Chapter 32
“An
army of feral human werekin?” Alpha Trein snorted. “Ridiculous. This is why you
called us all here?”
“You
were informed of the basics when I called for the counsel. You have copies of
the information we’ve discovered.” I leaned forward and glared at Trein, the
sanctimonious ass, and growled. “You’ve heard everything we said, and you still
doubt the threat? You’re a fool.”
I’d
had it up to here with the older alphas who sneered down on anyone younger than
them. I held far more power than many of them, which is probably why we’d
become the target of the human werekin who had Kraig kidnapped, and why the
doctor continued to target us when their original experiment failed.
“This
could be a few discontented individuals,” Durant said in a neutral voice.
“It
could be far more than that too.” I spread my hands. “There’s no way to know.
They’re not in any one territory… and worse, we don’t even know who they are,
or could be, because so many of the human werekin are relegated to second-class
citizens in our culture. They may be the face of the clans to the humans, but
among our own kind, they are kept in the shadows. Why? Because idiots feel
there’s some sort of shame they should feel for being born the way they are.”
“He
wasn’t born that way at all. Your mate”—Trein curled his lip—“should never have
been allowed to live. It’s not natural. He’s not a bonded werekin and the
mixture of two souls is abomination.”
Kraig
flinched beside me, and I barely restrained myself from leaping over the table
and attacking that smug face. “Kraig was a victim! But he is my mate, and you
will treat him with the respect that deserves or I will have my beta expel you
from this meeting and my territory.”
Park
looked all too eager, his fangs bared as he stood by the chairs lined along the
wall, hovering close to Ritch.
“We
all know why you’re here, and it has nothing to do with my mate or the attack
that could be coming. You’ve seen the body of my clan member, you’ve met his
wife. She’s alive, yet he is very dead. That, if nothing else, should convince
everyone here what we’re facing is no shadow and a very real danger. A bonded
werekin’s soul has been stripped from his body and given to someone else.
“If
it could happen to him, it could happen to anyone. We need to bring all the
human werekin together and talk to them all. Hidebound tradition and blind
bigotry”—I cast my glare wide, knowing more than one of the alphas at this
table didn’t share the progressive attitude my father had taught me—“have
put us here. Everyone born into our clan deserves a chance to make a life for
themselves. We need to change our ways.”
“Who died and left you boss?” Price snarled.
“My father.”
Some of the other clans who had agreed with my dad had
also eased the restrictions on their human werekin and began to expand their
businesses into the human world. The widening territory and additional income
the individuals, and clan as a whole, was also apparent. Ritch had told us
exactly how hard it was for the members of his old clan to survive the harsh
winters that could come, much less acquire luxury items or advanced schooling.
“Besides, we all know why you’re here,” I said. “It has
nothing to do with the doctor and his experiments, and everything to do with Ritch
being sold to another you by his alpha, who it seems didn’t see fit to come
today. They cast him out of his herd, and he refused to accept your claim. I
would be more than willing to allow him to live here with my streak, though. He
has proved himself, sharing everything he knew to help us learn about this
threat.”
“A human werekin cannot just leave their group and join
another.” Trein stood up, snarling. “He belongs to my streak, not yours.”
“And yet he was never made a part of your clan. You
claimed him, kept him captive, but you never made him one of you or your mate.
You have no legal claim to him, and as a cast out werekin, he can petition any
clan to take him in. He came to me,”
I hissed. He’d come to Park, not me, but as my beta that was the same thing. “So
now he’s ours.”
Ritch shuddered, and Park put a hand on his shoulder. My
tiger soul was live inside me, furioius at the challenge and ready to take
over. If Trein didn’t stand down….
“You’ll regret this,” Trein blustered. “And the rest of
you are idiots if you listen to this kit.” He stormed out of the room, and Park
waved at the guard who looked inside the open doors. He quickly followed the
retreating alpha.
Kraig put his hand on mine, and I stretched my fingers,
which ached from being fisted as I confronted Trein. “If any of you believe I’m
some nervous kit, and that this isn’t a threat facing us all, then leave now. I
only hope that your territory isn’t going to be struck next, and your people
won’t be killed and stripped of their souls.”
Price looked skeptical but he didn’t stand up, and
neither did the other alphas who were unconvinced. I nodded at the remaining
guard to shut the doors. “There just aren’t that many human werekin. Even if
they were all changed, that’s a few per clan.”
Kraig leaned forward. “The doctor found a way—even if he
didn’t mean to—of bonding two animal souls to a human werekin. What if they found
a way to bond a werekin soul to a human?”
TBC
Nope. No one's dead, but I but there are a few Deke would like to kill.
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