Page 19 of The Alpha Dire Wolf (Bloodlines & Bloodbonds #1)

Lincoln

I didn’t bother to clean myself before the meeting started.

Ash still matted my fur, and the unpleasant scent filled my nose with every breath.

I stank and was covered in minor wounds.

Every eye was on me as I entered the meeting grounds, padding on all fours between the matching columns that marked the circular amphitheater’s entrance.

That wasn’t unusual. I was alpha. I expected attention.

This time it was unwavering and intense. Hackles rose. Wolves crouched low. Human forms sat up with straight spines. The low rumble of conversation died away as everyone realized they were about to figure out why the meeting had been called so unexpectedly.

There was a mixture of wolves and humans on the various levels, scattered by familial groups, individuals, professions, and allegiances. Some of them watched with open hostility in their eyes, others with neutrality. Few were openly warm and welcoming. But that, too, was to be expected.

Everyone knew something was up, though I doubted any one of them knew what it was. They were all waiting for me to provide an answer.

I shifted as I reached the bottom, not breaking stride as I did—a subtle showcase of power and skill. It served as a reminder of why I was alpha and not any of them.

At the front and to my right sat a cluster of wolves in human form. The Elder Council, as they dubbed themselves, and most of them looked unimpressed. Of course, they would have seen such showmanship over many decades with past alphas. Why would they be impressed now?

“The Chained has sent more of his creatures out,” I said without preamble. “There was another attack.”

Simply ripping the bandage off and throwing the information out there was the best way not to waste any more time. We’d been doing enough of that lately.

There were shocked cries and outrage. Even some fear.

Talk of the Chained was not something we did lightly.

To many it was the bogeyman, the damned evil of the night, used to keep children in line when they were being unruly.

But it wasn’t imaginary. It was real, and it was growing stronger, as this attack showed.

“Who was attacked?”

The question asker was a tall, slender male several rows up. He sat at the forefront of half a dozen or so other wolves, all of whom were clean and proper looking. Fresh haircuts, fresh faces, fresh suits. They were doing their best to look like boardroom businessmen, not wolves.

“Was it you?” Noel Rikke asked when I didn’t answer his first question immediately.

“No,” I said, deciding to reveal the truth. Some of it at least. “It wasn’t me they attacked.”

Watching Noel’s face close down as he thought it over, I turned my attention away from him. Noel was head of a group of wolves who felt that I shouldn’t be alpha of the pack. Apparently defeating Noel in the final trial wasn’t proof enough for him or those who supported him.

“They attacked one of the humans,” I said, looking out over my assembled pack. To a one, they looked surprised. “And I know this because I was there, and I stopped it.”

I let my appearance do the talking for a moment, showcasing my lack of fear, my willingness to put my life on the line to stop the Chained. As we all should do.

The Elder Council were about ready to explode. Big buggy eyes and puffed cheeks spoke of many emotions bubbling to the surface. If I gave one of them the chance to speak overlong, they would spend forever and a day questioning me and then another eternity chastising me.

“ Who were you with? ” Elder Jackson spoke up, twisting his long, scraggly white beard unhappily.

“Things are intensifying!” I shouted, speaking over him.

“They have been getting worse for years. But in the past week, they have begun to spiral out of control. Out of our control. Because we aren’t doing anything about it.

So I am making it clear, here and now, that we as a pack are done sitting around.

We will spread the word to our friends and allies.

To those who help us guard the forest and keep the humans safe. Everyone must know and be on alert.”

The elders were ready to blow a gasket. To my surprise, though, Noel didn’t immediately object alongside them. He sat calmly, waiting, unwilling to fight me on this new shift in clan policy.

Probably thinks I’m doing him a favor and dropping a noose over my own neck. Why push me, when I’ll hang myself just fine on my own.

“All patrols are to be doubled in size,” I continued, glancing at a wolf in the front row.

Gerratt Christiane nodded. The big, beefy wolf with mutton chops and a mop of curly black hair on his head looked the part of someone who enjoyed a good fight, but hiding behind that rough and tumble exterior was an excellent brain for pack tactics and planning.

“Nobody will leave the pack lands alone. Always in pairs or more. Children will be escorted at all times, no going anywhere alone.” I noticed the muted looks of unhappiness over the added work, but I knew none of them would argue.

The precautions were sensible. No, what I was about to say would set them off.

“I’m also putting forth the call for volunteers. ”

“Volunteers for what?” Elder Germander asked as I finally let them get a word in.

I steeled myself. “To go to the heartlands,” I said as calmly as I could. “The Chained is up to something. We’re going to cross the river in force, see just what’s going on, and figure out if we can stop it before it gets too far.”

The amphitheater exploded with noise as everyone began shouting at once.

“Crossing the river is forbidden!” Elder Jackson shouted, his voice the loudest. “It’s too dangerous!”

“We must know what is going on,” I countered. “The last time the Chained started acting up, we as a pack lost. It nearly killed us all. I will not lose a single member of this pack because we stood around, too afraid to act. I will not!”

The shouts continued after that—some in support but many against. I tried not to feel disgust at what the elders had done to the pack over the years, before and after I had ascended to alpha. They had their tendrils spread far and wide, whispering into many ears to make others see their viewpoints.

