Wolf Queen - Book 1 of The Nightfall Series

Four

"I do not like my peace to be disturbed or for messengers to walk freely through my borders."

Her father's voice spoke loud and true as the table around them was silent. It had not been long since her father had taken his seat and she took up her place behind him. Her arms held behind her back, covered by her cloak, made her stance threatening to all.

Along with the deep scowl set into her face.

Her father's eyes glowed a bright amber as he spoke. His frustration evident in his voice. No Alpha liked their lines crossed. Her father had taken solace in the peace the forest brought to his mind. They had been so worked up on destruction and grief that the pack had almost turned into a ticking time bomb.

They had nearly torn each other apart.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you, James. You cannot live in isolation any longer." Alpha Michael spoke, irritation deep in his tone.

The scar on his lip quirked up in a twisted manner as he spoke, her beast shivering in delight at it. She could still feel the feeling of his ripping flesh on her claws, his blood running down her palm. He was disgraced to even let her father's name slip from his tongue.

There was something about the way he spoke. I'm, not We. There was a new dynamic that was becoming more apparent the longer they stayed in the presence of the other five Alpha's.

There was something she had missed, something she hadn't seen.

Something had changed.

"I should have known it was your scent on those insolent wolves. How dare you summon us!" She growled at him, her head turning as her eyes flashed.

"Still so full of hatred and spite after all these years, Lady Adelaide." He shot back, canines bared at her in challenge.

Her temper flared at his words. Clawed hands gripped the top of her father's seat as she took a deep breath through sharpened teeth. Her red eyes showing her anger towards the man in front of her. The simple flash of emotion enough to put her on the edge of her control.

She would kill him.

Blood and gore.

Flesh and bone under silver claws.

Open, depthless eyes full of death.

She would kill him and savour the view.

"Was not enough given?" She asked angrily through sharp teeth.

She could see the faces. The dead eyes and cold skin. The mud and dirt caked on fair skin. The red ribbons of blood that flowed through splayed fingers. It was as vivid as the present. An everlasting scar on the soul. So much death, for nothing more than the greed of men.

They were no different to the humans that had now gone extinct.

Greed. Such a benevolent sin.

"Were the lives given not enough for you, Michael?"

She spat his name at him, pain running through her every being as she restrained the need to jump over the table and end his life. How dare he summon them. Her hands crumbled the stone beneath her hands as the pressure became to much and her question hung in the air as her dominance threatened to suffocate the entire table. Each one seated had suffered their own losses. For one, their entire pack had nearly been slaughtered Another, all his children murdered to leave him without a successor, no legacy. Death clung to them all like a dark cloud.

Sweat dripped from Michael's brow as he struggled to keep his head up in her presence. She was a force to be reckoned with. They knew it, they saw the beast that rippled beneath the skin. The pure force that she held behind her gaze.