Evan Aldren stared at the councilmen gathered before him and then at Prince Lance Stormhold sitting in the middle on the higher podium.
The room was quiet enough for him but it did nothing to calm his anger. He lowered his gaze to the polished wooden table between them and then slammed his hand against it. The sharp sound echoed all the way to the high ceiling as the other older members shook their heads.
"How could things have come to this?" Aldren asked, his voice cutting through the silence. He swept his eyes from one face to another, letting each councilman feel the weight of his accusation before he continued. "The council and the Supreme Alpha are responsible for protecting the peace of the werewolves. That is why we were formed. That is the duty we vowed to uphold. And yet, here we are, on the brink of disaster."
A few of the councilmen shifted uncomfortably, refusing to meet his eyes. He turned to look at the Princes, but they simply stared back at him, as if unaware of the accusation he was directing at them. Aldren clenched his hands. He wanted to confront them, but even though he was one of the most powerful Werewolves, he could not challenge the princes directly.
And yet, he wanted to. Because they were the ones protecting that bi*ch.
"You sit here and speak of loyalty and honour," Aldren bit out slowly... "You speak of strategy and unity among the packs. But in truth, some of you have been asleep. Worse, some of you have been careless. And some of you has been more than careless. You have been in cahoots with the Dark Master."
At that, a few heads snapped up and some even stared at each other, wondering who among them could serve the dark master.
"Councilman Aldren," one of the senior members interrupted, clearing his throat. His voice wavered. "Such accusations are serious. If you have evidence—"
"I don’t care about the evidence! Do you think I don’t recognise the effects of dark magic when I see it? Have you walked along your borders? The entirety of the Redwood Pack is submerged in a dark mist. This is how close the dark master is to your borders! He has been in contact with them for almost a year now! And yet, when they came knocking on your door for an alliance, you welcomed them with open arms! They were the ones who brought the Rogues onto the Stormhold territory!"
"Councilman Aldren, you are crossing your limits! We’ve interacted with the Redwood Pack for years and now you are accusing them of being in cahoots with the dark master! don’t forget, they were also part of the Alliance forces that fought the dark master. As for..."
Councilman Aldren laughed then," No! You forget! They were initially part of the forces. But later, they had been bewitched by that dark witch. She even muddied the werewolf bloodline by giving birth to a few pups. God knows how many of the Redwood wolves now carry the tainted dark blood!"
Even though his face revealed nothing, Lance’s intent was slowly turning murderous. Because somewhere in the past, they too carried blood from the dark witches. And Aldren’s own daughter was a dark witch....
And Aldren seemed to have touched a sore spot for everyone. Because each of the councilmen came from different packs and the only known packs who had not taken in dark witches were few... Aldren and Moonville Pack being a few of them.
With the dark master bound for eternity, not every werewolf pack had held onto grudges. Added to that, they understood and appreciated loyalty. Even if the dark witches were all bad, they had been loyal to their master...
Councilman Aldren did not slow down at everyone’s angry expressions. If anything, the outrage in the room only pushed him to speak louder, as if he wanted each word to scrape against the pride of every wolf present.
"Yes," Aldren continued, "dark witches are dangerous. They always have been. Their bloodline was born from corruption. It spreads like venom. It stains everything it touches. We should never have allowed that line to survive after the war. We should never have allowed their influence to linger among our packs. Now look! Everyone has forgotten what was done to our ancestors!
Some councilmen exchanged uneasy glances. They knew exactly where his argument was heading, but no one dared to stop him. Evan Aldren was known for being violent and lethal in his arguments. Over the years, the council had become lax in their training. Already away from their packs and retired, they were not in the best of shape. Aldren on the other hand had spent more than a decade as a wolf. He would challenge them and kill even before they could shift.
But Aldren continued to look at them coldly and continued, "Look at how easily the Dark Master stayed hidden slowly gathering power to return.. Look at how smoothly his followers operated. Do you think that happens without inside help? Without someone smuggling information to him? Without someone guiding him through our weakness! Almost a thousand omegas were sacrificed at the place called the Ruins! And not a whiff of information reached us? Why? Because someone was definitely hiding it!
He stopped and pointed toward the floor as if indicating the rot beneath the council chamber itself. "There is a mole in our ranks. Someone has been aiding him for years. And that someone had access to us and our trust! That someone has been allowed to sit among us while pretending to be loyal to us! If nothing else, I will flush out that person and let them know what it means to betray our own brethren!"
Aldren then turned towards him and Lance’s eyes narrowed at the sight of the hatred directed at him. Was the man planning to challenge him? Lance smiled. It seemed he’d figured out Emira’s identity.