HER EYES- Run little Wolfe

Chapter 5 - The Council Is Here

The words struck harder than the pain had. “The council is here.”

Bonnie stared at her father as if she had heard wrong.

“No.”

Marcus’s face remained unreadable, but the strain beneath it showed in the tightness of his jaw. “They arrived minutes ago.”

“You said you would wait.” She whispered

“I said no such thing.”

“You knew what I meant.”

“I knew nothing except that time was against us.”

“You called them anyway.”

Elena’s voice came sharply from the doorway. “He did more than call them.”

Bonnie’s mother stepped inside, fury burning behind her eyes. Her hair had come loose from its braid, and her face looked tired from crying, but there was nothing weak in the way she stood.

“He invited them into our home.”

Marcus turned slowly. “This house belongs to the Alpha.”

Elena stepped farther into the room. “This house belongs to family first.”

The room filled with silence. Bonnie looked between them. “Are you both doing this now?”

Sophia rose from the chair and moved beside Bonnie without hesitation. “No one is taking her anywhere.”

Marcus’s eyes shifted to Sophia, lingering a moment too long. “You speak boldly for a guest.”

“She is not a guest,” Bonnie snapped.

Another silence followed. Marcus understood more than anyone said aloud. His jaw hardened. “We will discuss that later.”

Bonnie folded her arms. “No. We’ll discuss now.”

“Elena,” Marcus said without looking away from Bonnie, “remove Sophia from the room.”

Sophia stepped forward instantly. “Try it.”

Bonnie almost smiled despite everything. Elena moved between them all. “Enough.”

Marcus exhaled sharply. “The council waits downstairs. They already know about the failed turning.”

Bonnie’s stomach tightened. “And the mark?” Marcus said nothing. That was answer enough. Bonnie’s voice dropped. “You told them everything?”

“I told them enough.”

Bonnie looked at him as if seeing a stranger. “You told them I’m dangerous before you even know what I am.”

Marcus’s eyes flashed. “I told them what they needed to hear.”

“What they needed?” Bonnie laughed bitterly. “Or what would protect you?”

“Bonnie,” Elena warned softly.

But Bonnie was already shaking. “All my life you taught me the pack comes first.” Marcus said nothing.

“And now I know you meant everyone except me.” She added faintly.

Sophia reached for Bonnie’s hand. Bonnie held it tightly. Marcus noticed. His eyes darkened. But he said nothing.

A sudden sting flared across Bonnie’s back. She gasped and bent forward.

“Bonnie!” Sophia caught her before she fell.

Heat spread beneath the mark again, hotter than before. It felt like fire tracing lines beneath her skin.

Elena rushed forward and pulled the collar of Bonnie’s shirt aside.

All three of them froze. The crescent mark had changed.

Thin black lines stretched farther across Bonnie’s skin now, branching downward like roots beneath flesh. Smaller lines curled toward her shoulder and spine.

Marcus went pale. “It’s spreading,” Sophia whispered.

Bonnie gritted her teeth. “What does that mean?”

No one answered.

Another pulse of heat rolled through Bonnie’s body. Her knees nearly buckled.

Sophia tightened her hold. “Sit down.”

“I’m fine.”

“You keep saying that right before something terrible happens.”

Bonnie would have laughed if she could breathe properly. A heavy knock sounded downstairs. Once.

Twice.

Then an old voice called upward. “Alpha McCarthy.”

Another knock. “The council does not wait.”

Bonnie’s pulse quickened.

Marcus straightened automatically, slipping back into Alpha posture. His shoulders squared, his face cooled, and for a second he looked like the man the pack feared.

Bonnie hated how quickly he could become that man.

She could hear more now. Five heartbeats below. Slow. Steady. Watching. She frowned.

“How many came?” Sophia asked at Alpha Marcus.

“What?” He asked confused.

Bonnie touched her temple. “Five.”

Everyone turned to her. “I can hear them.”

Elena’s expression shifted from fear to heartbreak. Marcus’s expression shifted from fear to calculation.

Sophia only looked more worried. Another knock shook the house harder than before. A second voice joined the first.

“Do not insult us with delay.”

Bonnie’s hearing sharpened again. She could hear cloth rustling below. Shoes scraping wood.

One of them tapping a cane against the floor. Someone breathing through their nose impatiently.

“They’re standing in the entrance hall,” Bonnie whispered.

Marcus looked at her sharply. “You can hear that?”

“Yes.”

Sophia touched Bonnie’s arm. “You don’t have to go.”

Marcus’s voice cut sharply across the room. “She does.”

Bonnie turned to him. “And if I refuse?”

Marcus held her gaze. “Then they will come up themselves.”

Silence swallowed the room. Even Elena had no answer for that. Bonnie looked at her mother.

Elena crossed the room and cupped Bonnie’s face with both hands. “Listen to me.”

Bonnie’s eyes stung. “Whatever happens down there, do not let them see fear.”

Bonnie laughed weakly. “I’m past fear.”

“You are not broken,” Elena said fiercely. “Do you hear me?”

Marcus looked away. Bonnie nodded once.

Sophia stepped closer. “If they try anything….”

“They won’t,” Marcus said.

Sophia glared at him. “You don’t know that.”

“I know council law.”

Bonnie muttered, “That’s comforting.”

Another strike of the cane sounded below. Then the old voice rose again.

“We can smell her fear already.”

Sophia’s eyes widened. Bonnie’s face went cold.

“They’re lying,” Sophia whispered.

Bonnie looked at her father.

Marcus said quietly, “They can’t smell you at all.”

The room went still. Bonnie swallowed. No scent.

No trace. No wolf. No human.

For the first time since waking, she wondered if the council had not come to judge her.

Maybe they had come to hunt her.