I melt into him, my fingers instinctively finding their way into his dark hair and pulling him closer as I return the kiss with everything I have, giving him my all.
What we accomplished together is amazing, and we’re just getting started.
We did it. We won. Together.
25.Pack Business
Josh
The Iron Pack dungeons are in use once more.
“Let me out of here!” Elias pounds his fist against the bars, eyes blazing with rage. “I am the Alpha!”
“Not anymore,” Bane reminds. “Thanks to your bad behavior. Can’t you be quiet while Josh checks the bars?”
The old, rusted iron bars in this forgotten dungeon are no match for the former Alpha’s might—but if I keep reinforcing them, my magic will hold them intact long enough to ensure the prisoner can’t escape.
It turns out defensive magic isn’t just about keeping peopleout.Sometimes it keeps peoplein,safely detained where they can’t harm anyone.
“Held below the feet of my own pack, the indignity,” Elias complains as he paces before the bars. “And my ownsonis helping with this farce.”
“You brought this on yourself.” Bane looks almost bored, leaning against the wall outside his father’s cell. I think he enjoys getting under his father’s skin.
I’ve been working with a coven as I learn, sort of like an internship. Confident in my growing skills, I asked to take over detaining Elias here. Partly to see this through and partly to show the covens that not all wolves agree with how Elias thinks.
The former Alpha paces back and forth like a caged animal, unleashing his rage now that he has an audience. “Tossed aside by my own pack,” he growls as he stirs up the dirt in his cell.
“After violating Concordia’s rules and trying to start a war,” Bane corrects.
“Kept here like a prisoner in these decrepit cells!”
“Youarea prisoner.”
“And you’re ungrateful. Have you forgotten everything I’ve done for you? I made you strong. I gave you the chance to follow in my footsteps!”
“You conspired to keep me from my true mate,” Bane tosses out almost cheerfully. “Don’t forget that one. You did that too.”
Elias’s lips pull back in a menacing snarl, and he grabs the bars nearest to his son and rattles them with all his might. “How dare you!”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m the worst. Are you done yet?”
Bane coming with me does have its uses. Elias focuses his anger on his son instead of me, letting me concentrate on the wards. Bane might be having too much fun needling his father. My guess is that he never got very far in mouthing off back when his dad was the Alpha.
He’s making up for that now.
The corroded bars in the corner really should be replaced and not just magically reinforced, but the Iron Pack aren’t planning to house any other prisoners here. Concordia does have modern cells for housing prisoners, but this felt more appropriate, like his just desserts. Elias will be detained in these old cells until the council of high priestesses that lead Concordia sort out all the details of his punishment, which includes banishment and any other penalties they deem appropriate after conspiring to destroy the Clover Pack.
After kneeling down and checking some of the damaged spots, I hide a smile as I tell my boyfriend, “Don’t provoke him.”
“He’s going to scream at us no matter what. What else can he do? Thegreat Elias Blackwoodused to wield all the power and now he’s stuck here, awaiting punishment.”
Bane’s definitely laying it on a little thick. I’ve never seen his father’s face so red. Yet I can’t say it’s undeserved.
“If I didn’t know any better,” Elias muses, “I’d say you enjoy seeing your father like this.”
Bane grins. “Kind of. Yeah.”
I slap his arm. “Bane.”
