“Reid?” he prompted me, putting sugar in his tea. What was it that he asked? Ah, yes, why I never joined a pack...

“Do you really have to ask?” I sighed and took the offered tea, taking a careful sip. It didn’t burn my mouth and it tasted alright, but I preferred coffee. “The Ghealach bloodline is a damn curse.” Both literally and metaphorically.

“Ah, the Ghealach bloodline, the royal and famous family of powerful wolves. The kings and queens that once ruled over all the wolves of England. Before the famous Alistair Ghealach decided to retire to a small town in Alaska.” What was this? A history lesson? He was smiling knowingly so I stayed quiet, waiting for him to get to the point. “No alpha wanted to keep you, huh? Afraid you’ll challenge them?”

“I’m no alpha.” I shook my head. Yeah, I was more dominant than most, but I was no leader. Alistair never raised me as a Prince, I was always supposed to be Trystan’s Shield.

“You’re dominant and arrogant, those traits can make every alpha go mad.” He smiled while sipping his tea. “Alistair is an old wolf. He was powerful and feared a long time before people even discovered America. And no wolf ever dared to stand against him. And then he had a son,” He looked pointedly at me. “… a son that never listened. You were never known for blind loyalty. That’s why Bran was the only one you actually listened to.” A wave of anger and pain hit me with that name. I took a long sip to hide it. “He didn’t just boss you around, he explained why he needed you to do something, made you understand.”

“Where are you going with this?” I frowned at him, feeling impatient.

“Alistair has been the King of all for so long he just doesn’t know how to deal with a wolf who doesn’t follow him blindly,” he continued a bit faster. “So he made a fatal mistake and sent you away.” I liked this talk less and less. “Well, I’m not like him. And I can offer you a meaningful place by my side.” That caught me by surprise. I expected a lot, but not that.

“You want me in your pack?” I asked to make sure I heard him right.

“I, for one, think you would make an amazing warrior,” he said with confidence.

A Silver Heart warrior… Oh, that would be bad. I might have not belonged to the Ghealach pack, but I didn’t think I could possibly go against them. What if there was a border fight? What would I do then? Hurt Yuri, Scott? Or Father, my siblings? No, this wasn’t possible.

Well, it was about time I took control of this conversation. “Guess you’ve been doing a lot of recruiting to make the pack this big,” I said, trying my best to sound impressed.

“Yes, but we don’t take in just anyone, only the best.” He smiled at me, so sure of himself.

“I noticed the territory changes, your growth is quite impressive.” I smiled, drinking the tea slowly. He smiled back at me pleased by my words. “If you were to get the forest territory you have been arguing about with Father, it would make your territory bigger than his.” I didn’t know that I guessed, but it seemed like a reasonable thing.

“And why not?” He threw his hands up. “Who says the Ghealach pack gets to be the biggest and strongest? Alistair has been sitting on his ass doing absolutely nothing.” Well, what exactly was he supposed to do? It wasn’t like he was King anymore. “Come on, the whole Ghealach pack’s reputation stands on nothing but the fear that Alistair brought with him when he left Scotland. He hasn’t done anything to earn the respect everyone has for him. It’s time that I show them who the real King of the wolves should be,” he finished with an angry growl. I raised my eyebrow at him. He blinked almost as surprised by his outburst as me.

“Look, I don’t want to take over the Ghealach pack or anything. But it’s time that the other wolf packs in Alaska and Canada saw that he’s not as powerful as he used to be,” he said after he calmed down. “He’s old, Reid.” He smiled sadly. “Probably the oldest wolf in the world. How long do you think he can go on like this?” He sounded sympathetic.

I was just confused. What the hell was he talking about? There was nothing wrong with Father. Werewolves didn’t die of old age, we were immortal. And why did he suddenly care about other packs of the north? Before I could ask anything my phone started buzzing. At first, I wanted to ignore it, but with everything going on it was probably a good idea to at least look who was calling. It was Yuri. I looked at Elliot, he just smiled and motioned for me to pick it up.

“Yuri, what—” I started but he interrupted me.

“Where the hell are you? You need to come home. Now,” he said, sounding very distressed. I got up immediately and ran back downstairs.

“What’s going on? Are we under attack?” I asked as I ran down, followed by Elliot’s footsteps.

“Just come back, now.” And he hung up. Shit. I growled under my breath.

“Trouble? Do you need a ride?” Elliot followed me out, actually looking worried. Considering he was my suspect number one I guessed he most likely knew what was going on.

“No, thanks for the tea, I’ll think about your offer,” I said to not be rude and stay in his good graces for now. He wished me good luck as I started the car and drove. Luckily this was not a big city, so there was no traffic.

My mind was spinning with thoughts about Elliot, the Mercenaries, and all the possibilities of my friends and family getting hurt. I was shaking both with anger and fear.

When I arrived there was a small gathering outside the house. The Alpha, the Shield, the warriors, Trystan, Akira, Yuri, Marc, Colwyn, and Holly. I quickly got out of the car feeling breathless as the scent of blood hit my nose. I quickly pushed my way between Colwyn and Yuri. There on the porch was Father, looking down at the body of… of a wolf. Just a normal interior Alaskan wolf, dead and disemboweled.

“Fucking hell Yuri!” I growled and hit his shoulder hard. “I thought someone was dead, you asshole.” Alistair looked at me then, raising an eyebrow.

“Hey!” Yuri jumped back and rubbed his shoulder. “It got you here fast didn’t it?”

“You weren’t even supposed to be gone,” Alistair said, his voice cold. There was a piece of paper in his hand.

“What is that?” I asked, going up to the porch, but he didn’t let me look at it.

“I said no one goes out of the house, especially not alone. What was so important that you had to leave?” He frowned at me, the anger slowly rising in both of us.

“Why do you care? You told me to leave. Again,” I yelled, then as he stood stunned by the fact I dared to raise my voice against him, I took the paper he was holding. It was a note. Written in the wolf’s blood. Done licking your wounds, mutts? Anger bubbled up in me and I brought the paper to my nose. There was a scent apart from the blood, a human scent with the undertone of sulfur. A Mercenary. I growled as I crumpled the note in my fist, wishing I had something to rip into. My vision suddenly got sharper as my eyes turned from green to my wolf’s grey. My gums ached as my fangs threatened to push out. A roar of rage-filled my head as my wolf called for revenge, for blood.

“Reid.” Fathers hand came down on my shoulder, his fingers digging into my flesh, bringing me back from the edge.

“I have to. Father, I have to,” I said, shaking with anger.

“I know. It’s time to hunt,” he said into my ear with a hint of a growl. And it was a promise, a promise of blood and death. Answering growls came from everyone around and I felt the murderous energy shake the pack to its core. Everyone was ready…