Chapter 167 Council Retaliation
Ryder pov
The news hits days after our talk about the future. I'm in the command center reviewing supply inventories when Luna bursts through the door, a thick envelope in her hand. Her face is tight with anger.
"They're cutting us off." She tosses the envelope onto the table.
I pick it up, scanning the formal letterhead. Council seal at the top, followed by dense legal language that boils down to one thing: economic sanctions. Traditional packs are forbidden from trading with Iron Fangs territory. Any pack that maintains contact with us faces their own penalties.
"When did this arrive?" I ask.
"This morning." Luna drops into a chair. "But the sanctions went into effect yesterday. Our suppliers in Montana? Cancelled our standing orders. The medical supply company in Oregon? Refused to ship. Even the damn butcher in town won't sell to us anymore."
I flip through the pages, my jaw tightening with each line. They're strangling us without firing a shot, cutting off every supply line we've built over the years. With twice our normal pack size and no income from our usual contacts, this could break us.
"How bad is it?" I ask.
"Bad." Luna pulls out her tablet, showing me spreadsheets. "We've got maybe six weeks of food if we ration. Medical supplies will last three weeks, maybe four. Fuel for the bikes, maintenance parts, basic necessities—all of it dries up within a month."
I set the letter down, thinking fast. The Council knows they can't take us in a direct fight, not after what Jolie did at Nightshade. So they're trying a different approach, making life so hard that our new members leave and Jolie has to negotiate from a position of weakness.
"They're betting we'll fold." I lean back in my chair. "That the refugees will go back rather than starve, that the defectors will realize they picked the wrong side."
"Will they?" Luna asks quietly.
"Some might." I won't lie to her. "Celeste, Cass, the others who've been here longer—they'll stay. But the newer arrivals? The ones who just escaped the facilities recently? If we can't feed them, can't care for them, they might decide the Council was the safer choice."
Luna's expression darkens. "That's what they're counting on. Break our ability to provide, prove we can't protect the people who trust us, and the whole resistance falls apart."
"We need alternatives." I stand, pacing. "Other sources, different suppliers, packs that aren't afraid of Council pressure."
"There aren't any." Luna shakes her head. "Traditional packs won't risk it. They've got their own territories to protect, their own people to feed. Going against Council sanctions means becoming targets themselves."
I stop at the window, looking out at the compound. Refugees walk between buildings, some laughing, some still haunted by their captivity. Celeste sits on a bench with Cass, their heads bent together over something. The Nightshade wolves are running drills with our fighters, learning to work together.
These people chose to trust us. Chose to believe we could offer them something better than what the Council provides. I'm not letting them down because of economic warfare."What about bounties?" I ask, remembering another section in the letter.
"Those too." Luna's voice goes flat. "Ten thousand for information about Jolie's activities. Twenty thousand for her location. Fifty thousand for anyone who can deliver her to Council territory alive."
The numbers make me want to put my fist through the wall. They're not just cutting off our supplies, they're putting a price on my mate's head. Turning every desperate wolf in the region into a potential threat.
"They're scared." I realize it as I say it. "The Council is terrified of what Jolie represents. Terrified that other wolves will see what she did at Nightshade and realize they don't have to accept the Council's authority."
"Scared people are dangerous." Luna stands beside me. "Especially when they have resources and power to back up their fear."
"So we find a way to survive without them." I turn from the window. "Call a pack meeting. Everyone needs to know what we're facing."
An hour later, the entire compound gathers in the main hall. Jolie stands beside me, her light dimmed but still visible beneath her skin. She knows something's wrong, and felt my tension through the bond all morning.
I explain the situation in simple terms. The Council has cut us off, traditional packs won't trade with us, and we're looking at serious shortages within weeks. Some faces show fear, others anger, but everyone listens.
"I won't lie to you." I meet their eyes. "This is going to be hard. We're going to have to ration, to sacrifice, to get creative about survival. The Council is betting we'll break under the pressure, that you'll decide going back is easier than staying."
"Going back isn't an option." The voice comes from Derek, one of the wolves. He stands, looking around at the gathered pack. "I was conditioned, stripped of everything that made me human. I'd rather starve free than go back to being empty."
Murmurs of agreement ripple through the crowd. Celeste rises next, her voice steady despite the emotion in her eyes.
"A few months ago, I couldn't feel anything." She glances at Cass, who nods encouragement. "Now I can laugh. I can cry. I can be angry and happy and scared all at once. The Council wants to take that away again, make me forget what it's like to be whole. I won't let them."
More wolves stand. Marina from the California facility, her burns still healing. Tessa from the integration sessions, who spent years in captivity. Even some of the defected enforcers, wolves who wore Council badges just weeks ago.
"We stay." Marina's declaration carries through the hall. "Whatever it takes."
The meeting shifts from explaining the problem to solving it. Ideas fly—hunting parties to supplement food supplies, gardens to grow our own vegetables, trades with rogue packs who might be willing to skirt Council sanctions. Someone suggests reaching out to omega communities, wolves who've always existed outside traditional pack structures.
"The marginalized wolves." Doc speaks up from the back. "Omegas, late-shifters, hybrids—anyone the Council considers lesser. They've never benefited from Council protection. They might not care about Council sanctions."
"It's worth trying." I look at Jolie, who's been quiet throughout the meeting. "What do you think?"
Her eyes are distant, like she's seeing something beyond the room. When she focuses on me, there's determination in her expression.
"The Council showed their hand at Nightshade." Her voice carries through the hall without needing to be raised. "They exposed themselves as corrupt, willing to sacrifice innocents for power. Every wolf who's ever been told they're not good enough, not pure enough, not strong enough—they saw what the Council really is that night."
She steps forward, addressing the entire pack. "This isn't just about us anymore. We're proof that wolves can survive without Council approval. That omegas and rogues and conditioned graduates can build something better together. That's what terrifies them."
"So we reach out." I picked up her thread. "To every pack, every wolf, every community that the Council has marginalized. We tell them what we're building here, what we're trying to create. And we ask for help."
The meeting ends with assignments. Luna will contact omega networks, Doc will reach out to hybrid communities, Cass will talk to rogue packs he knows from his pre-Iron Fangs days. We're casting a wide net, hoping someone will answer.
That night, Jolie and I lie in bed, the weight of everything pressing down. I can feel her exhaustion through the bond, the constant drain of healing sessions and empathy work taking its toll.
"Do you think it'll work?" She asks quietly. "Reaching out to wolves the Council has rejected?"
"I don't know." I pull her closer. "But it's better than sitting here waiting to starve."
"The bounties worry me." Her hand finds mine in the darkness. "Fifty thousand is a lot of money for desperate wolves."
"Anyone who tries to collect will have to go through me first." I mean every word. "And the rest of the pack. And probably half the compound. You've healed too many people, given too many wolves hope. They're not letting anyone take you."
She's quiet for a moment, then laughs softly. "A few months ago, I was just trying to survive my father's wedding. Now I'm leading a resistance movement against the Council."
"Technically, you're just existing." I kiss her temple. "The resistance movement formed around you because of what you represent."
"Divine consequence." She murmurs, quoting what she called herself at the Council fortress. "I never wanted to be a symbol."
"I know." I hold her tighter. "But you are one now. The question is what we do with that."
She doesn't answer, already sliding into sleep. I stay awake longer, thinking .