Page 19 of Wolf's Vow

Ezra was in the throes of his point now and was no longer caring who he offended, not that he usually minded anyway. He pointed straight at Wolfe. “He’s holding you back.”

Wolfe looked at Ezra with raised eyebrows. “I am?”

Ezra nodded. “You really are. You are asking your betas, your second, yourteamto take it easy on us. And while you do that, your pack, your first pack, sees us as weak.” Ezra glanced at me. “These shifters who came from Stonefang don’t think we’re weak because of our traditions and our ways and our druid; they think we’re weak because wearefucking weak. Physically. Mentally.”

Wolfe didn’t blink. “So I asked you, Ezra, how would you fix it?”

Ezra didn’t hesitate. “Give us over to him,” he said, pointing to Brand, “and him,” he added with a look at Killian. “They are your killers, can tell by the way they walk and talk. These shifters are no strangers to hard times and tough choices.” Ezra ran his eyes over Wolfe. “Sure, you have made a few hard choices in life too, but you are our alpha, and you need to delegate.”

Wolfe’s eyes narrowed. “You think I can’t train you?”

“I know you can, but you have more than soldiers to train.” Ezra scratched his jaw. “You’re being too much like Rowen.”

Wolfe’s jaw dropped. “I…” He looked at me in surprise. “What?”

“Rowen is the heart of this pack, everyone adores her?—”

“I’m right here,” I muttered, my cheeks burning.

“But she’s a micromanager. Always has been. Oversees every little thing, gets lost in the forest without seeing the trees.”

“Just tell the whole hall what you think,” I sniped at him, but he ignored me.

“You need to let your betas do their job, you need to let us do our job, and you need tostepback. Tell Brand to break us. Tell Killian to make us hate him because he made us run routes up the ridge until we thought we would rather jump off it than even think about running up it one more time. Mold us.” Ezra had fire in his eyes as he looked at everyone. “You’ve never known you were alive until your guts were being puked up over the edge of the mountain and you thought you might never stand again.” He looked at Lewis, who had stood. “We did it,” he seemed to remind him. “Malric was a tough bastard, and we came out the better for it.” Ezra seemed to lose his steam, but he looked back at his alpha. “We’ve seen the shifters in your first pack, and we are not them.Letus have the chance to be that way, again.”

Wolfe didn’t speak for a long moment; he stood there, and I was sure he was listening to more than one voice through the mindlink. Finally, his gaze rested on me.

“You’re right,” he said, and I wasn’t sure who he was answering. “I’ve made few changes within the Hollow because of what you’ve lost and what has happened.” He nodded thoughtfully. “It’s my fault, I am the reason the patrol last night didn’t know how to react to a surprise attack.” Wolfe turned to Brand, who looked like the perfect soldier standing there, back straight, feet apart, shoulders squared, arms behind his back. “Running routes until you’re exhausted and half-dead is not a way to train to be good at patrol,” Wolfe said softly. “It’s a way to instill discipline.” He looked between the two packs. “Without discipline, we are nothing.”

I saw him turn and look to where the druid still stood. “Your traditions are not what have made you weak; it’s complacency. It’s lack of discipline.” Wolfe looked at me once more, and I sawthe assessing look in his eye, and I braced myself for what was coming next, knowing I wouldn’t like it. “Brand?”

“Alpha.”

“Training starts tonight,” Wolfe told him. “Gloves off.”

Brand’s lips twitched. “All of them?”

“All who are still able,” Wolfe confirmed.

“Anyone who can still shift can fight,” Brand said with conviction.

Wolfe nodded, ignoring the squawks of protest from some of the oldest shifters. “Agreed.” His gaze flicked to Ezra, then the back of the room. “Ezra and Lewis will show you where the truly testing training routes are within the Hollow.”

Brand nodded. “Alpha.”

“Killian?” Wolfe’s voice was a low, dangerous thing, and my spine straightened in nervous apprehension.

“Alpha?” Killian didn’t move, he simply waited.

“Go to Stonefang, tell Diesel it’s time.” Wolfe watched me. “My mate will accompany you.”

Killian didn’t respond, but he might have been the only one in the room who didn’t seem to react. I knew my jaw had dropped.

“Why are you sending Rowen away?”

I didn’t look to know it was Henry who had spoken.

Wolfe was looking over everyone, his attention on the pack doors, and when I turned, I saw the druid was gone.