Page 36 of Ascendant King

“And they’re willing to accept you as Emperor Wolf,” Cade said. “Or at least see if you can prove yourself worthy.”

“That too,” I admitted. “Still, it’s good news. After the council, an old ally of my mother’s suggested I go back to Castillo Pack territory to see if there was anyone left. We retook the territory and came back with new Los Santos members.”

I watched the reactions. No one was surprised, but there was a slight tension in the air. Everyone was pointedlynotlooking at each other.

“Questions?” I asked sharply.

After a beat, Evelyn raised her chin. “All right, no one else will ask, so I will. Are we actually planning to keep Flores as Los Santos Pack territory? Because one of us would have to move down there, and if I draw the short straw, I’d know it was because Gabe is a cheat.”

“We haven’t even drawn straws yet!” Gabe said defensively. “And if anyone cheats, it’s going to be Joel.”

Blinking as though he was actually injured, Joel said, “What did Ieverdo to you, bro? Like, when have I ever insulted you like that? I am real hurt. My heart is hurt by what you just said.”

He pounded lightly on his chest, and Nia rapped on the table sharply. Heather cleared her throat.

“What are you going to do with the extra mouths to feed?”

I knew that Heather would ask the critical questions. She kept everything spinning in her head, always looking for the next angle, the next opportunity. But that meant she was always seeing where something could fail, where something right might go wrong.

Adding a bunch of extra mouths to feed to our pack was a way that things could goverywrong.

When I glanced at Nia, she nodded, tilting her head slightly toward Heather, agreeing and wanting to know my answer.

“No, we aren’t claiming Flores. There’s enough of my mother’s people there that Imightconsider sending aid if they need it. But right now, I’m just happy to destabilize Ghost Pack by messing with their territory. The man in charge will contact us if Ghost Pack comes back, and we’ll cross that bridgeifit comes.” I glanced toward the window. The guest house was invisible through the wall of green plants. “We’re going to needto move some wolves into the establishments. It’s the only work we have. Which means we either rebuild or we start new clubs.”

The tension around the table relaxed. I glanced at Nia, who nodded.

“Kieran, what do you think?” I asked.

“Heather has been suggesting some new ideas,” he hedged. “But I wasn’t sure how open you were to extending money into unproven ventures.”

“Tell me,” I said.

Heather explained her idea for a werewolf-focused club and another mage-centered one that targeted working-class, non-affiliated mages. She thought they were feeling safer in Los Santos because we didn’t let House Morrison run the streets. As she spoke, I found myself looking around the table. I let my eyes glance at Cade before returning to Heather, refusing to let myself linger on his expression, the frown between his brows.

“Get me a real proposal,” I said. “But I’m interested.”

“Great, can do, boss!” Heather’s expression opened wide, her enthusiasm contagious.

“Okay. The dealer I wanted to deal with is in the wind.” I gestured to the assortment of evidence. “He was experimenting with the sap we found at House Bartlett ley lines.”

Collectively, the wolves looked at Nia. She was frowning and finally turned her eyes to Cade.

“She wants to know what it means,” Heather said helpfully.

“I know that, thank you,” Cade sniped. “And I don’t know. Nothing good.”

“It means that it’s more important than ever that we bring the fight to House Bartlett.” I kept my voice as calm as I could. “Leon was funding—or at leastinvolved inthe experiments—and that doesn’t mean anything good for wolves. So we need to decide how we’re taking on House Bartlett. Because our timeline has moved from ‘sometime’ to ‘sooner.’”

At the words, the betas at the table tensed.

“We’re going to war, boss?” Joel asked.

“We’re going to war.” I nodded at them. “If anyone wants off this train, you need to speak now. If you know anyone in thepackwho wants off this train, you need to let me know. The only thing worse than a bad soldier is one who doesn’t want to be on the battlefield.”

“We’re with you,” Evelyn said. “You’re our alpha, and we’d follow wherever you lead.”

“Even into hell,” Gabe said.