ROWAN
I hate this.
I hate waiting.
I hate feeling useless.
Even as I sit at the head of the table, feeling the weight of the room’s tension pressing down on me, being the leader I still feel helpless
And it is all because of that fucker.
Dominic.
Should I have not held Viktor back from killing him?
That would ahcw saved us a lot of trouble… but could also ooe another one among the werewolf community
This is exhausting.
I am exhausted.
I just want it to end already.
The air is thick, and it is hard to shake the tight knot of fear in my chest.
It’ has been days since Dominic was reported to have been near our settlement, and I still have no idea why.
The not knowing- it’s worse than any confrontation and my mind races with possibilities, none of them good.
Around the table, my most trusted allies sit in silence.
Lisa leans forward, elbows on the table, her eyes scanning the room as if she is expecting an attack any moment. Rina is pacing, his brow furrowed in deep concentration, while Alden has his hands flat against the surface of the table, his gaze distant, lost in thought.
Andre sits quietly, his hands folded in front of him.
He is still here, still following Viktor’s orders to remain with me even though I know he is eager to return to his own pack, but right now, none of us can afford to be divided.
I take a deep breath, forcing my voice to remain steady despite the anxiety clawing at my insides.
“We need to figure this out- why Dominic was here. It has been too long since the last time he made a move, and I don’t believe for one second that it was just a coincidence.”
“I agree,” Lisa says, leaning forward even more. “He wasn’t here just to scout. He is planning something. We need to prepare for the worst.”
“What bothers me,” Rina says, still pacing, “is that we have no clue what his angle is. We know that the asshole doesn’t move without a reason. And we can’t underestimate him, not after what happened last time.”
I grit my teeth, trying to push down the wave of memories from the last time Dominic challenged Viktor. His brutality, his being rabid doesn’t help me in the slightest especially when I recall Viktor telling me how it had taken everything he had to keep him at bay.
I can’t let him get that close again.
I don’t even want to see him.
“We are at a disadvantage,” Alden says quietly, his voice cutting through the silence. “He is moving in the shadows, and we are just waiting for him to strike.”
“That is why we need to go on the offensive,” Lisa says sharply, her eyes burning with anger. “We can’t just sit here waiting for Dominic to make the first move. We need to start tightening our defenses. Reinforce our borders. Increase the number of patrols.”
I nod slowly, feeling the tension creeping up my spine.
“Lisa’s right. We need to start locking down our territory. Double the patrols, rotate them more often. We can’t afford any weak spots.”
Alden leans forward, his brow furrowed.
“We will have to spread our forces thinner if we do that. We don’t have enough wolves to maintain constant vigilance.”
“We will have to make do,” I say firmly. “It is not ideal, but we need eyes everywhere.”
Andre speaks up, his voice soft but steady. “There is another concern. What if Dominic has someone on the inside?”
I freeze, the words sinking into my mind like stones dropping into a still pond. The thought of betrayal sends a cold chill through me.
The new wolves we have taken in-hundreds of them. They had been lost, scared, and desperate for protection. But they also hated me too.
What if they hate me enough to being an informant for Dominic?
What if one of them was a spy?
“I hate to say it,” Lisa says carefully, “but Andre might be right. We don’t know all of them well enough yet. Some of them could still be loyal to Dominic.”
The room falls into an uneasy silence as we all process the implications of that. A spy in our ranks. One of our own… one of those we had offered protection free of charge could be feeding Dominic information, sabotaging us from the inside.
The knot in my chest tightens as my hands curls into fists under the table.
“There are over two hundred wolves,” Rina says, running a hand through her hair in frustration. “How do we even begin to figure out who could be working with him?”
“We don’t need to figure it out immediately,” I say, though my voice wavers just a little. “But we can’t ignore the possibility. We need to start watching them more closely. Place wolves we trust on guard duty with them, keep an eye on their movements.”
“We need to be subtle about it,” Andre adds. “If Dominic has a spy, they will be cautious. If we start acting suspicious, they will go underground, and we will never find them.”
I nod slowly.
“We will have to keep it quiet. Let’s start with a few wolves at a time, nothing too obvious. Place them on shifts with wolves we trust. Maybe we will catch something.”
The room falls into a tense silence again.
Right now… it feels like we are grasping at straws, trying to prepare for an attack we can’t see coming.
I feel the weight of the responsibility pressing down on me, heavier than ever before. The coalition is looking to me for security for protection, for leadership, and all I have to offer them is fear and uncertainty.
And the enemy is from my own past.
I am the reason for this shit we are in.
I am seriously regretting not allowing Viktor to kill him when he had the chance
This is why proale say you should fix your problems when they are still small
Lisa breaks the silence. “There’s one more thing we need to consider. If Dominic is planning something, he won’t do it alone. He will use the fear he spreads to make others do his bidding.”
“Like those cowards who showed up at the border,” Rina mutters. “They might be terrified of him, but fear can make people do stupid things.”
“Exactly,” Lisa says. “Even if they don’t want to help him, they might not have a choice. If he has got someone on the inside, they might already be gathering information for him.”
I swallow hard, the knot in my chest tightening even further. “Then we need to be ready. We need to watch every wolf that came in. I don’t care how scared they are of Dominic; fear doesn’t equal loyalty. If any of them even think about betraying us, we will know.”
Andrew looks at me with a calm but firm expression. “We need to be vigilant, but we also need to be smart. If we move too quickly or too harshly, we risk pushing innocent wolves into Dominic’s arms. We can’t create more enemies.”
I see Alden nod, understanding his point.
“You are right. We wll be careful, but we won’t be complacent.” he says. “We also need to prepare for the worst. If Dominic does move against us, we can’t be caught off guard. We should start organizing drills, make sure everyone knows what to do in case of an attack.”
I nod again. “Good idea. Let’s get everyone ready. If Dominic thinks he can catch us off guard, he has got another thing coming.”
It might be a hlis fight, but I won’t go down easy… and if I can, I will take him down with me.