AARYN

As the Security Council began determining options for finding Hholdyn and choosing next steps in the hunt for the elusive humans, Aaryn tried to listen. But he felt ill.

He kept seeing the two females look at him, check in with him, about whether they should listen to these orders. And in that one, silent moment, their point was proven.

Tarkyn was right.

Aaryn had royally fucked this up.

How had he missed it? How had he not seen the way the winds blew—that his people would follow him to the Crown, or away from it. Because they were actually following him?

They had made him their King. King of the disformed. A position he had never wanted, nor intended to embrace.

It hit him then that if he and Elreth weren't mated, this would have created an even bigger. He spent a moment in relief, thanking the Creator for establishing their matebond before this came to light. Without that… he might have lost all of them. Elreth, who could not be seen to embrace a rebel force, and the disformed—who would necessarily be taken from him now.

Everything in him fought that idea, rebelled against it. And for a moment he envisioned himself telling the disformed to fight for him, to plead his case.

Then he blinked.

Holy fuck.

That's exactly what this was about.

He'd had enough training with Reth over the years to understand military training, the structure, the hierarchy. He'd been trained to move unquestioning, to relinquish his own will to his superiors. To submit.

And he'd done it.

He'd done it with Reth in training, and as King.

And he'd done it with Elreth when she took dominance.

He thought he'd lived an example of leadership that was in submission. So how had they missed it?

His mind skittered away from that question. His heart began to race. He had his hands clenched on his thighs, otherwise they would have been shaking.

Was he really a rebel King? Had he actually raised a resistance without even realizing it?

Fuck, he owed Elreth the biggest apology…

His pride flared in his chest. He'd cared for the disformed when no one else was! He'd carried on a tradition that had been in place for twenty years! He was only the latest in a line of disformed Alphas.

But he'd organized them as a tribe, that little voice whispered in his ear. Before they'd always been the Outsiders—a group of outcasts who supported each other. The Alpha role had really been one of support and to clear up conflicts. Even the training they'd been doing all this time, it had always been on the understanding that if they were found out, they would be stopped. It was why he'd hoped so badly for Elreth to take dominance, because he'd known he could convince her not to stop it. To see the value…

Aaryn had taken it further. He'd made himself not just a leader of their social group, he'd made himself a true Alpha. And they naturally followed him.

He'd never intended to make them loyal to him over Elreth, or Reth, or the hierarchy… but that's what had happened.

Was it going to be true across the entire tribe of disformed? He had a very bad feeling that it was.

He looked up and found his mate staring at him, grief and tension in her eyes.

'I submit,' he signed quickly. 'I'm sorry.'

She let her chin drop as if she were only looking at her hands and the sign she held there when he looked down, it made him swallow the pinch in his throat.

'All hail the King.' Then she met his eyes again, sadly, her brow furrowed. 'I would have followed you too.'

Aaryn almost choked, torn between the emotion of her admission, and the utter conviction that it meant she was going to have to do something about it. He knew this couldn't be overlooked or avoided. The disformed would have to be…

Holy shit, no. She couldn't split them up! They couldn't be isolated again!

She frowned a question, obvious seeing the panic in him. He shook his head and turned back to where the discussion was becoming heated about whether to send a team of guards out to find Hholdyn.

"…if we're having a problem with authority, leaving him out there to possibly reveal us to enemies will only make it worse. We have to make an example."

"He isn't seen as any kind of leader. Right now he is just a rebellious citizen who's run into the WildWood against orders. If you make an example of him, you ignite the ire of those who likely wouldn't have even known this was happening otherwise."

"Whatever we do, it needs to be done quickly," Tarkyn said gruffly. "If he has found something, we need a team to follow what he's got, and a second to return him to the City, under guard and bound if necessary. He cannot be allowed to buck orders this way. Perhaps not a public example, but an example to those who are, or would be, within our ranks. To make certain no others believe they will walk away from something like this without consequence."

Around and around, they threw their theories about the best way to do it, but then Aaryn knew. He knew what had to be done.

He cleared his throat to get their attention and kept himself gentle, but resolved.

"This is a problem that I have created without intending to," he said quietly. "So I should be the one to fix it. If I bring him back and submit both myself and him to your authority in the hierarchy… that will go a long way to showing them how this is supposed to work."

Tarkyn eyed him, thoughtful. "You would think so, but I suspect this may run deeper and with more layers than we have yet uncovered. Is there a risk they will simply be following you again?"

Aaryn shrugged. "If they are, and they see me submitted to the hierarchy, then they'll know what their role is."

"But you outrank, Tarkyn," Elreth said quickly. "It's not that simple. You're King now, however that's going to work. We can't undermine your place in the hierarchy, either."

Tarkyn gave a heavy sigh and raked a hand through his hair. "She's right. That's what makes this so difficult. They can follow you—legitimately—within the hierarchy now. But the moment they perceive that your will goes against ours… that's when there will be a problem. And we won't know about it until it happens."

He left the curse unsaid, but Aaryn could smell it on him—the fierce anger and disappointment that this had taken the direction it had.

Aaryn looked down for a moment, his heart racing again. Because he knew the answer to that, too. And he hated it. But it solved a problem for him, as well. And it would make Elreth happy… even if it broke his heart.

"Then I first need to be the one to discipline them for their rebellion," he said carefully. Then he looked at Elreth. "And then I need to submit the Alpha to someone else. Someone who is seen to follow the hierarchy. So there can be no more confusion."

*****

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THIS BOOK IN THE AUTHOR NOTE BELOW! Please read!