Chapter 9 The Delegation Arrives
Kian's POV
The three Council representatives stood in my war room like monuments to old power. Ancient ones, I could feel it rolling off them in waves.
Theron, who'd killed five Alphas in ceremonial combat. Maris, who could move fast enough to be a blur. And Cornelius, the High Alpha himself, with eyes like black ice.
"Blood Alpha Kian," Cornelius began, his voice carrying the weight of centuries. "We've come regarding the Eclipse Wolf currently harbored in your territory."
"She has a name," I said coldly. "It's Lana."
"The creature's name is irrelevant." Maris leaned forward. "What matters is that you have broken ancient law by allowing her to live, let alone transform."
I stood slowly, letting them feel the full weight of my power. The room temperature dropped, frost spreading across the windows. "She was chained for rogues by her own pack. I saved her."
"You kidnapped her," Theron said. "The Crystal Moon Pack has filed a formal complaint."
"The Crystal Moon Pack abused her for eighteen years." I kept my voice level, but I could feel my wolf pushing to take over. "I have witnesses. Documentation. The pack members responsible for her abuse have been identified and marked."
"This is not a matter for territorial law," Cornelius said, and there was something almost pitying in his tone. "Eclipse Wolves are forbidden. The law is absolute."
"The law is unjust."
The Council members exchanged glances. Clearly, they hadn't expected defiance from me. Most Alphas would have folded at the mere presence of the High Alpha.
"You're refusing to hand her over?" Cornelius stood, and the very air seemed to crackle with tension.
"Yes."
"Then you've declared war against the Council." He nodded to Maris and Theron. "We'll return with our army in three days. You have until then to surrender the Eclipse Wolf, or we'll take her from your corpse."
They moved toward the door, but I stood in their path.
"One more thing," I said. "Anyone caught hurting Lana will answer to me personally. That includes your hunters, your assassins, anyone. I've already marked one of your servants." I gestured to Sera, who dragged in a bound warrior. I'd had the Crystal Moon wolf who'd participated in Lana's abuse brought to the castle. Now I showed the Council representatives exactly what happened to those who hurt what was mine.
The brand of a traitor burned into his forehead.
"Message delivered," I said coldly. "Send your hunters. Send your army. I'll collect their bodies."
Cornelius studied me for a long moment. "You're infatuated with her."
"No," I said. "I'm mated to her."
The silence that followed was absolute.
"You completed the bond?" Maris sounded shocked.
"Enough of it." I wasn't going to explain the nuances of the mate bond to them. "She's mine. Council law or not, I will protect her."
Cornelius's expression went cold. "Then you've chosen your path. Three days, Blood Alpha. Make peace with your gods."
They left with the weight of their threat hanging in the air. The moment the door closed, I felt it, Lana, panicking through our bond.
She'd been listening somehow. Or feeling my emotions through our connection.
"Kian?" Her voice trembled in my mind. "They're going to war with you because of me?"
I pushed down my own fear and rage, trying to project only calm through the bond. "Don't worry about it."
"Don't worry about it?" She sounded furious now. "They're coming with an army!"
"I know."
I turned to find Sera watching me with something like resignation on her face.
"You're going to start a war," she said.
"Yes."
"You know you can't win. Right?"
"I don't care." I moved to the window, looking out over my territory. My home. The place I'd built from blood and broken bones. "For twenty-three years, I've been empty. Just power without purpose. A weapon without a wielder." I turned back to Sera. "Then she came, and suddenly I have something worth protecting. Something worth dying for."
"She's terrified."
"I know. That's why we're going to win." I smiled, and I felt Sera shudder at whatever she saw in my expression. "Because I've got something the Council doesn't. A mate who can destroy armies with a thought."
"She can barely control her power."
"She will learn." I was already moving, heading for the door. "Send out messages to all allied packs. We're calling in every favor, every alliance. We have three days to prepare."
"And if they don't come?"
"Then I go to war with the three of them alone." I paused at the threshold. "And when I'm done, the Council will learn that the age of their absolute power is over."
Behind me, I heard Sera murmur, "And so it begins."
But that wasn't the beginning. The true beginning had been three nights ago, when a terrified girl with silver eyes and the power to reshape the world recognized me as her mate.
Everything else was just consequences.