Blackshadow (Kingdom of Wolves #2)

“If we see her anywhere, we grab her and bring her back here to face the consequences of her actions. Keep the evidence safe, and when Flint comes back later today or tomorrow, we’ll show him and place our complaint with the council,” I reply, sighing because who would have known that the pack gossip was a traitor.

“When do you want to leave?” Caleb asks.

“Give me an hour and I’ll be ready. I just have to speak to Hope before I leave.”

The three leave the office and I mind link Hope. ‘Hope, will you come to my office, please?’

‘Ok. I’ll come right along,’ Hope replies, and I smile as it feels so natural to speak to her like that, and the ease with how she responded warms my heart.

It’s only a few minutes before the door opens and Hope walks into the office. “Come here, sweetheart,” I say as I hold my hand out to her. As she reaches me, I draw her to me, and take her by surprise when I sit her on my lap, and wrap both my arms around her waist, place my nose in her neck and take a huge lung full of her amazing smell.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, I’m good. I just love your smell, and Knight does too.” My eyes flash to Knight, letting her know he is listening to us talking. “Now, I have to go to Wolfsfoot today for the council meeting. Walim will stay here, so if you need anything, you only have to ask him. But Baildon is now the Gamma of the pack. His job is to keep you safe along with all the other she-wolves. If he tells you to hide, you hide, to run, you run. If it’s for your safety you do as he tells you without arguing or anything else.” I give her a look that tells her I’m not messing around at this point, and I expect her to listen.

“Okay, I’ll do that. But you know Baildon and Swift have kept me safe for years, so I’m used to them ordering me around.” She giggles at the look I give her, because I’d never made that connection before.

Satisfied she’ll listen to Baildon, I continue to the next thing that may put her nose out of joint. “Now, as Luna, one of your duties is to organize pack events. I’ll always help, of course, if you need it. But every female in the pack would be more than happy to help you. They’d see it as being part of the Luna’s inner circle, a prestigious place to be.” I waggle my eyebrows at her, which has her giggling. “We have a mating ball to organize. Flint will help you with it as we are inviting shifters from other areas. He hopes we’ll find mates amongst them. It’s time we opened up dialogue with them once more, in my opinion, and maybe this will be the start. Do you think you can organize that, with the help of Flint, the pack females and myself?”

“Yes, as long as I can use the other office that Zoella left. I would want to have my meetings in there, keep everything together.” Hope is planning in her mind already. It’s so easy to see and the crease between her eyes shows her concentration.

Knight chuckles in the back of my mind. Briar is telling me Hope is already throwing ideas around in her mind.

‘That’s good. I didn’t want to overwhelm her before she even settled into being the Luna.’ I reply, but feel thankful that Hope is going to be a great Luna.

Chapter 19

CONNELL

Arriving at the Town Council House, I walk into the meeting room, leaving Caleb outside, with the other Betas, or Deltas, the other alphas brought with them. Taking a seat quickly, as everyone else has arrived, I pause, however, to give everyone a nod of respect.

Flint, as the head of the shifter council, is seated in the center of the other seven members. I’m surprised they have all attended. It’s not normal for all the members to be in the same place, at the same time, because of security. It does, however, explain the huge number of council warriors I saw outside the building.

Looking to my left, I see Gabriel Goldman, the Alpha of the Wolfsfoot pack. He gives me a slight nod of recognition, and on my right is Chet Blueblood, the Alpha of the Eclipse pack. Next to Chet and who is looking more than a little annoyed, is Lyle Walker, Alpha of the Spirit Walker pack. Finally, Aurora Pearl, Alpha of the Blood Pearl Pack, who is looking anywhere but at Alpha Lyle next to her.

“Welcome to the meeting,” Flint states, but we all know we were summoned rather than invited. “It has come to our attention that the no-man’s-land rogues are becoming more aggressive and have been breaching Alpha Lyle’s border with more force than ever previously seen.”

Lyle grunts but remains silent otherwise. I see Flint glancing at Aurora, but she’s looking at a sheet of paper in front of her rather than having her eyes on the council members.

I side eye Gabriel and he shrugs, letting me know he does not know what is going on. Looking back at the council, I see Merry, Roman Walker and Lykos all giving Aurora meaningful looks. Well, meaningful to her, and them, but not to the rest of us.

“What the hell is going on?” Chet asks. Obviously he’s noticed the same as ourselves.

“Well, it seems Alpha Aurora has decided not to send extra warriors to help Alpha Lyle keep his borders safe. We all know that the border between Spirit Walker Pack and no-man’s-land is the most vulnerable piece of land between safety and an invasion,” Porter Riverrun calmly states while keeping his attention entirely on Alpha Aurora.

“It’s not that I won’t. It’s that I don’t have the spare warriors,” Aurora calmly states, looking up at the council members.

“You have a larger pack than Alpha Connell, yet he is sending men as soon as he has more trained. Taking on rogues from the Northern Parklands, and giving them hope, and something to live for,” Eve Planter snaps, continuing while giving Aurora a dirty look. “In my opinion, I have my doubts that Alpha Aurora is capable of continuing as an active alpha of her pack.”

Uproar begins with the council members and Aurora, who is on her feet, palms on the table in front of her and snarling at Eve. If things don’t calm down, we are going to see a fight break out in a minute. I look to my right and give Chet a small smirk, and he gives me one back, before we both take in what is happening now.

“Calm down. Eve, sit down. Alpha Aurora, you can’t just tell us you have no spare warriors. You need to give us the full story before Eve pulls a vote of no confidence in your leadership as an alpha,” Flint says, but how he’s remaining calm surprises me.

Aurora steps away from the long table we’re all sitting around, and walks towards the door, then surprises me with what she says next, after giving me a look of sympathy, but I’m not sure why until she speaks.

“You are quick to want to take my position of alpha, aren’t you, Eve Planter? But when Alpha Brutus Torrance terrorized and brutalized his pack for years, you stood by and did nothing. I have pack members that are still traumatized by his actions, and I’m not blaming you for that Alpha Connell, but I’ve done nothing but good for my pack and yet I’m the one being threatened. Take your threats and shove them up your ass, Eve, because I’ll fight to the death for my pack and my position. The only way I would step down is if MY PACK WANTED ME TO.”

Aurora is out of the door and gone before anyone can say anything more. I turn and look at Eve, who throws herself into her seat, looking more than a little shocked.