#Chapter 25 The Elder Council

Bastien huffs out a weary laugh, pausing in front of me to stroke my cheek. “Alphas don’t have the luxury of personal feelings, little wolf. The pack has to come first one hundred percent of the time.” His handsome features seemed to have aged years over the last week. “There’s no excuse for letting enemies through our defenses.”

“That is an unreasonable standard.” I insist, “One to which they would never hold themselves.”

“You’re right.“ Bastien agrees. “They wouldn’t, but they aren’t Alpha.” I latch onto his hand when he tries to pull away, convincing him to sink onto the sofa beside me. “These are the consequences of so much power. There’s no end to the responsibility, and no room for error.”

“How is anyone supposed to live up to that?” I demand, “How are you supposed to have a life if you can never take your eye off the pack?”

“It’s not about living up to it, or fulfilling my own wants.” Bastien reminds me, “I have the strength to lead, so I will – because I love this pack. That’s all there is to it.”

Now that Bastien has relaxed next to me, my own energy overflows in anxious flutterings. “That’s the other thing I don’t understand.” I gripe, “Does the council honestly think there is anyone in the pack more capable than you? Stronger than you?” i wriggle half-heartedly as Bastien tugs my body on top of his, propping my elbows on his chest and resting my chin in the cradle of my hands. “What’s the point of trying you when no one else is fit to be Alpha.”

.

them.” Bastien sighs, petting me absentmindedly. “To give challengers the opportunity to step forward and

smear your good name.” I complain, my musings taking a decidedly vindictive turn. “I’d like to dig

I had no idea you were such a

“I haven’t had a reason

my sake.” Bastien grins, pulling me up for a

moments like this I can almost forget everything that’s happened between us. All the pain and rejection, the pain and loss. I can

this moment, and all

Bastien’s POV

haunted face stares at me through the crowd, her eyes red-rimmed and once-golden skin pallid. Of anyone, the hearing has been hardest on her. Yet, as twisted as it probably sounds, I think my struggles have been good for her. The

ready to lose her too. Perhaps it’s selfish, expecting

grief assails me at the strangest of times. Sometimes it feels as if nothing which has happened over the last week is real,

of questions about my fitness to rule the pack, I want nothing more than to

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