The room became deathly silent at her last statement. Every shifter knew the Shadows of Tyaos were the most powerful shifters and humans, that the council of Elders were the strongest of them all and could defeat any Alpha with barely any effort whether they were shifter or human. To be as young as she was, it was unheard of as most of the Elders were over 40 years old as humans and over 200 years old as shifters. Nobody knew how the rankings of the Shadows worked except those who were accepted into the secret society and even then, a certain rank had to be reached before the knowledge was passed down.
A squeeze of her hand had Leah looking at her mate for the first time since admitting who her father was. She was afraid to see judgment in his eyes or even the fear that she would leave him as her father left her mother, however, all she saw was awe and admiration for what she had accomplished at such a young age. Giving him a quick smile, Leah turned back to the shifters in front of her. “Who am I, you ask? I am the most powerful Alpha in the world, second only to the High Alpha. I am the youngest Elder of the Shadows and hold as much respect as the Elder Council. I am an eighteen-year-old female wolf shifter with no land or territory to call home but the largest pack to call family. This is who I am.” Leah spoke with such confidence that the dominant males were ready to allow her and her family to stay in their territory without much else.
Looking between his son and the Alpha female loner, the Alpha took a few minutes to take everything in. He could tell his packmates and one of his sons was ready to accept Leah, however, his other son was ready to fight the loner. “You may stay on pack territory as long as your family is here and you shall always be welcome after you leave. As for your mating with my son, we’ll talk in private. However, we still have one more issue to discuss.”
Leah could feel the tension beginning to rise and held on tightly to Matthew’s hand. The way the Alpha had said they would speak in private about their mating, both grasped each other, worried they would be torn apart. From what Leah observed, the only ones who didn’t know what was about to happen were her and Matthew, along with the Alpha’s other two sons. She had realized they were triplets rather than twins when Markus had walked in with their other brother while she was having her stare down with the Alpha. Their energy was so similar to each other that she didn’t need their near-identical features to know they were more than just brothers.
Turning towards Matthew, his father said, “I told you that plans change, and rather than a private introduction, I brought some of the males in for this meeting. This was due to a phone call I received this morning. I recorded it and decided to play it for you all.”
Taking out his phone, he found the recording of the call and Leah heard a voice she recognized and flinched at the animosity in it. “This is Kade, the Alpha of the Clarkston pack. Leah Kearney is under my protection and if you or your pup do anything to hurt her or her family, I will declare war on you and your pack. This is your only warning.” There was the click of the phone hanging up and then silence. Leah could tell that the other males had already listened to the recording and were not happy about it.
Markus finally found the right opportunity to call out the loner and said, “Father, why are we allowing this loner onto our land? Loners can’t be trusted, not to mention she has Kade Riordan’s backing. That man can’t be trusted and considering most people call him a psychopath and he’s known for going to extreme lengths for everything, why would you want her here?”
Shifting his glance to Markus, the Alpha’s tone rendered the entire room silent, “I take this more seriously than you think I do, son. Kade Riordan would be a terrible enemy to have, however, I have decided to allow Leah to stay despite the warning of Kade. He is a powerful Alpha and, though, many consider him to be extreme, his wolves are loyal and respect him enough that they would stop him from going too far.” Turning back to Leah he finished with, “I played this because I wasn’t sure if you knew that Kade would go this far and if I am honest, I was curious to see your reaction to his threats.”
Leah was horrified and told the Alpha as much. Adding to that, she said, “I’m so embarrassed that he threatened you like that.”
“And yet, you do not look surprised that he contacted me.”
Chuckling Leah responded, “I thought he would wait until after I spoke to him today. I wasn’t expecting him to threaten you before I had a chance to speak to you and ask for your permission to stay on your territory.”
Hearing the unexpected reply that she knew he would call, the Alpha said, “You seem to have a close relationship with the most feared shifter and Alpha, why? I need to know if my pack is safe from him.”
Leah smiled and said, “He’s my adopted father. He adopted me and my brother, in all but name, when I was ten and my brother four. Kade, as you said is extreme, however, he is fair and has an unbreakable code of ethics, all of which lead to his wolves being loyal. He offered me and my family pack status but I turned that down, having already become the Alpha of a few loners. Instead, Kade placed us under his protection, claiming me as his daughter, my brother as his son, and my mother,” Leah let out a chuckle before continuing, “he claimed my mother as his sister. With these declarations, he made it known that an attack on my family was an attack on him and his pack and he would do anything and everything to avenge us.”
Nodding his understanding of the situation, the Alpha turned to the dominant males around him and had a brief, quiet conversation with them. Leah and Matthew waited while still grasping each other’s hand, staring into the other’s eyes. The eye contact brought their bond to life, causing them to once again get lost in a separate world from everyone else in the room, something Matthew’s brothers and father didn’t fail to notice.
As the dominant males left the room, leaving only Matthew’s family and Leah, the Alpha called to his son, bringing them out of their moment and into the present. Gesturing to the seats at his end of the table the Alpha said, “Come join us at this end. Now that the others have left, there is no reason for formality between family.”
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