Sapphire Bones

Shroud

Updated: April 2, 2019

(Note: Jeffries and the other Council members are emotionless and wolf-less. They are unable to feel empathy or apathy for that matter toward anyone.)

Corvo

"What's your plan?" Roddy asked from the backseat. I glanced in the rear-view mirror, my forehead crinkled while I watched him and Cole in the backseat. Ever since I granted them asylum their relationship calmed back down to where it was a year ago. They were closer now without the added pressure of the Council on their backs, but I feared them going to the heart of their problems would only drive another wedge between them. They were stable at the moment; I didn't want to rock their lives anymore than I already was just by dragging them along.

"Don't have one," I shrugged and returned my gaze to the road. There wasn't a plan. Without knowledge of L's intentions once she entered the courtroom I was blind to everything. All their cards in their they itched to pull out from the fine-pressed sleeves of tailored suits. Cole and Roddy's testimonies helped, sure, but L's freedom and survival relied solely on her and her ability to change the Council's mind. Even if L made it out with her life, nothing in her world could ever go back to peace before the attack. The entire Lycan world knew her as a killer and that couldn't change with the pound of a gavel. L had a marred image. Ruined by the actions and accusations of others.

"Not a single plan?" Cole cut in with a huff. "You're going to go in there and drool until something happens?"

Next to me, Mattias coughed. A water bottle rested on his lips. He squeezed his eyes shut to shake the enthuse from his head. Once he grabbed control he lowered the bottle and set it down in the cup holder, cat off.

"I'll bring extra napkins," Mattias' control broke and he laughed along with the former Alpha and Beta in the backseat. Luis remained quiet but a faint smirk found its way to his mouth, his upper teeth bit down onto the soft flesh of his lip to keep any noise in.

"You know I'm still your Alpha, right?" I hissed.

"You won't do shit, Corrie," Mattias remarked with another laugh.

I narrowed my eyes and allowed rolled them toward the tops of their sockets. With my spare hand, I rubbed circles into the indents on the sides of my head. My temples calmed at the touch but the distant pounding underneath my skull still buzzed every couple of seconds. Mattias called my bluff, but I couldn't let him believe that.

"Just wait till we get back to Emerald, Matty," I said through gritted teeth, but whatever threat portrayed bounced off whatever shield Mattias had around him. While the nickname him and Jax granted me years ago still rang an aggravated bell in my head, Mattias was unfazed about his own.

"Whatever, man," he shook his head.

"You need a plan," Luis said from the furthest seat in the back of the car. "This girl needs as much help as you can give her, and if you go in there with nothing but these two," he pointed toward the two men in front of him. "No offense, guys – you'll lose the case faster than L was arrested."

"Trust me, I know," I sighed with a headshake. "I don't like this as much as the next person but it's all we've got," I didn't want to admit to them that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My pack needed reassurance that I had the ability to handle anything thrown my way but thiswas out of my league. Going up against the council to free a criminal – my mate – wasn't in the Alpha Guidebook. My father found Penelope in high school. They fell in love right away. Their story was simpleand like every other mate-tale out there. That is, until he fell ill and drove her from the pack. But before, they lived in a picturesque harmony of happiness and love.