5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Terrance helped me retain my clothes as we shifted back to human, then I stalked towards the thirty-odd men who were encroaching on my lands. As I moved closer, they knelt to me as one, sliding onto their knees, heads bowed and braced as if I were about to bring an axe down on their heads.

‘Alpha,' they murmured in a slightly creepy chorus.

I spoke into the silence that followed. ‘I am. I am your alpha and your Queen. What punishment should I dole out, do you think, for you coming here and attacking me and mine?' I let my words hang heavily in the air.

A soft voice rang out. ‘If it pleases you, Alpha, have mercy. They were just following orders.' I turned to look at Nova as she came out of Nina, Reid still clinging to her hip. She looked at me entreatingly. Her words were brittle and bitter, as if she had uttered that phrase a hundred times before .

‘"I was only following orders" is the battle cry of cowards everywhere,' I shot back.

Nova grimaced, but she didn't disagree. One of the kneeling wolves looked up and his face drained of colour as he locked eyes with her. ‘Nova! Oh my God! Nova!' He staggered to his feet and ran to her, then skidded to a stop before he reached her. He was staring at her and her son with wonder. ‘It's a miracle,' he whispered, eyes wide.

A small, reserved smile touched Nova's lips. ‘Hello, Dad. This is my son, Reid.'

‘You're alive! Alpha said you were dead.'

‘Alpha was a lying piece of shit,' Nova spat. ‘May he rot in hell, for that is where he's destined to go.'

Her dad looked down and away and his shoulders bowed as shame filled him. ‘Yes,' he agreed. ‘Him, and most of us too.'

‘You were following orders,' she repeated. ‘Head down, don't make eye contact, do what he says. It kept us alive.' It was clear from the way that she said it that it was a common refrain, probably a phrase her father had repeated to her many times.

Her father closed his eyes. ‘There comes a point when that stops being enough.'

‘Yet still you followed him.' Nova's voice whipped out, sharp and cold. There was nothing soft about her as she drew herself up with icy, judgemental eyes. She had left rather than follow orders, she had gone lone. Her father had not.

‘He held you over me. Obey, or else…'

‘And when I left?' she barked. ‘What then?'

He shook his head. ‘You're not the only one I love, Nova.'

Her eyes softened and a sigh slipped past her lips. She turned to me. ‘Please?' she asked, eyes begging for mercy. Clearly she could judge her father for following orders when she had not, but I was not afforded the same courtesy.

I understood: I could complain about my mum and dad as much as I liked but if someone else said a harsh word about them, I'd be in their face before you could say ‘I didn't mean it'. Families can be tricky things at times.

I rubbed my forehead. Clearly, I wasn't doing as well as I thought with the loners if they truly thought that I was going to slaughter thirty wolves just because they'd had the misfortune to be born in the wrong place to a very wrong alpha.

We just killed their alpha and two others. They have reason to be fearful, Esme pointed out.

One other! I objected. Ares smashed the other one .

Only because he got there first. Her tone was distinctly sulky, but she was right. I'd been going for intimidation and I'd achieved it. Yay me.

I turned to the kneeling wolves and scoured their ranks. ‘Is there any here that objects to me being their alpha? If so, now is the time to speak up and leave.'

This time, we kill anyone that leaves, Esme said firmly.

Yes, I agreed darkly. I would learn from my mistakes if it killed me – or someone else.

No one moved. Thirty wolves to take in or send home. I didn't want another pack to look after and I was sorely tempted to send them on their way, but something told me to keep them close. They'd come here for a coup; without Rain, who knew who they'd try to puppet onto my throne? No, it would be better to keep them here, where I could keep an eye on them and assess if any of them remained a threat.

I looked dubiously at the manor, then at Nina. We were already bursting at the seams with wolves, where was I going to house another thirty? As if she felt me thinking of her, a shudder ran through the seat of power.

I stepped closer and touched her walls. Okay Nina?

I'm okay. I can house them if you bring me some more wood .

Are you sure? Some of them tried to burn you.

If they try anything like that within my walls, I will put them in the basement prison quicker than Terrance can light a flame, she said with dark satisfaction.

You have a basement prison?

What kind of seat of power would I be if I didn't have a place to hold your enemies?

Put like that, I guess it did make sense. Does the wood have to be good condition? I asked, thinking of all the charred wood that was now on my lands. If Nina could use it, that would be something: waste not, want not.

I'm not sure, she admitted. Try it and we'll see.

Great – it's a plan. Thank you, Nina.

I'm not doing it for me, she said shortly.

I patted her walls and turned to my wolves. ‘Collect any wood on the land and feed it to Nina. She'll be needing more resources to house our new friends.' I turned to Rain's pack. ‘Get comfy,' I snapped. ‘You'll be staying a while.'

Greg was still with Grandy in the shadows where we'd phased in. When I caught my grandfather's eye, his face told me of his pride in me in a way his words never would. I smiled at him and he inclined his head towards me before he phased away. I guess he'd decided his presence wasn't needed any longer .

I walked across to Greg. ‘Assess the wounded and call the witches if we need them. Once we're sure everyone is okay, get names and ranks and settle in the Cheshire pack. Let me know if you think any of them will be a problem.'

He nodded solemnly. ‘Yes, my Queen.'

God, but the title rankled coming from him. We had an audience, though, so I simply turned on my heel and stalked into the mansion. I met Daniella in the hallway, anxiously pacing back and forth. Like Nova, she was lone from the Cheshire pack.

‘Hey,' I greeted her softly. ‘You don't have to see any of them if you don't want to.'

‘It's not that,' she half-sobbed. ‘It's whether they'll want to see me. I left them to him. I left them with no healer, with nothing.'

‘They're wolves, they have rapid healing,' I pointed out, unsure if I was helping or not.

‘I know.' She took a shuddering breath. ‘But some things a shift won't fix, not properly and certainly not painlessly.' She blew out a long breath. ‘My dad's a healing wizard. I have some IR, which is useless as hell when it comes to fighting, but in a pinch I can heal a wound. It might knock me out for days, but I can do it. I can save lives with it. And I left . '

‘Daniella, no one with a hint of compassion in their heart would ever blame you for leaving. I certainly don't. If anything, your absence will have made Rain cautious about harming his own wolves.'

She laughed bitterly. ‘I doubt that very much. He was a man who ruled by fear.' She stared at me. ‘I can't tell you how living that way feels, wondering if today is the day he'll think that you're looking at him funny and you'll get punched in the face with no warning. That fear – it's pervasive and it's crippling.'

‘I have no doubt that it is, but you found the strength to walk away. I'm so proud of you for that.'

Her eyes filled with tears. ‘I'm so happy he's dead. Thank you.'

I pulled her into a hug. ‘You're welcome. Now, see them if you want,' I murmured. ‘But if you don't want to, you don't have to. This is your life. You live it the way you need to.'

She hugged me back tightly before releasing me abruptly. ‘I'll face them, but if they hate me be prepared with a tonne of ice cream and a really funny movie. Off-the-charts hilarious.'

I smiled. ‘Now that I can do. I'll even throw in some wine – but somehow, I don' t think you'll need it.'

She squared her shoulders and walked out to face her past. I couldn't have been prouder of her if I'd tried.