Chapter 117
Xander POV
The moment Serafine steps out of the hall, the atmosphere shifts. People begin to whisper and look around themselves.
“Enough,” I call out and the room falls into silence. “Those of you who think Serafine or Eryx is a risk, you’re wrong.”
The whispers begin again. “Crops are dying, no warning, no signs of what caused them. Right now, our pack is surrounded by destroyed crops and only ours is safe, what else are we meant to think?” someone calls out..
“That has nothing to do with Serafine and Eryx, there is no proof!”
“But there’s no proof it isn’t, there’s nothing to link it, we’ve all heard. There’s no reason, except for Serafine and Eryx!” another shouts.
“It’s Eryx, Serafine was here before without issues, now that child is born everything is broken.”
I growl and step forward, but Garrick places his hand on my chest.
“Calm down, let them get it all out right now, because if you stop them they will say it in front of her.”
“So you want me to stand here while they talk about Eryx and Serafine?” I snap.
“Let them rant, let them complain, then tell them the plan. Just, listen to them, Xander. Listen to what they say, and put yourself in their place. How would you feel?”
The anger curls into something else now and I nod. “Fine, let them speak you answer, I’ll just stand here and listen.”
Garrick nods and looks at the pack. “Okay, ask anyway, say what you think, I’ll answer everything.”
The pack doesn’t hesitate, and they don’t hold back. Not that I would expect them to, they are always straightforward and brutal.
It’s like ripping the cork from a bottle that was already full of pressure from being shaken. The room erupts into chaos, noise and voices layering over each other and all of them are laced with fear and frustration.
“What if his power grows? What if the magic lashes out like hers did?”
“We’ve heard stories, we’ve worked together to learn. We know that Threadborn magic consumes everything around it!”
“My sister’s pack lost their harvest three nights ago. Gone in hours. That’s not coincidence!”
“And what if it spreads? What if our safety is just because we’re next?”
“Don’t you care that your mate’s child might be a weapon?”
My hands curl into fists, but I stay silent, jaw clenched so tightly I taste blood. My child, he’s my child, not just hers! They are treating Eryx like something else, not my son. Beside me, Garrick raises his hands, calling for calm, and of course they listen.
“I understand why you’re scared,” he says, his voice steady, unwavering. “You see something strange, something new, and you don’t understand it. I get that, I would be the same, I was the same. You fear it because it’s unknown. That’s natural. But fear alone isn’t reason enough to turn on your Alpha’s mate. Or his son. Yes, his son, the boy is Xander’s and that makes you your Alpha!”
“He’s not our Alpha yet,” someone mutters, but they don’t say it loud enough to challenge directly.
Garrick continues. “No child chooses to be born with power. No mate chooses to be hunted for what she is. But Serafine has never once raised her hand against this pack. She protected it. Since the start, even before you accepted her. And Xander has bled for it more times than any of you have dared to count. Anyone who doubts Xander is still your Alpha, you’re a fool.”
7/2
Chapter 117
“But that kind of power doesn’t stay silent forever,” a woman near the back calls out. “It wants to be seen, it wants to burn.
I turn, eyes locking on her, and this time I can’t keep my voice down.
“And if it does burn,” I say, voice low and cold, “then it’ll burn those who threaten her. Not the pack, or any one of you. The magic is protecting her which means it protects this pack.”
The room stills.
I let my words settle in the air, thick as smoke.
all voted we “You’re all hypocrites,” I say, my voice low and cold, “You’re against my mate, my son and their magic. Against them as Threadborns, but you let the Guardians in, those same guardians that protected you that are threadborn and were here for her! They didn’t come for you, they came ready for her arrival.”
“We have enemies at our borders and iur allies are breaking. Crops are dying without disease or blight. That’s not magic. That’s sabotage and it’s strategy.” I pace forward, gaze sweeping over the hall. “If you think this is Serafine or Eryx, you’re wasting your breath and your suspicion on the wrong target. You can’t favour the guardians to protect you but then fight against the thing that guardians ultimately protect.”
Silence answers me. For a while no one bothers to speak until a voice, older, trembling, speaks up.
“Then what is your plan?” one of the elders asks. “If it’s not the child… then how do we stop it? How do we survive what’s coming?”
That question lands hard. Not because I don’t have an answer, but because I do and it’s one that I know the pack might not like.
I step uptp the center of the hall, facing them all. “I need to go somewhere with Serafine and Eryx, while I’m going and when I get back back, the plan is this… We train, watch and prepare. There are forces outside these walls trying to turn us on each other. But if we hold the line together, we survive. And Serafine.” I pause, voice lowering just enough that they lean in to hear, “Serafine is not our weakness. She’s our shield. And when the time comes, she’ll be the fire that burns our enemies to ash.”
Gasps ripple through the crowd. But no one speaks.
I don’t wait for their approval.
“You have two choices,” I say. “You stand with me or you can step aside/ But if you come for my mate, or my son, you’ll learn very quickly that I am your Alpha, whether you want to accept it or not..”
Then I turn to Garrick.
“I need you to gather our outer patrols. Reinforce the southern border tonight. I want eyes on every path into these lands. We’ve been waiting for the storm to hit. I say we move before it lands.”
He nods, sharp and sure. “I’ll take Killian with me.”
“I’ll make sure that Serafine is ready. She should know what’s happening. She’s earned that right.”
As I walk through the hall, the crowd parts and I can still feel the tension from before. Some are swayed, others are uncertain, some still do not want to accept. The fact is though, they don’t stop me, which for now is enough.
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