Chapter 37 Rumblings of Discontent

Chapter 37 Rumblings of Discontent


I heard them before I saw them.

Their voices carried through the healing house walls, low and angry, words I wasn't meant to hear. I set down the poultice I'd been mixing and moved closer to the window.

"A human. A debt slave. And now we're supposed to call her Luna?" Elder Dorna's voice cut through the morning air. "It's an insult to every wolf who's ever served this pack."

"She's got him twisted around her finger." Elder Marrick this time. "You see the way he looks at her. Like she hung the moon. An Alpha should be strong. Independent. Not drooling over some human girl."

"He's always been too soft. Even as a boy. His father knew it. Tried to harden him, but the old Alpha died too soon. Left us with this."

"We should have challenged him years ago. Before he lost his senses completely."

"Too late now. She's marked. Bonded. We're stuck with a human Luna."

Their laughter was ugly. I stepped back from the window, my heart pounding.

Through the bond, I felt Garrick's presence. He was in the training yard, focused on sparring. He hadn't felt my distress. Yet.

I pressed my hand to my chest and breathed.

Eira found me an hour later, still shaken.

"You heard." Not a question.

"I heard." I kept my eyes on the bandages I was folding. "They think I've twisted him around my finger. They think he's weak. They think they should have challenged him years ago."

Eira was quiet for a long moment. Then she sat beside me.

"Marrick's wife was human. Did you know that?"

I looked at her. "What?"

"Thirty years ago. She was human. Sweet woman, gentle, loved him completely." Eira's old eyes held sorrow. "Harker's father killed her in a border raid. Marrick found her body. Never been the same."

I stared at her.

"Dorna lost two sons to Harker's raids. Her mate died defending the eastern border. She's been alone for fifteen years." Eira took my hand. "Their anger isn't about you. It's about their own pain. Their own losses. You're just a target for it."

"That's supposed to make me feel better?"

"No. But it might help you understand." She squeezed my fingers. "Understanding doesn't make the words stop hurting. But it keeps you from letting them destroy you."

The council meeting that afternoon was worse than I expected.

I sat beside Garrick, as I had since the claiming. Marrick and Dorna sat across the table, their faces carved from ice. Three other elders flanked them, their expressions equally cold.

The meeting proceeded. Border patrols. Supply routes. Reports of Harker's scouts. I listened, contributed when asked, kept my hands steady.

Then Dorna spoke.

"Perhaps the human should wait outside while we discuss sensitive matters."

The table went silent. Garrick's hand, resting on his thigh, tightened into a fist.

"Anika stays." His voice was low, controlled. "We've discussed this."

"We've discussed your insistence on including her. We haven't agreed it's wise." Dorna met his eyes without flinching. "She's human. She's not bound by pack law the way we are. If she's captured, if she talks—"

"If she's captured, it will be over my dead body." Garrick stood. "She's my mate. She carries my bond. She's more bound to this pack than you'll ever understand."

Dorna stood too, her chair scraping back. "I've served this pack for forty years. I've bled for it, lost children for it, watched my mate die for it. Don't lecture me about understanding."

The air crackled. I felt Garrick's rage through the bond, hot and sharp. Felt his control slipping, the wolf rising.

I placed my hand on his arm. "Garrick."

He looked at me. Through the bond, I pushed calm. Love. Trust. Let him feel it, let it sink into his rage.

He breathed. Slowly, the tension eased.

"Dorna." His voice was controlled now, but I felt the effort it cost him. "I respect your service. Your sacrifice. But Anika is my mate. She stays. That's not a discussion."

Marrick spoke for the first time. "You expect us to accept this? To pretend she's one of us?"

"I expect you to respect my authority." Garrick's eyes shifted to him. "I expect you to remember that I am your Alpha. Not by default, not by accident. I earned this position. I've held it through wars and losses and more challenges than you've faced in your entire life. I don't need your approval. But you will give me your obedience."

The silence stretched.

Marrick held his gaze. Then, slowly, he inclined his head. "As you say... Alpha."

The word was grudging. But it was acknowledgment.

Dorna said nothing. But she sat.

The meeting continued. But the tension never fully faded. I felt their eyes on me, weighing, judging, waiting for me to fail.

That night, Garrick paced his rooms like a caged animal.

"I should have handled it differently. Should have made her see—"

"You did handle it." I sat on the edge of his bed, watching him. "You stayed calm. You made your position clear. You didn't tear her throat out, which I'm guessing was your first instinct."

He stopped pacing and looked at me. "It was."

"I know, I felt it."

He crossed to me, knelt before me, took my hands. His eyes burned into mine.

"I can't stand them talking about you that way. Calling you human like it's an insult. Questioning your place. Questioning us."

"It doesn't matter what they call me." I cupped his face, felt the tension in his jaw. "I know who I am. I know what we are. Their words can't change that."

"They can make you leave."

"No. They can't." I held his gaze. "Nothing they say will make me leave. You need to trust that."

His hands tightened on mine. Through the bond, I felt his fear, his love, his desperate need for reassurance.

"I'm trying."

"I know." I leaned forward and kissed him. Soft at first, then deeper. Letting him feel everything I felt through the bond. My love. My commitment. My absolute certainty.

When we broke apart, he pressed his forehead to mine.

"I love you."

"I love you too." I traced the line of his jaw. "Now stop pacing and come to bed."

He smiled. Actually smiled, the tension finally easing.

"Yes, Luna."

The word from his lips was everything. It washed away the ugliness of the day, the whispers, the judgment. In this room, with this man, I was exactly where I belonged.

He stood and pulled me with him. His hands found the ties of my dress, working them loose with familiar ease. I pushed his shirt over his head, let my hands explore the warmth of his skin.

"I need you." His voice was rough. "After today, I need to feel you and remember what's real."

"I'm here." I pulled him towards the bed. "I'm real. I'm yours."

He laid me down and followed, his body covering mine, his eyes never leaving my face. Through the bond, I felt his emotions swirling. Love, fierce and desperate. Possessiveness, sharp as a blade. And underneath, the fear that never quite left him. That I would go. That this would end.

I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him closer.

"I'm not leaving," I whispered against his mouth. "Not today. Not ever."

He kissed me and I matched him kiss for kiss, touch for touch, letting the bond carry us both.

Later, we lay tangled together, his heartbeat steady against my cheek. His hand traced lazy patterns on my back.

"Anika?"

"Mm?"

"Thank you. For today. For staying calm when I couldn't. For being here."

I tilted my head up to look at him. "That's what mates do."

He kissed my forehead. "I'm still learning."

"We both are." I settled back against his chest. "We have time."

We lay there in the darkness, the bond humming between us, warm and alive. Outside, the pack whispered and plotted. Inside, we had each other.

That was enough. That was everything.