Chapter 7: The Vote
750 Words
The main cavern had been transformed.
Torches lined every wall. The map table was gone. In its place, a circle of stones surrounded a dirt floor stained dark with old blood. Not from battle. From ritual.
The four rogues stood at four points of the circle. Kael north. Jace south. Thorn east. Ronan west.
I stood in the center.
The torchlight made shadows dance across their faces. Four predators. One prey. The math was simple. The outcome was not.
Ronan spoke first. "This pack vote concerns the human. Seraphina Vale. Daughter of the King who murdered our families." His grey eyes found mine. "Her information, if true, saves forty-seven lives. If false, it traps us in a war on two fronts."
"The maps are accurate." Kael's voice was iron.
"You're biased." Jace spun his dagger. "Your wolf wants to mount her. That doesn't make her trustworthy."
"Enough." Ronan raised a hand. "Votes are cast by stone. White means she stays under watch. Black means she dies tonight."
My stomach dropped.
Dies tonight. Not released. Not returned. Dies.
No one had mentioned death. My fingers curled into my palms. I forced them flat. Showing fear here was feeding wolves.
"Jace."
"Black." No hesitation. His dead eyes slid over me. "Pretty corpses are still corpses."
"Thorn."
Silence. The massive man hadn't moved. Gold fractured eyes stared at the ground. The seconds stretched. Then his hand opened. A white stone dropped at his feet.
Jace cursed. Ronan's expression didn't change.
"Kael."
"White." Kael didn't blink.
Two white. One black. Every eye turned to Ronan.
He held both stones. Turned them slowly in his fingers. The torchlight caught the grey in his eyes, cold and precise. A surgeon choosing which limb to cut.
"Kael," Ronan said quietly. "You claimed a Vale in front of this pack. You broke the blood oath we swore when we formed this brotherhood. Do you understand what that means?"
"I understand."
"Then you understand that my vote decides her life. And I do not give things for free."
Ronan stepped into the circle. Close. Closer than anyone had been since Kael grabbed my throat on the bridge. He was leaner than Kael, sharper, but no less dangerous. His scent hit me—cedar and ink and something metallic. Cold. Analytical.
He tilted my chin up with one finger. Examined my face like a merchant examining livestock.
"She has Vale eyes," he said. "Dark. Deceitful."
"She has nothing to do with her father's sins," Kael growled.
"Then she won't mind proving it." Ronan released my chin and stepped back. "White. She lives."
Air rushed back into my lungs.
"On one condition." Ronan's voice cut the relief to ribbons. "She undergoes the Claiming Trial."
The temperature in the cavern plummeted.
Jace's dagger stopped spinning. Thorn's fists tightened until his knuckles cracked. Kael lunged forward but Ronan held up a hand.
"The Claiming Trial is pack law. You know it. I know it. If she carries the scent of a true mate, she must be verified by all four corners of the pack." Ronan's eyes never left mine. "Each of us will scent her. Individually. If the bond is real, the pack honors it. If it's false—"
"Then she dies anyway," Jace finished. His smirk returned. Slow. Predatory. "I've changed my mind. I love this plan."
"No." Kael stepped between me and Ronan. "I won't allow it."
"You don't have a choice." Ronan's voice was ice. "You made her pack business when you claimed her on that bridge. Pack business gets resolved by pack law."
Kael's hands trembled. His wolf was right there, silver eyes burning, fur rippling beneath his skin.
"When?" he ground out.
"Tonight." Ronan looked past him. Directly at me. "One hour, Princess. I suggest you prepare yourself."
He walked out. Jace followed, trailing fingers through the air in my direction like a ghost.
Thorn paused beside me. His massive frame blocked the torchlight.
"Don't scream," he said. Then he was gone.
Kael and I stood alone in the circle of stones.
"Kael." My voice shook. "What is the Claiming Trial?"
He turned. His eyes were wild. Furious. Terrified.
"It means each of them is going to put their mouth on your neck," he said. "And breathe you in. Until there is nothing left of you they don't know."
My legs nearly buckled.
"And if they decide the bond isn't real?"
"Then I'll have to kill them." His voice cracked. "And they'll have to kill me first."
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