Chapter 168

I made my voice quiver, and I did my best to pretend to be scared. “Please, Alpha, I know you were just following orders. Tell the truth, I don’t want you to die.”

Vince sighed in relief, and Rowan nearly lost it. His eyes showed the smile he was desperately trying to hide. “Well, Alpha Vince?” Rowan stepped closer to the other man and towered over Vince.

“Alpha Rowan–”

“King Rowan.” Someone that sounded a lot like Nina called out, earning a smile from the king.

Vince stammered and then corrected himself. “King Rowan, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“Explain.” Rowan pulled up a chair from where they were off to the side of the podium. He positioned it facing Vince and then sat, crossing his arms.

Vince…

“What?” Vince froze.

“Explain. You said you were trapped between a rock and a hard place. I want you to explain it to me.”

Vince’s mouth dropped open, and the three men started to fidget. Rowan raised a hand and motioned for Vince to start his explanation. “What? I mean, obviously, how can I go against you, my king?”

“So you remember I am your king?” Rowan’s voice boomed through the room, causing everyone to wince. “You remember I rule over you, not because I was appointed, but because I was chosen by the goddess. The last of the Lycans,”

Vince dropped to his knees and bowed. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

Vince was playing his part well, but I noticed he was darting his eyes to the council, and I watched their reaction. One was shaking his head.

I leaned over and whispered something to Hanna. She pulled away and nodded. “My king, it seems the alpha has divided his loyalty between you and the council.”

Rowan looked back to the council members and growled, dropping them to their knees. “I will remind you, Vincent, one last time, that the council functions as a gamma and beta does for an alpha. They only have power that I allow them to have, and from now on, that is going to be zero.” Another gasp went through the crowd. The council had been in place before the last king died, and now Rowan was effectively saying he was going to disband them.

Vince bowed again. “I’m a fool. The council has been throwing their weight around to all the packs.” The crowd erupted, but Rowan raised his hands.

“Continue.”

“They have been using the attacks as leverage to get the alphas to agree to their demands.”

I poked Wendy, who was sitting in front of me, and whispered in her ear. “Your pack hasn’t been attacked, though.”

I covered my face as Vince looked at whoever called out. “That’s true, but we are a big pack.”

Someone scoffed, “Oakenfang is a medium–sized pack, and the biggest pack now, Silvermoon, has been attacked more times than we can count.” The voice was deep, but I didn’t recognize it.

Vince paled. His explanation was being torn apart. “Well, the threat of attack without the council’s support for rebuilding was enough.”

“Enough?” Rowan leaned in.

“He’s lying.” One of the council members tried to start, but Rowan silenced him with a raised hand.

“I will deal with you later.” Rowan glared at the member, who just nodded. “Enough of what?”

“A threat. They have been hounding me for the last week, when this decision was made by the alphas. They said that too many spots were taken by unranked wolves, and if we were going to keep all of them here, then we should send the unworthy home.”

Rowan stood. “The unworthy?” His voice was deathly low, and his eyes had fully shifted. Grey fur, almost black, sprouted from his arms. “The unworthy?” He screamed. “Unranked wolves are the very essence of our packs. They are the very wolves we, as alphas, were created to protect. They are the reason ranks even exist, and yet you deem them unworthy?”

“I, I, I, I.” He stammered over and over, but Rowan was livid.

“You are nothing without your pack. If all your unranked wolves left, you would lose your pack ranking, and you would be branded as a lone wolf.” Vince paled. “If you don’t fucking understand that, and appreciate that fact, then I will ship your pack out and let you roam.”

“Please, my King,” Vince begged, but someone stood up from the crowd.

“What did he mean by keeping us here?” He called out.

Rowan stood and made his way to the podium, growling until Vince moved out of the way. “Obviously, this isn’t how we planned this announcement to come out. But since the attacks have amped up, your families have agreed that instead of running two semesters and giving you the summer off with breaks over yule and easter, that we would change it.”

“To?” the same man asked.

“Full year round class until your degrees are done.” The silence that followed was heavy.