Chapter 604
Rowan nodded once. “The one who is supposed to find them is still a child.” He turned to me. “Are you sure about this?”
“Not at all, but the Goddess chose her for a reason. We have to respect her decision.” I clicked off everything on my father’s computer, and the desk turned dark once again.
“When did your father have time to design that desk?” Rowan knocked on the top for a second before I started for the door.
“I can only assume the man was bored out of his mind at the Agora.” I headed out the door, and the two men followed behind. ” He probably took a few years to make it and moved it back here when they moved back.” I looked back at Rowan. “Why? Do you want one?”
Rowan grinned. “Heck, yeah, I do.” I smiled as we headed down the stairs.
“Me too,” I laughed as we headed out to see the damage.
“Checking on everything?” Rowan offered as we reached the ground.
“Yeah. I want to check in with everyone. Have everyone started moving back to the pack house and their homes. Plus…” I trailed off as I walked up to Greyson. “How have they been?”
He turned to me and smiled. “Everything has been quiet. Just like you said, as soon as they were caught, they shut down.” The Elite guards were all standing around the guards that survived the attack.
I nodded once as we circled the guards on their knees. “I figured.”
Rowan went to one of his team, and they whispered back and forth for a second before he pulled back and called out over the men on their knees. “The council has been disbanded. All except Silas have been or will be executed.” His voice carried over the clearing. “Those of you who followed Silas, please stand.”
My father, Silas, and Ronnie stepped out of the house and hurried over. “My King,” Silas rushed over and dropped to his knees. ” I know that trust is understandably not given freely right now, but my men…I trust them with my life.” Silas bowed to the ground again. “Please spare them.”
I crouched and helped Silas to his feet. “We wouldn’t act recklessly, Silas.” I smiled as I pulled him over to where his group of guards now stood. I turned to the men gathered there. “It is an honor to have your leader speak so highly of your dedication.”
The men there all dropped to one knee. But it was the man closest to me who bowed his head and spoke up. “It is. Thank you, Alpha, for helping him.” The man looked up, and something clicked in my head.
“Who are you?” I asked before I could think. His chocolate skin and dark eyes weren’t familiar in the normal sense, but I knew instantly that he was important.
“My name is Sequan Derant.” He bowed his head again.
“You are an Alpha. I can feel your aura. Why are you bowing to me?” I crouched to be level with him.
“When we enter the guard, we give up our official rank so we are not involved in secession battles. Our focus is fully on the people we are meant to protect.”
I looked up to Rowan. “Really?”
He nodded. “All of our guards agree to this. Most are not in their pack’s line of inheritance, and it saves them from sometimes lethal situations.”
Silas held his hand out to Sequan. “His family was attacked twenty years ago. He was the only survivor of his pack.” Silas turned to me after helping his guard up. “He chose to become my guard instead of trying to start a new pack. He wanted to learn. Rowan allowed him to make that choice.”
I nodded once. “Good.” I turned back to the guards still on their knees. “What exactly should we do with the others?”
Rowan sighed as he rubbed his face. “I have no idea.” He looked over the men and shook his head. “I don’t want to execute everyone, but with everything going on…we have no way of actually knowing who is a traitor or not.”
“Command them,” my father said, looking at us confused.
“What?” I turned to him.
My dad looked at us as if we had grown three heads. “You are the King and Queen…command them to tell the truth.”
Silas shook his head. “It won’t work. Our guards take an oath, and unless they are released from it, they can’t move against the one who swore them into it, even if the oath holder is dead.”
I turned to my father. “What about a truth spell?” I flipped through the book in my mind.
“It won’t work,” Silas shook his head. “The oath itself was created by the Goddess to hold against magic, and wolf command alike.”
I threw my hands up. “Well, unless the Goddess herself wants to fucking help figure out who is a traitor and who isn’t, what are we supposed to do? Kill everyone?”
Silas looked down, and I felt bad for snapping. But it was the soft tsking from behind me that had me turning. “You would think that your father would have taught you not to talk about the Goddess like that.”
I smiled as I walked over to my grandmother. “Well, I was frustrated. I think she would understand.”
My grandmother smiled. “Of course, she does. That’s why she sent me. To help.” She turned and walked to my father. “I’m happy to see you alive and well, my boy.” She kissed the air near his cheek and then turned back to the guards. “Your oaths protect you, but the Goddess does not protect the ones that turned their backs on her. Ich nin to shoha ali thi.” She waved her hand, and stars bloomed on some of their brows.
“New spell?” I raised an eyebrow. She nodded.
“Remember, it…it will always show you who you can trust. It shows who follows the Goddess’s path.” I walked over to kiss her, but I heard a gasp from the tree line.
“Mate.”