Chapter 225: Submission

"You snuck around and spied on our alpha," one wolf said slowly, and the disgust in his voice was unmistakable. "You watched him, and then you brought us here like this was some sort of ambush."

"That is disgusting," another growled. "Why do this?!"

"How long have you been doing this?!"

"What gives you the right to spy on the alpha like he is a criminal?!"

An older wolf near the edge shook his head. "This is beneath you, Greymaw. Truly beneath you."

The words were landing on the old wolf like physical blows, and each one drove him further back. His head swivelled between wolves, searching desperately for a single ally.

He turned to the elders.

Two of them were staring at the ground, refusing to meet his eyes. One had his arms crossed and was shaking his head slowly, not at Calis, but at Greymaw. The elder who had been nodding aggressively at Tera for weeks was nodding again, this time firmly in Calis’ direction.

Even among the remaining hardliners, the conviction had crumbled. Their faces were tight with discomfort, but it was not the discomfort of watching their alpha betray them. It was the discomfort of watching an old wolf they had once respected destroy his own dignity in front of the entire pack.

Tera’s mouth hung open.

She was stunned.

She had expected to have to fight and make her case.

She had not expected the wolves to tear that wall down for her without her saying a single word.

’What is happening right now?’

Greymaw’s face was cycling through disbelief so rapidly that it was almost comical. He spun between the wolves and the elders, his voice rising with each failed attempt to regain control.

"You are all FOOLS!" he snarled. "Do you not see what she has done?! She has corrupted you! She has twisted your minds with food and water and—"

"She fed us!"

"Yes. She fed us when we were hungry. If that is corruption, then I welcome it!"

Several wolves growled in agreement.

Calis had not moved through any of this.

He had been watching his pack defend Tera, and the emotions moving through his chest were so tangled he could barely separate them.

Despite knowing his wolves had been warming to Tera for weeks, Calis had not expected it at this scale. He had braced himself for a frustrating explanation, only for that to not even be needed.

And the elders had surprised him most of all. The same wolves who had sat in that circle weeks ago and argued against Tera’s every breath were now grumbling in her defence.

But Calis could not let this stand.

The warmth of his pack’s support did not erase what Greymaw had done. The spying, the manipulation, and the deliberate ambush designed to humiliate him.

Enough was enough.

Calis stood up, and everyone’s voices dwindled.

He gave Greymaw a cold look.

"I have given you warning after warning."

Girruk could not believe what was happening. His body was shaking, and his eyes were wild with a rage that had been building for months and had just found its breaking point.

Why were all the clan members acting mad and defending him?!

Greymaw’s face darkened, and he snarled. "You foolish boy! Look what you—"

Girruk dashed forward. "YOU TRAITOR!"

"Girruk, NO!" Greymaw lunged for his son’s arm.

It was too late.

Girruk’s body exploded into his wolf form mid-stride and launched himself at Calis.

Calis raised his arm to shield his face, and Girruk’s jaws clamped down on Calis’ forearm.

The bite was vicious, and blood welled immediately where his teeth sank. The impact of Girruk’s attack sent him and Calis back.

Tera sat stiff, her heart slamming against her ribs as she watched everything unfold. It had all happened in a split second, and while she had been able to follow it, shock had made her stiffen in place.

Then she immediately stood up, alarmed and worried. "CALIS!"

As they tumbled backwards, Calis shifted into his wolf form. He was bigger than Girruk, and his jaws clamped down onto Girruk’s scruff with a force that ripped the other wolf’s bite free from his side.

Calis wrenched Girruk sideways with a violent shake of his head.

Girruk yelped and hit the ground rolling.

He scrambled to his feet immediately and rushed at Calis, who met him head-on.

The collision was so violent that it left Tera on edge.

Teeth clashed, claws raked, and the sounds that came from both animals were feral and ugly and nothing like the composed alpha the pack was used to.

Tera’s heart was in her throat. She wanted to intervene, but the fight was too savage for her to do anything.

"Is anyone not going to STOP this?!"

She turned back to the wolves, alarmed to see them doing nothing.

Some of them were holding down a struggling Greymaw who kept yelling for his son.

The fight died down to a low scuffle, and a sharp whimper made a numbing sensation wash all over Tera as she turned around.

She did not expect it to have ended this quickly.

Calis’s jaw was firm on Girruk’s neck, and the pressure was just enough to pin the wolf flat against the earth. Girruk’s legs kicked weakly, his body twisting, but every movement only tightened Calis’ hold on him.

One twitch of Calis’ jaw and Girruk would be dead.

A broken, keening sound escaped Girruk. His body went limp beneath his alpha, his legs splaying out, and his tail tucked so tightly against his belly it disappeared. His ears were flat, his eyes squeezed shut, and the whine that came from his throat was the sound of complete and total submission.

"Girruk!" Greymaw yelled.

Calis held Girruk there for a few seconds before releasing him.

Girruk remained in the dirt, his breathing coming in sharp, ragged gasps.

He was still alive.

Calis shifted back to his human form and stood over Girruk’s wolf body.

Blood ran from the bite wound on Calis’ forearm and the claw marks raking across Calis side. His chest was heaving, and his dark hair hung across his face in wild, sweat-damp strands.

His face was also bloody, and the air seemed to go still as he turned to Greymaw.