The remaining packs arrived at the agreed upon time, before nightfall. That made us approximately fifty tribes in total. As sprawling as Rock Hall’s accommodation was, there simply weren’t enough chambers to house them all. This only put more pressure on us to come up with a solution quickly so we could leave this place—which wasn’t a bad thing. I feared that brawls would break out in the meantime with all of these rival packs living within such close proximity of one another. Fighting amongst ourselves was the last thing we needed at a time like this.
After the final wolves had entered the mountain, we had not a moment to lose. Sergius had been waiting outside, counting the packs as they arrived to make sure we weren’t missing any, and now I heard him racing along the corridors outside, yelling for everyone who wished to have a say about the destiny of our country to gather in the meeting hall.
Victoria and I had been sitting in the empty room, where I had shifted for her sake. I thought that she would be more comfortable lying against me while I was a wolf. And now I decided to stay as a wolf for the meeting. If anybody dared make a snap at Victoria, I would be better equipped to defend her. I was so very tempted to leave her behind in the chamber, but that also was not safe. I did not trust anyone here. Not even Sergius. I did not wish to let her out of my sight for a moment.
And so I knelt for Victoria to climb onto my back. Then I left the chamber with her, even as I quietly enjoyed the feel of her fingers sliding through the fur at the back of my neck.
The corridors were teeming. I made my way as fast as I could into the auditorium. Here I gazed around at the countless wolves milling around and perching on top of chairs and benches. I did not want to remain on the ground level. Skirting around the edge of the chamber, I headed for a narrow staircase that wound upward. I climbed higher and higher, until there were no more stairs to climb. We had reached the top balcony, about six levels up. I ventured onto the rigidly cut platform, pleased to see that nobody had ventured up here yet. Victoria and I were on our own. I allowed Victoria to slide off my back before the two of us gazed down at the auditorium from a bird’s eye view.
Sergius stood in the center of the circular cavern, where the floor had been left clear. He gazed around, watching the hall fill up. He seemed to have taken on the role of general organizer in all of this—certainly more so than any other wolf so far as I could tell. I guessed that he would also be the moderator of this meeting as he called for the chieftains to join him in the center.
Perhaps, if Victoria had not been with me, I would’ve gone down there myself to represent my own tribe, but currently, I had no tribe. I was a prince without a kingdom. If I lived through this war we were about to wage to save our realm, I would return to my cousin and fight for my rightful place as ruler. It was what my father would have wanted. But that was a long way off. For now, my cousin and uncle would continue to usurp my position.
I scanned the wolves sitting in the front rows and spotted Dane, a stocky chestnut-brown wolf, sitting next to my aunt, Brucella. Her fur was a lighter brown, and when shifted, she was actually the larger of the two wolves. I would not have been surprised if she would even win in a fight against him. She was among the most renowned alpha females in The Woodlands.
My eyes were drawn away from them as Sergius’ voice boomed around the chamber. The chieftains had finished gathering in the center. “We have assembled here to discuss a most grave and urgent matter,” he began, “to put aside our differences for the sake of our country and our children.”
He glared at the wolves surrounding him, as if daring anybody to pose a challenge. Then he gave a recap of the situation for the benefit of all those who might not have yet heard the full story—the discovery of the hunters and how they had already infiltrated or destroyed an unknown number of lairs. During our journey gathering all these wolves together, at least we knew now that the hunters had not spread quite as far as I had feared. They had reached my own lair, and possibly all nearby, but it seemed they hadn’t ventured much further than that. This gave us hope.
My uncle went on, “Thus, the challenge before us is to drive them from our land, and with such force that they will never dare return. This is our country. Our habitat. Our home. They may have fire-breathing monsters, but they are still out of their element. If we hit them now with all our strength, nothing is impossible.”