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Eike hesitated. He stared at me for a beat too long. “The council—“
“They agreed with Nortrix.”
“They didn’t know the details either, but yes, they agreed with the grand idea Nortrix had painted of a bigger, more powerful pack, with strong allies and resources. They wanted that.”
“Which means they won’t accept this idea.” To be honest, I wasn’t too keen on it myself.
“They can be convinced, with a strong hand.”
I shook my head. I already had a lot on my plate as it was. I couldn’t add problems from the pack that got my mate killed on top of it all. “I’m afraid I can’t help you.”
I turned to leave.
“Please, Shane. We’ll kill ourselves if someone doesn’t step in.”
I glanced at Eike. “Then ask for help from the other packs.”
“The other alphas are as bad as Nortrix. We need someone with a fair, strong heart to guide our alpha.”
I wanted to laugh. Fair, strong heart? My heart had a hole the size of the ocean in it. Infinite and depthless. It had shriveled and died along with Raika. There was no fairness or strength in it anymore. My heart was hanging by a thread. As soon as I could take my own pack off my plate, I would give up.
I shook my head again. “I hope you find a better solution for your problem.” I resumed walking again. The sooner I left this place, the better.
“At least take my phone number,” Eike said, his voice louder, more desperate. “In case you change your mind.”
I wouldn’t change my mind, but I could at least take the damn phone number. I waved at Dom. He walked toward the Whitecrest wolves, and as I walked away, I heard Eike giving his number to Dom.
Killian turned and followed me.
I inhaled deeply, hating the scent of ashes in the air, but welcoming it as a deserving punishment.
When Dom reached us, I said, “Time to go.”
The three of us walked to the edge of town, beyond the burned part of the forest, to where we had parked the rented car.
Then we drove away and a heavy feeling settled in my shoulders. This was probably the last time I would ever see this place.
4
SHANE
“Here.”I put a plate in front of Tyren, another in front of Minsi.
Neither of them even looked at me, or said thanks, or anything before they grabbed their forks and dug in to their omelets.
Since we had to flee our home, moved to the DuMoir village, and cremated Raika, Tyren had been moodier and more into his music-slash-video-games world, and Minsi had retreated into her shell even more. In the past nine days, she had had four panic attacks, one of them while I was out visiting our old home two days ago.
Thankfully, Rue, Lavinia, Almae, and Thea were good with her and knew exactly what to do. Even little Aurora had her way with Minsi. The only word my sister had said since we arrived here was a “hi” to Aurora.
I sat down with them with a sigh and forced myself to eat.
For a week, I had let everyone mourn. I had let myself mourn. My pain would never go away, but I had to force myself to keep moving. My siblings and my pack needed me. Because of that, we started with our new schedule and a new normalcy today.
I shoved a forkful of omelet in my mouth and almost gagged. “Shit,” I muttered. I had made this thing and it was horrible. “Stop eating.”
Tyren pushed the pepper and the shredded cheese in the center of the table toward me. “Try these. It’ll make It taste … less bad.”
I looked at their plates. Lots of pepper and cheese covered both their omelets. I hadn’t even seen them adding those. Was I that out of my mind? Groaning, I added the items to my omelet and tried it again. Not the best, but also far from bad.
