The Taint of Wolves

Rational madness.

Chapter 24: Rational Madness.

The sounds of arguing were like a drill in his skull.

The chair was too small – an intentional slight – and his long legs were folded for far too long under the oaken table. He didn't dare let them see his discomfort, offering them a banal smile as they pottered on about land disputes and humans who ventured too far and demanded too much.

Humans.

Always a bone of contention at these meetings. He had only come to discuss their next move against the Ravi. He didn't bring such conversations within the walls of Lunar. He didn't like to invite trouble onto his doorstep, even though it loved to knock.

Easton Young drew a weary gaze around the meeting room, ignoring the urge to rub his brow. Touching his face brought attention onto him. His inner circle had always told him to embrace the scars and how they intimidated people, but he hated that. He didn't need the help. He had always been a little too big, a little too rough. He had broken daisy chains as a child and toys that friends had leant him. Always by accident.

"An attack so close to Lunar?" A nasally voice cut. Easton bit down a sigh, looking to Carada Elan. A midland High Alpha who had retained his title even when Easton had dismantled the monarchy. Easton didn't like him – but he was a fine Alpha and had conformed to the new rules quicker than the rest of those who had managed to retain their titles.

The older male sat back in his chair, observing Easton under a silver-blond brow.

"I imagine they are trying to get to you...?" Carada quirked a sardonic smile. "Or are the whispers true, Supreme Alpha. Is a little moon-bound locked away in your house."

Easton flared at the insinuation, taking a second to reply. "If you want an answer, Carada, ask. I am not hiding anything."

Lycans leaned forward in their chairs. Leather squeaked. The non-Lycans in the room, still wary of their allies, kept still. Waiting.

Carada asked. "Your mate – we heard she was alive."

"That's not a question."

Carada sighed, flexing powerful hands before he crossed his arms. "Your mate, Nova Linden...is she back?"

The name only conjured the urge to check his phone. She had sent him an emoji – a dancing pizza when he had asked her if she was doing alright back in Lunar. He didn't want to be overbearing, but the seconds seemed like hours when she didn't reply and he could only imagine Lunar in flames and her in the hands of the Ravi again. Never again. He would rather be subject to their torture than to let them within a hairsbreadth of her again.

The pizza probably meant she was alright.

He had sent a text to Blav just in case. His friend had only told him to feck off and stop acting like a creep.

Which probably meant she was alright.

"She is."

Whispers broke out across the room – whispers of human girl and the Ravi. Easton knew there would be rumours and knew they would be impossible to curtail. He had been made into something he could never live up to when he tore down the monarchy. Some papers had painted him as a grief-stricken rebel, a man fighting for the wrongs of the world. Others had painted him as a mad-man, a traitor who was driven crazy by a severed bond and a dead moon-bound. His scars meant that he could never hide and the ghost of their pain meant that he could never forget. He had thought once the skin knitted, he would be healed.