I'd set foot on the peacekeeping grounds only once before, during which time I'd watched with childlike wonder as my father helped oversee a peacekeeping session that had gone horribly wrong. Within minutes, the Chief had ripped out the throats of three shifters before my young eyes. Blood spurted across the ground as he shook each body vigorously with a whipping side-to-side motion of his own head and I'd cringed away from the violence.
Only one werewolf had tried to shift and flee, the others too frozen by the Tribunal's dominance to so much as protest their own demise. But the effort hadn't done that one shifter any good. He'd made it all of two steps before the full force of the Tribunal piled upon his back and pushed him down into the dirt. The shifter had been dead before he hit the ground.
And what had all those werewolves done wrong? As best I could recall, one attendee had glanced at the Chief the wrong way, meeting my father's eyes when he should have prostrated himself at the alpha's feet. The Tribunal had a no-tolerance policy for disrespectful behavior, and on that occasion it had been a case of one strike you're out...forever.
Compared with my own plan of tricking the Tribunal, that long-deceased werewolf's mild show of rebellion paled in comparison. And even if I kept my wits about me and pulled the wool over their eyes, there was so much that could go wrong in the minutes to come. Not just in relation to the drug, but also because of our erratic little bloodling.
When it came right down to it, the whole plan hinged on Ember managing to use the human words she'd supposedly been practicing in her mind during the long ride from our campsite. But, with a bloodling, it was hard to tell which parts of our conversation she'd actually been paying attention to and which parts had washed over her like a summer storm. So I had no clue what the pup would say when she got the chance. Or even if she'd be able to speak during her first day in human form.
In the end, though, none of us was willing to give up on Ember without a fight. And this was the fight my wolf and I had chosen together to protect our pack. So as we turned into one of the grassy parking areas at the foot of the hayfield, I shot my brother a look, and I spared him one word: "Now."
Then I pulled the drugged bloodling into my arms and walked through the field to meet our fate.
Chapter 12
Justin and I had been told to come alone, so I assumed the other werewolves arrayed across the grassy stubble were members of the Tribunal. Yes—there was Thomas Bell, our All-Pack's strongest alpha and my ride home since Fen and Ethan were already on their way back to Haven.
Or at least I hoped Thomas Bell would be my ride home. If I survived the session that was to come, that is.
But the rest of the Tribunal consisted of shifters I'd never met before in my life and who, I knew, had no reason to look upon me favorably. Regardless of their identities, the weight of the alphas' combined dominance was so powerful it lay like a pall across the field, bowing my shoulders and making it hard for me to look beyond my feet.
I could tell that even the rambunctious bloodling in my arms was chastened by the experience, or perhaps she whimpered due to a pang from the F2F that was even now coursing through her system. It was hard to say, but I cuddled the pup a little closer by way of encouragement and she melted bonelessly into my arms.
If I'd expected the common human courtesy of introductions, I would have been sorely disappointed. Instead, I was stuck glancing out of the corners of my eyes at a middle-aged shifter and trying to appear as if my gaze was trained on the ground while the Tribunal member in question called our meeting to order.
"Now that we're all here," he began, his tone making it sound like I was late even though I knew for a fact there were still five minutes to spare before the meeting's planned start time, "let's get down to business. I'm well aware that you, Justin Young, and you, Terra Wilder, chose to annoy us all with this session rather than dealing with what should have been a simple internal matter between two packs. I'm also aware that the bad blood between your clans is so severe that you broke up an All-Pack gathering so you could each take your toys and go home."
The fact that Ember was one of the "toys" in question should have angered me. But both my lupine and human minds were so deeply under the spell of the Tribunal that I could barely feel a hint of the annoyance I knew would have flooded my brain at any other time.
Instead, I was drugged by the uber-alphas' power, lulled into a headachy, somnolent state that resembled the way I'd felt after flying across the country once on a red-eye. It was a struggle to even make out what the Tribunal member was saying, and I found myself incapable of so much as nodding my head in response. It seemed I was finally meeting a werewolf stronger than Wolfie...and I didn't like the experience one bit.
