Enforcing Boundaries

Chapter 3

Magnus

I had my mate's phone number.

We'd had lunch together and I had made him smile. Several times, actually.

I did a happy dance around my office, which mostly involved a lot of fist-pumping and victorious butt-shaking. It didn't do much to take the edge off my giddiness, but it was fun.

A knock sounded on my door and I paused my dancing to take a whiff of air. "Come in!" I told Roy.

I was still when he entered, but I knew I still wore a big, goofy grin. I couldn't help it. I had found my mate and he was perfect. I barely contained another gleeful butt-shake and forced myself to focus on my assistant.

Roy's serious gaze and the stern set to his mouth froze me. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Opal Reyes filed an appeal against you with the Summit," Roy said.

I let myself adjust to the weight of that for a long moment before walking around my desk and taking a seat. Roy sat across from me and ran a nervous hand through his brown curls.

Opal was an alpha's second daughter, powerful in her own right but without a pack to inherit. She had gotten it into her head that I was unfit as a leader and that she deserved to take over Tourmaline. I suspected someone had told her that before I became the alpha, we had been planning on giving the title to her. That was years ago, but I wasn't surprised she was taking her time with this. You couldn't stage a successful coup without supporters, and she would have needed time to build a network for herself. She must have it now, or think she did.

There had been rumors she was putting together a case against me. Call me naïve, but I never took them seriously until now.

"What does this mean for us?" I asked Roy. He knew a lot more about werewolf law than I did – another reason he was indispensable to me.

"It means that at the next Summit meeting, they'll review her appeal to determine whether there's enough to warrant an investigation. If they decide to conduct an investigation, they'll hear testimony from Opal, yourself, and various people from our pack. Anyone in a leadership position will be called upon, as well as a representative selection from the rest of the pack." Roy's tone was grim and I knew I had to be missing something.

"She has no claim on this pack," I said. "No one ever made her any promises and she has no ties to it. Besides, what legitimate complaint could she have against me?"

Roy held my gaze for several seconds and I knew he was reluctant to answer. Finally, his eyes slid away from mine and he sighed. "She said you aren't the true alpha because you didn't truly defeat Marcus. She somehow found out that he was already severely wounded when you fought with him."

My heart pounded in my chest even as I raced to deny what I was hearing. "What's that got to do with anything? Marcus created the rules of challenge and our fight fulfilled his conditions."

"Yes, and the first thing you did when you became alpha was repeal his laws. You changed the rule that let you become alpha. That's an admission that you disagree with it, which opens up room for questions."

"I feel like I need a lawyer," I complained.

"You might," Roy said gently.

I dropped my head forward onto my desk with a thud and groaned. Where could I find a werewolf lawyer, anyway? We didn't have any in the pack. "This sucks."

"Yes, sir," Roy said, and for the first time since he entered, I heard amusement in his voice.

Footsteps approached and I lifted my head from my desk to watch Felix walk in with Everett on his heels.