Page 65 of Pack Ruin
“Niall? He’s not that much of an idiot.”
“We both know he is.” Father’s thin lips curled into a smirk as he opened a white bag, checking on the contents. The stench of silver swirled through the air, but there was also… peanut butter? I focused on what he’d just revealed.
“You have no intention of letting him mate with Tana, do you?” I blinked, my mind putting together hints and clues. “That was a threat to keep me in line. You’re going to send her away. Italy, or… No. Russia.”
If I cared about pleasing my father, I would have been happy at the look he gave me. “Nicely done. I’ve already brokered the deal with the Alpha of Novosibirsk. She leaves on her birthday.”
I had to force myself not to react. I’d heard stories about that particular Russian Alpha. His father had died in the war twenty-two years ago, and he’d been making noises about gettingrevenge ever since. He was at least forty, and had a reputation for brutalizing young shifters, males and females alike.
“The Russians who attacked Northern this month. That was one of your plans?”
“Hardly. We’d been in contact with that rabble, of course. Keeping an eye on them. But that Ivan fellow was a wild card. No, we’ve been playing a deeper game. All I need is to ensure that I am lawfully elected as the permanent Head of the Council. Then every piece will fall into place.” His eyes closed for a split second. “The Long Hunt will be over.”
The way my father whispered those words revealed more emotion than I’d almost ever heard him express. Longing and wistfulness, like a dream just out of reach. A dream of power.
To be elected the Head of Council, he would have to obtain a majority of votes from the other members of the Council. Even if he could make a case that he had authority over Southern while Luke was in a coma, that was only two Alpha votes. Somehow, he’d have to convince the Hilliers.
Oh, fuck.
The silver tools in his bag. The white clothing.
“How?” If he expected me to assist in “questioning” the Hilliers, I would need to find some argument to stop him. “How are you planning to get the votes? You know torturing the Hilliers will only result in a bloody war. They’ll never give you the position.”
If Northern’s shifters felt their Alpha’s life end, the response would be fierce and immediate. Northern would come in force for revenge, though we outnumbered them. They wouldn’t be alone. The Mountain pack was slow to anger, but this would do it.
“As if torture would work on either of those stubborn fools,” Father spat out, pressing his hand to the keypad. “Bradley and Margarette are confined, yes. They are being investigated. Butwe’re not animals. We don’t torture our peers.” My shoulders relaxed slightly, until he continued. “We merely kill them when the moment is right.”
I was glad he had his back to me as we entered the locked hallway. It gave me time to mask my reaction. “Why the delay?”
“Brand has taken his father’s seat, and his power. We felt Mountain’s bonds to the Council break. But somehow, Samuel is still alive. Not that the Council has been informed officially. But we have satellite images of him sitting outside after the fight.”
“What?” That was impossible. But when I thought about it… I’d felt an odd disturbance in my bond with Flor, only a few hours before Father had informed me of Brand’s ascension. If I hadn’t already been in my room, recovering from the fictitious “poisoning,” I would have collapsed from the maelstrom of sensations. It wasn’t possible to take the Alpha power of another shifter without also taking his life, not without the help of the Council, backed by all their respective packs.
We’d all learned the hard way that if a former Alpha was left alive without transferring the power, the new Alpha ruled in name only unless the Council stepped in—or unless the old Alpha could be found and killed. My thoughts went to Luke, wondering how he was managing to hold on. Wondering where in the hell Calvin Callaway was.
“Samuel’s alive? How did they pull that off?” I muttered.
“We’ll ask the new Alpha, if he answers the summons to Council.”
“Council? You’ve called a meeting.”
“We’ve invited Brand to come here within the week to discuss Alpha Hillier’s competence to rule, and ordered him to bring the rogue Northern Heir, Glen, as well as the Southern trash mate as well. Can you imagine her as Alpha Mate at that pack? Atanypack. It’s an offense to all decency.”
As if he knew anything about decency.
I hummed, my mind already calculating a way to use this information. “Brand is a new Alpha, though. They did this in the old ways, not at a Council meeting. He won’t have made connections to all his wolves. He’ll need to stay at Mountain for months to receive their pledges of loyalty.” If he came to Eastern before that, he wouldn’t be strong enough to stand against my parents. At least, not against Mother’s dominance.
“True. But I made certain he understood that if he wants a chance to vote on my election as permanent Head of the Council, or be a part of the decision on what befalls the Hilliers, he’ll come immediately.”
Ahead of us, a door opened, and I heard someone sobbing inside the cell. “Who?”
“A Southern shifter,” Father said, his tone guarded. “We have two of them. Your mother’s pet project. She asked for your help with one of them. But let’s make a quick detour.”
I didn’t ask for more information, since he already had a hand on the keypad to one of the larger cells, only one door down from where I’d been tortured after my return. When we entered, though, I gasped.
Margarette and Bradley were bound with silver chains at their wrists and ankles, lying side-by-side on what looked like a towel, laid on the floor, obscuring the place where the metal drain sat in the center of the room. This wasn’t a prison cell; like the one I’d occupied, this was one of the wet work rooms.
There was no bed here, nor furniture of any kind. In fact, other than the towel, there was only an empty water bottle and, in one corner of the space, a metal bucket with a lid and a bare roll of toilet paper.
