Page 42 of The Alpha Dire Wolf (Bloodlines & Bloodbonds #1)

Lincoln

I could hear shouting as we approached the meeting grounds. The amphitheater would be filled to the brim by now. Word of Sylvie’s presence had spread far and wide, as I knew it would. Which is precisely why I had helped speed it along.

I just hope my preparations haven’t been in vain.

“I’m not so sure I should go in there,” Sylvie said from at my side.

We walked next to one another but apart. I thought it best not to draw extra attention to our closeness at a time like this. She agreed, though whether it was purely that or the desire to create some extra distance, I wasn’t completely certain.

Raised voices echoed out into the street, the words indecipherable but the emotions plain. They were arguing intensely. I doubted anyone would be willing to make a bet over what. The answer could only be Sylvie.

“Lincoln.”

I looked at her, giving her my undivided attention.

“How badly did you downplay the reaction that bringing me here would create?” She lifted a finger. “And no trying to downplay things now.”

Making a face, I looked away.

“That’s what I thought.” She shook her head. “I should just leave. It would be easier that way.”

“Not for me it wouldn’t,” I said, enjoying the look of excited panic that never left her eyes, never creased the rest of her face. But it was there. I could see it. “Besides, there are two voices because there are two sides.”

That was true, but what’s more, and what I did not mention, was that Sylvie leaving now would turn everyone against her. They would see it as a surefire sign that she was evil, and did not respect or fear the wolves. It’s not at all how she would intend it, but it’s how they would see it.

At least if she went out there, people could see her.

Meet her. Talk to her. Then, perhaps, the smarter among them would see that she wasn’t evil.

That she didn’t mean us harm. Perhaps they could see what I saw within her.

That she was beyond terrified, and had been completely unaware of our world until recently.

A world I brought her into. Which could raise another set of issues if I let things get too out of hand.

“This is a bad idea,” Sylvie said, but she let herself be guided through the doors and into the meeting grounds.

Almost immediately the noise tripled in volume.

There was shouting on all sides, crossing aisles and jumping rows.

People shouted at one another, at the top of their lungs.

Fists shook and fingers were pointed. Faces were already red, and only grew redder as we appeared at the top of the stairs behind the rearmost row.

There were a lot of detractors out there along with a few friends. Most, however, would be waiting in silence to see what happened, and which way they should jump. Those were the most dangerous because they always thought about it. I had to hope they could be made to see reason.

We walked down the stairs, and I eyed the Elder Council, clumped together off to one side, as usual. Also as usual, they all wore looks of disapproval, etched into their features like a mask. Perhaps it was. Did I have that to look forward to as I aged? Becoming a miserable old bastard?

The closer we got to the front, the more the shouting intensified. My few outright supporters were drowned out by the torrent of hate directed Sylvie’s way.

All of it was led by Noel. He hadn’t been sitting when we came in, and he stood and raised hell, shouting for all sorts of things to happen. I let it go on. They were just words. They could speak their part. Then I would speak mine.

Instead, I focused on Sylvie, making sure she followed me up onto the center stage. I had her stand behind me, where I could step in front of her just a bit, shield her, keep her safe, as my wolf demanded.

There I waited. Solemn. Stoic. Unbending. Letting the hate be thrown. The fear swirl. The uncertainty grow. I waited for it to turn to silence while they waited for me to speak.

But that never happened. Noel was intent on stirring the pot until it overflowed. He kept up his hyperbole while calling for me to be expelled and Sylvie to be imprisoned, among other things.

Finally, I’d had enough.

My wolf burst forth and I fell onto all fours. The growl that filled the amphitheater was horrible and furious. It drowned out every other conversation and shout, overwhelming them all with the promise of blood and violence to any who disagreed.

“ That ,” I rumbled into the shocked silence as I shifted back, “ is enough .”

My hand came up immediately, stopping Noel dead in his tracks. “I promise you, and everyone here, that we will get to her presence among us. You have my word. First, however, we must discuss something more urgent and time-sensitive.”

Confusion reigned supreme. I hated it. So many of them, caught up in the hatred fanned by the elders and Noel’s group alike that they had forgotten what was right in front of them.

“The storm,” I reminded them.

A few had the good graces to look embarrassed. Noel’s followers did not.

“Roman, what word from the scouts I had you send out?” I asked, glancing at my best friend in the first row, sitting between the elders and the Noel’s dissenters.

Looking like he’d bitten into an onion at the prospect of being called to speak in front of such an angry crowd, Rome stood.

“We could only scout an hour. The storm does appear to be centered over the forest as best we can tell. None of our scouts reported finding an end before being driven back by increasing winds. We may indeed be trapped here.”

He sat abruptly, looking anywhere but at me. Like he didn’t want to be associated with me.

“Thank you,” I said to a chorus of muted whispers.

“She caused the storm,” Noel said, surging to his feet.

I laughed in his face. The unusual and anger-inducing response had its intended effect. Noel turned bright red, trembling with fury.

“I was with her all morning. She did no such thing. On our way here, the storm nearly killed her as much as it did me. I smelled her fear.” I cast my gaze out over the rest of crowd, ignoring Noel and incensing him further. “It was genuine. I do not doubt that.”

“I wonder why,” Noel said quietly, under his breath, but in the silence that followed my words, it was heard by all.

Moving slowly, I pulled my gaze back to Noel, fixing it on him with as much weight as I could manage.

“Noel,” I said, addressing him in front of the vast majority of the pack. Singling him out. Isolating him. “If you challenge my word one more time, I will remind you why I am alpha, and you are not. Is that clear?”

