I know chapters are kinda short at the moment… they'll get longer, though. Eventually. Please read and review, and thanks for reading!
According to Senate laws, any werewolf who attacks a human should be punished. Mitch's words repeated themselves endlessly in my head, jarring my notion of reality. You do realize Callum could be killed for this, right?
I paused, reaching out for Ali unsteadily. She glanced sorrowfully at me, but did nothing to comfort her foster daughter. I understood. Ali pretty much hated Callum for ordering Sora to beat me, to let it happen without doing anything to save me. I knew it was because I had broken Pack law, disobeyed the rules Callum had set down if I was to see Chase. I'd accepted it and gotten over it. Ali, apparently, still hadn't. But for all that, Callum was the one who had protected me from Wilson, saved me and Marked me and brought me into the pack.
Ali didn't really want Callum to die, I knew that. Even if she'd killed her own mother, Ali definitely was not a killer. But… what with Sora's beating, and now my Changing, Ali hated Callum fiercely. I saw the truth in her eyes, confirmed it with her feelings. Ali wasn't my biological mother, but she was the only mother I had. And right now, her protective mode wanted the all-seeing alpha to die.
Ali would calm down, sooner or later. Right now I had to deal with the possible consequences of my Changing. "Mitch?" I repeated, staring into his eyes. Ordering him to tell me it wasn't true, through my own gaze.
But Mitch was old enough, and experienced enough, to throw off the faux order. Verbal/mental ones were best—not ones that had the alpha pleading for the best member in her pack to outright lie.
"It's to preserve our culture, our heritage," Mitch explained gently. "If a Were knows he'll most likely die when he attacks a human… well, normally he'll stay far away from that idea. So the Senate created this law."
"I-I didn't think…" I whispered, my throat dry.
"Well, no, you didn't," Mitch continued, his tone light. Only teasing, but it did hold an edge of steel. "As usual. But, Bryn, if it's any consolation… Callum probably saw this in the future when he decided to Change you. He's probably already set up protection, safe-guards…"
The Senate might very well try to kill Callum. He opposed just about everything they came up with when it came to me, and he's undoubtably the best alpha. He could combine all the packs in a heartbeat, if he so wished. Sora would take his place, as his second, but… well, the Senate had already showed reluctance to allowing me to become an alpha. Sora could probably be taken out. Females were to be protected, not to be obeyed—too many were opposed to me, and it would be worse for her. Two female alphas would surely be too much for them to accept.
And after Sora… there were just too many possible candidates for her second, and next alpha. Callum's pack was strong. In all of the fighting that would be sure to follow after Sora was killed, one of the other alphas could easily step up and take control of the situation. Combining Callum's pack with someone else's, anyone else's, would mean trouble. For Cedar Ridge, and possibly for Snake Bend as well.
A pack twice as large… the alpha would be even stronger. Shay was dead, but I still had several unmated females in Cedar Ridge. Any alpha, besides Devon, would kill to get his hands on that. Devon might turn corrupt too—who knew what an alpha, born and raised Were, would do to get his hands on such power? I hoped Devon wouldn't turn, but the chance of increasing his strength… Purebred werewolves like Devon were rare—natural-born females were very few, probably less than five in the entire region. And Changed females didn't occur often, if at all before Wilson had started his work. Females Weres gave birth easier, were much less vulnerable, and their children were much stronger than the usual Were. Purebreds made the pack stronger, and every alpha wanted a stronger pack.
I wanted a stronger pack as well, enough Weres to let it be known to all that Cedar Ridge was not a pack to be messed with. Shay had been the main force causing all of our troubles—but, for the most part, the other alphas had supported him. But I would never rule over Callum's pack, dead alpha or no. In, perhaps, several dozen years, my females would choose mates, and give birth to purebreds. It would only take a few years or so before the purebreds grew up, and added to the pack's strength.
"Bryn?" Mitch asked, quietly. "Are you… okay?"
I responded sarcastically, the default mode that I'd had for most of my life. "The Senate didn't much care about Wilson, did they? They didn't care when he was attacking so many. So why the hell should they care now?"
"They have… been wanting to bring Callum down for years, Bryn. This is a welcome opportunity for the Senate. Taking him out would mean a chance to get at his pack—probably one of the largest, and definitely among the strongest. To get at you, also." Mitch stared off into the distance, his face calm.
"I'm calling in Phoebe, and Sage, and Jackson. The peripherals. I know they're still with their families… but right now I can't risk it. Short-term visits only, until we know what the Senate is planning. If Callum's…" I couldn't say it, but I must, I had to accept every possibility, every consequence of my being Changed. "If the Senate kills him, then we have to be careful. I can't risk Cedar Ridge being lost in the storm."
