Betrayed by my Alpha

Chapter 2 - Tall Tales

The meeting did not last much longer after that.

Daren was the first to leave. He pushed back from the table and said plainly that he had not ridden two days to commit his soldiers to a border that was already bleeding, and he wished Varek luck in finding another solution. He said it without malice, which almost made it worse. Corra followed not long after, polite but firm, telling Varek that Dunveil could not afford entanglements outside its own borders right now and that she hoped things improved for Ironpeak. Bren lingered a moment longer than the other two, looking like he wanted to say something different, but in the end he just nodded once and walked out after them.

Three of the four were gone before the fire in the corner had burned down another inch.

Varek sat at the head of the empty table and looked at the door they had all walked through and said nothing for a moment. Then he became aware that someone was still sitting across from him, and he looked up to find Lysan watching him with those sharp unhurried eyes that missed nothing and felt no particular need to pretend otherwise.

"You can go as well," Varek said.

"I know," Lysan replied, and didn't move.

The door opened before Varek could respond and Gaelan stepped inside, pausing briefly when he saw that most of the seats were empty. He read the room quickly the way he always did and came to stand at the side of the table with his hands clasped in front of him.

"The Alphas have left?" he asked.

"Three of them," Varek said flatly.

Gaelan nodded slowly and said nothing else. Lysan was still watching Varek with those sharp unhurried eyes and after a moment he unfolded his hands and placed them flat on the table.

"There is something worth your attention before I go," Lysan said. "Have you heard of the Lunaris?"

Varek had heard the name. It floated around in conversations at the edges of gatherings, passed between travellers and traders and wolves who had been far enough from home to pick up stories from other territories. A sanctuary, they said. A place built from nothing that had grown into something nobody had quite expected. He had filed it away in the same place he filed most things that sounded too remarkable to be entirely true.

"Folk tales," Varek said. "Traveller stories."

Lysan tilted his head slightly. "Most leaders in the outer territories would disagree with you. It began around five years ago. A female leader, though she keeps her history to herself. What she built is not a tall tale. They take in lost wolves, cast out ones, rogues who want something different, and they have become formidably strong because of it. Their numbers grow every season, and they are loyal to their leader in a way that is not easy to manufacture."

"You're suggesting I go to a sanctuary run by a woman I've never heard of and ask for help," Varek said.

"I am suggesting you consider it before your options narrow further." Lysan stood, unhurried, straightening his tunic and moving from the table. "I have connections in that direction. When you're ready I can point you toward the right people." He inclined his head toward Varek. "You know where to find me. For when you change your mind."

"I haven't said I will consider it," Varek said.

"No," Lysan agreed nonchalantly. "You haven't said much of anything yet."

He left without another word and the hall settled into quiet. Gaelan stood by the table for a moment longer looking at the door and then at Varek.

"He's not wrong," Gaelan said simply.

"I know," Varek replied.

Gaelan nodded once and excused himself and Varek sat alone at the empty table for a moment before pushing back his chair and walked home through a village that felt emptier than it had even that morning, if that was possible.

The Lunaris.

He turned the word over in his mind and found that it irritated him slightly, the way Lysan had said when instead of if. As though the outcome were already decided and Varek just hadn't caught up to it yet. As though a man in his position had no other options worth exploring first.

It was infuriating.

Soraya was in the main room when he got home, stretched across the long chair near the window with her hair loose and her eyes half closed. She looked up when he came in and then looked back at the ceiling with the unhurried expression of someone whose afternoon had not been interrupted by anything as inconvenient as failure.

He sat down across from her and looked at her for a moment.

"Come here," he said.

She glanced at him sideways. "I'm comfortable."

"Soraya."

She sighed in a way that made clear she was doing him a great favour and sat up slightly, and when he moved toward her and reached for her she put a hand flat against his chest and nodded down at her clothing.

"You'll crease my dress," she said.

Something that had been wound tight in his chest all afternoon pulled a notch tighter.

"Your dress," he repeated.

"It's new fabric. It creases easily." She smoothed it with her palm as though to illustrate the point.

Varek stood up, deciding to stop holding back so much. "You contribute nothing to this clan. Do you understand that? Nothing. The women here train and work and sit with the wounded after raids and you are worried about your dress creasing."

Soraya's eyes sharpened. "I contribute plenty. I manage this household and I represent this clan at every gathering and I do it with more grace than anyone here gives me credit for."

"And the herbs?" he said.

She went very still.

"The ones behind your things," he continued. "The ones you have been taking every morning since you got here."

"Those are for my figure," she said smoothly. "Nothing more."

"Don't lie to me in my own house."

"I am not lying." Her voice stayed even but her eyes had gone cold. "And I would appreciate you not going through my belongings and then coming home from a failed meeting and deciding that I am the problem worth addressing today."

Varek opened his mouth.

Then the horn sounded.

One long low note that rolled across the village and cut through every wall and every argument and every thought that was not immediately about survival. They both turned toward the window at the same time and Varek was already moving before the second note finished, whatever he had been about to say dissolved into the air behind him.

The rogues had come again.