Chapter 87: I Want A Word

Before the tense standoff between the two Alphas could boil over into violence, Rhea reached out and pressed her palm against Adam’s muscular arm.

"We need to get moving immediately. There is no time for this," she said, her voice sharp and commanding.

Adam frowned as he looked down at her. The possessive fire in his eyes still burned. "Did you even hear the threat he just made?" he asked, his tone flustered and thick with rage.

Rhea gave a firm nod, deliberately refusing to spare Kaleb a single glance. She kept her silver eyes locked onto Adam’s face, letting her posture soften just enough to reach him.

"I can handle myself, Adam," she murmured. "And whatever happens out here, I know you’ll be watching my back."

The line of Adam’s jaw visibly relaxed at her words. The edge in his posture smoothed out as he looked down into her eyes, taking a breath of her scent. He gave a single nod. "You can rest completely assured of that," he answered.

Behind them, Kaleb’s jaw hardened so tightly the skin over his cheekbones turned pale. The amber light in his eyes flared with jealousy and annoyance.

"Then maybe you will be the one taking a blade through your chest this time," he sneered at Adam, his lip curling over a sharp fang.

Adam whirled his head back toward his nephew, a growl rumbling from the depths of his chest. "Not on your life, Kaleb," he said, his tone dropping into a calm register that promised total destruction.

Rhea stepped firmly into the gap between the two males. Their fangs were fully bared, their dominant Alpha scents clashing in the mountain air like a gathering thunderstorm.

"We do not have time for this," Rhea said, her voice laced with authority. "You both can tear each other’s throats out when all of this is over."

Adam did not move an inch. Neither did Kaleb. They stood only inches apart, their breathing clouding in the cold night air as they stared each other down. Finally, Adam peeled his dark eyes away, letting out a dismissive grunt. He turned his frame away from the clearing.

As he took his first long stride toward the black tree line, Kaleb snarled after him, his voice rich with malice. "You had better watch your back in these woods! I just might decide that you do not get to walk off this mountain alive."

A mocking laugh cut through the quiet forest. Adam did not bother to slow his pace or look back over his shoulder.

"Try it, Kaleb," Adam called back.

The moment Adam disappeared, Rhea turned her cold gaze onto Kaleb. Inside her mind, River was pacing back and forth on claws, her fur bristling with anger.

Rhea clenched her fists tight against her thighs. "I am not staying up here with you either," she announced, her voice flat.

Kaleb tilted his head, a playful smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "What is the matter, Rhea? Are you afraid of me now?"

Rhea let out a cold scoff, shaking her head as a surge of pity washed over her. "I could never be afraid of an Alpha who hides like a coward in the rocks while his home burns to the ground," she shot back, her words slicing clean through his ego.

Kaleb’s amber eyes flashed brightly. Not with rage, but with a twisted sense of amusement. He shrugged his shoulders as if her insult were nothing more than a dust speck on his jacket. "I guess you could say that," he murmured smoothly.

Rhea refused to waste another breath or a single drop of energy on him. She turned on her heel and began marching down the steep path toward the valley below.

"Rhea!" Kaleb called out loudly from behind her.

She stopped her stride, her brows creasing with annoyance as she turned her head sideways. "What?"

Kaleb stood with his arms crossed over his chest, watching her intently. "Where do you think you are going?"

"To do what you lack the spine to accomplish," Rhea said, her voice carrying over the wind with conviction. "To save this pack." She scoffed, turning her back on him once more as her boots crunched against the gravel.

"Are you really sure you want to walk into that snake pit alone?" Kaleb called after her, his voice fading into the distance.

Rhea did not even spare him a glance. She kept her head high and her pace steady, moving farther away from his camp.

"Sadly, I will not be able to join you down there just yet," Kaleb yelled out into the dark.

"I still cannot believe that pathetic male was once our mate," River grumbled deep inside her mind, her voice dripping with disgust.

Me neither, River, Rhea thought back, drawing in a long breath of the cool night air. Me neither.

High up on the ridge behind her, Kaleb watched her retreating figure until her dark outline blended into the twilight. He raised two fingers to his mouth and let out a whistle.

A shadowy figure dropped silently from a high oak branch, landing on one knee beside him.

"Tell the scouts," Kaleb ordered, his voice dropping into a rumble as his amber eyes narrowed onto the path below. "I want eyes on her every single second. Do not let her out of your sight."

"Understood, Alpha," the warrior whispered. In the blink of an eye, the male vanished back into the brush.

Meanwhile, Rhea made her way down the steep incline until the path leveled out into the cobblestone streets of the lower village. She paused beneath the glow of a street lantern, her heart thumping steadily against her ribs as her mind calculated her next move.

Adam had gone to summon his warriors from the border, but Rhea could not afford to wait. She needed to make her own move before full war broke out. There was only one place she needed to go. The packhouse.

As she moved briskly through the narrow alleyways, she could feel the weight of unseen eyes tracking her every step. Villagers peeked out from behind shuttered windows, their whispers drifting through the cool night air.

"It is true," a woman’s fragile voice murmured softly from a doorway. "She is really alive."

The quiet words carried a desperate note of hope that made Rhea’s chest tighten. She did not slow her stride. She kept her head high, and her chin set, marching straight up the stone steps until the wooden doors of the hall loomed over her.

"You again?" one of the massive guards stationed at the entrance barked, his hand dropping to the hilt of his sword as his face hardened.

Rhea came to a complete stop, lifting her chin to look the male dead in the eye. "Tell the war chief that the Luna of Ironfang demands a word," she commanded, her voice ringing with authority.

The guard stared at her, caught off guard by the power radiating from her calm frame. He swallowed hard, gave a brief nod, and turned on his heel to slip through the massive doors.

Left alone on the porch, Rhea paced back and forth, fighting to keep her anger under control.

Rhea knew the stakes. She needed to find a way to stop this impending massacre before the rogue factions tore the land apart. She wanted to restore Ironfang to her son without bathing its streets in blood.

But if violence was the only language these males understood, she would make sure she was the one holding the blade at the end.