Home ward
Killian
The scent of the park engulfed my nose just as we breached the border into the known for me. The pack smelled like familiarity,it smelled like something I had known my whole life.
And for good reason too. The deliberations on my matter, however, still stood. Luckily, it was no longer the business of those outside, and now it was more the business of those inside.
Still, even with that, I would never accept her as mine. My pack’s standing was not entirely solidified, and it would only dig more holes for myself if I did accept the human as my mate. Silence. What would be even thought about children? A human cannot have children with a werewolf, and even in the rare case that it did happen, the human female died from childbirth.
They existed,those born of both worlds,but they were few, so few and so far between it was nearly as rare as coming across a blue moon.
“How was the last meeting?”
I raised my eyes from where I was staring and looked straight into the rearview mirror. I was exhausted and had decided to sit in the back seat, where I had more legroom. I shrugged.
“Some talks about Damon and how he oversteps.” I looked outside the window. “He’s been attacking some areas not so far from Adrian’s. He first took over small villages, killing everyone there. Even though the council found him not entirely guilty, he is just expected to pay for damages.”
Lucas scoffed. “How do you kill people and suddenly only pay for damages to the alpha who lost? Damon must face retribution. He should be stripped of his title and sent out into the wild,maybe he should go join the Cursed.”
If Lucas could spit currently, I’m sure he would have. “Fuck it,” he mumbled under his breath. He rolled down the window and spat outside anyway. “It leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” he said.
“You’re not the only one who feels the same,” I muttered. “Others feel the same. But at the same time, many others felt it was not our business to intervene in that. Damon was acting well within his right.”
“How?” Lucas interrupted just as I was about to explain how. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I was, after all, just as angry when the news came to me.
“Damon argues that his grandfather owned the land and that it was ceded to Adrian at some point during a war in the past. He said he simply took it back since the time for which Adrian’s pack came to own the land had gone. He said all efforts to send letters and word to Adrian had proved abortive, and that was why he did it.”
Lucas laughed, one of bitterness. “Bullshit,” he said.
I raised my eyebrows. “We couldn’t have said it better than that. Damon had purposely stepped on the foot of Adrian, and he was getting a pat on the back of his wrist in return.”
“He will do more,” Lucas said, as though he could read my mind. “What happens now if he comes after one of them? The only reason they don’t is because they know that he might not attack them,that maybe, if they spoke up against him, he would come for them too.”
Lucas scoffed. There was so much anger in his voice one would think he had family in the village that was burned and destroyed.
“Politics,” I found myself mumbling. “It’s a weak man’s defense,” I said.
And it was true. When weak men had no place in society, they would rally behind one another in hopes that their numbers would scare many away.
“Politics is all but the game of words,” Lucas mumbled to himself. “It’s a game of who knows best,or rather, who can convince others that they know best. It’s basically a game of who can speak the best.”
He scoffed. “That’s why Brandon seems to have the entire pack in his pocket,” he added.
I raised my eyes and met his in the mirror.
“Brandon earned his keep in the pack,” I said quietly. “You might not remember this, but when he was my father’s Beta, I’d sometimes be around. I remember hearing how my father and he used to fight a lot. Still, he spared my father’s life on more than one occasion.”
I shook my head. “He was the kind of leader political factions feared,a beast who knew his strength lay not only in his wealth but in his will. He put his money where his mouth was,and his fists as well.”
Lucas was silent for a moment, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. He stayed that way for a full minute before asking, “What about those who followed him?”
I turned my gaze to the window, watching the fast-moving trees blur past. The distance between myself and the pack lands was being eaten up by the vehicle, and soon enough, the carriage would bring us home.
“Some of his followers are not,” I said after a pause, “but I have reason to believe he’s working on something.”
I lowered my voice, almost as though someone unseen might overhear us. “I don’t know what he’s doing,” I admitted slowly. “But I don’t like it. He’s bold,too bold. Bold enough to stand before me and claim that I am to be his daughter’s mate.”
Lucas glanced at me in the mirror, his expression unreadable.
“You know as well as I do,” I continued, “that such a command would never sit right with an Alpha. His beast wouldn’t allow it. Which means… he’s done something to himself,or something else entirely. I just don’t know what.”
I turned my gaze back to him. “Help me find out, Lucas,” I said quietly. “You’ll do it, won’t you?”
He smiled faintly through the mirror, his eyes meeting mine. “I’d lay my life down for you if you asked, brother.”
The distance between us and the village shrank quickly until I could see the first few buildings of the outer settlements,small mining villages where the dwarves lived.
Being creatures of the dark, they preferred to dwell underground. After the abolishment of dwarf slavery, they had come to stay, and I had given them a home.
Sometimes you could see them in daylight, briefly, before they disappeared beneath the earth again. Their cities lay deep below,hidden and well-placed. A good way to spy, if one knew how.
“Lucas,” I said, not taking my eyes off the window.
“Yes?” he murmured.
“Call for the Dwarven chieftan. Tell him I have a job for him.”
“You got it, boss,” he replied with a small grin,probably already guessing what I wanted.
“And tell Alejandro to come see me,” I added. “I know that idiot’s back from his last mission. I have another one for him.”