Chapter 91
I paced nervously around the communal waiting, located areal just outside the meeting hall. Every step in unison with the seconds that ticked by on the clock on the wall, my breathing and heart racing so loud it was only increasing my anxiety.
The meeting was planned, everything was ready. All that was left was Benjamin. Any minute now he would be walking through that door with the news that would decide my fate. How strange that once again I would be finding myself tempting death in the hands of Benjamin; though now relying on him as my saviour, not my executioner. Though I had to admit, I would be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that he had been doing that very thing anyway these last few months.
But no, I wouldn’t be killed. I had to believe in Leo’ own thirst for power should the worst-case scenario come to play. I had to believe that my value outweighed my death… at least for
now.
Around me were several other people. I could see a few Elders that arrived early were convening to the side, quietly chatting, however it was the faces of many unranked individuals that I noticed the most. They were the men and women who had heard the news that war was potentially before us, the very people who would be laying their lives on the line for us. And yet the administrative assistant was unable to tell them anything. They were unranked, their status not high enough to have input in the very thing that would potentially kill them… kill their family, their friends… their children.
They weren’t deemed important enough.
“This is insane! We have a right to know!” a man shouted.
“Yeah!” a few yelled around him.
The tensions had been rising in the room for several minutes now but I could see the nervousness in the administrative assistant’s face. The group of individuals were slowly
becoming a crowd as many more gathered around from outside to find answers.
They were scared. Who could blame them? I would be too if it was my life being used as fodder on the front line because of decisions made higher up; because of decisions I’d have no say in. But fear makes people do dumb, insane things… things like launching yourself at the admin assistant who genuinely didn’t know anything. Who was probably just as scared as the group gathering around them.
The man grabbed the assistant’s shirt, bringing their face up to eye level.
“Tell us what is really happening!” he yelled again.
“I-I don’t have that i-information. I just work at the f-front desk,” they stammered out.
The crowd wasn’t pleased with this reply. Grumbles and jeering were voiced throughout the people as they were now at a loss of where to look next.
How had Benjamin dealt with this in the past? Was it because they feared him more when he became Alpha than they feared the enemy waiting for them? Or did they respect him, knowing that his ability to lead and his prowess in battle were enough to inspire? I couldn’t recall a single situation like this ever having happened in the past under his command.
But immediately, the discrepancy in the timelines was explained, answering the question in my mind.
“For a year now you have controlled us, forced us into strict safety protocols with the fear of being killed by rogues. For Goddess’ sake, some girl was killed in the park just down the road from town. Now you expect us to go to war! We haven’t even been allowed to freely live our lives again yet and now you expect us to hand them over to you.”
“I-I can’t help you. The orders for those protocols came from the Elders. They are the ones who create the template and present it for implementation. I just relay information based on those templates provided.”
Silence hung in the air as the crowd took that information in slowly. Not because it was difficult to understand, but because there were Elders present. Elders who were now increasingly becoming painfully aware of what was happening around them. I saw as their faces transitioned to ones of people worried for their own safety. They were very clearly outnumbered; their positions always having been safe out of respect, rather than them holding any true authority to command others in the way that ranked members do.
“You!” the man yelled out to them.
He seemed to be the one leading this charge. So much anger inside him and yet so incredibly stupid what he was doing. He’d already laid a hand on the admin assistant. It shouldn’t have been that difficult to realise that he was going to be punished severely for this, not to mention the repercussions if he didn’t stop now. Attacking the Elders would be a death
sentence.
And then I saw it. That glimpse in his eye of no longer caring, darkening as his wolf came forward. He was really going to attack.
He took two steps forward, his body poised and then-.
“Enough!” I yelled out to him, layering my voice thick with what Beta heir authority I had.
It wasn’t dangerous for me to use this tone as it was my own natural one, not derived from my marking. It was enough to command the unranked in this circumstance.
The man stopped, frozen in place from my order, and turned his face to look at me. His eyes were dark and wild, his wolf on the verge of emerging. He really was about to give up his life. for this, I could see clearly how serious he was.
Around us the room had gone silent, my voice having brought utter quiet to everyone in the area. They were too scared to move, too worried I would punish them for stepping out of line.
“…Enough,” I repeated, more gently as I walked towards the man. “I know you are tired, I know you are scared. We all are. None of us want to lose the people we love.”
“You sit back, privileged in your birth rank, and yet have the audacity to say that,” he spat back.
The crowd shuffled uncomfortably. I could feel they all agreed but didn’t want to voice their approval.
“You’re right, I am privileged,” I said. “But I am also like you. I have people I love, people I fight for. And when it comes to war, even the ranked members are there fighting with you.
Hell, it might very well be my father who doesn’t return next time. I, too, would grieve just as you would your family.”
“You know nothing of death, child,” he sneered. “Your family is all alive and well. I had to watch my father go to war when I was barely old enough to remember him. He never returned.”
The small irony of his statement wasn’t lost on me but, in this life, I knew where he was coming from. From his perspective, I could see how it might seem that way. Normal people weren’t
reincarnated after all.
“…I know death,” I finally said calmly. “That girl you so tastefully mentioned before during your outburst was my best friend. An unranked girl, a seemingly unimportant one in the grand scheme of this hierarchy. And she was murdered, her body left for me to find. But she is not ‘some girl’ as you so nicely phrased… and you have no right to use her death for your complaints. She has a name and she deserves to be remembered as such.”
I could see a flash of guilt cross his face as he calmed down, slowly getting control of his emotions finally.
“…Her name was Ava,” I continued. “She loved books and shopping… and she genuinely cared for every person she met. But, most importantly, she was loved… loved by me, loved by her parents, and loved by every other person who had the privilege of meeting her. She is more important than just ‘some girl!”
I stepped back and turned my attention to the entire crowd, raising my voice for them all to hear.
“But it isn’t just Ava. All of you are important. All of you are worthy and deserve to know what the higher-ups choose to
do with your lives. Because when it comes to war, there is no rank. There is only life… and death. Every single one of us will become the same when we die on that field, our blood nourishment for the ground, our souls with the Goddess. So I can only hope that, should the day come that you’re asked to lay down your lives for this pack, that the reason will be to protect the people you love. That we love. We are one pack, one family. We will grieve as such no matter which family they belong to.”
I could see the confusion spread on their faces as they tried to interpret what I was saying. What I was confirming…
“There will be no war with the Black Alder pack announced today,” I declared. “…I give you my word.”
