Accompanied By The Night

Episode 02

I sighed. Logic told me she was right, but that didn’t make this situation easier to swallow. Troy wasn’t even here, and he was still making my life as difficult as possible. I tried to ignore the sting of that as we caught up with Night.

“…want

Troy found as soon as f*****g possible,” he was saying. To my surprise, there

were a few Kings’ men gathered along with Night’s men. It seemed his actions

during the battle had really earned their respect.

“Now

get moving, all of you,” Night finished, and the search party immediately

dispersed, Dom included.

Night

turned to me. There was still a lot of stiffness in his posture, and I knew it

wasn’t only from the pain he had to be feeling. “Bryn, mind if we talk?” he

asked.

“I

don’t mind.”

“I’ll

take a walk around the compound and note the buildings with the worst damage,”

Tavi said. “Let me know if you need me.” She patted my arm before leaving. The

old Tavi would have hugged me, but she hadn’t been the same since we had been

rescued from Troy.

“See

you later,” I said. As Tavi left, I looked at Night. “Lead the way.”

The

alpha cabin wasn’t a far walk from where we stood. I wanted to grab a notepad

before we assessed the damage the feral attack had done to the pack. To be honest,

I would have loved to head up to our bedroom to talk, but that wasn’t an

option. I felt exhausted, but there was still so much to do.

Night

took a deep breath, and I knew I was in for a lecture.

“I

understand that you didn’t want to kill Troy before,” he began, “but now it’s

time for you to reevaluate the situation.”

I

held back a wince. I should have known Night wanted to talk about this. “I know

Troy has been the bane of our existence from the beginning, but—”

“That

right there,” he cut in. “There shouldn’t be a ‘but’ after that. Not only has

Troy been f*****g with us all this time, he’s also become a threat to the Kings

and the Wargs—and probably the Idaho panhandle, with the ferals on his side.”

He shook his head. “Leaving him to rot in his cell was a risk to morale, but I

let it go because I understood and respected what you were trying to

accomplish. But now he’s on the loose and has an army of unhinged wolves on his

side. He’s not just a threat to morale but to the lives of every wolf we know. It’s

not a search party we need; it’s a f*****g hunting party. And I’m going to tell

them to kill on sight.”

I

was prepared to take Night’s lecture because I thought I deserved it, but he

had gone too far. He was not only telling me he no longer respected my goals

for my pack, but he was also about to exert his will over mine. I thought we

were past this. I thought he respected me as an alpha and his equal, but his

words had proven me wrong.

What

he didn’t seem to get was that the Kings were my pack, not his. The Kings were

under my rule until the alpha ceremony. Though I wouldn’t be in charge for

long, I didn’t want to be the kind of alpha who killed other wolves. I would

never be as prepared for bloodshed as Night was. I had already killed Evan, and

I didn’t want to add Troy’s blood to my conscience. I just couldn’t do it. It

wasn’t the kind of environment I wanted to foster as alpha.

But

with all that said, there wasn’t an alpha around who would let someone else

undermine his orders. My wolf bristled at the thought. What Night was saying

would piss off anyone in my position. He wouldn’t stand for another wolf

telling him that they were going to ignore his orders and do what they wanted.

So, why did he think that was okay to do with me?

“We

don’t need to kill Troy,” I said slowly, trying to get control of my emotions

so I didn’t bite my mate’s head off. “We just—”

“What

are you going to do when we find him? We can’t leave him in a cell. He just

proved he can get out.”

My

temper flared. Night had no idea how difficult it was for me to keep myself in

check. “No. Troy proved he can escape if he takes the entire pack by surprise.

When we find him, he won’t have that same chance. And even if he tries to pull

that s**t again, I’ll be ready for him. My pack will be ready for him.”

Night

continued to frown. “Bryn, I know you want to avoid as much bloodshed as

possible, and I know you don’t want to rule with violence. Your compassion is

one of the many things I admire about you. But sometimes, if a wolf is too

dangerous and a threat to the whole pack, you have to kill them because leaving

them alive puts everyone at risk.”

I

shook my head. “You say you understand, but if you send a hunting party after

Troy, you will show me you don’t. Gregor was a violent alpha who ruled over the

Kings with an iron fist; then they had it even worse with Troy. I need to prove

to the pack that there is an alternative. I want to be the start of something

good here.” I want to create the kind of pack I wished I had growing up.

“Bryn.”

Night’s hard expression and stiff tone softened as he said my name. He reached

for my face and used his finger to wipe away a tear that slipped down my cheek.

“Mate…”

I

turned away from him and angrily swiped at the next tears that escaped. I

hadn’t even noticed them building up. Why were the tears coming so quickly when

I wanted to show him I was a strong alpha with convictions?

“This

conversation isn’t over,” I said. “I don’t need you to pity me just because I

got a little emotional.”

“I’m

not pitying you, Bryn, I just…” He let out a tight sigh and pushed his hands

through his thick black hair. “You’re right that you are the alpha now, but

there’s no telling who will be the next alpha a month from now. I hope it’s

me—and I will do everything I can to make sure it is me—but if I fail, we don’t

know who the next alpha will be. What if it’s someone who’s on Troy’s side?

That person will ruin everything we’ve fought for.” He put his hands gently on

my shoulders, and despite my frustrations, I couldn’t help but notice how warm

they were. “We have the chance to eliminate a future threat, and we need to

take it.”

I

hated that Night was making some good points. We didn’t know who the next alpha

would be, and we couldn’t bank on it being Night. He couldn’t even shift at the

moment. But that didn’t change my mind. I was making good points, too, whether

he wanted to acknowledge them or not.

“Don’t

forget, Night,” I said, raising my chin to meet his gaze, “I will be on the

council as den mother even when I’m not the alpha. I will have some influence.”

I moved away from his touch and crossed my arms. “All of this arguing won’t

matter if we don’t find Troy. When we have him, we’ll reevaluate what to do

with him, okay?”

“Okay.”

But it was obvious that Night was reluctant to leave things like this.

“We

should get back out there to evaluate the damage Troy’s attack has done,” I

said in a monotone.

“Yeah.

Let’s do that.”