Page 31 of Pack Rage (The Splintered Bond #4)
Chapter 30
The Council Meeting
FLOR
M y blood still hummed with the power Grigor had shared, and my heart with the knowledge that he loved me in his own dark, perfect way, when Brand burst into the cell. “They’re coming to take us above. Flor, you cannot be separated from me, do you understand?”
I knew he wasn’t afraid that he couldn’t overcome any number of shifters; he practically glowed with power right now. His eyes really did shine, lighting up my face as he stared down at me. No, the one he was concerned about was Elina. I glanced down at his arm, where that bitch had tried to leave her mark. There was nothing there now, not even a magical trace, but even the memory of her scratches pissed me off, and made my wolf bristle with rage.
She’s not here, I reminded myself as Margarette and Bradley helped Mama up and out into the hallway. I couldn’t hear anyone but us moving in the corridor, but I could feel the presence of at least a dozen shifters ahead of us, and above. Grigor said he’d felt her, hours away. Unnerved for some reason, I said out loud, “All we have to deal with are regular wolves, right?”
Bradley replied as we walked toward the exit that led up and into the Mansion. “Eastern Enforcers are no such thing. They’ll be armed with silver, all of them. After he locked us away, Aidan bragged about how much silver he’d stockpiled here, weapons from the end of the war and contraband his Enforcers collected.”
“Isn’t that against pack law? To have a shit ton of silver weapons, I mean.”
Bradley sighed. “Yes and no. Council Alphas were the only ones allowed to keep silver on hand, ceremonial blades, mainly. Eastern asked for a dispensation, to keep a small cache of silver weapons, in case the Russians attacked us with their own again. Of course, it was meant to be locked away, not used against allies.”
I managed to keep my mouth shut, though I wanted to cuss about the leaders of the whole damned nation somehow being above the law. I was on Brand and Samuel’s side; this whole “new way” with an elected Council was absolute bullshit. Silver was the one thing the moon had made it clear shifters weren’t to fuck around with.
“Even without silver, these guards would be a threat,” Brand said, though he didn’t sound too worried. Faking it for my benefit, I suspected, since I could feel his concern through our bond. “They’ve been trained to withstand pain, and to follow orders with complete obedience, even if it means their own death.”
I swallowed hard, trying not to think about death right now. I knew how dangerous this night would be. If any one of us died—me or my five mates—we could take the rest with us. We might be stronger for being bonded like we were, but it was also our greatest weakness.
I shook away an odd sense of foreboding and focused on Bradley’s words. “...but Aidan’s careful to follow the law’s letter, if not the spirit. They may truly believe he is in the right. That the rest of us are the ones who subvert the law.”
“Pack law needs a little subverting,” I muttered. “Where’s Finn?”
“He’s still at the other exit,” Brand whispered. “He’ll join us at the last minute.”
I opened my mouth to ask what minute that might be, just as the door at the end of the hallway opened wide, and a shifter came down. “Luke!” I called out, remembering myself when I sensed the others at his back, a group up the stairs and stretching into the hallway beyond. He was acting like he was on their side, so I had to pretend, too. “Why’re you helping these assholes?”
“As opposed to helping the assholes you’ve sided with, mate ?” he snarled, playing along.
Right behind him was a shifter I’d never met, a narrow-shouldered, mean-eyed one who stank of silver. The scent was so intense, I almost sneezed, but I didn’t want to close my eyes around these fuckers, not even for a second.
He held a gun in one of his heavily gloved hands, a bunch of thin metal cables in the other, and had a silver knife tucked in an open sheath at his waist. He shoved Luke forward with his other hand. Luke hissed in pain, and I saw why when he reached into his back pocket and pulled out an equally heavy set of gloves before taking the bundle of cables from the guy.
“By the moon, they’re all silver,” Bradley whispered beside me. “There’s so much.”
“Tie them up, Southern.” The asshole tried to shove Luke again, but he moved to one side, ignoring the gun.
