Chapter 11— The Pack Meeting
Rhianna’s POV
The tension in the air was thick enough to choke on.
Every Alpha, Beta, and pack council member was seated in the hall, murmuring amongst themselves, but all I could feel was the weight of Hardin’s stare burning into me from across the room.
Sebastian’s hand rested on my thigh — a possessive gesture that was more for Hardin’s benefit than mine — and my mate’s jaw was clenched so tight I thought his teeth might crack.
The pack meeting had started civil enough. Land issues, rogue patrol schedules, council reports. But then someone mentioned Hardin’s name, and everything went to hell.
Sebastian rose to his feet, his voice cold as ice. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — Hardin Wolfe has no place here. He left. He abandoned this pack when we needed him most.”
Hardin didn’t flinch. He sat in the far corner, his powerful frame relaxed like he didn’t have a care in the world. But when he spoke, his voice carried across the hall, dark and dangerous.
“I didn’t leave,” he said, standing now, slow and deliberate. “I was forced out. Banished by a council too cowardly to face the truth about what happened to our parents.”
The murmurs grew louder.
Sebastian’s head snapped toward him, fury flashing in his golden eyes. “Don’t you dare—”
“Dare what?” Hardin snarled, finally losing that cool, collected mask. “Dare to say you weren’t ready to be Alpha? That you were too busy playing the golden boy while I took the fall for something I didn’t do?”
Sebastian’s chair scraped back as he stepped toward his brother, fists clenched. “You got them killed!”
The words cracked like a whip through the hall.
Everything went silent.
Even my breath caught as I looked between them.
Hardin’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t back down. “You think I haven’t blamed myself every damn day? You think running halfway across the world was easy? You don’t know what I went through, Sebastian. You don’t know what I became because of that night.”
Sebastian didn’t care. His rage was boiling over now, spilling into every word.
“You were supposed to protect them!” he shouted. “You were the eldest. It was your job to keep this family together, not rip it apart!”
Hardin took a step forward, and the tension shifted. This wasn’t just anger anymore — it was years of resentment, grief, and betrayal about to explode into violence.
“And what have you done since then, little brother?” Hardin hissed. “You think being Alpha makes you a man? You think sitting at that head table, parading around your perfect little life makes you worthy of the title? You can’t even take care of your own mate.”
My heart lurched at the way his eyes slid to me when he said it.
Sebastian’s power flared, his aura washing over the room like a wave. Several Betas stood, ready to intervene, but no one moved fast enough.
“Stay away from her,” Sebastian growled, his voice low, dangerous. “You come near Rhianna again, Hardin, and I’ll rip your throat out myself.”
Hardin laughed, dark and humorless. “You think you can scare me? You think I’d be here if I wasn’t ready to fight for what’s mine?”
“She’s not yours!” Sebastian roared, and in the next second, both of them shifted partially — claws, fangs, glowing eyes — ready to tear each other apart.
“Enough!” Beta Marcus barked, stepping between them before they could lunge.
The room was a charged bomb about to go off. The council tried to calm them, but no one was really listening. The power rolling off the brothers was suffocating.
And then—
The first scream pierced the air.
Everyone froze.
Another scream, this one closer. Then the unmistakable sound of claws raking against wood and the metallic scent of blood.
“Rogues!” someone shouted.
Chaos erupted instantly.
Sebastian was the first to move, shifting fully into his wolf, a massive golden beast, as he barked orders to the guards. Hardin didn’t hesitate either — his own shift was faster, smoother, his dark wolf form more massive, more feral.
I barely had time to process before Tia grabbed my arm. “Rhi, we need to get you somewhere safe—”
“I’m fine,” I said, but my voice shook. My chest was already tightening from the stress.
Hardin’s wolf darted past us, slamming into the first rogue that burst through the doors. The sound of snarling and snapping jaws filled the hall as the pack warriors engaged.
Sebastian’s wolf fought like he was born for it, all lethal precision and power, but Hardin — Hardin fought like a demon unleashed.
Blood sprayed across the floor, the scent so sharp it burned my nose. I backed toward the wall, clutching my chest as my heartbeat thundered too hard, too fast.
More rogues poured in, but the pack rallied, forming a defensive circle.
I watched, breathless, as Hardin tore a rogue off Marcus before it could get to me, his dark eyes meeting mine for the briefest second — possessive, protective — before he leapt back into the fight.
Sebastian caught the last rogue by the throat and slammed it to the ground, snapping its neck with a sickening crack.
Silence fell.
The hall was a mess — blood, bodies, overturned chairs. My whole body trembled, my lungs burning as I struggled to breathe.
Sebastian shifted back, naked and still covered in blood, as he stalked toward me.
“You see what you’ve brought back?” he spat at Hardin, who was also shifting back, his chest heaving. “You’re a magnet for destruction. Stay away from my mate.”
Hardin wiped the blood from his mouth, smiling darkly. “Maybe if you protected what’s yours, you wouldn’t be so scared of losing her.”
The look Sebastian shot him could have killed.
But I couldn’t take it anymore. The pounding in my chest turned sharp, painful. I stumbled back, clutching at my side.
“Rhi?” Sebastian’s voice softened immediately as he reached for me.
“I— I just need air,” I gasped.
I didn’t wait for either of them. I ran from the hall, my vision blurring, heart hammering too fast.