Page 111 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha

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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 mom were 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?”

“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 were all attacked, 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 behind all of 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.”