I waited back for Sam in the library after I forced myself to eat a sandwich in the kitchen. The chatter was less about the food now but more about the challenges and their predictions on the next Alpha.
I flipped through the books again about challenges and went to see if there were any we missed. I must have been there for hours, but I didn’t notice the time pass; I was buried in my research.
Sam knocked and entered. I didn’t have a guard today because it was assumed I would be with Dominick. No one, not even his mother, came to check on him while I was with him, and I popped in all day, making sure I would be seen in case any of his family checked, which they didn’t.
Sam strolled up and handed me a note with a white wax seal and a swirl of dark red. I took a deep breath; it worked.
They responded.
I took an unlit candle from the mantle and dipped it into the embers of the fire. I carefully held the seal over the flame. It sparked and hardened and released its hold on the paper. I handed Sam the candle and read the words on the paper.
We will answer your call.
I felt as if I could cry. It wasn’t much, but it was something; it was proof that my pack still held power. More important than the response, though, is that I trusted Sam as completely as I could now.
If someone tried to open it without putting the wax to flame first, the paper would burst into ash in the traitor's hands. It was how I knew that Sam didn’t try to open my message, didn’t try to read it, or the one he brought back.
It was said only two packs knew of this, and this was how they communicated, and I believed it now more than I did this morning.
My Father reminded me time and time again if I ever needed help, we had a debt to call in. He explained how to make the seal and how to open any seals that came from them. Always marked with a drop of blood only and no pack seal or other markings. I thought he was half-joking, I thought I would never need that in this modern age, but I sent a thank you to him anyway, even if this wasn’t the intended use.
“How?” Sam asked, motioning to the seal.
“An old pack secret,” I whispered through a smile.
“He did that too, put the seal over the fire.”
“How did he seem?” I asked.
“Like he saw a ghost, he was completely stoic and then seemed angry that I dared show up.” Sam almost shuddered, so unlike an Alpha. “But when I handed him the note, he was shocked. I didn’t know that man had an expression that wasn’t anger.”
I stood tall and faced Sam, ensuring I had his full attention. “I will challenge him if I have support,” I said, but there was a lump in my throat filled with a thousand what-ifs.
He took a step back. “You are an heir,” he continued, “You have every right to want to. But I don’t want you to even think of this. I want you to live. I want to help you create a new life. I want to help you escape and somehow move on.” I fought the urge to dip my chin, fought the person I created and was for so long, and held firm. It felt wrong but good.
There would be no moving on; I didn’t intend to move on elsewhere.
“I will challenge him,” I said more resolutely. My plans shifted and changed and solidified. I nodded more to myself. “Help me gain support. Do I have yours?” I asked; my mask cracked, and I became a future Alpha once more.
“You do,” he said, and I felt a bond snap into place.
“And you’ll help me?” I asked, again asking too much from him, but he was my only hope now. He had sway and the Alpha’s ears that I wasn’t even allowed to be around.
“As much as I can. But…” He grabbed my arms gently and searched my eyes. “Do you think you have a chance?” he asked.
“I do.” I raised my chin and met his eyes. “I’m more ready than he is,” I promised.
“Okay,” he nodded, but I felt he didn’t believe me.
“I’ll do what I can, but the other Alphas will be putting their necks on the line. By backing you if you don’t get majority support and if, if things don’t go well at the challenge.” I died, he meant. “They risk inner-territory conflict and Alpha Raymond's vengeance, especially now if they believe what he is capable of.”
“I know,” The adrenaline I felt when saying I was going to challenge him was quickly deflating. There was too much stacked against us, and even the ones that would want to help, I doubted they wanted to help more than they wanted to keep peace in the territory.
If I didn’t have enough support, then I would show my hand and end up standing there alone, changing my fate in this pack forever. I needed to act soon, to get a few things out of the way so that when I stood and challenged Alpha Raymond for his pack, I would already have some small victories, some justice.
“I’ll try. I’ll do everything I can,” he promised.
I didn’t deserve it, but I needed revenge as I needed the blood flowing through my veins. It wasn’t just a part of me anymore; it was me. The only thing I recognized.
“Thank you,” I said, hoping to convey all the emotions I felt.
“I’ll talk to Stephen and Carrick first. They have sway within their packs.” I remembered he said Stephen was the next Alpha of Blue Ridge, so Carrick must be the Beta of White Forest. “If I can get them to agree and convince the Alphas, they will be essential in helping your cause. So it’s not just me advocating for you. We might have them and potentially their Alphas…” he trailed off, thinking.
“There are nine packs left,” I noted since Blood Moon was vacant.
“So we need five on your side,” he replied.
Five suddenly seemed like a huge number.
Even with Sam and his friends, who were still very firm maybes, that would be three, possibly four if what Alpha Jameson said was true, and he would back me after others. And I secured a fifth.
I think I could make it work. There were still others that I hoped could be swayed, too. I just needed them to actually back me when I came to it, and I knew well enough how hollow promises could be.
“When?” he asked with a flare of steely resolve.
I met his eyes as peers now. “The last day of the Alpha Trials, in front of all the Alpha’s.”
His eyes widened, and he started to shake his head. “No, Simone, you need to prepare. Wait a year or so. We can form alliances.”
“No,” I said, unleashing some of my Alpha aura that I didn’t even know I had. The room was completely silent; even the cracking of the fire seemed to disappear.
“It ends this week.”