“If I’m not moving fast enough, you can do it, Niall,” Luke said, slowly pulling on his gloves. I couldn’t hear his voice in my head, but I could feel his emotions. He was terrified, but trying to hide it. The last thing he wanted to do was put that silver chain on any of us.
“The girl first,” the asshole demanded.
Wait. Niall. I bristled, realizing now who this rat’s ass was. He was the guy who’d tried to force Finn’s little sister into a mating. He’d beaten my mate. I was going to return the fucking favor, lifting my fists to dare him to bind me, but my Bearman stopped me with a look.
“No,” he replied, stepping in front of us all. “Me first.” His tone left no room for any other option.
“Not a bad idea,” Luke said, stepping toward Brand. I could tell they were communicating somehow—though I wasn’t certain if Brand could hear Luke’s thoughts, or speak with him like we could with Grigor—and Brand stood still, his gaze locked on Luke’s as he held out his massive hands. Sorry, Luke mouthed as he looped half of the chains around Brand’s wrists again and again. Behind him, Niall’s smirk grew wider, his shoulders relaxing. I steeled myself to sense Brand’s pain through the bond, but I should’ve known better.
“I hardly feel it,” Brand said, and the truth in his voice shocked everyone but me. His silver eyes softened as he winked down at me. When Luke finished, he kneeled down and looped more silver cables around Brand’s ankles, forming shackles, though I could tell he was trying to keep the silver over the fabric of Brand’s jeans. My Bearman stood quietly, allowing it, and I didn’t pick up even a hint of discomfort, though his eyes grew brighter with every loop.
Finally, when Luke stepped back, the stench of silver filling the air until my nose itched painfully with another sneeze, Brand straightened. He should have been weak from the silver, and Niall stepped closer, his fear less obvious. A few more Enforcers crowded into the hallway behind him, their own guns already drawn.
“Now the girl.”
Luke stiffened. “The males—” he began, and Niall lifted his gun to point it at Luke’s back.
“The girl, I said.”
“No. I think you’ll need to chain me again first,” Brand said quietly. “Bradley? Back everyone up please.”
“Shit, yes.” Bradley pulled me back, trying to push me behind him as well, though I peeked out around him to see. Brand nodded at Luke, who returned the gesture grimly, and stepped back as far as he could.
“Wha—” Niall wasn’t able to get the word out before Brand lifted his tightly-bound wrists up to the dim light, then flexed his arms. The silver cables creaked like ice breaking on a lake, then shot out to all sides, small pieces of silver flying like bullets out from the cables.
Niall screamed. “Fuck!” A piece of the cable had just embedded itself in his cheek. One of the other Enforcers wasn’t as lucky; he’d gotten a larger chunk that had slid across his neck, acting as a flying garrote. The hallway was slick with blood in seconds, and Niall slipped, still screaming. His gun went off, though I wasn’t certain he’d meant to fire it, the bullet ricocheting off the concrete walls, and ending up?—
“Brand!” I gasped as I smelled his blood, and felt a hint of his pain at last. He leaned over, and I was afraid he’d been wounded somewhere vital. But all he did was grasp the cables around his ankles, and pull them away like crepe paper at the end of a birthday party.
He held them out to the cursing Niall. “See? You’ll need to tie me again. Or you could accept our vow to walk peacefully to the Council meeting outside. I’m not sure you have enough silver to contain us all.” His eyes narrowed. “Or enough Enforcers.”
“Son of a bitch,” Niall shouted, lifting the gun again. I squirmed around Bradley and planted myself at Brand’s side, my wolf howling for vengeance. I wasn’t sure where he was shot, but I knew Brand had been hurt.
Brand growled at Niall and held up his arm. The bullet had gone in there, blood oozing from the entry hole. He flexed his muscles, and it popped out, falling to the floor with a quiet clink. “That’s Alpha Son of a Bitch to you. Now, do you want my vow to the moon, or do you need to waste some more silver?”
The Enforcer at his feet let out one last rattling breath and died. The others had already retreated back up the steps. Niall looked around and realized he was alone, with only Luke on his side.
