Page 175 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
“That, to my knowledge, has never been done.”
“It can’t be that complicated, right?” Night asked. He sat at my left and had his arms crossed. “We just need to train them to remember their human sides. I’m not saying it’ll be easy. They’ll be hard to corral, and it’ll be tough convincing them to reach out to their human and give back control. But it should be possible.”
“I think we should give it a try,” I said. It was up to us to right the wrongs that had been done to them. Some ferals were criminals, but without hearing their stories, we would never know who deserved to be there and who didn’t.
“I don’t see why we would waste time on this,” Dana Whelk said. She looked right at me as she spoke. She had been glaring at me throughout the meeting. “It would take far less time and resources to simply kill the ferals. Then the threat would be gone.”
My eyes narrowed, but I was spared having to respond by an unlikely speaker.
“With all due respect, ma’am,” Theodore said, “we have no idea where the ferals are hiding. Killing all of them will be grueling, hard work that no one will want to do.”
She looked at him like he wasn’t fit to lick the bottom of her foot. “That’s what we have fighters and warriors for,” she retorted. “You’re supposed to do the work that the rest of us don’t want to do. Or is a small gesture from the Wargs’ Alpha all it takes to make you forget that?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “My son’s life is a small gesture to you?”
“No. That’s enough,” I said. “The infighting is unnecessary. We wereallattacked, so we need to come up with a solution that helps everyone.” I turned my gaze to Dana. “We’ve seen the kind of damage that an iron fist can do, Dana. I’m sure everyone here can point out the flaws in Gregor and Troy’s leadership. It’s time we try something more compassionate.” I felt Night’s knee bump mine, a bit of encouragement that gave me a bit of courage as I went on, “If nothing else, helping the ferals would probably help us figure out what the hell happened last night.”
Elder Queene nodded. “It’s something we can try and work out, should a feral appear again.”
“Great. Now we can discuss the damage done to the compound. What areas were most affected?”
Dom stood. “I can help answer that.” He nodded to Frankie, who stood against the wall of the room. She and Tyrell approached the table and laid out a map of the Kings pack territory. It was marked with red ink. “Most of the damage was done at the eastern border because that was where the attack started.” He pointed to the area of the map with the most red. “The infirmary was largely untouched aside from the busted front door. But cabins and buildings nearby were trashed.”
He moved his finger closer to the center of the compound. The red marks were near where we’d started to treat the injured wolves. “There was also quite a bit of damage done in this area. Most of these homes were torched and ransacked.”
The red marks were scattered throughout the map according to how successful the siege at each corner of the border was, but the northwest section of the map was largely unaffected. I pointed to it, interrupting the rest of Dom’s report.
“What about this area?” I asked. “It’s completely untouched.”
Night brushed behind me to get a better look at the map, and I felt the anger rumble in his chest. I didn’t understand why at first. In that direction was the dining hall and the schoolhouse, and…
“Isn’t that where the holding facility is?” Night asked. “Where Troy is?”
Realization hit Tavi, Dom, and I at the same time. “Night, you don’t think…?”
Night’s growl became more pronounced, and he turned to leave. I got up, too, my chair squeaking across the floor, but he was already out the door.
“What?” Elder Sage demanded. “What is it?”
“Troy is there,” Tavi snapped. I hadn’t expected her to speak, but as she said those words, her voice held the same amount of tension that was visible in Night’s shoulders. “Troy might be behindallof this.”
Tavi, Dom, and I left behind shocked murmurs as we rushed to catch up with Night. He was still in pain, but he led the way as we stormed past leveled buildings and torched wood to get to the holding facility. When we arrived, we found no one guarding the front door. The prisoners inside were howling for food, demanding us to let them out before they starved to death.
Night ignored them all as he stomped up to Troy’s cell, which, like the door, was unguarded. We’d need to determine whether the missing guards were dead or if they had been in on the plan. The cell was unlocked. That was enough to confirm our worst fears, but Night threw open the door anyway.
My hands clenched at my sides, nails digging into my palms. The cell was empty, and aside from the lingering stench of Troy, there was no trace that it had ever been used at all.
All I could say was, “Fuck.”
PART III
CLAIMING THE PACK
72
BRYN
Prisoners shouted to be let free as the four of us marched up to the holding cell that was supposed to house Troy Redwolf.
