Page 26 of Pack Ruin
“You can read my thoughts, can’t you?” I asked, suddenly shy. Glen sucked in a breath.
“I can’t help it, love,” Brand replied quietly, with a furtive glance at my expression. I hoped he saw my wonder, and not anything else. “It’s not just a mate bond now, the connection between us. Something happened, something that feels permanent. When I had to save you from being pulleddown with Luke, it altered our bond.” He swallowed. “Forgive me.”
For some reason, those words echoed inside me. As if it wasn’t just Brand saying them, but one of my other mates. Like a whisper, from far away:Please forgive me.
And when I murmured, “I do forgive you,” it might have been a coincidence, but the burning in Finnick’s mate mark stopped almost completely.Huh.I didn’t have long to appreciate the lack of pain, as a howl came from the direction of the Alpha’s Den.
Glen sighed. “Sounds like they realized I left. I’d better go back; I don’t want to get Ida in trouble.”
Brand snorted. “Don’t worry about Grandma. Dad may be Alpha, but she rules the Den. But he’s calling...” He went still as another howl went up, and then another, until there were dozens of wolves howling. Running toward the Den, it sounded like.
“Who’s he calling, the whole pack?” I asked as we returned to the cabin and dressed, gathering our things.
Glen and Brand exchanged glances, but didn’t answer. As we ran back to the house, wolf after wolf—some with two feet, but most with four—ran past us. More than one curled a lip at Glen, but most of them yipped a greeting.
When we reached the Den, Ida and Verona were there at the front door, arguing. Ida was clearly incensed, shaking a wooden spoon in the taller woman’s face. “Just because you can’t find a better solution doesn’t mean you tell my son that. You know how he is about honor and duty. Black and white, day and night. He’s a good Alpha, but at the end of the day, he’s still a male and can’t see the smaller paths through the forest!”
Verona bristled. “I didn’t tell him I’d given up looking—in fact, I told him to wait! I’m not done with my research; I told him I had four more books to examine, but that stubborn son of yours has made up his mind, and you know—” Her narrow faceturned toward us. “Ah, Flor! Maybe you can talk some sense into my idiot son-in-law.”
“Samuel? Why would he want to talk with me?” I glanced at Brand, who shrugged and escorted me through the front doorway, prompting the women to follow. “Shouldn’t Brand be the one?—”
“No!” the women both shouted.
Verona’s narrow shoulders bowed in. “That’s the last thing we need. I’m afraid Ida’s right. Samuel thinks he knows the right way forward. It is a way—it’s just not the one anyone would want. Especially our dear boy Brand.”
“It’s what’s best for the pack, Verona,” Samuel said from the doorway to his office. “It’s the only way I won’t have to send Glen and Flor to the Council. And my son to his death from losing his mate, when they get their tainted hands on her.”
“Brand, help him!” I gasped, but Brand didn’t move from my side. His moon-bright eyes were fixed on his father, and an expression I’d never seen shone on his face. Horror and understanding. Anguish and resignation. Brand knew what was happening.
Samuel was shaking, his hands grasping the doorframe on both sides so hard, small splinters of wood were coming off in his clawed grip. His nose was bleeding, and his eyes shadowed. He almost looked like he’d gotten sick. Was he losing control of his wolf?
“What’s wrong, Samuel?” Glen took a step toward the Alpha, who shook his head.
“Stay back. I’m fighting this damned leash as hard as I can, but…” He broke off, panting, his head hanging.
Ida huffed, folding her arms around herself. “That awful Aidan called again. He put the full force of the Council’s command on my boy. He’s been ordered to execute Glenimmediately. He can’t disobey… Well, hecan.But it’s killing him.”
“I’ll go,” Glen offered, though he was still holding my hand. “Flor can stay here with Brand. I’ll go to Southern and help Luke.”
“Won’t be… enough,” Samuel groaned. “Flor. Once I knew her lineage, saw her name on that page…” Glen’s eyebrows flew high, but no one else reacted. I’d need to tell Glen everything soon.
“Shit,” I muttered. “I should’ve guessed. I suppose we’ll all need to go.”
But Brand was already shaking his head. “Pack law means he’s honor-bound to make Flor leave, given her parentage. But the Council command is another thing. Even if Glen left now, Dad would be driven to hunt him down and obey their rule. Obey or die. Isn’t that right, Dad?”
Samuel’s head rose slowly, and I saw the mirror of Brand’s expression on his older, lined face. “Years ago, I made a mistake that no Alpha of this pack will ever make again. I was so mired in my suffering, I gave my power to the Council. But you won’t do that, son. You’ll know who the enemy is now. You’ll know how not to fall into that trap.”
I didn’t follow what he was saying, but the others all reacted with shock. “I can’t challenge you,” Brand said softly, taking my free hand. “I won’t. The pack needs you.”
I blinked as I understood. “Challenge? You think if Brand takes your place as Alpha, then… Wait. Would that work?” My pulse quickened, a flare of hope exciting me. “Brand can be Alpha and not swear to the Council, right? Not get put under that command to obey Finnick’s dad?”
Glen answered. “Right. None of our packs are required to belong to the Council. It means there would be no trading between Mountain and the others, no alliances against rogues,or sharing of information. It would be close to a declaration of war.” When I took a breath to ask, he shook his head. “Of course, my parents wouldn’t go along with it, and Mountain is the largest pack by far, with almost as many shifters as the other main packs combined. No one would come all the way across the country to attack a fortified, massive pack. But…”
I remembered something from back at Southern. When I’d asked if the Heirs had to kill their own parents to become Alpha, they’d assured me that wasn’t the case. “But don’t you have to go to the Council to transfer the Alpha power?”
Brand didn’t speak, and neither did Samuel. They were staring at each other, dark brown eyes meeting moon-white ones, both filled with pain and resolve.
Verona answered me, her voice shaking. “Those are the new ways. Moving that power from Alpha to Heir takes more energy, more of the moon’s blessings than any one wolf can hold.”