Just then, Finn sauntered up the hallway behind us, calling out, “You know, Niall, I did you a favor when I helped Tana get away from you. Not just because you’re a pathetic excuse for a shifter, but you’re so stupid. You would’ve felt bad, being mated to someone so far above your fucking station and beyond your limited intellect.” Finn had somehow fixed his clothing and hair, so he looked like he’d just woken up from a refreshing nap and was ready for a trip to the Enforcer yacht club, or whatever shit rich people did.
Niall snarled, but I could tell he was shocked to see his Alpha Heir looking fresh as a daisy. “How did you—” he began, but then wrenched his attention back to the group when Luke nudged him.
Luke cleared his throat. “Shall we? The moon’s rising.” He winked at me. “Brand, Flor, Finnick, Bradley, Margarette, and Lily? Do you all swear before the moon to come peacefully to the Council ring outside this pack house? To do no harm within its walls to any who do not offer harm to you, and to present yourself for judgment before the moon and the gathered pack?”
Brand grinned. “I swear before the moon,” he began, then repeated all the words. I could feel him laughing in our bond, and when I repeated the words with the others, I knew why. We were only promising not to hurt anyone inside the Mansion, and the vow only covered those who weren’t trying to hurt us. And the judgment part seemed wishy-washy as well. Whose judgment?
When Brand turned his moon-bright eyes on mine, I knew what he’d vowed to. The only judgment he would accept, which was not Aidan Fuckface McDonnell’s.
A few minutes later, we were crossing through the opulent house, a dozen Enforcers with guns trained on us, all of them stinking of silver and fear, hemming us in. I didn’t see any servants this time, though I heard one or two people moving in the direction of the kitchens. It was odd, like the Mansion was deserted. It was even odder finally having the heightened senses of my wolf. I only wished I could have spent our first shift together outside, running under the moon.
Soon, I promised. We just have to get out of here first.
As we walked through the Mansion, I let myself take in my surroundings, since this time I wasn’t hiding under a catering cart. It was so lavish, it triggered a new kind of rage. My pack hadn’t had this kind of wealth, not even close. Not even the Alpha and the assholes who’d lived in the Pack House. The shifters in the smaller packs that I’d seen at the Conclave had been almost as poor as Southern. This was the closest pack to us, geographically, and the place where the current Head resided… and he was, what? A billionaire, I’d bet.
I’d heard a radio show once where someone had been joking that regular people should “eat the rich.” The people on the show had been humans, so they’d meant figuratively. But my wolf side licked her lips now, thinking it might be time to see what fat, wealthy city wolves tasted like.
Bradley and Margarette were clinging to each other, and I knew that of all of us, they were the weakest physically, maybe even counting Mama. They’d been imprisoned for far too long, and the food they’d gotten in the lower levels hadn’t been enough.
When I noticed Becca and Vanya peering out wide-eyed through a crack in one of the doors that I figured led back to the kitchen, I touched my mouth, then pointed to the Hilliers. By the time we reached the end of that hall, a pewter tray with cups of water, juice, and a board covered with cheese cubes and fruit was sitting on a side table.
One of the Enforcers who’d been escorting us snarled, “They’re all supposed to be outside,” and barged through the kitchen door, ordering whoever was still in there to go to the ring. I wasn’t sure what that was about, but it couldn’t be good.
“Gotta pee,” I announced, and Finn stopped in his tracks ahead of us. I wasn’t lying.
“This way,” he said, pointing to a door.
Niall snarled at him, but Luke lifted an eyebrow. “Even at Southern, we don’t want shifters pissing on our floors.”
“I mean, I could just go in the corner…” I gestured to a plant.
Luke stifled a laugh. “It’s a hell of a lot cleaner than our latrines.”
Finn ran a gentle hand over my arm as he opened the door for me. “Take your time.”
“We don’t have fucking time, ” Niall bitched, but my mates stared him down, while Bradley and Margarette snuck juice and handfuls of fruit and cheese behind his back. I slipped into the bathroom and peed, then washed my hands and face, giving the Hilliers and Mama enough time to gather strength, I hoped.
When I came back out, Margarette and Bradley each took turns in the bathroom. Margarette whispered, “We’re just delaying the battle.”
