I stared at Alpha Rune as his words spun inside my head. “You… want to help me?”
He shrugged. “Why not? Silver River Pack was on the list anyway.”
Chills rushed down my spine. “What do you mean by… on the list?” I leaned toward him as my stomach began to roil. “Were you planning to attack my pack?”
A slight frown creased his forehead. “I believe THIS is your pack now. Orelia Solamen is dead.” His harsh tone nearly made me flinch, but I refused to back down.
“You didn’t answer my question.” My hands fisted. “Were you planning to attack Verendell?”
Of course, he ignored my words. Instead, he leaned back in his seat, studying me. “I talked to Silas today, talked about you.”
“When?” I blurted, knowing I’d spent the whole day with the old healer.
He only smirked and tapped his temple with his fingers. I swallowed a curse. Mind link. He’d been talking to Silas through the mind link. What if it had been Alpha Rune who had forbidden Silas to answer my questions? My irritation flared again. “Were you spying on me?”
“I was collecting information about my new pack member,” he corrected.
“That’s essentially spying,” I strained through my teeth.
He hummed out a laugh before asking, “Why was your father murdered?”
“Because my uncle wanted him dead. He wanted his position and power,” I said.
Alpha Rune tilted his head to the side. “Was your
uncle stronger than your father?”
I drew a deep breath. “I heard that my grandfather often told them to fight each other so that he could decide which one of them was more fit to become an Alpha. My father won every single time.”
A cold smirk tugged at Alpha Rune’s lips. “Was your uncle smarter than your father then?”
I considered his words for a moment. “Not really…”
“How long was your father an Alpha before he was killed?”
I blew out a breath. “Over two decades, I guess.”
Alpha Rune inched closer, a red gleam flickering in his eyes. “Then what happened just before the assassination? What pushed your uncle to assassinate his own brother?”
I threw my hands up in frustration. “I don’t know!”
“Then think, Orelia!” he growled.
I shivered. Did he have to wrap my name in so much venom every time he said it? Grinding my teeth, I sucked in a sharp breath and tried to gather my thoughts. Had my father and uncle argued before the Blood Moon’s ball? If so, I knew nothing about it.
“They disagreed on many occasions, but I cannot recall anything serious,” I told him.
His eyes zeroed in on mine. “And they usually argued about… what?”
I worked my jaw before gritting out, “King Zyran’s orders.”
Alpha Rune leaned back, a smug smile dancing on his lips. “Let me guess, your uncle insisted on executing all the King’s orders, and your father was against it?”
“Yes,” I admitted reluctantly.
“So the current Alpha of your former pack is more than willing to follow the King, am I right?”
“He does, but-”
“How did your pack members react when your father was murdered?”
My body tensed. I knew where this conversation was heading. I knew what he wanted me to acknowledge. But instead, I said, “My uncle fed them with lies. He told them that my father and the ranked wolves were killed by the rebels. They believed him.”
His brows rose. “Would you?”
I blinked. “Would I… what?”
“If you were one of the sentinels, or just a regular pack member, would you believe it?” A dark smile stretched across his face.
My fists clenched hard enough for my knuckles to whiten. Then I lowered my head, muttering, “No. My uncle’s version with the rebels‘ attack made no sense. I would be suspicious. I would ask questions.”
Alpha Rune let out a long sigh. “Yesterday, I received a report from Verendell. It turns out, no one truly mourned your father, not officially at least. The news of your death was only briefly announced at the latest pack meeting. You were declared a traitor to the Empire and a murderer. Your uncle told everyone how you brought shame to your pack, and well, no one protested. Your former pack members agreed that your name should be erased from the pack’s history. All the paintings of you and everything representing you were burned. Again, no one opposed. No one tried to defend you.”
I tried to keep my expression blank, but I couldn’t. The wolf inside me roared, demanding justice. Rage hummed in my veins. I wanted to scream and cry at the same time. My father had been a good man and a great Alpha. He deserved respect. He deserved gratitude for everything he had done for Silver River Pack. He deserved to be mourned!
