VIKTOR
“Well, come on then. Let’s go welcome our guests.”
I and Andre make our way out of the study and down the stairs before heading out of the mansion.
We stop at the base of the stairs as we watch a not so small crowd of wolves heading toward us.
Most of them look so lost and scared, all of them dressed like they were in a hurry and just carrying the bare essentials.
There are children among them too
Whatever it was that happened, it must have been really bad to send them all running at night.
“You are in charge of them,” I mutter to Andre. “I don’t want this headache, got it?”
“Oh, that is not fair! It wasn’t my idea!” he exclaims
“Feel free to kick them out if you want,” I retort.
“Oh, wow,” he murmurs. “So, you want me to be the bad guy, huh? How can you treat your beta that way?”
“My beta that is already walking on thin ice. I swear to the goddess if you wake me up before eight, one more time, I will have you on patrol duty for three months.”
“Oh, come on! What if it is urgent?!”
“You are my beta for a reason.”
“Unbelievable. When did you get this lazt6- oh wait… I know. It was when you found your mate. Hell, you abandoned your duties as aloha to play pretend in her settlement. For months!”
“Shut up.”
“Oh, look. You are not even denying it.”
“I said shut up, they are already here.”
He turns to look at the crowd and sees that they have all stopped, their eyes trained on me.
“Alpha,” one of my pack wolves, the ones that had gone out to watch Dominic step forward, her head bowed in reverence. “I apologize for my actions… we just… we didn’t know what to do with them. It is late and they have kids with them.”
I sigh as I walk towards her, giving her a pat on the shoulder.
“It is fine, Faye. You did well.”
She looks up at me with a small smile and a proud look on her face before stepping away, allowing me to look at the wolves well.
“Who speaks for you all?” I ask.
There is some murmuring and shuffling before an elderly woman with a full head of white hair steps up.
“I will. I am Eliza Stine.”
“Hmm. Did you hold any position in your pack?”
“No, alpha. None of the wolves who hold positions there are with us.”
I see.
I exchange a curious look with Andre and he shrugs in confusion.
“Very well, why then are you all fleeing from your pack in the dead of night?”
She doesn’t respond at first, her gaze moving back to the wolves behind her. After a few encouraging nods from some of the wolves, she turns back to face me.
“The Luna,” she begins. “Our Luna… she is dead.”
“Dead?”
“Yes. Dead. She died… last night.”
“I see. Is that why you all fled your pack? Wait- how did she die?”
She falters at that, taking a deep swallow before pushing on
“It was our alpha. He killed her.”
What?!
“Your… alpha…Aloha Dominic?”
“Yes.”
“Aloha Dominic killed his Luna?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know. He gets… sometimes… he gets angry and hurts people. But… it was usually those away from him… those not close to him. But this… this was his mate! If he could kill her, he could kill any of us.”
Of course, he could.
He is the bastard who hurt Rowan.
And she was his mate.
“What are your plans now?”
“We were hoping… planning – we had heard of a coalition. The Winter Wolf Coalition, they take in people who can’t help themselves. We were hoping that they would take us in.”
“The Coalition is quite a distance from here. And I doubt you know the way. Were you all so scared of him that you would all risk your lives for a slim hope? You know there are actual rogues roaming the boundaries of territories, right?” I ask. “You were going to risk all that.”
“We had no choice. We can’t all be butchered by our alpha,” she replies
“Your alpha. Exactly, he is still your alpha. What do you think he would do to you when he discovers -if he hasn’t already- that you all have abandoned ship? What do you think he would do to those who would help you?”
“I… we… we don’t know.”
“Yes, you do. It is because of his temper that you are running. If you are going to leave your pack, you are going to have to do it right! Renounce your ties to the pack.”
At my words, everything and everyone goes silent.
In the history of wolves, there are two ways a wolf can leave a pack alive.
Either the alpha casts you out, similar to rejection- like Rowan – or you renounce your ties by yourself.
The effect is also similar to a rejection, just less painful.
Both parties- the wolf renouncing and the alpha of the pack- will feel the bond breaking.
It is supposed to be a different kind of pain.
And it is final.
The wolf’s scent would immediately change, reflecting that they are now a rogue, except for the fact that they are joining another pack.
So, yes, I know exactly what I am asking.
If I am going to be letting these people near Rowan or her coalition, there has to be no form of loose ends.
Nothing to use to attack her.
If they are searching for asylum from her, they have to come to her as rogues.
I don’t care if their pride gets hurt or if they feel shame when they see her.
As far as I am concerned, anyone from that pack is persona non grata
“So, do you accept?”
There Is a moment of silence as they all exchange looks before the woman looks back at me, eyes determined.
“We do.”