4

lykan POV

" He hasn't kept up his end of the bargain."

Dominic’s voice pierced the tense silence of the council room, his cold judgment hanging over us like acrid smoke. As my Beta, his voice carried the weight of formal disapproval.

I didn’t reply immediately. I stood, gazing out the window—the floor-to-ceiling glass of my mountain stronghold hands behind my back, my figure outlined against the stormcloud masses gathering on the horizon. A bolt of lightning lit up the sky, and for an instant, I saw the blade-sharp planes of my face, the scar of silver cutting through my left eyebrow, and the chill calculation of my gray eyes reflected in the glass.

“Alpha, the Blood moon is three days, hence. The Northern Range Pack had offered one of the Spencer sisters as your Luna before that. They are stalling. They are stalling through James Spencer.”

“I know,” I whispered, my voice dark and ominously subtle. Slowly, I turned, and the three council members who stood at the long table of black stone tensed. Ten years I’ve been their Alpha, and I still make them twitch with their lower, animalistic fears; that wasn't a sign of weakness but wisdom.

“Maybe he believes the Blood Moon Accord is optional,” I continued, a smile threatening to creep up my lips. “Maybe he needs reminding of what we do to those who enter into pacts and then betray them with the Black Mountain Pack.”

Viktor, the older councilor, coughed hesitantly. “Alpha, I don’t wish to be disrespectful, but war among packs would—”

“Did I mention conflict?” I interrupted, my smile vanishing.

The air seemed to chill several degrees. Submissively, Viktor let his eyes drop. “Certainly, Alpha. I apologize for having assumed otherwise.”

I didn’t acknowledge the apology.

“I’ve waited. Waited long. There was first, the time he needed to prepare his chosen sister. Then delayed, because his first mate was pregnant.” My lip curled up in contempt. “And I learned his first mate miscarried and was replaced by her sister the very sister our pact was exchanged for.”

“And he's going to keep them both to himself,” Dominic assumed, disgust thickening his voice.

“Greed,” I growled, the word a virtual death sentence. “And disrespect.”

I moved into the center of the room, power radiating around my body in plain waves. The members of the council automatically uncovered their necks and submitted.

“I sense it,” I said, shrugging my broad shoulders as I settled some unseen weight. “Blood moon is approaching. Already it calls to me, to my bones, to my blood, to my wolf.”

My eyes briefly turned red a sign of the rare bloodline that makes me revered and also sheer terror among werewolves. A True Alpha appears once or so per century, possessing abilities and powers way beyond regular Alphas.

“Three days,” I snarled, half to myself. “Three days until I mate or completely lose all control when the blood moon is full. Ha! Just three days and I get to worry about it. And then there’s James Spencer, who imagines he can toy with me.”

Dominic stood up, stepping to my side. “What do you wish us to do?”

My wintry, hungry smile reappeared. “It’s time I think that we take an impromptu journey to the Northern Range. Tonight.”

“Without warning?” Councilwoman Elara asked, opening her eyes.

“Something of an ambush is all the leverage one needs,” I said softly.

I stood again at the window, watching as lightning stitched the darkening sky. Already, I could feel the wolf under my skin growing restless and hungry. The approaching blood moon worked on me always more strongly than upon the remainder of my line a blessing and curse of my birth.

Normal werewolves experienced heightened aggression, awareness, and strength during the blood moon. In my case, however, it was not the same. Lacking the stabilizing factor of having a mate to keep me centered, the blood moon drives me to the edge of bestial madness. Three blood moons consecutively and no mate would drive me over the edge forever.

This would be the third one.

“Alpha, you are going to take whichever sister?” Dominic whispered. “Should you take the older one or the newcomer?”

My eyes slivered with thought. Sophia, the young sister, had been the first one I’d suggested. She was driven, smart, and gorgeous. And utterly merciless. Overall, an ideal candidate for an Alpha as powerful as I am.

However, the blood moon doesn’t worry about human considerations of benefit or compatibility. It reacts to more ancient and primitive forces.

It does not matter, I decided finally. The blood moon shall decide. I merely provide the options.

A growl rumbled deep within me as another bolt of lightning tore through the air. My fang threatened to extend, and my control faltered to the point where the animal beneath was glimpsed.

“Order the convoy to form up. We depart in one hour.”

As the council members rushed to obey, Dominic, standing firmly behind me, lingered near the window, watching the storm brew outside. Shortly, and shortly indeed, would come the cost of betraying the Black Mountain Alpha for James Spencer. One of the Spencer girls would be my mate, whether I liked it or not. My inner wolf growled deep within me.