And I? I had been working for the good of my pack since the moment I’d received my wolf. I had helped my father in any way I could. During the drought, I’d visited every town and village across our territory,
delivering food and healing potions. I had been listening to people’s needs and passing them on to my father. And now, my uncle had told everyone that I’d brought them shame, and they believed it…
Alpha Rune calmly gestured for the servants to take our empty plates and pour wine into our glasses. He grabbed his glass and observed the rich, red liquor inside it. The bastard must have sensed the coiling storm inside me, and he let it grow for a few more heartbeats. Then he took a sip from his glass and turned to me.
“You see, Little Mouse, most of the wolves living in this empire were corrupted long ago. There are those rare ones who choose to fight, and the rest who don’t care. Your pack members fall under the latter category. They accept whatever they hear. They do not question their reality until there’s something threatening THEIR poor existence. They are ungrateful, and they certainly aren’t loyal. They’ll greedily take your kindness, but they’ll bow to nothing but violent power. Such wolves don’t deserve to live.”
“Not all of them are like that,” I hissed. “The villagers are just scared. They just want to live.”
“They’re cowards,” he snarled.
“They don’t even know the truth!” I shouted.
He held my gaze, then let out a cold chuckle. “It’s almost amusing that you’re willing to defend people who so easily erased you from their memories.”
More frustration coiled within me, but then I realized something… “Was it the same in your case?” I gritted out. “Did your pack members forget about you?”
Any traces of amusement disappeared in an instant. There were a few beats of suffocating silence before he said, “Not my pack; the rest of the empire did.”
I drew a shaky breath. “Because you’re the descendant of Alpha Kairos Adustio?”
A bitter smile curved his lips, then he nodded.
“We were told that Alpha Kairos was a tyrant, tearing the empire apart,” I said softly, glancing to check his
reaction.
Alpha Rune took a sip from his glass and sighed. “He was a just man and an excellent warrior. Unfortunately, he surrounded himself with the wrong people, people who betrayed him.”
A nervous smile curved my lips. “You sound as if you knew him, yet he died more than a hundred years ago.”
He studied me for a moment. “What did Silas tell you about King Zyran?”
I cleared my throat. “He told me that the King takes his power from the gifted. He drains their wolf spirits. He uses some kind of ritual for it…”
Alpha Rune nodded. “This ritual not only gives him strength, but it can also transfer one’s gift onto him.”
A shiver coursed through me. “So…. he can collect the gifts of others?”
He nodded again. “Sometimes not completely, but in most cases, he may use those gifts as if they were his
own.”
Chapter 24
“That’s… terrifying,” I muttered.
“It is,” he agreed before leaning back in his seat. “Now, imagine a line of wolves blessed with longevity…”
My breath caught in my throat. The myth around King Zyran, everything the Priests had told us about the King’s amazing powers–it all started with the fact that he was nearly immortal. “Is that… another gift he
stole?”
Another slow nod. “This gift was a blessing received by every member of the Adustio family.”
My stomach churned. “Does it mean that the King stole Alpha Kairos’s power before he killed him?”
Alpha Rune shook his head. “No. Alpha Kairos died on the battlefield… His two sons, however, weren’t so lucky. They were young, captured by the King right after their father died. He’s been slowly draining their powerful spirits for years. One day, the older brother managed to steal the key from their guard. They were planning to escape, the two of them. But they were too drained, too weak… The older brother collapsed. The younger tried to help him, but he couldn’t drag him fast enough. Finally, the guards surrounded them, and the older brother used what was left of his strength to fight them, telling the younger brother to run.” A bitter smile formed again. “The younger brother didn’t want to leave the older one, but he ordered him to. He was the future Alpha of their pack, after all…”
I wasn’t sure I was still breathing as I listened to the story. My heart ached for the two boys, and my wolf whimpered quietly, too. Alpha Rune turned silent, shifting his attention to the wine. I observed him until I finally forced air into my lungs and murmured, “What happened next?”
“The younger brother came looking for Alpha Kairos’s old supporters. He was willing to do whatever he could to save his older brother.” Anger flashed in his eyes. “It turned out, none of them wanted to help. They all chose to believe King Zyran’s false story, although they used to be my father’s loyal subjects. They chose to embrace the power Zyran’s ritual gave them over doing what was just.”
Another shudder rushed through me as I understood his words. “You said… ‘my father…”
“That’s right. Alpha Kairos was my father.” A dark smirk curved his lips. “And in case you are wondering… I’m a hundred and twenty years old.”
