Page 90 of The Fated Hunter Wolf
Logan was my alpha by magic, but my bond with Rhys couldn’t be complete unless I chose to stand with them both against whatever came next.
And at the same time, Eve was my alpha. My wolf didn’t question this dual loyalty—it was plain as day to her.
Logan and Eve were one through their bond.
Bart looked at a clock that hung over the door. “The agenda-setting session will be starting soon. It’s the kickoff to the event,and most packs will already be there.” He sighed. “We’ll be making quite the entrance.”
He led us to the assembly room, where the transformation of the delegates was jarring—rigid formality replacing hedonistic chaos. Ceremonial banners were rolled out with pack symbols painted across them. The air crackled with hostility masquerading as diplomatic protocol.
Bart led us in, straight to the stage, where a man sat in an oversized armchair.
“Have the search parties located all the missing packs?” he asked Bart and lifted his nose. The corners of his mouth turned down as he hissed, “Well.”
Bart cleared his throat. “Found an old friend wandering the halls, Father.” He’d said it casually, though the implications that rippled through the assembled crowd were anything but.
“Alpha Thorne.” Logan tilted his head in greeting, but didn’t break eye contact, giving no sign of submission.
Whispers spread outward in concentric circles of shock and anxiety, and my hybrid nature picked it all up. I tracked the reactions: adrenaline spikes, territorial aggression, hearts racing as supernatural beings processed the implications of Orion’s return.
There was guilt here. The signature scent of beings who’d done something they knew was wrong and were about to face the consequences.
Near the stage in one of the front rows, the Cassiopeia delegation sat still. Their alpha, Emmanuel Vex, watched Logan, seemingly measuring his weaknesses. Or maybe planning his destruction. Emmanuel Vex was not known for his benevolence. Far from it.
My vampire nature stirred. I’d seen that look before so many times when I’d rescued Crux sisters from the grip of oppressors.It was the expression of someone who viewed other beings as resources to be consumed or obstacles to be eliminated.
Alpha Thorne muttered, his voice dripping with contempt. “Logan Orion. It’s been some time.”
“Alpha Thorne,” Logan replied, standing firm and showing no sign of concern about the several hundred beings with hostile intent around him.
Through the bond, I felt Rhys’s wolf bristle, but he was also bursting with pride. He was watching his brother face down hundreds of supernatural beings who wanted him dead or gone, and Logan wasn’t backing down.
Neither were we.
The silence stretched until individual heartbeats became audible. My vampire hearing picked up whispered conversations in a dozen different tongues, urgent communications between delegates who were recalculating political positions in real time.
The guilt and fear in this room, the evidence of systematic oppression and pack destruction… It was time for some things to burn.
Then I felt it—the moment when Logan’s alpha power began to build. Authority that had been honed by years of holding a dying pack together through sheer force of will.
The pack bond between us flared in response, and simultaneously, through the mate bond, I felt Rhys’s savage satisfaction as he recognized the same thing. We’d wanted to make an entrance. Mission accomplished.
Logan stepped forward, his alpha presence filling the room until even the most powerful delegates felt the weight of his authority.
“Fellow alphas, Orion was exiled from this council by force.” He faced the packs. “Our absence was not willful but enacted upon us, the invitations never forthcoming. When I became alpha of Orion, I sent my brothers to represent us.”
A hush came over the crowd.
“And they never came back.”
Several delegates from smaller packs leaned forward, recognizing something they’d been waiting to hear.
“I have not forgotten that treachery. Our exile became an opportunity for certain parties to redistribute territories, eliminate neutral voices, and transform this Council from a governing body into a protection racket.” Logan’s gaze swept across the Cassiopeia delegation, who were shooting daggers at him. “Seven packs have simply vanished from Council records. Dozens more have been reduced to puppet votes or absorbed entirely.”
Alpha Thorne’s jaw tightened. “The Accords were negotiated in good faith?—”
“TheOrionAccords,” Logan interrupted, “were negotiated behind my back. While my pack was dying. While a curse ate at us and others profited from our weakness. We focused on survival, and this Council forgot what it was supposed to protect.” His alpha power pulsed outward, making lesser wolves instinctively lower their eyes in submission. “We remember.”
Near the back of the room, representatives from smaller packs exchanged meaningful glances. The Tucana delegation sat up straighter. Even some of the Andromeda wolves, reduced to puppet status according to Bart, sat taller in their seats.
