“The majority will and that is all it takes for an Alpha to lose control of his pack.”
“Who knew this information besides you?” Alin asked.
“I told only Anghel, just days after their deaths. And I told my mate.”
“Would he…,” Alin started but was cut off.
“No, neither would Alina,” Vasile said as he shook his head adamantly. “He would not have told anyone save his mate, but then I consider them one so what I said to him I knew he would say to her. If I had been worried that she would not be able to keep it to herself, then I would not have even told Anghel.”
Ion had once again made his way back over to the window. His eyes narrowed on the crowd below. His jaw tightened as he finally was able to make out who was leading the mob. “Emilian.” The name rumbled in his chest.
“Anghel’s Beta?” Vasile looked at Ion. “Is he out there?”
“He is the traitor,” Ion said as he watched the man who he knew was ambitious enough to dig up someone’s body, even that of a beloved Alpha, in order to gain whatever it was he wanted. Emilian called out to the crowd, taunting them as he encouraged their agitation to grow.
Vasile’s eyes narrowed. “Anghel would not have told Emilian. The only reason Emilian is his Beta is because no one has won a challenge against him, but Anghel does not trust him.”
“Why does he not kill him then?” Nicu growled.
“Because without due cause that is called murder, Nicu,” Alin answered for Vasile.
“Only if you are caught,” Nicu muttered.
“What would you have us do, Alpha?” Ion asked, ignoring the argument between Alin and Nicu. Though he spoke to Vasile, his eyes were still on the crowd.
Vasile’s initial response had been to go out and declare war. Seeing his parents’ bodies, lifeless and showing the beginnings of decay, had angered him. But now after telling his three top wolves, wolves that had served his father for so long, about the lies they had been told, he could not justify a war. The pack needed a strong Alpha in this turbulent time. He would not step down. He knew what it took to keep a pack together, he understood just how strong an Alpha needed to be, and he refused to let his pack fall under the leadership of someone not capable of keeping control.
“We will fight with you,” Alin said taking a step towards him.
Vasile had not realized that he had spoken out loud. He looked at each of the faces of the men now all staring at him with nearly glowing eyes. “You could die.”
“”Why are we warriors if not for such a time as this?” Nicu asked.
Vasile’s eyes glowed bright wolf blue as he looked at him. “True enough, and warriors we are. We will not go quietly into the night. Though I understand the anger the pack will have at my parents, I cannot have them making foolish decisions based on their emotions.
“Then let us fight,” Ion told him. “We must stand strong to keep our pack together.”
“Aye,” both Alin and Nicu said at the same time, agreeing with the warrior.
“So be it,” Vasile said gravely. He had a bad feeling about this, and yet he could not back down. Alphas did not stay Alphas because they walked away when things got tough. They deserved to be Alphas because they did what was necessary even in the most dire of situations. They stuck, they stood until they could not stand any more, and even then they did not concede. Only if it was to protect another did they ever back down because protecting their own was the only thing more important than maintaining control of the pack, which might be jeopardized if an Alpha was seen backing down from a challenge.
“I hope that I can live a life worthy of your loyalty,” he told them as he motioned for them to stand and then once again headed for the door. “We know who our enemy is. We know what he wants. Let us not keep him waiting any longer.”
Ion followed behind Vasile watching his Alpha closely for any sign that the separation from his mate would interfere with his ability to fight because there was definitely a fight ahead of them. And more than likely lives were about to be lost.
Vasile pushed apart the doors of the castle that opened into the courtyard. The voices that had been calling out, yelling and growling, suddenly stopped, and the entire area was plunged into near silence. Only the sound of the wind whispering through the leaves and the occasional chirp of a bird could be heard. He stepped out onto the highest step that allowed him to look out at everyone and scanned the crowd slowly until his eyes landed on Emilian. The Beta stood directly in front of the two coffins where his parents lay. His relaxed shoulders, loose stance, and the slight smirk on his lips told Vasile that the Beta knew there was nothing Vasile could say to salvage the situation. Then the Beta shifted his position and Vasile saw his mother’s back, bare for all to see all and completely free of any markings. Any sense of staying calm fled. How dare this male think he could violate his mother’s resting place, not matter what the reason? How dare he think to shame him, as if he did not feel enough shame without someone rubbing his face in the choice his parents made―wrong or right. Nicu, Ion, and Alin must have felt the shift in his emotions because they were suddenly standing at the ready next to him.
“What have….” Those were the only two words Emilian got out before Vasile lunged. His fist connected with Emilian’s face with satisfying crunch.
He did not let go completely; he could not. He was pretty sure that if he ever let his wolf lose, especially after having been so long separated from Alina, he would never regain control of him. He heard the yells and snarls around him, and yet he continued to hit Emilian in the face. The Beta seemed to gather himself after the surprise of being attacked and then began his own assault on Vasile. The first punch that met his cheek stung, but it only served to enrage his wolf and the man further. He felt the wolf in him stirring, pushing to take over more and more of the fight. His focus was so centered on the Beta that he barely noticed the fighting going on around him.
He spared a quick glance and saw Ion and Nicu move past him, each engaging other wolves he didn’t immediately recognize in that moment. He knew they could hold their own, and so he continued to keep all of his attention on his opponent. He did not know how long they fought. He felt blood spilling from various lacerations on his face and felt the exhaustion in his muscles, but still he continued to meet Emilian punch for punch. Not until there was a loud whistle did Vasile finally relent and step back just as Emilian did as well.
The smirk that was still on the Beta’s face told Vasile that he had somehow been out maneuvered. Vasile looked up at the faces around him and saw the shock and fear and worry in his pack mates' faces. Then he noticed that there were at least seven unmated females, some still underage, surrounded by Emilian’s men. “I did not want to have to do this, but then I knew you would not walk away quietly no matter what your pack wanted. Leave willingly and I will let these females live,” he said and motioned to where the women stood. “Continue to fight and you will watch them die…slowly.”
Vasile growled as he met the Beta’s eyes. Emilian could not hold the gaze for more than a few seconds before he looked away. Vasile then turned to the crowd. “This is what you want?” He motioned to Emilian and then his men. “This is the kind of leader you want, a tyrant? One who cares only for his own skin?”
“We want an honest one,” a female called out.