Page 44 of The Alpha Dire Wolf (Bloodlines & Bloodbonds #1)

Lincoln

“G o,” she said, throwing a hand toward the door. “Go get it. I need to be alone for a bit. To think. Somehow.”

I had screwed up. Yet it wasn’t my fault? Why would I tell her she was a witch if I had thought she was out to cause harm to me and my kin? It was all too confusing, most of all for Sylvie. I couldn’t blame her for needing some time to process everything she’d discovered.

“Wait.”

I stopped short of the door as a fist thumped on it again. “Yes?”

“You said you wanted to go back to the heart of the forest. To find out why this Chained was afraid of me.”

“I did, yes.”

Her eyes narrowed to slits. “You meant we were going. Didn’t you? You want to take me there?”

“It has to be stopped,” I said bluntly. “I think you’re the key. I don’t know how, but it wants you dead for a reason. I think, I hope , that reason is because you can finally kill it.”

“You suck,” she said, shaking her head. “You really suck. Lying, not being human, volunteering me to go somewhere your entire pack won’t go. Basically, you volunteered me for certain death.”

“I will keep you safe,” I growled.

She scoffed, dismissing my promise as inconsequential amid her anger. “And how can I believe that? You haven’t been telling me the truth about anything so far. How do I know you aren’t just using me for this?”

More heavy knocking. This time longer.

“Answer the door,” she said, dismissing me.

That hurt. The immediate disengagement from me, like I didn’t matter. That was a knife to the gut I didn’t enjoy. I never wanted to feel that again.

I will set things right with her. No matter what. Going forward, I tell her everything.

She needed time to come accept her new reality, however, and in the meantime …

I pulled open the door, finding exactly who I thought I would.

“Elder Jackson, Elder Germander,” I growled unpleasantly at the two members of the shuffleboard senate as I was now given to think of them.

I didn’t bother to acknowledge the trio of “junior” members standing behind them. They were inconsequential. The two standing up front wielded most of the power.

“We have talked,” Elder Jackson said, already twisting his beard before he spoke. That was not a good sign.

“So?” I wasn’t in the mood for any pleasantries.

“Lincoln,” Elder Germander reprimanded. I just glared at him.

“We cannot endorse this crazy idea of yours,” Elder Jackson said, continuing as if the byplay had not occurred.

I wasn’t shocked. Of course they wouldn’t. It was the scariest thing possible to them. Provoking the Chained? That was a terrifying prospect, because it risked their hoary old backsides if it went wrong.

Cowards. All of them.

“My plan is not crazy ,” I growled, further incensed by their accusation. “What’s crazy is sitting around like bystanders while our sworn enemy tries its best to break free of a prison our ancestors put it in!”

The elders exchanged glances, shifting their weight uneasily. I knew why. My cabin was located near the center of the den with plenty of foot traffic in the area. Their presence alone would have garnered some discreet listeners. Me raising my voice would only add to that.

“We cannot run from this fight. It is coming to us, whether you like it or not, gentlemen ,” I said, dripping sarcasm like acid. “Your cowardice will be remembered for generations if you refuse to acknowledge it. This I swear.”

Elder Jackson hissed, his eyes bugging out under the wrinkled skin surrounding them. “Be very, very careful who you accuse of being a coward, boy. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I laughed in his face. “You’re scared. All of you.

It’s right there on your faces for anyone to see if they actually look.

I can smell it on your skin. You reek of fear.

You’re terrified of doing anything. Why?

Because you might not be able to live out the last few days of your lives in peace?

Well, guess what , Milton, neither could those who laid down their lives to keep this evil in check.

They are rolling in their graves right now, ashamed of who you have become and what you’re trying to do to my pack.

You should be ashamed too. I know I’m plenty disappointed to call any of you members of this pack. ”

“Enough,” Elder Jackson snapped, furious at being addressed by his first name, a massive insult in his worldview. “You will adjust your tone or—”

“Or what ?” I challenged, stepping forward so fast the elders were forced to scramble backward lest I bowl them over.

Doing so let me see that more than a handful of people had already gathered just out of sight, listening to the argument and waiting to make judgment.

“What are you going to do?” I barked. “Are you going to stir up rebellion? In the face of the enemy, you would try to fracture us? That is grounds enough for a challenge.”

Elder Jackson glared at me, even madder now after being humiliated publicly by retreating.

“I am the alpha,” I growled loudly enough so all could hear. “I rule this pack. Not you. You are there to provide council and wisdom. I suggest you start doing that and stop trying to dictate what I may or may not do. Is that understood?”

The elders tried to gather themselves to launch a counterargument. This was the furthest I’d gone in throwing off the shackles as alpha. Before I had tried to keep up appearances in public, to allow them their time to “help” the pack.

Things had changed. There was no time. Not anymore. We needed to act, and act fast, before the Chained overran us all.

Elder Germander recovered first. “You will not—”

“ I asked if I was understood!” I bellowed as I stepped forward once more, bristling with teeth. Fur had started to sprout across my body as my wolf rose with the anger in me, ready to answer any challenge that might come.

Elder Jackson bared his teeth but did not speak up.

“Good,” I replied much more calmly. “Now, if you have anything useful to contribute, speak. Otherwise, run along to your holes and hide like the cowardly prey you are.”

I made shooing motions, backing the elders off my steps before turning to those who had been listening.