I half-smiled, though my nerves were making me feel a little sick, but Brand answered for me. “Good. The moon should be high in the sky for what’s ahead.” He gripped my hand, though for some reason, that made the Enforcers around us tense up.
Still, no one shot a gun or attacked us in any way as we exited the Mansion and started walking down a wide, crushed-granite path to the area a quarter mile away, where Glen had told me there was a ring for fighting like we had at Southern. Well, he’d described it as more of a giant circle, hundreds of feet across, with edges that sloped slightly higher, almost like an amphitheater, and a fighting ring in the very center. So like Southern, but bigger and fancier.
Brand stopped walking for a long second, his nostrils flared. “What is it?” My breath made a cloud when I spoke, and I suppressed a shiver. It had to be close to freezing, and nightfall wasn’t even here.
“Blood,” he replied, but started walking again. I tried to smell it, but the stink of silver had seared my nostrils.
Over the hill ahead of us, an eerie glow shone along the upraised lip of the Council area, from a ring of electric torches planted in a giant circle, like miniature streetlights set low to the ground. I couldn’t see down into the ring yet, but I could hear a constant murmur, and see the backs of an enormous crowd.There were hundreds of Eastern shifters gathered inside the circle, most of them in human form, engaged in hushed conversations.
When we crested the low hill and a few of them spotted us, something odd began to happen. Almost all together, the crowd turned.The shifters in human form faced us on their feet, their expressions growing angry. Ugly. They didn’t smell feral, but they looked it, like there was something twisted inside them.
The shifters who wore fur, though, reacted very differently. Almost as one, the wolves dropped to their bellies. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but Brand seemed to know. His bright gaze fell on the closest wolves, and they began whimpering and whining, backing away.
“Eastern! Make way,” Aidan shouted from the center of the ring, and the lines of troops parted, opening up a path for us to approach.
I spotted a few groups of women, dressed in the black and white uniforms of Eastern’s maids, and lifted my chin to Becca and Vanya, whose chests heaved like they were out of breath, and scared out of their wits. What were they doing here?I supposed a Council meeting could be open to any shifter, right? But every single one of the Mansion’s maids was out here, shivering in their thin uniforms, and shooting wary glances at the Enforcers that hemmed them in.
As I stepped over the rim of the hill, I noted something else odd: a thick double stripe of something white on the ground, or in it. A ring of chalk or stone, buried in the dirt an inch down? I wasn’t sure, but there wasn’t time to examine it.
“Bring them here, Niall.” The Eastern Alpha was dressed in a black suit, like he was about to run a board meeting for humans, rather than a shifter Council. Almost all the others closest to him, the ones in clothing at least, wore Eastern Enforcers’ uniforms, black on black.
There were a few shifters standing beside him dressed in odd uniforms, though. Without looking at me or Brand, Luke muttered, “A true High Council meeting. He’s called in the smaller packs,” before he broke off with Niall and went ahead.
I peered at them curiously. Had they been at the Southern Conclave? Would they recognize me? At least one of them did, from his reaction, and he began whispering to the shifter on his right. The whispers rushed around the pack, until all of the oddly-clothed shifters were staring at me… until they noticed Brand, and his eyes. Then they fell silent, their faces shining with awe and fear, one or two of them even bowing slightly.
Brand walked just ahead of me on my left, and Finn on my right. Bradley and Margarette were behind us, one on each side of Mama to help her if she needed it, but we all entered the ring within a few steps of each other, and over another line of chalk, though it was gritty when my boot scuffed against it, and pinkish. Salt, maybe, though this one had been mixed with blood. That couldn’t be good news.
I peered around, taking in the groups just in front of a huddle of maids. It looked like there were far more foreign pack members here than there ought to be. I counted heads the best I could, and thought it could be a solid third of the crowd. Where had they all come from?
My ears popped just as I stepped onto the packed earth. For a split second, all I could smell was blood. Then, I couldn’t smell anything but silver and sweat, along with the hundreds of shifters who milled nearby. Something was wrong, and the hairs on my neck stood up.
