The Umbra Pact

Garrick's POV

I really wasn't looking forward to the council meetings, but I knew that I had to go. Ronan, my second in command, was keeping stride beside me as we walked towards the meeting room. I could tell from his nervous energy that he had been waiting to corner me ever since I returned from the market.

"Why did you buy the Oracle?" Ronan asked, his voice low so it wouldn't carry to the guards stationed along the walls. "You fool, Garrick. You could have done anything else!"

I did not answer him, even though I perfectly understood his panic. I kept my eyes fixed on the oak doors of the council room at the end of the hall. The mate bond inside me was still thrumming, but nobody else needed to know that I had bonded with the Oracle.

Ronan sighed, adjusting the leather strap of his armor. "An Oracle pulled from the Blood Moon Market is not a small thing, Garrick. The other factions have noticed it. You know there will be consequences for this."

I kept walking in silence. I didn't owe him an explanation, neither did I owe one to the men from the other factions. By the time we arrived, the council meeting was already in full swing.

Minor wolf pack leaders from the surrounding territories were gathered around the long stone table, shouting and talking over each other in a frantic panic. They didn't notice me step into the room at first, too wrapped up in their own fear.

"I told you they are angry..." Ronan muttered behind me.

"An Oracle belongs with the Shadowwalkers, not the Luphiran Court!" one elderly alpha roared, slamming his fist onto the table. "We have no right to keep her here. Take her back to where she belongs, or better still, kill her!"

"Yes, yes, we all know that Oracle magic is volatile and unpredictable in untrained hands," another leader added. "We are werewolves, not sorcerers. We don't know what that girl is capable of, or what kind of curse she brings with her."

"And buying her from the Blood Moon Market puts a massive target on the Northern Territory," a younger alpha argued. "The other courts will think we are preparing for war. What was he thinking? What does he intend to do with her? Why...."

The younger Alpha's voice trailed away as he realises that I was in the room. One by one, the alphas fell silent. They quickly shrank back into their seats, though their faces remained twisted with worry and anger. I walked to the head of the table and sat down slowly.

"Are we finished?" I asked. 

The pack leaders exchanged nervous glances, none of them daring to look me directly in the eyes.

"The next person to speak about her," I continued, my eyes towering over every single man at the table, "will learn firsthand how unpredictable my anger can be. I already killed a man yesterday because he so much as touched her. Trust me, I will not hesitate to do it again."

A pin hitting the ground would have made the loudest sound in the silence of that room. Nobody spoke. 

"So. Is there anything else you all would like to draw my attention to today?" I asked.

A few of the men at the table glanced at each other, but still, none of them said a single word. Satisfied, I stood up from the table, turned my back on the council, and left the room.

Ronan caught up to me in the corridor outside as we moved away from the council room. "You should have waited to hear what they had to say."

"I think I have heard enough already, Ronan." I replied patiently.

"Garrick, is she your mate?"

I walked ahead without breaking stride, and did not answer him. Ronan did not need a verbal answer from me. He had known me long enough to read the stiffness in my shoulders and the finality in my silence. He already knew the truth.

With a resigned sigh, he jogged a few steps to catch up to my side, his expression turning grim. "What will you do if the Umbra Pact discovers that she is your mate? What if they demands you hand the girl over? They see all Oracles as their property, Garrick. You know they won't let this go easily."

At those words, I stopped walking and turned to look at Ronan. There was fear in his eyes; stupid, irrational fear, as far as I was concerned. The girl was staying with me, whether anybody liked it or not.

"They can demand all they want," I muttered, "but I am not handing her over."