighters, a man who was several decades older than Night, stood and made a beeline for Night and Dom. Dom held out his hand to stop the man, and he paused. Now this fighter had everyone’s attention.
“What do you need?” Night asked.
“I—” His hands clenched at his sides. “My name is Theodore. The young wolf you saved last night is my son. He told me that if not for you, he’d be dead. I just wanted to thank you for that, Alpha Shepherd.” He unclenched his hand and offered it.
Such a display of gratitude would have made a lesser Alpha preen or blush, but Night did neither. Instead, he took the man’s hand and shook.
“I appreciate this,” he said, “but it’s not necessary. I will always protect the wolves who fight by my side.”
The man’s gruff expression lightened somewhat as an almost-smile touched his lips. He said nothing, but some sort of understanding seemed to pass between him and Night. I smiled to myself and sat in the seat that Tavi had saved me.
I cleared my throat, pulling the attention of the room again. “What have we got so far?”
One of the Kings’ sentinels stood. “Our number of deaths hasn’t gone up. We have been able to give aid to those who were injured and keep them alive. About a third of our compound has suffered devastating damage, with a little less than half of it sustaining damage that can be repaired.”
It was such a relief to hear that we’d had no further casualties. “What are we doing with the wolves who lost their homes?”
“They’re being integrated into other cabins for now, but it’ll be tight until we get some major repairs underway.”
This struck me as a perfect opportunity to begin merging the two packs, and it seemed Night’s thoughts were in the same place.
“Any Kings families in need of shelter are more than welcome to stay on our land,” he said. “We don’t have a ton of space available, but between our territories, I’m sure we can work something out.”
The sentinel blinked. That had clearly been the last thing he’d expected to hear, but he quickly snapped out of it. “I’ll let them know…and, er, thank you.” He sat.
“So, what exactly caused this to happen?” I asked.
Elder Sage spoke up. “We don’t know what triggered this, or how Samson and Harlon were able to get the ferals to listen en masse. This has never happened before.”
Elder Patrice added, “Ferals are wild and fearful; they’re supposed to steer clear of the attention of large packs. Some act like hunters of opportunity because they usually aren’t able to compete with someone in a pack.”
“You said ‘some.’”
She nodded. “We are pack animals, which means that ferals don’t take to their isolation well. They rely on their wolves more and more until some of them even forget they can shift into human forms. At that point, they go totally wild.”
Elder Forsythe stood. “I might as well say this to clear the air. Most of the wolves that have been banished were rightfully punished; however, some were banished because Gregor believed them to be a threat to his rule. They were wolves who demanded a better life for their families and who didn’t believe it was right to capture, torture, or kill any wolf found trespassing on their land.”
“So,” I said, “you’re saying that not all of the ferals are crazy. Some of them would be in their faculties.”
“That’s right.”
I frowned. “So some of these wolves have a massive grudge against us because Gregor didn’t like what they had to say.”Pretty pathetic, if you ask me.But I wouldn’t say that. Not here.“Is there a way to help ferals recover so they can lead healthy lives?”
