Chapter 189

Chapter 189
At a lower volume, but still loud enough for all to hear clearly, the Lightmoon Alpha continued.

“This was to be brought to you all earlier, but emergencies were being handled which now, have been settled.”

“The next few days will be uncertain.”

“Though the enemies outside are few, they are powerful.”

“Anyone who goes out must go with care and with guards. Inform our Beta and Gamma,” Brock and Jackson stepped forward, heads raised high, chins and chests pushed forward, “if you have any business or travels within the coming days.”

“If you wish to vacate the pack grounds,” the noise intensified.

Dax stopped speaking, clasping his hands in front of his body.

He remained silent until the room fell quiet.

His sky-blue eyes scanned the now nervous crowd.

As he watched them, some sitting shifters stood. Pushing out their chests and raising their chins.

Dax lowered his head half an inch, his gaze intensified.

“If you wish to vacate the pack grounds, we will not prevent you from doing so. Anyone who alone, or with their family, wishes to relocate until all matters are settled should meet with our Luna.”

Luna Diane stepped forward.

Her gentle gaze swept the room as she stood beside her husband.

He took her hand as she stepped forward.

Turning his gaze to her, he kissed her hand gently. The Luna turned to him, squeezing his hand as she held his gaze, smiling confidently at her husband, her Alpha.

A unified front presented to their pack, one of power and grace.

Dax turned back to the crowd.

Hand still in his Luna’s.

He paused, then, he spoke.

“Our son, our heir, has been taken by the wandering shifters.”

The room exploded.

Dax nodded to Luna Diane and she stepped back.

Pack members and others were holding each other, talking, gesturing widely, yelling, complaining, some, weeping.

Dax glanced behind. Corien stared fixedly at him.

Then, Dax faced forward and stepped back, leaving a space at the head of the dais.

Reyland stepped into the gap, standing quietly, hands clasped before him, shoulders back, head level.

Gradually, the room fell silent.

All eyes were on the giant shifter. A pack member most were aware of, but had hardly ever seen, and if they had, not like this.

Not out in the open like this.

Reyland’s eyes washed over the room, and a deep silence grew.

Whether from fear, from insecurity, or just plain awe, even the youngest wolves in the room fell quiet.

Reyland closed his grey and yellow eyes.

Then, he reopened them.

“Lightmoon,” he rumbled, and warriors who had been standing at the back of the hall, pressed to the front. Only those on guard duty remained at the back.

He watched their approach silently.

By this time, many warriors from the barracks and other parts of the compound had found their way to the pack hall during Alpha Dax’s speech.

Including the six young warriors from earlier.

“We have protected many clans, packs, and lands, for years. We continue to provide this protection. What the Alpha has mentioned is for additional protection. Bloodrayne is vicious and violent. This is known,” he continued patiently.

“Their people are few, but they are wild and will spare nothing and no one should they breach our defenses.”

“Our Noble heir is in their hands. But even though we hold their own pack members, there is no guarantee that this will grant us any leverage with their Alpha.”

“However, we,” he nodded at the gathered warriors and the six stepped up to the platform, moving behind the Alpha’s firstborn.

“You know these men,” he continued, “you know your brothers,” he remarked, jutting his chin forward at the warriors, “and you know your Alpha.”

“We, will continue to do what we have done for decades – protecting and defending our land, with everything we possess.”

“The fight this time is outside our door. If you choose to remain…you must be prepared. This fight may end today…or tomorrow…but there are still other Bloodrayne shifters alive, far away from here. Will they come again next week, next month, after ten years?” he continued slowly, deliberately.

His eyes scanned the quiet room.

“We will meet the enemy tonight,” he declared.

“You will know the result of that meeting soon enough,” he stated with a finality in his tone.

As Reyland stopped speaking, a voice was raised.

“Are you taking over from our heir?” a young warrior at the front asked.

Reyland’s eyes did not move from the wider crowd.

“I am prince of Whitehall,” he announced firmly.

“Remember it well,” he finished, his face hardening as his gaze washed over the room.

There was a deep inhalation by those present.

Of course, they knew who his grandfather was. After all, he was the ‘wolfless prince’.

Many had almost forgotten his heritage.

His clear, loud reminder had wiped a lot of doubt from their minds.

With that, Alpha Dax stepped up beside his son.

“We have preparations to make for the New Year. Continue them. As for tonight, wait for our message. Peace or war, we are Lightmoon. We will protect what is ours.”

“See our Beta, our Gamma, or our Luna, as the case may be.”

His eyes slid to a group of outsiders clustered around one of the tables close to the front of the room. “I am available for further discussions,” he said to them.

These were heads, leaders, and representatives of various clans and packs under Lightmoon’s protection.

They bowed to him and he reciprocated.

Murmurs rang out in the larger crowd as some sat, some leaned against tables and benches, and others sat on the floor of the pack hall.

Alpha Dax and his entourage, including the six warriors, left the hall quietly.

The other warriors, who were not on guard duty, headed to the training grounds and barracks, while others took instructions from the pack Beta on patrols that needed to be doubly monitored.

The Gamma escorted Reyland away from the hall, moving at a steady pace. No one approached them.

Dax went to the Alpha Mansion.

Corien and Gravan headed to the pack hospital.

The Luna and Zara, and their sons, remained in the pack hall, talking to and calming their pack members.

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“What is your plan, young one?” Gamma Jackson asked Reyland as soon as they were far away from the pack hall. Both shifters were headed back to Reyland’s house.

“No plan, for now. Just to get Dorien away from them,” Reyland replied flatly.

“What was in the letter?” Jackson asked carefully.

“An announcement and a demand,” the prince replied evenly.

Reyland recalled the note and repeated its contents for Jackson.

“Lightmoon has bled my land, and I will return the favor tenfold.”

“This tool you used to burn my home, I will return to you in pieces, unless you send your Alpha’s head to me.”

“Then the seal of Bloodrayne was at the bottom of the letter,” he stared mechanically.

“All in blood,” he remarked offhandedly, “in Dorien’s blood.”