"Given your past histories, I feel obligated to remind you of the terms of this peacekeeping session," the shifter continued. As best I could see by squinting at him while my head remained firmly bowed, the speaker didn't look like much. I was pretty sure the man boasted a pot belly and that his hair was more salt than pepper.
Still, each of the shifter's words pounded into my skull with the force of a railroad spike and I found myself bending lower as he continued to berate us. I couldn't even turn my head enough to find out how Justin was responding to the alpha dominance being rained down upon both of our shoulders.
"Rule number one," the shifter continued, "is that all decisions of this Tribunal are final. I'll break it down for you in tiny little words since the pair of you seem none too bright. If you choose to disobey the decision we make here today, we will find you and we will rend you limb from limb. You will not survive.
"Rule number two: there are no appeals. This isn't a toothless human court. When we decide, we decide and then you get to go home and deal with the consequences."
"Or we can deal with you here if you'd rather," another voice threaded into the mix. This one came from a much younger shifter, but if anything his dominance was yet more profound than that of the previous werewolf. In fact, as this second speaker's words faded from the field, I realized that I'd fallen to my knees and that only luck had left Ember still clutched in my trembling hands.
"That about sums it up," the first voice concluded. "Although there is one more issue to cover before we get started. Mates. I understand that your wife, Justin Young, has decided not to be present today. Are you willing to take on the duty of ensuring that she also abides by the decisions of this Tribunal?"
As the shifter's attention swung away from me, I was finally able to suck in a deep breath for the first time since the uber-alpha had started speaking. Ember whined as her own vocal cords opened up, and my inner wolf and I were suddenly able to feel the pup's impending shift rise up into the air.
It was almost like listening to a dog whistle with human ears, knowing that the sound was present just beyond the edges of my hearing. Please wait just a minute more, I begged silently. But I knew there was nothing I could do to affect the bloodling's imminent transformation.
"Yes," Justin said simply, the word strangled as if he had to force it out between frozen lips. My brother-in-law and I both knew that he had no control over Sarah's actions at the moment, but I suspected the pack princess wouldn't care one way or another about the Tribunal's decision. As long as she was able to live freely beyond the confines of Justin's pack, Sarah had made it clear that she didn't give a fig about what became of the bloodling pup in my arms.
"And you, Terra Wilder, appear before us mateless as well," the same Tribunal member continued. I could feel his gaze swinging back in my direction, pushing me down toward the earth from whence I'd partially risen during the brief respite. "Care to explain?"
I could tell the speaker thought it was strange for a female alpha to stand alone on behalf of her pack, but I also knew that I barely possessed enough breath to produce a single sentence of explanation. And the Tribunal member probably didn't care why Wolfie was absent anyway. All he wanted was to hear that my mate had similarly agreed to abide by the Tribunal's decision
and that Wolfie wouldn't rush after his brother to create inter-pack strife if the alphas before us chose to wrench Ember out of our care.
But how could I make a promise for Wolfie when I wasn't even entirely certain he was still my mate?
I opened my mouth to say...who knows what...when a familiar scent wafted into my nostrils. Leaf mold and pine needles, the earthy odor of the bloodling who had last held me in his arms nearly a week before. It appeared that my mate had received my message after all and had rushed to the peacekeeping grounds in response.
The question was—had he hurried here to aid us or to prevent Ember from shifting before her time? Wolfie's human face as he came around the bend of the trail was poker smooth and his wolf showed no sign of his usual enthusiasm when their combined gaze met mine. A bad sign.
My heart sunk as I took in my mate's complete lack of expression. Because if Wolfie's goal was to prevent Ember's transformation, it was far too late for any of us to affect the course of the future. In fact, the wolfling in my arms was already wriggling free to stand on her own four feet as the impending shift wracked her body.