I let the threat hang in the air as the silence grew deafening. Perhaps it was a cheap shot, a reminder of how he had lost to me in the fight to become alpha after my father’s death, but that didn’t matter. Sometimes such things were necessary to remind those who had forgotten.

“The storm has the stench of the Chained about it,” I said to the rest of the pack, speaking louder once more.

I had hoped not to bring the Chained up with Sylvie around, but the more I’d planned for this meeting, the more I’d determined it was impossible otherwise.

Not if I was to deflect blame from her to it.

“The Chained?” scoffed Elder Jackson. “Don’t be absurd. It doesn’t have the power to do something this big. It’s still bound at the heart of the forest.”

“It didn’t have the power,” I corrected. “And I doubt it can sustain this. But I have smelled its rotten stink before, and I am telling you it is behind it. The bonds holding it there are not as strong as they used to be. And there’s more.”

The final word echoed through the chamber, repeated by more than one mouth. What more could there be?

I told them about the tree-thing. How it was sent to kill Sylvie, and that I battled it and defeated it but did not kill it. I showed the wound on my side, evidence of its prowess in battle.

“Be alert,” I told my people. “Nobody leaves the pack lands for the time being. It will be back. It will come for her again. Try to engage it in pairs.”

Noel spoke up, trying to rescue his pride and strength. “By bringing her here, you have also lured it to our home. You have put our people in danger.”

“Yes!” Elder Germander said, latching on to that. “We were safe until she came to town and you started spending time with her.”

“Safe?” I barked, sarcastic laughter following. “Safe? Do better. We are dire wolves. We have a dragon for a neighbor. Fae as extended kin. We have never been safe . Nor have we ever run from danger,” I added with a growl, glaring at Noel to make clear my feelings on those who turned and ran.

I didn’t have to call him a coward. But everyone knew I had.

“Our ancestors would be ashamed of us if we ran away from a fight when it came to us.” I scanned the faces of my pack. Many disagreed but fewer than I had expected. More agreed with me than I had dared hope.

But was it enough? I wasn’t sure. Too many weren’t looking at me. They were still looking past me.

“All right. I can see that many of you are finding it impossible to focus on the true problem facing us. So let’s have it out. Shall we? Get to the yelling and screaming about Sylvie still being here.”

I gestured, giving up the floor to the entire pack. Silence reigned for five seconds, and then it exploded into a dozen or more voices at the same time. I let it go on, and on, until one familiar voice began to exert some semblance of control.

“Go ahead, Noel,” I said, gesturing. “Speak.”

“We have distanced ourselves from her bloodline on purpose!” he shouted.

“Indeed we have,” I agreed, nodding. “After generations of working alongside them. And look where it’s gotten us.

Has anyone besides me made the correlation that since her grandmother died, the last of her bloodline to be close with us years ago, since then things have grown worse ?

Or did you all miss that the Chained has grown stronger since then?

I can’t be the only one who can do that math. ”

I waited.

Elder Jackson spoke into the void that followed my outburst. “It has grown stronger since she came back. Its power has grown the closer she gets to it. Willing or not, she is tied to the Chained in some way. That is why we chose to sever ties with her bloodline. It is why we … you … must move away from her. Your plan to grow close to her and discover the truth has failed, Lincoln Silkweaver. Either she has seduced you and you are too stupid to see it, or the Chained has the power to hide its actions. Even from you.”

I could curse the old man.

“Plan?” Sylvie whispered from behind me, speaking for the first time. “What plan?”

“I’ll explain later,” I said with a curt shake of my head, simultaneously glaring daggers at Rome’s grandfather.

I hadn’t planned for that, for the mention of the plan. I should have. But I hadn’t, and now it was going to bite me in the ass.

“We must be rid of her,” Noel said, interrupting my train of thought.

I took a step in his direction, snarling furiously. “She is under my protection.” I swept my gaze over the entire pack, not just Noel. “Is. That. Clear?”

Silence greeted me.

Noel shook his head sadly, not backing down. I had insulted him too much. He had nothing to lose anymore.

“What is clear,” he said, speaking to everyone, “is where your loyalties lie. You will bring us to ruin.”

“No,” I said coldly, “I am simply no longer afraid, Noel. Like you, I do not want to live in a time where the Chained is able to do such things. But neither did our ancestors. They did not run from the darkness when he first walked this earth. They ran toward it.”

I swung my gaze from him, up to through the rows of seats, addressing my entire pack as I spoke now.

“For too long, we have ignored the slow growing power of the Chained. The darkness at the heart of the forest has grown stronger, but we ignored it. Instead of fighting back, we simply said that we no longer will cross the river. We gave it territory, gave it room to grow stronger. You’re uneasy, yes.

I am uneasy too. And that is okay! But what we must not be is afraid .

We must not shy away from the duty given to us.

I will not run. In fact, I intend to lead another expedition.

Back to the heart. To stop it this time. ”

Shocked silence followed.

“You would go back ?” Noel asked, aghast at the notion. “It nearly killed you the first time!”

I smiled. “So that’s support for this idea from you then?”

Noel bristled at the notion of cowardice, that he hoped the Chained would take me out. But everyone knew it to be true.

“I am going back,” I told the vast majority of y pack, “because I think it’s scared.”

“Scared?” Elder Germander asked. “Why? How?”

“Because,” I said, stepping to the side and pointing at Sylvie. “it’s tried to kill her more than once now. It fears her, and it’s past time we find out why .”