Chapter 23

Violet

I scoffed. "That's the dumbest, most irresponsible, and short-sighted solution I've ever heard."

The room was dead silent. It was pretty well known that Theodore was considered the alpha of alphas, especially within his own territory. The fact that I, an outsider, had the nerve to criticize his decision-- the nerve to criticize him -- was probably shocking.

But I really didn't care, and in my opinion, the people being unwilling to tell an alpha when he was wrong was how we ended up with the system that we have now.

“In what scheme of logic does getting rid of your secretary who has run your pack as stand-in luna for--“I turned to Sophia who looked stunned that I was talking to her. “How long have you worked for him?”

“Four years.”

It took everything in me not to roll my eyes as I looked back at Theodore.

“She’s been running Midnight as stand-in luna for four years, and you want to terminate her because what? She got rid of a job that shouldn’t have been hers in the first place?”

“It’s the job I gave her—“

“And that makes it right, how?”

He flushed. “She could have said no.”

I snarled. “Sophia, what were your other prospects outside of working for the alpha?”

“…none.”

“And why is that?” I asked.

“I…”

“Answer her,” Theodore said, setting his jaw and glaring at me. “I want to see where she’s going with this.”

Sophia’s voice turned so small. “There aren’t a lot of jobs in Midnight that pay well enough to live on in Midnight. I… I would have had to move, and...”

"She'd more likely end up being a rogue if she tried to move without connections." He jerked back, and I crossed my arms. “For future reference, Sophia, if you want to quit, you’re welcome to get a comfortable job as a clerk without the drama in Darkmoon’s welfare department. We even have public transportation, so you can wear your cute shoes.”

Theodore’s jaw dropped. “You can’t just poach my secretary!”

“So you aren’t firing her?”

He snapped his mouth shut. I cocked an eyebrow at him.

“It’s abusive, underhanded, and outright disrespectful to have her deal with your personal mess. I expect this of lower-tier alphas, but I had never imagined you'd be like this.” Someone gasped. “And honestly, given her situation what do you expect her to do other than negotiate a shut-up fee?"

He scoffed. "Midnight has enough money."

I blinked at him. "You're a fucking idiot."

Another gasp filled the air. He glared at me. "You have a lot to say about this."

"I warned you what it was going to be like," I said. "Just say the word if you're giving up."

He set his jaw. I cocked an eyebrow. "Here are the rules: you fucked them, you deal with them, their schemes, what they could do to your reputation, and everything in between. Leave your staff and me out of it.”

"I'm a very busy man."

"You've got a lobby. They can wait, or you can keep your dick in your pants."

Someone snorted.

I shook my head. "The fact that you would choose to breed further resentment in her, knowing how much she’s privy to, is astounding to me. She is a threat if anyone knew who she was and made her a better offer."

"I-I wouldn't--"

"It's not about if you would," I said, not looking at Sophia. "It's clear that you're loyal. You could have requested a relocation through the Court on the basis of financial need. His brother would have granted it out of spite."

Theodore narrowed his eyes at me.

I looked at Sophia. "The point I'm trying to make is that he isn't thinking about you as the valuable resource that you are to not only dismiss you for something so silly but in the way that he's tried to dismiss you."

No one said anything and I looked back at Theodore.

"Apologize," I said. "To Sophia for treating her like shit for four years."

Theodore's eyes bulged, and I waited patiently, expectantly, daring him not to. He looked like he'd rather eat paint.

"My... apologies, Sophia, for not treating you properly."

I smiled, amazed and pleased.

"Seems like you weren't lying," I said. He frowned in confusion. "She's no longer your secretary. She's mine."

He worked his jaw. "Fine... Any other demands?"

I smirked. "I'm sure I'll come up with something else before the end of the day."

I turned to Sophia and smiled. She looked absolutely stunned. She straightened her spine and looked at me a little nervously.

"We'll talk later. why don't you pick up with what you were doing for now?"

She nodded and hurried back toward her desk. Everyone but Dahlia looked at me with distaste, and I ignored them.

"Since you're stepping into the role so completely..." He grumbled and placed a folder in my hands.

I glanced at it.

"Shelter?"

"I’ve been trying to get it approved for a while,” he explained, leading me into his office. “But my brother keeps rejecting it because I lack a luna. That’s why I need you.”

I opened the folder. "What could having a luna do for..."

I set my jaw, having scanned the first few lines. I closed it and shut the door behind me.

"You want to harbor rogues? Are you out of your mind? I'd heard that you were ambitious, but this is taking it too far."

“Why do you think that?”

“Rogues are savages on the best of days. Dangerous, violent—they can’t even keep an oath if they tried. They're menaces, and you want to invite them to live in Midnight?”

He chuckled at that. “You feel strongly about this.”

“Rogues killed my mother." His eyes widened. "What? Not in your notes on me?"

His lips twitched. "No."

"If you think your brother would actually approve this, luna or not, you're insane. You already have too much clout. Having a massive, untraceable militia force would be--"

Theodore’s lips twitched upward. “Calm down, girl.”

"Don’t call me 'girl.' I’m two years older than you, boy.”

He let out a laugh, not offended in the slightest. “Fair enough.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You don't want the throne, but you're not making that clear to him. Are you going to tell me what's really going on, or just let me assume that you're either a liar or insane?"

"I think you'd be better off seeing it first." He smiled. "Take the file with you."

"Seeing what?"

"The rogue settlement at the edge of Midnight."

I left less than half an hour later. I took a carriage out of the city toward the settlement, glaring down at the folder in my hands.

Everyone knew the danger of rogues. There was no way he was sheltered or naive enough to not understand, so what was he playing at?

The carriage came to a stop. I braced myself and got out and felt like I'd been slapped in the face. The first thing I saw was a group of children in dirty clothing playing tag as a young pregnant woman watched on. It took more than a few minutes of scanning the area to even see a man, and he looked anything but dangerous.

These people were mostly unmated omegas, survivors of rape who had been exiled for getting pregnant, and other victims made up the rest of them. My heart clenched with sympathy seeing their barely treated injuries.

They looked road-weary as if they had been walking for years just to arrive here.

I shook my head. These weren’t rogues. They were refugees. I opened the file, scanned the collected documentation, and realized the problem. The legal definition of rogue had been expanded recently to encapsulate anyone whose citizen profile had no pack registration. If they were exiled, they wouldn't be able to move their profile to another pack. It was a dastardly loophole made to punish the victims even more. It felt more cruel than any rogue.

I wandered through the settlement, listening to the women speak highly of Theodore—how he had shown them kindness, given them a safe place to live when no one else would, not for power or politics, but out of pure compassion.

If this was the truth of the plan, then I had to support it.

The metallic scent of blood cut through the air. I froze, scanning my surroundings for the source. A man lumbered past me. He was big and burly, eyes flickering with red light. My muscles tensed, instinct taking over as I inched until I was between him and the group of children.

He went still and glared at me.

“Don’t look at me like that!” he snarled.

I glanced around quickly, looking for a weapon. There wasn't one.

“I said don’t look at me like that!”

I dug my heels in, bracing for when he attacked. He howled.

Then, Theodore's calm voice came from behind me.

“What’s going on, Ben? There's no need to be upset."