For a moment, we were all spellbound, watching the air shimmer as Ember slowly transformed from four legs to two. Her shift was much slower than any I'd witnessed before, and I suspected it was painful as well. But the bloodling pup didn't whimper. Perhaps she couldn't now that human vocal cords were taking the place of her lupine organs. Instead, she stood stoic and strong, just like Ethan had as his own wolf pushed his way free of a stubbornly human body.
But in Ember's case, it wasn't a wolf emerging from her hairless chrysalis. It was a human growing out of a lupine pup.
She looks like her mother, I thought with a twinge. Wolves mature much faster than humans, so even though Ember was only a handful of months old, she was already growing into her adult persona. And the young woman that the bloodling was developing into would evidently share Sarah's perfect bone structure, her pale blond hair, and her twinkling eyes. I found it shocking to see my adopted daughter standing erect, looking exactly like the ten-year-old proto-pack-princess she'd already been deep inside.
But Ember acted nothing like her mother. Instead, she turned on unsteady human feet and lunged into the arms of the older bloodling who had strode into our midst as we all stood riveted in place.
"Daddy!" Ember exclaimed.
And my mate didn't reject the human girl who he had hoped would spend fourteen more years as a wolf. No, he swung her up to rest on one hip, turned both of their faces toward the Tribunal, and spoke: "I'm here to accept the judgment of the Tribunal."
Chapter 13
The governing body's decision was as simple as it was speedy. In the face of Ember's shift and her unschooled reaction to her adopted father, the Tribunal had no choice but to award custody of the child completely into our hands.
"Keep your noses clean," the youngest uber-alpha rumbled warningly before slipping away into the hayfield behind his fellow Tribunal members. A shudder wracked both Justin's body and my own as the intense words washed over us, but Wolfie stood firm, merely nodding his agreement. My mate hadn't seemed affected by the uber-alpha's dominance at all, actually, and he also wasn't much concerned about the warning. As long as we possessed Ember, Wolfie clearly felt no need to poke his nose into Justin's business.
But my brother-in-law wasn't willing to let bygones be bygones quite so readily. "This isn't over yet, little brother," he growled menacingly as soon as the last Tribunal member padded out of sight.
Out of sight, but not yet entirely off the peacekeeping field. I wondered if my brother-in-law was unable to sense the way the youngest uber-alpha hovered just at the edge of our scent range, waiting to ensure we each took our leave peacefully, or if Justin was simply too angry to care. Wolfie met my eyes briefly and I knew that my mate, at least, was aware that the larger danger had not yet entirely blown over.
Meanwhile, Ember had wriggled her way around Wolfie's hip to hang piggy-back from his neck, the duo's shared concession to the fact that our wolfling had yet to learn to walk two-legged. No need to let the hovering Tribunal member learn that this had been our adopted daughter's first shift, and a forced one at that.
But while effective at hiding our deception, the girl's position also got in the way of my mate's ease of movement. So Wolfie had no recourse but to allow himself to be swung around to face his aggressor when Justin clamped one iron hand over his bicep and yanked. "I said this isn't over," Justin ground out.
The weaker alpha was clearly furious at having lost a battle he'd thought was in the can, and my mate's complete refusal to rise to his taunting only exacerbated my brother-in-law's ire. It looked like Justin would just have to stay mad, though, because Wolfie maintained the same calm facade he'd worn ever since entering the peacekeeping grounds.
"Okay," my mate said simply when it appeared Justin wasn't going to let go without a spoken response. Then, turning his head to speak to our adopted daughter over one shoulder, he added: "Ember, this is your biological father Justin. He's an asshole and always has been."
"I'm glad to meet you, asshole," Ember piped up, and I had to stifle a laugh. So our wolfling was just as ebullient in human form as she had been when fully wolf. Strange how the girl's resemblance to her mother was already fading from my attention, Ember's quirky personality overshadowing her little-girl good looks and her genetic heritage.
Justin was less impressed. He released Wolfie but kept that arm raised as if to slap our wolfling, only to stop seemingly against his will as my mate lifted one cold eyebrow in warning.
