Chapter 179: The Pack Turns

Maddie Pov

The wood smoke from the hearth did not clear the smell of blood from the main room. I sat on the small corner stool with my hands tucked inside my wool sleeves, and I kept my eyes fixed on the cracked pine floorboards. Across the hall, three old hunters were whispering near the weapon rack, and every time their heads turned toward my corner, their lips tightened into flat, angry lines.

"She cannot stay inside the pack house, Alpha," Rex argued and he set his heavy wood shield against the door frame. His face had fresh gray dust on the chin from working the valley traps all morning. "Elara has twelve stitches in her shoulder bone and she cannot even lift a water bucket today. The young pups are hiding behind the log bins because they saw the yellow light in the woods last night."

"Maddie stays right here," Calix responded and he struck his fist hard against the middle of the long pine table. The impact made the clay cups rattle against the wood, but his shoulders looked smaller today under his heavy leather coat. "The attack was not her choice, Rex. The peak anchor line forced the muscles to move, and we are not throwing our Luna into the timber brush just because the north king is pulling the string."

"It is not a string anymore, Calix," Mara stated from the back bench. She did not raise her eyes from her wool stitching, but her vocal cords sounded very dry. "The white fur line is melting into the mountain ink. We all saw the gray stripes on her back when she shifted under the moon. She is a danger to the seventeen wolves who are left in this clearing."

"I am right here," I whispered.

Nobody turned around to answer me. They kept their faces pointed toward Calix, and the silence in the room got very thick and heavy.

"Go back to the kitchen, Mara," Calix commanded and he rubbed his forehead with his right palm. His fingers were shaking slightly against his skin. "We will handle the meat distribution at noon. Leave the room now."

The old female gathered her wool pieces and walked out through the side frame without giving me a single look. Rex held his ground for two more seconds, then he picked up his shield and followed her out into the dirt yard, leaving the heavy pine door wide open.

"They are right, Calix," I stated and I stood up from the stool. My knees felt very loose and I had to place my palm against the log post to keep my balance. "Elara did nothing wrong. I watched my own paws tear her wool wrap apart and I could not even close my jaw to stop the teeth. If I stay in this cabin until the next moon, someone is going to lose a throat."

"We are not dividing the house, Maddie," Calix insisted and he walked over to the post, wrapping his big hands around my elbows. His gaze was full of a flat, dead look, and the purple bruise on his ribs made him lean slightly toward the left side. "I am the Alpha of WolfTrail. If they do not like the Luna, they can challenge my position at the stone ring tomorrow, but I am not signing the expulsion paper."

"You are breaking your own back for a ghost," I murmured.

"I am holding my mate," he answered.

He pressed his lips against my forehead, but his skin felt dry and he did not pour any gold energy into the bond this time. He was too tired from the midnight tracking, and his shoulders dropped down the moment he let go of my arms. He walked back to the table and leaned his weight against the wood, closing his eyes against the sunlight.

"He is very weak today, sister," Kai jeered inside my skull. The deep pitch did not hit my vocal cords this time, but the sound rattled around the back of my ears like an iron bolt rolling in a bucket. "Look at his knees. He can barely hold his leather vest up. If you drop yourself on a hunting knife tonight to save his little pack, I will just take his throat anyway before the blood goes cold in the dirt."

"Leave him alone," I thought back.

"The contract requires a leader, Maddie," Kai mocked and a sudden sharp heat hit the center of my chest bone. "The valley boy is not a leader anymore. He is just a guard who watches an empty yard. It is time to clear the pine floor properly."

My body suddenly straightened up like a piece of frozen timber and my tongue went completely rigid against my teeth. I tried to pull my boots backward toward the bedroom door, but the muscles did not take any commands from my brain. My feet moved forward slow and hard, making a loud thudding sound on the pine boards as I walked toward the open door.

"Maddie, where are you going?" Calix asked and he opened his eyes fast.

My mouth snapped open by itself and that double voice came out with a huge, roaring pitch that filled the entire valley yard. The sound was so loud it brought the hunters out from the meat shed and the young pups came running out of the log bins to see what was happening.

"Wolves of WolfTrail," I announced through my own lips and the yellow light flared out from my eyes, hitting the dirt path outside. "The valley line is done. The Alpha is weak and he is keeping you in the dry dirt because he cannot fight the north ridge."

"Maddie, stop talking," Rex shouted and he ran across the yard with his spear raised up.

"Stay back, Rex," I commanded and my right arm swung out, pointing a rigid finger at his chest. The yellow light around my fingernails went completely dark and gray, and a sudden wave of heavy air hit his chest, knocking him back four paces into the gravel. "If any wolf puts a boot between these logs, I will rip their shoulder bone completely out of the skin."

Calix came out of the door frame and his face was completely white under the sun. He did not pull his knife, but his chest was heaving fast and his fists were closed tight at his sides.

"Kai, get out of her body," Calix roared.

"The female is not here, young Alpha," I declared and my boots moved right into the center of the ring, facing him directly in front of the seventeen wolves. My lips stretched into that wide, mountain smile that made my ears twitch. "I am challenging your title tonight, Calix. You will meet my white wolf form under the center post or you will surrender the WolfTrail name to the high peaks before the sun hits the ridge."