Chapter 9 Rogue and Raven

THORNE CHEN PACK HOUSE

The Hall of the Thorne Chen pack was designed to remind every werewolf of their place in the food chain.

Oily smoke from iron sconces flickered along the walls, casting shadows over the throne at the far end of the chamber. Alpha Vane Thorne Chen sat upon it, his broad shoulders straining against a dark leather tunic. His eyes burned with the amber glow of his wolf, a beast that lived just beneath the surface of his skin, dictating the way he breathed and the way he commanded the room.

Across his lap sat his Luna. Elena Thorne Chen was delicate against his mass, but she was no less dangerous. Silver hair spilled over her bare shoulders. Her charcoal grey dress rode up to expose the smooth skin of her thighs. In this hall, she was the only creature who did not have to fear the Alpha's gaze.

Vane's hand rested on her thigh, his fingers tracing slow, possessive circles against her skin. It was a public display of ownership that silenced the room more effectively than any shout.

Below the dais, ten pack elders sat in a strict semicircle. In wolf culture, to look away from an Alpha's dominance was to challenge the bond itself, and no one in the chamber was foolish enough to try.

Vane lowered his head, his nose brushing the pulse point of Elena's neck. He inhaled deeply, taking in the sharp scent of cedar. She tilted her head further, exposing the delicate line of her jugular as he bit down.

Vane pulled back, his lips stained red.

"Bring him in," he commanded.

The doors opened. Two guards dragged a man between them, his arms twisted brutally behind his back.

His boots scraped against the floor. His face was devoid of color, his eyes darting around the hall in panic. He was trembling, the clatter of his teeth echoing off the walls. The guards threw him to the floor at the base of the throne.

"Beta Aldric," Vane called.

"Alpha," Aldric choked out, pressing his forehead to the ground. "Please. Whatever my son has done, he is young. He was stupid."

"Your son disgraced my heir." The words fell out heavy.

Aldric's face crumpled in agony. "He made a mistake. A terrible, youthful mistake. Please, Alpha. I beg you. He is my only son. His mother did not survive to raise him right. That falls on me, not him."

"Fate has given your bloodline enough privilege. It does not give your son permission to trample on mine. He could not even manage the discipline to keep his hands off another woman on his own engagement night."

Elena flinched at that, her claws digging tighter into Vane's shoulder.

"Please," Aldric sobbed. "He will apologize. He will do anything to appease you, Alpha."

"I do not want anything other than to see him suffer," Vane said, and signaled Elena to stand from his lap.

Elena slid off, landing on her bare feet. She stood beside the throne, her neck still bleeding, looking down at the Beta.

Vane walked toward Aldric and stopped inches from him.

"You do know I never wanted this mating," Vane's voice rose. "I did not want your Beta genes polluting my line. I only allowed it because she stood before this throne and called me a monster for not seeing his worth. I allowed it because she fought for him."

Vane grabbed the Beta by the hair, forcing him to look up.

"And your son had the audacity to humiliate my bloodline in front of every Alpha that came for that engagement. He made the Thorne Chen name a joke."

"Mercy," Aldric shrieked. "Please, Alpha, mercy."

"By the right of Alpha of Alphas, henceforth," Vane declared, his eyes blazing amber, "I banish Kaelen Aldric from this pack. I banish him from the North, and from London."

Aldric let out a strangled scream.

"He is Rogue," Vane continued, his voice echoing like an executioner's. "He has no territory. No protection. His name is struck from our records. His blood is forgotten. He is dead to us."

"No!" Aldric lunged forward, but the guards caught him, slamming his face back into the floor. "He will die out there!"

"From this night onward," Vane continued, turning his back on the weeping man, "if Kaelen Aldric enters my territory again, even the omegas have the authority to kill him on sight." He sealed the banishment into the pack bond with a pulse of his aura. "Take him out."

"Alpha, please. Banish me instead. Take my life and let the boy—"

"Your life was never the one owed," Vane said without turning around.

Aldric shrieked as the guards dragged him backward toward the door. His cries echoed off the vaulted ceiling, a raw, haunting sound of despair. The doors slammed shut, cutting off his screams.

To be made Rogue was to be turned into a ghost. No pack would take him in. Vane had not just taken Kaelen's home. He had stripped away his will and existence.

Vane did not return to his throne. He stood at the base of the dais and pulled a silver-cased pocket watch from his tunic. He clicked it open, staring at the ticking hands. His grip on it did not loosen even after he had read the time.

"The clock is ticking," Vane said, his voice shedding its feral rage and returning to its formal authority. "The Covenant of the Gavel expires in three days. For centuries, this treaty has been the only thing keeping the streets from running red."

No one in the hall breathed easily at that. One elder's hand found the arm of his chair and did not let go.

"The last time the Covenant lapsed," a voice rasped from the back of the semicircle, "the Longest Winter took fifty-two of our wolves. I was a pup then. I still remember what the North smelled like that year."

Silence answered him. No one needed to ask what happened in that period.

Vane snapped the watch shut and looked up at the council of elders. They nodded grimly, though it was the nod of men agreeing to walk into fire because the alternative was worse.

"The Covenant must be renewed, Alpha," another elder rasped, bowing his head. "We cannot afford a war on two fronts."

"Exactly," Vane said softly, turning back to the room. "Peace is a fragile thing. It is slipping through our fingers as we speak."

"We cannot be the ones to start a war." Elder Brahma's voice cracked across the hall, sharper than an elder was supposed to speak in this room, sharp enough that two other elders near the wall flinched at the sound of it. "But we cannot survive being the ones caught unprepared for it either, Alpha. Not after Norway. Not after Lyra."

The name landed in the room like a struck bell.

Vane's jaw did not move, but something behind his eyes did. The flicker was not like an Alpha, but more like a father calculating exactly how much his daughter's mistake was going to cost his dominion.

"Instruct everyone to hasten the preparations," Vane said, his voice flat and final. "We leave for London within the day. I will sign that treaty and ensure the vampires do not have any loophole to pin anything on us again."

ELARA — En Route from Thornewood

Two sturdy elk pulled the carriage as it drifted just above the ground. The elves still preferred the old ways to the modern cars the other species used.

Elara stopped beneath a tree that stood by the side of the road. No house could be seen and no traveler passed by. She looked in every direction and listened closely until she knew she stood entirely alone.

Her hands moved with practiced ease. She had done this many times before. She spoke soft words only elves could shape, and a raven dropped down to land upon her palm.

She pressed a folded parchment scrap to its feathers, whispered a single word, fyrenael, and sent it winging into the clouds. She watched it vanish and a faint smile touched her lips. She turned back to the elk and signaled them forward. She had delivered many such messages. This one felt different. This one brought the promise closer.