Chapter 241

Dane sat up straight away, his body tense.

“Aurora,” Piper called out from the other side of the door. “We have a problem.”

Dane was already up, tugging on his pants as I slung my robe over my shoulder. There had been a note of urgency in Piper’s voice I couldn’t miss, and her pounding hadn’t let off until I opened the door.

Piper just stood there looking pale, breathing shallowly. “It’s Rowan,” she said. “He’s doing it again. He just got into another fight.”

I blew out hard, and suddenly it was as if a boulder was lying across my chest. “What happened?”

“He accused Trajan of receiving special treatment,” Piper said. “It just totally blew out of proportion, and then some of the younger wolves started agreeing with him.”

She paused, pressing her lips together in a thin line. “Alina was there, too. She didn’t say much, but I could tell she was fueling it.”

Dane came to stand beside me, setting his hand over my shoulder.

“This can’t keep going on,” he said. “It’s ripping the pack apart.”

“I know,” I said softly, pinching at the bridge of my nose. “I’ll handle it… but not tonight.”

Piper nodded. “Get some rest, we will see what we can do, Warrick, Trajan, and I.”

I nodded and closed the door as she left.

“Will this end?” I asked as we went back to bed.

“No thinking tonight… we have to rest tonight and think about this tonight.”

I nodded and he cuddled me closer to himself.

It wasn’t as noisy in the training yard today as it was yesterday when I showed up the following morning. Trajan stood around the edge with Joclyn, speaking softly, as one might converse over tea with a dear friend.

On the opposite side, sharp and deliberate in his motion, stood Rowan, running a whetstone over some blade.

First, I moved towards him purposely. “Rowan,” I said, my voice clear and even.

“To talk,” I said, stopping a few feet away. “About yesterday.”

Rowan set the blade down and turned to face me, his eyes hard. “What’s there to talk about? Everyone knows I’m not part of your inner circle. I’m just here to make up numbers.”

“That is not true, and you know it,” I said. “You have always been of value, Rowan. Yet with some of the actions lately, nobody can see it.”

He gave a harsh laugh. “Of value? That is the word you use for being ignored as Trajan and Piper are praised over every little thing?”

I drew a deep breath and tried not to lose my patience. “It’s not about them, Rowan. It’s about you and the choices you’re making. What the pack needs right now is unity, not division.”

His eyes flashed to Alina, standing a small way off and watching us cross-armed, the smirk spreading further across her face with every ticking second, really pissing him off.

“Maybe not yet is the time for unity,” he growled, striding off.

I found Piper a little later that day helping Warrick work, lining up provisions for the week.

“Not a hint?” she asked when I reached them.

“Not really,” I answered. “He’s just too strong-headed to listen. It’s totally Alina all over the place inside his brain.”

Later that night, I retreated to Dane’s quarters. He sat by the fire, his shirt undone, staring into the flames.

As I came in, he looked up and opened his arms to me. “You’ve had a bad day,” he said, pulling me onto his lap.

I leaned my head against his chest, and the warmth filtered into me. “I’m starting to feel like I’m losing the pack,” I said.

“You’re not losing them,” Dane said matter-of-factly. Rowan and Alina are being loud, but the wolves that count—the ones that believe in you—are still with you.

The words were soft, but that did little to let the fear leave me. He reached up to tip my face higher, making my gaze find his.

“You’re strong enough for all of this,” he whispered. “And so I will help remind you when you get discouraged.”

I kissed him then, needing reassurance, anything to make something real and certain in our turmoil.

He took my hand, “I have something to show you.”

He helped me to my feet and took me to the wardrobe. He opened it up and brought out a book. It was an old, dusty, brown leather book.

“Come sit,” he held my hand and led me to a chair. I sat down and he placed the book on the table as he stood by my side and flipped the pages.

“What book is this?” I asked out of curiosity as I rubbed my hand on a page. It felt ancient.

“Book of the Laws.”

“Book of the Laws?” I asked as I squinted at him.

Dane nodded, “Yes.”

I furrowed my brows as I looked at the book once again. “Why this?” I raised my head and looked at him. “Why did you bring it here?”

“Because of Rowan.”

I gulped. “Book of the Laws… Rowan? What’s the connection?”

“Rowan is breaking the law, Aurora, we have to keep him at bay.”

Dane’s reply made me grit my teeth. He pointed at a page. It was titled, ‘REBELLION.’

I gulped as I read down. “ANY WEREWOLF FOUND REBELLING AGAINST THE RULERS OF THE PACK, AND WHOSE ACTIONS WOULD ENDANGER THE PACK IS TO BE LOCKED IN THE DUNGEON WITH THE ICE CHAIN FOR TEN YEARS.”

“I know you care about Rowan and you want every member of this pack to be safe, but you can’t risk the safety of the whole pack, just because of one man’s rebelliousness,” Dane said as he closed the book and sat on the table.

“His boldness, to stand against the elders and you… it’s already a red flag… he needs to be constrained, else your worry will never end and he would one day destroy all the peace we’ve sacrificed a lot to get.”

Dane is right. Rowan is getting out of hand. I gulped and looked away, “I don’t want to be unjust, Dane.”

“You aren’t,” Dane kissed me softly, his hand brushing a strand of hair from my face. “No matter what happens,” he said, “you’ll always have me.”

“I know,” I whispered, and for the first time that day, I felt a spark of hope.

It wasn’t supposed to be the peaceful night the moment promised, at least as a weird knock gave us a good scare and Dane was upright in an instant, tense again.

“Dane, Aurora!” Trajan’s voice came from the other side.

“You need to see this. Now.”