It felt like I’d entered a bubble, and I was cut off from the bonds that connected me to Grigor and Glen. No, not cut off. They were muted, like they were on the other side of a canyon, and so was the power I’d felt buzzing in my veins up until now.
As I stared at Aidan in the ring’s center, Niall at his left and Luke taking up position on his right, I reached for my missing mates. They didn’t answer, though I could sense their presence at the end of the cords that bound us.
I didn’t like it. The foreboding got stronger as the moon began to peek over the trees to the east. Brand was feeling it, too, I could tell. His unease was almost overwhelming, until he realized I was starting to panic.
I went still, a whisper echoing in my mind. Grigor? It seemed like he’d tried to speak to me… No, to one of the others. Even though I didn’t think he was hurt, he was raging. Struggling, somehow, or exerting himself in some way. Was he fighting Elina?
I glanced up at Brand, whose brow was furrowed as his gaze jerked from the ground to the sky and back again, like he was trying to figure out what was going on. Listening to something, though no one around was speaking, at least not to him.
Aidan straightened his shoulders and called, “Under the full moon, and before the witnesses gathered, I, Alpha Aidan McDonnell of the Eastern Pack, and current Head of the North American Council, call the gathered packs to order. I call the moon to watch over us all, and for the packs to know that the judgments made here are lawful and true.”
Brand snarled silently toward the moon at those words. I looked up as well, and shivered. What in the hell was going on? The full moon had been a pain in my ass during the nights I was hunted at Southern, but even then, its light had felt pure. I didn’t know what was going on now, but I knew what Brand had been looking at. The muted feeling in the ring extended to the sky, somehow. The moon itself felt… cut off, from us. How in the hell had this been done?
“Such bullshit,” Brand muttered, then raised his voice. “As if any shifter can call the moon. As if any judgment but Hers is true.”
Aidan pointed at Brand. “You have not been given a voice in this Council, shifter. You have made no pledge, and have no rank here. Be silent. You may not speak until instructed.” It was an Alpha command, carrying the force of all the North American packs. Well, all of them except one. Mountain.
Brand blinked for a second, then burst into the loudest laughter I’d ever heard. It almost hurt my ears, and Aidan flinched at the sound. But when Brand stopped laughing to reply, all the shifters, even the Eastern Enforcers, were thrown into a near-panic. “If you weren’t such a worthless bastard, it would be cute to watch you try to command me. I’ll speak when words are needed. And I’ll only honor the judgment of the moon, not of some weak Alpha attempting to break our deepest laws in order to grasp at power.” His voice didn’t hold even the tiniest hint of strain as he shucked Aidan’s Alpha command, on his own packlands, like it was a piece of dead grass.
You could’ve heard a pin drop. I did hear a few clicks, maybe safeties being switched off on guns, all around us. Brand must have heard them, too, since he stepped back. All of my mates except Luke moved slightly closer, so I would be protected from the bullets, if they came. Luke’s expression was tortured, as if he wanted to break away from the role he was playing now and run to me as well.
Such bullshit. They obviously hadn’t put it together that we were all the weak links now, not just me. “I’m not the only one that needs protecting,” I breathed.
“You know we don’t see you as weak. But our wolves won’t be able to resist defending their mate,” Brand whispered.
“Sure, sure,” I grumbled, just as something sliced into me.
A bullet? No. Claws.
There were invisible claws in my neck, piercing my skin. I choked, stumbling to a stop when Finn caught me. In less than a second, Brand and Luke were sprouting claws as well, and Finn was snarling through a mouth with sharp teeth.
“What’s going on?” Bradley demanded.
I didn’t know. I hadn’t been injured, but someone had. Glen! I cried out inside as I heard him scream my name, then vanish.
A wave of anger came from outside, from Grigor. He was sending emotions toward me, but I couldn’t hear his voice. “Why can’t I hear Grigor?” I whispered.
“Because there is something wrong with this place, and because he’s far away,” Brand answered just as quietly. Sniffing the air, he peered around us with eyes that glowed bright as the night grew dark. “Though the witch is not.”