Page 9 of Destined Mate

“Okay then, what are their names and what happened this time?”

“They were fighting in our stone circle in the moonlight. It was brutal.” Was it ever. “Wesley Valentino is the alpha who will declare a formal challenge for leadership against the rogue who… who—He’s the bad one. His name is Elmer Woodhouse.”

“Okay, okay, at least we have names now.”

Jerome paused, his gaze dropping to the floor before lifting back to meet Henry’s worried look. “The pack might face dark times if Elmer gains control. Something tells me he rules with fear, not respect.”

“We need to prepare, then. If your visions are a sign of what’s coming, we can’t afford to be caught off guard, even if we can’t stop it.”

Jerome agreed. “I think it’s time we call the elders for a meeting. We need everyone on the same page and ready, just in case.”

“Agreed.” Henry rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “But tomorrow, if that’s okay.”

Jerome opened his mouth to agree, but something within him argued they didn’t need to put this off. “Now. I think it needs to be done now, Henry.”

Henry stared at Jerome. “Shit. Really?”

“I feel like this can’t wait.”

“Shit. Okay.” Henry dragged his phone out of his pocket and started texting. “Give me thirty to forty-five minutes to get everybody here, then.”

“Sure.” Jerome watched Henry leave to text their elders.

He wandered over to the large window overlooking their territory. Their lands stretched far and wide under the moon’s glow. It was so serene out there.

Unfortunately, he was about to change that. They’d only just laid their alpha to rest, and here Jerome was about to drop more bad news into their elders’ laps.

That rogue fucking scared him witless.

Since that was getting him worked up, Jerome focused on Wesley, the image of him confronting Elmer fixed in Jerome’s mind. There was something undeniably powerful about Wesley, and it resonated with Jerome deeply.

It seemed like just a few minutes passed before the four elders trickled in for the hurriedly arranged meeting, and Jerome joined them. The room filled swiftly, the elders having varied expressions of concern and curiosity.

Once everyone settled down, Jerome cleared his throat and began recounting everything he had seen in his vision—the battle, Wesley’s challenge, and what it might mean for their future.

As Jerome spoke, the room was dead silent. Every elder listened intently to his story. They knew it was potentially their future playing out before them through Jerome’s eyes.

When he finished, there was an almost palpable cloud of tension in the room.

“We must be vigilant,” Elder Dillard finally said, breaking the silence. “And possibly even reach out to Alpha Wesley Valentino before this Elmer rogue gets here and consolidates his power. Do you think we can stop that from happening, Jerome?”

Everyone stared at Jerome.

“I don’t know. Has anybody even heard of this Alpha Valentino?” Jerome asked.

Everybody shook their heads no.

“So, we’d have to find him first, and that could very well be like hunting for a needle in a haystack,” Henry said.

“Plus, I honestly don’t know if wecanstop what’s coming,” Jerome said.

He had a feeling nothing was going to stop the rogue from showing up and taking over. This time, he firmly believed the vision would come true.

“I simply do not see how this vision can come to pass, though,” Elder Rodgers said. “We’ve contacted the Council of Wolves, right?”

Henry nodded. “Yes. I did it myself. They know of our situation. They’re gathering names of appropriate alphas to send here to compete for alphaship. That’s standard.”

“Exactly. All interested alphas come here, and we hold a competition. The best alpha wins and becomes our alpha. It’s very unlikely some random rogue just shows up and takes over before the competition can even begin. I mean, it’s been less than twenty-four hours since our alpha passed away,” Elder Rodgers said. “How could the rogue even know?”

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