“Silence!” Elder Jackson shouted now over the commotion. “Silence!”

The crowd slowly calmed, many of them taking their seats or flopping onto their sides, shouts and howls dying away.

“We will commune with the forest,” Elder Jackson continued, tugging on the fringes of his beard. “We shall see what it says and whether it approves of this plan.”

I held my tongue, despite the withering retort longing to be let out. Cutting the elders out of this meeting entirely was not possible. They held too much sway and commanded too much respect from the rest of the pack.

“Communing with the forest” was a load of bullshit, though.

The forest was alive in its own way, yes.

It lived and breathed, and even, I would argue, had a soul, a pulse attuned to the world that humans could not hear.

What it was not, however, was sentient. It did not communicate with us.

This was simply an excuse for the elders to say my plan was faulty and to try to stop it.

I wasn’t about to let that happen. I was done letting them make the rest of my pack run scared.

“If you are willing to volunteer, please seek me or Gerratt out and notify us,” I said, not giving anyone else a chance to speak. “When I know anything more about the situation, I will let you all know. Thank you for coming, and I’m sorry that I did not come before you with better news.”

The meeting ended, and people began to rise and leave.

For their part, the elders stayed put, looking at me expectantly as though waiting for me to walk over to them and discuss my plans with them. As if then and only then would the “real” plan be developed, with their input and guidance, of course.

Which is precisely why I didn’t move or even look at them. If they didn’t like what I, the alpha, was doing, they could come to me and discuss it. I did not answer to them, even if openly defying them wasn’t something I was quite ready to do.

Eventually, even those who knew there would be an argument between me and the elders left, growing tired of waiting. Even some of the elders decided it wasn’t worth it and shuffled their way out. I still didn’t move.

At the front of their little group, Elder Jackson finally bared his teeth and caved, walking over to where I stood. I still stared out at the raised levels of the meeting grounds, pretending he didn’t exist until he came to a stop and opened his mouth to speak.

“ I am the alpha of this pack,” I snarled, cutting him off before he could utter a single syllable. “Not you. Not any of you.”

Elder Jackson snorted. “If you think it’s that black and white, go against us openly. It won’t go well, and you know it.”

I jabbed a finger at his face. “You are doing this pack no favors with your isolationist fearmongering, Elder .” I threw the term at him derogatorily.

“We have long helped the humans by patrolling the forest and keeping the darkness at bay. We were welcomed in the town by its residents, those who know our true nature and those who don’t.

We make their lives easier and safer by preventing the Chained from extending its influence.

The Chained is our problem. Our duty. Not theirs. ”

“And look where it got us,” Elder Jackson said, shaking his head sadly.

“We should be far larger than we are. There should be no empty houses out there. We should be one of the most powerful packs on the continent by now. Instead, the last time we tried to save them from the Chained, their treachery decimated us! We lost nearly half of our people.”

“That was generations ago,” I countered. “A century and a half. We don’t even know exactly what went on at that time.”

Elder Jackson didn’t back down. Neither did those at his side. “What we do know is that much more in the way of losses back then, and we would have been forced to merge with one of the other packs. What we know is all those deaths were at the hands of human treachery.”

Most of the other elders nodded along with Jackson as he spoke, making their feelings clear. A few did not, and one or two of those who did nod looked hesitant to do so.

“Regardless, your desire to hide is wrong ,” I said, coming as close as I dared to calling him a coward.

“And so is violating the boundaries of the heart of the forest,” Elder Jackson countered. “We do not cross the Dyne. You know this. It is against the rules.”

“Rules you set!” I snarled, staring him down. The word was on my lips. But such an insult was not one I could take back if uttered.

Being branded a coward in a wolf pack was a death sentence. Any wolf would challenge such a claim. I did not want to do that. Fighting an elder would ensure a split in the pack, a fracturing that we could ill afford at this time. No, I had to find a way to unite, not destroy.

Otherwise, my people would suffer. And what kind of alpha would I be if I allowed them to suffer, or worse yet, caused their suffering by pushing for a schism?

Somehow I had to get the elders to stop being afraid.

“We will see what the forest has to say,” Elder Jackson said, making it clear that he was done talking about it.

Snarling in disgust, I pushed through them and started up the stairs.

“Lincoln.”

Elder Germander’s voice stopped me, but I refused to turn back.

“Be careful how close you get to the humans. Remember, that too is forbidden.”

Baring my teeth at no one, I did not acknowledge the comment. I left before I said anything else.

They would not understand if I told them that staying away from Sylvie was no longer an option. That every time we were apart, my wolf howled incessantly for her. That my body felt dull and unalive unless I was by her side.

I hungered for her—a hunger I could not quench by staying away. The only thing that would satiate me was her. To hear her voice. To look into her face.

To hear my name spill from her lips, taste her skin under my lips, and feel her body under my fingers once more.

The shift to wolf form came unexpectedly, the beast exploiting my temporary distraction. It was too much to resist at that point. The call was too strong. The need too great. I had to see her. To be with her.

My feet started to move on their own accord, and I left the meeting grounds behind. Cabins and other shifters passed by. Trees began to blur as I picked up speed, disappearing into the forest as I ran on without stopping.

Right back to her.