Chapter 44: Messing with the Wrong Person

CONNOR

I let out a roar so loud that the building’s windows shattered, causing everyone, including my mother, to jump in surprise.

With a snarl, I slammed my fist into the wall behind me.

“Connor,” my mother tried to soothe me, but it was no use. She’d heard them. She’d heard Sorin.

Her own son was the traitor, the one who’d betrayed us all.

“We need to get out of here, now,” Regulus insisted, but my mother shook her head.

“We can’t. Not until they get here,” she replied. “Once they arrive, I’ll go with Victoria.”

I watched her, Khan growling in response.

“You need to get a handle on that temper before I do it for you,” she shot back. “Getting mad won’t fix anything, Connor.

“You need to think clearly, think like the king you want to be. Use your head, and don’t let your anger cloud your judgment.”

“You’re not the one who’s about to lose the most important thing in your life!” I yelled.

“I am, Connor,” she retorted, baring her teeth. “Don’t forget, Sorin is my son. Your brother. He matters to me!”

I took a deep breath and turned away from her anguished expression. I couldn’t bear to look at her, not when all I wanted to do was kill someone, kill him and get my mate back.

I didn’t care that he was my brother. The moment he touched Elaine, he became my enemy.

Without another word, I left the conference room.

We’d been here for hours, and only two of the other council members had shown up.

Some of them lived outside the city, so we had to wait for them to get here, present the evidence, discuss it, and decide on the next steps. But my patience was wearing thin.

The sound of Elaine pleading and calling for me to save her was still fresh in my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about Sorin’s threats, about how he was hurting her.

“Things won’t get resolved easily,” a voice said, and I turned to see him. “We need to act.”

Jyn stood there, his shoulders tense, watching me. His fingers flexed as they shifted between wolf and human form.

“I don’t care if we break the treaty. Elaine is our first priority,” he spat.

“I know. But my mother is right,” I admitted, leaning against the railing in front of me. “If we don’t wait, we won’t have anything to prevent a war between our packs and the hunters, Jyn.

“We have to wait, even though I’m on the edge of shifting and running to her.”

After a long silence, Jyn sighed.

He came to stand next to me, his hands behind his back as he rolled his stiff neck.

“When our father killed our mother, we were terrified he’d kill us next, kill our baby sister,” he murmured. He took a deep breath before continuing.

“We didn’t mean to let things get out of hand, but my father…” Jyn shook his head. “He threatened us that if we said anything, we’d be banished from the pack.

“I knew he didn’t have the power, but being friends with the king had its perks.”

I couldn’t help but give him a weak smile.

“The diary our mother left behind was full of her dreams, her hopes, her love for the pack, for us, for Elaine. And my father took all that away the moment Elaine was born.

“He never wanted a daughter. He wanted all his children to be male alphas, born to rule and to mate. But we can’t even do that, thanks to Elaine.”

He chuckled. “I should be mad at her, you know, for not thinking things through, for not coming to us, for not trusting me.”

Jyn’s voice choked up.

“I understand why she hates our father, why she hates me. But Connor, I wanted to avenge our mother, I really did.

“But my father, he only saw me as someone who would one day rule the pack. As someone who would become king, start a family, continue the line.

“He never wanted Elaine to do that, he… I was weak. I am weak.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” I said, but he shook his head. Tears streamed down his face.

“I gave Elaine our mother’s diary, hoping it would comfort her, hoping it would ease her hatred for our father. But it was a mistake, and one I can’t seem to fix.”

“What was in the diary, Jyn?” I asked, curious. “What did your mother write that made Elaine do all this?”

Jyn’s hands shook as he gripped the railing. His head hung low, as if in shame.

He took a shaky breath.

“Mother had a plan to kill my father and become queen of the pack. She wrote it in her diary, Connor.

“She wrote about how her family of lycans would come and take over our pack, how she would kill him, and how ~each~ of us would rule over a pack.

“It’s strange, I know. When I read it, I just dismissed it, because it seemed ridiculous.” He shook his head, chuckling.

“How foolish I was. Thinking that Elaine wouldn’t take it seriously, that it was just some silly joke, I let it go. It was my biggest mistake, Connor.

“Mother never loved our father. He was just a means for her to get the throne…”

“Like Elaine,” I said, my eyes wide.

“Yes, Elaine is doing what my mother wanted, except she can’t get help from my mother’s family,” Jyn sighed.

“You said they were lycans?” I frowned. “But lycans are extinct.”

Jyn raised an eyebrow. A smile tugged at his lips.

