Chapter 48 048
Chapter 48
Thalia's POV
I woke up to someone pounding on my door.
My heart jumped into my throat. I scrambled out of bed, grabbing the kitchen knife I'd started keeping on the nightstand. The pounding came again, harder this time.
"Thalia! It's Miller!"
I exhaled and opened the door. Miller stood there looking agitated, still in the clothes he'd probably slept in.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"There are more of them," he said. "Come look."
I pulled on my boots and followed him outside. The sun was just coming up, painting everything in weak gray light. Miller pointed toward the edge of town.
There weren't four wolves anymore. There were at least ten, maybe twelve. They'd formed a loose perimeter around the residential area where my cottage sat.
"Jesus," I breathed.
"Yeah," Miller said. "Mrs. Henderson saw them when she got up to start her baking. She came and got me."
Other people were coming out of their houses now, staring at the wolves. I saw fear on their faces, and something else too. Anger. These were their streets, their town, and pack wolves were treating it like occupied territory.
Helen from the town council appeared, walking quickly toward us. "This is unacceptable. They can't just bring in reinforcements like this."
"Apparently they can," I said quietly.
"No," Helen said firmly. "This crosses a line. I'm calling an emergency council meeting. This is about more than just your situation now, Thalia. This is about Greystone's sovereignty."
She hurried off. Ruth came out of the inn wearing her robe, hair uncombed. She took in the scene and swore under her breath.
"They're boxing you in," she said. "Making it impossible for you to leave town without going through them."
"I'm not trying to leave," I said.
"I know that. But now everyone else is trapped too. Anyone who wants to travel east has to pass through that line of wolves. They've turned this into a town problem, not just a you problem."
She was right. I could see it in the faces of the people gathering in the street. This wasn't just about me anymore. Varian had brought enough wolves that everyone felt threatened.
"I should leave," I said suddenly. "Just go. If I'm not here, they'll leave too."
"Don't be stupid," Ruth said sharply. "That's exactly what Varian wants. You run, he catches you outside neutral territory, and it's over. At least here you have witnesses and legal protection."
"What legal protection?" I asked, gesturing at the wolves. "They're doing whatever they want."
"For now," Ruth said. "But Helen's right. This is too much. The council will have to respond."
The emergency meeting happened at noon in the town square. Pretty much everyone in Greystone showed up. The council stood on the steps of the municipal building while the crowd gathered below.
Helen spoke first. "As you all know, we have a situation. Pack wolves have entered our town in significant numbers, claiming they're here to observe a former pack member. But their presence has become disruptive and threatening to all residents."
"They're not just watching anymore," someone shouted from the crowd. "They're blocking the east road. My son can't get to his job in the next town over."
"My daughter's scared to walk to school," another voice called out.
Helen raised her hands for quiet. "We hear you. The council has filed multiple complaints with the regional authority, but we need to take additional action. I'm proposing we officially close Greystone to all pack wolves until this situation is resolved."
That caused an uproar. People started talking over each other.
"What about trade?" someone asked. "We do business with three different packs."
"They'll retaliate," another person said. "Cut us off completely."
"We can't just let them occupy our town!" a third voice shouted.
It went on like that for a while, people arguing back and forth. I stood at the edge of the crowd feeling sick. All of this was because of me. These people were fighting about whether to risk their livelihoods to protect someone who'd only been here a month.
Finally, old Thomas raised his voice above the others. He rarely spoke at gatherings, so everyone quieted down to hear him.
"Question," he said. "These wolves. They say they're here because of the girl, right? Because their Alpha claims she still belongs to his pack?"
Helen nodded. "That's correct."
"And she's filed a legal challenge to that claim?"
"Yes," Elena said. She'd been standing quietly to the side, but now she stepped forward. "The challenge is legitimate and currently under review by the regional council."
"So we're not protecting someone who's breaking pack law," Thomas said. "We're protecting someone who's using the proper legal channels to resolve a dispute."
"Exactly," Elena said.
Thomas looked around at the crowd. "Then seems to me we have an obligation to stand by her. That's what neutral territory means. It means the law matters more than who's got the most wolves."
There was a murmur of agreement from parts of the crowd. Not everyone, but enough.
"I agree with Thomas," Miller spoke up. "We close the town to pack wolves. All of them. Until the legal process plays out."
Helen looked at the other council members. They huddled together, conferring in low voices. Finally she turned back to the crowd.
"All in favor of temporarily closing Greystone to pack presence?"
About two thirds of the hands went up.
"Motion passes," Helen said. "Effective immediately, all pack wolves are required to leave town limits. We'll post notices at every entrance."
The crowd started to disperse, people talking amongst themselves. Some looked relieved. Others looked worried about what this would mean for business and trade.
Ruth came over to where I stood with Miller. "Well, that's done. Now we see how Varian responds."
"He won't like it," I said.
"No," Ruth agreed. "But he'll have to respect it or look like he's openly defying neutral territory law. That's a bad look, even for an Alpha."
We found out how Varian would respond that same afternoon.
The wolves didn't leave. They moved back to the very edge of town, right at the boundary line, but they didn't leave. And their numbers kept growing. By evening there were at least twenty of them, standing in a line that stretched around half the town.
Helen went out personally to tell them about the council's decision. She came back looking pale.
"They say they're not in the town," she reported to the gathered council members. I was there too, since this was about me. "They say they're on the boundary, which is technically not inside Greystone proper."
"That's bullshit," Ruth said bluntly.
"Maybe," Helen said. "But it's also technically correct. The town limits are clearly marked and they're standing just outside them."
"So they're going to siege us?" Miller asked. "Just stand there indefinitely?"
"Looks like it," Helen said.
I felt everyone's eyes turn to me. The weight of their stares made my chest tight.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I never meant for this to happen."
"Not your fault," Thomas said gruffly. "You didn't bring those wolves here. Their Alpha did."
But it was my fault, in a way. If I hadn't come to Greystone, none of this would be happening. These people would still have their peace and quiet and easy trade with the packs.
That night I couldn't stay in my cottage. It felt too exposed, too close to the line of wolves watching the town. Ruth let me stay in a room at the inn.
"Just for tonight," she said when I tried to protest. "You need actual sleep and you're not going to get it with twenty wolves staring at your windows."
She was right. I slept a little, though not well. Every noise made me jerk awake thinking they'd decided to come in after all.
Morning came too soon. I got dressed and went downstairs to find Ruth already up, making breakfast.
"Any change?" I asked.
"See for yourself," she said, nodding toward the window.
I looked out. The wolves were still there, standing in their line at the edge of town. But there was something new too. Some of the townspeople had set up their own line just inside the boundary. Not confronting the wolves directly, just standing there. Watching back.
"Miller organized it," Ruth said. "Volunteer watches, rotating shifts. He said if the wolves are going to watch us, we might as well watch them right back."
I didn't know what to say. These people barely knew me and they were putting themselves between me and Varian's pack.
"Why are they doing this?" I asked quietly.
"Because it's the right thing to do," Ruth said simply. "And because nobody likes being pushed around by Alphas who think they run everything."
She handed me a plate of eggs and toast. "Eat. Then we're going to talk to Elena and figure out what the hell comes next."
I ate, though the food tasted like nothing. Through the window I could see the two lines facing each other. Townspeople on one side, wolves on the other. A standoff that couldn't last forever.
Something was going to break. I just didn't know what, or when, or how bad it would be when it did.