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I took a deep breath and put on a smile. “Thank you, everyone, for being here,” I said. “It means the world to me that you’re all willing to listen to what I have to say.”
The Kings gave nods. It wasn’t a verbal response, but any acknowledgement was better than none.
I let go of Night’s hand and stepped forward, letting the large bell sleeves of my dress fall over my fingers. Not wanting to waste time, I got right into the matter at hand. “I have been thinking about this since the day after I won the challenge ceremony. Troy Redwolf destroyed so many important buildings and homes around the compound, but progress on reconstruction has been not only slow but inefficient. I learned that many who had knowledge of carpentry and land development were killed or horribly injured during Troy’s reign. And it is for that reason that I propose that the Wargs should head the reconstruction effort.”
The moment the words left my mouth, there was an uproar. The Kings threw question after question and comment after comment my way. It was noisy, and a bit chaotic, and it made me want to get the hell out of the building that somehow felt much smaller than it did when the meeting began.
After a few moments of letting them speak, I raised one of my hands the way I’d seen Night do during arguments between Wargs. To my surprise, the gesture actually worked; the council fell quiet and their full attention was on me.
“I know this comes as a surprise to you,” I said, “and that this isn’t the first solution you would have chosen. But we can all see how slowly progress is going.”
“I find it hard to believe that the Wargs will want to help us,” Ross said. His salt-and-pepper hair fell down his back and his long bangs covered the scar on the side of his face.
“Yes,” Edward agreed. His bald head shone in the light of the room. “Having more Wargs on our soil will lead to infighting, and whatever progress you claim will happen will be overshadowed by those fights.”
“I can’t say that there won’t be some fighting,” I said, “but I will tell you that many of the Wargs have already volunteered to share their expertise. Troy carelessly sabotaged his own pack’s workforce, and those who remain need leadership and training if we want to repair the Kings’ lands quickly.”
Night cleared his throat before chiming in. “I would just like to reiterate that we Wargs are more than open to assisting in this process.”
“Why?” Colby asked. His gray moustache completely covered his upper lip. “We have been enemies for hundreds of years. What benefit do you have in this?”
“The bad blood between us goes back far longer than living memory,” Night said, “but us Wargs are tired of the conflicts—from petty skirmishes to cruelly targeted destruction—that our ‘war’ has become. The Redwolfs were the biggest supporters and perpetrators of those conflicts. Now that they’re no longer in power, we’re eager to get off on the right foot.”
Tavi, who sat on the other side of me, tapped my foot. I glanced at her and saw her eyes dart to Grant. He had a weathered face, tanned from hours spent in the sun, and the frown on his mouth told me that he was deep in thought. He had always struck me as a particularly gruff and unfriendly man when I’d seen him walking around the compound in my youth. He had always seemed so old, but had insisted on patrolling the grounds anyway up until a few years ago when an old hip injury prevented him from walking.
I gathered some courage and addressed Grant directly. “Grant,” I said, “you seem like you might have something to say?”
“Yes,” he said slowly. “To be honest, this idea has some appeal. It’s true that Troy’s paranoia led him to kill many of our best people. I’m not happy about inviting our enemy onto our territory, but it would give us immediate access to wolves with knowledge and experience in areas where we are lacking. Perhaps we could use each other.”
I didn’t like the term “use” in this context, but it was an unexpected vote in our favor. I started to reply, but a voice cut over me.
“I don’t mean to outright disagree with you, Grant,” said Dana, the only female member of the council, “but I, for one, am not at all keen on the idea of giving access of my land to those wolves.”
Dana had always been close to the Redwolfs, and she was the one I’d expected to be the most resistant to the idea. She let her dark gaze drift lazily from me, to Night, to the other Wargs gathered in the room, making sure that we all knew the jab was intentional and that she didn’t care.
“We have lived in this territory for centuries, and the only time the Wargs have stepped foot on our soil it has been at risk of death to our own. How do we know you all aren’t just taking advantage of our time of need? Perhaps you’re using this as an opportunity to worm your way past our defenses.”
“We aren’t interested in kicking you when you’re down,” Night said. “If we wanted to do that, it would be done.”
“So you claim. But perhaps your forces aren’t strong enough to take down our forces, even in our weakened state.”
I glanced at Night, but he wasn’t letting the hostility in her comment get to him, so I took his cue and kept my face blank, too.
“I assure you,” he said, “that is not something you need to worry about.”
She looked like she had more to say, but I figured now was a good time to intervene. “We aren’t interested in starting an endless back and forth,” I said. “Our goal for this meeting was to bring the idea to everyone, to get you thinking about it and more comfortable with it. Night and I are aware that what we’re proposing won’t be easy to swallow, or free from hiccups. I am aware that I will only be an interim Alpha, but I didn’t want to exert my authority over the Kings without giving you the opportunity to work with me. This could be the start to a good working relationship between the packs, one that puts future generations at less risk.”
With that, I ended the meeting. The Kings exited quickly, and the Wargs more slowly. Violet winked at me on her way out. She and the other Wargs present had not spoken up, but they hadn’t needed to. Having them there along with the Kings showed that there was a desire to foster goodwill between the packs, and I felt confident that their presence had helped.
When everyone funneled out and Night and I were the only ones remaining, I let out a long breath.
“That could have gone better,” I said, running my hands through my hair.
“You think so? I thought it could’ve gone way worse.” He sat on the table and gestured for me to come closer. “I can handle older women making snide comments like that as long as the other Kings were listening.”
I moved into the circle of his arms, and he kissed my cheek. “I guess you’re right,” I said.
He kissed my other cheek. “You did a great job back there, especially with that last speech. You should be happy with the progress we’ve made today. Every step we take toward bettering relations between the packs is a worthwhile one. It’s like…” He racked his brain for an analogy. “It’s like when you get a seed to sprout. You plant it in the ground and do what you can to water it and care for it, but you can’t force it to grow. We just have to wait and see and hope for the best.”