"I wouldn't," Wolfie growled, his voice so deep in his chest that it almost appeared to be emanating from his lupine half. "Come after me all you want, but Ember is a child. She will not be a bargaining chip or a punching ball."
I could sense the uber-alpha drifting closer as the tension between us ratcheted upwards. And now I could smell the Tribunal member's wolf more clearly as well. His aroma resembled sassafras and mossy spring water, spicy and at the same time so cold my teeth almost hurt from the scent alone. I shivered and reached out to lay four fingertips lightly on Wolfie's arm, both to shore myself up and to remind him of our audience.
My mate spared me a single glance, and I still couldn't tell whether he was furious with me or simply dealing with the larger issues before hunkering down to mend our mate bond. Regardless, he nodded at my touch. Yes, Wolfie was well aware of the uber-alpha's presence and would ensure this confrontation didn't go too far.
And then Justin abruptly noticed the same scent that had sent a shiver down my spine. The hair on the backs of his arms stood on end and his eyes widened in surprise, then he took an unconscious step backwards. My brother-in-law obviously had more to say, but he couldn't pretend to be a match for a member of the Tribunal. So without another word, Justin turned on his heel and strode away down one of the mown paths.
"Good riddance," Wolfie muttered just loudly enough for his brother to hear. Joining in, our irascible wolfling stuck out her tongue at her father's receding back at the same moment Justin spared us one last glance over his shoulder.
But my brother-in-law didn't turn back around to deal with our mischievous bloodling or with the brother he clearly considered a thorn in his side. Not when an uber-alpha was lingering in the hayfield just waiting for a reason to tear us all apart.
So I ignored the raised hairs on the back of my neck and turned on my heel to follow Wolfie as he led me down a different path toward his car.
We survived the Tribunal. The thought was a relief, but I wasn't able to relax my tense muscles yet. Because it remained to be seen whether Wolfie would still allow me into his life once the three of us were out of danger.
***
My stomach was queasy from aftereffects of the Tribunal's dominance display and from the fact that it had been over thirty hours since I'd last slept. But I was too tense to nod off in the car...and not just because Wolfie was the world's worst driver.
"Um, don't f
orget to look at the road." I'd meant to keep my mouth shut since I felt like I'd already gotten on my mate's last nerve. But Wolfie's tendency to be distracted by wildlife and clouds rather than keeping an eye on curves and other drivers was dangerous at the best of times. Now, with Ember conked out in the back seat in human form, I was suddenly twice as jittery about my companion's lack of focus.
I half expected Wolfie's lupine half to growl angrily at my passenger-seat driving. But, instead, his mouth merely twitched up on one side in a more human display of emotion. And as I waited with trepidation for the other shoe to drop, my own inner wolf finally woke up and sidled cautiously toward our mate.
In response, Wolfie's lupine half bounced around so joyously within his human body that I was afraid the duo might change forms right there behind the wheel. "Do you think...?" I began.
As usual, my mate was way ahead of me. "Pulling over at the first available spot," he murmured, and within minutes we'd turned into the parking lot of an abandoned gas station.
Wolfie shut down the engine, and for a moment we just stared at each other from opposite corners of the car. My mate had his head cocked as he communed with his wolf, and my own lupine half was dancing so vigorously at Wolfie's proximity that my queasy stomach threatened to erupt into a bout of vomiting. Cranking down the window for some air, I was glad that the pack's ancient vehicle allowed me access to the outdoors without begging my mate to turn the key in the ignition.
"You're upset," my companion said after a moment. "Sick to your stomach, worried...and angry?"
Now it was my turn to tilt my head quizzically. "I'm not mad at you, Wolfie," I said finally. "You're mad at me."
"No."
His response epitomized simplicity, but it still acted like a gallon of root beer to calm my queasy stomach. Perhaps I hadn't burnt every last bridge between me and my mate after all.
Alpha Ascendant: A Fantastical Werewolf Adventure (Wolf Rampant Book 3) Page 9