A Mans Decree Novels & Stories

"There is always a loophole in Council law!" ​Beta Marcus stood quietly near the door, his face grim, a fresh bandage wrapped around his arm from the battle with the Ancients. He didn't flinch at my outburst. He simply stooped down, picked up a heavy, ancient tome titled The Sovereign Decrees of the First Alphas, and set it gently back on the desk.

Lucian cut her off before she could finish the sentence. “No one on the south side is paying more,” he said. His voice was quiet, almost conversational, but it carried the same weight he used on stage when he wanted twenty thousand people to lean in. “Not one additional coin. Not one family forced to choose between rent and medicine. That decree is dead. Cancelled. Buried.” Kai leaned forward, elbows on the table. “You don’t have the authority—” Lucian laughed—short, dark, without humor. “I have the authority she gave me,” he said, tilting his head toward me. “And she has the crown. That’s the only authority that matters here.”

When he learned that the royal decree was meant for me, that unease turned into full-blown panic. At that moment, I straightened my dress and calmly walked up to Hayden. "I accept the decree," I said. I was just about to kneel when Yuvan suddenly grabbed my arm. "Wait." The moment Yuvan spoke, everyone present turned to look at him, confusion on their faces. Yuvan opened his mouth, but then met Hayden's troubled gaze. Hayden said carefully, "Lord Fletcher, you are well favored by the king, that much is true. But interfering with the reading of a royal decree is improper conduct. If His Majesty were to take offense—"

"She is the anchor. The elder decree." "The elder decree," Xander said, "is a pack-internal document. It governs pack members. It has no jurisdiction over a protected dependent under the Charter." He paused. "Your elders either knew this and proceeded anyway, or they didn't know it, which raises questions about their competence. Either option is concerning." "You're here to observe the curse management," Ryder said, and his voice had gone to its lowest, most controlled register. "That was the agreement."

He was leaning forward, his face red with a self-righteous anger that made my blood boil. "The late king already decreed it, his sentence must be followed through to the latter," Elder Jeremiah said, which all four of them nodded in agreement. The word "decree" echoed in the room, a ghost of my father’s rule trying to reach out and choke my mate. I just stared blankly at Elder Isaiah. He was my father’s right-hand man. He stood behind him for forty years, and he clearly expected me to be the same kind of tyrant.