“Are they, Connor?” he asked, smiling. “Are you sure that all the lycans are extinct?”

I frowned.

“Yes.”

He leaned in, placing his hand on my shoulder.

“Then what about Elaine and you?” he said, looking ahead. “Isn’t that proof that lycans aren’t extinct?”

Before I could respond, Regulus stepped out, his face filled with worry.

“Get here now!”

***

“What do you mean we can’t touch them?” My mom’s voice echoed through the room, where four others, including two hunters, were in a heated discussion.

“Sicily,” one of them tried to soothe her.

“No!” She snapped back. “A treaty is a treaty. A promise is a promise. If one side breaks the rules, the other side pays!”

I was lost, unsure of what was going on.

“We know, Sicily,” another member, a hunter, responded. “But that base…”

“What’s wrong with it?” I interrupted, trying to understand.

They all took a step back, surprised by my question. Even the hunters frowned at me.

“I asked a question!” I warned them. “As king of the pack, I demand an answer before I lose my patience.”

They exchanged glances before one hunter nodded to the other.

The man cleared his throat, stepping forward to address me.

“The hunters who run the bases don’t live in the prohibited areas,” he explained. “The ones in the banned cities aren’t part of our organization.”

“So, we can attack?” Jyn asked, his voice filled with anticipation.

“Not exactly,” the other hunter responded.

“What do you mean, not exactly?” I growled, my body half-shifted.

My mom reached out to grab my arm, but I brushed her off.

“Speak!” I ordered.

“Even though it’s one of our operations, one of our head leaders runs that base.”

“Which means you can’t step into their territory without a fight,” the other hunter finished. “It would mean war for your pack.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Victoria chimed in.

We had all forgotten she was there.

“If that base isn’t yours, and it’s run by people who’ve broken their own rules, then it’s a free base. It has no ties, not even to the treaty,” she said, standing up. “You guys can’t intervene because you’re afraid of going to war with them too, right?

“Even though your people run it and your leader is in charge, you can’t do anything but watch.”

We all turned to Victoria, who confidently approached the group of men.

The sound of her heels was the only noise in the room.

“You’re afraid those rogues, ~that~ leader, will attack you, make you pay for betrayal,” she said, smiling. “He may be one of your leaders, but he doesn’t care about your safety.”

“You don’t know anything!” one of the hunters protested, but his partner raised his hand to stop him.

He scoffed at Victoria.

“If you touch them, all the other organizations will seek revenge. We can’t stop them if that happens, so—”

“We don’t intervene? We let them take the queen and do whatever they want. Is that what you’re saying?” Victoria asked, frowning. “Who’s the leader?”

The room fell silent before the hunter finally answered.

“Sorin Reeds,” he said.

My mom’s eyes widened, and Khan clawed at my mind.

“And you knew about this?” Jyn asked.

“Yes,” he admitted.

“Why wasn’t I told?” my mom demanded, her eyes pitch black. “You should have told me!”

“You left the pack, abandoned your family,” another member said, silencing the room. “You have no say in this. Remember your place, alpha.”

I watched as my mom clenched her fists. Tears filled her eyes as she looked away in shame.

I turned back to the group of men and sighed.

“So, if we attack, we have to deal with the consequences?” I asked the man who was a wolf. The alpha nodded.

“You’re the king. If your people want to fight, then so be it. But remember, young alpha, this isn’t a game.

“The hunters who run those bases will want revenge, especially if you kill their leader.”

I smiled at the two hunters.

“I’ll be waiting for them,” I said, showing my canines as a warning.

“They touched something they shouldn’t have. And my brother, that traitor who pretended to be one of us, will die by the hand of his king!”

Jyn and the others nodded as I approached the hunters.

“Tell your people to stay out of it,” I warned them. They both took a step back. “If I catch a whiff of any of them, I’ll feed them to the rogues who roam the packs.”

“Stop threatening us!” one of them shouted. But the other, with pleading eyes, tried to calm him down.

“It’s not a threat; it’s a favor,” I growled. “Be grateful. We’ll be getting rid of those traitors for you.”

I turned to leave, but then I heard one of them call my mom’s name.

I looked back. The hunter was holding her arm.

“Don’t let things get out of hand,” he pleaded. “If he kills Sorin, the treaty will be broken, and the consequences won’t be good for any of us.”

My mom calmly removed his hand from her arm.

She straightened her suit, fixed her hair, and smiled.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be the one to kill him,” she said, then turned and walked out of the room with the grace of a queen, leaving us all in stunned silence.