Chapter 15

Zac’s pov

I walked with the elders by my side through the forest as the damp earth squished around.

The silence I enjoyed was what made this trip back from the neighboring pack worth it.

Actually, the silence cleared the voices from my mind.

As usual, though, the elders had a hard time saying nothing at all. All they wanted to do was talk about what could have been and what wasn’t. Gosh I hated them.

One of them, his grey beard and thin body made him appear like a stick about to break in half, walked next to me speaking with that voice of his. "Alpha, it was good today. Very good. We should be happy. We came together. Spoke... we were patient... shows how much we have."

I stopped walking on the pavement path I had been wandering on for no telling how long now.

"Happy?!"

He shook, eyes darting to the men behind him as I turned to face him. A younger soldier tried to step in, but the elder kept going, his voice shaky. “Yes, Alpha. Grateful. Tonight we spoke of alliance with the neighboring packs. This is what strength looks like, sharing, building bridges, uniting. It is the foundation of peace.”

“Peace,” I muttered as if the word was poison.

Did this man not know that the more he talked the more he pissed me off?

The group halted, all attention turned on me. The youngest soldier glued himself to the ground as he looked away to avoid my wrath.

“Suicide,” I scoffed. “That is what I’m hearing from you. You want me to kill myself… and for what?”

“Sacrifice.” He corrected gently as though he could make it easier with the gift of his old wisdom. “To sacrifice for the greater good.”

I let out a sharp laugh, one without humor. “Sacrifice. Yes. Let me remind you what exactly we’ve sacrificed.”

My voice cut sharp through the night, and the men flinched.

“One, we gave them hunting rights in our forests. Lands that belonged to our fathers and their fathers before them.” I took a step closer and pointed my finger straight at the elder’s chest. He shrunk back.

“Two, we sent our men to guard their borders. Not ours. Theirs. They sleep safer at night because our soldiers bleed for them.”

The youngest soldier swallowed. I could hear it.

“Three, we’ve given goods. Grain, cloth, leather, supplies. Every month. And do we see equal trade in return? No.”

I leaned in, my voice low, dangerous. “And four, we gave them our respect. Or at least you did.”

No one spoke. The elder who’d wanted to talk sacrifice so badly before suddenly couldn’t meet my gaze.

I straightened, my hands forming into fists. “And what have they ever given us in return?”

There was no reply, just silence.

“Nothing,” I snarled.

The soldiers and the elders looked to the ground.

I could feel it. It radiated off them. And I liked it. The fear and the realization that only a fool would go ahead to ally with such a person.

“You people lower your heads in those conferences,” I said in anger, “like dogs waiting for a bone. Talk about diplomacy. Talk about alliance. But let me tell you what it really is, slavery with a new name.”

The words hit them hard.

“You don’t see it?” I shouted. “We’re strong. We’re the ones who DON’T need them. They’re the ones who need US.”

The forest swallowed my anger, but the men stood stiff, pale in the moonlight. I waved a hand, sharp and dismissive as I was done talking to them. They could get lost. “Enough. Get back to the pack. I’ll walk.”

One of the soldiers stepped up.

“Alpha, with respects… the forest is not safe in this hour. Rogues have stalked us since the dawn.”

Every man present held his breath; it had been a daring thing to say aloud.

I turned to look at him with a gaze so dangerous even the so called rogues he was calling would shudder away. “The forest is not safe for them,” I whispered softly. “For me, this is my home.”

He sucked in a breath, chest rising like that of a rabbit who’d just realized it was trapped with a wolf.

“They are here… good,” I snapped. “They should be afraid of me.”

The men shivered.

“Forgive us,” the elder stammered then, as he spoke through a voice born from fear, “We only mean concern for your well-being under these circumstances.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

The youngest soldier's face was the color of paper. Pale. He couldn't raise his head.

"Be gone," I said under my breath and snapped my wrist to make them leave.

They didn’t wait a second longer. They all filed and walked away, grateful to have escaped the weight of my eyes.

It took a moment but soon they were gone as I enjoyed the crickets around me and the weight of the darkness around.

The forest wrapped itself around me like a coat. No voices or footsteps. Just me. This was how I preferred it. No talk, no feeble smiles of friendship. Just the earth beneath my feet, the ancient trees overhead, and me.

I walked slowly into the forest, deviating from the path, my boots sounding loud on the wet ground. Moonlight came through the trees in slanted lines and made a silver edge on my black coat.

Each step was slow and easy like I was hunting, and it was at that moment that something changed.

There was something out there and I didn’t know what it was but it felt… different.

I could smell a familiar scent. Two actually. But I could also smell multiple rogues in this part of the woods.

An instinctive rage filled my heart as I felt like those familiar scents were in danger. And something told me that saving them would be the best decision I had ever made.

Something whizzed through the air as I raised my hand up and caught it. I looked to see it was an arrow with a poisoned tip.

Someone was out there and I was going to find them.