Page 15 of Pack Ruin
“Brand, don’t ask me to let him out,” Dad grumbled. “You know I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Can’t.” His nostrils flared, and his ears grew tufts of hair at the edges. I gaped at his unusual loss of control. He paced for another moment before he faced me, regret etching his features. “To take my place on the Council, I had to submit to an Alpha command from Bradley. You know that. You know why.”
I nodded. I had been a small child during the war, but had overheard more conversations about strategy and battle plans than a child should. Flor hadn’t known anything about thecauses of the war that had ended before she was born, but the other packs had better schooling. Even if the lessons weren’t complete.
Everyone knew that Russian shifters had decided to invade North America twenty-four years before. It was common knowledge that rogues in our own country had joined them. But no one talked about where those “rogues” had come from.
They had been the Western pack, or what remained of it after they were disbanded, their Alpha executed at a Conclave around forty years ago. I rubbed my temples, my head aching even thinking about that pack. They had been punished for crimes against the moon, for using magic against the other packs at that Conclave, or at least that’s what my grandmother had taught me. And it may have been the truth.
They had been cut off from the other packs forty years ago. But they were eradicated after the war, because they had enlisted the Russians to help them with their true goal: to regain the power that had been stripped away. They’d shown they would use any means to do so. Theft, betrayal. Even magic.
Their crimes during the war had been severe, but my father had confided once that he believed the response of the other packs had been equally heinous. His elders’ roles in the extermination of an entire pack was only one of the reasons that after he came to power, Dad had tried to have as little to do with the outside world as possible. With any of the other packs.
When the war ended, all the mature shifters left alive gathered under the War Council’s authority, and every mature wolf made a vow not to speak of the eradication. It was the strongest Alpha command that had ever been given, carefully constructed, and then repeated by all the gathered Alphas simultaneously. With none of the older shifters able to speak of that pack, none of the younger ones learned of it. In another two generations, it would be as if the Western pack had neverexisted. That communally accepted command had worked to make our kind nearly forget what had happened.
Forbidding the sharing of books that contained knowledge of magic, and the Western pack, had done the rest. Grandmother had found a way around that rule, of course, deciding on her own that locking those books away counted as “not sharing” them.
Maybe Grandmother will loan those books to Flor. She needs to know the truth, and there’s no place else to learn it.
But Dad was speaking of another Alpha command, one that each member of the Council had to agree to, in order to take their place. “Is the command that strong?” I asked quietly.
His brow lowered. “I promised to follow pack law. Even though I can interpret that to suit our pack in many things, I cannot subvert a direct order from the Council Head.”
“The Council Head was Bradley when you took that oath. You had no way of knowing, no way of thinking the position would shift to Aidan McDonnell,” I murmured as he paced. Finn’s father was more snake than wolf, slick and polished and deadly, and to my wolf, he stank of dishonor and deception at the best of times.
Dad stopped, hanging his head. “I know that now, and knew it then. I should have taken the position, instead of letting him have it, even for a day. The old ways are clear; only the strongest Alpha holds the right to lead.”
I nodded grimly. Our family had always taken the old ways of shifters to heart. Physically weak challengers to an Alpha’s position were easily defeated in combat.
Morally weak ones were more difficult to remove from power. That was why our pack held so closely to the law. If an Alpha were to break or bend pack law, it was far more dangerous than a lesser wolf’s transgression. It led to Alphas drunk on power, ruling as tyrants. This was how many of our worst warshad been started over the centuries. How whole packs had been lost, and not only on this side of the globe.
Dad went on. “I’m far stronger than Aidan has ever been. I should have known better than to allow him to grab the reins of power.” He scowled at the floor. “At least Bradley had honor. Aidan…”
I hadn’t questioned him before, but I had to know. “What happened, Dad? After the battle at Southern two months back, when he was given the role.”
“I wanted to invite you to listen in, son. But it was an emergency Council meeting.” That meant only the ruling four Alphas and their Head Enforcers had a vote. I nodded my understanding, and he continued. “Calvin had fled. Only a few of us were there to vote: Aidan and Torran from Eastern, Margarette from Northern, Dean and me from Mountain. I wanted to go home. Even though Margarette had reservations, the rest of us agreed. Aidan would hold all the rights Bradley had as Council Head, until Bradley was well enough to return.”
“Bradleyiswell, though.”
“But outside of a called Council meeting, Aidan is the one who gets to make that decision. Bradley and Margarette are on their way there now, but I don’t expect Aidan to hand over power easily.” He dropped his head. “My guess is that Aidan will find some way to deny Bradley’s fitness. I’ll need to go to the city, too. I was an idiot, turning down the spot as interim Council leader. I knew Aidan would be a shit leader, but I wanted to get back to our pack.” His voice was filled with shame. “I didn’t think he could do much damage. I couldn’t imagine he would go this far.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. “How far has he gone?”
Dad’s bloodshot eyes met mine. “He’s calling for Glen’s immediate execution. He tried to give me an Alpha command over the phone.” We both chuckled darkly at that. “I can ignorethat. But the law regarding rogues was put in place long before him, as were the regulations on Alpha Heirs moving outside their packs without permission. At the least, according to Aidan, Glen is a rogue who needs to be punished for his crime.”
“Aidan’s worried we’ll come to his packlands and get Finn out from under his thumb.” I’d already shared my concerns about Finn’s coerced return to the fold. Dad had not been all that surprised.
“Or that you’ll go to Southern and rescue Luke,” he replied. “The reports from our Enforcers who stayed behind—until they were evicted by Aidan’s Council troops—were grim. They’ve done something to Luke.”
“He almost died, Dad. Hewasdying, and Flor as well. And me...” I took a deep breath. “And Finn would have gone, too. Glen might still be safe, but I’m not sure.”
“All of you?”
“All of us, Dad.”
Startled, he met my eyes, and for the first time in forever, dropped his gaze first, though I didn’t think he realized what he’d done. “They can never know. If they find out, they’ll have you all executed.”
