The Female Alpha’s Sanctuary

Chapter 228

Well, that and the remains of his heart.

“F uck.”

Noah breathes, raking a hand through his hair. The need to comfort and the surge of protectiveness inside him sings through our bond. His wolf lets out a soft whine, tail low and ears bent. Both human and wolf counterparts can sense the sorrow from Isaac’s end.

They feel for their comrade. Their blood brother. Yet they also know what he needs right now isn’t some meddling worrier sticking to his side like a pest.

“Can’t say any of us expected that.”

Noah mumbles, eyes fleeting to me. I force myself not to return his glance no matter how tempting

it is.

The suggestion of uniting two packs had been rousing enough, but acknowledging the actual physical link between the two territories had been nothing short of devastating. A concept I haven’t thought about or perhaps was unconsciously hoping to avoid ever considering.

I ignore the uncomfortable pri ckling heat of everyone’s eyes in my direction. Some are wary, like they felt for Isaac. Others are concerned, as though they were waiting for the other shoe to drop. With everything that went on the past few days, I couldn’t blame them for thinking of the worst.

“I didn’t mean to offend him,”

Williams offers to no one in particular when the silence became deafening. His lips thinned out around the edges but he doesn’t apologize for his words. Regardless of the bitter sting it delivered, there wasn’t a need to. He didn’t do anything wrong but point out reality. Even if the suggestion hurt and turned my stomach at the thought.

“Duskfall is the only real bridge uniting both packs. If you really want to make it work… to really have a chance at something-”

he stops himself before he goes further but the unsaid words ring clear. When silence continues to prevail he sighs, heavy and defeated. He rolls up the map, slipping it back inside the drawer of his desk as though hiding it away would erase the last ten minutes.

Williams observes me from where he stood.

I don’t shy away from his intrusive gaze. It’s clear what he wants. He’s waiting for me to say something. To react regardless of whether it be a good reaction or not.

Another test.

A show of how I would handle a decision so difficult make. To see if I’d crumble under the pressure.

But I refuse.

I don’t know what I’ll do but I refuse to fold. That’s the only thing I really do know right now.

“Perhaps we should revisit this thought another time.”

I nearly flinch when Raizel comes up from behind me. He rests a warm, firm hand over my shoulder and gives me a reassuring squeeze. I greedily latch onto the comfort he freely offered without thinking twice of it. Moving my hand to cover his, I grip onto his fingers like a lifeline. I needed this.

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The Female Alpha’s Sanotran

Needed him, because right now, I’m not sure how I can think clearly when my head’s all over the place.

I’m not oblivious to what Williams was alluding to. I wouldn’t lie and say I didn’t see the logic and appeal of his suggestion. There were only two real choices in the matter: the right one and the wrong one.

Take Duskfall to properly form the union between Ignis Red and Greyhound, thus extending to Raizel and I.

Or

Reject the suggestion and effectively eliminate any real potential to unite. And of course, that meant for Raizel and I too.

We may be in love and we may be mates, but we were both Alphas. Alphas who had no intention of ever turning our backs on our packs. It was our duty to prioritize the betterment of our people. Nothing less.

Being mated however, poses issues we can’t overlook. It’s not as if we could stay apart for too long after we’d bound ourselves to one another. We’d have to stay beside each other. We needed to stay together.

Traveling back and forth from pack to pack weekly if not monthly would be stressful, and quite frankly, inefficient. It was unprecedented and I couldn’t see it working. Constantly moving wouldn’t create that

sense of permanency. It wouldn’t be the same as staying in one place.

Especially with the sheer size of our packs alone.

If we decided to pick the alternative and settle down, which would we pick? I couldn’t ask him to come to Greyhound, he’d never agree. To leave the land he so rightfully inherited and grew up on? No. He wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t ask him to.

On the off chance he did, I know I would resent myself for uprooting his life like that. Of making him choose between me and his pack. I could never ask him of that as I know he could never ask the same of me. Not to mention how far Greyhound is from Ignis Red. At least with Duskfall, we’d be centered. We’d have a perfect balance.

The most logical decision was to combine the packs.

And to untie them, Duskfall was key.

Taking a breath, I flex the hand with the Greyhound ring. The weight of it suddenly felt heavier. A looming reminder of what it was I carried on my shoulders.