“Jessica,” James declared, looking fierce as yellow light shot across his irises, “was attacked last night without provocation by a rogue wolf. I saw him myself. She was injured, but had already killed the wolf on her own.” He dared anyone to challenge him. “The rogue was in full wolf form during the attack. He sprang without warning the moment she entered her apartment. Jessica should be dead by all accounts. It was a cowardly show of aggression, beneath us as a race, but she bested the wolf on her own and won”—he gave a big pause—“in human form.”
Glances whipped toward me immediately, appraising. Most were skeptical. James hadn’t mentioned the word “Lycan” and I had no idea if any of them were thinking it. I was a girl. How could I beat a werewolf as a human? Lycan was likely far from their thoughts, but they were thinking of something, there was no doubt.
The door cracked open behind me. Marcy delivering the water.
Before I could shoo her away, James spun on his heel too fast to track. He scooped Marcy around the middle and pounded out of the room, slamming the door firmly behind him.
All I’d heard from Marcy’s retreating body was a diminutive “Ooof.”
My father ignored the brief interruption, and instead motioned me over to him with a quick nod of his head.
Okay, then.
Danny quickly vacated his seat as I made my way around the table. Wolves parted aggressively, but kept themselves under control. My wolf was issuing a low-level continuous growl as we moved through the room. She was on the defense, ready to protect us. I calmly took the chair on my father’s left, Tyler on his right.
Our seating arrangement presented a fierce showing of where we stood in Pack.
The faces around the table, to my surprise, displayed both acceptance and rejection. Once again, I hadn’t been expecting anything positive.
My gaze followed James as he strode back into the room and without a sound paced around the table and stood behind my chair, legs splayed wide, his wrists clasped in front of him. His fighting stance.
Having the support of many significant wolves would help eliminate some of the dissension, but any wolf who felt my position would affect their place in the pecking order would choose to fight me eventually no matter who supported me, or why. And when the official status challenges came, it would be me fighting alone. Not even my dad could circumvent those laws.
I couldn’t worry about future challenges. I hadn’t made it out of this room yet. I had to focus on what was going on here, and eliminate the white noise.
“The next step is to formulate a plan,” my father said. He didn’t touch on what James had just said about me besting the rogue in human form. I was relieved. “The Circle will stay to discuss the main options, and the other wolves will be brought up to speed once a decision is made on how the entire Pack will proceed. You are excused until further notice.” He nodded to the wolves lining the walls.
I watched as the wolves filed out of the room.
I caught a brief glimpse of Marcy as the door opened, her eyes wide. Then without missing a beat she said, “Right this way, fellas.” I didn’t have enough money in my coffers to pay her enough.
Behind me, there was a barely audible growl. It was coming from James. I turned to him, but his gaze was pinned on the last wolf leaving the conference room. As the door closed, I wondered if I should be worried. The wolves should behave themselves out there. Marcy shouldn’t be in any real trouble. I was the problem, not her. The smell of aggression diminished considerably as the wolves left the room, but before I could ask James what he thought, my father’s voice filled the space.
“We will start this meeting with Jessica. She will brief you on the details of her first change, up until she arrived here this morning. After we’ve heard from her, we will hear from both Tyler and James. Then the Circle will decide what action is to be taken.”
The Circle was the formal name for the werewolf Council, made up of roughly thirteen wolves including my father, one for every cycle of the moon in our original calendar. My father had supreme ruling over all decisions, which went without saying, but throughout the past few centuries wolves in every Pack had employed an advisory council of some kind. The Circle was short for “Circle of the Moon.” The full moon has always been our most sacred symbol.
When it began, the Circle originally consisted of the Alpha and the twelve oldest werewolves in attendance at that given time. Nowadays, with technology and modern human development, my father had assigned specific wolves to the Council, to go along with the oldest.
There were nine wolves left sitting, not including Nick, me, and Devon, who was part of the Circle but not a wolf. Besides my father, my brother, and James, in attendance were Grady Carson; Rich Garley; my new super supporter, Hank, who I wished to hell wasn’t here, but because he was one of the eldest he ranked a seat whether I liked it or not; Danny, who had a spot due to his status as the enforcer of the city boundaries; and two other older wolves, Cliff Delano and Elliot Murphy. Three wolves were missing, all of whom resided in Canada.
I had no idea how any of the Council members felt about me, besides Hank and Grady, but we were going to find out in about five minutes. Normally the Council meetings were held on the Compound, but because of the rogue attack, and everything that had gone wrong, my father had come here.