Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Ryan’s POV

It was at dawn that the summons came, borne by a stone-faced messenger who remained only long enough to see me snap the official seal before he took himself off without a word or bow. The parchment was embossed with all five of our Elder Council member crests—a demanding imperial order that I appear before them posthaste—no delay or excuses.

"They don't want you to challenge them," Daniel noticed as he assisted me into a Council worthy outfit. “All this uniform response means is that they consider your battle with Godric to be a threat to regional security.”

I smoothed my ceremonial jacket, feeling the burden of leadership bearing on my shoulders. "Let them try. The challenge has been proposed and accepted in the most sacred form. They have no business getting involved."

"Don't they?" Daniel asked quietly. “Don't forget what they did to Alpha Marcus when he dared resist their combined will. His pack had been disbanded, his territory carved up, his bloodline erased.”

The reminder turned ice to cold within my veins but I schooled my expression. Though the Council was mainly political rather than military, their influence over other packs and alliances forged proved they could do as much damage to a territory as any crusading army.

The great hall had been set up to be as oppressively intimidating as possible, with a high table for all five Elders and I was ordered to stand before them like a supplicant. Elder Marcus, their de facto leader of sorts, scrutinized me with the chill weight of a man who had watched too many young Alphas do stupid things.

"Alpha Ryan," he intoned formally. “You have been summoned to speak on the challenge you present Alpha Godric Nathaniel of the Obsidian Pack."

“So the gauntlet is down.” I stated firmly in reply. “It was promulgated and accepted under venerable law and custom.”

“Ancient law,” Elder Sarah spat with an air of disgust. "It's nice to call upon tradition and backwardness when doing so suits your own predilections, but better to forget it all, when calls for duty come around."

The face of Elder Thomas was slightly inclined, and his weather-beaten countenance was serious. “Do you even realize the political implications of what you are trying? Godric Nathaniel is the alpha of the biggest, strongest pack in North America. His death would open a power vacuum that could destabilize the entire region.”
“Well then maybe he shouldn't royally steal an Alpha's claim," I snapped, while struggling frantically not to be cussing.

"What belonged to you?" Elder Marcus sounded threatening. "A woman who left your domain? A woman so pathetic she'd cling to another Alpha's feet instead of staying in your pack? What exactly do you think you have a right to from someone who publicly rejected you?”

The words landed more like punches, but I kept reading. "She's carrying my child. My heir. It forms connections that nothing can break.”

"Your heir?" Elder Sarah laughed bitterly. “You have an heir, Alpha Ryan. A daughter would be born to your actual partner, a child who will either never know what it is to have a father or will remember one whose mind was so consumed with another woman that he died trying to achieve the unachievable.”

The thought of Miu made me feel guilty inside. My daughter’s face jumped into my head — perfect, innocent and absolutely reliant on me to protect her and lead her in life. But the idea of my second child being reared in Godric's territory, as his heir filled my wolf with a sense of loss.

“Both kids are mine,” I said, desperate. “They both deserve their father’s love and protection.”

"One child has it," responded Elder Thomas, ice cold. The other was lost when you traded personal happiness for political convenience. You cannot unmake that choice with violence.”

Elder Marcus stood, his presence inflating the room into a balloon full of suffocating authority. "Allow me to elucidate your circumstance, young Alpha. If you have a confrontation with Godric Nathaniel, and lose - which is inevitable due to the strength and experience difference - your pack will be without an alpha and your new offspring only recently come into their birthright while their sire still mourns. This instability will also likely spark territorial squabbles that will drag half the northern population in.”

"And if you manage to win by some miracle," Elder Sarah pressed on smoothly, "you'll have made an enemy of every pack that had alliances with Obsidian territory. Trade pacts will dissolve, territorial rights will be questioned and your pack is in danger of being alone and weak."

"The lady you're fighting for has made her choice clear," Elder Thomas added. Even if you kill Godric, what makes you believe she'll have you? Why do you think that she won’t simply choose exile rather than going back to the pack that rejected her?”

My hope had been a nail in the coffin of each argument, and I couldn't dismiss the desperate urgency that flared. "I have to try. I need to know I did everything in my power to bring my family together.”

"You have your family here," Elder Marcus firmly said. “Your mate, your daughter, your pack. They need their Alpha to be here and be present and committed, not off decimating himself while he chases the dragon of a woman who has Scout’s honor.”

“Think about your newborn daughter,” Elder Sarah chimed in, her voice turning into something almost motherly. “Miu was born slightly premature and weakened due to her mother’s stress during pregnancy. The added stress of the threat of war, to her losing her father, is going to potentially affect her for the rest of her life.”

The reference to Miu’s poor health was more powerful than any political argument. My daughter had in fact been small for gestational age, crying a little less loudly than she needed to on the day of her arrival. Dr. Morrison had told us she would recover herself, but he’d also warned that stress and instability weren’t good for recovery.

“You have obligations,” Elder Thomas insisted. "To your pack, to your mate, to your heir. And that responsibility must come before personal wants, no matter how appealing they may feel.”

"A real Alpha is a guy who can put duty over desire, personal happiness on the back burner for the greater good. Your father understood this. Your grandfather understood this. The question is whether you have inherited their wisdom, along with their title.”

The weight of their arguments pressed down on me like a tangible load. Everything they were saying was true – my pack did need the stability of a leader, Miu did deserve to have her father back, Shirley deserved better than for her mate to be in love with someone else. But to admit it was the truth didn’t make it easier to take.

“Just tell me exactly what you want me to do?” I stammered at last in a whisper.

“Renounce the challenge,” Elder Sarah said, plain and simple. “Make a public declaration that your obligations as Alpha and dad are more important than petty grudges. Concentrate on building the future instead of focusing on recovering the past.”

"And if I refuse?"

The five Elders shared looks and they told me more than I wanted to know of what the repercussions would be.

"Then you will suffer these consequences as they arrive," Elder Marcus added diplomatically. “But don’t forget, Alphas that keep putting what they want ahead of the pack tend not to hold onto their territories for very long.”

Walking out the council chamber, those words ringing in my ears, I felt the burden of unbearable decisions. They’d all said it was rational, reasonable, for the greater good. But logic would never repair the gaping hole in my chest where my heart used to reside.

The walk back to my chambers became a funeral march, each step leading away from the woman I had lost and closer to a life of duty with no joy, responsibility without satisfaction. But then I opened the door to see Shirley waiting, a sleeping Miu in her arms, and I understood how there really wasn't a choice at all.

They were just the cost of leadership.