All Chapters of The Wolf's Call (Book 1): Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

The air in the council room feels impossibly thick, too heavy and stale to properly breathe. My skin prickles constantly, stinging like I’m sitting under a scorching, unrelenting sun, even though the massive chamber is cold enough for me to see my breath briefly fog in the atmosphere. I shift uncomfortably in my soft plush seat, trying desperately not to wince as another violent wave of internal heat rolls through my core.Roman is seated a few places away, stone-still, his powerful arms folded tightly across his chest, his jaw set like a granite slab. He hasn’t spared me a single glance since we entered the room, likely because he is too intensely focused on controlling his temper, trying not to immediately strangle the pompous council elder seated directly across the table.“Absolutely not,” the man snaps, his voice brittle with righteous indignation, slamming his palm flat against the polished table with a startling crack. His tone is visibly laced with open disgust as his eyes f

“Did I not explicitly state,” I growl, my voice vibrating through the stone chamber, “that anyone who so much as mentions the idea of handing my mate over to Malakai would be instantly stripped of all rank and demoted to Omega status?”The silence that follows is thin and sharp, stretching taut like a wire pulled ready to snap. The six elders seated stiffly before me shift nervously in their hard wooden chairs, their eyes darting anywhere but mine—at the ceiling, the floor, the heavy wooden table. My words sink in, the severity of the threat understood, but it is clear that their paralyzing fear always trumps their reason, and certainly their respect for my authority. The panic in the air is thicker, heavier, and more potent than my Alpha command.One of the elders clears his throat with deliberate caution. “No one is suggesting the dishonorable act of handing her over, Alpha,” he says carefully, though his tone wobbles noticeably with self-righteousness and suppressed hysteria. “We

The very first thing I hear is arguing. The noise assaults my slowly returning consciousness, in a sharp and unwelcome intrusion.“…should’ve told me that crucial detail earlier, Kael.”Zeke’s voice is low and controlled, like he’s struggling with every ounce of his power to keep from outright shouting, barely managing to contain his rage.“I told you, I didn’t think they meant anything beyond stress,” Kael snaps back, his tone not angry, but deeply tired and entirely frayed at the edges. “She said it was just her name being whispered and I thought that since she'd been through a lot, so maybe she was a little crazy from stress. Not until that idiotic council meeting, when one of the elders mentioned the possibility that Malakai could be actively in her head—that was the first time I connected the dots.”“So you rationally decided to wait until she’s lying here half-dead and seized up before you finally thought to bring it up to her mate?” Zeke retorts, the sarcasm a thin, brittle lay

I stare intently at Valen, trying to wrap my mind around the absurd task he’s just proposed. “How am I possibly supposed to enter Malakai’s dreamscape?” I ask, leaning forward from the infirmary bed, feeling the internal heat return. “He’s always the one who forcibly drags me into them. I can’t just…intrude in his dreams.”Valen shakes his head slowly, a subtle, almost cynical corner of his mouth twitching as if he’s half–amused by my limited perspective. “You don’t need to worry about the logistics of intrusion, Princess. If you are truly connected to him—and judging by the shadow that entered you, you are possessed by his essence—then you can enter his dreamscape as easily and as frequently as you please.”That sounds insane.But then again, so does absolutely everything that has been happening to me lately.Xander nods beside Valen, his tone frustratingly casual and unconcerned. “It’s as easy as conscious breathing, Olivia. You just have to focus intensely on the dark magic insid

I realize something strangely absurd as I stand in the middle of all this chaos—watching the Lycan warriors arm themselves, stoic Dark Fae sharpening their specialized blades, powerful panther shifters rapidly shifting forms to test their speed, Wolf Enforcers dueling with each other, and intense vampires murmuring low strategy among themselves.I don’t even know the names of the elders who hold the fate of this pack, and arguably my life, in their cowardly hands.Zeke is across the field, attempting to manage the situation, talking stiffly to them near the doors to the pack house, his face fixed hard but professionally polite. They nod occasionally, their faces unreadable, their eyes darting swiftly toward me every now and then like I’m the pack’s ticking, volatile bomb. Maybe, considering recent events, I am exactly that.A massive hand suddenly lands firmly on my shoulder, immediately followed by a loud, boisterous “Boo!”I gasp dramatically, spinning around and stumbling backwar