“The rest of us who actually still have fight left in our spines will stand up and do what’s right. We will face this evil, and we will not back down . Our courage is strong, and our blood is thickest when we act as one.”

“Your blood will run thick,” Elder Jackson threatened ominously.

I didn’t hold my wolf back. It burst forth as I stepped forward, moving so fast Elder Jackson tripped over one of the other elders and fell to the ground with a yelp. I stood over him on all fours, staring down the snout of my wolf with a growl to match his ominous threat.

The sound was loud enough to drive the others back, and Milton clapped his hands over his hears. Baring my teeth, I gnashed them at his face, making it clear I could rip it off him in a second if he didn’t behave.

Jackson quivered in fear.

That was all I needed. Him to cave. Stepping away from him, I shifted back, walking up the steps to my house. I stopped there, looking left and right at the gathered crowd. It had grown in size.

“Spread the word,” I said. “Any who still believe in the old ways, we leave at dawn to protect our families and those around us who cannot fight.”

I looked down at Elder Jackson with disgust. “Or who won’t.”

Then I went inside and closed the door so they couldn’t see me nearly throw up.

“Are you okay?” Sylvie asked as I rubbed at my face.

“I’ll be fine. I just don’t enjoy treating anyone like that, especially my own pack members.”

“They deserved it.”

I looked at her. “They’re scared. They haven’t had to rise to a challenge like this in their lives, and now they’re old and they know full well they don’t have the strength to stand before it. Can you blame them?”

She frowned. “Are you saying you pity them?”

“Immensely. I did not enjoy what I just did. But it had to be done, for the sake of those who do have the strength to fight. They must see that it’s our only choice. I just wish the elders weren’t so damn stubborn about it. Then I wouldn’t have to fight them as well as the Chained.”

Standing up straight, I walked to my fridge and pulled a beer bottle out of the door. The cap came off with a quick flick of my wrist, and I up-ended the cold glass, letting the brew drain smoothly. It disappeared in a flash, and I grabbed another, heading to sit down.

“We didn’t use to be this way,” I said in response to her watchful gaze. “When my father was alpha, he would have dealt with it before things got to this point. He knew how to lead. How to show them what it meant to be better . To protect those who can’t fight.”

“Your father was alpha before you?”

I nodded. “It’s how I was allowed to enter the trials to become alpha.

I wouldn’t have had enough support otherwise.

Nobody expected me to win, but I did. Now, because I’m younger, the elders think they can manipulate me and take control of the pack.

And too many of my people are scared and willing to listen to them. ”

Shaking my head in frustration, I took a swig of the fresh beer, determined to make this one last.

“Maybe,” Sylvie said, “but not all of them do.”

I looked up. She was staring at me intently, her emotions hidden behind a mask of impenetrability.

“Many were out there watching you, listening. Earlier at the meeting as well. Many didn’t just hear. They listened. To your words but also your emotions. You aren’t alone, Lincoln, you have supporters.”

“I know,” I agreed. I just wish you were one of them .

“They will believe in you. They will follow you and trust your judgment. I saw it. They think you worthy of their respect and devotion.”

I frowned.

Sylvie sighed. “My point is don’t downplay that by being hard on yourself. No leader is universally loved.”

“My father was.”

“Right.” She snorted. “That’s why these elders of yours are so eager to assert themselves since he’s been gone. Because they were super happy under his rule and agreed with everything he did to the point that now that he’s gone, they’re trying to simply carry on his legacy. Right?”

I chewed on that. She was right. I just hadn’t thought of it that way. “Maybe you have a point,” I conceded.

Sylvie rolled her eyes. “Would it kill you to say that I’m right?”

“Probably not. But why risk it?” I stuck my tongue out at her.

We both laughed, and for a minute, things were as they had been before. Relaxed. Comfortable. Right.

Taking a deep breath, Sylvie sobered abruptly. “Lincoln.”

“Yes?”

“Do you really think I’m linked to this Chained somehow? That I’m actually a witch?”

I nodded, beyond grateful for the subject change.

“Yes, and yes. Your grandmother was a witch, so it stands to follow you would be too. This intuition of yours is just one sign of it. That tree-thing? It was very clearly sent for you. It wanted to kill you, not carry you off. Whatever connection is there, I have no doubt it exists.”

“But you don’t know what it is?”

I blew air slowly. “No. I don’t.”

“And is taking me to the heart of the forest really the best option? What about taking me far away? Or teaching me how to use my witch … stuff? Then I could fight back.”

“There’s no time.” I held up a hand. “I thought about doing that, about denying it what it needs. But it’s growing stronger on its own without killing you. How strong can it grow? I think this is our best chance to stop it now. If we try to delay, it may be too late by that point.”

“Fuck.”

I let the word hang there. It wasn’t often Sylvie swore, and with such despair at that. She needed to vent, and I wasn’t going to stop her.

“I’m not much good in a fight,” she said at last, sinking into the couch with her knees to her chest. “But I’ll do what I can. I’ll go with you.”

Energized by her agreement, I stood up. “Thank you, Vee, I—”

“No.”

I looked at her as she stood up, her movements as sharp as her tone. “Huh?”

“You don’t get to call me that,” she said, leveling an index finger at me.

“I’m doing this because of my grandma. She was trying to tell me something, and if she is what you say, I’m involved in it, somehow.

I’m going with you because that feels like the right thing to do, and after your speech to your pack just now, I trust you to protect me. But I don’t forgive you.”

That said, she pushed past me and headed for the stairs.